1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

James

Jars Of Clay

Have you ever noticed that the men and women in the bible whom God uses are not always the ones that corporate America would have chose?    I mean look at some of the heroes of our faith, Abraham, who had his wife lie for him to save his own hide.  Samson a long haired guy who played games with his enemies and had a weakness for beautiful women.   Or Peter a fisherman turned church leader who always seemed to be putting his foot in his mouth.   No, God does not always pick the person we would see as most qualified, rather he works with those who have submitted their will to his.

1 Cor 1:26-29  Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Oswald Chambers, wrote:  “God can achieve his purpose either through the absence of human power and resources, or the abandonment of reliance on them.  All through history God has chosen and used nobodies, because their unusual dependence on him made possible the unique display of his power and grace.  He chose and used somebodies - only when they renounced dependence on their own natural abilities...

God uses those who recognize that they are nothing, those who have surrendered whatever pride they have to him and laid their lives down before him as nothing.  That is the man / that is the woman that God will use for his work and his glory.  

Matt 16:24-25 ...Jesus said... "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Deny self, die to self, follow after Jesus, that is a life laid down, that is a life that God will take and use for his work.   As we continue our studies in 2 Corinthians we find Paul speaking about the ministry God has given him.  As we have said, this really is a very personal letter.   As Paul speaks of his ministry of course we find that it applies to all believers, and it is a paradox that we have such a magnificent ministry -- yet it is manifest in these human bodies that are so frail and often fail.   He calls these bodies, “Jars of Clay.”   Like a pot made of clay, we are frail yet can be filled the good stuff of the Lord.

READ THE TEXT 2 CORINTHIANS 4:1-12-- JARS OF CLAY.

Our text begins referring us back to something, we saw last week in chapter 3. 

2 Cor 3:18  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Because we have this ministry we are encouraged.   Encouraged because we are growing in the grace of our Lord.  We with unveiled faces are reflecting the Lord's glory, being transformed, changed as we go through life, we are being conformed into what God desires.  Sanctified, in practical ways until our lives reflect Jesus.  People look at you, they look at me and they should see something that is reflective of God's work within our lives.  

It's been said, you may be the only Gospel someone might see.  The believers life should reflect Jesus - like Moses coming down the mountain, his face was reflecting the glory of God.  Of course as we saw last week, Moses glow was fading away, but our faith is glowing stronger each day as we are being transformed in the his likeness with ever increasing glory.  

So from that background, Paul speaks about this ministry we have in jars of clay.

1. THE MINISTRY WE HAVE  V1-2.

Paul had some problems going on yet he says, "We do not lose heart!"  There were plenty of reasons for discouragement, yet Paul did not quit.  What kept him from fainting in the troubles he faced?   What kept him from complaining about what he did not have?   How could he rejoice in what he did have?  

I think as we consider the entire life of the Apostle Paul we see that he really understood what he possessed in Jesus Christ.   Paul may have lacked things, stuff, material possessions, but he possessed eternal life, he owned ministry for the Lord, and he carried around in his body the death of Jesus as well as the death of Paul.  

I know there are some of you who have become discouraged lately let me confess something to you, I've been discouraged before.  I know some Christians who are ready to quit, feeling that they are not achieving anything.  I'm sure Paul had some of those feelings, but we see here that he is not looking to himself, he's not even focused on what he was doing for God,-- rather Paul is focused on Jesus, who holds believers lives in his will.  He calls ministry, treasure. 

            1. MINISTRY/ TREASURE.

The way you look at ministry (and we are all in the ministry) helps to determine how you will fulfill it.   If you look on serving Christ as a burden, it will be a drag and you will do only what is required of you.   When Paul considered the fact that he was a minister of Jesus Christ he was overwhelmed by the mercy of God.  And that attitude kept him from being discouraged when problems arose. 

When some brothers in Caesarea warned him not to go to Jerusalem because problems awaited him there, Paul knew that it was ok, because God was going to use those problems.  As they were crying Paul told them. 

Acts 21:13... I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

2 Cor 4:12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Paul was not discouraged because he knew that whatever he faced was working for the ministry that was entrusted to him by God's mercy.   Whatever you face, God wants to use it in your ministry.  You can say Rich, “I'm not in the ministry!”  Oh contrar'e   Your ministry may be your family, your spouse, your home, to your coworkers.  Do you see your life a ministry?   All that life gives comes by God's mercy, so Paul speaks about how this ministry “fueled by mercy, and it changes us.

                        1. CHANGES US.

Paul renounces secret, shameful and deceptive ways.   He will not use manipulation to do God's work.  Nor should we , wives don't manipulate their husbands, fathers don't manipulate your children. 

