In Bible, please to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4, the title
of tonight's message Treasures in Jars of Clay.
I don't know if you have in your possession at your house
something valuable stored in a surprising place.
I don't know. It'd be be odd for a jeweller to
wrap a diamond in a brown paper bag, wouldn't it?
You know, if they were to transport it from perhaps one
jewellery store to another that they owned and and there in a
brown paper bag would be a diamond, That would be strange.
Maybe a a grandmother might keep her inheritance money in a
biscuit tin. My brother Nat, when he was
working through high school into his uni days, kept all of his
cash. When he was paid that in his
sock draw, that was where his valuable stuff.
My point is that sometimes the container is ordinary, right?
Even fragile, unimpressive. But what matters is the treasure
inside. So that's the picture that Paul
gives to us in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
Tonight he speaks of the glory of the gospel of of the the
wonderful blessing that ministry is for him.
Remember, it's been in question. And yet he is transferring this
on now to the people in Corinth to say that you hold this
treasure. And in holding this treasure,
understand that we are but jars of clay.
We are urban vessels indicative of the fragile kind of cracked,
unimpressive people that we truly are.
And yet we've been entrusted with the greatest treasure in
the universe, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
So again, this chapter Paul continues his defence of his
ministry. He's been attacked.
But it provides for us a window into the nature of what is all
Christian life. And witness for you and I you
might not think of it tonight, but you are as a Christian a
minister of the gospel. I say well, I'm not a pastor,
I'm not a Sunday school teacher. I I don't lead in worship.
No, you are as a Christian wherever you go, a servant, a
minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ on to others.
You are his hands and feet. And so we're seeing that tonight
and what Paul reveals for us is both the cost and the glory of
following Jesus Christ. So our main points for us, if
you're the note taking to type tonight is that the ministry of
the gospel is revealed in verses one to six.
And then from verses 7 to 12. The weakness of the messenger.
That while we we bear the weight of this wonderful message of the
good news of Jesus Christ. We we need to fully understand
and comprehend who we are in light of that, that it's nothing
of ourselves that nothing that we have done to earn or to merit
salvation and to be servants of Jesus Christ, but it's all by
his great grace upon us. And so there's a weakness, A
frailty that we possess in that. And then thirdly, for us, what
we'll see is the hope of the future.
Paul doesn't leave us going, you know, as as Debbie Downer's
right. Let me tell you what you are.
But now he reminds us of the blessed hope that we possess and
have in Jesus Christ. So I want to read the verses
first of all before us from one to six out of 2nd Corinthians 4.
I'm reading again from the new King James Version.
It says therefore, anytime you see a therefore, you know that
you need to go back to the previous at least paragraph, but
certainly, probably in this sense that the chapter before.
But since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do
not lose heart. We have renounced the hidden
things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the
word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of
God. But even if our gospel is vowed,
verse 3, it is vowed to those who are perishing, whose minds
the God little G of this age is blinded, who do not believe,
lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the
image of God should shine on them.
We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and
ourselves your bond servants for Jesus sake.
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness,
who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Paul begins with an encouragement here for you and I
in verse one. Therefore, having this ministry
by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.
We must understand that the ministry that our service that
that we're entrusted, that we're blessed to be a part of, comes
because God is merciful to you and I Paul knows that his
apostle ship is undeserved and it's by the mercy that God has
bestowed and given to him, not anything that Paul has earned,
achieved nor accomplished. And Paul was a learned man.
Paul was again being attacked by a certain group of people within
the Corinthian church that were challenging the legitimacy of
Paul's apostleship and and the point of doing so was then to
try and invalidate all of the gospel that Paul had been
preaching. As a consequence.
You see, if they could question Paul and his character, then
they could invalidate the the words and the teachings of Paul
as he had been in Corinth and in the letters that he had written.
And so Paul is very mindful now to give a defence of the fact
that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
But effectively what Paul is doing here in verse one is
saying, I agree with you guys, my apostleship.
Well, it's not for the reasons that you say, but because of
God's mercy, that I've done nothing to deserve being called
an apostle of Jesus Christ. But I am nonetheless.
It's by the mercy of God that I am an apostle, that I have been
entrusted with the blessing of being a minister in this
ministry. I haven't earned it.
