Transcript
Well, good afternoon, brethren.
How many have heard the following quote or a variation of it? Maybe raise your hands. The only constant in life is that things change. The only constant in life is that things change. That’s the only thing you can really count on in a certain respect. Things won’t stay the same. And if you look at a life from a macro perspective, it becomes evident. Typical life might look like this: you’re born, everybody’s born, you begin learning basic skills, how to think, how to talk, how to interact with others, how to reason. Start school. You know, in the Western world, it starts at around age five.
Historically, people may have not gone to school, but it’s pretty universal these days. You go to school, another life change, a stepping stone in life. You mature and grow into adolescence, then adulthood. Maybe you go into a secondary education, college, university, or the trades, constant series of changes. Nothing ever stays the same. You develop a career. We’re living at the end. Some of these may be truncated for some people. But generally speaking, this is what life has looked like for the last six thousand years. You fall in love, you marry, start a family, have children, raise that family, witness those children grow.
They go through that cycle themselves. You become grandparents, adapt to old age, and then eventually die. A series of changes. Birth to death. Nothing ever stays the same. Ecclesiastes three, King Solomon put it this way, a very famous characterization of what we’re starting to talk about here. Ecclesiastes chapter three, been the subject of many songs; for instance, have borrowed from this passage here in Ecclesiastes three because it’s so poignant. This life is about change. Three, one, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, time to mourn and a time to dance.”
None of these really need explanation because they are so universal to the human existence. I guess a time to kill, you could say animals, for instance, we as Christians wouldn’t kill people, but by and large universal here. “A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones. A time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep in a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to sow. A time to keep silence and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time of war and a time of peace.” A long series of changes.
Now these things don’t just happen. Yes, time and chance happens to them all, but by and large, we help influence what kind of changes occur throughout our life. God gives us the latitude, in certain respects, to control what happens in our lives, to at least influence those changes. For instance, who we marry, how we raise our children, what we study. We have choice. They’re the result of decision-making.
Verse seventeen here, “I said in my heart…” King Solomon said, “…God shall judge the righteous and the wicked for there is a time and a purpose and for every work. There is a time there,” excuse me, “for every purpose and for every work. I said in my heart concerning the estates of men that God might manifest them, and they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts. Even one thing befalls them. As one dies, so dies the other. Yes, they all have one breath so that a man has no preeminence above a beast. For all is vanity. All go unto one place all. Are of the dust and all turn to dust again.”
It’s how we handle those changes between the dust when we came into existence and the dust when we return to earth, or when our life is cut short, however God determines that in His plan that we see unfolding here. Now you and I, brethren, have experienced those changes that we started talking about to various degrees depending on where we are in the cycle of life, but there’s another change that you and I specifically, uniquely, have experienced that those outside of these walls have not. And it’s the greatest change possible, the most significant change possible.
Everyone in this room has either undergone that change or is or should be pursuing that change. Acts chapter two. Acts two and verse thirty-three. If life is about change, if it’s a series of changes, you and I have come to a place where we can make the most significant change possible, the most meaningful, most important change possible. Acts two, thirty-three, Peter here, “Therefore being by the right hand of God,” Peter speaking to his audience there on Pentecost, “by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this which you now see in for David is not ascended into the heavens.
But he says himself, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your foes your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” We know that our sins collectively as mankind it’s had a part in that crucifixion. It’s not just those in his immediate audience. Christ had to die for each and every one of us. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart; a rather weak translation, they were cut to the core of their being, so to speak.
And they said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? We had a hand in crucifying the Son of God. What is it that we need to do? What does God expect of us, having sent His son to die? Then Peter said to them, Repent.” Simply meaning in the Greek, think differently. Change, “And be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord God shall call.”
Conversion, brethren, is the most important change a human could endure, whether in the church now or outside of the church. It’s the ultimate change, or I should say it’s a great change in route to the ultimate change. Once we receive that Holy Spirit, it goes a step further. Romans twelve. As we build to the specific element of change we’re going to talk about. Romans chapter twelve. We were changed, we repented so that we could be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, but then it goes even further. There’s a transformation, a change that occurs in our daily lives as Christians en route to the ultimate change.
