Take Hold of the Hope-Charged Life (Emergency Booth Sermon)

Intro

One of Katie and my favorite vacation spots is New York City. You know, someone asked me if we felt safe while we were there, and I told them yes, but then I thought about it and answered a little more about some times I felt like, “Hey, this is kind of a sketchy situation.” Like, it’s New York, right? You don’t go to NYC to feel safe, you go to get a brush with death and feel alive or something! I’m kidding a little bit!

While we were in New York, I found myself with a problem a couple of the days we were there. You see, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t know my way around New York City. I’m just not familiar with it. So what does a modern day man do when he needs to find out where he’s going? He pulls out! The cell phone. So I was reliant upon my cell phone all weekend to figure out how to navigate subways and streets. But there comes a problem with using your cell phone for an entire day… You get to the point where your battery begins to run low.

Usually, this is not a problem for me. My phone rarely hits a red battery. But on the day we visited Yankees stadium… My battery was red and in the single digits. And at that point, I am sweating it, because we still have to make our way back to the hotel. Anxiety built. Decisions had to be made. The phone battery had to be preserved.

Surely you’ve been in a similar situation. You can just feel the hair on the back of your neck standing up as I tell this story because you’ve been there, right? Our phones have become lifelines in so many ways.

You know, our lives are like that too. We all need to recharge once in a while. After a long week of work, having a day off is really important. You need to make time to rest and recharge for the next week.

Our spiritual lives are even moreso like that… But our spiritual lives are also even more likely to go neglected. How often do we find ourselves trying to run our lives when our spiritual batteries are on E? As I was reflecting this week on were our church is, and what we need to be focusing on right now, I wanted to take a break for a moment and speak to us as a church body right where we are. Look, it’s Spring. The kids’ schedules are busy. Our schedules have filled up. There are difficulties for many of us, some beyond what we can honestly bear.

What I want us to catch hold of today is how to Take Hold of the Hope-Charged Life. Hope is what fuels us as believers. We have a hope in God. We have hope in Christ. We have hope and assurance in the Promises of God. We have hope in the Word of God.

Hebrews 10:23 (ESV)

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

So how do we do that? Enter Paul and the text that was read this morning:

Take a Vantage-Point View on Life

2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

What an amazing set of statements by Paul. He starts off with this right here:

“We have this treasure in jars of clay.”

Wow. He’s pointing to a spiritual reality here that goes beyond what the eye can see. When he mentions jars of clay, he’s talking about two things. The first is the worth of the jar.

Remember a couple months ago, when we were going through Matthew, and the woman breaks open an alabaster jar of perfume to pour on Jesus, and we mentioned how the treasure of that jar in and of itself pointed to the worth of the treasure that was inside of that jar… Well, a clay jar in that day was about the equivalent of a cardboard box today… The only ones who value cardboard boxes are kids who want to play in them and… cats.

Now you might ship something in a cardboard box, but you don’t keep your most valued possessions in a cardboard box. Ladies, you don’t keep your jewelry in a cardboard box. It’s not where the things of great value are kept.

But yet Paul says “We have this treasure in jars of clay.” So we see the jars of clay are cheap… They are also fragile. Clay is not the hardest substance the ancient people have. So what in the world does Paul mean when he says we have this treasure in jars of clay?

Back up a couple verses up to v. 5 and 6:

2 Corinthians 4:5–6 (ESV)

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The treasure is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Wow.

That may be a little much for us to swallow at 11AM, so let’s break it down a little bit. You need to good working knowledge of the glory of God this morning. The glory of God is no unimportant aspect of the Christian faith to understand. In fact, this morning, if you hear the term “glory of God,” and don’t have an indexed reference in your head to pull up and refer to then you really need to listen to this next part, because it could really change your entire walk with God if you would only receive this right here. I believe that. So what is the glory of God? What is glory?

You know what glory is. Take an illustration. It’s baseball season, right? While Katie and I were at the said Yankees game last Friday, Giancarlo Stanton hit a line drive home run to left field. I don’t like the Yankees. At all. But that home run made me stand in awe. It’s an impressive feat to hit a line drive home run. It was a glorious thing.

