All the Promises of God

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Jesus fulfills all the promises of God... but He does so in a way that no one expected. What God’s people seem to have expected was a human Messiah who would establish an earthly kingdom. They expected Him to be a great warrior who would defeat Rome and return Israel to power. And they, no doubt, thought he would establish a great dynasty and that His descendants would reign after him in a never-ending succession. That’s what God’s people seem to have expected... but that’s not what they got. That’s not what Jesus was.

Jesus was born in a stable. He was laid in a manger. His birth was attended by shepherds. And He was almost killed by Rome before He even reached adolescence. His family fled to Egypt for a time. Then when Jesus did return, He didn't live in Jerusalem or even Bethlehem where David was raised. No, He lived in the small and insignificant town of Nazareth. Jesus wasn’t noble or highly educated; He was a carpenter’s son. And for 30 years, as best we can tell, that’s all Jesus was… was a carpenter from Nazareth. For 30 years of Jesus’ life, the biblical story didn’t really move forward in any significant way.

Then, when Jesus did start His ministry in earnest, He didn’t raise an army, or ascend the throne. He became a homeless, itinerant preacher. And when He began calling disciples, they weren’t the kinds of disciples God’s people expected. Jesus didn’t call any of the Pharisees or religious leaders to be His disciples. No, He called fisherman and a political zealot and a tax collector… common folks to be His disciples. And the message that He preached was often spoken in parables and riddles. And He seemed to reserve His harshest judgment not for tax collectors or prostitutes but for the religious leaders. Indeed, Jesus was said to be a friend of sinners!

But He did have special power, didn't He? Jesus performed many mighty miracles. He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind. He made the lame walk and raised the dead! But even this was mostly met with disapproval from the religious leaders because Jesus often healed on the Sabbath day which was unexpected.

Jesus lived and ministered in this way for about three and a half years. He wasn’t the Messiah God’s people had expected. He was a king... but not in an earthly sense. He came to establish a spiritual kingdom not a physical one. He never sat on a throne on earth. Nor did He defeat Israel’s enemies. In fact, He never fought at all. Instead, He willingly suffered!

And that was perhaps the most surprising development of all. After about three and a half years, the religious leaders conspired to kill Jesus. They arrested Him and put Him on trial and begged the Romans to crucify Him. None of this was what God’s people were expecting… and yet, it is what God had promised! 

Understand that Jesus did all of this for you. He was the surprising answer to all our problems, to all our needs, and to all the promises of God. The entire biblical story leads up to Him. And if you don’t know Him, if your life isn’t fully and completely centered around Him… then you are missing the point of the story.

Fix your eyes on Jesus. It’s all about Him! And without Him, you will never be what you ought to be.

Divinely Powered Weapons

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God...

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

What weapons do we wield as Christians against the Devil? In these verses, Paul speaks of weapons that have “divine power.” And he says that we use these divinely-powered weapons to “to demolish strongholds and arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

But what are these weapons? Paul doesn’t say in this passage. But as we look at his ministry, and at how Paul attacked false teaching, I think we can get a pretty good idea of what these divinely-powered weapons must be.

First, I think one of them must be the clear proclamation of the truth of the gospel. Clear explanation of gospel truth is a Spirit-powered weapon that God uses to tear down the lies of the enemy. Consider, for example, all the letters Paul wrote to address errors in the church. The New Testament is filled with these letters in which Paul is carefully explaining and teaching the gospel. Why? Because Paul understood that we can’t just win people’s hearts for Jesus… we must also win their minds.

I think the modern church has largely forgotten that! Too many of us think that if we can just make people feel good enough about church, if we can just make them feel good enough about Jesus, then we will win them for the Lord. But, that’s not how the New Testament church did it.

Have you ever read Romans? Have you ever read 1st or 2nd Corinthians. They aren’t exactly what I would call “feel-good” books. They aren’t primarily aimed at making people feel good. No! They are filled with sound doctrine, with logical arguments and detailed explanations that are primarily aimed at the mind.

We must learn to do the same. If we want to rescue people from the lies of the enemy, we must give them a clear dose of the truth. And if we want to safeguard our own minds from the enemy's attacks, then we must take in a steady diet of the truth presented in God’s Word ourselves.