Romans chapter twelve verse one, “I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world.” Don’t stay the same as everyone else in this world. Don’t stay the same as you were prior to conversion, “but be you transformed,” metamorpho in the Greek. You think of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly, an ugly creature to a beautiful one, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
This great change, brethren, of course, overarches, influences, has to guide all those other changes that occur throughout our lives. We have to adapt to all those other changes based on this great change that occurred in our lives, or is scheduled to occur in our lives if we’re not yet baptized and converted. Now here is the core of what we’re going to talk about. The Apostle Paul summarized all the changes that we face by breaking them into two distinct categories in Philippians four. Turn to Philippians four if you would. In these two distinct categories, set up specifically what we’re going to talk about today within the realm of change and navigating change, adapting to change.
Philippians four, ten, “I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has flourished again; wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.” Paul, this great servant of God, of course, needed the help and support of the brethren, and he was pleased to see that they had a willing mind in that respect. Now, he, of course, could have gone on surviving without them. He says in verse eleven, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.” No matter what’s going on around me, I’ve learned to be content.
No matter the change that I’m enduring, that I’m going through, I’ve learned to be content. That’s an amazing achievement, something we should all aspire to. Very difficult, but an amazing achievement. “I know both how to be abased,” meaning depressed or humiliated in heart, “and I know how to abound.” To superabound in the Greek, to be in excess, excel. Paul, the Apostle Paul, learned how both to be depressed and to superabound, to excel, and to be content in either state, no matter the changes he faced. “Everywhere and in all things I am instructed,” so this is something he’s learned, “to be full and hungry both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.”
Brethren, do we know how to be abased and abound and be content everywhere and in all things? That is a lofty goal to aspire to. That’s what we’re going to talk about today. How to handle life’s changes. The bad times and the good. Because nothing is ever going to stay the same. The only constant in life is change. Now, of course, with a subject like this, you can only hit certain high points. This is by no means an exhaustive look at how to abound and how to be abased. But we’ll hit some high points that will really help with how to handle each of those circumstances.
And you might be thinking, “Well, handling being abased, okay, that’s a challenge.” But notice how Paul said, “I had to learn how to abound.” Because in certain respects, abounding can be even more dangerous than being abased for a Christian. We’ll see that. But we’ll start with how to handle being abased, how to handle being in a depressed state, how to handle adversity. The first of those two great categories, Paul summarized. And the first key to handling being abased is to recognize, to come to grips with, to cling to the fact that this life was designed to be difficult.
God designed it to be difficult. We understand the character-building process is doing right in the face of adversity. Well, without this abasing, without hard circumstances, that would be impossible. First Corinthians fifteen. First Corinthians fifteen. This life is designed to be difficult. So it’s no strange thing that we have to endure being abased. First Corinthians fifteen and verse twenty-seven, “For he, the father, has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it’s manifest that he is accepted,” the father is accepted, “which did put all things under him,” Christ.
“And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? For why stand we in jeopardy,” meaning undergoing peril “every hour?” That’s how Paul here in Corinthians characterizes the Christian life. Standing in jeopardy, in peril every hour because everything is on the line for you and I, brethren. It’s a wonderful life, but it’s a very serious life.
Everything is on the line. Our eternal life, the only thing that truly matters in the grand scheme of things, excuse me, is on the line every hour. “I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ our Lord, I die daily.” Paul recognized he had to change; he had to put away, die to those elements of his character that were not moving him toward the goal of being changed in the ultimate sense, entering God’s family. This life can hurt. We’ve all had our share of trials. The heart knows its own bitterness, I think the Proverbs say.
