Carrying The Treasure

Good evening, everybody and welcome. We are so grateful that you have joined us tonight. This is one of my all-time favorite seasons of the whole year- I have to be honest with you, though. I think that’s because I love the joys that come from both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and sometimes I think I just mix the two together and we end up with something weird like “Thanksmas” or something like that, I don’t know.

If you’ve got a bible with you tonight or you’re taking down some notes in your phone: we’ll be reading from 2 Corinthians 4 tonight.

You know, I like to think of myself as an optimist. I’m always hoping for something. Believing for the best. My wife tends to be the realist in our relationship, and so often she’s the one to bring my feet back on the ground and back to reality, but I’m usually the dreamer. I like dreaming about all the things that can be.

It’s easy to find ourselves in this hopeful mindset especially in a year like we’ve had. There isn’t one person sitting in this room that hasn’t in some way been affected by COVID19. The quarantines, the tests, the job losses- all of us in some way have found ourselves hoping for something. But sometimes, there’s a disconnect with what we hope for and what we get, isn’t there? And that’s where we pick up in our text tonight.

If you don’t have a bible, we’ll have it up on the screens for you to follow along tonight. It says this:

2 Corinthians 4:7–9 ESV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:15–18 ESV

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. 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.

Let’s pray over God’s word tonight.

Pray

Paul, as he writes this book to the church in Corinth is taking some time to encourage them. He’s reaching the end of his second missionary journey, and he had just spent about a year and half with the believers there, and so through his time with them, the Lord began to open up his eyes to see the struggles going on within their churches and he began to empathize with them.

It’s so true what someone said: people don’t care about how much you know, until they know how much you care. So even tonight, my prayer for you is that before you even sit down to the table with your friends and family tomorrow: that the Lord would begin to soften your heart towards them and give you encouragement to say to them.

So we opened up this passage talking about jars of clay and treasure. This is such an incredible image that Paul is giving to the church and I watch to help you grab hold of this tonight.

* POT ILLUSTRATION *

We are the jars of clay. We are fragile, we are not indestructible, we have flaws, and yet still God chooses to use us to carry treasure. That treasure is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the good news of Jesus- that even in my weakness, He is strong. Even in my imperfection, He is still immaculate and without flaw. This is one of those great mysteries ins capture: why God would choose to house this beautiful treasure in jars of clay like us, but I’m grateful anyways. I may not always understand, but I’m grateful nonetheless.

And then Paul goes on to list several different things that we may experience in our lives: he says we’re going to find ourselves afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down- all of which are just so encouraging to our faith. Give your life over to Jesus, surrender you heart to the Lord, and you’ll never have another problem in your life! God has a wonderful plan for your life! Well-intended cliches like this are supposed to help us and to make us feel better, but so often we find ourselves feeling confused or lost, or abused by the world around us.

But Paul encourages us to lift our perspective. He says we may be afflicted, but we are not crushed. We may be perplexed and confused, but we are not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. He that is in me is greater than he who is in the world!

There are two mindsets that I believe we need to operate with in order to carry this treasure in us well. The first is that we need to live…

1. Grateful for the now

Paul says in light of all of this that you’re feeling and experiencing: we don’t lose heart.

If there is one thing that will absolutely 100% of the time rob you of the joy of the current season that the Lord haas you in: it’s comparison. That’s looking back at past seasons and going: well, I haven’t heard the Lord speak to me that strongly in a while. I guess my season is over. And while that sounds drastic and I don’t think many of us would say that, how many of you know that actions speak louder than words.

So while you may have been one of the most active dream team members in the church years ago, today you come in, sit down, get up, and leave- forfeiting the treasure that God has placed inside of you and robbing someone of receiving that treasure from you. This is why we place such a high value on Growth Track. We want to help you stay on the pathway to God’s purpose for you life and you’ve heard me say it a thousand times by now, I’m sure, but it bears repeating: if there’s breath in your lungs, there’s a purpose for you life. Don’t waste the treasure. You have something to give, still. Today. Right now. Live in the moment.

And that’s some crazy new age idea, living in the moment. There are so many things that you and I can be grateful for that are right here and right now. We don’t have to look too far to see the blessings of God on our lives. Scripture says not to despise the days of small beginnings, so look at this plant again. You can’t see it from back there, but from where I’m standing: I can see a new leaf growing right here. It’s not as flashy or as big as some of the other ones, but its new growth. Small growth is still growth.

Small steps are still steps. Even the smallest effort we put forth in our faith can reap huge rewards. This is why Paul says our inner selves are being renewed day by day. And sometimes, that renewing happens in hidden places doesn’t it? Hidden places. Those are some of the hardest seasons- seasons where we can’t always see a big, tangible way we’re growing. It feels like the desert. But we don’t lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

So what did you say to those around you earlier in those two minutes that Pastor Caleb led us into? What small or big things did you find yourself telling those around you about? Are you living grateful for the now?

The second mindset we can adopt to carry this treasure in us wells to live…

2. Hopeful for the next

I love how Paul closes this passage out, he says:

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 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.

Did you catch that? He said “light” and “momentary”. Paul is seeming to suggest that there is a reason for the dry season we find ourselves in right now. That there is a purpose for the affliction, the perplexity, for the persecution. But how can we stay hopeful for the next when today looks so bad?

By keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord. I was praying a while back, and Holy Spirit gave me this image. Picture walking on a narrow sidewalk. It’s a steep drop to the left and to the right, and there are all kinds of distracting things above you and to the left and to the right. Sooner or later: you’re going to find yourself walking right off the edge of that path.

*But what if, instead: you fixed your eyes on that path and you keep walking. You paid no attention to the things happening above you, or to the left of you, or to the right of you: but instead, you resolved within your heart to stay steadfastly focused on the Lord. No matter what happens around you or even to you: you stayed eyes fixed on Him. Come Hell or even high water, you said:

God, when you call to me I will answer you and I will listen as you tell me great and hidden things that I have not known.

I will not find myself anxious about anything, but I will approach everything by prayer and supplication with and thanksgiving I will let my needs be known to you.

It reminds me of a couple in a garden that lived under the absolute provision of God with every need met.

A generation wandering around in the desert for 40 years with food miraculous appearing every day.

A man carrying a cross up a hill for the forgiveness of our sins who bled and died and yet now finds himself seated at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.

Church: we can live hopeful for the next because we serve a God who never disappears or disappoints, but always demonstrates His love for us day by day- blessing by blessing, and moment by moment.

But it’s only when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus that we’re able to living both grateful for the now and hopeful for the next.

I want to set up a moment for us tonight to take communion.

Communion and dismissal