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To the Heart, Through the Head
Now the stage is set to ask: What’s the secret of not losing heart, but being renewed day by day? How does it happen?
There are two kinds of clues: One from outside the text and one from inside. First, consider the one from outside. Paul uses the verb “renew” one other place in all his writings. Colossians 3:9–10: “You have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” So the clue is the phrase “in knowledge.” Our inner selves — our new regenerate, Christ-trusting selves — are being renewed “in knowledge.” Being renewed day by day comes through what we put in our heads. God has designed the glory of the human being such that the condition of our heart is profoundly influenced by the content of our head — or by what the mind consciously focuses on.
More Than Knowledge — But Not Less
Notice, I’m saying this carefully so as not to overstate it. Knowledge alone, without the Holy Spirit applying that knowledge by miraculous illumination, produces pride. Paul said so in 1 Corinthians 8:1: “this knowledge puffs up. Love builds up.” I know that there are many people whose heads are full of true statements about God and the Bible, who are, in fact, children of hell. Jesus said so in Matthew 23:15.
But I don’t know any Christian who is being renewed day by day so as not to lose heart without putting biblical truth in their heads. In other words, it takes more than knowing to be renewed day by day, but not less. Let this sink in because it will have a massive effect on your ministry. God has designed the glory of the human being such that the condition of our heart is profoundly influenced by the content of our head — what we consciously focus on. The issue here is not losing heart. Heart! And our first clue says, Not losing heart is profoundly connected to not losing truth. Fresh strength in the heart is profoundly connected to fresh knowledge in the head.
That’s the first clue — Paul’s use of the word “being renewed” in Colossians 3:9–10, “renewed in knowledge.”
The Head Serves the Heart
The second clue is, then, exactly what you would expect. It points to the same thing: the head of knowing serving the heart of feeling. The first word in verse 16 is “so” (connecting it with the knowledge of what went before), and the first word after verse 16 is “for” (connecting it with the knowledge that comes after). “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. [17]For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory.”
What’s another word for “so” at the beginning of this verse? “Therefore.” What’s another word for “for” at the beginning of verse 17? “Because.” You know how these words work. You use them everyday.
I am hungry. So — therefore — I am going to eat. I am going to eat, for — because — I am hungry. When the support for an action becomes before the action you use “so” or “therefore.” I am hungry. So I am going to eat. And when the support for your action comes after, you introduce it with “for” or “because.” I am going to eat. For I am hungry. My hunger is the reason I am going to eat. So, if the reason comes first you follow it with “so” or “therefore.” If the reason comes second, you introduce it with “for” or “because.”
Why I’m Here
Now you may be thinking: This is weird. We didn’t come to Chicago to take a grammar lesson. Or a logic lesson. Why are you talking like this? Get on to the meat. This tastes like a side dish.
My response goes something like this: Why do you think I was invited to this event? I’m not cool. I’m not hip. I don’t dress cool. I don’t talk cool. Moreover, I don’t give a hoot about dressing cool or talking cool. I’ll tell you why I think I was invited. Because I have spent the last forty-plus years of my life mainly digging into the becauses and the therefores of the Bible, and showing as many people as I can the treasures I have found. That’s why I think I’m here.
Helping Others Read the Bible for Themselves
The Legacy Movement is not mainly about entertainment, but about making disciples in the city. You know how you can tell if you’ve made a disciple? The person you’re working with can detect the becauses and the therefores in the Bible and can dig down into the treasures they contain until that knowledge explodes with heart-changing power, and they are being renewed by their own discoveries day by day. Until then, they are second-handers mooching off of your spiritual plate.
The great need in our churches, in our discipling, is for preaching and for teaching that deals with the words of the text and shows why they are there. And does it with a view to helping others see it for themselves.
Digging Up the Treasures
So I say again, the second clue to the secret of not losing heart, but being renewed, is that the word “so” at the beginning points back to massive renewing support for the heart in verses 7–15, and the word “because” at the beginning of verse 17 points forward to the massive renewing support for the heart in verses 17 and 18 (and beyond).
We have already heard a message on verses 7–15, but here is a glimpse of what I mean about the treasures being dug up under the word “therefore” at the beginning of verse 16.
- Verse 7: We have the treasure of Christ and his gospel in weak bodies so that all the glory goes to God. Therefore, we do not lose heart.
- Verses 8–9: “We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” Therefore, we do not lose heart.
- Verse 10: When we carry about in our body the dying of Jesus, the life of Jesus is manifested in our body. Therefore, we do not lose heart.
- Verse 14: “God will raise us from the dead with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Verse 15: “Through our suffering grace extends to more and more people and increases thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Paul is really experiencing a heart-renewing power by filling his mind with these truths. And he is inviting us into this same experience. We are renewed day by day by putting these glorious realities into our minds. God has designed the glory of the human being such that the condition of the heart is profoundly influenced by the content of the head — by what we focus our minds on. That is the meaning of the “therefore” in verse 16. The truths of verses 7–15 really have power to renew the heart in faith and hope and strength and joy.
