Jars of Clay

Introduction

Eggs appear to be extremely fragile yet have the ability to withstand incredible force.

Studies have determined that when pressure is equally applied a chicken egg can withstand pressure of 53 lbs when standing on its end.

Yet that same egg can be cracked against the side of a pan relatively easily.

Eggshells are so strong that when positioned correctly an adult can walk on them but delicate enough that a baby chick can peck its way out.

An eggshell is a paradox of both strength and fragility.

Our lives as followers of Jesus Christ also demonstrate both the frailty of humanity and the strength of God.

Scripture speaks of our human bodies as jars of clay and of tents.

Recently, in my life, I have become all too aware of the frailty of life.

On August 19th, 2019 my dad passed away and it has been a vivid reminder that all we think we possess, apart from Jesus, are jars of clay- a fragile existence hanging in the balance.

Yet with Jesus we are given a treasure- within jars of clay Jesus places eternal life and strength that cannot be broken no matter how much pressure is applied.

It is in this dichotomy in which we live- fragile yet unbreakable, pressed but not crushed, perplexed yet never despairing, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

We grow old, our bodies wither, our strength fades- There will come a day when we may see death on the horizon.

But as Christians our treasure and our hope is eternal life- The Holy Spirit lives within our hearts and He will not be vanquished, conquered or quenched.

And so these past several weeks I have pondered and prayed about what God intends to teach me about my own human frailties when laid side by side with His strength through Jesus Christ.

Background & Purpose

2 Corinthians was a letter written by Paul to the Corinthian church.

We know the letter was written and sent from somewhere in Macedonia.

Macedonia was located North of Corinth near the Aegean Sea.

Paul traveled to Macedonia where he found Titus who carried news of the status of the Corinthian church. Titus informs Paul of the Corinthians steadfastness in following Jesus and remaining faithful in their Christian faith.

The date 2 Corinthians was written was around 55 or 56 A.D. and we know this based on other reference points found in chapters 8 & 9.

Paul was writing to the Corinthians to express joy and relief in their repentance as he had to send a fairly harsh letter in 1 Corinthians addressing various inappropriate practices.

He was also writing because a small contingent of individuals opposed him and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Part of his writing defended and detailed his ministry.

In fact, the text we will study today is Paul articulating the ministry God has given to him, how he has been made to suffer as a minister yet through every trial and difficulty God ‘s all surpassing power is revealed even in Paul’s frailties.

I have found in my Dad’s passing some of my own frailties and weakness.

I am enduring trial and difficulty and am more aware than ever before that as Christians our lives are Jars of Clay

With that being said, if our lives truly reflect Jars of Clay it begs the question, “what are YOU carrying within your Jar?”

Christian brothers & sisters- we carry the treasure of the knowledge of the glory of God through His son Jesus Christ.

And we carry on with certainty the promise of life eternal despite difficulties & discouragement, despite trials EVEN despite DEATH.

Jars of Clay are what we are but in a relationship with Jesus we carry treasure

Read 2 Corinthians 4:7- 12

The New International Version (1984) Treasures in Jars of Clay

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

Paul speaks of “treasure”.

What is this treasure?

To understand his statement we must turn back briefly to verse 6 which says,

“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”

Paul is clearly proclaiming that the good news of Jesus Christ is considered treasure

The Gospel of Jesus- The good news of how he lived, what he taught, how he fulfilled all prophecy,, died nailed to a cross and rose from the dead is of overwhelming value to ALL of mankind because it is by this Gospel that our relationship with God can be reconciled.

Without this treasure mankind is truly lost, condemned and without hope for all of eternity.

Paul speaks rightly when he states we, Christians, have TREASURE.

And he also is accurate when he states we have this treasure in Jars of Clay.

Paul uses this imagery in a twofold way.

Earthen vessels were the most common in the ancient world.

They were used for storing and transporting water, oil, grain and olives among other items.

They are found in every domestic excavation site and in graves.

These jars of clay were the main type of container in most Near Eastern cultures.

Yet the vessels were fragile and their usual life spans were probably a few years at the most.

Thus in saying we have this treasure in jars of clay he is alluding to himself and calling himself quite common, ordinary and transitory.

