Preached February 5, 2012
from
2 Corinthians 4:7-15

Theme: It’s through brokenness as vessels of God’s glory that He makes us useful to Himself.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 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, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God

(2 Corinthians 4:7-15).

* * * * * * * * * *

That was the passage that a small group of men from our church and I were preparing to talk about yesterday morning at a local donut shop. We were sitting at a table with our coffee and our Bibles—chatting away and sharing a few prayer requests; getting ready to discuss this morning’s passage. Off to the side, there was a young woman who was preparing her coffee. From where I sat, I could see that she was watching us intensely and listening to our conversation. Finally, she approached our table to speak to us.

Our little group of men is used to people walking up and saying something to us. Often, as they walk out the door with their box of donuts, they give us the thumbs-up when they see our Bible’s. Some have walked up to say that it’s good to see a group of men studying the word together. But what this woman had to say surprised us. “I couldn’t help noticing your Bibles. Are you a group of pastors?” None of them wanted to claim that. They just all turned around and pointed at me. Now, I’m paraphrasing a bit; but she said something like this—with a very pained look on her face and a great deal of emotion in her voice, “Well; I just want to know: Are there really men who take that Book seriously anymore? Are there men anywhere to really try to do what it says? There are so many who say they do; but they turn around and ignore what it says and let you down. I’m talking about integrity. Are there any Christian men with integrity anymore?”

As we all sat there looking sideways at each other, we weren’t sure how to react to this. How do you answer such a thing? It was tempting to say, “Well; yeah . . . Us! We have integrity!”—but we had the strange feeling that saying that wouldn’t go over very well right then. Instead, we chose to quietly listen to what she had to say. She tried not to cry as she said it.

This young woman shared with us that she was a Christian; and that she had been in several churches. But it was very apparent that she had been very severely wounded by other men who also called themselves Christians. She didn’t elaborate on the details, but she even told us that she had just gone to a pastor for counseling; and that he too had ‘let her down’. We shared with her that we were very sorry to hear that. And I told her I understood how she felt. I myself had been disappointed by others who call themselves Christians. And I had to admit that I had probably also disappointed other people myself more than I like to think.

And it was then that I asked if I may read to her the passage that we were just about to discuss. It was, of course, this morning’s passage. It’s a great passage for admitting that we, who bear this message of Jesus Christ in this world, do so as ‘imperfect containers’. We bear a remarkable treasure—but we bear it in jars of clay. We are easily broken; and, in and of ourselves, we are not very impressive. And yet—frail and imperfect as we may be—God still bears His message through us. In fact, God’s power seems to display itself best through our frailties and brokenness.

We took the risk of inviting her to sit down with us, and asked if she would allow us to pray for her. She accepted our offer; and I think it was an encouragement to her. We commented on how, even though she had been hurt, she didn’t seem so bitter as to reject the Savior; and she admitted gratefully that she is not bitter. She just wanted to see someone live out the truth with integrity. She lives quite a distance away; so, we prayed for her that she would find a good church and a good pastor in her area.

And after she thanked us and left, we set about to study this morning’s passage—with a renewed sense of appreciation for what it tells us about our brokenness and God’s glory.

* * * * * * * * * *

One of the things that really struck me from that conversation was the prevalence of brokenness in the lives of the people around us. This woman seems to have come away severely broken, but not bitter. Afterwards, some of the men in our group went on to talked about how they too have gone through—or are currently going through—a time in which it feels as if God was breaking us.

If we were to try to define what ‘a time of brokenness’ means, I suppose we’d say that it’s a period of trial in which all our false trusts and confidences in ‘self’ are taken away, and we’re left with no hope in the flesh. It leaves us with the sense that we have nothing but the Lord, and that we ourselves are nothing without Him. I took the liberty of sharing with the other men yesterday how my wife’s long battle with illness has been a way that God has been breaking both her and me. It has been breaking us of our sense of self-sufficiency. It has been breaking us of the pride that might have come upon us from being able to do a lot of things, or from being involved in lots of areas of ministry. It has broken us of our sense of control. It has taken a lot of things away from us. But has left us with a strong sense of God’s love and provision. It has driven us to Him; and has drawn us more deeply to one another. There has been a lot of ways that God has been showing forth His glory and sufficiency through our time of brokenness.

