God speaks to us in His Word. And we have the privilege. And the responsibility this morning to hear that word and to contemplate what God is saying to us. In it. We're making our way through Paul's second letter to the Corinthian church.
A letter that was written just a few years after Christ's ascension, after his earthly ministry. This letter was intended to help a young, struggling church find its footing and become established in the truth.
So, as not to be lured into damaging, deceptive teachings and practices. We come today to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. If you would turn there with me, and we'll be considering verses 7 through 18, 2 Corinthians 4. Verses 7 through 18. But we have this treasure in jars of clay.
To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed. but not driven to despair. Persecuted but not forsaken.
Struck down but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake.
So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us. But life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also speak. Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
For it is all for your sake.
So that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction. is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient.
But the things that are unseen are eternal. Let's pray. Father in heaven, truly you are Preparing for us an eternal weight of glory that will make our momentary light affliction pale. In comparison. In fact, you use our affliction in this life to prepare us for that day.
You sanctify us and wean us of sinful attachments. You prove the gospel of your Son through our suffering. As time and time again you bring life out of death.
So, as we meditate on your word today, we ask for your spirit to illuminate our minds. and enable us to discern By the Spirit what these things mean and how they apply to our lives Enable us to believe what you've said. and enable us to heed these words of life. For our good and for your glory, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, Corinth was a proud church. Paul was a humble apostle. Corinth wanted a Rolls-Royce for an apostle, but Paul was a Ford escort. At least by Corinth's estimation of things, they wanted an apostle they could admire and show off and brag about. Paul offered them nothing but Christ and him crucified.
There's a principle that runs through scripture from the Old Testament prophets right through the New Testament. It's the idea that God is a potter. And his children, his church, we are clay in the potter's hands. The potter has absolute say over what the lump of clay will become or whether it will even become anything at all. Jeremiah, for example, said, I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel, and the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, O house of Israel, can I not do with you? As this potter has done, declares the Lord. Behold, like clay in the potter's hand.
So are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Isaiah used the same analogy to rebuke rebellious Judah. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, he has no understanding? Paul himself uses this metaphor in Romans 9. He says, but who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this? Has the potter no right over the clay? To make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. This recurring theme of scripture shows up in our text today as Paul tries to convey to Corinth that they, like him, do not exist to make much of themselves and to have everybody oohing and eyeing over their church and their spiritual credentials or their church leaders. Corinth exists, as do all churches.
Churches and all Christians to be and do whatever the potter wants his clay pots to be and do. And to the degree that we remember we are just jars of clay in the potter's hands. We will discover unexpected joy in the most unlikely situations, doing the most unpleasant tasks for the most unappreciative people. The work of an apostle. The work of any Christian, rank and file, is to make much of our God by bearing witness to the atoning work of Christ, even when.
especially when there is no earthly hope to be found. That is the essence of the good news of the gospel. Strength in weakness, life through death. Salvation from damnation. Our text this morning begins by highlighting a principle that I'm going to call the pottery principle.
And then it describes, through Paul's example, the effect that this principle ought to have on all believers. The intended result of these verses is to humble us to the point of being able not merely to accept God's glory and position of authority over us, but to embrace it and delight in it and find great encouragement in it. We were made. To delight in and serve something far greater than ourselves. And when we can learn to do that, we will gain humility that leads to confidence, that leads to perseverance.
Paul begins by explaining the pottery principle. God is the potter, we are the clay. It is God's Prerogative. To mold us and use us as he sees fit. It is our place to simply be molded and used.
By God. When this principle gets inverted or is ignored or worse, is despised and rejected, it doesn't change the fact that we are still the clay. It simply makes a mess and ruin of our lives. threaten the potter one bit.
Now, because this principle is such an essential component to life working the way life is intended to work, there is an observable pattern when it comes to God doing God-sized things. We could state the pattern like this: God's greatest acts of redemption come about through unlikely sources appearing to fail. Let me say that again. God's greatest acts of redemption. come about through unlikely sources appearing to fail.
