This is a sermon manuscript for a sermon preached on 3/22/2020 for the purposes of encouraging my congregation in the midst of such strange times. This sermon is based in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29.
The affliction of God’s people is nothing new.
Woe are we if we fall into believing that which is not true. Christ’s church is a ship designed for the roughest waters. She has an ironclad bow, forged by the mercy-hammer of God which allows her to do her work. What is her work? To face the tallest, meanest swells in all the sea. These are swells that would capsize even the most advanced war fighting vessel. But war fighting vessels, at least those in this world, are created by men. Our ship has been built by God. Her name is New Jerusalem. The grace of God fills her sails, and her rudder is the Word of truth. She is a war fighting machine, with impenetrable plates of glory round about her. Her Captain is radiant in beauty, arraigned in shimmering armor which no man could wear, dawning a sword too heavy for any man to wield. He is knowledgeable, always ahead of the storm. He makes decisions in such a calculated manner you’d think Him to be a god. Yet alas, He is a God. No, He is the God. The only God, the Lord Jesus Christ!
The Lord God is her captain.
Christ’s church is a ship. It’s not designed for smooth waters, but for choppy, violent seas. Now we must ask three questions. First, why is Christ’s ship designed in such a way? Why is it made for violent rather than calm waters? Second, what is she made out of? What are the materials with which God builds this ship? Third, where is she going? Does she have direction? Is she lost? Can she be destroyed? Will she reach the shore before she capsizes in the waves?
Why Is Christ’s Ship Designed This Way?
Exegetical Part
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. (v. 23)”
Here Paul begins laying forth the context of his ministerial difficulty. Paul, in many ways, is a microcosm example for the entirety of Christ’s church. Paul had joy, but he also experienced many trials, some of which we’ll recount here. He compares himself to the Jews only to show that he himself is familiar with their ways and indeed comes from them in the first place. He is, according to the flesh, one of them. He is a Hebrew. In Philippians 3:5, he says, “circumcised on the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee.” Paul was exceedingly Jewish in ethnic, cultural, and religious origin.
“Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. (v. 23)”
Here he asks an interesting question. “Are they ministers of Christ?” The implied answer is no, especially since Paul follows up his question with the qualification that he’s speaking like a fool. He is, again, utilizing the art of rhetoric. Are the Jews ministers of Christ? Obviously not, but to the extent that they show forth the oracles of God which no doubt point to Christ, “I am more,” he says. God, after all, revealed the Old Testament through the prophets of Israel. They had the Word of God first. Yet Paul says, notwithstanding this fact, He is more a minister of the climax of revelation, the Lord Jesus Christ, than they are. The Jews, at this point, had largely rejected Christ, with the exception of very few. Thus, they rejected the entirety of the Old Testament in the sense that the entire purpose of the Old Testament was to point toward Christ.
“From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. (v. 24)”
Paul begins now to recount his persecutions, starting with the torture he received from the Jews. “Forty stripes minus one,” was a unique punishment of the Jews reserved as one of the most humiliating punishments. Such a punishment would’ve taken place in the synagogue. These are Paul’s own kinsman according to the flesh. They turned their backs on him just as they turned their backs on his Christ.
It is significant to note here that Paul says “five times.” He was given the “forty stripes minus one” on five separate occasions making for 195 stripes or lashes in all. It is a wonder how his bodily frame would have withstood so much punishment if it weren’t for the kind preserving grace of God. It appears the Lord had equipped Paul for such a life.
“Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned… (v. 25a)”
Here, he continues to list out two more instances wherein he was persecuted by men for believing and preaching the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The punishment with rods was a Roman punishment. Paul was a Roman citizen and would have received punishment by rod for disobeying the Roman state. Acts 16:22-23 records one of these instances. It says:
Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely.
Acts 14:19 records the stoning of the apostle Paul by a Jewish mod at Lystra. It says, “Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.” Paul was a persecuted man for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, the church as a whole is a persecuted bride for the sake of her Lord and bridegroom. Times of prosperity for Christ’s church, as we’ve had for the last couple hundred years are extremely rare throughout church history.