When I think of such times of brokenness, I can’t help but think of the man who penned those words I read earlier. It’s hard to think of any other human being who had experienced more genuine brokenness in his service to Jesus Christ than the apostle Paul. And yet, he and those who served with him found God to be victorious over their times of brokenness. And as a result of their times of brokenness, they became mighty instruments of God through whom He changed the world.

Have you ever read how he began this letter? He told the Corinthian believers;

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation . . . (2 Corinthians 1:3).

You see; even he and his co-workers in the gospel ministry had tribulation. But it was not without purpose. It was for more than just themselves. He was comforted in his tribulation;

that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation (vv. 4-7).

The specifics of Paul’s suffering, as it related to the Corinthians, isn’t told to us. But whatever it was, it was dreadfully intense. Paul said,

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life (v. 8).

Imagine that! Paul’s suffering—and the suffering of his co-workers—was so intense that he wished he could die. He was being broken by it, so that God’s glory could shine through him more perfectly for the benefit of others. He said,

Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many (vv. 9-11).

* * * * * * * * * *

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I wonder if some of us here this morning is going through a time of brokenness—a time of suffering and trial in which God is seeking to strip us free of the things we trust in instead of Him. He has placed the glory of the light of the gospel of His Son in us; and has commissioned us to bear that light in this world. But the only way that light can shine through us in a clear way is if we ourselves are broken. And I am praying that we will allow God to do that work of breaking us, and submit to it willingly—and yes, even joyfully—so that His glory will shine through us more fully.

Look again at chapter four; and at verse seven of our passage. Look at how it tells us . . .

1. WHERE GOD KEEPS HIS MESSAGE OF LOVE TO THIS WORLD (v. 7).

Paul tells us, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

What is that “treasure” that Paul said he and his co-workers have? He doesn’t come out and say it clearly; but as you read the chapters that precede these words, it’s clear that he’s talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He, of course, had a particular commission of the preaching of that gospel; but it’s a gospel that you and I also bear in this world.

What a precious “treasure” it is that has been entrusted to us! It is, as Paul wrote elsewhere, “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). It is the most life-transforming power on earth. It washes the most hardened, hell-bound sinner clean of all of his or her sins, and transforms them into a son or daughter of God who will dwell in His house forever. Paul himself had been transformed by it; and he could hardly contain the joy he felt over the honor of bearing it in the way God had given him to bear it. He said, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ . . .” (Ephesians 3:8). We may not be called to the same ministry that Paul was called to; but we do have the same great treasure entrusted to us. It’s our great privilege to bear it to the people in our homes, or at our workplace, or in our school, or in our neighborhoods. We have a part in bearing this great treasure to the world.

But look at what God has seen fit to allow this inestimably great treasure to be born in—”in earthen vessels”; or, as it is in the New International Version, “jars of clay”. You’d think that such a precious treasure (truly the most precious treasure on earth—given the power it has to change lives) would be kept in something worthy of it. You’d think it would be contained in a beautiful alabaster flask, or in a box of gold that is lined with velvet. Or perhaps you’d think that, better still, it would be kept in a steel container, secured with a coded keypad lock, and carried in an armored car that is filled with fully-armed security personnel. But instead, it’s kept in “earthen vessels”—us, in our frail bodies that can easily be broken and crushed. And look at why Paul said that this was done. It was so “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

I read a story the other day about how A.T. Pierson once visited the great man of faith, George Mueller. Some of you have read the story of George Mueller—and of the amazing things that God did through him, and the miraculous ways that God provided for the work he did in caring for the orphans of England. A.T. Pierson asked him, “Mr. Mueller, would you be willing to tell me the secret of your great work and the wonderful things that God has done through you?”

We’re told that George Mueller “looked up for a moment, and then bowed his head lower and lower until it was down between his knees, and he was silent a moment or two, and then said, ‘Many years ago there came a day in my life when George Mueller died. As a young man I had a great many ambitions, but there came a day when I died to all these things, and I said, “Henceforth, Lord Jesus, not my will but Thine,” and from that day God began to work in and through me.’”¹

That’s what God wants to do in us, dear brothers and sisters. He wants to work through us and display His glory. He wants to exhibit to the world the greatness of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that He has entrusted to us. But in order for the power of that gospel to be fully displayed in us, we must first be broken of self.