God's grace has been bestowed upon me.
And so this ministry is a blessing by the mercy of God.
Paul here in that statement, he declares, I know who I am.
You guys, you don't need to attack me.
You don't need to do that. And more importantly, I know who
God is. Ministry that I am about comes
through the mercy of God. You know, you and I, no
Christian, serve God out of any greatness on our own part, no
qualifications that we've obtained.
You know, it's not like God is so lucky, so fortunate to have
me on his team. You know what a blessing I am to
God. No, there's none of that.
And then likewise the flow on to you and I is, you know, you guys
are so blessed to have me as your pastor or, or me as your
Sunday school teacher or or me as your this or that.
None of us can lay claim to that and that's certainly not what
Paul has been boasting about. His boasting has always been
about the glory of God and the gospel and and the message
there. So you and I must remember that
any ministry that we're a part of is a mercy gift comes from
God. And so that truth should keep us
humble and grateful as we're ministers of the gospel of God.
Ministry is is by mercy, by the mercy of God.
And then it's marked by honesty in verses 2 to 4.
Porous Paul is talking about the words spoken, the words written,
the gospel communicated to them and he's saying that I I
denounce any disgraceful underhanded ways of deception or
manipulation that were prevalent in the day and in in the time of
which Paul was writing. There's been no deception on my
part, no distortion on my part in the message that I've given
to you. And and here what he's doing is
he's he's contrasting himself with very common practise in the
day in the 1st century Roman Empire of these itinerant,
typically false teachers that would travel around and and take
advantage of the early church gatherings and meetings.
And specifically in Corinth, people had come onto the scene
who are peddling the gospel for prophet.
Does that not sound familiar to today, you know, modern
Christendom, the way that people go around and and use the
blessing of the ministry of the gospel as a means to generate
profit for themselves. And here he's he's Speaking of
there was no craftiness, no adulteration of the truth,
meaning there was no tampering, no twisting or or manipulation
on my part of what I communicated to.
And the words here that are used where he speaks of adulteration
is a word typically used of a merchant back then who would
water down typically the wine that they would sell in order to
make more money. They would dilute it down,
spread it further, but sell it at full price.
And Paul says, we're not diluting the truth of the
gospel. We're not watering down the
message. There's no compromise.
Paul believed in the power of the gospel message,
unadulterated, unfiltered, uncompromised, the truth of God.
In Romans one verse 16, he put it this way.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Why? For it is the power of God to
salvation for everyone who believes.
Paul believed that Paul lived that Paul taught that.
Paul writes that here and there was a temptation in Paul's day,
as we're seeing in our day, to try to make some of the things
that we read in the Bible a little more palatable to modern
audiences and ears to compromise some of well, you know, well,
that's a bit harsh and and where God meant this said that rather
what what he actually means. And, you know, today we've
advanced and now we understand we've progressed And and people
say that, don't they? Or the other thing that people
do is, is they gravitate to what my my pastor in San Bernardino
calls skyscraper sermons, where it's just story after story
after story after story. That was nice.
That was wonderful. How uplifted and and what what a
wonderful message. What what a wonderful talk that
was that you gave. Oh, yeah.
What was it about? I don't know.
But man, I, I laughed, I cried. It was so emotive how wonderful
it is. It's kind of very much appealing
to today's day and age as it was back in Paul's time where people
would philtre down, water down, adulterate the gospel message.
Paul says. I'm not going to turn to any
gimmicks I haven't done in my preaching, in my writing, in my
communicating of the gospel. I'm not filtering down.
I'm not trying to water down. But then it begged the question,
OK, Paul, if you're not doing that, then why isn't everybody
getting saved? If you're giving the truth of
the gospel and it's powerful, why isn't there an impact in
that way? So he addresses that in verses 3
and four. He acknowledges that in verse 3
and 4, the gospel is veiled. To some it doesn't make sense.
It's like that. They're blinded.
It seems hidden or difficult to understand and I'm sure that you
can relate to that having shared the gospel with people and and
it's like they just draw a blank and they can't compute doesn't
seem to register what you know and what you know understand
understand through the illumination of the Holy Spirit
being born again, but for them they're unregenerate.