Because God is the potter and we are the clay, God does his greatest acts of redemption through means that often appear to be a colossal waste of time. Mothers training toddlers in the way of the Lord. Fathers driving their families to corporate worship on the Lord's Day. Businessmen establishing biblical ethics as the norm in the workplace. Sunday school teachers telling Bible stories to children, missionaries being ridiculed and taken advantage of in strange and foreign cultures, martyrs dying for their beliefs, preachers explaining what the Bible means and how it applies to people's lives.
These are unimpressive and oftentimes laborious means that don't grab the attention of the world or make a notable splash. And yet these are the kinds of things God typically uses, most often uses, to redeem souls and turn the world upside down. Clay pots. that in and of themselves are nothing really special. It's quite obvious that God's crowning redemptive achievement is the salvation of Adam's race through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
So think about it. That magnum opus of God's redeeming plan began with a teenage girl who was pregnant out of wedlock, giving birth in a cow stall with some socially outcast shepherds looking on. The life which began that night in Bethlehem ended on a Roman cross. While the rest of the human race, with the exception of just a few Christ followers, went casually about their business as if nothing of great significance was happening. And yet this is the grand event that ends with resurrection on the third day, the redemption of all the elect, the second coming of Christ, and the great restoration of creation in the new heavens and the new earth.
God's greatest acts of redemption come about through unlikely sources. Appearing to fail. It's the potter using jars of clay. to hold the greatest treasures. And if this principle held true in the case of Jesus' atoning work, it will hold true time and time again as followers of Christ carry out the work of the church.
which is, among other things, to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We get to, in essence, imitate Christ by laying down our lives. Our reputations, our fame, our credibility for the sake of the redemption of others. Paul's life as an apostle gives a vivid demonstration of what is to be typical of all of God's servants. Look at how he describes himself and the other apostles in verse 7.
But we have this treasure. The gospel. in jars of clay. Jars of clay. The treasure of eternal life through the resurrection power of God Almighty is packaged not in the pomp and ceremony of kings, not in the strength of warriors or the tales of heroes, not in the attractive faces of beautiful women or the powerful voices of angels, but in the lives of 12 socially obscure, visibly unimpressive apostles.
Jars of clay. That house the message of eternal life. It's an unlikely source. Which is exactly the kind of source The potter of the universe likes to showcase.
Now, perhaps these humble men were doing some miraculous feats that proved their worth and greatness.
Well, not exactly. They actually appeared to be failing. Look at verse 8. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. perplexed, but not driven to despair, Persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed.
From all outward appearance, they were not very good at their job. They're Resumes would have been among the first to go into the trash bin. They weren't the ones packing out stadiums and starting revivals. They were being run out of town. They were hated and disdained and told to shut up.
They were Unlikely sources engaged in what appeared to be an epic failure of a movement. But here's the most fascinating thing about it all. The unlikeliness and failure of these apostles was not some unintended consequence of God. It was God's intentional design that these men be a bunch of nobodies who appeared to be failing. The question is why?
To what end did God establish these men to be nothing more than mere jars of clay. To what end? Does God lead us through hardship and rejection in our bearing witness to the gospel?
Well, two reasons.
So that people see Christ's atonement and so that people see God's Glory. First, God uses unlikely sources appearing to fail so that people see Christ's atonement. Verse 10. God's witnesses are always carrying in the body, the death of Jesus.
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. The suffering of Christ's witnesses gives unbelievers a glimpse into the suffering and death of Jesus Christ so that they might come to see the resurrection life that can be found in Jesus Christ. Verse 11, for we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake.
So that the life of Jesus also may be manifested, made evident to others in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us, but life in you. If our evangelistic witnessing were packaged in neat, tidy lives of perfection, the world would not take notice of Christ. the world would be impressed with us and want to imitate us. They ought to come away from their interaction with us, wanting the Christ who has rescued us from our sin. They ought to come away not impressed with the jars of clay.
but with the treasure inside the jars of clay. But secondly, God uses plain things, unimpressive things, broken things, to do his greatest redemptive work so that people see God's glory.
