Jars of Clay 2

ReGroup Announcement:

Exciting announcement - we are going to be launching our fall community groups session in a few weeks. We believe at Mercy Hill that discipleship happens in community.

It's word taught and it's life caught. That happens here at MH through community groups. In a covid-19 world, people have never felt more connected through social media, Facebook, etc. and YET we have never felt more isolated OR even divided.

That is why over the month of August we are embarking on an initiative called "Re-Group". We want to re-group as a church and make a re-commitment to being in community with one another. So if you're already in a group we want you to re-commit to be in that group faithfully - we've even shortened our fall session to 10 weeks to make it as accessible as possible.

Maybe you've been in group but have fallen off in the last season of life - we want you to re-group and get back in community.

And then maybe you're newer and you've never actually gotten into a group - this is your time to do so. Our groups are meeting in a variety of different ways this fall - online, in person, some a combo of each. And we want everyone at MH to re-group this fall and re-commit to the life giving community that God has for us.

Introduction: Our obsession with packaging

Unboxing videos

Apple products

Starbucks coffee

Carries over into how the world sees Christians, “Why should I believe what you say about God? You don’t even have all your stuff together?”

Really it’s not just “the world” it’s the philosophy that creeps into our own thinking too.

Paul’s Problem

Seems like the Corinthian Christians were following the same line of thinking

From the beginning of chapter four, we get this sense that the Corinthians are rejecting Paul’s simple and bold strategy of preaching the Gospel and living out the implications of the Gospel

In addition, Paul was poor, sick all the time, always seemed to be in trouble and in prison...

Instead, they’re saying, “Paul, we want to get behind you, but I got to tell you, there are some pretty impressive guys seeing incredible results. And there not experiencing the trials and troubles you do. A few tweaks to the gospel presentation (tampering with God’s Word) may yield way more fruit… think about it.”

Paul’s response is basically this and this is “The Big Idea” from the passage:

(Slide) We are jars of clay, and the Gospel shines through our suffering and our weakness

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.

Paul’s Response

Sure, they may have the packaging

But we have THIS TREASURE… in Jars of Clay...

Really quickly, “the treasure” he speaks of here refers back to verse 6 which I don’t have the time to completely track down, but the best I can tell it is the encompassing power of the Gospel - it’s the faith to believe and the grace to redeem

(Slide) Treasure is the all-encompassing power of the gospel. It’s the faith to believe and the grace to redeem

So we have this “all encompassing gospel power” in jars of clay...

Clay jars or pots in the first century were about the most common kitchen container you could possibly own. They were fragile and once broken were literally tossed back into the ground.

Jars of Clay were like the tupperware of the day

Let’s just stop for a second… the Creator God intentionally breathed life into you and me, he turned the lights on our deceit, our lust, our arrogance, our secrets, our weaknesses, our limits, our brokenness… and HE said, I see you, and I want you to see me. I know all you’ve done and I know what sin has done in you. But I love you, and I want you to be with me… my Son has already paid the debt that you owe… and when we saw Him and when we heard Him we could not resist Him

Do you remember that moment? Do you remember those moments? That is treasure in jars of clay… and He has given this treasure to us to be stewards… we’re not the chef, we’re the Door Dash delivery guys and girls… our job is to serve it HOT

And if you do not consider yourself a follower of Jesus, we’re glad you’re here… but listen, God is not waiting , arms folded, stern face for you to get your act together before He’ll “let you in.” No. You’re being here today (tuning in) is so that He could shine the light on your insides. He sees your sin and He is willing and ready to forgive you and receive you into an eternal relationship with Himself if you will believe that Jesus has done everything necessary for your salvation and you are ready to follow him as Lord of your life, He welcomes you into His forever family.

This is why we are baptizing every week this month… many have come to faith and are making a public profession through baptism. Text BAPTIZE 41411

Now for the next few minutes let’s hear Paul explain why God designed Gospel advancement to be done this way

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.

God chose to place His Treasure in Jars of Clay to Show that the:

(Slide) Surpassing Power Belongs to God and Not to Us

The surpassing power is the power that surpasses all other power. That power is creation power. There is no greater or more impressive power than the power to create something out of nothing.

Creation power does laps around lighting and thunder. Power that flows out of energy or combustion is explainable. Creation power is unexplainable.

That power where God said “Let there be light” and there was light, is the same power that God said, “Let there be light in the darkness of your heart...” and praise God, there was light

What Paul is getting at is that...

(Slide) Surpassing power could never come from us… it had to come from outside of us…

Sir Oliver Franks (once head of Oxford College) had a major role to play in the late 1960’s. He was British Ambassador to the US. As ambassador he was in touch with the Prime Minister and the President sometimes on a daily basis. He frequently needed to get urgent, important, and top secret messages between the US and Great Britain. He couldn’t use the phone because it was certain that it was bugged. There was a diplomatic bag that went overseas each day that would carry confidential documents. But when something was really top secret, confidential, and urgent he wouldn’t trust it to the diplomatic bag… everybody knew that this bag was important. No. In these extreme cases he would put the incredibly valuable information into an ordinary envelope and send it through regular mail.

Why would God choose to put this treasure in us… jars of clay? Because there is NO chance the world confuses the content of the envelope with the very ordinary, unimpressive envelope itself.

For Gospel advancement, the packaging is not the focus. The focus is the pure, untainted content… the Treasure of the Gospel.