“three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep… (v. 25b)”
Now he moves from persecution to providential hindrances which no doubt created much trial for Paul, and indeed, throughout the last two millennia, has created both trial and tribulation for Christ’s church. He was apparently shipwrecked on three separate occasions. These three shipwrecks occurred before a fourth which is recorded in Acts 27. So he was shipwrecked a total of four times. He says “a night and a day I have been in the deep.” Presumably this means he was stranded in the ocean until he was able to find a shoreline. In Acts 27:42-44 we learn that the crew of the shipwrecked vessel had to jump overboard and swim to shore. It is possible this event was what led Paul to be in the deep for a night and a day. Perhaps the shore was a great distance.
“in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren… (v. 26)”
Do you see the amount of trouble Paul went through for the sake of Christ and for the sake of His church! Perilous journey, perilous waters, perilous robbers, perilous countrymen, perilous Gentiles, perilous cities, the perilous wilderness, the perilous sea, the perilous false brethren! What love did Paul have for the brethren if it wasn’t the love of Christ. The apostle Paul is truly an example for every Christian who would give him or herself up for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Christ!
“in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness… (v. 27)”
Here in v. 27 we learn he was weary, he toiled. He spent sleepless nights laboring for the saints. He went hungry and thirsty in great sacrifice for the brethren. He fasted often, and was cold and naked at times. Could you imagine giving yourselves up for this church like Paul gave himself up for the churches of his day? This is the call of every Christian. It’s the call of Christ’s church, to a sacrificial, Christ-like love. No matter if we find ourselves in danger, poverty, or prosperity.
In v. 28, he gives up his reasoning. Besides all of this, what comes upon him daily? What’s constantly on his mind? It’s his deep concern for all the churches. A lot of people might call this paranoia. But Paul would just call it the love of Christ! Brethren, you wonder why the church is designed like she is in this world? It is because she’s been called to a daunting task! She has been called to steadfastly love with the love Christ has given her through His Spirit.
Doctrinal Part
We live at a time when prosperity has been taken for granted. But prosperity for Christ’s church is not the rule. It is the exception to the rule. Know therefore that what’s happening now, the uncertainty of our present situation, is really normal for Christ’s people. This side of glory, we are considered the church militant. Why is that? It’s because we exist in a world of sin, fallen by sin. We live with the various miseries both of our sin and the sins of others. In Hebrews 13:20-21, the author writes:
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The expectation, the hope, is that God does and will equip His saints. The word there for equip is καταρτίζω and could be rendered to make ready. You can think of a general making his troops ready for war. The church is a wartime vessel. She is equipped to take on the most volatile seas, and she is fitted with the defenses and weaponry necessary to resist all enemy attack. Why is she built this way? She’s built this way because of the world in which she presently exists. Glory is not yet here. It lies in our future, and we possess it in reversion, but have not yet seen it. We wait for it, and we wait for it anxiously. Not fearing men, not crumbling under the pressures of the world, but moving forward toward the shores of heaven.
Practical Part
We should expect situations like the present situation we are in.
The church is designed and equipped for hardship, and we should be able to infer from that very fact that persecution and other trials are to be expected by God’s people. These kinds of things should not catch us off guard. Toward the end of the Beatitudes, I preached on persecution for the sake of Christ. We should be prepared for situations like this because God Himself has told us that it would come to pass.
Consider also that since the church is designed the way it’s designed, Christ is poised to bring us through even the toughest of trials. Remember, this is a ship built for even the tallest ocean swells. Captain Jesus will guide us, successfully, to shores of everlasting glory in the end. The majesty and mystery of the gospel of the Lord Jesus! How it ought to shrink all of your present concerns. How worldly worries ought to be dwarfed while meditating upon the goodness and kindness of God through Christ! Heaven! Look toward heaven! We are built by God, designed for that destination. We will arrive in due time!