So that people see God's glory. Paul says as much right there in the second half of verse 7. To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. This isn't the first time Paul has mentioned this reality. Back in his first letter to Corinth, you remember, he said in chapter 1, consider your calling, brothers.
Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. You were essentially just a bunch of clay pots. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world. Even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are, and here's the reason.
so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Have there been times when you've been the most qualified person in the room, the most experienced, the most talented? But your credentials were ignored.
Well, someone lesser was looked to for the answer. the expertise, the solution. Maybe the teacher didn't call on you, the coach didn't put you in the game, the boss doesn't give you the promotion, your friends don't marvel at your sage advice like they should. Your children don't sit in awe of your wise parental counsel. And it stings, and it wounds our pride not to be noticed, not to be.
Appreciated. Paul's point is that God often puts the lesser player in the game. God holds up the underqualified mother to be the example. God lets the untalented person be the effective person precisely because it magnifies the glory and power of God. If we view Christian service As an opportunity to showcase our talent and skill set rather than as an opportunity to showcase Christ and the glory of God, we're doing the very thing the Corinthians were doing.
We're looking for clout and the praise from man. Hey, look at my clay jar. which is counterproductive when it comes to being vessels that put Christ on display. Paul was somehow able to glory in his flaws, to boast in his defects, because he knew that the goal, his purpose as an apostle, his purpose as a Christian, as a human being, was to showcase the excellencies of God, not to show off the excellencies of Paul. He was just a clay jar.
But he carried in that jar an eternal treasure. And the less people notice the jar, the lesser. the more they would notice the treasure. Are you okay with that arrangement? Because if you're not, you're going to be a very frustrated Christian.
If you're not come to terms with the fact that you are not the hero of the story, You're going to be working at cross-purposes with the potter, and that never ends well for the lump of clay on the spinning wheel, does it? God's greatest acts of redemption come about through unlikely sources appearing to fail.
Now if we can embrace that principle.
Something wonderful happens. It produces at least two effects in the lives of Christians that Paul. Highlights here. First, it engenders great boldness in our witness, and secondly, it builds great perseverance in our journey to glory. First, understanding the principle of the potter and the clay makes us realize that our confidence in bearing witness to the gospel doesn't come from ourselves or our talent, our knowledge, our influence.
Rather, our confidence comes as we care about what God cares about. It comes from prioritizing what God prioritizes, which, as we've just seen, is the atoning work of Christ and the glory of God's name. Christians speak boldly and most effectively when they are preoccupied with Christ's atonement and God's glory. Look at verse 13. Since we have the same spirit of faith, According to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke.
We also believe, and so we also speak. Paul is quoting Psalm 116.10 here in verse 13. In Psalm 116, the psalmist was up against some insurmountable trial. Death was knocking on the door, and he was distressed beyond imagination. But even in the middle of this trial, which seemed to be leading straight towards death, the psalmist was able to confess.
I believe. And this wasn't some sort of generic belief in nothing in particular. No, it was belief in the goodness and mercy of God. It was belief specifically in God's ability to resurrect His child from the dead whenever it is His good pleasure to do so.
Now what's interesting about Psalm 116 is that it's part of a collection of psalms called the Hallel Psalms that were used during the Passover celebration of the Jewish people. These psalms would have likely been on the lips of Jesus in the upper room with his disciples just hours before his crucifixion. When we read psalms like the one Paul is quoting here, We can't help but see Jesus and his death and burial and resurrection in these Psalms.
So Paul is following not only in the shoes of the psalmist, but in the shoes of Christ. is Lord. And he is experiencing, at least on a human level, a very similar sort of suffering: beatings, persecutions, false accusations, being despised and rejected. But instead of griping about how hard his apostolic assignment is, he begins to confess with the psalmist and with Christ. His bold confidence in God's ability to rescue him even from the pangs of death.
And from that place of confidence and boldness. From that place of faith in the ultimate goodness of God. Paul speaks. He preaches the gospel. even to stubborn Corinthians who don't want to hear it.
How can Paul be this bold? because of his faith in the resurrection of Christ. Verse 14. Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus. will raise us also with Jesus.