Today there is a lot of manipulation in our lives, advertisers try to manipulate us to buy there product, family tries to manipulate us to do things.   Even some churches try to manipulate people.  I've heard about a Pastor who would shave his head if a certain number of visitors came to church.  Or churches that lay guilt trips on people about their involvement, or giving.  That's not ministry, its manipulating people for superficial reasons.  

Ps 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

Paul says, we renounce those types of deceptions.   "I don't need any of those things."   I focus on Jesus, the treasure of the ministry he gave me, and the death of him that lives on within me.

                        2. FOCUS ON TRUTH.

Paul faced those Judaizers who wanted to marry the law and the gospel, but even today false teachers claim to base their doctrine on the Word of God, - but they handle God's Word in deceptive ways.  You can prove just about anything by the Bible, if you twist the Scriptures enough.

But we, like Paul, have nothing to hide.  Not in our personal life or in preaching of the Word.  Everything should be open and honest; there should be no deception in methods, and no distortion of the Word.  The Judaizers were guilty of twisting the Scriptures to gathered people around themselves. 

But Paul does not get discouraged, he's not always thinking of some new gimmick or program to get people out to hear the good news.  He knows what Jesus said to be true.

John 8:32  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 

That's why he wrote these same Corinthians about his focus in ministry.

1 Cor 2:1-5  When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.  I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.  My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,  so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

Paul knew that when you present the gospel, it has the power to strip off all the veils of delusions and reveal the basic reality of our need for God.  

C. S. Lewis, the great British defender of the faith, said that when he became a Christian he did so as an “intellectual agnostic.”  He said when he came to Christ it was as though he were dragged, kicking and screaming, and trying to escape.   His mind was fighting it all the way, but his conscience had succumbed to the Word of God.   He said that the night he came to Christ he was the most reluctant convert in all of England.  But he gave his life to Christ and became one of the greatest defenders of the faith next to the Apostle Paul.

Paul say, "That's what I count on. I don't have to depend on me.  My personality, my ability,  some gimmick, or program, I go with the simple gospel and that is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.   Some would say, "If that is the case, then why don't more people believe this gospel?"  That is the question they evidently asked Paul, which he is facing here at this point, because he goes on to say:

2. THE BATTLES WE FIGHT. V3-6.

Why don't more people turn to Jesus ?   Why was Paul fighting the false teachers who were winning some converts?   Because there are spiritual forces at work to stop the work of the ministry of the Gospel. 

Eph 6:12... Our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The battles we face in bringing forth the gospel, are not worldly battles, we fight against spiritual forces in the heavens.  Like our text says, the mind of those who do not believe is blinded by Satan.  Its easer for for fallen man to believe lies than to believe truth. 

This week just that has come to light with some people who want to believe the twisted half truths and lies in the Di Vinci Code move and book.  Its a novel, a work of fiction, yet there are a percentage of people who believe it as fact.  

Paul says, the Gospel "is veiled to the lost: because the god of this world hath blinded their minds.”

1 Cor 2:14  The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

In chapter we saw how the mind of those who live under the law, is “veiled" so they can not see grace, but now we read that the mind of all unbelievers, Jew or Gentile is also blinded!  Those who are lost simply cannot understand the message of the Gospel.   Satan does not want the glorious light of salvation to shine into their hearts.  He job is to keep the lost in the dark.  And he will use anything to do that, even religion.  Be that religion of keeping the law, religion of self righteousness, religion of working your way to God, or the religion of, I am my own god.

But reality is that people are perishing because they do not believe in Jesus Christ.  The world is unconsciously worshiping anything but the one true God.  So they cannot understand what the good news is saying.   That is the veil Paul speaks of, that the devil's purpose, to keep men and women from seeing that Jesus Christ is the way to be right with God.   Only by faith can we see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God."    So we, like Paul proclaim the simple Gospel.

            2. PROCLAIMING OF THE GOSPEL.

V5 says we do not preach ourselves – we do not a self-promote - we gospel promote.   Today there are many who are considered church superstars, I often wonder about their motives.   During Paul's day the Judaizers were not servants who tried to help people, rather they were were dictators who exploited people.

James 4:10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Paul was genuinely humble, he does not commend himself his ministry was about others, and leading people to Jesus -- then to build them up in the faith.  

So he shows us what happens when we share Jesus with the lost.   The light begins to shine!   In V6 Paul  compares conversion to Creation.   Like the earth in Genesis those with the Lord are lost formless and empty, but when Jesus comes into our heart, everything becomes -- new creation.  God begins to form and fill our lives and we begin to bear good fruit.   God said, "Let there be light!" and everything is  new. 