Or perhaps you’re attending a wedding. And the fateful moment comes when the congregation rises, and the bride makes her entrance. She’s always glorious, isn’t she? There’s a glory to the fanfare and the beauty of the ceremony as she enters the aisle, eyes on her groom, groom wiping tears from his eyes… That’s glory.

Or perhaps when you gaze at the stars through a powerful telescope… Or you see the pictures this new James Webb telescope is bringing back to us… Fine detail which we’ve never seen before… The massive supernovae and stunning beauty of the stars PROCLAIM the glory of God!

Don’t you love that feeling of being absolutely, utterly stunned in the glory of a moment? That’s eternity!

This is the kind of treasure Paul says we hold in our jars of clay. And what are those jars of clay?

Us.

The knowledge of the glory of God rests in… us. Now, unless you’re a helpless narcissist this morning, you know that “us” isn’t all that great, don’t you? You look at the stars, you see the feats of great strength and skill, you think of the vast infinity of God, and just think… You are the cardboard box holding that great treasure of the knowledge of God’s GLORY!

And the reason God would choose jars of clay to hold this treasure? To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not us. Because here is what that simple truth of being fragile, cheap canisters of God’s great glory does for us:

2 Corinthians 4:8–10 (ESV)

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.

Whew. You know there are some things that can just carry you through… When the weight of the world seems way too heavy. When the throes of life seem like they throw you back and forth… When the mountains are just too high and too insurmountable… Remember the glory of God and the treasure that is within you. Yes, you are fragile… Yes, you are weak… But if you are a follower of Christ, you hold in you the treasure of the knowledge of God’s glory, and that very treasure is your very hope.

Christian, look to the hope and assurance of God’s glory. It is not some faint, distant hope that we worry will not be attained, or that we could pass off as some sentimental by and by. It is the hope that for eternity you will live in utter astound in the presence of God as you live fully in His presence forever in Heaven. Observing and participating in the sheer beauty and glory of God. That is your hope and assurance!

Our hope is not in our circumstances. Our hope is greater than that. Should you keep your eyes on your circumstances, you will be afflicted AND crushed. You will be perplexed AND driven to despair…

So what do you do when life is throwing all kinds of curveballs at you? Man, I’m in a baseball mood… What do you do when you just can’t seem to escape all of the noise and difficulty and despair? Let me help you… It’s really difficult to see what’s going on when you’re in the midst of the crowd and noise of difficulty.

You have to get a better vantage point.

That’s what Paul sets up for us here, and what I see in this text. Paul and his entourage are dealing with great difficulty, but because their eyes are on the treasure, and not on the difficulty, they can push through.

In some sense, they’ve taken a different vantage point. Now what’s a vantage point? It’s a place from which you can see the whole scene of what’s happening. In football, many offensive coordinators sit up in a booth above the football field. They do this so that they have a better view of what’s going on when they call plays.

Folks, when you’re in the density of difficulty, it makes the vision of victory a clouded view. You must find a way to rise above the circumstances and see the hope that awaits you. And I have but two ways for you to get after that.

Number one, call out to God from your mess. You don’t just cry out to our God in Heaven Who sees you when things are well. You cry out to Him in the midst of great difficulty! You cry out to Him with all that you are, not all that you are not. To do otherwise is hypocrisy. He sees you. He wants to give you that vantage point so that you can see your hope.

The second is you go to the Scriptures which outline the hope of every Christian who has ever walked the earth. The way you hold fast to the hope charged life is by going to the source of all hope.

Now there are a couple of ways in which the Scriptures give you a better vantage point on your difficulties. The first and very foremost, is that they put your eyes on JESUS!!!!! And the eternal hope that is in Him! You know, sometimes when I’m all in my feelings and stuck in my own mess, what I need is not a how-to manual for my life, I need to see what’s truly important. I don’t need to elevate my feelings and difficulties to the level of importance of Christ Himself. I need to see something much greater than myself! And that helps me orient where I’m at with things, truly. Can we get behind that? Like, we don’t always need self-help. We don’t always need advice. We need to put our eyes on eternity and see just how little all of this matters.