Look to the Unseen Eternal
And so it is with the “for” or the “because” at the beginning of verse 17. We do not lose heart . . .
For (because) this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, [18] as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
The main support in this paragraph for our daily renewal is in verse 17. “For (because)this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Verse 18 emphasizes: look at this. Look at all these future, unseen glorious things. Think about them. Set your mind on them. Meditate on them. Chew on this meal. Memorize them. Preach them to yourself. Look. Look. Look.
That’s the point of verse 18. The basis of your day-by-day renewal and your not losing heart is mainly unseen and eternal. The fallen nature and the fallen humanity oppress you and cause you to waste away — those things are painfully visible. Don’t focus on them. If you do, you will be filled with despair. Look on the unseen. Look on the eternal.
All Your Affliction Is Meaningful
And how do you do that? How do you see the unseen? You see it through the windows oftherefore and because. So look at the because window in verse 17. We do not lose heart, but are being renewed day by day, “because this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Look at this. Look at this unseen reality. You can’t see this in the world. This is invisible. This is a promise that something is happening in your affliction that you cannot see. How do you see it? You see it here in verse 17 in a promise underneath the “because.”
What is this promise? What is this unseen reason that you should put in your head for the sake of your heart, so that you will be renewed day by day?
Answer: It’s the promise that all your affliction, even if it lasts a lifetime (which it did for Paul — no season of rest and retirement to reward his suffering at the end of his life — he was executed by Nero) is light and momentary and totally meaningful. So we do not lose heart.
Even a Lifetime of Affliction
Notice the contrast in verse 17 between momentary and eternal, and between light affliction and weight of glory. “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal(contrasting with momentary) weight (contrasting with light) of glory.”
So the truth Paul wants us to put in our heads day by day so that we will be renewed and not lose heart is this: Compared to endless ages of ages, these seventy or eighty years are as nothing. Compared to the weight and greatness and wonder of the glory we will see and we will be, this inglorious, shameful, painful affliction is light. His yoke is easy and his burden — even a lifetime of affliction — is light. And remember this is Paul talking, not John Piper. He had really suffered.
Every Moment of Affliction
And then comes what is perhaps the most amazing “because” of all. We do not lose heart because every single moment of our affliction in the path of obedience — whether from sickness or slander — fallen nature or fallen people — all of it is meaningful. That is, all of it — unseen to our eyes —is producing something, preparing something, for us in eternity. Verse 17: “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
This glory, that God will show us and give us, is beyond imagination. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). And more than that. There are special glories in the age to come brought about by your particular afflictions. That’s what verse 17 says: Your affliction is preparing [producing] for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”
Producing a Special, Eternal Glory
That is what I mean by saying every moment of your affliction is meaningful. It has meaning. It is doing something. Causing something. Bringing about something glorious. You can’t see this. The world can’t see this. They think, and you are tempted to think, this suffering is meaningless. It’s not doing anything good. I can’t see any good coming out of this. That’s what you feel if you focus on the seen.
To which Paul responds, look to the things that are unseen. The promise of God. Nothing in your pain is meaningless. It is all preparing. Working something. Producing something — a weight of glory, a special glory for you. Just for you because of that pain.
The Tragedy of the Baptist’s Death
I’ll close with an example of what I mean. The death of John the Baptist. From one angle this must be one of the most tragic stories in all the Bible. Jesus said, “Among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). And now he is in prison because John said publicly: “No, King Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife Herodias. You are living in adultery.”
And as he sits alone in jail, wondering, is this how the kingdom is supposed to come, Herod throws a birthday party for himself. And for a little sexual bonus for the guests he has his step daughter dance. She was so pleasing that Herod promised whatever she wanted as a gift. She consults with Herodias her mother, who hates John the Baptist, and says, “The gift I want is the head of John the Baptist on a platter” (Matthew 14:8).
And in two simple verses, it is done. And how many times have I put myself in John’s position. He is sitting there in prison hoping for release to continue his ministry and his life. The door swings open, and there are two men, one with a sword. A moment of silence. Then the executioner says, “Come over here and kneel. If you struggle, we will bind you.” “Why? What’s going on? What happened?” “They liked the king’s daughter’s dance, and she asked for your head.” And the last thing John is left thinking as his short life ends is: “A dance? A dance? My life for dance?”
A Particular Weight of Glory Forged Forever
And everything in us wants to cry out: Meaningless! Meaningless — except for one thing. We have looked to the unseen. And I have heard God say in 2 Corinthians 4:17: This too, this seemingly irrational, pointless, meaningless murder of a great man is preparing (producing!) for him an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
It was not meaningless. At that moment eternity changed. A special, particular weight of glory was forged for John the Baptist forever.
And so it will be for you. Therefore, do not lose heart. Look at this unseen, eternal weight of glory day by day, and be renewed.
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