Look Beyond Part 2 – Looking to the Unseen

Last time:

Looking to Jesus – fixing our eyes on Jesus (Heb 12) because of the many who have gone before us (Heb 11) who were looking to an even better country, where Jesus now is.

Let’s keep looking to Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of majesty (Heb 1)!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Another ‘therefore’!

Paul has been talking in this chapter about his present sufferings and struggles in this world – and they were pretty bad! Paul really went through a lot of trials and troubles.

So he speaks of our time here on earth as treasure in jars of clay: we hold something of great value within us, even if our outward bodies are weak and imperfect.

So why do we not lose heart?

We do not lose heart because, despite our sufferings two amazing things are happening:

God will raise us from the dead like he did Jesus
In the meantime the gospel is reaching more and more people

And those two facts far outweighed for Paul any misery or suffering he was going through.

Therefore we do not lose heart.

I like how Paul is so honest about his physical limitations and even deteriorations. He confesses that outwardly we are wasting away! You’d think the super-apostle Paul would put more of a super spin on events, but he doesn’t need to. He can face the reality of earthly demise because he can look beyond it to an incredible heavenly reality.

And that heavenly reality is present in us today to some extent, even while we wait for its ultimate fulfilment. Inwardly we are renewed day by day. Treasure in jars of clay.

Of course it is not a given that we are renewed day by day. If we fix our eyes on the wrong things, we will be inwardly declining morally, spiritually, mentally. In fact, it does not take any effort at all. We don’t even have to fix our minds on bad things. They will, in my experience, drift off course on their own.

That’s why we’re told to fix our minds on the things unseen in these verses.

But not only are we able to be renewed day by day, to keep the treasure safe within the jar in the here and now, there is even greater treasure in the future. Paul says that our

light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

He could say that because the trouble he was going through was linked to his preaching of the gospel.

For us, not all our afflictions are necessarily achieving anything like an eternal glory. We can bring trouble on ourselves and although God can by his grace turn that around for his glory, I believe Paul is talking about his suffering for the gospel. And in his suffering there are many people coming to know Christ.

And that’s an eternal glory that far outweighs any suffering.

Jesus was willing to die so that some might find freedom. Paul was willing to suffer so that others might find that same freedom. In the light of seeing your neighbour in heaven for all of eternity, any suffering you undergo to see that take place is both lightweight and momentary.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

It’s a seeming contradiction isn’t it, to fix our eyes on what is unseen. These must be the eyes of the heart that Paul talks about in Ephesians 1:

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²²And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

That’s some enlightenment! Surely this is what Paul is talking about when he tells us to fix our eyes on things unseen. There is an unseen reality that is both present and future that is greater than our physical reality, superior to anything our human eyes can see. And that’s where God’s word is encouraging us to fix our eyes.

Last week we saw that we were to fix our eyes on Jesus and I suggested that there was more determination in the word than a mere glance. So how can we stay fixed on things unseen when we live in the visible physical world day-to-day?

I believe it’s built up of 100s of choices we make every moment.

We choose to interpret circumstances in the light of scripture.

We choose to make decisions by inviting Jesus into the decision-making process.

We choose to switch off the TV when we know it’s not a healthy thing we are watching.

We choose to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We make a daily choice to talk to Jesus throughout the day.

We choose to talk to him silently in the quiet of our hearts while listening to a neighbour.

We choose to hold back on our own inferior wisdom and wait to see if the Lord has something to say.

We choose to view our tiny lifespan every day as part of God’s vast eternal plan.

We choose to put aside insecurity and inferiority complexes and see ourselves as redeemed, chosen and given a part to play in history.

We choose to look to Jesus seated at the right hand of majesty and know that we are seated with him.

We choose to be filled with his Spirit not as a one-off event but as a daily encounter.

We choose to say, I don’t want to be friends with the world. I want to walk with the Lord and be his friend.

So let us look beyond our human frailty and fix our eyes on things unseen.

I’m going to use those words from Ephesians 1 again to lead us off into prayer. Feel free to follow on with your own prayer to our mighty Jesus.

¹⁸I pray that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened in order that we may know the hope to which he has called us, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²²And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Amen.