John 8:12 ...(Jesus said)... "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Matt 5:14  "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

I am the light of the world, you are the light of the world.  Was Jesus confused?  Are there two lights? 

I like the way Jon Courson says it.  “ Think of Jesus as the Sun, the source of light.  And we his followers as the moon, we live in dark times, yet as we walk with Jesus we reflect his light.   The moon is not visible during a lunar eclipse because the earth comes between the sun and the moon.  In other words, when the world gets in the way, the “ministry of the moon can no longer be seen. 

We are the light of the world.  Yet the degree to which we allow the pleasures, pursuits, and passions of the world to creep into our lives will be the degree to which the light is eclipsed.  On the other hand, if we look at Jesus, if we keep our focuses on him, without allowing the world to creep in, his reflection will be clear in our lives.   That is why Paul tells us to behold the Lord with an open face, to remove anything in our lives that comes between the Son and us.   If we do, we will shine not with the fading light of legalism, but the awesome glow of grace in the Holy Spirit that never fades.    We have seen the Ministry we have, and the battles we fight, finally. 

3. THE VESSELS WE LIVE IN  V7-12.

So God has given us this ministry, this treasure, to reflect Jesus, in Jars of clay, or clay pots.  Its like placing the Crown Jewels in a brown paper bag.  It defies logic and common sense.  It seems that a  thing of value and beauty ought to be in a secure and ornate container.   So it is a mystery, as to why God would place the treasure of his Son in “jars of clay” like us.   Then suddenly I realize that God does this so that the glory of the treasure would be more glorious – that God's power might be revealed.

            1.TO SHOW GOD'S POWER.

Look at V 8-12 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;  persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

Paul had suffered much, and here he lets us know that his hard times were there as an opportunity for the light to shine forth from him.  So the “jar of clay” of his body was broken for the benefit of those he was ministering to.

In Judges chapter 7, we read about the Midianites and how they harassed the children of Israel constantly.  They charged them high taxes, they plundered their cities, they stole their children and wives as slaves.   So God called the most reluctant of leaders, Gideon, he was the man whom God so would used to deliver Israel.  When Gideon blew his trumpet to call the men to battle 32,000 showed up.  Not a bad size for a all volunteer army, until you realize that the Midianites had 145,000 experienced soldiers in their invading forces.  

So Gideon speaks with God, 145,000 against 32,000, “Lord I don't like the odds”, and God agreed, that the odds were bad,--  and God told Gideon had too many men to defeat the Midianites.   So God sent home anyone who was afraid, and 22,000 walked away.   Now the odds are 10,000 against 145,000, but if you know that story, God weeded out an additional 9,700 men there at what is known today as the “spring of Gideon.”   Three hundred men, that's God's plan -- and his plan involves “jars of clay”. 

Each man was to take a torch and a clay jar and hide the fiery torch under the jar as they surrounded the Midianite camp.   As the Israelites came down the hills into the camp - they blew their trumpets, broke their clay jars exposing their lights, then called out their battle cry - “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.”   Hearing the sound the men of Midian stumbled out of their tents, seeing the lights surrounding them and must have assumed that each torch represented not a single soldier but an entire division.   “We're surrounded by thousands.”  They cried.  And in their confusion, the Midianites began attacking and killing one another. 

The Lord won the victory, as those “jars of clay” were broken and the light shined forth.  That is why Paul speaks about his troubles.   Because he knows that the Lord brings victory when we are broken, and the light of the Lord comes flooding out of us.  That is when the darkness and deception of the world, our own flesh and the devil, are exposed.  They are all unveiled as the light shines from us into the lives of others.

Two thoughts in closing.

1. The light goes on with me.

I understand that the Lord allows me to go through tough times.  Times of breaking and even pain, so that those around me might see his reality shinning forth from me.

2. My burden is lightened up.

When I realize that because I'm just a clay pot, I don't have to put on an act or come across as a super spiritual person.  I don't need to be anything I am not.  If God could use flawed people Abraham, Rahab, Samson, and Peter, he can use even me.  So all the glory goes to God  for it is by his power-  his mercy - his goodness, that I am able to do anything.   Because it is God who places within me the incredible treasure of his Son. 

PRAY, INVITE, BENEDICTION, SING.

Series: 2 Corinthians  -Through the Bible
By: Rich Lammay
Title: “JARS OF CLAY”
Scripture: 2 Corinthians  4:1-12
Date: May, 2006

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