Sermon Manuscript

2 Corinthians 4:18 ~ 20181021 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

10/21_2 Corinthians 4:18; What Are You Looking At?; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20181021_2cor4_18.mp3

What Are You Looking At?

What are you looking at? What are you looking at? It matters what you are looking at. Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians 4:18 that what we fix our eyes on has great significance and great consequences. What we look at determines to a great extent where we are going. I love scenery. As we were on a road trip cross-country last week and I was driving, my wife had to gently encourage me once or twice to keep my eyes on the road. Why? Because where we are looking quickly becomes where we are heading. I learned this early on in my lawn mowing career; if you want to mow straight lines, you don't look down at the lawn mower wheels. Pick a point in the direction you want to go, keep moving toward that point, and you will go straight. It matters what you are looking at. Paul uses the word 'seeing' four times in this one verse, as well as a different word for focusing or looking.

---Not fixing your eyes

---------------------on that which is seen

---------------but that which is not seen

----------------------------for what is seen is for this time

----------------------but what is not seen is eternal

The Context of Suffering

It matters greatly what you are looking at. It especially matters what you are focusing on when you face suffering. Remember, Paul's context here is suffering. He is being destroyed, being taken apart, being brought to the brink of despair and being done to death. His circumstances are those which would cause him to utterly lose heart, give up, quit,

Just so we understand a bit better the context, I'd like to pull together a few texts from the Pastoral Epistles that communicate the kind of things Paul faces in his ministry.

In 1 Timothy 1 he mentions that some have swerved away from sound doctrine and made shipwreck of their faith (1:3, 19). In 1 Timothy 6 he warns:

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

He says (6:9) that because of a love of money some have wandered away from the faith.

In 2 Timothy he exhorts Timothy not to be ashamed of the gospel, or of Paul, who is now a prisoner in chains, and he tells Timothy to “share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (1:8). Paul says that he is suffering because he is a preacher, apostle and teacher of the gospel (1:10-12). He says:

2 Timothy 1:15 You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

He tells Timothy

2 Timothy 2:3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

He says that it is his preaching the gospel “for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!' (2:9). He names “Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.” He says “their talk will spread like gangrene” (2:17-18). He warns that some have been ensnared by the devil, “being captured by him to do his will.” (2:26).

2 Timothy 3:10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12 Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

He says of himself:

2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.

2 Timothy 4:9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. 12 Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. 13 When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. 15 Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. 16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me...

By the end of Paul's life, many professing believers had swerved from the faith. Some pursued their love of money. Many were teaching false doctrines. Many were stirring up controversies, dissensions, slandering him, creating constant friction between people. Some had been captured by the devil to do his will. Their talk was spreading like gangrene. Personally he had endured persecutions and sufferings at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. He expected that all who followed Jesus would be persecuted. He is now imprisoned and bound with chains. He felt that his life was being poured out as a drink offering, and that he would die soon. He said “all who are in Asia turned away from me.” All in Asia? All the churches he had planted in Asia turned away from him? This would include Ephesus, Colossae, Pergamum, Thyatira, Smyrna, Sardis, Laodicea, Miletus! He says that when he stood on trial before Caesar, “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.” No one? Not one of his friends, not one of his co-workers stood by him? Completely alone, deserted? It seems that all his ministry was crumbling, all his efforts were for nothing.

How did he not feel utter defeat? From all outward appearances, the apostle's ministry was a failure; it appeared he had wasted his life. He was a clay pot crumbling under the weight and pressure of ministry. And at the end of his life it seemed like everything he had labored for was coming apart. How did he not lose heart? What is he fixing his eyes on that keeps him from losing heart?

Paul's Perspective on Suffering

2 Corinthians 4:16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Last time we looked at the contrasts in verse 17 in duration between momentary and eternal; and in mass between light and the weight of glory. And we saw that the suffering he endured was actually purposeful; it was doing something; it was working something in him. It was preparing for him the exceedingly exceeding eternal weight of glory.

