A Right Perspective - Part 3

by Jason Hamilton

            We’ve been taking a longer look at several passages that maybe we’re familiar with, but COVID-19 has made us look even longer than before.  Here’s another one:

 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. . . (2 Cor. 4:17)

             This verse comes directly on the heels of what we just looked at in the last article. We need major perspective and Paul spoons that out to us in this verse.  By “perspective” I mean that to not lose heart (v. 16) we need to have a change of heart.  We scaled the mountain on one side with verse 16 and now that we’re on the peak it’s important to take in the view from the other side.  Perspective.  Why would we go to so much trouble to keep our hearts in check when things go drastically wrong?  I ride that rut of bitterness like so many others. It’s easy to get on that track and lose heart.  It must mean something else, in regard to suffering, that we have this message in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (v. 7).  I would try to argue alongside you that he truly meant something else if context failed to drive our interpretation!  He follows that verse with these verses:

 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Cor. 4:8-12)

            Paul is saying that our being crushed exposes the fragrance of the Gospel that has permeated our lives.  My wife has a love for instant pot cooking.  When she starts, she can take vegetables and chicken and, before cooking them, they don’t burst with fragrance.  When they sit in the crucible of pressurized cooking some of the tantalizing smells waft from the kitchen into the whole house.  Heat and pressure make great soups.  By God’s design we’re to suffer for the express purpose of His Gospel message, despite how we feel at the moment.  In fact, Paul sees this and says:

 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. (2 Cor. 4:13-15)

             So, horrible things are happening, they happened to Paul as well, more so even.  The spirit of faith accords, not with our feelings or discouragements or failures, but to what has been written.  If our faith is real, if its genuine, it’s built on what God has spoken in His Word, and not on how I feel at the moment.  In order for faith to thrive we have to look past the trial and see Him who raised the Lord Jesus, knowing that if Christ was  resurrected that means that He will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.  As a result of fact of the resurrection of Christ, and as a result of the resurrection, we will share with each other and with Christ-

 . . we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. (v. 17)

In other words, the more I dwell on the resurrection the less likely it is that I’ll grow discouraged.  In fact, with eternity in mind (no more tears, suffering, pain, or discouragement, plus endless fulfilling fellowship), Paul then comes to the verse that we started out with:

 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (v. 18)

             What are our acute pains and difficulties here that we face?  I could dwell for a long time on our trials being light momentary affliction (affliction, ironically, can be translated “pressure”) but they are easily understood individually.  Together they are vital to the other side of the peak.  They help us in our perspective.  10,000 years into eternity, 10,000 years into no suffering or pain, 10,000 years (which is barely a blink in eternal life) will make our suffering very very light and very very momentary.  Yet, I don’t want you to think that our trials are so insignificant that they’re meaningless.  Oh no!  On the contrary the next word in the sentence of verse 18 is rich with purpose: preparing. All of these pressures, this suffering, is budding with purpose because those things are preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  Does that sound familiar?  Remember the crane operator dropping the 1-ton weight on the scale?  Remember that we talked about not making comparisons?  Paul tells us not to.  The weight of eternity is massive and so good that the more I suffer here the more prepared I will be for eternity.

              So, rather than thinking that quarantine is a prison or that we just need to resume “normal” as soon as possible, consider that a pandemic is God’s means of preparing us to spend an eternity with Him. 

  Years ago, as our church was in some transition, one of things we talked about was renaming some of the Sunday School classes.  When it came time to consider our senior adult class I proposed “Freshman Orientation”.  Why not?  We don’t have another class for our 80/90 year olds.  Their next step was eternity.  To say the least, the name didn’t catch on (nor did the “dad joke” humor) but consider that when we suffer we are all being ushered into “Freshmen Orientation”.   Trials don’t have to lead to anger or bitterness, but valuable, deep, purpose-filled but painful, preparation. May this time of trial change our perspective.

