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November 12, 2017

"There are No Mere Mortals"

Series: Shock & Awe: The Year of the Bible 2017 Passage: 2 Corinthians 4:1– 5:21

Sunday Sermon: Nov 12th, 2017

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

1. No worries about troubles: there is comfort. It is God designed and God-directed and incredibly effective, 2 Corinthians 1:3-11.
2. No worries about the message: there is no need to sugar-coat or cover-up the glory of God, 2 Corinthians 4:1-6.
3. No worries about success: the world’s definition is not God’s, we are followers of Jesus, we end up dying, 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 5:8.
4. No worries about the future: we have an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond all comparison awaiting us, 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 5:8.
5. No worries about being motivated: we have a new controlling love, new desires, a new treasure, a new way of seeing everybody, and a new vocation, 2 Corinthians 5:9-21.
6. No worries about boredom: the life of an ambassador is frightfully exciting and a happy way of living, 2 Corinthians 6:1-13.

David Livingston was born March 19, 1813. He gave his life to serve Christ in the exploration of Africa for the sake of the access of the gospel. Below is what he said on December 4, 1857, to the Cambridge students about his “leaving” the benefits of England:
“For my own part, I have never ceased to rejoice that God has appointed me to such an office. People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. . .. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”

other sermons in this series