Another divinely powered weapon that we see at work in Paul’s ministry is prayer. If you read Paul’s letters, you will see that he is constantly praying for his churches. Why? Because prayer unleashes the power of God in our lives. It's through prayer that the Spirit of God acts and convicts men and draws them to the truth. So, pray for yourself and for others to know the truth and think clearly. And pray for those who have been deceived by the enemy, who have been captured, to be set free from his strongholds and come back out into the light of day.

A third and final divinely-powered weapon that I see at work in the Apostle Paul’s ministry is the example and witness of his daily life. The Apostle Paul lived a divinely-powered life that confirmed his message, silenced his critics and gained a hearing for the gospel. He didn’t just preach the gospel, he lived it. You and I must do the same if we are going to unmask the lies of the enemy.

Focused on Jesus

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20

Does it ever seem like Christians make a HUGE deal out of Jesus? I mean He is only one of the three persons of the godhead, right? So, why are we always talking about Jesus? It's like the church is fixated!

In fact, this has much more to do with God's plan for redemptive history than it does some fixation on the part of the church. 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us that ALL of God's promises are fulfilled in Jesus. Think for just a moment of how incredible that statement is. EVERY promise God ever made, even promises made thousands of years before Jesus was born, God was pleased to fulfil in Christ. 

That is why Jesus is always the center of attention is because God made Him central to His entire plan for the world. That is why the church MUST always focus on Jesus! Because all the theological roads of God's promises lead to the same destination: Jesus! That is why we speak the "Amen" through Jesus. The word 'Amen' means "that's right," "that's the truth," or "I agree." Everything about the Christian faith that we place our faith in, everything we proclaim to be the truth finds its conclusion in Jesus. This was God's plan. 

And the verse says that as we speak the "amen" through Him it is to the glory of God! God the Father doesn't feel left out or overshadowed by Jesus. This was His plan. It is His will. And it all works out to His glory. So, study Jesus. Exalt Jesus. Worship Jesus. And do it all to God's glory.

The Ministry of Struggle

Praise be to... the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God... If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort,

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 6

We all go through times when we hurt, when we are weak and broken, when we weep far more than we laugh. Often in these times we want to hide ourselves away from the world. We're tempted to hide our pain, to deny our struggle, and to cover up our weakness. We see this in small gestures like when a person quickly brushes a tear away from their eye out of embarrassment. And we see it in bigger ways like when a person suffers alone, refusing to tell anyone about their struggle even years after it is done. 

We all have different reasons for doing this. You may think people don't want to hear about your problems or you may just be uncomfortable being vulnerable around others. You may even be ashamed of the behavior that led to your suffering. Whatever your reason, this passage tells that a Christian should never hide in his pain.  

Paul David Tripp puts it this way. "We all know that we don't own the blessings in our lives, that we are meant to pass them forward into the lives of others, but this passage confronts us with the fact that even our sufferings belong to the Lord for His use... This means that our suffering has ministry in view" (Tripp, Paul David, Suffering: Gospel Hope When Life Doesn't Make Sense. p183).

Your struggle is an opportunity for you to be comforted, and your comforting opens up fresh avenues of ministry to you. It literally trains and equips you to comfort others who struggle with the same kind of struggle you have had. This is why widows are often most effective at ministering to other widows. It's why those who have escaped the predatory porn industry have started ministries to help other porn actors escape and find freedom in Jesus as well. It's why recovered addicts play such a major role in addiction recovery programs. Those who have been through the fire, who received God's comfort in the battle, know best how to comfort others. 

So don't be greedy with your pain. Don't hide it away or struggle alone. If God has already brought you through something, then He did so in part so you could help bring someone else through something similar. And if you are in the midst of your struggle right now, then go to the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort and ask Him to minister to your needs. And let others know what you are going through. It just may be that as God comforts you you'll be able to reach out to someone you know who is struggling as well with the fresh supplies of comfort and hope that you have received from the Lord.

God Subverts Pain (W.o.W. Rewind)

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Since it is God's expressed purpose for believers to one day trade in our mortal bodies for immortal, heavenly ones, it makes sense that He would subvert the pain of death and growing old (which is brought on by our sin) to suit His own purposes such that even this pain would cause us to groan more longingly for heaven. The aches and pains of growing old can little-by-little help tear us away from our attachment to this life and to these earthly bodies. The frustration and discomfort we feel can actually serve as fuel to help us long all the more intensely for heaven and for our resurrection bodies.