They don't it it there. There's like a blindness to
them, a veil that's over them. So acknowledges that the gospel
has veiled to some why? Because he says Satan has
blinded their minds. The God little G of this world
has done that. But the obstacle Paul
distinguishes here is not the message.
They don't need to change the message.
That's not the reason why they're not believing the
obstacle. The reason that the the gospel
is not impacting is the heart is the heart.
Let me give you an illustration. Picture a blindfolded person
looking at the sunset, right? The light shines, the sun is
setting, it's still there, but they cannot see for the
blindfold that is over their eyes.
And until that blindfold is removed, it doesn't change the
fact that the sun is shining its light.
That the glory, the splendour and how beautiful some of the
sunsets are where we live here doesn't change the fact that
it's there. But they cannot see it, cannot
realise it and enjoy it for them.
So Paul, he's talking about the the gospel being one that I'm
I'm, I'm not disgraceful or underhanded in any ways in my
communication about it. I've I've been honest and clear
and truthful. There's been no, no filtering,
no watering down of it. But some people still aren't
impacted by it because of the blindfold, the veil that's over
them by the God little G of this world.
Then he he builds on this, that the gospel that we've given.
It's not about any human being. The glory shouldn't be bestowed
upon any particular individual, but it's all focused and and
central to giving glory to Jesus Christ.
Verse 5 and 6 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ
Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your bondservants for Jesus
sake. For it is the God who commanded
light to shine out of darkness going back to creation and how
it was that God spoke and light came out of nothing, out of
darkness in this form. That powerful God who has now
shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
This is what the gospel and ministry is all about.
Ministry is centred on Christ. What we proclaim, He says it's
not ourselves. It's not about Paul, not about
how good I am, it's not about Apollo, it's not about how good
he is, nor about Peter, but it is about Jesus Christ as the
law. The gospel is never self
promotion. It's always to be Christ
promotion. You know, God forbid, when
ministry ever becomes about the individual.
You know their name, their face, their celebrity status.
John the Baptist. Think of him.
He had a a flourishing, thriving ministry going on.
Crowds flocking, gathering, baptisms aplenty.
The temptation would have been to start selling merchandise.
In today's day and age, get to John the Baptist T shirt get you
John the Baptist teachings and recordings and to broadcast over
his socials and Instagram pages. How many baptisms took place
today? And here's what this Pharisee
said. And here's what that religious
leader said and let's do an interview and let's deal with
that and and promote John the Baptist name and his ministry
taking place. But what did John the Baptist
say when Jesus came onto the scene?
John the Baptist was very clear that I must decrease and he must
increase. It may be true of you and I in
every ministry that we're a a a participant in that we're called
to by God that we're we're mercifully blessed to be
involved in that. It never be about self
promotion, but always be about the promotion of Jesus Christ.
Name that the glory goes to him, but he is the light shining in
the darkness. So what Paul has been speaking,
it's the God who said let light shine out of darkness that has
shone into our hearts. The gospel starts with God,
illuminates Jesus, is fulfilled and accomplished in Jesus, and
is to always be glorifying God. So tonight, how do you view your
ministry, whether preaching, whether parenting, whether your
personal witness as you communicate with friends or with
neighbours? Do you understand it as a mercy
that you haven't earned, merited anything?
But it's given by God that it requires integrity, honesty, no,
no conjuring, no manipulations, no craftiness.
It doesn't need your help and cleverness and it must centre on
Jesus Christ. And so is the focus of your life
and words. Look at me, everybody.
All look at Jesus, everybody. It's his first point.
Moving on. Now he starts to really build on
this in breaking down and recognising the weakness of the
messenger and himself included. Certainly verses 7 to 12,
there's this striking imagery where he contrasts the wonderful
treasure that we have in the Gospel, but it's found in you
and I as earthen vessels or jars of clay.
But we have this treasure in urban vessels, verse 7, that the
excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.
We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed.
We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not
forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about
in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus
sake, but the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal
flesh. So then death is working in us,
but life in you. Going back to verse 7 as he
focuses on these, these weak, these these earthen vessels,
clay jars back in the time of Paul's writing again, 1st
century Roman Empire, the ancient world were were cheap
vessels, fragile, easily broken. And Paul says, guess what,
that's us. We're a bunch of crackpots for
Jesus. This is the picture Paul
utilises of himself and of us. But he says Paul points out, God
deliberately uses these weak, these, these earthen vessels so
that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Let me give a an illustration that might be helpful.