The trials you’re enduring, brethren, the trials I’m enduring, you know how hard yours are; I know how hard mine are. But we’re all going through trials, we’re all undergoing peril, we’re all in jeopardy every hour. John fifteen, but God designed it to be so, John chapter fifteen. And curiously, that should give us a little bit of comfort as we better learn, more fully learn, how to be abased. How to be content being abased. To know, okay, our Father in heaven designed it to be so. He’s working a work in me. He’s building character in me. Christ endured suffering beyond what any man experienced, and look where he ended up.
John fifteen, “I’m the true vine and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he purges that it may bring forth more fruit.” He prunes the branches that are bringing forth fruit so that they bring forth more fruit. That’s his desire, growth. But growth only comes through pain. I have a tree in my yard, and it’s a beautiful tree. I think it’s a variety of spruce. It’s rather tall, but all the branches about a two-thirds of the way down from the top so the bottom third have died, and I’ve cut away those branches in hopes of forcing growth to the rest of the tree.
But it doesn’t look like it’s doing well, and if it continues to die, the death moves further up the tree; it’ll have to come down. But God’s intent with pruning, God’s intent with removing the dead in our lives, is so that it would force more growth in those living areas. That’s always the goal of pruning, and how much more so, pruning these individual branches that represent us. “Now you are clean through the word which I’ve spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall also ask what you will and it shall be done unto you.” There are plenty of talented people on this earth. There are plenty of people who exhibit extraordinary character after the human sense. Plenty of people we can look around and ask, “Well, why didn’t God call that person? That person has everything going for them. They’ve got their life in order. They make right decisions in the face of adversity, you know, certain political figures or historical figures. Wow. What tremendous character.”
Well, they didn’t abide in Christ. They weren’t attached to the vine. It’s wonderful the way they’re conducting their lives cut off from God, but God is only working in those attached to the vine. And none can come to that vine except the Father which sent that vine draws them. Nobody can install themselves as a branch. It’s a very unique privilege that we have. But as a branch, we’re expected to bring forth much fruit. And the only way that can occur is if we get pruned. You think in the physical sense, sheared with basically a big pair of metal scissors. Not pleasant. Not pleasant. But God designed it as such.
The second key to being abased, know that change is coming. Going back to the beginning of the message, the only thing constant in life is change. Change is coming. Ecclesiastes chapter seven. If we’re going through a tough time, God gives a general promise over here in Ecclesiastes seven, you probably know where I’m going, seven, fourteen, “In the day of prosperity be joyful,” When you’re abounding, let’s go back to Paul, be joyful. “But in the day of adversity consider,” learn.
When you’re abased, we’re to learn the lessons to engender growth. In the days of adversity, consider. “God has also set the one over against the other,” they’re in sequence, back to back, “to the end that man shall find nothing after him.” If things are going bad, as long as we’re doing our part, they will get better. It’s a promise of God. They come in sequence, back to back. You think of the great trial among our young people is looking for a mate. And if you think you’ve waited a long time, let me report to you, I waited seventeen years after being called. And it did not feel like the days of prosperity were just around the corner for many of those seventeen years.
You hope for it. You pray for it. It’s ultimately in God’s hands. Of course, we have a role in it, how we conduct ourselves, but I never gave up hope and left the church to find a mate elsewhere. And I’m not the only one who’s waited a long time. There are many examples in the church now of people who have waited for a mate. But eventually, I was blessed with a wife who I’m very grateful for. Now, that seventeen years felt perpetual. It didn’t feel like the days of prosperity were right around the corner. We’ll come to that in a second because there are exceptions.
There are long-term trials or circumstances that God allows us to endure, and we have to look at that in the light of what Ecclesiastes seven says. But when I came into the church, I was from the world, and I ended a relationship, and I had come into actually a splinter. And I thought to myself, “Oh, six months I’ll find someone.” I was eighteen or nineteen years old. And James chapter four comes to mind, James four. Because in the overall sense, God is the architect of the major changes in our lives if we’re seeking Him and pursuing Him.