The simple truth is that we cannot receive our heavenly bodies until we have first been stripped of our earthly bodies. Some believers lose their life in a moment. Others endure long drawn out battles with pain and sickness losing their health long before they die. The slow tearing away of a person's strength and vitality, as terrible as it is, can be used for the Christian's good if he will trust God. Our physical struggles, our disabilities, our "thorns in the flesh" can actually be spiritual assets. Paul the apostle struggled with his own "thorn in the flesh." We're never told what it was, but Paul made peace with it. How? He learned that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Your physical disability, your physical suffering, may be a blessing in disguise. It may be the way God uses you most, or it may be what focuses your spirit to long all the more intently for heaven.

So, the next time you want to curse that bad knee or bad back or even that reoccurring cancer, don't. Accept it as from the Lord. Let God work it to your good. Instead of groaning, "Why, Lord!?" Groan, "When, Lord? Oh, when will I be free of these troublesome pains in heaven with you?" Let His strength be made perfect in your weakness.

For further reading...

• 2 Corinthians 12:1-10- Read about the Apostle Paul's thorn and God's strength in our weakness.
• Romans 8:18-39- Read about how God works our suffering for our good.

Good Grief!

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

2 Corinthians 7:10

Does God want you to be happy? 

You might be surprised to find out the answer is...not always. But this is an unavoidable truth of the verse above. It tells us that there are two types of sorrow. One is from God and is actually a good gift from Him. There are times that God wants you to experience pain and grief. Let's see why. 

Godly sorrow causes pain in order to turn you away from your sin. It leads you to repent of your sin and experience the salvation of being set right with God. So it causes you grief for a period of time in order to work good for you in the end. We shouldn't regret experiencing this kind of sorrow. 

But our world, on the other hand, is full of another kind of sorrow that leads to death. It's a sorrow from which there is no escape because it finds no hope in Jesus as its cure. When people are trapped in sorrow without hope they begin to despair and in their despair they reach for the only comfort they know...more sin. The momentary relief their sin affords them is all the hope they have left. So, far from rescuing them from their sins, this kind of grief drives them to reach for more sin in order to cope with the pain their sin has caused. What a mind numbing cycle!

So understand that not all sorrow or grief is bad. Some of it is actually a gift of God sent to turn you back to Him. Make up your mind to find your hope in God. Don't allow grief to harden you in your sin. And think about that lost friend of yours. Confronting them with their sin may cause them a little grief at first, but could it lead to their salvation in the end? If so, it is most definitely worth it. 

How blessed is the ailment that sends me fleeing to You, Jesus, my cure! Though it makes my soul feverish with pain and grief, yet I will bless the day this sorrow found me for it led me to my only true salvation. Your godly sorrow came to bless and not to curse. It led me to salvation and left no trace of regret in its wake.

A Verse that Could Change the World

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

2 Corinthians 5:15

Your life doesn't belong to you. 

This is true of any creature. God created you, therefore you belong to God. But this is especially true of believers for we were redeemed at a price. Christ purchased you back for Himself by His precious blood. So, you belong to Him. 

But it goes beyond that. At the moment you received your redemption, you placed your faith in Jesus which requires a kind of dying to yourself. Paul says that "one died for all, and therefore all died" (2 Cor 5:14). Becoming a Christian involves a spiritual participation in the death of Christ. You were crucified with Him. You died to your old way of life and experienced a type of spiritual resurrection (not to be confused with the literal resurrection you await) that enables you to live a new life here on earth now. That's why Paul says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17). Your old, selfish ways of living are gone. A new way of living, living for God, has come. 

Paul puts it succinctly in verse fifteen above. "[Jesus] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." If every Christian would live by this one verse, our world would be a very different place. Which brings me back to where I started. 

Your life doesn't belong to you. You can't live for yourself any more. Christians don't live for the American Dream, or for more money, or for our own happiness, or for our country, or even for our families. Though a few of these are lofty and honorable none of them measure up to what God has called you to. They are all less than what we strive for. They are less than the Christian goal of living for Jesus. 

You live for Jesus. Your life belongs to Him. Your every breath and every day should be aimed at obeying and living for Him. Your life isn't yours to do with as you please. You are God's servant! Find out what He wants you to do, what He created you for, and give yourself to it wholly.