However, there is another significance in this illustration in that God formed man from the dust of the ground.

And in this sense Paul is regarding himself from a very mortal sense by acknowledging himself as a created being.

The purpose and central idea of this entire dialogue follows in this statement

“To show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

We see this theme over and over again

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 gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

“For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, “

He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,

(CIT) Give the glory to God

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Fragility- Jars of Clay- Humbling- so we cannot mistake the source (vv 7)

Strength- How exhibit the strength of God- we share in Christ’s sufferings- we see deliverance by God’s hand aka salvation or resurrection (vv 8-9)

The New International Version (1984) Treasures in Jars of Clay

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Strength- How exhibit the strength of God- we share in Christ’s sufferings- we see deliverance by God’s hand aka salvation or resurrection (vv 8-9)

Because of the interplay between human frailty and God’s power, there is always a two-sidedness to the minister’s experience. Paul gives four sets of contrasting words to describe that tension (vv. 8, 9) and then sums up its meaning (vv. 10, 11).

“Troubled” is the same word as in 1:6, indicating the pressure of trial or some other kind of affliction. “On every side” is, literally, “in everything.” “Distressed” (Greek stenochoreo) suggests being in a place with no room to maneuver, in a tight. We might render, to catch the similar idea in the words, “we are pressed but not compressed,” “on every side afflicted, but not driven to the wall” (Moule 29).

“Perplexed” (Greek aporeo) means, literally, without a way of passage; here the idea is to be uncertain which way to turn. “In despair” translates a compound form of the same Greek root (exaporeo) thus being hopelessly uncertain about which way to turn, perhaps to give up in despair over how to proceed or which way to go. Plummer (138) suggests “confused, but not confounded.”

“Persecuted” (Greek dioko) has the idea of being chased, hunted, pursued. “Forsaken” catches well the idea of the word (Greek egkataleipo); it is the same as is used in . “Abandoned” would also catch the right idea. Paul is “a hunted man … [but] not abandoned to the enemy, nor left solely to his own resources” (Tasker 73).

“Cast down” (Greek kataballo) suggests what we might call a temporary defeat at the hands of one’s enemies; sometimes they get the upper hand. Even so, one is not “destroyed” (Greek apollumi)—the same root word as rendered “lost” or “perishing” (v. 3). One may lose a battle without being finally defeated. (Paul may, in fact, be thinking about his eternal fate: even if he should be put to death, he would not be destroyed but would have eternal life with God. While that is not necessarily in his view, it is part of the truth involved.)

1, 2 Corinthians a. The Two Sides of the Minister’s Experience (vv. 8–11)

In other words, all four pairs of contrasting terms say that there is affliction, trial, pressure, persecution, the experience of being in a tight place, uncertainty about what to do next, even temporary defeat, in the experience of the preacher of the gospel—Paul in particular. At the same time, none of that is final or absolute. Every such experience is tempered by another side: he is never abandoned, never without a way of escape, never in total despair or finally defeated.

1, 2 Corinthians a. The Two Sides of the Minister’s Experience (vv. 8–11)

In other words, all four pairs of contrasting terms say that there is affliction, trial, pressure, persecution, the experience of being in a tight place, uncertainty about what to do next, even temporary defeat, in the experience of the preacher of the gospel—Paul in particular. At the same time, none of that is final or absolute. Every such experience is tempered by another side: he is never abandoned, never without a way of escape, never in total despair or finally defeated.

Picirilli, R. E. (1987). 1, 2 Corinthians. (R. E. Picirilli, Ed.) (First Edition, pp. 309–310). Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications.

The New International Version (1984) Treasures in Jars of Clay

10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

The contradiction- The Purpose of mortal Death & eternal Life- Those who witness Paul suffering and dying are more and more convinced of the life giving power of Jesus, so even while Paul suffers and dies and death is at work on him life is at work in those who accept Jesus because of our testimony about Him. (vv 10-12)

Verse 10 sums all this up into one explaining principle: experience is always two-sided because the minister shares in the implications both of the dying and of the living of Christ. Jesus both suffered death and rose in victory over death. His servants, too, will manifest both sides of this in their experience. Thus Paul says he always bears about, in his body, the dying of Jesus in order that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in his body. “This might be regarded as Paul’s counterpart to Jesus’ words about taking up one’s cross and following him” (Bruce 197).

