Down, But Not Out

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

Image courtesy of http://bevgore.com/2013/04/30/jar-of-clay/

Main Scripture:  2 Corinthians 4:7-9

 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

            Down, but not out.  What does that expression mean?  We hear it all the time.  So and so is “down, but they’re not out.”  A boxer took a lot of punishment in the ring, and was even knocked down, but he’s not out of the fight yet.  Someone is going through a personal crisis and a series of setbacks, but they haven’t given up hope.  They’re down, but not out.  A business can have a series of losses, and they have to cut profits.  They’re down, but they’re not out.  How many of us know a little something about being down but not out?  If you’re a sports fan, you know that your team could be losing, but as long as there is one more quarter, one more half, one more inning – unless you’re the Cubs – then you know that it’s not over until that final whistle blows, until that final pitch is thrown, until that final shot is made, until that final whistle blows.  As long as there is time on the clock, there’s still hope.  As long as there is one more opportunity to make a sale, there’s still hope.  As long as there is one more punch to be thrown, there’s still hope.

            We’ve seen it from politicians.  During an election, a candidate who no one thought had a chance suddenly becomes the front runner.  We’ve even seen a freshman senator from Illinois come seemingly out of nowhere to defeat a highly-favored front-runner, in order to become the President of the United States.  I’m sure that there were times in President Obama’s campaign that he was down.  But he wasn’t out.  He wasn’t out until the last vote was counted, until the last precinct reported their results.  That’s what we are talking about, being down, but not out.  Being able to overcome our obstacles and our setbacks.  As Christians, we are not defined by our circumstances.  Circumstances can change.  Fortunes can be reversed.  The person who may be comfortable with his six-figure salary and stock options can find himself having to survive on unemployment benefits, with no stocks, because the company cheated and swindled its stockholders.  I’ve seen it firsthand!    You see, these people were down, but they were not out.  They might have been in unfamiliar territory, but they didn’t let their setbacks define them.  I’ve seen people like this return to the work force, sometimes, with jobs better than the ones they left.

            You see, as Christians, we were not guaranteed that our walk with the Lord would be an easy one.  We were never promised that we wouldn’t have to face any obstacles.  We can look at some of the heroes of the faith and see that at key points in their lives, they were down, but not out.  For example, there’s Job.  He was a righteous man, and he was very prosperous.  He even prayed for his children in case they might have sinned.  Job had everything taken away from him.  His children were wiped out.  His livestock was stolen.  He was even stricken with a disease.  He was down, alright.  He asked God why.  He even cursed his own birth!  But one thing that Job never did was that he never cursed God.  Even when the enemy was allowed to do everything but kill Job, and the enemy thought that after all of that, after God’s hedge of protection was removed, Job still did not curse God.  Job was down, but he wasn’t out.  He was in pain.  His wife told him to curse God.  His friends felt that he somehow deserved all of these catastrophes.  But Job remained faithful.  He was down, but he wasn’t out.

            We can also look at the children of Israel as examples of being down, but not out.  They were certainly down during their period of bondage, but by faith, Moses led them out of Egypt.  They started to get impatient, and their impatience caused them to have to wander in the desert for another forty years.  They eventually made their way to the Promised Land, though!  They were down, but not out.  They remained faithful, through it all.

            Let’s look at our main scripture for tonight.  2 Corinthians 4:7-9 says:  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”  In this Scripture, the Apostle Paul was encouraging the people of Corinth to remain strong, despite the opposition that they faced.  He was encouraging them to remain obedient to Christ despite persecution, despite imprisonment, and even despite death at the hands of their persecutors.  Now remember, Paul wasn’t ministering as someone who never had any hardships.  Remember Paul’s journey!  He went from persecuting Christians to teaching the very gospel of Jesus Christ.  And because of that, he was persecuted.  He was imprisoned.  Throughout Paul’s ministry, he faced all kinds of obstacles and setbacks.  He mentions them in 2 Timothy 3:10-13 when he writes “You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, ¹¹ persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. ¹² In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ¹³ while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  He might have been down because of the hardships he faced, but he wasn’t out!  He never gave up!

