SURPASSING GLORY IN FRAIL VESSELS
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on November 15, 2020 under 2020 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; November 15, 2020 from 2 Corinthians 4:7-10
Theme: God allows the gospel to be proclaimed by frail people in order to show the greatness of His power through it.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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That’s the great theme of this letter—the glories of the ministry of the gospel. Paul considered the gospel of Jesus Christ to be the greatest and most powerful message the world could ever hear. No other message can save and transform someone like the Good News of Jesus can. And he counted it a great privilege that he and his co-laborers in the ministry were called out by God for it and were made to be qualified by Him to preach it.
But the immeasurable power of the gospel didn’t mean that he and his co-laborers were themselves powerful. The life-changing power of the gospel didn’t have anything to do with them. The greatness of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ was found in God Himself; and the weakness and frailty of Paul and his other co-preachers only made the greatness of God’s power more obvious.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, the apostle Paul wrote;
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 (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
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Now, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; it’s important that you and I understand the greatness of this message that we bear … and also that we think rightly about our part in it.
Right now, we are living in a time when the message that we proclaim has come to be considered irrelevant by the people who most need to hear it from us. The official operating worldview of our culture has become—over the past few decades—essentially atheistic in nature. Even though the people around us don’t always come right out and say it, they nevertheless live their lives and conduct their business as if God was not there—as if He had never really existed at all. They define their deepest problems according to whatever it is that fallible human wisdom says about them—and not in the way that God’s word defines them. They try to solve those problems by human efforts and plans and resources—and not in the way that God’s word says that they must be solved. They try to find non-spiritual solutions to spiritual problems; or they try to find alternative ‘spiritualities’ to solve them; or—as is happening more and more—they simply redefine those problems so that they are no longer problems at all. Whatever God might have said in His word is not even taken into consideration.
You can see for yourself what a mess this has made of things over just the past few years. The condition of this world is getting worse by the day. And it’s worse still for the individual people who are living in that world; because, without their realizing it, they are drifting further and further into rebellion against God, and eventually into eternal judgment. After all, simply believing that God does not exist doesn’t make Him cease to exist. And all the people around us who are currently rejecting Him will—one day—have the dreadful experience of standing before Him and giving an account for their disobedience and unbelief.
And yet, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves those precious people all around us. In mercy, He has entrusted us the message that saves their souls and transforms their lives. We’re not simply offering them ‘another solution’ to their problems. The gospel of Jesus is the one great and true provision from God for the meeting of the greatest need they have. Paul wrote;
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).
Think of what Paul said about this gospel. It is “the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes”. It is not ‘irrelevant’ at all. If the God of the Bible exists (and He does); and if He has spoken the truth about our condition (and He has), then it can be truthfully said that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most relevant thing in the world.
This gospel of Jesus that has been entrusted to us, when faithfully proclaimed by us, has the power to completely redeem and transform any person who believes it—not just on the outside, but from the inside out. Nothing else on earth can do that. It has the power to make someone into a ‘new creation’. It has the power to deliver them from their captivity under the devil and from all of his lies and deceptions; and to bring them into the glorious liberty of the redeemed. It has the power to rescue them from a condition of eternal damnation, and transform them into recipients of eternal life. It takes the man or woman or young person who is filled with spiritual darkness and sin, and completely washes them clean of all guilt before God, causes them to become ‘born again’, and makes them fully acceptable before God. It makes them into people in whom God the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence; by whose indwelling presence they are daily transformed into the image of Jesus Christ Himself. And what’s more, this gospel delivers them from the greatest fear that there is—the fear of death; because it seals them for eternal life. Those that are saved by this gospel will one day—on the day of Jesus’ return to this earth—be either bodily raised from their graves in glory, or instantly transformed into conformity to the glory of Jesus Himself. It guarantees them for eternity in God’s presence—perfected forever—so that they then dwell everlastingly in glory in fellowship with His Son.
And always remember; it’s not just that we preach a better worldview to the people around us—a better philosophy than the one they now hold to. No! We preach a wonderful Person!—Jesus Christ!—the Son of God! We invite people to get to know Him, and trust Him, and enter into a personal relationship with Him, and become fully saved by Him. As Paul has said elsewhere;
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:28).