I have a, a tin watering can at home that's lived a few years
now in the shed starting to rust out and so on.
And my primary use of it is to mix up the sea salt to fertilise
the plants. And as I do, I, I, you know,
pour the mixture in, mix it up with the water and I'll carry it
to the plant that I'm, you know, focusing that, that fertiliser
on. And on my way, it will leak out,
you know, through the cracks onto the grass, onto the
pavement and so on. But you know what?
When those plants have been watered and fertilised and you
know in in the days, weeks, months ahead where they begin to
look healthy. They begin to produce fruit.
That was the purpose of the fertiliser or to flower it.
It would be crazy of me to say in looking at at that health and
looking at that fruit, wow, that watering can was amazing.
You know, and to go into the shed and open that up and praise
the watering can for how wonderful those plants are now
looking. No, it's, it's when I look at
those plants, oh, that that sea salt fertiliser did the trick.
Yeah, that's usually what I say. I'll, I'll, I'll, you know, I'll
put some more on, you know, you know, bit of time and such.
And look how those plants are now thriving and looking healthy
and vigorous. So the the container, my point
is had nothing to do with it right.
And likewise, you and I God's God's grace, the gospel it flow.
You know, he uses us. He's chosen for whatever reason.
And when we studied through revelation the the angelic
realm, they look at it and it blows their mind that God would
choose you and I and yet he has these these weak, these earthen
vessels entrusted the treasure of the gospel to us that in our
frailty, despite our frailty, in our weakness, despite our, our
brokenness, our cracks our, our, our, our cheapness in many ways
that the power of God so courses through us and blesses and
accomplishes his work for his glory.
And Paul builds on this imagery in verses 8 through tonight.
And again, we are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed
and talks about his experience particularly then and he builds
on it of of often being afflicted.
You know, his earthen vessel, feeling the pressure and the
weight of not only living life in this fallen world, but being
an apostle and a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ says I've
been afflicted, I've been perplexed, I've been persecuted,
I've been struck down, but by the grace of God, not crushed,
not driven to despair, not forsaken, not destroyed, batted,
beaten, bruised, yes, broken, but I'm hanging in there.
God is good, God is gracious, God is wonderful.
So Paul is saying that whenever we go through hard times,
whenever we experience the the frailty of our earthen vessels,
there is opportunity for God's power to shine forth through the
breaking of said vessels. No, brokenness in our lives is
sometimes and often times the means of God getting out of us
what he has put into us. It's ironic that most things in
the world lose their value once they're broken, and they become
less valuable when they're cracked.
But not so the Christian seems that brokenness enriches our
value for gospel ministry. God puts a premium, the Bible
indicates often on broken things, doesn't he, especially
on broken people. Psalm 51 verse 16 to 17 says,
for you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it.
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a
contrite heart. These are God you will not
despise. Why is that?
Well, brokenness in our lives. It leads to humility, doesn't
it, as we understand who we are and it leads us to become
dependent upon God all the more because we're exhausted of any
strength so called within us that we thought that we
possessed. And and these brokenness leading
to humility and dependency in particular, are two traits that
are very attractive to God. You know, the Bible tells us
that he actually resists the proud, but gives grace to the
humble. Psalm 34, verse 18.
The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and save,
such as have a contrite spirit. Isaiah 57, verse 15 For thus
says the high and lofty one, who inhabits eternity, whose name is
holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a
what contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the
humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
So Paul, he understood and he communicates this for them and
for you and I tonight, that it takes weakness in order to have
strength. And this is the place where we
struggle because it's so contrary to our natural way of
thinking and to the world's way of functioning and operating.
And, and this is often what we don't like.
We all want to see the power of God in our own lives, but we
want to come out of that experience untroubled.
We want the power of God to come through our lives, but we want
like peaceful, calm kind of circumstances for that
experience to transpire. It's like we want to move
through life protected from all the dangers and all the
difficulties. A bit like a a ride at a theme
park that has a, a little adventure for us, a few little
ups and downs here and there, maybe a little frightened.