A Right Perspective - Part 2

by Jason Hamilton

  Here’s another verse that we have read that needs re-read in light of a pandemic.  This verse will help to strengthen our faith in God by putting our trials in the proper perspective.  Certainly that is needed at this time.  The verse is in 2 Corinthians 4.  We are going to specifically pick it up in verse 16:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

            We do not lose heart.  A phrase that slips off of the tongue easily enough. In American culture it’s very easy to lose heart.  We do that because we are thin-skinned.  In other words, everything hurts our feelings and if it doesn’t we read into a situation until our feelings are hurt.  It seems that practically anything causes us to question everything.  It’s sick to say this but we’re comfortable with bitterness and oftentimes it’s the rut we ride in.

            Paul is saying that losing heart is possible.  It’s not good or right but it is possible.  This is why perspective is needed as believers in Christ.  We don’t want to succumb to the attitude of broad-road (hell-bound) travelers.  It’s cliché but it’s vital for us to “go against the flow” when it comes to how we respond to any and everything.  It’s vital for us to replace broad-road thinking that belongs to our old self and put on Christ and His perspective.

            To help us combat not losing heart we need a dose of reality.  Once again, context is going to help us interpret this passage.  2 Corinthians 4 sits in this midst of a letter commending weakness and hardship as badges of approval in the Christian life.  In Paul’s defense against super apostles (guys who could make big bucks because of intelligent communication) who used their intellectual skills and verbal prowess as their badges of Christian approval, he highlights the need for suffering.  Far in front of 2 Corinthians 4 is 1:3-10:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

            He tees this letter off by talking about the necessity of suffering for two reasons: the first is for the church.  If I suffer I’m going to gain because I will be comforted.  That comfort that comes to us is not intended to remain with us alone.  Its purpose is to be passed on.  The second reason for suffering is refinement.  Because we are worshipers by design and sinners (a bad combination) it is very easy to forget who is truly worthy of trust and it’s definitely not us!  According to Paul we suffer in order to help fix our trust in the resurrecting God. 

            The Christianity of the super apostles lived on the recommendation of others.  Paul combats this mindset throughout the letter.  His argument is that Christianity is actually built on the reputation and life of Jesus.  Therefore, the recommendation of others is really rather trivial.  Imagine conducting two interviews and the first guy hands you a polished resume where they are recommended by others.  The second guy comes in and proclaims his love for Jesus and rather than showing you a resume he shows you the scars on his back.  Anyone can find someone who affirms them.  What’s the proof that we love Jesus? Would it not be Jesus Himself? 

            On the other side of 2 Corinthians 4 is a passage we hinted at in the last article.  This passage is what Paul would put on his resume (if he were to ever have one).  Notice 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 :

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—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.

            Not only are making comparisons futile but Paul’s resume was not the churches, it wasn’t Barnabas, Timothy, Silas or Titus, it was his back.  Not what we would consider resume material.  In fact, in chapter 12, after receiving a thorn in the flesh (a weakness in Paul) he declares:  

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (vv. 810)

            His weakness was his strength because for Paul and for every believer it’s more about Christ and His message than about the person who bears that message.  Which is why we do not lose heart.  We must keep this in mind as we consider chapter four.  In the Greek the same word/phrase “do not lose” is used in Matthew 5:18:

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

            Our not losing heart in our Christian faith is as fixed as the Word of God itself.  He’s not giving us Americans an out.  Well, COVID-19 is here so hit the panic button and rush the toilet paper aisle like everyone else!  No way!  We do not lose heart.  Remember that as long as the Bible exists so can my hope in the Gospel.

            Though our outer self is wasting away. . . Is this true?  Not according to anti-aging creams and Botox commercials.  We have entire aisles at the store dedicated to masking the aging process.  Do we fold to our culture?  Was Paul just unaware of hyaluronic acid?  If he had known there were chemicals that could make wrinkles disappear would he have said that?  Absolutely!  Because of the fall our physical bodies will not last.  In fact, take a minute and look back at Matthew 5:17.  The only thing that lasts is the Word of God.  In fact, the smallest pen stroke will not disappear.  The beauty of failing bodies is that God inserts the Gospel in that failing body in order to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Cor. 4:7)  In fact, in that same verse he refers to us as jars of clay.  Believers may be crackpots but the greatness of the message given is airtight.

