CRUSHED BUT NOT BROKEN

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Life can be crushed in the blink of an eye. But it can also be restored.

[Show picture of man crushed in truck]

It took me a while to figure out what exactly this was a picture of……

I see a man in what appears to be a shriveled up metal box…..

But it’s much more than that

This man is Kaleb Whitby

& on January 17, 2015, Interstate 84 in eastern Oregon turned into a frozen war zone….

Kaleb was driving his Chevy Silverado through a dense fog on in the earl morning hours….

He had been on the road only a matter of minutes….

When he looked up….

& saw the semi-truck trailer in front him start to sway

He tapped his brakes & felt his truck slip on the black ice…

….that was hidden beneath him

He lost control & his truck was now aimed at the back of the semi ‘s trailer

He struck the tractor-trailer head-on

& his 2008 Chevy went silent

He turned to his right & through the rear passenger window saw another set of headlights barreling straight for him

He looked away. All he could do was pray.

& then the second semi truck slammed into him on the other side

——

By all reasonable expectations of physics, Whitby should have died that day…..

….leaving his pregnant wife a widow & his son fatherless

Instead he walked away with a black eye & few scratches & this incredible photograph….

….that shows him sandwiched alive between two semi trucks

…..somehow, still alive

…..he fumbled his pocket knife out of his pocket & started cutting the seat belt &

….managed to dislodge himself from the seat

…..& out of what remained of the Silverado through a tiny holy at his feet

……what I want you to see is how this photograph is the perfect illustration for the Christian life

In a life full of struggles, pain & challenges….. & yet Paul says to the Corinthians:

“We are hard-pressed on every side, and yet not crushed.”

Tension

But it is not always easy to believe that

In fact, we have a human tendency to overlook our own inadequacies, don’t we?

Just look at social media….

Go to someone’s Facebook page, & you would often be tricked into thinking that there are actually some perfect lives out there….

On social media, people like to create an image that their lives are perfect…

There’s one man who I have friended on Facebook….

Who constantly….daily….is posting videos of himself lifting the heaviest weights

…Like we’re supposed to just sit back & marvel at how strong he is

Social media is just rampant w/ example after example of someone flexing their pride

Bragging about how beautiful they are….

…how strong they are

….how resilient they are

& their finger is pointing, but it is always pointing back at themselves

“See what I can do!” “See how strong I am!”

“I am capable” “I can do anything I put my mind to”

Remember that old Stuart Smalley sketch on Saturday Night Live..

…where this therapist would sit people in front of a mirror & prompt them to say to themselves

“I am good enough, I am strong enough, and dog gone it, people like me”

These days…people don’t seem to need that prompting much…

It seems to be a default setting

They just wake up & words of self-praise & self-affirmation just come spewing out

& then social media becomes this platform for them to share their prideful thoughts & declarations to the world

It is in our very sinful nature for us to act like this…

To act like we have everything figured out & that we don’t need anyone to help us

To refuse God’s presence in our lives

1 John 2:16 calls this the “pride of life”

….& it is listed in that passage w/ 2 other things as the mindset of those who are counter to God’s will…..

It says starting in verse 15..

1 John 2:15–16 NKJV

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

1 John 2:15-16 The “pride of life” portrays this arrogance over one’s circumstances….

…which produces this prideful exaggeration, parading what one possesses to impress other people

Truth

The truth is this arrogance & prideful position is completely counter to what God wants in our lives

In that same passage of 1 John 2:16, right after we are told to avoid this “pride of life” mentality……we are then told why

Because it is “Not from the Father”

This arrogant profile is from the “world”, not from Heaven

The source of it is none other than Satan…

& the world is the enemy of the Christian because it is in rebellion & opposition against God….

….& has been since the beginning

Let’s look at this more closely by opening to 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4:7–12 NKJV

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.

In light of Paul’s words to the church in Corinth, I want to share w/ you the 3 ways in which we should respond to life’s challenges….

& the first way is this:

First, we need to see the paradox of fragility and power (1) {4:7}

Instead of taking on this position of arrogance & the “pride of life”

We need to humble ourselves…

We should consistently acknowledge our weaknesses

In verse 7, Paul equates us to “earthen vessels”….

Which is another word for “Jars of clay”

In ancient times, these were clay pots…

They were cheap, breakable, replaceable, but they were necessary in those days for household functions

They were used to store items occasionally…

But they were most often used for holding garbage or human waste..

This is how Paul views himself….& also how we should view ourselves

…as lowly, expendable, replaceable….

…we are also very fragile

In those days, anything valuable or viewed as a treasure was never kept in these clay pots….