Oh, that took my breath away. But we come out relatively
untouched and unscathed. But you and I, I think we've
lived long enough on this planet that we know that's not how it
works. Brokenness is a part of the
Christian life, isn't it? A life that is certainly not a
theme park for entertainment, but brokenness.
Life's difficulties, like Paul wrote, being hard pressed, being
crushed, being persecuted, being struck down as a means through
which God's power is revealed and his power is manifested in
our weakness for this purpose, for his glory.
We often don't get to choose either.
You know, when it comes to brokenness in our lives.
We'd love it sometimes if God could provide for us a menu of
options to pick from. But Christians can suffer in
numerous ways, can't we? Yep, We've experienced
brokenness in a in a number of varieties.
We're not hidden away from life. We, like anyone else, encounter
problems of every sort. But here's what we do know
through the Bible and what it teaches us is that we don't go
through that experience alone. God is with us and God is
revealed through us at those times.
And that, and that is Paul's point here.
God's power is manifested in our weakness.
We we have this treasure in earthen vessels and, and we're
pressed and we're crushed and we're persecuted and, and, and
we're struck down, but we, we have the Lord in US and with us.
And then he says suffering is real.
God's sustaining power is greater.
But let me tell you of the result, the consequence of this
in verses 11:50, death is at work in US, but it brings life
in you, particularly as recipients of this gospel
message. And so in verse 10 he talks
about how always carry the in his body, the dying of the Lord
Jesus that Jesus would be manifested and then concludes it
in verse 12. So then death is working in us,
but life in you. Paul carries, he says, the death
of Jesus in his body, Speaking of a daily dying to self that he
knew very real, even facing literal death at times, but that
it brought life on to others that his suffering was advancing
the gospel. You know, we, we have so many
other examples throughout Christendom over a Christian
history of missionary stories of people who have experienced and
and can testify of that truth that Paul declares for us in
that that that no matter what was going on, even to the point
of death, that God was able to work and that it brought life is
the power of gospel. And Jim Elliott's words, I think
ring true in that way. He said he is no fool who gives
what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose, and he knew that
all too well, having given his life in the missionary field.
So tonight, as we conclude that second point, I don't know what
your brokenness in your earthen vessel you're encountering now,
what weakness you're feeling burdened by tonight.
Don't think of it as disqualification, rather see it
as a stage for God's power and grace to flow on out in trials.
Then you can testify. Yes, I'm fragile, I'm weak, I'm
an urban vessel. I'm like a clay jar.
But you know, the treasure of Jesus Christ is shining through.
And then he doesn't leave them there with that.
And he doesn't leave us tonight with that.
His final point is to declare the hope of the future that we
have in verse 13 through to 18. He points us to that
resurrection power and since we have the same spirit of faith.
Verse 13 according to what is written, I believed and
therefore I spoke. He quotes David out of the
Psalms and we'll get to that in a moment.
We also believe and therefore speak knowing that verse 14.
He who raised up the Lord Jesus. So if if God is powerful to do
that, then let's have faith, let's have trust in this verse
14, that he will also raise up us with Jesus and will present
us with you. This is our our end where it's
all going for all things. Verse 15 are for your sakes.
That grace having spread through the many may cause Thanksgiving
to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart.
Verse 16 even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward
man is being renewed day by day man, it's invigorating despite
what it might look like on the outside, the difficulties we're
experiencing. Paul says trust me within I I am
I am so amazed at God's work and man.
It's just nourishing my spirit for our light affliction.
He calls it verse 17, which is but for a moment he had this
wonderful perspective of of what he was experiencing now on life
on earth compared to all of eternity is working for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Or we do not look at the things which are seen verse 18, but at
the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
So again, for for us, Paul doesn't end with weakness, you
know, the earthen vessels, but he promotes and reminds them of
the wonderful hope for the future found in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ and in the power of God to achieve that.
And of the promises that God has given to you and I of what that
then means for you and I for all of eternity.
And what Paul is experiencing in the here and now as a
consequence of that truth. And he speaks first of all of
the faith in God who raises the dead of of that which
invigorates him. He's he's quoting Psalm 116
where he says I believed. And so I spoke and it's speaking
there at a time in in David's life.
If you were to turn to Psalm 116 and read that David was fearful
of his life. And yet David is able to remind
and and speaks out believing who God is and it stirs up within
him a faith and a trust. No, this is who God is.
