2 Corinthians 4:7-18

Verse 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.”

“We are a ‘mass consumer’ filled society…” or words to that effect  stated by Andy Warhol. His observation of American culture in the 1950’s and 60’s still bears strong implications, if not stronger, in the days we live in now.

If any person were to give one honest and sober analysis of our western society, it would be this: we are a people that live in the ‘now’ without regard to the consequences of our actions; we care only about the decisions we make for our own comfort with no regard for the future. The pervading present mentality is to ignore and leave the chaos we create for future generations to tackle, deal with and clear up. From the average to the affluent, from the poor to the rich, from the obscure to the prominent, from the road sweeper to the nation’s leader will be found this common irresponsible attitude of apathy.

Just about everything that is made is no longer built to last; everything is made for now; we certainly are a ‘throw away’ society as Warhol often observed. Much of mass consumerism lacks quality leading to many complications, just as with poor decisions made based on the ‘now’ with no consideration of their long term future repercussions. A nation may erroneously lean on its predecessor’s wealth only to leave their successive generation bankrupt, not in wealth but more importantly in morale – the strength to prosper a nation.

Nowadays, the overruling mindset in obtaining success is deplete and void of integrity. We may obtain what we desire, but sadly what we’ve been brainwashed to desire is only intended to last in the ‘now’; today we have, tomorrow we throw away. We wrongly equate quantity with quality.

We behold a form of beauty while being ignorant of how to preserve it. Where wisdom is lacking we can be certain that the beauty we behold will always fade to ashes. Our outlook determines the quality of our living, but where wisdom is absent the bulk of society is more than content to live by the motto: “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”

The kind of wisdom I’m referring to is not by being smart by the world’s standards; a thief can be smart, but not wise. The type of wisdom I’m pointing to is that of the Hebrew kind that has run through the centuries of time. The Hebrews were a nation chosen and called out from other nations by God, who recognized and acknowledged Him as Creator, whose lives meant nothing if lived independently of the Almighty. The God of the Bible was their past, present and future perspective. It’s what distinguished them unique from other nations, unique in the sense that the one and only purpose for that existence had been revealed to them; the ways and laws of God had been graciously given to them in how to live and work with God.

Many of us are acquainted with the truth that there was nothing significant or special about this nation. It was weak, bland, holding no status or prestige in the world. Indeed, they were a nation not to be looked upon or prized but rather outcasts in the eyes of the surrounding nations. There was nothing in them that drew a deserving love of God for this nation to become the apple of His eye. Not even their poverty was a merit in them becoming the object of God’s affection. God chose to exalt this nation in order to ultimately make known His glory unto the surrounding countries. The wisdom of God chose the weak things to confound the so called ‘wisdom’ – smartness – of the world.

The New Testament letter to the Hebrews, Chapter 11, speaks of the heroes of this race. Not all of Israel was faithful to God; not all of Israel is Israel. God has His remnant despite the nation’s spiritual harlotry. Nevertheless, God was faithful to the promise He made unto Abraham, all through Israel’s history to the very seed of Abraham – Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the very foundation, cornerstone and climax of the promise.

Up to the present day, God’s plan of salvation, through Jesus Christ, continues to wondrously unfold until the appointed end time when all that God decreed before the foundation of this world will surely be brought to fruition. As powerful as when light was created out of nothing when God spoke the word, “Let there be light.”, so shall ALL that God purposed prosper in the exact fashion He has predetermined.

The soil of Hebraic wisdom was the conviction of things not seen. Their outlook was eternal. God in His grace and mercy opened the lives of this weak race to their eternal destiny. They knew their lives were not defined by the transient. They lived and died in faith, seeing from afar the promise made unto them, looking beyond the physical to the spiritual, gazing through the temporal to the everlasting; they received the promised land but the elect of Israel were looking to the heavenly one (Hebrews 11:13-16). They recognized that the ultimate promise was not tied merely to the physical but something deeper that gives substance to all life, eternally held together by the power of God’s Word. It is what caused Moses to endure after seeing Him, Who is invisible, the very aspect that constrained him to deny the fleeting, transient pleasures of sin. A man who gazed upon the eternal blazing majesty and holiness of God could not be so foolish as to toy around with a worthless enjoyment of sin, he dared not. Such a vision does not make a person pine for sin’s enjoyment; one sees the emptiness, deception and foulness of sin, beholds it with contempt and counts it as rubbish in comparison to the beauty of God. A lifetime of all the so called ‘thrills’ of sin is not worth comparing to just one moment in God’s awesome presence.