But here Paul says the believer has “this treasure” inside these jars of clay

Inside us, inside our lives, our bodies…

Which are so easily shattered

But only through Christ we can hold such a treasure…that is the Gospel

Which provides for us hope, not only in this life…but the life to come

In this life, the soul is regenerated…it is born again…but the body is not…

But remember….after we our bodies die, or Jesus comes back…whichever comes first…

We are promised a new body in Heaven…

Philippians 3:21 NKJV

who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

This is that “blessed hope” that Paul describes in Titus 2:13

This hope encompasses salvation certainly…but it also involves seeing Jesus face-to-face glory….

& the receiving of our new, glorified bodies

& so it is evil to brag about how great we are now…how strong we are on our own…or about this or that….

But, for the Christian, it is good to boast about our hope both in this life & in the life to come….

….Because our boasting is not in ourselves but in our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ….

…We say: “Look at what Christ has done for me….”

…..”Look at what awaits me in Heaven…..a new glorified body….transformed to be like Christ”

All of us that are above the age of 40 know full well what it’s like to have a body that is slowly…& painfully falling apart…..

…..There is no avoiding it….& we have constant reminders of that every single day…..a sore shoulder….a bad left knee

….sometimes, just getting up from a sitting position can be a chore…

But for the redeemed in Christ….we have that “blessed hope”

All of that is only temporary…….

We can & we should boast in that treasure that Christ has put inside our fragile jars of clay…..

We may break….but what He has put inside of us will never break

& that’s why it says here in verse 7: “That the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

————

The second perspective we should have toward life’s challenges is….

We must persevere in the midst of perplexity (2) {4:8-9}

Paul writes in verses 8-9…

2 Corinthians 4:8–9 NKJV

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—

Even if someone were to kill our earthly bodies or if cancer were to eat them up….

We have a hope that cannot be destroyed

We may not always understand why God allows something to happen to us or to others….but it ultimately does not matter

Our hope & faith in our destiny remain intact

Even if we go through a period of time when we cannot feel God’s presence…

….He can enable us to continue in faith to the end

Like that man in the truck…”we are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed”

“We are perplexed, but not in despair”

The way it is used here, the word “perplexed” means “not knowing which way to turn”

Have you ever felt at a loss? Not knowing which way to turn?

Paul certainly knew what it was like to be perplexed….

We see examples of that throughout the whole New Testament…

& yet Paul writes “but not in despair”

Paul was at a loss, indeed, but not at a hopeless loss

He was often doubtful which way to take, yet always finding some way open

This is often true in our lives

We are usually more cognizant of the Lord’s leading & guidance in our lives in retrospect than we are when facing a decision

I always tell people…if you want to know what it is like to feel constantly perplexed…go have four kids

Then take those 4 kids on a 5 hour road trip

“Perplexed, but not in despair” becomes your life motto

In Acts, chapter 16, Paul finds himself in a perplexing situation….(Acts 16:11-12)

Paul was in Troas, trying to figure out what to do next….& where to go next

Then he saw in a vision a man from Macedonia pleading w/ him to “come over…and help us”

Then, a perplexed Paul, crossed over the Aegean (uh-jee-uhn) Sea & commenced evangelizing Europe

….which ended up being one of the great turning points in history

This was a historic moment, that was born out of perplexity…but not despair

Paul was also persecuted…but not forsaken

It’s worth noting that Paul never complained about being persecuted…& he experienced plenty of it

At Antioch, for example, the Jews stirred up various attacks on the church & other threats

They even launched a full-out assault against him in Acts 14

It says in Acts 14:5…

Acts 14:5 NKJV

And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them,

Later on in Acts 14, Paul was stoned & dragged out of the city…….

So beaten, in fact, that everyone thought he was dead

We usually think of persecution as mostly physical….as in a beating, or beheading….

But it’s much more than that

Persecution can take on many forms

& while we here in America haven’t faced the level of physical persecution that has been experienced in other countries….YET

We have gotten a taste of other forms of persecution, especially in recent years

————

The last perspective we should have in our life is this…

We should proclaim life through sacrifice (3){4:10-12}

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Application

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Inspiration

Now, go back to that story of Kaleb Whitby….

….who survived that horrific wreck between two semis

…..he not only walked away from that wreck, but he refused to go the hospital

…..instead he offered help to others involved in the multi-vehicle wreck…

He stayed at the scene for 2 more hours…..helping the injured

Handing out blankets……offering comfort

It was only after he stayed to help the hurt & injured that he finally went home to his pregnant wife

Four months after the wreck, his wife Camille, gave birth to their second child….

Today, Kaleb still lives in the Washington state countryside…

….now the father of four wonderful children

Every now and then he stops to look up in the sky to remember that incredible moment on the highway….

That moment between impact & silence

For Kaleb, & for us, it is a reminder from God:

Life can be crushed in the blink of an eye. But it can also be restored.

Action

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