And I believed. And as a consequence of a
reminder of of who it is that God is, it stirred up within me
a trust and a faith to now live for him in light of who God is.
So I spoke, I lived it out as if it were true, as if it were real
and invigorated it revived my life and living here and now.
And so Paul says that's, that's my experience.
And for you and I and, and the audience, certainly, he says
belief and trust in God leads to a confidence to declare the
gospel of God and to speak with conviction that the gospel is
powerful, to not be ashamed of it and to boldly then continue
in the ministry that God has called your eye to, no matter
how difficult, no matter how broken, no matter how frown, no
matter how weak you might be feeling.
And the confidence again is not contrived, is not self
generated. But based on this, the God who
raised Jesus will also raise us with him.
And if Jesus is alive, if God is powerful to accomplish that
greatest thing in defeating death and the grave, then God
will in the same power fulfil that which he has promised to
you. And I in the gospel believe it.
Paul says, may it be true in your life and living So faith in
the God who raises the dead. But then also he says, I want
you to see purpose in suffering. In verse 15.
He's not denying that suffering exists.
And Paul's perspective was that the suffering that has come upon
me and the suffering that might come upon you, Corinthians, and
the suffering that might come upon you and I, he says it's all
for your sake so that the gospel can go forth, that grace can
extend to the glory of God. And it's a reminder to you.
And I. And Paul has been big on this
through First Corinthians and through Second Corinthians,
excuse me, that suffering is not pointless, though at times in
our lives we're wondering the purpose of it.
Why me, God? Why us?
Why this what Paul is Speaking of is, is understanding the
purpose in the suffering and and it's it's been a a message
communicated again and again and again.
Suffering will come guaranteed. The Bible is is real on that,
but don't waste it. It's purposeful.
See it as a way that God is able to use you for his glory that
would lead to Thanksgiving in your life.
And that's a well, that's an attitude to have that again,
can't be generated within ourselves, but must come through
the Holy Spirit within us illuminating God's word to the
truth and the reality of that in in our living.
And so continuing to to enhance this verses 16 through 18, he
pulls out this perspective on affliction that he echoes in in
his experience. We don't lose heart whilst our
outer self, our earthen vessel, might be wasting away.
I'm feeling it, the weight, the heaviness of this persecution,
of this suffering. But our inner self is being
renewed. And he calls the afflictions,
the experience that he's going through light.
Was Paul delusional? Was he just trying to, you know,
claim something other than what reality is?
And and you know, Paul, you're kidding yourself to say that
your your suffering is light or is momentary.
No, what Paul had was the right perspective about how our lives,
though at the times and what we're going through, it seems
like it's never going to end. He says compare it to eternity.
Understand that we are immortal, eternal beings, and that while
these present sufferings are going on, there is an eternal
weight of glory beyond comparison that lies ahead for
you and I because of the resurrection power of Jesus
Christ. Maybe an illustration might be
helpful here of of imagining a scale on one side, weighing and
putting all of your present sufferings.
You know what you're going through.
You know what you're experiencing, and yet on the
other side of that scale put eternal glory.
And what you'll see if you read and understand the Bible
rightly, is that the eternal glory far outweighs anything
that seems pressing in this moment.
How do you frame your trials? Well, if you only see the
present and what you're going through and are looking with
your eyes at at the circumstances, at the situation,
then despair is is easy. It's very natural.
But if you see more of the eternal and hope is birthed
within you, your spirit is renewed, you know, and as we age
in this life and the body weakens as we find ourselves
experiencing that, the spirit can grow stronger though, as our
eternal destination is more and more insight and that weight of
eternal glory. And for the younger here
tonight, physically speaking, it might sound like, oh, it'll
never happen to me, but may I encourage you to build your life
on eternal things to prioritise the Kingdom of God.
Seek you first his righteousness.
Matthew 6 verse 33 says I'm not temporary glitter, not the
appeals of this world that are fading and falling away because
man time just rapidly flies by and before you know it, you'll
find yourself looking in the mirror at an elderly version of
yourself should the Lord tarry and you'll know all well that
you are an earthen vessel. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 gives us
both realism, yes, and hope Realism that that ministry
that's serving God is hard, that we are weak, but that suffering
is part and parcel, is normal and the hope that is conveyed
through this passage of. The gospel being this glorious,
wonderful treasure, God works through our weakness, through
our brokenness, and then we have a future that is certain.
