Advent 2018: Pain that Comes and Glory That's Coming

Introduction

God’s people have always been quick to lose heart. Think about Elijah. Elijah faces down 850 false prophets in and by , he tells God that he’s all alone and that he’d just assume be allowed to die. After such a miraculous victory the great prophet of God loses heart. Then, you have the nation of Israel in the Exodus. Moses leads them to the edge of the promised land. God has delivered them from the hand of the greatest military power on earth by overcoming them with bugs and turning their source of water to blood and striking the firstborn in all of their houses dead while they slept. Think about this. When they pursue Israel to the edge of the Red Sea, God divides the waters for his people and then closes them around the armies of Egypt as though it were a modernized weapon. He’s guided them with fire and cloud. He’s fed them with bread that’s fallen from the sky. And now, God has brought them to edge of the land that He has promised to them, and do you know what they say? Ten of the twelve spies say, “We’re like grasshoppers beside them. They’re giants and we’re elves. God has brought us here to die. Let’s stay in the desert.” They lose heart, and they rebel right on the edge of God’s will.

The expediency with which we lose heart is one of the surest markers of the human condition. After all, the brokenness we face and suffering we all know makes it so difficult for us to not lose heart. But, this morning, Paul, one who is remarkably familiar with all of the reasons one my lose heart, is going to show us how Jesus came so that we might not lose heart. Jesus came so that we, instead, we might persevere in our thankfulness, even in the face of great affliction here on earth.

God’s Word

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We are Cracking Pots

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay” Paul has started off chapter four by talking about the light of the Gospel. He says that the world’s eyes and minds have been darkened to it by the god of this world, but God has shown it to our hearts! He’s let us see it. We have the light of the Gospel. Our minds, our eyes aren’t dark. Now, he presses in to address something else at hand. Suffering. Particularly, he’s addressing his own suffering. There were people within the Corinthian church that did not find Paul very persuasive as a preacher because he had endured such suffering and appeared so gangly. He was not the type of stoic, eloquent orator that they were accustomed. So, many of them rejected him. And so, Paul wants to bring them, not so much back to himself, but back to the Gospel.

So, he says, we have this treasure of immeasurable value in these clay jars. We’re carrying around these diamonds in tiny, cardboard boxes. For Paul, comparing himself, and in fact all Christians, to ‘jars of clay’ is not a particularly flattering comparison. First of all, clay jars were cheap. This was a lowly comparison. This wasn’t exactly fine china that he was comparing himself too. When we excavate ruins today, much of what we find are old clay shards that are lying around because everyone had them. Every peasant could afford or at least make themselves some clay jars. So, Paul is, in essence saying, I’m no better than any other messenger or any other container of this treasure. Every messenger, every container of the gospel is equally unworthy of the magnificent treasure that it contains.

Not only do ‘jars of clay’ show lowliness, but they also show how fragile Paul is. Clay jars were very prone to get cracks or to break, and this is at the forefront Paul’s mind here. He is very much saying that he is always cracking, always leaking, always coming apart. He seems to always need to be replaced.

Real Cracks, Real Pain

“We are afflicted in every way” What you have to understand here is that Paul gets so real with them that it would have blown the doors off of these first century Greeks. They were entrenched in a philosophy called Stoicism that taught that the true aim of life was to demonstrate a steely demeanor regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what has happened to you. For them, true manhood was to say that you are happy regardless of what has happened in your health or your family or your business or your community. You just said and portrayed that you were happy, kept your demeanor calm, and lived as though nothing happened. And, here is Paul, and he’s just being so uncomfortably raw with them. He’s saying, “I’m afflicted. I’m troubled.” When he says, “I’m perplexed,” do you know what he’s saying? He’s saying, “I’m stressed.” Do you think you can relate to Paul here? He’s persecuted, hunted down for his faith. So, you have Paul here, and he’s just being raw, and he’s saying that he’s a weak vessel, and that he’s showing some cracks. He doesn’t have it all together. He’s living in a world that is broken, and he’s got the scars to prove it. He’s facing hardship, and he’s got the anxiety and the stress that comes with it. Paul is being real with this church about his struggles in the gospel even though it could cause this church to think lesser of him because he believes it will ultimately cause them to think more of Jesus.