So; we need to think rightly about this message that we bear—this wonderful gospel. It’s the most relevant thing in the world! It’s the most precious treasure there is! To those who hear it, and believe it, and are saved by it, it does more good for people than anything else that this world has to offer! We ourselves have been saved by it. And it has now been entrusted to you and me to give to this world free of charge.
But we also need to think rightly of ourselves, dear brothers and sisters, in relation to this powerful message that we bear. There’s nothing particularly dazzling about us; is there? The world looks at the church of Jesus and doesn’t see much that would impress it. And we have to agree with that evaluation. Even the apostle Paul himself admitted this. And yet, he said that this was all intentional. Our weakness and frailty, as bearers of the gospel, is meant to show that the life-transforming power of the gospel is from the God who gave it—and not at all from the people who proclaim it.
Do you remember what Paul wrote at the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthian believers?
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).
That is what’s behind this morning’s passage in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10. We, dear brothers and sisters, bear the most powerful and relevant and edifying and life-transforming message the world has ever known. It is an immeasurably precious and glorious treasure—and yet, it is carried around in this world in weak and frail ‘containers’ like us.
Why is this so? Why does God do this? God lets this glorious gospel be proclaimed by frail people like you and me, in order to show the greatness of His own power at work through it—and through us.
And that should give us great reason to be confident when we—unimpressive though we may be—faithfully proclaim it to the people of this world.
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Now; let’s look at this passage in more detail. You can divide it up into three parts. In it, you find first ‘the principle’; and then, ‘the proofs’ of this principle in action; and finally, ‘the product’ of this principle when does its work.
In verse 7, then, Paul first sets before us …
1. THE PRINCIPLE.
The principle is that our weakness shows forth the gospel’s power. Paul puts it this way; “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
What is this “treasure” (or, as it can be translated, this “precious deposit”)? It’s what Paul referred to in verse 3 as “the gospel”. And more; it’s also the privilege of being able to proclaim that gospel in this world. It’s what Paul described in verses 5-6 when he wrote;
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, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (vv. 5-6).
It’s the greatest treasure anyone can carry around or have responsibility for. It’s the most life-changing force in this world. To proclaim it is the greatest privilege that anyone can have. And yet, look where this precious treasure is kept. We’re told that we have this treasure “in earthen vessels”.
If you read that phrase “earthen vessels” or “jars of clay”, and end up thinking of our frail earthly bodies, you’d be thinking correctly. But it means much more than that. It also includes the whole of our being. We are frail of body, and also of mind, and also of heart. We encounter circumstances of daily life that are beyond our abilities. We at times grow weak, or discouraged, or fearful, or confused. We are tempted; and sometimes we stumble. We find ourselves limited by circumstances or trials or needs. And our mortal bodies are prone to sickness and frailty and death. And yet, this precious treasure is carried about in this world by the likes of us! It almost seems as if God chose to keep the Hope Diamond in a Happy Meal box.
And yet, this is intentional. It’s by design. Paul says that this is so that the “excellence of the power” of the gospel to change lives—the surpassing greatness of it—may be shown clearly to be of God, and not of the weak people like us who bear it in this world.
I love what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:8-10. He wrote these words while he was in prison. In fact, he was facing execution at the time, and would not be in this world much longer. That’s how weak and frail he was in his own person and resources. But it only ended up showing how mighty God is through the gospel. Paul wrote to Timothy and said;
Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory (2 Timothy 2:8-10).
We can be chained up, but the gospel that we preach can never be kept in chains. We can be put to death in our bodies, but the gospel that we preach keeps right on going forward and giving eternal life to those who believe it. We carry this precious treasure out to the world in earthen vessels, and all so that the greatness of the power of that gospel will be known to be of God—and not of us. Our weakness shows forth God’s power through the gospel—and also God’s power through us.
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Now; that’s the principle. And now, second, notice …
2. THE PROOF.
Paul goes on to give examples from his own experiences and those of his co-laborers. Their experiences show that they were weak and frail as bearers of the gospel; but that God was at work mightily in them through the gospel that they preached.