Had the heroes of faith allowed their present world to become the all-consuming factor, none of them would have ventured to do such great exploits. On the other hand, had the children of Israel in the wilderness looked beyond their temporal abode to the eternal, gazed beyond their obstacles to the One Great Rock of all ages, then forty years of unnecessary wandering would have been shortened to forty days prior to possessing their inheritance. The transient became their central focus and at their peril as it veiled their hearts to the eternal promises of God. They were void of an eternal perspective that would have transfigured their testings and trials; they would have walked and not grown faint; ran and not grown weary; mounted up with wings like eagles because of their circumstances, not by avoiding them, but by recognizing them as opportunities to see the glory of God –

“The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.” – William Cowper

While we who profess faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, live in the ‘now’, encountering God in the present – and rightly so – we must not be fixed by the transient. We ought not to bury our heads in the sand when faced by the realities of our passing time, and neither are we to neglect the eternal panoramic outlook that governs our purpose for existence. Israel’s pessimistic frame of mind and unbelief is what gave birth to their despair and depression, murmuring and complaining. No doubt Israel was expecting an easy ride in their journey to the promised land; a conquering without conflict; the blessing without testing. How we easily forget that “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God”. In light of eternity, the apostle Paul called such tribulations light, momentary afflictions. Such endurance, a joyful endurance – “We rejoice in our sufferings…” (Romans 5:3) – was only possible because he could see through it all and truly focus on the things that were essential through the lens of eternity. It is what motivated him, sustained him – the very soil of Hebraic wisdom. Read the Acts of the Apostles and epistles through to Revelation and see how the Church was saturated with such a mentality. How very different we are today, leagues away from the standards of the New Testament era, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with culture and how advanced we think we are in comparison to those “unlearned” early Christians. Our needs have not altered in 2,000 years. In modern society, with all its pomp and arrogance, where are the great thinkers of the world like Aristotle and Plato in our day? We have all this sophisticated technology around us that in essence has made us lazy; we no longer reason intelligently. We might text constantly while the walls of communication continually degenerate!

One of the appalling tragedies of the Church today is that she is no longer distinguishable from the world, there is hardly any comparison. Is it really a cause for the Church to boast that she is now ‘relevant’ to the world?! Andy Warhol’s observance of society sadly includes the Church; we are no different. We eat, drink, we’re merry, and we may as well conclude for tomorrow we die because we certainly look and act like it. Of course we say we are different, but our lifestyles reveal where we are really at. This present passing world has taken preeminence in the Church. The ‘now’ of this world holds the Church with fascination; she’s in love with the world. No wonder many of us are victims of negative mindsets. The Christian will only find a temporal hope in the things of this sinking world.

The Christian’s downfall is being bifocal; having the best of both worlds, heaven and this world. The old saying is that oil and water can never mix. We must have single focus. “Set your mind on things above…” Scripture never says, ‘…and on things of the earth’. Having an eternal perspective will ensure a responsible way of living here on earth, not like the cults that advocate a warped and sickly abstinence from everything God has created, ordained and still calls good! Balance is imperative.

The Christian has no business being captivated by the system and ways of this world, which is a travesty of New Testament Christianity; we ought to be captivating the world with the most glorious news any man or woman can ever hear and receive.

Many who call themselves Christians are ashamed of the gospel because they haven’t seen the wisdom and power of God behind it. It seems that many who profess the Christian faith no longer get excited about it. Either they have not witnessed the glory of it or their view of eternity is seriously defective because they are enamored with this present world. We will always be sorry, miserable and ineffective Christians while we cling to the age of this world. While the present dominates our perspective, we can count on being victims of despair, defeat, timidity and depression who will fail to conquer in the midst of adverse circumstances.

I am always fascinated by the apostle Paul’s life, his immense suffering, his constant array of obstacles and his attitude and reaction towards them: This light momentary affliction is considered unworthy to be compared with the immeasurable eternal weight of glory, it is beyond all comparison! Paul did not lose heart despite perpetual opposition. How on earth was he able to maintain a calm and stable composure? Don’t think for one second he was anaesthetized to feeling pain and the weight of sorrow; he was just as frail as you and I are. There is no other reason than that Paul was persuaded of the eternal God; he was preoccupied with eternal values. It was the governing ratio to his whole life; he entrusted every fibre of his being to the Great I AM, before and after time, Who knows no beginning or end, Who reigns omnipotently throughout! Paul was enabled to view all of these hardships as mere preparation for the endless and indescribable glory awaiting him.

