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INTRODUCTION:
For the past month we’ve been looking at passages related to our 21 days of prayer and fasting.
The theme of our 21 days of prayer and fasting was summed up in the word “breakthrough.”
Last week we saw how Peter’s one experience with the risen Christ changed his life forever.
The same can be true for us.
ONE moment in the presence of God can radically change your life forever.
It can create the kind of breakthrough you need to overcome the challenges placed in front of you.
To cap off this season I wanted to preach a message that I believe ties on these things together out of 2 Corinthians 4.
A SURPRISING POWER
I entitled the message “Surprised by Hope” because there are certain things about our hope in Jesus that produce surprising effects in our day to day life.
Hope in Christ has the power to change you in some surprising ways.
We’re going to see that dynamic through the life of the apostle Paul in his 2nd letter to the church at Corinth.
In this letter he provides an explanation for how his hope in Jesus gave him a ground for boasting in his weaknesses and persevering through his suffering.
His hope in Jesus produced some counter intuitive effects in his daily life.
What Is Hope?
We defined hope last week as an expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
To hope is to cherish a desire with eager expectation.
And all hope - regardless of the object - is future focused.
For the expecting mom and dad who have hope of a coming baby - their future hope has immediate implications on what they buy, how they eat, where they live and more.
For the single but looking man or woman their hope in a married life has immediate implications for who they date, how they date and what they do or don’t allow into their life as a single person.
Hope - regardless of its object - is focused on the future.
But a proper focus on the future gives you perspective for your past and power for the present.
That principle is particularly true when it comes to Christian hope.
Our hope in Christ is a “living hope.”
It unleashes in us a power for positive change.
And a proper focus on what Jesus will "one day,” has surprising power over how you live “TODAY.”
That’s the surprising power of hope.
Hope is not just a dry academic belief in some ethical system or some historical events.
Christian hope is a vibrant relationship with a living person that is headed towards a particular future that unleashes surprising power to overcome your present challenges.
Our Hope & Your Suffering
I don’t know about you, but there are certain days where I just need to reminded of the power of hope.
Every weekend when I look out at this room I think about all of the struggles and hurts many of you have gone through and/or are going through.
It’s overwhelming to think about.
And that’s just the stories I’m aware of.
There’s all kind of suffering in this room I’m NOT aware of.
From the chronic pain of autoimmune disorders to the pain of things like cancer and heart disease.
From the relational struggles of a strained marriages to the emotional wounds inflicted by a prodigal son/daughter.
From anxiety surrounding your finances to insecurities about your worth as an individual.
There are all different kinds of personal struggles represented in this room: depression, grief, loneliness and addiction.
Hope Can Make a Difference
Our church is full of REAL people with REAL hurts in need of REAL hope that can make a REAL difference.
Today’s passage offers that kind of hope.
It’s a reminder of the amazing power we’ve received from God’s Spirit and the precious promise he has given to those who persevere to the very end.
Read the Text
Let’s read our passage: 2 Corinthians 4:6-17
2 Corinthians 4:6–17 (CSB)
6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.
10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body.
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh.
12 So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak.
14 For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.
15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do not give up.
Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day.
17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
Hope in God’s promise for your future unleashes God’s power in your weakness and advances God’s purpose through your pain.
Put your hope in Jesus and the PLACES where God’s power begin to manifest will absolutely begin to surprise you.
You’ll experience a surprising new power in your weakness resulting in a total new perspective.
You’ll also experience a surprising new purpose to your pain and suffering.
All because of what you believe about God’s promise for you future through your faith in Jesus Christ.
UNLEASHED IN A SURPISING PLACE
The first surprising thing about our hope in Jesus is that it unleashed God’s power in our weakness.
2 Corinthians 4:7 (CSB)
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
We all know the dynamic of putting something really valuable inside of something not so valuable.
diamond ring in a wooden box
Expensive gun inside a metal case
expensive wine inside a wooden casket
ILLUSTRATION: Old couch full of money from a widowed woman.
Paul seems to making a similar argument about you and I.
God has placed in infinite treasure in earthen vessels.
Our bodies are little more than jugs of mud.
The 1st Century Connection
Paul is not trying to be unhelpful with this imagery.
It was actually pretty common in the first century to take your valuable and place them within a jar of clay (or something else you could break ) and burry it in your back yard.
I imagine Paul himself might’ve had a “jar of clay” and that his valuables being placed in that jar - buried in his back yard - began to preach to him: “Paul, I’m an illustration of your life.
Your body is this jug of mud and the valuable commodity within represents the power of God in you.”
Don’t misunderstand me.
Human beings are valuable and the human body is a valueable thing in the eyes of God.
But the thing that gives us our value doesn’t belong to us.
It was placed inside of us by almighty God.
As Paul reflected upon his own life and his own life and ministry he began to see a theme: God demonstrate his extraordinary wisdom and power in things that the world deems foolish and weak.
Paul understood his limitations.
But he also understood the limitless power of God.
We have our own human weaknesses but the infinite God has none.
Container Versus Content
It’s important we never confuse the value of the container with the value of the content.
It doesn’t matter how much money you think you’re worth on paper.
The total value of the chemical compounds in your body don’t amount to much!
In fact I read an article this week that delineated all of the core elements in the human body.
The human body is about 65% oxygen
18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, 3% nitrogen
1.5% calcium, 1% phosphorous
.35%
potassium, .25%
sulfer, .15%
sodium, .15
chlorine
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