5 things Paul wants you to understand
God gives us encouragement as we think about how we can live intentionally in Christ when we’re sick and tired.
Even though we are Christ followers and have His hope, we can go through times when we’re just sick and tired and feel like there’s no hope. The message today is going to be one of hope as we learn how to be intentional when we’re sick and tired.
You just get weary in life, sometimes. Struggles come. It could be a physical illness, something going on in your own personal life or maybe it’s something happening to a family member or close friend. Sometimes we can feel weary and overwhelmed, even as believers.
We’re going to look at 2 Corinthians in just a moment, but first let me give you a little background. 1 and 2 Corinthians are both letters written by the Apostle Paul to the people of the church of Corinth. He wrote 2 Corinthians because there were some problems going on in the church. They were questioning Paul’s authority. They were questioning his apostles, and division was occurring within the church. So, Paul writes this second letter to defend the gospel and himself.
In fact, 2 Corinthians holds some of the most beautiful personal images of the Apostle Paul because he shares with us from his heart, being very authentic about who he is.
The city of Corinth was built in a region of Greece where it served as a crossroad to the world. Tim Keller from New York Redeemer Presbyterian Church refers to it as the New York of the time, where you had great diversity of people in this rich, sophisticated city. And much like people in New York, people didn’t come to live there. They came to be successful there.
Corinth was also a vile, evil city. It was a place of sexual immorality. It was a place that people went to – not necessarily because they wanted to raise a family there – but the place to be in the world at the time.
Paul goes there to plant this church. The church starts to grow. And because of the different backgrounds there, controversy starts to develop in the church. So, he writes 2 Corinthians to this church to share pictures of his own life with them. Let’s look at a few of the verses.
“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8 NKJV).
Paul knew what it meant to be a person who was sick, tired, weary and overwhelmed.
- “For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you” (2 Corinthians 2:4 NKJV).
- “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NKJV).
- “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NKJV).
Paul had some sort of physical ailment. We’re not sure what it was, but it was something he wrestled with that kept him humble.
And then Paul says, “So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace” (2 Corinthians 4:16 MSG).
We can’t do a whole lot about the outward man. It’s just part of the reality of being human. But the inward part of us, we have total control over. You and I can decide how we’re going to live on the inside.
Paul was shipwrecked, put in prison and beaten. He had been through so much. He didn’t want to go through all those things, but he did.
You and I are going to go through a lot of junk in life – health challenges, financial struggles, or relationship issues. Just because you’re a follower of Jesus Christ doesn’t mean you’re immune from this stuff.
Paul shares five things for those of us who are sick and tired in life.
In 2 Corinthians 5:1 Paul says, ” For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in Heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again” (MSG).
The temporary nature of our body, this tent that we live in, will be replaced with something permanent. Like a house, something that’s going to withstand the stresses of life. A house not made with human hands, but eternal.
- We know death is coming.
It’s a part of the reality of life. No one lives forever. Eternally, we live forever, but our bodies are decaying.
Often when a famous person dies, two questions come to mind. How did they die? And how old were they? We want to know those things because we compare ourselves to their experience.
The psalmist reminds us to number our days that we may gain a heart after wisdom (Psalm 90:12). These existential moments that come along give us an opportunity to do that.
When we go to a funeral, the funeral is not for the person who’s gone. It’s for us. We go to a funeral to remember the person.
2. We don’t know when we will die.
What if God had changed it, and we never died? What if we just were transferred right from living. We may; Jesus may come today. That’s our hope, but we don’t know.
Proverbs 9:10-11 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you” (NKJV).
God controls how many days and weeks we’re each going to live on the planet. Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth’” (NKJV).
Paul says, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from Heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2 Cor 5:2-4 NKJV).
Remember, Paul is writing this 50 or 60 years after Christ. He hoped and prayed that Christ would return, and he would have a resurrected body. He wouldn’t have to die. We know when we die, we’re going to be with Christ, but our body will be resurrected at a later time.
3. God has prepared a place for us in Heaven.
Jesus said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3 NKJV).
If you’re sick and tired, Jesus wants you to know you have a home in Heaven and someday you’re going to be with Him.
4. Walk by faith.
Paul was sick and tired, but he had one focus – to walk by faith and not by sight. That’s a hard thing to do, isn’t it?
“We are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NKJV).
When we are sick and tired in life, our number one priority every day should be Heaven.
5. Please Christ every day.
Paul was so Heavenly minded that he was of tremendous earthly good. It was because of his Heavenly mindedness that he focused every day to figure out what pleases Christ and then do it (Ephesians 5:10 MSG).
This isn’t just a get out of jail free card. Pleasing God is about how we live today. What we do. Our priorities. The next right one thing. The reality of death should be very focusing to us.
Let’s be practical. What decisions do we make about our money? How do I handle my health? How do we relate to each other?
We don’t talk about this much in our churches anymore, but we should choose to please Christ because one day we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Those of us who are followers of Christ, we’re going to have the ultimate job performance review.
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:9-10 NKJV).
It’s not a question of going to Heaven. When you go before a judge, you must have a defense. Our defense is the blood of Christ. As we stand there, it’s not going to be because of our good works. And there’ll be rewards.
Based on what we just read from the Apostle Paul, because of the certainty of death, the confidence of Heaven, the joy of walking by faith and the coming judgment seat of Christ, we will figure out what pleases Christ and do it for God’s glory and our benefit. That is intentional living.
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