            James 1:2 says that we are to consider it joy when we face our trials.  You see, those trials and those tribulations strengthen us, if we let them.  Those trials and tribulations give us the drive to continue forward!  The obstruction that we face gives us maturity in our walk, if we stay strong in the Word.  That’s why Jesus himself said that we should not be like the seeds sown in rocky places.  If we are like those seeds, then we won’t have the strength to endure.  We won’t have the strength to stand, even in the midst of a storm.  The slightest breeze will drive us off course.  The first sign of resistance will have us running for the hills.  We need to be like the seeds that take root in good soil.  Our roots need to be able to withstand the storm, so that not only we can endure, not only we can thrive, but we can continue to grow.  We can continue to flourish.  And we can continue to make even more disciples and plant more seeds into good soil. 

            We weren’t guaranteed to face any opposition.  In fact, it’s more likely that we WILL face opposition, simply because we serve the Lord.  Simply because of our faith.  Simply because we love Jesus.  You see, the stronger we get in our walk, the more the enemy looks to take us down.  I remember being taught that if you haven’t faced any kind of obstacles or setbacks, it’s because the enemy already has you in his pocket.  But when we study our word and when we act of the faith that we profess, we will face obstacles.  We may even face setbacks.  There are going to be times when we are down, but we can never let ourselves be counted out.

            In 2 Peter 1:5-7, the Apostle Peter writes:  who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  Sometimes when we’re down, we are going through that refiner’s fire.  Sometimes when we’re down, God is removing our impurities.  Sometimes when we’re down, it means that we’re like fine pottery, and we’re not ready to come out of the oven.  

            One of the things that the Bible is known for is its consistency.  The Word of God was, is, and always will be.  Because of that consistency, we have examples of how heroes of the faith persevered when they were down, but not out.  Whenever anyone in the Bible faced any obstacle, or any obstruction, or anything that stood in their path, they went to the Lord!  Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were sentenced to die in a furnace.  A death sentence like this was surely not something that would keep them in good spirits.  But they maintained their faith and were ready to die for it.  But instead of death, while down in the furnace, they were not taken out by the heat.  They were not burned alive, even though some of the guards that put them IN the furnace were killed by the heat.  They knew that they served a God who would never leave them, nor forsake them!  Daniel trusted in God when he was tossed in the lion’s den.  Daniel himself mentions that an angel of the Lord shut the mouths of the lions while Daniel was there.  This deliverance affected King Darius so greatly that he began to testify about God’s greatness!  King Darius said:

For he is the living God
    and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
    his dominion will never end.
²⁷ He rescues and he saves;
    he performs signs and wonders
    in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
    from the power of the lions.”

We already talked about Job, and if we look to each of the heroes of the faith, we can find the one common factor, the one consistent element.  Regardless of what they faced, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, they all knew that even when they were at their lowest, they could call on the true and living God!  They could call on Jehovah Jireh to provide for them!  They could call on Jehovah Rapha to heal them!        

            What lessons can we learn from this?  When we are feeling down, how do we respond?  Do we dwell on that defeat and let it consume us, let it swallow us, let it destroy us?  When a situation has knocked us down, do we choose to stay there?  We shouldn’t!  Regardless of what we may face, even when we are down, we are not out.  The enemy wants us to give up.  The enemy wants us to surrender.  But before you surrender, before you give up, before you decide that you’re out of the picture, remember to look!  Remember Psalm 121!  In the King James Version, it says:

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

² My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

³ He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

⁴ Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

⁸ The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Even if we can’t find someone to turn to, we can look to the hills!  When it seems like we’re surrounded on every side, we can look to the hills!  When it seems like we have run out of answers, we can look to the hills!  And when you look to the hills, watch God move!  When you look to the hills, watch God deliver!  When you look to the hills, watch God operate in a supernatural way!  We don’t have to look at the waves that are crashing around us!  We don’t have to look at the walls that seem to be closing in on us!  We can look to the hills, from whence cometh our help!