            Because we house an eternal message in the Gospel he ends this verse by saying our inner self is being renewed day by day. Because faith is fixed on the death and resurrection of Christ, though outwardly I waste away, inwardly I’m finding newer and deeper levels in my need for Jesus and His pardoning grace, and the closer I get to the end of this life the more excited I feel about being in His presence.

            Tens of thousands around the world have died from this pandemic.  When the dust settles and the pandemic is behind us what did you find you longed for more?  The heavenly presence of Jesus after we’ve died, or momentary health/security? During this pandemic have we hoped in something other than Jesus?

A Right Perspective - Part 1

by Jason Hamilton

During this unusual season of uncertainty, I thought it might be helpful to unpack some verses that maybe we’ve only glanced at before because outside circumstances didn’t force us to look hard at them.  Let’s look closely and see what maybe we hadn’t noticed before.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

Paige Patterson was president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary when I was there.  Chapel was three times a week and anytime Dr. Patterson preached it was packed.  But this one particular time he preached a sermon on predestination and the chapel hall was wall to wall.  His text was Romans 8.  He had us stand at the reading of this chapter.  The reason, as he explained, was that a text of this magnitude required it.  Couched within this powerful chapter that caps all that Paul has said in Romans so far (and as Patterson puts it, salvation is of God which means we have nothing to worry about) is this really profound passage on suffering.

Context is king and drives our interpretation and understanding, in this case, of suffering.  The suffering referred to in verse 18 is not just something that happens, it happens specifically to believers as a direct result of knowing Christ.  Verse 17 of Romans 8 explains that suffering is like the thermometer on a frozen turkey. Okay, those aren’t exactly Paul’s words, but when trials come they pop up as evidence of something for the believer.  He highlights two things: suffering is closely connected to Christianity. Secondly, God’s glory.  In fact, church, we need to attach glory to suffering all the time.  I’m not usually a “glass half full” kind of guy.  In fact, what Paul is saying is that suffering for a believer is pregnant with future glory – like past-the-due-date-and-having-contractions future glory.  We cannot suffer as believers and not hold out that things will be better for us one day – and that’s not empty positivity speaking.

And according to verse 17 we’re made heirs or children, in God’s house.  In fact, we’re adopted into God’s house.  If you’ve ever adopted before you know the challenge of getting over the awkward hurdle of that new child in your home calling you “mom” or “dad” but not so when we are adopted by God.  We are His children as a direct result of the indwelling Spirit.  Such a change occurs in us that we cry out with great affection “Abba!” or “Daddy!”  In our house the word “Dad” hints of formality but “Daddy” drips with personal affection.  So it is if we’re saved.  Salvation means suffering, which means glory shared with God Himself.  Suffering and glory are like Lego pieces.  They are made to fit together.

When we get to verse 18, then, Paul takes this thought on suffering one step further.  He starts out For I consider. . . The word “consider” can be translated as “reckon” or “account”.  The idea is to deliberately, intentionally reason something out.  Kind of a like a shop owner deliberately taking inventory of his stock.  Paul is taking inventory here.  He’s deliberately thinking through this, concluding with a logical conclusion, coming to a reasoned-out result.  It would do us well to jump onto Paul’s train of thought.  We need to be as deliberate in our thinking about suffering and salvation as Paul is. 

So, Paul considers, reckons, accounts, that the suffering of this present time. . .  In other words, the big stuff now.  The two things that are, without fail, in every believer’s life at this moment is the present time and the things that hurt.  Those two things are at the wheel of our lives constantly.  I started a Facebook page. . . with great reluctance.  I don’t know it well, but the one thing that is apparent is that we live in the present.  I know that sounds corny.  Obviously, Jason, we live in the present. But what I mean is that we are dictated by the moment.  When we suffer as believers it’s here and now.  Whether that’s asthma, a tailor’s bunion, or the Coronavirus, it’s present in some form or fashion and we are suffering from it. 

