2022.02.19/20

 From the Pastor’s Desk: Rev. Simon Lee

 Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,

The first half of this article: Do not lose heart (1): Remember we are doing the Spirit’s ministry (4:1-6) was based on the key verse “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” (4:1) Those who serve God is given this honour by the Spirit Himself, and Christ Jesus our Lord will give us strength to persevere. We therefore do not need to give up when the going gets tough. All we need to make sure is that we have a servant’s heart.

In this half of the article: Do not lose heart (2): Remember our inner person is being renewed day by day (4:7-18), the key verse is “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor. 4:16) Here we are dealing with physical pains and trials in our lives. We immediately think of the devastation we have experienced over the last two years in the Covid pandemic, especially the impact of the latest Omicron variant, sparing no one in its rapid spread here and around the world, causing illness and disruption in our daily lives.

But Paul talks about our human bodies are like “jars of clay” and our human experience as “afflictions” (ESV) or “trouble” (NET). Furthermore, for Paul, physical suffering is always contrasted against spiritual realities. For Paul, in all his trials, he was “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (4:10) Our victory is in Christ trough His resurrection. Paul says, he could speak boldly “knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. (4:14) Often we reference our “suffering” to the “normal” life that we live, and question why we are robbed of the life that we think should be a “given” that we feel we deserve, treating it as a right. This is also why when we are faced with suffering the first question we ask is “why” or “why me”?  Haven’t I followed Christ faithfully, each of us will ask? Paul recognizes that our body is frail by its very nature, like “jars of clay.” He also sees our suffering as a way that we can demonstrate Christ’s glory. This is such a contrast to how humans look at suffering.

Paul then declares that we do not lose heart when “our outer self” (physical body) is wasting away, “our inner self” (inner person) is being renewed day by day. (4:16) To Paul, what is important, is not what and how he suffers in the outer self, because our body is expected to be frail. He is more concern with how his inner person is being renewed in Christ. Again, Paul contrast “our outer self” and “our inner self.” When we suffer, we focus on “our outer self” and how to cope or get well, naturally. But for Paul, his focus is always that Christ brings about growth and healing in the “inner person.” Perhaps this is one of the main reasons why he was able to overcome so many of his adversities and weather so many storms in his life. All that matters to Paul was the renewal of the “inner person.”

Because of this knowledge of the eternal versus the temporal, Paul was able to face his suffering head-on. He knows that the “light momentary affliction (suffering) is preparing us for (producing for us) “an eternal weight of glory.” Therefore, we are to “not look at the things that are seen,” they are “transient,” but focus on “the things that are unseen,” they are “eternal.” So, we can all be assured that what we are experiencing is only “light” and “momentary.” Covid has ravaged us for over two years, but like many such epidemic or pandemic in past human history, eventually it will subside because it is temporal and transient. We often focus on the “temporal” and neglect the “eternal.” That is why we are so devastated when we suffer in the world that is transient, because we may have treated the transient as eternal.

Furthermore, if we realize that this experience of suffering is permitted by God in “preparing us” for the weight of glory in eternity, we then can view all our suffering as the discipline and trials that will help us live our lives in the resurrection power of Christ.  We need to treat it as the valuable lesson of growing in maturity in Christ and live by faith and not by sight. Paul says: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God…, a house…eternal in the heavens.” (5:1) In other words, even if our bodies succumb to Covid or any other diseases like cancer, we will have a home in eternity, mortality replaced by immortality.

Paul continues to say, “He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (5:5) In the process of being tried in the experience of our physical suffering, we are also given the Holy Spirit who is our guarantor.  The Spirit who is the paraclete or the counselor comes along side us to carry us through our trials and tribulations, it is all the work of God. We have the assurance that we will overcome because we have the Holy Spirit that is given to us, and He dwells within us. What a comforting thought to us when we are enduring the pains of suffering.

As we face Covid or any other trials in life, turn our eyes upon Jesus, just like the hymn by Helen H. Lemmel, says:

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There’s light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.

Your servant in Christ,
Rev. Simon Lee