As a result, Paul abounded in the work of the Lord. He didn’t grow weary but knew and momentarily experienced the infinite supply of God’s grace – “In all these things, we are more than conquerors.” And what things exactly was Paul referring to? Romans 8:35-39 is literally autobiographical, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Compare with these passages 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”, 2 Corinthians 6:4-10, “…but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”, 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, “—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” Dare we compare our difficulties to his? Paul was a man who learned how utterly weak he was in himself – “Apart from Christ, I can do nothing”, but equally and gloriously learned how to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, to which we have this magnificent parallel: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

We have a glorious access to the very God of the apostle Paul, Whose infinite grace overflows for our moments of need – every need. I have been through some very despairing moments – in fact, days, months, even years – that could have crushed and given way to depression had I allowed the present and visible circumstances dictate and control the way I think. No amount of positive thinking would have helped me in such dilemmas. It was the overruling grace of God that kept me from going insane. The reality of God’s presence when He draws near, giving such a peace and joy transcends all understanding. Sometimes there is no bright side to look on, no silver lining to the dark clouds, especially when all human hope has been exhausted. The temporal order of this world in general is to despair and give in. Things that are seen only give a one-sided view to reality. The way in which America is going – a nation about to be oppressed by tyrannical reform – is so far removed from its founding constitution of liberty. It is enough in and of itself to bring low the spirit of its citizens. The Christian’s focus however, is to be different. If we focus on the declining economy and international collapse, we are guaranteed to sink under a wave of depression. When will Christians wake up to the fact that this world has always been dark, lost and unstable since man fell short of the glory of God? Is the Bible’s view of this world too radical, too pessimistic and too harsh?  Do we really believe that this world in and of itself has any glimmer of hope to offer? God often mercifully allows such unstable times to disillusion us until we are roused into a state of reality. “In Your light do we see light” (Psalm 36:9)

As Christians, we do not have to be victims of depression. I am in no way denying that a Christian often times will know wave after wave of sorrow. Some years back, while going through some difficult circumstances, I made an appointment to see my doctor who was notorious for her good practice. I explained some of the symptoms I was having. She was extremely surprised that I was still working and with immediate effect gave me one month sick leave, diagnosed with acute depression. I only share this, without going into all the unnecessary details, to substantiate my own understanding and experience that depression is a condition of the state of mind and heart; what we think is what we are. Of course, we are all different in temperament and disposition; some inclined to being melancholic, others to being phlegmatic. Statistically, over the last two decades, depression has increased astronomically. It is a real condition, not something imaginary as some doctors have been quick to label. However, depression is another symptom that often depicts the condition of a chaotic society, a culture that continues to deny, oppose and hate God directly and indirectly.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones firmly believed that if Christians applied the truth of the scriptures to our lives, two-thirds of our problems would dissipate, because many are due to a wrong mindset. He is absolutely right. You remember how the apostle Paul exhorted and encouraged Timothy, who was very timid, naturally inclined to fear and depression. Paul’s prescription for Timothy’s diagnosis was the power of God’s word. Paul didn’t use hypnotism or psychiatry in dealing with such issues. He neither gave pat answers that offer no more than a shallow and temporal relief but brought him to the final and conclusive authority of God’s revelation that truly binds up the brokenhearted, heals the spirit of man and clothes us with a wholesome mind.

We live in the day where God’s word is being undermined, not just by the world but by Christians. Is God no longer sufficient for us? Are we to keep making excuses and make God out to be a liar? Psychology, psychiatry and all the world’s philosophy will never deal with the root issue of depression. We are far too complex, too deep that only God can fathom us and make sense of who we really are. Psalm 139 is a wonderful exposition on this theme.

