Don’t Give Up Ministering the Gospel (Part 4)
This is the fourth in a series of four posts. Click here for previous posts: part 1, part 2, part 3.
If you are a Christian you have been given a worthy ministry: to share the gospel. Yet, we all find this hard because of the opposition that we face. If you are to faint not in this ministry, you must have this perspective of your faith:
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16–18)
Proposition: An eternal perspective motivates ministry perseverance in the face of perpetual persecution.
Paul provides three reasons not to give up ministering in the face of persecution:
- Inner spiritual renewal is greater than outer physical deterioration.
- The eternal weight of glory surpasses our light, momentary affliction.
- The unseen realities are eternal while our seen experiences are temporary.
We don’t give up ministering because the unseen realities are eternal while our seen experience is temporary (2 Cor 4:18). What is the progression of thought in verse 18? Paul is answering why he could have the perspective that his affliction was light and momentary (verse 18 might be better translated because we look not…). He set his sights on—no, fixates his gaze, on the eternal glory that could not be seen. This is not a casual glance.
Our gaze naturally fixates on what we can see. Paul is not saying that we pay no attention to our lives in the here and now, but that in comparison our perspective is to recognize our limitations in understanding the here and now until we get to heaven so our focus is on the eternal viewpoint from God’s angle that he has revealed to us. We look at our lives now through that lens. We orient our gaze on what we see based on the realm above and its lasting realities.
We can be so fixated on our affliction that all we can see is the terrible effects of what we’ve gone through (circling through the devastation over and over and over in our minds). That is a sure way to faint, to lose heart, to give up, and to stop ministering in the face of perpetual persecution.
Although the seen world is where we live, these circumstances are temporary. What cannot be seen by us is the eternal reality. God sees the fuller picture. By faith we can fixate our gaze on these eternal realities. Our gaze must be trained to fixate on what we cannot see: God’s viewpoint revealed to us in His Word. God’s Word has revealed the eternal realities we are to fixate on and to hope in… not so that we withdraw into a pious heavenly world but to equip us to participate in this world by an eternal motivation (Col 3:1–4). When our gaze is fixated on eternal realities, it affects what we meditate on, hope in, and live for revealed in the decisions we make (Heb 11:16, 25).
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 makes one simple point: trials are temporal but the glory gained by the suffering is eternal.
Our perspective shapes our response: hope-filled faith (cf. 2 Cor 4:13) in the inner, eternal, unseen realities.
-based on the resurrection (cf. 2 Cor 4:14–15)
-based on the ministry in the lives of believers (cf. 2 Cor 4:14–15)
Paul provided three reasons not to give up ministering in the face of persecution:
- Our inner spiritual renewal is greater than outer physical deterioration.
- The eternal weight of glory surpasses light, momentary affliction.
- The unseen realities are eternal while seen experience is temporary.
What persecutions are you seeing take place around you? What difficulties are you facing or do you foresee that you may soon face for your biblical convictions and bold speech for the gospel? How will you respond to the threats against your physical well-being or ability to financially support yourself?
Proposition: An eternal perspective motivates ministry perseverance in the face of perpetual persecution.
You must cultivate an eternal perspective.
You must be motivated to persevere in ministering the gospel.
You must boldly proclaim the gospel in the face of ongoing and increasing persecution.
Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart. Don’t faint.
Live for God’s glory. Rest in the hope of the resurrection. Be an ambassador for Christ. Persevere in your faith.
Let this be your rallying cry: “WE WILL KEEP ON MINISTERING THE GOSPEL, COME WHAT MAY!”
Kevin Collins has served as a junior high youth leader in Michigan, a missionary in Singapore, a Christian School teacher in Utah, and a Bible writer for the BJU Press. He currently works for American Church Group of South Carolina.
Photo by Krzysztof Maksimiuk on Unsplash