And I’m grateful I didn’t find anyone in those seventeen years because I found who God ultimately wanted me to be with. I didn’t buck his will, didn’t prematurely mate with someone else, or leave the church and do so. James chapter four and verse thirteen, “Go to now, you that say, To day or to morrow we will go search in this city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain.” Six months, I’ll find a wife. Be another way of putting that. “Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It’s even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.’
James says, “Keep the big picture in mind.” This is a temporary existence, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” “Seek God’s will,” James said. “But now you rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Now, things will get better eventually, but we have to keep in mind the fact that this life, from God’s perspective, is very, very short. So in any given trial, it could feel like a very long time that we’re enduring something. In God’s eyes, it may be a very little time. It may be a mechanism whereby He’s bringing forth much fruit.
It may be that He wants us to learn certain lessons before He’ll give us the next change, because maybe that change will be more than we can handle and detrimental to us. Many factors to consider. And sometimes there are things in this life that God simply leaves us with. Second Corinthians twelve. It’s His will to leave us in certain circumstances. It doesn’t mean we can’t ask Him to intervene, to change, but here’s a very unique situation in Second Corinthians chapter twelve. Second Corinthians twelve. If we see that God in His word promises something or says something is good, we can certainly pursue it, but there are times where God may not give us what it is we’re asking for.
Second Corinthians twelve, “It’s not expedient,” verse one, “for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I can’t tell, or out of body I can’t tell, God knows. For such a one caught up to the third heaven.” We understand that better than we’ve ever understood it before, after the Bible study last Sabbath. “And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of body, I can’t tell, God knows. How that when he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities.”
Paul was exposed to amazing either visions or actual experience of being in the third heaven. And could you imagine, you know, one of the brethren has been to the third heaven. Well, I’ve been to the third heaven. I mean, it’s a big pin to wear on your chest. So God said, “Well, I’ve got to teach this man who’s learned how to superabound.” I mean, that would pretty much be the pinnacle of superabounding in this life, seeing yourself in glory in the third heaven. What an amazing and inspiring experience. Well, he’s learned how to superabound in that regard; he’s also got to learn how to be abased, and how did God do that?
“Such a one I won’t glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities.” He gave him infirmities. “For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth, but now I forbear lest any man should think of me above that which he sees me to be or hears of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh. The messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I be exalted above measure.” We’ve often thought this was an eye problem that Paul was experiencing. Many of us battle long-term health problems or long-term circumstances in life that we wish would change.
“For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me, and he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Now, this doesn’t mean that we should stop praying after three times. This was a very specific circumstance where God specifically answered Paul’s prayer and told him, “Sop praying about this, my grace is sufficient unto you.” But here is an example of a man enduring a physical condition, again it doesn’t have to be a health trial, physical condition, and God for His own great purposes, for Paul’s character building, said, “I’m not going to answer it. Glory in your infirmities. I don’t want you exalted above measure.
I don’t want things so good for you in life that you’re seeing yourself in the third heaven, you’re in perfect health, everything is going swimmingly. That would be detrimental to your character, Paul. That would hurt you. So I’m not going to give you what you physically want.” “Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions and distresses for Christ’s sake.” Wxcuse me, we skipped over verse nine, the end of it. “And he said to me, My grace is sufficient unto you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” “I want you to be strong, so I’m going to allow this situation to persist, Paul.”
Not what you’d want to hear. And this wouldn’t have been a frivolous problem this man was dealing with. I mean, he was an apostle. Writing and reading would have been crucial. Seeing people face-to-face would have been crucial. “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake.” What a converted mindset. What a mindset to aspire to. In distresses for Christ’s sake. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
But here’s the thing, all that having been said, one day Paul’s vision will get better. He’ll be able to see as God sees. This physical malady is temporary. God may not address it in this life’s timeline as much as Paul would have liked it or as much as we would like certain circumstances to change. But ultimately, things will get better if we build the character, if we make it into the family of God, things will get infinitely better and anything we had to go through we’ll look back and think, “Wow, I’m really thankful God let me build the character in those circumstances and didn’t just give me the easy path, didn’t just give me the easy route.”