Now he tells us where he gets this perspective. Perspective comes from what you are focusing on. The word translated 'as we look to' is skopeo [σκοπέω]. This is where we get our English word scope, as the scope on a gun. It is what you look through to take aim and zero in on your target. It is the goal on which our eyes are fixed, the end toward which the attention, desires and efforts are directed. When you are looking through a scope on a rifle, your field of vision is limited. The target is magnified, and the periphery is excluded from view. What are you aiming at, zeroing in on, focusing your attention on? What are you excluding from your field of view?

Paul continues the contrast between what to set in your sights and what not to look at. Ironically he uses the common verb 'to look at or to see' to define what is to be held in the scope. And he flips it. He starts negatively; not fixing our eyes on that which is seen. Whatever he sees, he doesn't look at. He doesn't take aim or fix his attention on what he can see. The next phrase he gives us what he does fix his gaze on; that which is not seen. He excludes from his range of vision everything he can see, and he takes aim and zooms in on that which is not seen.

Focusing on the Unseen

Focus on what you don't see, not on what you see. How do you focus on something you can't see? How do you fix your eyes on what is invisible? This is what the Christian life is, and this is what enables us to not lose heart in spite of the outward circumstances. In the next chapter he says 'so we are always of good courage' (5:6), which is the positive way of saying 'we do not lose heart'. He says 'for we walk by faith, not by sight' (5:7). Faith, not sight. Fixing our eyes on the unseen realities.

Romans 8 is in many ways parallels 2 Corinthians 4. In verse 18 he says “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Then in verse 24 he says:

Romans 8:24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

We hope for what we do not see. We have our eyes fixed on what is not yet seen. Hebrews 11 tells us:

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith takes hold of the promises of God. Later in Hebrews 11, the author points us to the faith of Moses. He says:

Hebrews 11:25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

It is interesting that he links faith and fixing his sights on him who is invisible with being mistreated and enduring persecution. Moses was able to endure without fear the anger of the king by fixing his view on the invisible one. He was looking to the reward. Notice the object of his gaze was personal; He endured as seeing him.

What? Or Who?

What unseen realities are we to fix our eyes on in the context of 2 Corinthians 4? In 3:18, with unveiled faces, we are beholding the glory of the Lord. In 4:4, Satan is blinding the minds of unbelievers “to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” “God has shone in our hearts” in 4:6 “to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” It is Jesus! The light of the knowledge of Jesus!

The author of Hebrews (12:1-2) tells us that we must “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross...” We are to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Not Circumstances

Notice he gives us both what not to fix our gaze on, and what to pay attention to, and why. We are not to look at the things that are seen, our outward circumstances. How can we possibly not look at our circumstances? Especially when our circumstances loom so large that they fill the horizon? Put them in the scale and weight them against something weightier, something larger. Light and momentary compared to the exceedingly exceeding weighty glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Why? Because that which is seen is temporary; literally for the time or for the season. Circumstances don't last. Think back to the last major crisis you faced. Not the one you are facing now, but one you faced in the past. Can you? I have to think hard to even come up with what the last crisis I faced was. Because it was so small? No, because it's over. It has been resolved. It seems big when it is staring you in the face, but it seems much smaller when you have moved past it and it is history. Don't allow circumstances to overwhelm you because they are temporary, they will soon be in the past, and you will have moved beyond them. The things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. Should we fear the things that will soon be past, or should we pay more attention to what is eternal. Jesus said:

Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Do not fear the one who can only do temporary harm. Rather fear, fix your eyes and give your attention to the one who is eternal.

What are you looking at? It matters what we fix our eyes on.

The Lord Stood By Me

Remember we looked at 2 Timothy where Paul says that 'all who are in Asia turned away from me' and 'at my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.' That seems utterly disheartening. But look what Paul says:

2 Timothy 4:16 At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! 17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Do you see what he is looking at? His circumstances? His deserters? No, he did not focus on that which is seen, but that which is not seen. The one who said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb.13:5); “the Lord stood by me”. “The Lord stood by me” He was looking to the things that are unseen.

Gospel to Feast our Eyes On:

Here are some unseen realities Paul may have been be looking at. These are unseen realities that I love to feast my eyes on:

1 Corinthians 15:3 ...Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,

Galatians 2:20 ... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org