First, Paul proves that this is so in trials. In verse 8, he wrote, “We are hard-pressed on every side …” The word that Paul used, in the original language, basically means to be ‘pressed in’ or ‘squeezed’. The pressures that he felt from preaching the message of the gospel in this world were severe. A world system that is hostile to the message of the gospel constantly applies pressure to those who preach it—demanding that they be silent, or that they conform to the world’s values and priorities, or that they say only the things that make them happy. But as much as he felt pressed, Paul added that he and his co-ministers were “yet not crushed.” To be ‘hard pressed—yet not crushed’; this was proof that the message of the gospel is the proclamation of truth in this world, and that God Himself works behind it. The trials of this world cannot crush it out.
Then, Paul proves that this is so in distresses. Paul wrote, “we are perplexed …” And the word that Paul used here means to be ‘without means’. There were many times in his ministry that he felt that there weren’t the resources necessary to do the work. Or even in a figurative sense, there were times when he and his co-laborers in the gospel felt themselves caught in distressing situations from which they had no human means of getting free. They felt themselves to be without any clear ‘means’ of escape. Humanly speaking, they didn’t know what they could do. And yet, even then—as he went on to say—“perplexed, but not in despair”. He was not in ‘perplexity’ to the uttermost. I like how one Bible commentator put it—that Paul and his co-ministers were “confused, but not confounded”. They were ‘perplexed’; but were not sunken down into complete ‘perplexity’. God always made a way for His message to go forward and to reach those who needed to hear it.
Paul said that this principle—that God’s power in the gospel was shown even through weakness—was at work even while in persecutions. Do you know what the word translated ‘persecute’ really means? It means to be ‘pursued’—and in this case, to be pursued with malicious and hostile intent. Many sought to take Paul’s life. In 2 Corinthians 11:26, he said that he was
in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, 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 … (2 Corinthians 11:26).
And yet, though they were often persecuted, he affirmed, “but not forsaken”. The Lord Jesus, who sent him to preach this gospel in a hostile world, never left Him.
Paul even said this all held true in defeats. I’m not sure how else to put the idea but as “defeats”. Paul spoke of his sufferings for Jesus almost as if they knocked him down and killed him. He said, “struck down”; which meant to be cast down and laid out prostrate. There was a time when he preached the gospel in one particular city; and in anger, they took him out of the city and stoned him with stones and left him for dead. That would almost seem like that was the end of it. But Paul said that he and his co-laborers were “struck down, but not destroyed”. When Paul was stoned and left for dead that day, he rose up by the help of God and—amazingly—walked right back into the city. When God sends someone out to preach His gospel—until their work is done—they are truly indestructible; because the greatness of the power is of God, and not of them.
Later on in 2 Corinthians 2—in 6:4-10—Paul wrote this:
But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things (2 Corinthians 6:4-10).
It’s true that not every preacher or missionary or evangelist has always been physically delivered from trials or distresses or persecutions or defeats in the way that Paul so often was. Many have had to pay the price with all that they had. Even Paul himself eventually had to. But it’s always true that the gospel that they preached kept right on going—even if they did not; and people were saved by it—even if they weren’t always there to see it.
That’s because our weakness as bearers of the gospel in this world only showed forth the greatness of the power of God at work through it—and through us.
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So; that was the principle, and those were the proofs of it. And now, thirdly, notice …
3. THE PRODUCT.
When we take the gospel of Jesus Christ out into the every-day marketplaces of this world; and when our frailty as the bearers of it ends up showing forth the power of God at work through it, then the life of Jesus Christ ends up being manifested in us. In verse 10, Paul wrote that he and his co-laborers in the gospel were “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
What did it mean to always be ‘carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus’? It meant that these preachers followed Jesus’ own example. He did not come to this world in mighty power and glory when He came to redeem us. He came in weakness and frailty. He took the form of a servant; and humbled Himself to the point of death—even the death of the cross. And so; when we take up our cross and follow Him—even to the point of being ‘hard-pressed’, and ‘perplexed’, and ‘persecuted’, and ‘struck down’ in this world—then His life becomes manifested in us. He proves His power in us by the fact that “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; … perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed …” As he wrote in the next verse; “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).
The best commentary we can find on this is what Paul himself wrote near the end of this letter—in 2 Corinthians 12. He had an infirmity of some kind—’a messenger of Satan’, as he called it. It plagued him and hindered him; and he asked God three times to take it away.
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 12:9-10).
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It is by our weakness and frailty that God works through us to show forth the power of His life-transforming gospel. Truly, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
Let’s—in all our weakness—faithfully and confidently proclaim it wherever God places us.
EA