            Another lesson that can be learned from this is that we can turn our tests into testimonies!  We can turn our problems into our pulpits!  We can use what we have gone through to minister to somebody else.  Haven’t you ever come across someone who is about to make the same mistake you made before?  Use that opportunity to reach down and pull THAT person up!  Somebody else may not know what it’s like to be without work.  Someone else may struggle with loneliness.  Someone may struggle with substance abuse.  Someone else may not know the pain of losing a loved one.  But when we use the time that WE were down, and the time that WE were in the mire, and didn’t know which way was up, and testify about how God has pulled us through, we give God the glory!  I’m not saying that we should tell all of our business all of the time, but when God has delivered us through something, we ought to share it!  Remember, the Word says that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  Don’t you know that part of His purpose for us is so that we can use our testimonies to pull someone else up?  I was giving the pre-lesson at Sunday School last week, and I was telling them that one of the ways that we can witness to others is that we can share our testimony.  We can detail how God has moved in our lives.  We can let others see the love of God working through us, and that’s how we can show that God is still saving souls, He’s still working miracles, he’s still healing the sick, and he’s still bringing us through!  YOUR testimony may be the very thing that pulls someone else up!  Did any of us ever stop to think that sometimes, we were allowed to go through some things because not only could WE take it, and be delivered, but we can also be instruments to the Glory of God and use our stories, our experiences, our lives to pull someone else up?

            Let’s talk about comebacks.  Everyone knows what a comeback is.  Using the examples I provided on the outset, we can see how comebacks occur in sports and in politics and in other areas of life.  During Bill Clinton’s presidential run, he was labeled as a Comeback Kid during his campaign.  And we celebrate those comebacks.  We celebrate our teams or what have you scratching and clawing and roaring their way to victory.  But think about how much MORE wonderful a comeback in the spiritual realm is!  When a saint is able to be restored, that’s a reason for joy, and a reason for celebration!  Bishop T.D. Jakes is credited with the saying “A setback is a set-up for a comeback.”  The Holy Spirit is showing me that this phrase is more than just something to “tell your neighbor.” 

            We are all going to face setbacks, and we’ve all had setbacks in one form or another.  But we can’t let those setbacks define or imprison us.  Something that Pastor Gray has taught time and time again is that when we go through something, instead of asking “Why me?”, ask the Lord “What can I do to bring you the glory, even in this time of crisis?”  It’s something special to come through on the other side, standing in victory!  Sometimes, the setback is in place because God needs to prepare us for the next level.  Sometimes, the pressure that gets put on us will serve the purpose of making us better Christians, more powerful Christians, more effective Christians.  Our faith is strengthened by being able to overcome the obstacles.  Think about this.  If you look at a lump of coal, it’s pretty worthless, unless you’re about to cook.  Even as an energy source, coal is going to the wayside.  But put that coal under intense pressure.  And let that coal stay under that incredible amount of pressure for a long time.  In the end, what comes out isn’t the same lump of coal, but a diamond!

            You may be going under pressure now, but in your comeback, you’re going to shine brighter than ever!  You’re going to be sharper than ever before!  You’re going to be more brilliant than ever before!  And it’s not just on the outside.  The brilliance of a diamond and its ability to shine is one thing.  But what about the brilliant light that comes from within, that comes from the love of God, that’s within Christ Jesus?  The light coming from the SON (S-O-N) shines better than anything coming from the sun (s-u-n).  The light from the natural sun can be eclipsed and blocked.  But the light coming from the very Son of God, nothing can stop that Light, which is the Light of the World!  Now, when we sing the song “This Little Light Of Mine”, it should have a little more meaning!  The light that we shine from within us is the light from the Lord!  It’s the light that when people see it, they will give God the glory!

            Rapper LL Cool J had a song titled “Mama Said Knock You Out”, and the very first thing that he said was “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.”  But when you’ve been through some things, and when God has delivered you, go ahead and call it a comeback!  Rejoice that God has brought you through!  Celebrate the victory!  Even though we weren’t promised an easy walk, we ARE promised the victory!  So go ahead, and shout for being able to come back!  God has given us the power to rise above any setbacks.  He’s given us the ability to rise above our circumstances.  He has given us the faith to move mountains, and the strength to climb them or move around them!