And bring us with you, stubborn Corinthian Christians. into his presence. Paul is not preoccupied with his suffering. He's preoccupied with the power of Christ and, verse 15, with the glory of God. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
Paul was bold in his witness because he was great in faith. Paul was bold even in the face of suffering and criticism because he cared more about the potter's reputation, God's reputation, than his own. With great faith comes great boldness. With great love and concern for the glory of God comes an incredible ability to endure humiliation and disrespect and physical mistreatment even to the point of death. Paul ends this section of his letter highlighting.
One other effect. that this pottery principle produces in us. Not only does it give us great boldness in our witness, it also gives us perseverance to the end. Perseverance to the end. Verse 16.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self Our body is wasting away. Our inner self, our soul, is being renewed day by day. For this light MOMENTARY AFFLICTION is preparing for us an eternal wait of glory. beyond all comparison.
As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. Where the things that are seen are transient, they're temporary, they're always in flux, always changing, but the things that are unseen. are eternal. Paul knew that even though his life and ministry seemed To amount to nothing more than a clay jar not doing jar things very well. God was using him for eternal purposes that would end in incredible glory beyond compare.
Because not only does God use unlikely people, he also redeems unlikely people. He takes a soul and makes him a Paul. He turns Pharisees into apostles. He turns sinners into saints. He turns a dead Savior into the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
And this knowledge, this confidence that Paul had in the divine potter filled Paul with inexplicable perseverance through some of the most horrific suffering that a human being could endure. Paul's faith, however, was so solidly fixed on God's ability to be a good and gracious potter. And Paul was able to look at his Suffering and casually call it nothing more than a light momentary affliction. Brothers and sisters, we get so discouraged. And downtrodden over far less, don't we?
We stew over people disrespecting us. We get embittered when our spouse doesn't treat us with the honor and the dignity we think we deserve. We fret over circumstances that are beyond our control. We work ourselves to the bone trying to get people to notice us and praise us and need us. And somewhere along the way, we forget that we are simply jars of clay in the hands of an all-powerful potter who is wise and good and aware of us and who has redeemed us by the blood of his own son and is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory, the likes of which nothing in this life can compare.
If we could but learn to have that kind of hope, the hope of a lump of clay. we would gain boldness. perseverance. We would have strength for today because of our bright hope. for tomorrow.
God's greatest acts of redemption come about through unlikely sources. appearing to fail. And beloved, we are those unlikely sources. God is the potter. And we are the clay.
The question is, how can you or I be an effective jar of clay? And the answer is here in our text. We imitate Paul's example. First, we pursue humility. Because God's reputation is more important than our reputation.
Secondly, we accept suffering for righteousness' sake. Because the gospel is made visible as we fellowship with Christ in his suffering. Thirdly, we believe the reality of our future resurrection because it will embolden our witness and increase the worship of God. And lastly, we contemplate the certainty of God's invisible promises. Because it will increase our perseverance.
by keeping our suffering in proper perspective. Pursue humility Accept suffering. Believe in the resurrection. and contemplate God's promises. These are the habits of a contented Christian.
These are the prerequisites of effective ministry. These are The characteristics of jars of clay that hold great treasure and lead many. to become grateful worshipers. of our good and gracious Potter. Let's pray.
Lord, you have made us and put within us a purpose. A chief end. And that chief end is not to stare at ourselves and be. mesmerize with our greatness. We are most happy.
most content, most fulfilled when we glorify and enjoy you.
So, mortify the tendency that each of us has to worship self. And by the power of your Holy Spirit in us, enable us to suffer well and bear witness faithfully and persevere to the end. Knowing that you will not leave us in the grave. but will resurrect us to a glorious eternal Bliss. Where the joys that await us will eclipse every sorrow we now endure.
Lord, thank you for the privilege of being Jars of clay on your spinning wheel. in this grand theater of Creation that exists for your glory. Thank you for Jesus, who makes us vessels of honor in this wonderful world of yours.
Now keep us, Lord, in the palm of your hand. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Hmm.