Now, having said all that, go back to what Paul is considering.  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing. . .  Are not worth comparing?  Really?  How contrary is Paul asking us to think?  I work with people who live on the hamster wheel of comparison.  Their suffering is always worse than the next guy’s.  In fact, their suffering is seemingly so unique that no one can relate (which fuels bitterness and all of its accompanying failures). You know what’s hard to admit?  I’m on that same wheel.  I claim Christ and yet my sob story is bigger and more prevalent than your sob story.  Yes, in this passage Paul is dismantling the hamster wheel for believers.  Suffering loses its value when we compare it to other cases of suffering. We need to keep this in mind.  It doesn’t mean that suffering has no value or that suffering is pointless but on the contrary its very purposeful and valuable, but most purposeful and valuable when it’s not compared to other cases of suffering.

However, that’s not the end of the sentence.  He goes on to say For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. This is mind-boggling.  Comparing my suffering with someone else’s is pointless but comparing my suffering to the weight of glory that is coming. . .

Imagine a set of scales where on one end you place some small weights that seem big: miscarriage, cancer, job loss, ministry mishap, etc.  At the moment they feel huge.  Paul calls these weights the sufferings of the present time.  He didn’t forget his own sufferings at the present time. Notice 2 Corinthians 11:23-29 (he did this to show the foolishness of comparisons, by the way).  Imagine that over that same scale where the sufferings of the present time are on one side, a crane carrying a one-ton weight is being placed on the other side.  In my mind’s eye I see the crane operator dropping the weight and as a result completely obliterating the whole scale and all the small weights.  Comparisons are gone.  Why?  Because the glory we share with Christ is so much greater.  This has to be good stuff!

What is glory anyway?  God’s glory is His presence and in His presence all qualities of His perfections (or character qualities) are on display.  According to this passage there is coming a day when believers will be in that presence and will share in that presence.  In the case of this verse we’ve been examining it means no suffering, no loss, no grief, no tears.  We will be so preoccupied by the very presence of God that the former things that were once so present and so painful will be distant memories.  In fact, they won’t be just distant memories, but avenues highlighting God’s redemptive purpose for our lives which will lead to worship.  Also, verse 18 points out that we suffer in the present.  The word “present” implies that we are confined by time.  God doesn’t have a watch on his wrist or a clock on his wall.  God works in time but is not confined to time.  God is eternal.  We will share in that eternity.  We’re not going to tap our watches at 11:45 because the preacher went too long and we’re hungry, we’re going to be enthralled at God’s glory forever. 

Pandemic?  Seems big right now.  On a scale, when compared to other sufferings, it could be one of the biggest weights.  In light of the glory we share with God, there is no comparison. 

Last of all, none of this that has been said means anything without Jesus.  I don’t share in God’s glory, or His eternity, or that redemptive purpose for my sufferings apart from Jesus.  Without Jesus paving the way by living righteously, dying a substitutionary death, and rising again, I have no hope.  The righteousness of His life He gives to me, my death (as a lawbreaker) He takes from me by dying Himself, and seals it all in a resurrected life. . . You can’t beat it.   The glass is half full in Christ.  There will come a day (maybe sooner than later) where the only thing that will matter is the glory of God.

Hope During the Coronavirus

by Jason Hamilton

The Coronavirus has dominated the news the past several weeks.  Its spread has shut down or slowed down virtually everything.  If ever we stared the “unknown” in the face, it is now.  The world, the whole world, is in a panicked state.  I was at Wal-Mart when the doors opened on a Friday morning.  There was a line (seriously)  I was early enough to get two packages of toilet paper because, lets face it, there are five women in my house and two is just standard.  I was only allowed one.  Panic.  It was once said that faith and fear are opposites.  When you fear you are not exercising faith and when we are demonstrating faith, fear is cancelled out.  We can see that panicking is driven by fear and we know that it doesn’t demonstrate trust. So, how do we think about and respond to this very unique time?