What Is Christ’s Ship Made Out Of?
Exegetical Part
We know the church is built for a purpose. But what is she made out of? What are her tools for success in such a volatile, violent, and hateful world?
“Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? (v. 29)”
In this verse, Paul expresses his deep concern for the church. He is weak along with the weak. He sympathizes with fellow believers. When you hurt your finger, it’s not just your finger that has to deal with the pain. Your whole body is affected. Your brain receives transmission from nerves in your finger that communicates pain. You feel the pain. If we are all one body, how could we not all hurt when one member hurts? How could we not all be weak if one of us is weak? Do we love one another like this? Furthermore, Paul burns with indignation when fellow brethren are made to stumble. When Satan causes them to slip by means of a false teacher or some kind of wicked temptation. That causes Paul to become angry. Do we have that kind of righteous indignation for the sake of one another?
Implied here in v. 29 is one of the ingredients which causes the ship of the church to move about the world successfully. While Christ is the captain, He administrates His authority to elders or pastors. In Paul’s day, there were apostles who often functioned as pastors. They were Christ’s mouth-piece. In Ephesians 4:11-13 says this:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
Christ is the captain, but His pastors are the helmsmen. They’ve been put in place to steer the rudder of Christ’s ship, the church, by preaching the Word and administrating the ordinances. What’s the purpose of pastors and teachers? They are purposed to edify or build up (like a building) Christ’s church.
In Acts 15:32, it is written, “Now Judas and Sila, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.” Here we have another building material which enhances the strength and longevity of Christ’s wartime vessel, the preaching of the Word. So, He’s given to the church pastors and teachers, and those pastors and teachers preach the Word. The preaching of the Word, if it is so blessed by the Spirit of God, strengthens the church of Christ.
In 2 Peter 1:10, Peter writes, “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make you call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble…” God has given us the ability to obey His Word with diligence, by the power of the Spirit. Diligence in Christ causes us to be strengthened in assurance of faith, that we would stumble less and less as God prunes us of our sinful branches.
Doctrinal Part
Christ’s wartime vessel, the church, is made out of many different materials useful for battle, useful for surviving the most violent swells. In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul makes mention of the breastplate of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope or expectation of salvation. These may as well be adapted to the whole church. The bride has put on the breastplate. The ship is clad in plates of golden armor, smelted for the highest purity—removing all dross, leaving only the glimmering remains of faith and love. We are the church militant and have been equipped to fight. Remember, in 1 Corinthians 1:4-5, Paul writes:
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge…
We are enriched in everything we need for this battle. So, in 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul can instruct Timothy to, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” Toward the end of his ministry, Paul writes to Timothy once more and says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” We are the church militant, designed by our Builder to fight this fight. We have everything we need.
Practical Part
The seas of this world are swelling higher than they have in man, many years. Not only is there an unfamiliar virus affecting many people and their families, but there is an evil, wicked ruling class that would exploit such a virus for their own political agenda. Perhaps the church has not been targeted specifically, but the biblical ideals which she espouses are under attack in a most obvious fashion. No living American has seen anything like this. The presumptuous movements of governing authorities are unprecedented. Over the last two weeks, Americans have been left with less liberty than they had since prior to the Revolutionary War under the rule of the English crown. Millions are confined to their homes, not because they are sick, but because they could be sick. The right to assemble has been supposedly extinguished in many parts of the country.
What a surprise! Are you thrown off guard? Has your boat been rocked? Why! This is the norm for the churches of God throughout church history. The freedoms that were afforded to us in this country are extremely rare and represent the exception to the rule, not the rule itself in terms of the last 2,000 years. Do not be disturbed. Do not marvel. We’ve already learned from Psalm 2 that the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The church, brothers and sisters, was designed for this kind of storm. Indeed, this is a storm we’ve sailed many times before. And the weapons of our warfare have proved more than sufficient.