The thought is similar to that of 1:5, as explained earlier. If Christ was persecuted, afflicted, finally dying, those who really are his disciples need expect no less. Thus Paul is subject to the experiences listed in vv. 8, 9. Still, in Christ life triumphed over death, and so it will be with His disciples. Thus Paul knows that he will not be finally defeated, and there is always triumph mingled in with his afflictions. “If he experienced the dying of Jesus in his frailty and sufferings, he also found in every escape from death, every encouragement after anxiety and depression, every convert made in the midst of persecution, a participation in the resurrection of Christ” (Bauckham 5).

Verse 11 serves to explain v. 10 even more specifically. Paul makes clear that he does not mean only the death which every one looks to at the end of his earthly life. He includes the constant jeopardy of life that marked his ministry. That he was always “being delivered up to death” refers to this threat that was always with him. Every day he was as good as dead, and the reality of that risk was made significant in that he did not hold himself back from full discipleship because of that threat. What he says here is essentially the same thing as is said in 11:23, in , and in . Jesus said that His disciples must take up their crosses daily to follow him (); the cross was a place of execution, of death.

But even though Paul (like any other person committed to this kind of discipleship) gave himself to die every day, he did so with the assurance that death never has the final word for any Christian. The resurrection of Christ signalled His victory over death as well as the ultimate victory of life over death for all who are His. Therefore, in the daily risk of death as well as when finally facing death, Paul could experience and manifest also the power of resurrection life. “Mortal flesh,” by the way, means the physical being that is subject to death; it is the same as “the body” (v. 10).

1, 2 Corinthians a. The Two Sides of the Minister’s Experience (vv. 8–11)

Verse 10 sums all this up into one explaining principle: experience is always two-sided because the minister shares in the implications both of the dying and of the living of Christ. Jesus both suffered death and rose in victory over death. His servants, too, will manifest both sides of this in their experience. Thus Paul says he always bears about, in his body, the dying of Jesus in order that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in his body. “This might be regarded as Paul’s counterpart to Jesus’ words about taking up one’s cross and following him” (Bruce 197).

The thought is similar to that of 1:5, as explained earlier. If Christ was persecuted, afflicted, finally dying, those who really are his disciples need expect no less. Thus Paul is subject to the experiences listed in vv. 8, 9. Still, in Christ life triumphed over death, and so it will be with His disciples. Thus Paul knows that he will not be finally defeated, and there is always triumph mingled in with his afflictions. “If he experienced the dying of Jesus in his frailty and sufferings, he also found in every escape from death, every encouragement after anxiety and depression, every convert made in the midst of persecution, a participation in the resurrection of Christ” (Bauckham 5).

Verse 11 serves to explain v. 10 even more specifically. Paul makes clear that he does not mean only the death which every one looks to at the end of his earthly life. He includes the constant jeopardy of life that marked his ministry. That he was always “being delivered up to death” refers to this threat that was always with him. Every day he was as good as dead, and the reality of that risk was made significant in that he did not hold himself back from full discipleship because of that threat. What he says here is essentially the same thing as is said in 11:23, in 1 Cor. 15:31, and in Rom. 8:36. Jesus said that His disciples must take up their crosses daily to follow him (Lk. 9:23); the cross was a place of execution, of death.

But even though Paul (like any other person committed to this kind of discipleship) gave himself to die every day, he did so with the assurance that death never has the final word for any Christian. The resurrection of Christ signalled His victory over death as well as the ultimate victory of life over death for all who are His. Therefore, in the daily risk of death as well as when finally facing death, Paul could experience and manifest also the power of resurrection life. “Mortal flesh,” by the way, means the physical being that is subject to death; it is the same as “the body” (v. 10).

Death-

Picirilli, R. E. (1987). 1, 2 Corinthians. (R. E. Picirilli, Ed.) (First Edition, pp. 310–311). Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications.

Life-

It might be said an egg