Whether it’s something you’re going through, the loss of a loved one, or I’m going through, whatever it may be. You fill in the blank. That longing for this or that, it will vanish. It’ll be gone. Third key to knowing how to be abased, keep the big picture in mind. We touched on that at the end of this last key, but keep the big picture in mind. Everything we’re concerned about in the physical realm is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Assuming we use it correctly. Matthew chapter six, Matthew six.
Matthew six and verse twenty-five, “Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat and the body more than raiment?” These are basic necessities. Christ is saying don’t worry about even the basics. He’ll take care of it. God will take care of it. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature?”
Now, these animals, of course they have to take action to be fed, but God provides for them just like he provides for us, but expects us to take action. “Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature? And why take you thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin.” This was a time where people had more basic needs on their mind, beyond the needs that some of us think we need or hope for, the most fundamental needs.
“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need of all these things. But seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” that character, “and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” This life and the things in it are a vapor we saw in James. They’re here and gone. Here one moment and gone the next. When we’re being abased, we’ve got to keep the big picture in mind. We’ve got to focus on what’s permanent. First Corinthians two. We’ve got to focus on the permanent. First Corinthians two and verse nine. We’ll pick it up, “But as it’s written, eye has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.”
An extraordinary future awaits, and there’s a lot we don’t understand about it. “Eye hasn’t seen nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.” What an amazing existence awaits us. And we do understand certain elements of it, verse ten, “But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit.” There are certain things about the framework of what’s coming that we understand with crystal clarity and want to be a part of, “For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” Many things that we’re approaching are beyond comprehension. We’ll have to be there to see them.
I don’t know what it’s like to inhabit eternity, and neither do you. We sure want to find out, and what we understand we will inhabit eternity with the Father and with others who are undergoing the same things we are with Christ. We’re focused on the permanent, on what will be here forever. Second Corinthians four. Second Corinthians chapter four. We’re physical now, but focused on the permanent. Second Corinthians four, seven, “We have this treasure,” the Holy Spirit, the earnest, the down payment from God, “in earthen vessels.”
We’re clay pots. We’re not permanent. We’re temporary. “That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.” We can’t say, “Oh, we did it.” We have these fleshly, feeble bodies. No, the excellency of the power is God working in us, en route to this great change. “We’re troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We’re perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be manifest in our body.”
We’re walking in his footsteps, we’re growing and overcoming just as He did, through the power supplied by God. “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’s sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death works in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written, I believed and therefore I have spoken. We also believe and therefore speak. Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you.”
We know a change is coming. “For all these things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish,” though the physical, though the temporary move into the past, “yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” The man focused on God and the things of God. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” That’s the big picture. When God allows us to go through difficulty, it works in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
“While we look not at these things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen,” whatever it is we’re going through, whatever it is we’re experiencing here, “the things which are seen are temporal,” they’re temporary. “But the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands,” not a clay jar, not a clay pot, “eternal in the heavens.” This is the big picture. Focusing on our future rather than the present.
“Eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” It should be at the forefront of our minds every day, I want to change, I want to enter God’s family. I don’t want to be physical anymore. As wonderful as certain things are in this life, I want to enter the next life. “If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now, he that has wrought us the same self, same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of his Spirit.
Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we’re absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith and not by sight. We are confident, I say, willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him.” The highest and loftiest goal. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether good or bad.”
Now it’s not just our change that we have to keep in mind, that’s not the only element of the big picture that will help propel us through adversity, that will help propel us through being abased, that will help propel us through depressed circumstances. Second Peter three. It’s beyond just our own change. We’re of course living the way of give. We want dramatic change for everyone. Second Peter three. Second Peter three and verse seven, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, at the end of the first kingdom in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also in the works that therein are shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved.” Everything around us, all the temporary that we see looking left, right, up, down.