            When we look at look at people throughout history, we see excellent examples of people who were down, but not out.  But we already know about the greatest example of being down, but not out.  We already know about someone who’s been through the worst that man has to offer, and has come out on the other side.  I’m talking about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Think about what HE had to endure.  Jesus had detractors looking for ways to trip him up and ultimately kill him.  One of his closest followers would end up becoming his betrayer.  But that’s not all.  He was handed over to his enemies and taken through a sham “hearing.”  He was tortured and beaten mercilessly.  And ultimately, he was crucified, and remember, crucifixion was an extremely barbaric and painful method of execution!  If you haven’t done so, look at how doctors today describe the physiological aspects of crucifixion, what it does to the body, and even the reason why the legs of the condemned are broken.

            And yes, Jesus died on that cross.  He suffered the ultimate downfall, being put on the cross to die.  I remember the song that says “They hung him high / they stretched him wide / He hung His head / for me he died, that’s love!”  And he was buried in His tomb!  He stayed buried for a full day!  He stayed buried for another full day… but on that third day, he rose!  That same song says “But that’s not how the story ends / three days later, He rose again!”  You can’t create a better comeback than defeating death itself!  He was down!  Jesus was down for three days!  His disciples thought it was over, which was why they hid in the upper room!  He was down, but He clearly demonstrated that He was not out!  He experienced a MAJOR setback, but it was all part of a divine plan to set up the ultimate comeback!  And because HE lives, and because He rose again with all power in his hands, we now are heirs to the Kingdom!  Because He lives, we have salvation!  Because He lives, we can spread the message of the Good News!  He was down, but he certainly wasn’t out!

            Now, we can talk about ourselves!  We may have been down, but we are certainly not out.  Yes, we’ve been through some things.  And some of us are still going through, and waiting on our breakthrough.  I’m here to tell you to hold fast!  It’s not over, and you will come out on the other side!  I’m a witness!  You may be down, but you’re not out because:

A.      You can renew your minds!  Romans 12:2 said that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds!  Once we renew our minds and reconnect with the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can remember WHOSE we are, and shift our perspective!

B.      You’re not out, because you have HOPE!  Doesn’t the Bible teach that no one hopes for what they already have?  Also, Isaiah 40:31 says “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow weak!”

C.      You’re not out, because God has given you a spirit of power!  No matter where you are in life, and no matter what you’re going through, God has given you the power… the power to pray through the pain, and the power to praise through the storm! 

D.     You’re not out, because you’re still reaping the harvest!  You’ve been sowing seeds, and it will be time for the harvest!  In His Word, He says that he will meet all your needs, according to His riches in Glory!  Galatians 6:9 says “ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

E.      You’re not out because God is faithful!  1 Corinthians 1:9 says “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.”  Also, Deuteronomy 7:9 says “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

F.       You’re not out because God will restore you!  Things that you’ve lost will be restored and brought to even higher heights and deeper depths!  1 Peter 5:9:10 says “ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”  And remember the woman with the issue of blood?  She was down, burdened by her illness, but her faith told her that all she needed to do was touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, and she would be made whole!

Finally, you’re not out because God Himself hasn’t counted you out!  People may declare that you’ve lost, or that the fight is over.  But God still makes the final call!  If you’re still here, you’re not out!  God is continuing to work a new thing in all of us!  He hasn’t counted us out!  Remember that old saying, if God brings you TO it, he’ll bring you THROUGH it!  God has made us to be more than just survivors!  He made us to be more than conquerors!  God hasn’t counted you out, because there’s still work to do in the kingdom!  When you’re at your lowest, you may think that you’re by yourself, but in reality, God is right there on the edge with you!  He will sustain you in the dark times and carry you through!  He will even empower you to minister to others while you’re in the midst of your storm! 

            Remember, it’s not over until God says it’s over!  There will be times that you’re down, but don’t ever give up!  Don’t ever surrender!  When you’re at your lowest, God will carry you!  He will sustain you!  He will provide for you!  If you’re in need of healing, He IS the balm of Gilead!  When you’re in battle, remember that He’s your strong tower!  You may be down, but as long as you have the power to pray… as long as you have the strength to call upon Him, even if you don’t know the words to say… as long as you have the strength to look towards the hills, where your help comes from, you will never ever be out!  He hasn’t given up on us, so we shouldn’t give up on ourselves, or each other!  No matter how far down we may go, we are never out!