The world and the gods of this world are confounded by this idea that something so unimpressively packaged, so fragile, so weak could actually contain something and steward something so valuable, so full of worth!

This is the complete opposite of the way we see things kind of working in the world. Think about Captain America - Steve Rogers - weak, sickly, sorry excuse for a man, takes this experimental serum and comes out totally indestructible. Nobody goes back to the doctor and congratulates his genius. No basically Captain America is now the hero and receives all the glory.

Imagine if after they performed the experiment on Steve Rogers he came out looking the exact same, but being able to do all that Captain America could do. People would wonder, “How?”

Guys lets never confuse the fact that we’re the envelope, not the message. We’re the clay jars, not the treasure. Our strengths, our insights, our determination, our ingenuity will not bring one more lost person to Jesus. It will be the untainted, pure Gospel preached and put on display.

God Chose to place His Treasure in Jars of Clay because:

(Slide) Jesus Shines through our Suffering and Weakness

2 Corinthians 4:8–12 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. 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.

Nobody likes suffering, but suffering is inevitable when you live in a broken world

Nobody likes to talk about suffering, but really not talking about it doesn’t make it hurt less or make it less likely to happen

In the moment, suffering feels like dying… even for Paul

2 Corinthians 1:8–9 ESV

For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

I know right now some of you guys are capital “s” Suffering

You’re looking at this little list of Paul’s and going:

Afflicted in every way = squeezed, pressured, in my marriage, with my family, my finances, my emotional health, pressure to compromise the gospel or your integrity - check

Perplexed = confused - who do you even believe about COVID there are as many opinions as there are people. Confused why as a black person you may never see racial equality in your lifetime, confused why you’ve been taking care of yourself and your health is betraying you, I know families that have been waiting to foster and adopt and it can be very confusing why you’re having to sit on your hands and just wait - check

Persecuted = hunted down and pursued like an animal - maybe the evil one just has a grip on you and you feel like you’re never going to break free from chains of addiction and fear and depression and anxiety and poor health, temptation is unrelenting - check

Struck down = literally whacked with a weapon - spiritually or physically just whopped and exhausted

That kind of attack and suffering feels like death and you might be thinking, “Why? Why me? Why now? Why this?” - hey you’re in good company… many of the men and women of the Bible were like, “Curse my birthday.” “God just take me, I am so done with this brokenness and hurt and pain and suffering.”

But hold on… Paul (in hindsight) was also able to say:

Squeezed in every way, BUT I’m NOT crushed!

Confused - YEP, BUT I’m NOT driven to despair

Hunted down, BUT My Father hasn’t forsaken me yet

Whacked 5 times - BUT not destroyed

Well, that was Paul… that’s just not me HOW is it possible to have this mentality? It’s not having thicker skin or a stiff upper lip. It’s in the knowledge that God is doing something through your suffering… nothing is wasted!

Earlier I mentioned that in the first century when a clay pot was cracked or had a significant chip, it was discarded and thrown right back into the ground.

But a couple surprising and miraculous things happen when one of the God’s clay pots gets a crack or a significant chip on it… God is restoring us and in the process, Jesus shines through...

So there’s this ancient method of repairing broken and cracked pottery. In Japan, it’s called Kintsugi. Rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive, the Kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. This unique method celebrates each artifact’s unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. In fact, Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with a new look and giving it a second life.

God will not waste one drop of your suffering if you will let Him perform His work in you and let the Gospel of Jesus death and resurrection shine through you.

Application:

(Slide) Endure Suffering, Embrace Weakness, and Press Into the Gospel

Suffering is not to be ignored or embraced. It’s inevitable, but we were never meant to suffer. Suffering is a cause of the fall.

But we must “endure hardness as a soldier” because we have hope

God uses our suffering to prepare His people for a future hope

We have a hope that all things that are evil; in the NH/NE will be made untrue

This life and it’s brokenness will all seem like a bad dream in the NH/NE… so endure

Don’t do it alone… get into a community group

Embrace weakness - weakness is the way. Don’t try to cover up the fact that we all have weaknesses.

(Slide) Boasting in our weakness makes God look strong. Boasting in our strength pushes God out of the picture.

MH calls people to a lot of things - but no one can do all - no one can do most. This is why it is imperative that you know how God has gifted you and then run in that lane with joy.

Press into the Gospel - look we all want to be received, it’s in our humanity, but we can’t “sell the bag” and compromise the gospel and throw out what is true in hopes that people may become Christians. What kind of Christian is made from a compromised Gospel?

College students recently graduated from a nearby university and on their newly graduated budget they began to search for some furniture to fill their apartment. So they visited the Salvation Army and found an old couch. But it was $20 and it would do the job. They brought it back to their apartment and decided to retrofit it a little to make it less lumpy and more comfy. And to their surprise as they began to beat the cushion, something wasn’t right. So they unzipped the cushion to flatten out the filling they discovered it was not filled with cotton but it was filled with cash. They began pulling out handfuls of $100 dollar bills to the tune of $40,000. They tracked down the donor and discovered that the children of the owner of the couch just thought it was a worthless and uncomfortable piece of furniture. They did not know that their mother, a widow, was saving up money for their inheritance.

Church, let’s not forget that the treasure is actually in the undiluted message of the gospel, not in the packaging. And the inadequacy you feel in yourself is so the world will see this too.

In closing let me leave you with these words:

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.