“The heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also in the works that therein are shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you be in holy conduct and godliness? Okay, everything physical is going to be destroyed. The only way to escape that destruction for us is to become permanent. “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved,” We look for. “and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”
“Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth,” what comes beyond that, “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” We want to see peace, we want to see order, we want to see God’s way spread, we want to see others receive what we’ve been offered. We want to see the change in billions of lives that we’ve been given opportunity to make now in our lives. So that’s how to handle being abased. A few keys to handling being abased. Now we’ll go to the other side of the equation.
Paul also said he learned, he was instructed, in how to abound. There was a way, a proper way to abound. It might seem, what do we need to learn about abounding? That sounds wonderful. “In the day of prosperity, be joyful,” King Solomon said. What is there beyond being joyful? What was the lesson of Israel? They were abased extraordinarily in Egypt. They suffered tremendously. And eventually their cries came up to God. Cried out, and He delivered them. We understand that. But here is the summary of that deliverance as explained in Psalm one hundred and six. Psalm one hundred and six.
Did they handle abounding well? Psalm one hundred and six. Because it’s a real risk. When things are going good, it’s easy to drift away from God. Psalm one hundred and six. If we’re not forced to seek Him and rely on Him, it can be easy to drift away. Psalm one hundred and six and verse seven, “Our fathers understood not your wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of your mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea.” God delivered them, and at the Red Sea, almost on the heels of that... immediately on the heels of that deliverance, they forgot him.
“They remembered not the multitude of his mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name’s sake that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red Sea also, that it was dried up, so that he led them through the depths as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies, that there was none left of them. Then believed they his words, and they sang his praise.” So, okay, they believed again.
“They soon forgot his works, and waited not for his counsel,” next verse, “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron, the saint of the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed up Dathan and covered up the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company, and flame burned up the wicked.” They were living much better than they were as slaves in Egypt, yet all this befell them because they remembered not God. Amazing.
They cried for years and years under harsh bondage in Egypt. They were delivered with mighty miracles, but they forgot. They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus, they changed their glory into the similitude of the ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, which had done great things in Egypt.” That is the chief danger of abounding. After trial, deliverance, things are good; human nature is to forget the God who pulled us out of difficult circumstances. If you’re like me, you can look back to when you were called. Life was difficult for me. “The way of transgressors is hard,” Christ said, or it may have been Solomon. I can’t recall off the top of my head.
Life was difficult prior to conversion, and God, in His mercy, decided to pull us out of that circumstance, those circumstances. But it’s easy to forget that with the passing of time, when things are much easier as a converted person, when things aren’t chronically difficult, much easier to let our minds drift from God. “Wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red Sea,” they forgot. “Therefore also, he said that he would destroy them, had Moses not his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.” Amazing forgetfulness.
But it’s not just something that can happen to Israel. And that forgetfulness didn’t end there, didn’t end with being delivered from Egypt, Deuteronomy chapter eight. It extended beyond it. Because when things get better, the tendency is to let our guard down. The tendency is to maybe reduce the amount of contact we have with God. “Oh, things are going well. I don’t need to study as much. I don’t need to pray as much. I’ve got this to enjoy, I’ve got that to enjoy,” and one thing leads to the next, and pretty soon we’ve drifted significantly from God, just like ancient Israel. We’ll forget the Lord our... the God that saved us.
Deuteronomy chapter eight. An amazing chronicle representing the same thing. “All the commandments,” verse one, “which I command you this day shall you observe to do that you may live and multiply and go and possess the land which the Lord God swore under your fathers.” “When you enter the promised land, I want you to keep these things in mind,” God is saying, “And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness to humble you and prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or no.
And he humbled you and suffered you to hunger and fed you with manna which you knew not, neither did your fathers know that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live.” So this is fast-forwarding forty years beyond that initial forgetfulness.
“Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell these forty years.” Remember these things, Israel, God is saying, “You shall also consider in your heart, that as a man chastens his son, so does the Lord your God chasten you. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to fear them. For the Lord your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks and waters and fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of oil and of honey.” I’m going to give you amazing physical blessings, Israel. Don’t forget my laws in the midst of that.
“A land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, and you shall not lack anything in it. A land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you may dig brass. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware that you forget not the Lord your God,” this is the key, “...in keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I commanded you this day, lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and dwelt therein,” when times are good, when you’re abounding, when you’re super abounding, as Paul put it.
“Beware lest when you’re super abounding and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and your gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.” This is part of why Christ warned so fervently against accumulation of riches. It’s so easy to forget God when times are going good, when you don’t have to rely on him for your daily bread.
Now, He doesn’t want any of us to be impoverished or living day-to-day in that sense, in the most extreme sense, but He knew that where our heart is, there would our treasure be. Israel’s heart was clearly going to be on those physical blessings which God gave them. And physical blessings are wonderful, but we can’t forget God when life abounds for us, who has led you through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein the fiery serpents and scorpions and so on and so forth. God says when things get good, beware at all costs, do not forget me. One of the great lessons of Israel, one of the great lessons of, I know it sounds funny, but how to survive abounding. Abounding can almost be more dangerous than being abased.
Now, the first way we’re sure that we’re abounding properly is explained there. Don’t forget God. Don’t forget God when times are good. It’s a lot easier to drift away from Him when things are going well than when we’re constantly relying on Him just to get by. Stay close to God. How many times have we heard this? Well, it might be get close to God if we’re prospering, if we’re abounding, if we pull back and say, “You know what, I am not as close to God as I was when times were tough, when I was being abased.” It’s in our power to change, and we can’t delay. Time is precious, and it’s a really slippery slope.
Hebrews one and verse thirteen. “To which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Then chapter two, verse one. “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed,” considering the amazing future we have, “...the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time,” no matter the circumstances, “...we should let them slip.” Let them leak away, let them slip away, slip through our fingers.
“For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation...” In prosperity, that’s easy to do. Israel did it. “...which at the first began to be spoken of,” and it might not be material riches. It might be that blessing you prayed for years or decades finally came to fruition. Is it distracting us? Is reveling in the prosperity that God has given us distracting us? Serious questions to ask ourselves. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?”
“God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will. For unto the angels has he not put into subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the Son of man, that you visited him? You made him a little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands, put all things in subjection under his feet,” then continues there.
But the things of God can easily slip from our minds if we allow them to, and it can happen in a way that we don’t fully register until it starts to be dire. I used to read fiction more often and don’t read as much anymore, but I enjoyed Ernest Hemingway, and there was a book, The Sun Also Rises. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but there was an interesting line in it. It may have actually been brought out in a message recently, I can’t recall. But this one character who was enduring financial hardship, great financial hardship, was asked, “How did you go bankrupt?” And his reply was two ways, gradually and then suddenly. Well, that’s how we can go spiritually bankrupt, too.
We can just drift, drift, drift, not really even see it happening. And then maybe that trial comes out of left field and blows our house down. Gradually, gradually, we don’t even see ourselves letting the things of God slip, and then suddenly, we could find ourselves out of the church. And I would argue that that is an easier thing to let happen when abounding than being abased. Now, there are times when we’re abased where we don’t draw close to God because we’re feeling down or we’re too focused on self, but I would argue it’s easier to let things slip when things are going well, to let the things of God drift away when things are going well, to gradually lose sight of the things of God and then suddenly lose it all.
Next way to abound, to properly abound, be thankful. We always have to be thankful. First Thessalonians five. “Now, we exhort you brethren,” verse fourteen, “...we exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks.” Anything that we have that is good comes from God. “Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights,” James said.
