Hope for Cracked Pots

2 Corinthians 4:7-15

What are some things that cause you to lose heart? Maybe your long-term plans have turned into short-term disasters. Maybe things in your life have gone from bad to worse. You feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

There are so many things that can cause us to lose heart. Fear, disappointments, rejections, hardships! It could be a lack of confidence in your abilities, worth, and life.

We are in our second week of a study on perseverance called “Don’t lose heart.” Twice in 2 Corinthians chapter four, Paul writes, “So we don’t lose heart.” The Greek word that we translate as “lose heart” is “enkakeo.” It means to lose motivation to accomplish a vital goal, desirable pattern or activity. It means to become so discouraged that you lose enthusiasm and give up.

When I was seventeen years old, I found myself without an automobile and not much money. A friend of mine had an old 1942 Ford pickup at his house. It had no motor and needed a great deal of work done to it. He offered to give it to me for free if I would take it off his property. I took him up on the offer.

My thought was to restore the truck as fast as I could so that I could have transportation. I worked hard on that truck for about two weekends, and then I gave up. I realized that this restoration job would not be quick, and I needed transportation immediately. I ended up selling the truck for twenty-five dollars.

In our passage for today, Paul teaches us how to persevere in Christian living and ministry. I have titled this message “Hope for Cracked Pots.”

When I think about the rusty old Ford, I see nothing but trouble. Others may recognize the potential, but I see trouble. I no longer look at the imperfect 42 Fords. Instead, I want the ones that are already restored. Fortunately, God is not like me with our lives. In fact, what we learn from our passage is encouraging and inspiring. We learn first that our imperfections in life allow God’s power to be revealed in us.

1. Your imperfections allow God’s power to be revealed in you.

“But we have this treasure in clay jars to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Paul uses a powerful metaphor in this verse. The treasure that he is speaking of is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice verse six, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The treasure is Jesus Christ. But what about the jars of clay?

Paul employs a vivid and powerful metaphor that his first audience would easily understand. Clay jars were common throwaway vessels and containers used in the ancient world. They were used for carrying water and storing olive oil, wine, and grain. And because they were common, families would sometimes store their valuables or treasures in them for safety.

These clay jars were very inexpensive and easy to replace. They considered the clay jars ordinary, inferior, and expendable. An interesting metaphor, especially when you realize Paul uses it as a metaphor for Christians.

What’s the point of the metaphor? Paul wants to show us how God loves to use weak and imperfect people to fulfill his purpose. God uses frail, weak, transitory mortals entrusted with the eternal glory of the gospel to fulfill His eternal plan.

The reason for using the weak and imperfect is in the last part of verse seven, “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God wants to show off his power, and he does that through the most unlikely people. Here is how it works. Our weakness and imperfections equal God’s power.

Here is another way to look at your life as a jar of clay. God looked down from heaven and said, “I need to find the weakest, littlest, most insignificant person on earth to show my power in him.” “Ah, there he is, Patrick Mead. I will use him to show my power in him.”

We need to recognize that we are clay jars with the treasure of God’s glory in us. When we recognize we are weak and imperfect, God’s power can be demonstrated in us. So don’t lose heart. Your imperfections allow God’s power to be demonstrated. Next, we notice that our pain allows for God’s power to be demonstrated through us.

2. Your pain allows God’s power to be manifested through you.

In verses eight and nine, Paul illustrates verse seven. He reveals how life experiences and pains prove our human limitations and weakness. Even so, God uses our pains to manifest his power through 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…” What we learn from these two verses is that some of our pain can come from personal pressures.

a. Pressures

The first word that Paul uses is “afflicted.” It translates the Greek word “Thlibo.” The word is a comprehensive word. It has the idea of being pressed in on every side, pressured to the point of being handicapped in life. It speaks of physical, psychological, and spiritual pressures that can come for the afflictions of life that pressure us as imperfect humans.

I don’t know about you, but personal pressures have almost squeezed the life out of me. Yet, in these weak and painful moments, God has displayed his power. Notice what Paul says, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.” Even though our weaknesses cause us to be squeezed by life, God’s power keeps us from being crushed.

God’s power doesn’t keep us from the pressure but enables us to overcome the frustrations of the pressure. We may be hard-pressed by life, but God’s power keeps us from being hemmed in. Your pain may be caused by personal frustrations.

b. Frustrations

“We are in every way perplexed, but not driven to despair.” The word “perplexed” means to be at a loss, to be uncertain about the future to the point that you are anxious, to be in doubt. Life can be frustrating, and these frustrations reminds us that we are just jars of clay. Yet, it is in these weaknesses that God’s power can come through and enable us not to be driven to despair. Your pain may be personal attacks.

c. Attacks

Paul says, “Persecuted, but not forsaken.” The word persecuted “means to pursue something for the purpose of harassment. It was also used for hunting. Paul understood harassment for his faith. He had Jews follow him from town to town harassing him.