1.  Walking through Wal-Mart is a theological test.  What I mean is that do we trust God for our supply? Moses reminds the children of Israel on the backside of their 40 years of wilderness wandering in Deuteronomy 8:18:

You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

God is the source of all we need.  He’s the power to get wealth.  My job, my cart of stuff at the store is a reminder of the power of God.  We, believers in Christ, need not panic when we don’t get what we think we need. 

2.  There’s a balance between trusting God’s sovereignty over this whole situation and being obedient and acting. Billions of birds are on the planet and He knows when each one falls.  He knows how many hairs are on the heads of billions of people on the planet.  He’s orchestrated plagues and famine as a demonstration of His glory for a very long time: 

Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it? Amos 3:6b

Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?  Lamentations 3:37-38

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.  Isaiah 45:7

In fact, Job corrected his wife’s poor response to their losses.  She wanted Job to curse God and die.  He had lost all of his wealth, all of his children, and was near dying as his health was in major decline.  How’d he correct her?

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”Job 2:10a

As unpopular as the notion of God orchestrating calamity is, the second half of that verse says that Job didn’t sin by responding this way.  We can rest in the worst of times because God, the trustworthy, faithful, loving God sovereignly acts over the good and the bad, over darkness and light, over good circumstances as well as calamitous ones.  The key for us is to act with some wisdom (seeing as the virus is passed through social interaction) and trusting that our Lord is Lord of the gems and the germs.

3.  Hope holds up the arms of victory.  It is projected that about half of Americans are going to end up with this virus and some who get it are going to die from it.  Even if half of us don’t and this is a lot of media hype we still need to evaluate our hope in the face of the possibility of dying prematurely.  I think this has struck me more lately than anything else.  Music is piped through speakers at work.  My boss put the speakers at my work station and asked what kind of music I wanted to listen to.  It hit me that I would love to listen to Matt Papa and Matt Boswell.  In a very rare and unique situation I sang “His Mercy is More” twice that morning.  Unfortunately, another assembly area turned up their country music after a while.  I realized then and it still sits with me, that because of the resurrection I have a real, serious, eternal hope.  Secular music pales in comparison because there is no saturation in resurrection.  No hope.  The words of Jesus have been more real to me than ever:

Jesus said to her [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

I don’t want to say that my believing has just been theoretical up until now but it certainly feels more real.  There is a certain hope and its not found in rushing the toilet paper aisle at Wal-Mart.  It would be wise to ask what Jesus asked: Do you believe this?  In the face of death (real or perceived) do you believe that dying is just a stepping stone for the person who has faith in Christ?

Music in the Church

by Rod Ohmes

There's a good amount of talk these days about musical style, importance, and volume. Much of this conversation is healthy and good, and my aim is to add to that here. What follows, then, is a brief explanation of the music at Ramsey Creek. 

The music at Ramsey Creek is designed to lead our church family to glorify God and to edify one another through singing and musical instruments. Our desire is to do this with doctrinal integrity and spiritual passion, while maintaining high standards of musical excellence. We strive to prepare our music not to achieve perfection (can anybody achieve that?) but at a level that will remove as much distraction as possible for those participating (members of the worship team and the congregation). We are striving to constantly and continuously improve our musicianship while also deepening humility. Hopefully it is better (more glorifying to God) than it was last year, which was better than the year before that, etc. 

Every song at Ramsey Creek is intended primarily to magnify the Lord. As we proclaim His praise richly we not only edify one another (reinforcing the Gospel principles found in the songs themselves), but we also challenge the unbeliever (with the same Gospel principles). Our prayer for the music of our worship gatherings is to follow Paul’s words to the church in Colossi: 

Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

 Here are some things that underlay the music in our worship services:
* We believe the music is to reinforce faith through song and to express congregational praise and worship to Christ, our Audience.

* We blend musical styles in each service with the understanding that Christ’s Church is multi-generational and identifies with varying musical styles.

* The music is selected for each worship gathering primarily on content (doctrine) and secondarily on musical style. 

I pray that all who participate in worship with us at Ramsey Creek will be encouraged to see God in His Son, Jesus Christ, as the most precious and valuable things we could ever possess, and that this truth drives us to deeper love for Him and one another as a result.