To everything good in life, we should thank God for it. And in the midst of prosperity, in the midst of abounding, there’s more to be thankful for. Just the act of showing God gratitude for what He’s given us will keep that line of communication between yourself and God, myself and God, open. It’ll ensure we’re not letting the things that He’s given us, the blessings He’s given us, crowd out our relationship with Him. “In everything give thanks,” unqualified here, “...for this is the will of God in Jesus concerning you.” That’s what He wants. “Quench not the spirit,” directly tied to it, and “...despise not prophesyings.” Be grateful even for trials. God gives them to us so that we can grow.
Philippians four, verse four. “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing...” He’s a lot closer than we ever thought. “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Third way to correctly abound. This is less of a subject than the first half, but third way to abound. Don’t lose focus. That can apply to abounding or being abased, but don’t lose focus. Mark chapter four. There was a time when we heard the word of God. We still hear it on a regular basis. We strive to live it. Mark chapter four, Christ explained the parable of the sower. four, fourteen. The sower sows the word. And these are by the wayside where the word is sown, but when they’ve heard, Satan comes immediately and takes the word which was sown out of their hearts.” They lost focus.
“And these are they likewise which are on stony ground, which when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time. Afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they’re offended. They lost focus on the great prize. They allowed distraction. And these are they which are sown among thorns, such as hear the word, and the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it become unfruitful.”
They lost focus because things were going well, because there were shiny objects that surrounded them. Because there were things that could draw their attention away from the things of God, they lost focus. “And then there are those which are sown on good ground, such as hear the word and receive it,” focus on it, “...and bring forth fruit, some sixty, thirty, and a hundredfold.”
Next way to properly abound, and it ties into how we start. And as we draw to a close, it will, it will again tie into that. First Timothy chapter six. We have to be content with what we have. Remember, Paul learned to be content in whatever state he was in. We have to be content with whatever it is that God has given us. First Timothy chapter six, verse six. “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it’s certain we can carry nothing out.” We didn’t bring anything physical into this world, and we can’t take anything physical with us.
“Having food and raiment let us therewith be content,” with the basics, “...but they that will be rich will fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in perdition and destruction.” Be content with the basics. He was teaching the same thing that Christ taught. Verse seventeen. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches.”
We understand what we do with uncertain riches in God’s way, “...but the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy, trust in Him that they do good, that they be rich in good works...” If they have some substance, moderation, of course, “...ready to distribute,” ready to help others, “...willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life,” not losing focus on eternal life at the expense of physical life, physical circumstance, a focus on the eternal. Very much related to that first list.
Brethren, all God’s servants had to learn how to both be abased and abound. You can go through any number of them. Moses, for instance, almost killed as an infant, that’s being abased, almost killed as an infant, then finds himself in Pharaoh’s court as one of the top leaders in Egypt, super abounding. Then he wants to deliver his people. He learns he’s an Israelite; sees their plight. So he gets ahead of God, kills an Egyptian, then he’s fleeing for his life. The height of wealth and riches and power, to being a fugitive, abased again.
Then God comes to him and says, I’m going to use you to raise Israel, to remove Israel from slavery, abounding again. Those in, and the Israelites don’t want to listen to Him, abased. It’s just on and on and on. Helps deliver Israel, and they begin complaining against Him. Gets so mad that God says, “You can no longer enter the Promised Land.” Abased. Just up and down, up and down. It’s the pattern of all of God’s great servants, and it’s the pattern of you and I. It’s the way our life is lived. And that’s why it’s so crucial to learn how to both be abased and abound.
Let’s return to where we started. Philippians four, once again. Philippians chapter four. Ultimately, Moses will be in the kingdom of God, super-abound, after not being allowed into that physical Promised Land, which he would have loved to see. A very abasing experience. You lost your temper, Moses, you’re not entering. You didn’t explain correctly the circumstances of that miracle, you’re not entering without going into more detail.
Philippians chapter four and verse ten. “But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has flourished again, wherein you were careful but lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned that in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and hungry, both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.”
Brethren, whether being abased or abounding, we must stay close to God. That’s the common thread, the common theme throughout either circumstance. In the time we have left, let’s strive to be content, whether we find ourselves being abased or abounding.
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