Church is a Place for Cracked Jars

APPLICATION: Paul had a greater vision for the church than steely, stoic Christians pretending to be happy. He had a greater vision for Corinth than a place where they were would gather from time-to-time and hear an eloquent oration. And so, Paul didn’t do at all what I would have done in his situation. He didn’t respond to their rejection of his plight by cleaning up and speaking better. He didn’t respond by telling them to get real. He responded by telling them more about how messed up he was. He responded by leading out as a cracked jar of clay and showing how he was expendable in the providence of God. Church is a place for cracked jars. It has to be a place where sinners can find grace, and Christians can be weak. It has to be a place where we can actually talk about our vulnerabilities and fears and difficulties. It has to be a place where we do more than come in once a weak to hear a rousing speech and then go home unchanged. We have to let people into our lives and us into theirs. We have to be close enough to one another let one another down and to be real with one another about all of the things we’re battling, including the ugly stuffy. Church has stopped being a safe place, and it has to be one again. And so, when the charge against Paul is that he isn’t eloquent enough or together enough, he doubles down by showing how cracked his pot is. Let’s adopt Paul’s vision for the church.

Cracked Jars Showcase God’s Power

“to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” But, there’s a powerful why behind all of this that Paul what’s them to see. There’s a reason that God put his treasure in clay pots. There’s a reason that we carry this diamond in a cardboard box. He says in verse one that ‘we have this in ‘jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.’ That is, the weakness of the container, the weakness of the messenger puts on showcase the power of the Treasure. Paul is afflicted, but Paul is not crushed! Why? Because God is with him, and God’s power surpasses all these things. Paul is perplexed and Paul is stressed, but Paul is not overcome. How is Paul not overcome? How is Paul able to keep on going? How is Paul so strong? Paul isn’t strong at all! It is the surpassing power of God holding him together! Paul is being persecuted, Paul is being struck down, but he is not forsaken and he will not be destroyed! How can we be so sure? How can we know? Because the surpassing power of God is being made apparent through this cracking pot named Paul who would come apart were not for the surpassing power of God! You see, it’s not the pot keeping the Treasure safe; it’s the Treasure that’s holding the pot together.

The Cross is Giving Way

“always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” At the end of verse 10 and verse 11, he states basically the same thing, but in a different way. He says, “We’re always carrying Jesus’ death in the body on one hand, but we’re doing that so that the life of Jesus’ resurrection might be made clear on the other.” You see, the reason that the baby came to Bethlehem, the reason that virgin gave birth to a child was because we were ‘afflicted in every way.’ But, we were going to be crushed. We were perplexed and headed for despair. Do you understand that? But, Christ came! And for now, we still face the realities of his cross. We still walk in the likeness of his death. We will still know cross realities — hardships. But, we never face hardship, never face the realities of the cross without the light of resurrection and life. In the list that Paul gives, he lists both cross realities and resurrection realities, but, brothers and sisters, the glory is that the cross is giving way to the resurrection because Christ has come. Death is beating us down, but life is in us. Death is breaking us down, but life is holding us up. Our temporary dying is working to prove Jesus’ eternal power to uphold life. That is, satan’s greatest weapon and man’s greatest curse is being manipulated as Christ’s greatest demonstration of power and glory.

Real Pain, Real Resurrection

APPLICATION: We don’t have to call bad things good. This has been so liberating for me personally. Christians come across so superficial when we through our cliches at suffering and pretend as though we’re supposed to feel good about it. Paul doesn’t do that. He’s real about his suffering, but views the real pain of suffering through the equally real light of the resurrection. So we don’t have to call a bad thing good, but, we do have to view what is bad through the light of the resurrection. “I may be dying, but I will be raised to life.” “They may hate me, but I will be raised to life in perfect relationship, perfect community forever.” “I may have lost my baby, but I’m going to my baby.” “This may hurt now, but God has promised that this will be used for good forever.” Brothers and sisters, this is why Jesus came! Do you understand that? This is the significance of Advent! This is why the baby matters! So that brokenness could turn to glory!

Afflicted and Believing

“I believed, and so I spoke” In verse 13, Paul quotes from , and the quote that he uses is one in which the psalmist says from the midst of affliction: “I believed, and so I spoke.” The psalmist has faith in the midst of affliction that God is still good even though their circumstances aren’t and that He will ultimately deliver them from the day of difficulty. So, he will keep declaring, keep proclaiming, and keep singing of God’s goodness. And, that’s what Paul will do. He has been ‘afflicted in every way’, but he’s going to keep preaching, keep proclaiming, and keep spreading the gospel. Paul is going to keep building Christ’s Church because he knows that the Day of deliverance is coming. He knows that the goodness of God is proven.

“knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus” After all, this was the pattern of Jesus’ life, and we’re following him. In quoting the psalmist Paul looks to Christ’s resurrection, but Paul looks to Christ’s resurrection because he knows that in that moment, in that pain, in that present suffering, he is walking with Christ toward his death, toward his cross. Jesus was afflicted in every way. He suffered loss. He was ran out of his hometown. He has no place to sleep. He was betrayed by one of his best friend, tried and mocked by his owned people, and then executed as though he were the worst of mankind. Jesus was struck down, but He was not destroyed! He was raised, and He has ascended! Jesus is our pattern, as in baptism. We die with Christ, and then we are raised with Christ. (, ) That is, we are afflicted in this world of brokenness as Christ was afflicted, but then we will be raised in glory as Christ was raised in glory. Paul says in , “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to come.”

Jesus Came so that Thankfulness Would Spread

“as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God” As the gospel spreads, so does persecution. So does suffering. So does suffering and hardship. Why would they want to spread the gospel if they are going to spread hardship? Because they’re also spreading thankfulness! The affliction will end. The suffering will go away. The hardship is temporary. The thankfulness is just getting started! Not only are we not crushed, not only are we not driven to despair, not only are we not forsaken or destroyed, but we are brought to utter thankfulness!! And, it’s a thankfulness that will last forever!

APPLICATION: We look at the cross and know -- only God could make this good. How many situations like that are taking place across our church family this morning? We look at our suffering, and if we were apart from the sovereignty of God, we would have no answer for it. But, through the lens of the Christ who came and the Christ who was raised, we can say, “Only God can make this good -- and He will.” Maybe not in my timing. Maybe not in my way. Maybe not to my specifications. But, He will. Christ came so that one day your suffering might be transformed into thankfulness. Christ came so that what tastes so bitter now might one day give you an appreciation for what tastes so sweet for eternity.

Jesus Came So that We Would Not Lose Heart

“So we do not lose heart” The main point of Second Corinthians chapter four is that because of what Christ has done, because the power of the Gospel and light of the Gospel, we will not lose heart. That doesn’t mean that we don’t face discouragement or disappointment or difficulty. That’s not Paul’s definition as we saw in verse 8. It means that in light of those things that we are not crushed or destroyed. We do not fall into despair. We keep pressing on for as long as God leaves us here. We are wasting away, decaying outwardly, but we are being renewed, being made new inwardly.

Not Losing Heart is a Matter of Perspective

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory” The weight of our afflictions is a matter of perspective. Our afflictions typically feel very heavy to us. If you lose your job and don’t know where your income is coming from, that feels heavy. If you receive a diagnosis that has no end in sight, that feels heavy. If someone that you love passes from this life, that feels heavy. If your children rebel and walk away from the Lord, that feels heavy. But, Paul calls our afflictions light. How can such a seemingly impossible burden be considered light?

“beyond all comparison” In Paul’s mind, it’s about the comparison. It’s all about perspective. First of all, they are ‘momentary’ and ‘transient’ compared to ‘eternal’ glory. You know, when you’re a kids, Christmas feels like it’s never going to get here, does it? But then, as you get older, it feels like it comes every three weeks. It’s a matter of perspective. Because as a kid you want here so badly, and as an adult you don’t want them to pass by. Your troubles are going to last, at longest decades. The glory available in Christ does not end. Try to fathom that. Secondly, they are tiny when placed beside the glory you are to receive. They look big until you see how much bigger the glory is. Shaq looks big beside me, but he is tiny standing beside an elephant.

Don’t Lose Heart

Don’t lose heart. You’re going to feel like losing heart. God is going to call you to the edge of the Promised Land, and the opposition is going to appear like giants. You’ll feel like losing heart. Let your weakness point you to his surpassing strength! Don’t lose heart! The pursuit of our enemy after a great movement of God in your life will dishearten you and cause you to want to quit like it did Elijah, and you’ll feel like quitting. You’ll feel like losing heart. Don’t lose heart. Let it point you to the Treasure that holds you together from within. Your affliction will feel like it will crush you, but your being prepared for an eternal weight of glory. Your persecution will try to silence you, but God is still worth believing in; so, speak. The greater the suffering you’ve known, the greater showcase of Christ’s glory you’ll be. Don’t lose heart. The baby was born, the Servant was Slain, and the Lion will return!