Where Is Christ’s Ship Going?
Exegetical Part
We have seen why Christ’s church is built the way she’s built, and we’ve seen with what materials she has been constructed. Now we need to ask about her destination. Where is Christ’s wartime ship traveling? We know how she will get there. It’s by grace and by grace alone. And that grace is just as sure and certain as the existence of God Himself. Now, Christ’s ship has one destination, and it’s not a destination in this world. In Revelation 21:1-4, we read:
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
In his The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan described the eschatology of the Christian in terms of a city, a celestial city, that is, a city built and established in the heavens. It has a higher and better existence than anything in this present world. And this city will be the capital city of the new heavens and the new earth—the New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; 21:2; Heb. 12:22). When we arrive at this city, when Christ’s churchly ship arrives safely on the shores of this heavenly commonwealth, it will be a ship at rest. It will be a ship that is no longer taking on the raging swells of the ocean of the world as she is now. She will no longer be the church militant, no longer a wartime vessel. She will be the church victorious, a perfected church, a church at rest in Christ Jesus. Revelation 21:9-13 illuminates our destination as a church in a most beautiful manner when it says:
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
This is the finished product! This is where we will be when we arrive upon calmer shores! The Lamb’s wife will finally be at rest. She will no longer need her battle raiments. Her cumbersome armor will be laid down at the feet of Christ. Her fight will be finished. She will have the glory of God fully made manifest in her and she will worship God and the Lamb forever and ever. That is our destination, brethren.
This means what? This means we’re not there yet. There is still a long difficult road to travel. We remember Paul’s struggles. His persecution and his suffering shipwreck, but more than this, we remember the sufferings and scourgings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our life as a church, this side of glory, should look none other than the of the apostles. To the apostles, Jesus promised this, “they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake (Lk. 21:12).” And in the Beatitudes, He includes a blessing for such persecution, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:10).” You see? The choppy, high swells which violently rail against our battleship are the persecutions and other trials we face in this life. But those trials, according to King Jesus Himself, lead us to the kingdom of heaven, which has been purchased by His blood and mediated to His New Covenant people.
Doctrinal Part
Writing a letter to a woman who had recently lost her infant daughter, Samuel Rutherford says:
Ye see her not, yet she doth shine in another country. If her glass was but a short hour, what she wanteth of time that she hath gotten of eternity; and ye have to rejoice that ye have now some plenishing up in heaven. Build your nest upon no tree here; for ye see God hath sold the forest to death; and every tree whereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to the end we may fly and mount up, and build upon the Rock, and dwell in the holes of the Rock.
Keep your eyes trained on the future. Our treasure is not here. Our treasure is not in our personal autonomy, our liberty, our rights. God has consigned this forest to death. It’s all going to be cut down and lit on fire. No. Our home is in the heavenlies. Our treasures are there, not here. Our ship will find no port in the midst of raging waters. For she sails onward in hopes of calm seas, and a glimmering city on a hill where God and the Lamb will be her place of worship.
The doctrine of Christian eschatology, the one where Christ is center and our end is sure and certain in Him, ought to be of utmost comfort during these times of uncertainty. This world is always uncertain. The hearts of wicked men cannot be predicted with any greater accuracy than can the swells in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We, therefore, have no hope or trust in the present situation. In the best of times, we are called toward Christ. In the worst of times, this doesn’t change, we are called toward Christ.
Practical Part
Forward, brothers and sisters. That is the direction Christ has charted for His ship, and it is the direction I, as your frail and dependent helmsman intend to direct us! Therefore, as poor, persecuted Paul did, through the midst of trial, we fight the good fight, and we run to finish the race well. This looks like faithfulness. Faithfulness to who? Faithfulness to Christ, who gave Himself up for us; who purchased us; who has sat us in the heavenlies with Him. We have a greater inheritance, one that far exceeds all riches and glories in this world. Wicked men can burn this place down, and it matters not to us. Our treasure lay elsewhere.