I wonder if there are some of us here today who God is seeking to break of self—so that the excellence of the power of His glory might be put on display to the world?

* * * * * * * * * *

As we read on, we see . . .

2. HOW THE POWER OF THAT MESSAGE OF LOVE IS DISPLAYED (vv. 8-11).

Paul says, “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 . . .” (vv. 8-9).

I made an interesting discovery as I looked at the original language of this verse. As Paul wrote it, it really reads like this: “In every [that is, in every thing, or every situation] we are hard-pressed, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed . . .” In other words, the sense of being “squeezed” and “pressed-in” that we feel, or the perplexity and the sense of being without the means to meet our situation, or the persecution that may oppress us, or the experience of being “struck down”, is not something out-of-the-ordinary or occasional. It’s something that is true “in every”—that is, in all of our Christian experience. It constantly seems as if the whole world is against us; and as if all the forces of hell itself are battling to undo us as witness-bearers of Jesus Christ. And yet, in all of it—”in every”—God displays the excellence of His power. We are “not crushed”, or “not in despair”, or “not forsaken”, or “not destroyed”. The world looks at us and wonders how it can be that we’re still standing after all that is thrown against us; and the only explanation is that it is a power greater than our own is being displayed.

Paul certainly knew something about this! Near the end of this letter, he wrote;

And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

Many of us are deeply grateful that the Holy Spirit led Paul to write those words! And in our passage this morning, he goes on to say that we are “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (v. 10). That was Paul’s great attitude of heart. He always bore about in himself the dying of the Lord Jesus. He once told the Corinthians, “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Jesus had said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). The cross was an instrument of death; and so, Paul willingly denied himself, took up the cross as the instrument of death to “self”, and chose to bear in his body the dying of the Lord.

And this was so that Jesus would be manifest in Him. As he went on to say, “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (v. 11). Think of all the times that Paul was nearly stoned to death for preaching Jesus! Think of the times he was shipwrecked or nearly lost at sea. Think of the times he was sitting in a prison cell, awaiting what may well have been his execution the next day! I believe Paul woke up every morning and thought, “Well; today may be the day. If I follow where my Master leads, He may literally call me to lay down my life. It may well be that I will not live to see this day’s end.” And then, I suspect that he would pray, “Lord Jesus, just as you laid down Your life for me, I now lay down my life for You. I may physically be put to death today; so I choose to die to self now, so that You may more fully manifest Your glory in and through me.” It was as he once wrote elsewhere,

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

And dear brothers and sisters; that’s how our faith proves to be real. Remember that woman in the donut shop? Remember her question?—”Is there any Christian out there who has integrity?” Well; that’s where the integrity of the Christian life comes from—from us poor “earthen vessels” dying to self, so that the excellence of the power of God through Jesus Christ may be authentically lived through us.

* * * * * * * * * *

And this isn’t just for ourselves. This is how God uses us to impact others with the message of His gospel. Look at how Paul went on to tell us . . .

3. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN GOD DISPLAYS HIS MESSAGE THIS WAY (vv. 12-15).

He said, “So then death is working in us, but life in you” (v. 12). Paul affirmed that dying to himself, so that the glory of Jesus Christ may be displayed more clearly in and through him, led to life in the experience of his brothers and sisters in Corinth.

That’s the remarkable way God works in Christ. He produces life through death. He did so through our Lord Jesus Christ—producing eternal life for us through His death on the cross. And He continues to do so for others through us—producing life through Christ in others when we die to self and let Jesus be displayed through us. Jesus Himself said,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25).

Paul was so sure of this that he was willing to preach a gospel that could easily cost him his life at any time. He quoted from Psalm 116 when he said, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God (vv. 13-15).

* * * * * * * * * *

Dear brothers and sisters; are you going through a time of brokenness right now? Is God taking you through a time in which He is stripping you of your reliance on self? Is He taking everything away from you, so that you have nothing left but Him?

If so, please don’t fight it. If I may put it boldly, let Him break you so that He is able to display more clearly the precious treasure He has placed in you. Die to self, so that the life of Jesus may shine through you more resplendently; and so that His life may transform the lives of others. We don’t have to be afraid of this; because we will be raised together, and presented to together before Him to His glory.

_____________________

As told in H.A. Ironside, Addresses on The Second Epistle to The Corinthians (New York: Loizeaux Brothers, 1939), p. 112-113.