And so persevere in that. Don't lose heart.
May God's mercy sustain your ministry.
Proclaim, keep the focus on Jesus Christ, never yourself.
You've probably all heard those, those Frankenstein testimonies
where people will talk about what their life was like before
Jesus Christ. You know, I know I used to be in
bikie gangs and I used to do drugs and I used to do this and
I used to do that. And man, I was a raging
alcoholic. I was a this and then God saved
me. And then that's kind of the end
and no declaration of the transformative power of God at
work in their lives. And it's almost like all the
focus has been on, you know, the the earthiness of what I once
was and so on. And that's been what the focus
has been all about rather than upon the transformative power of
God. You know, now, now I'm loving my
wife and my family and God has just been a blessing and how how
good and how merciful and how gracious and how wonderful and
all the glory goes to him. May the promotion may may the
focus be always about Christ. And then keep that perspective
that whatever trials, whatever difficulty, whatever you're
going through right now, could you say with Paul, that's a
light momentary affliction that compared to eternity and the
weight of glory that's held up like clay jars.
We might be cracked, chipped, ordinary, plain, simple, but the
treasure in US is Christ Jesus. And one day those cracks give
way to glory. Paul, he didn't write as a a
kindergartner in the school of suffering.
He had an advanced graduate degree.
He knew all about suffering, and he describes some of his
suffering. We'll get to that later in
Chapter 11, but he uses these terms about what he experienced
in the suffering that I think probably all of us combined
wouldn't be able to put our name to.
He spoke of being striped, whipped, being imprisoned, being
beaten, being stoned with rocks, being shipwrecked in perils of
waters, experiencing the brutality of robbers in perils
of my own countrymen, the Jews, in perils of the Gentiles, in
perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil,
in sleeplessness, often in hunger and thirst, in fastings,
often in cold and nakedness. And those for Paul were just the
physical sufferings that he experienced, the outward
sufferings in his earthen vessel, let alone the spiritual
burdens that he bore and the spiritual attacks that he faced.
But all through it, what we see in Paul's writing and has
emphasised for us tonight is this.
Paul's confidence always was, always is, always will be in
God. And so tonight is your
confidence in God. What is in your vessel.
I love that Old Testament story in the book of judges of Gideon
coming against the overwhelming odds militarily Speaking of the
Midianites. Remember that and how it was
that Gideon was entrusted by God with the whole, you know, the
the fleece testing first of all with the Jew, but OK now Gideon,
you're going to lead now call to arms the people of of of Israel
to come to fight against the Midianites.
And as they they mustered and gathered together, God said not
too many and filtered down and eventually there were just 300
literally crackpots that God used for winning the victory.
They were to break those vessels as they held those torches aloft
and to shout out for for God and for Gideon and to break those
vessels. And it causes confusion amongst
the Midianites. And the victory was won.
And God is able to take the simple, the foolish, the broken,
the clay vessels, because the treasure is him and the power is
him. So will you be emboldened on
into this week at the very least to say, it's not about me, it's
not about what I'm feeling, what I'm experiencing, but to God be
the glory and I'll live and I'll and I'll trust him to just use
me in ways that will honour him and the gospel will go forth.
So let's pray for that. Lord, we thank you for this
passage tonight and thank you for your people gathered here
tonight in blistery, windy conditions.
And, and maybe they're perhaps indicative of, of where our our
souls or where our hearts are at right now with what's perhaps
going on. Maybe this analogy of us being
weak, broken clay vessels is ringing true with with some
gathered here tonight. And so I pray that this message
has been a powerful reminder of who you are, of what you have
done, of what you are doing, of how you have chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise.
That if we will trust you, if we will rest in your power, then
God, the glory belongs to you and, and you will achieve and
accomplish your purposes despite us in and through us.
And so we again, we submit and we surrender ourselves to you
and we pray, Lord God use us, not because there's anything
special or particular in us, but that we're just simply going to
be vessels ready for your use. We pray that you would get the
glory, that you would get the honour in Jesus mighty name.
And God's people said tonight, Amen.