To Understand Journey
2 Corinthians 4:9-11
Introduction
: I will be doing a series this December I am calling ‘Tis the Season’.
I begin with ‘Tis the Season to Understand / Appreciate prophecy’.
Transition
: This week ‘Tis the Season to Appreciate the Journey’.
From The Old Testament:
Transition
:
In the New Testament:
I. Hard Pressed/Persecuted but not crushed
dioko
{dee-o’-ko}
Meaning:
1) to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away 2) to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after 2a) to press on: figuratively of one who in a race runs swiftly to reach the goal 2b) to pursue (in a hostile manner) 3) in any way whatever to harass, trouble, molest one 3a) to persecute 3b) to be mistreated, suffer persecution on account of something 4) without the idea of hostility, to run after, follow after: someone 5) metaph., to pursue 5a) to seek after eagerly, earnestly endeavor to acquire
(
egkataleipo
)
Meaning:
to leave behind, i.e. (in a good sense)
let remain over
or (in a bad sense)
desert
Origin:
from 1722 and 2641
Usage:
abandon (1), abandoned(1), deserted(2), forsake(1), forsaken(3), forsaking(1), left(1).
Transition
:
II. Struck down but not destroyed
καταβ
ά
λλω
(
kataballo
)
Meaning:
to cast down
Origin:
from 2596 and 906
Usage:
laying(1), struck down(1).
ἀ
π
ό
λλυμι
(
apollumi
)
Meaning:
to destroy, destroy utterly
Origin:
from 575 and same root as 3639b
Usage:
bring to an end(1), destroy(17), destroyed(9), dying(1), lose(9), loses(7), lost(14),passed away(1), perish(16), perishable(m)(1), perished(5), perishes(1), perishing(6), put to death(1), ruined(3).
III. Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body
.
How their sufferings, and patience under them, are declared, v. 8-12. The apostles were great sufferers; therein they followed their Master: Christ had told them
that in the world they should have tribulation
, and so they had; yet they met with wonderful support, great relief, and many allays of their sorrows.
“We are,”
says the apostle,
“troubled on every side
, afflicted many ways, and we meet with almost all sorts of troubles;
yet not distressed
, v. 8. We are not hedged in nor cooped up, because we can see help in God, and help from God, and have liberty of access to God.” Again, “We are
perplexed
, often uncertain, and in doubt what will become of us, and not always without anxiety in our minds on this account;
yet not in despair
(v. 8), even in our greatest perplexities, knowing that God is able to support us, and to deliver us, and in him we always place our trust and hope.” Again, “We are
persecuted
by men, pursued with hatred and violence from place to place, as men not worthy to live; yet
not forsaken
of God,” v. 9. Good men may be sometimes forsaken of their friends, as well as persecuted by their enemies; but God will never leave them nor forsake them. Again, “We are sometimes dejected, or
cast down;
the enemy may in a great measure prevail, and our spirits begin to fail us; there may be fears within, as well as fightings without; yet we are
not destroyed,”
v. 9. Still they were preserved, and kept their heads above water. Note, Whatever condition the children of God may be in, in this world, they have a
“but not”
to comfort themselves with; their case sometimes is bad, yea very bad, but not so bad as it might be. The apostle speaks of their sufferings as constant, and as a counterpart of the sufferings of Christ, v. 10. The sufferings of Christ were, after a sort, re-acted in the sufferings of Christians; thus did they
bear about the dying of the Lord Jesus
in their body, setting before the world the great example of a suffering Christ,
that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest
, that is, that people might see the power of Christ’s resurrection, and the efficacy of grace in and from the living Jesus, manifested in and towards them, who did yet live, though they were always
delivered to death
(v. 11), and though
death worked in them
(v. 12), they being exposed to death, and ready to be swallowed up by death continually. So great were the sufferings of the apostles that, in comparison with them, other Christians were, even at this time, in prosperous circumstances:
Death worketh in us; but life in you
, v. 12.
(above vr. 10 commentary taken from Matthew Henry’s Commentary
)
So, what is the Christian Journey Like?
Transition
:
1 Corinthians 9:24
‘Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain
It’
. (1Co 9:24 NKJ)
2 Timothy 4:7
‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’. (2Ti 4:7 NKJ)
Conclusion
: Paul states that he:
Fought
Finished
Kept
Application
: I wonder just how tired Paul was? Or was He?
Greek Language study taken from Bible Works Electronic)

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