David’s testimony:

Psalm 40:2 (ESV)

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

And that’s what Paul will also say later, but we’ll get to that.

That leads us to the second way scripture gives us a vantage point view of life.

Take Advantage of Life

The second way is that you can see how the scriptures instruct us to deal with difficulties in our lives. You know, you’ve got to pray about things, but a call to prayer is NOT a call to passivity. When the scriptures tell you to do something, it’s just flat disobedience to ignore that. Like, we get that right? You’re not spiritual because you’re passive. That is disobedience and disobedience is unspiritual, no matter how you flavor it with spiritual language.

So you look to Jesus, see that His way is better, and you submit to that and actively follow Him!

Watch Paul’s next words:

2 Corinthians 4:11–15 (ESV)

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.

“I believed and so I spoke.” Paul’s belief did not lead him to inaction. It led him to action. I have something to say to Christians who are inactive. This inactivity is not an act of faith. It is an act of disbelief.

Folks too many times, we look at life and think the spiritual thing to do is to be passive… “Let go and let God...” Listen, there’s some truth to that in that you cannot control circumstances or what others do.... You just can’t… You have to let go of the things you cannot control. But folks, you can control you. And you can control what you do. And you can control what you allow in your house, and how you respond to people and circumstances, and you can control your attitude toward things. And as God’s witness, I am here to tell you that you need to take advantage of your life for the glory of God. Some of you let a lot of things control you.

You let debt control you. You let your feelings control you. You let what someone else thinks control you. You let your kids’ sports schedules control you. And the last thing you have time for is to let the Holy Spirit control you. You don’t have time for God’s Word to control you. You hardly have time for you to control you. And listen, when you’re allowing external pressures control you, you certainly don’t have the ability to give control over to the Lord God.

So you need to get advantage of life and ask the question: “How can I best serve God today?” And you go do that. That’s taking advantage of life for the glory of God.

Take a Chance on Eternal Life

This all allows Paul to say what he says next:

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (ESV)

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.

Notice something here. Paul doesn’t say this road is easy. It may make things easy-ER, but it does not make things easy. He says his outer self is wasting away. That’s difficulty, right there. It takes great faith to view his sufferings in such a way. But what makes it possible is that next phrase: our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Again, folks, we need day-by-day renewal. Now that’s a work of the Spirit, to be sure, but you don’t get day-by-day renewal without seeking God day-by-day. Now look, I used to bristle when I was a younger Christian and I’d hear preachers say something like this… “Doesn’t he know God can do whatever God wants?” Well yes, of course… But I also know God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, and seeking Him daily is an act of humility.

That daily renewal allows Paul to say that his afflictions… harassment… beatings… even imprisonment… are all light, momentary afflictions. Why? How? How can Paul look to the immense difficulties of this life and call them light and momentary afflictions?

Because there is an eternal weight of glory that is beyond all comparison! Believer, are you going through difficulty? As you navigate the difficulties of life, you must, you must, you must look to the things that are unseen! It is that which you behold right in front of your face that is transient, not eternity! But our flesh is so weak that we get that backward. We get it so, so backward. Without the hope of eternity, all we can see, know, and feel is that which is temporal and wasting away, just like our bodies.

But friends, the hope of the Christian life is not a happy, healthy life in the here and now. It is eternal life beholding the very glory of God that just stuns us with His beauty. It is a new life in which we receive new bodies in a new heaven and new earth! In eternity we will find great joy in our work, our leisure, our lives. But to keep our eyes down here is to lose hope… To despair…

Christian, put your hope in eternity. Take a chance on eternal life. That won’t let you down. This world will. Your flesh will. Your money will. Your health will. All of these things are temporary. Transient. Your heart and flesh seek for these things to be better, but they’re just not going to be as good as you’ll ever want them to be. The reason your heart seeks for comfort and entertainment so endlessly is because you actually desire the glory of God. You were built, designed for it. You can take your chances on building those things here and now… Or you can take a chance on eternal life.

Do you want to live for Christ and Christ alone… I invite you… Would you take a chance on eternal life? It’s much better than anything this world can offer you.

Conclusion