June 16/17/18. 2012 Pentecost 3 Sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - 2 Corinthians 4:13-18
13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that
same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak,
14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from
the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in
his presence.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching
more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the
glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are
wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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BELIEVING AND ITS CONCOMITANTS is today’s sermon
theme. The word “concomitant” is a word that ordinarily would not
come up in daily conversations. But I think it is a good word to use
with our text. I’ll give this definition for it: a concomitant is something
that accompanies something else or goes along with something else.
Let me use our organ as an example. It’s up in the balcony. But a
quite important concomitant has been missing. Yes, you can see the
organ, touch it. But something should accompany it, go along with it.
And what is that? It is sounds, music. That should come with it. That
is what we have been looking forward to. As a matter of fact, a while
ago we had thought we might be dedicating it perhaps next week. But
instead we still are waiting for our organ to have the concomitant of
actually doing what it is designed to do.
Do you see how that illustration fits in with our text? Scripture here
talks about believing. And believing, like our organ, should have
concomitants. I’ll now speak of five of them. They are: knowing,
speaking, praising, enduring, and rejoicing. They should accompany
believing, just as music should come from our organ.
BELIEVING AND ITS CONCOMITANTS
I BELIEVE AND KNOW (13a,14)
1. There is believing. (13a,c)
It is written: “I believed; ---.” With that same spirit of faith we
also believe --,
a) Scripture in Hebrews 11:1 gives us a good definition for what
believing is. There we are told, “Faith is being sure of what
we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
b) I don’t have to believe that St. Jacobi has a church building - I
can see that. I don’t have to have faith in the fact that you are
there in the pews and I am here in the pulpit right now - that is
obvious. But what about what we hope for and do not see?
That requires faith, faith that has concomitants. What is that?
2. Knowing is a concomitant. (14)
--- because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from
the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in
his presence.
a) What an amazing piece of knowledge! By faith we know that
Jesus was raised from the dead and is alive. We know our
dead bodies will be brought back to life as glorified bodies like
His. We know we will be together in Jesus’ presence in glory.
b) What tremendous knowledge has been revealed to us.
3. Believing and knowing belong together. (13c-14)
--- we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the
one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us
with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.
a) In my ministry I have been involved in almost 500 funerals.
Just about all of those were here in St. Jacobi Congregation.
That means I have seen many dead bodies. This I know.
b) All of those people whose dead bodies I saw, who died as
believers in Jesus, I will see again, but in resurrected and
perfect bodies. That I believe.
c) Believe and know. Thank God for His gift of believing, and
for revealing believing’s concomitant of knowing.
II BELIEVE AND SPEAK (13-14)
1. Believing has a “therefore”. (13)
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that
same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, ---.
a) First comes the believing. That is not of our doing. No one
can say Jesus is Lord except by the working of the Holy Spirit.
And how does the Spirit give us faith that has knowledge?
Scripture says that “faith comes from hearing the message,
and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
b) Therefore, having faith, we as Christians will not want to
bottle up that faith and keep that message just to ourselves.
2. Knowing has a “because”. (14)
--- because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from
the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in
his presence.
a) What a message! We celebrate a living Savior who defeated
death and the grave - His death and grave and also ours.
b) Because of that, we as Christians will not want to keep quiet
about that amazing truth.
3. Both lead to speaking as a concomitant. (13-14)
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that
same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because
we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead
will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his
presence.
a) We have an organ in our balcony. Therefore, as a
concomitant, we want it to speak. Because it has wonderful
sounds to produce, we want those sounds to come out.
b) So if an organ has wonderful music we want it to share with
us, shouldn’t we also want to share with others a wonderful
message, the message of a Savior with forgiveness and life?
c) God help us to make use of faith’s concomitant of speaking!
III BELIEVE AND PRAISE (14-15)
1. Look at our promised benefit. (14-15a)
--- we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead
will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his
presence. All this is for your benefit, ---.
a) We worship not just some famous person in history, but
someone who proved His power over death.
b) That promises us the benefit of living in glory in His presence.
2. God’s grace brings that benefit to many more. (15ab)
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more
and more people ---.
a) God’s grace, His gift of forgiveness and life, is intended for all.
b) Should we then keep quiet about this? Once some Pharisees
tried to make Jesus’ disciples keep quiet and Jesus then said,
“I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As we don’t
want our organ to be quiet, so may we not keep quiet about
Jesus and make stones do the praising we should be doing.
3. God’s grace should move us to praise God. (15)
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more
and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory
of God.
a) This Sunday is Father’s Day. Good fathers surely deserve
thanks and praise. I hope they receive it. Being a father can
often be very difficult. It can often result in being taken for
granted instead of receiving an occasional “Thank you, Dad.”
b) What about our heavenly Father, a Father who willingly gave
His Son for us so that we could live in forgiveness and look
forward not just to aging and death but to eternal glory?
c) For all of His benefits may our thanksgiving overflow. May
praising God be a definite concomitant of believing.
IV BELIEVE AND ENDURE (16-17a)
1. Troubles can be difficult. (17a)
For our light and momentary troubles ---.
a) Light troubles? Often troubles weigh us down, don’t they?
b) Momentary troubles? Doesn’t it seem that some never end?
2. How easy not to endure. (16b)
Though outwardly we are wasting away, ---.
a) Outwardly it is true that we are wasting away when bodily ills
get worse and worse, more and more prescriptions are needed,
less and less results are seen.
b) And aging makes it clear our bodies are wasting away leading
up to death. Why not just give up, call it quits?
3. But there is renewal to endure. (16)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
a) Fathers, how often have you encouraged your children, tried
to buck them up when they were ready to quit school, a job?
b) We have a heavenly Father whose Word of forgiveness and
grace and whose promises of His presence renew us every day.
c) That renewal reminds us, as Scripture says, “that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be
revealed in us.” We believe, and have the concomitant of enduring.
V BELIEVE AND REJOICE (17-18)
1. Compare now with then. (17)
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
a) This lifetime has its troubles.
b) Eternal glory far outweighs them all. That is God’s promise!
2. Keep your focus on glory. (18a)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
a) Do you remember Lot’s wife? She kept her eyes on Sodom
and Gomorrah. But God’s judgment hit those cities and her.
b) Let’s keep our eyes focused on Jesus and on Jerusalem the
golden.
3. And keep on rejoicing. (18)
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For
what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
a) Rejoice now, even though on earth it may be with some tears.
b) Then rejoice always where every tear will be wiped from our
eyes.
How is your faith doing? Does it have the concomitant of
knowledge, knowing what God has revealed - or do we stop growing
in the Word of God? Does it have the concomitant of speaking - or
can we go on and on about many things but be reluctant to talk about
Jesus? Does it have the concomitant of praising - or do we forget
to thank God for His grace? Does it have the concomitant of
enduring - or do we tire of fighting the good fight of faith? Does it
have the concomitant of rejoicing - or do we forget about the
heaven awaiting us?
Yes, how is your faith doing? Is it perhaps like our organ - it’s
there, but we are still waiting for it to produce music?
May God the Holy Spirit help us to know His truth always better,
to speak of our Savior with others, to praise God for His grace, to
endure patiently what His wisdom sends, and to rejoice always as we
fix our eyes on what God has promised us.
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