Every believer at some point will experience attacks on account of our faith. We need to remember that though we are attacked, God never ever forsakes us. Your pain could come from personal failures.

d. Failures

“Struck down, but not destroyed.” One translation says, “Always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout.”

We are weak and human. Truth of the matter, my life would be great if it were not for my humanness. It’s always getting in the way. Life will knock us down, but we don’t have to let us knock us out. By the power of God we can get back up and be useful for God. Paul explains this illustration to drive this point home in verses ten through twelve.

“Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 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. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.” Pain and suffering for the cause of Christ identifies us with the suffering of Jesus.

Notice why God allows us to experience pain and suffering as believers. Twice Paul says, “so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” The second time in verse eleven he says “mortal flesh” instead of “bodies.”

The pain and suffering enables us to be broken vessels of clay. It is through our brokenness that the light of Christ shines through us. One of the ways that God spreads the light of Christ is through our brokenness, human limitations, and weaknesses. When we die to self, God manifest his power through us. And when that happens, people will be touched by the power. Jesus put it this way. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” (Jn. 12:24). That’s what Paul means in verse twelve, “So death is a work in us, but life in you.” Paul says he dies to self so that those around him can experience fruit or life. This doesn’t happen with out our assistance. It’s not “let go and let God.” In fact, Paul reveals that our cooperation allows God’s power to be experienced around us.

3. Your cooperation allows God’s power to be experienced around you.

For us to experience the victory of God’s power in our lives that Paul just described, we will need to have faith in God’s power.

a. Faith in God’s power

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,” Paul quotes from Psalm 116:10. But Paul leaves out the part of the verse that says, “I am greatly afflicted.” Paul is revealing the faith he has in the power of God to help and deliver him in his pain suffering. Though he suffers for his faith, he doesn’t lose faith. He trusts in the power of God to be manifested through him; therefore, he continues to speak. He doesn’t give up living for and serving Jesus.

Likewise, a key to persevering is having faith in God’s power to strengthen us and deliver us. Paul’s faith was supported and strengthened by the hope of God’s promise.

b. Hope in God’s promise

Verse fourteen, “Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” Paul’s hope of the resurrection fed his faith. He knew that even if God’s power did not deliver him from his pain and suffering, it wasn’t the end. In fact, Paul understood that to die is gain as a believer because it will usher us into the presence of Jesus. Paul didn’t lose heart because he had hope in God’s promise of resurrection. The third thing that enables us to experience the victory of perseverance is a love for God’s glory.

c. Love for God’s glory

“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.” Paul was willing to die to self because he understood that when we cooperate with God through faith, hope, and love; God’s power is experienced around us; that is, in the lives around us. Paul desired to see more and more people come to know Jesus through his life and ministry because it meant that more people would be thanking God for salvation, which means God is glorified.

The greatest way to glorify God is to have as many people thanking him for salvation. This can only happen when the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ opens hard hearts and brings the freedom of the Spirit and transformation. This only happens as we, jars of clay, or old 42 Ford pickups, allow God’s power to be demonstrated in us, manifested through us, and experienced around us.

So you think that you are an old run down 42 Ford, useless to God? You think that God can’t use your imperfections and weakness? There is hope for the 42 Ford. There is hope for the cracked pot.

There is a Chinese fable that illustrates this truth well. There was an elderly Chinese woman who owned two clay pots. She used the clay pots to carry water from the river to her house. He would put the clay pots on a stick that would lie across her neck. Unfortunately, one of the clay pots had a crack it. Every time she came back to her house with water, the pot with the crack was half full, but the perfect pot was full.

This went on for two years. The one day, the cracked pot, feeling ashamed for its condition spoke to the elderly lady. “I am of no use to you. I am cracked and I leak. Why don’t you replace me with a perfect clay pot so that you can have a full pot of water when you get to your house?” The lady replied, “I know you are cracked, and I like you just the way you are. If you haven’t noticed, your side of the path coming up from the river is lined with flowers. I put seeds there because you leaked. Without your flaw, I wouldn’t have those beautiful flowers to enjoy.”

Child of God, don’t give up because of you’re a cracked pot. God uses our weaknesses and imperfections to shed the light of his glory to those around us. If fact, we will only be useful when we are broken before God so that the perfume of his glory can spread to those around us.

There is hope for the cracked pot. There is hope for the 42 Ford. God can use all your imperfections for his glory.