All around, we see constant decay. Our bodies are aging, deteriorating and will cease to function at a given time. Naturally we are inclined to fear and hate the very thought that one day we all have to face death. Society knows, jests and boasts about it: “Once dead and that’s the end of the matter… once you’re gone, you cease to exist.” But such a bravado and ‘throw-away-society’ mentality is a poor attempt to deny the truth within that none of us can suppress for too long; we all have to reckon with it. This is no new truth, but we all need to be reminded of these sobering realities, not to wallow in fear, morbidity and despair, but in the light of these facts that shatters a false security and peace (the ‘wisdom’ of this passing world) hopefully leading to a saving knowledge in and through Jesus Christ. Reconciliation with God is what cancels the wages of sin, which is death, and in its place, giving us the free gift of knowing God, which is eternal life. The only remedy, the only hope for humanity is to be put back in line with God through the cross of Christ alone. The world can deny it, defy it and carry on building its own ‘great’ towers of civilization – a life totally independent of God. History alone haunts us with the facts that every era, every generation has never solved and abolished the problem of war, strife, hate, greed with all the constant breakdown of society, from the mud hut all the way up to the Oval Office. All the greatest forms of philosophy and psychology have proven to be ridiculously weak in their attempt to curing the ill of man. The world’s last hope in its theory of evolution that man continues to evolve and improve is an absurd mockery as civilization continues to devolve and degenerate, worse than it has ever been. The anemic wisdom of this world continues to shake its fist in absolute defiance at the God Who has mercifully provided the atonement through Christ by which all humanities spiritual diseases are healed – “The Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.” This is the Christian’s hope who can never boast of innate goodness that is acceptable in God’s site; God justifies the ungodly. The Christian’s boast is only in what God declares of us: Made one with Christ, by grace alone, clothed in His righteousness, liberated and made a son and daughter of God! The cleansing blood of Christ flows freely for the vilest criminal if they but look to the Prince of glory, Who alone can blot out their past and make them entirely new.

“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” – Edward Mote

The general focus of Christians in the 21^st century is one that is blurred, cloudy, murky, exhibiting a plethora of instability. The common note of modern Christendom in regard to this world has eclipsed the glorious view of eternity; the world has become the substance where God has become a mere shadow in the minds and hearts of many who profess faith struggling to preserve a ‘sense’ of the reality of God. “The one thing for which we are all being disciplined,” said Oswald Chambers, “is to know that God is real.” Although few in number, God has His remnant who are being educated on this line, through adverse circumstances inevitably reforming their grasp and conviction of eternity.

The Christian is not raised heavenward, saved from this corrupt world only to return to it, to compromise and make allegiance with it or salvage what ever they can from it. We are exhorted to conform no longer to the pattern of this world. The believer’s search for comfort in the things of this world will always end in betrayal and bitter disappointment, making shipwreck of their faith. We have been called out of this present darkness, delivered from out of its bondage into a glorious liberty in and through our Lord Jesus Christ; God is our all in all, the Chief Shepherd of our souls, in Whom we shall not want for anything; He will richly provide for all that we need. In the midst of a desperately failing economy, the soaring numbers of unemployment and the breakdown of a nation’s infrastructure – we shall not be moved! Does it sound like madness to declare such confidence in God? Were the Psalmists – inspired by the Holy Spirit – unreal when they refused to fear though the earth gave way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea because God was a very present help in all times of trouble, in absolute chaos and when the nations raged and fell? Were the Psalmists absurd to put their trust in God when all around that could be seen lay desolate? What moved them to sing with such unshakable confidence?

What caused the first Christians to rejoice though everything they had was shaken, destroyed, taken away, but they themselves were unmoved, remaining steadfast in the work of the Lord? Of course there was sorrow; there was intense suffering, but what caused them to have a joy inexpressible in the midst of it all? It wasn’t just because they were filled with the Holy Spirit or experienced some kind of ecstatic feeling to escape reality for awhile. It was an eternal reality that had gripped their hearts with such persuasion and conviction that everything around them was nothing but mere shadows in comparison. They recognized with Paul that all the turmoil around them was temporary when measured against the overwhelming eternal glories. Their families were torn apart, many were imprisoned and put to death – all because they said, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Everything physical was violently shaken but they remained immovable as they were thankful for receiving an eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken. Is it any wonder the Roman Emperor said that such Christians know how to die well?

No, the early Christians did not lose heart though the material was decaying around them; their perspective was not on things that could be seen; that was not the substance and meaning of their lives. They knew it was all transient, was passing away. Their lives were but a vapor on this earth, however, a pleasing aroma unto God as living sacrifices. Their short life here was nothing but preparation for their eternal destiny. They were known as pilgrims passing through this world.

All this may sound so religious, so farfetched for the modern Christian mind-set, but it is we who are far removed from these realities. Sadly, we are not strangers to this world but rather to the things of heaven. Let us stop associating heaven with where ‘good people go to when they die’! Heaven is where God dwells unveiled; “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Besides praying for God to restore unto us the joy of our salvation, we ought to go beyond and plead persistently until He restores unto us the bright burning hope and reality of eternity.

“So we do not lose heart…as we look not to the things that are seen…but to the things unseen that are eternal.”