Fragile Clay Jars
09/06/09
2 Corinthians 4:1-12
Pastor Greg Smith
Today I want to preach on a text that helps me think through and apply the gospel to some of my family memories and issues.
These past few months I have renewed connections with my mother’s side of our family. Facebook has been great! I totally recommend it as an easy way to communicate and keep up with each other.
Before Facebook the Cummings side of our family would have occasional family reunions. Before the memorial service for my mother’s sister in July, we had our last reunion about seven years ago. It was a remarkable gathering. Included in the reunion were three pastors, plus many more very dedicated Christians.
We had a wonderful time!
• We played basketball, looked at pictures, barbecued and ate picnic food, and generally got caught up on people that most of us rarely see.
• But we also had a time for sharing songs and singing hymns together. We got out a hymnal, one of the cousin's spouses played the piano, and we sang hymn after hymn.
• Finally we gathered for a circle of prayer, thanking God for our family and praying especially for those who were not present or struggling.
While we were praying in that unique circle of people, people with so much history, so much mystery, my mind was flooded by two great truths.
1. I received the gospel through this family.
• It was through these people that I met Jesus. Through these people I first experienced God’s forgiveness and grace. Through them I learned to love the Bible and I learned to love church, my second family.
• You may have heard me share before about the first time Marie and I had an overnight as a couple at my grandparents home in Cloverdale. We learned that my grandparents praying were for us by name, every day, even when we weren’t aware of it. This is a example of "prevenient grace."
2. The other great truth that I was aware of while we were in that circle of prayer was this: this is a family with many problems, many big problems!
• There was the aftermath of abuse. When my mother’s generation was growing up, my grandfather could be a saintly man one moment and the next, rigidly filled with rage and anger.
• There were several in the family that struggled with addictions: alcohol and gambling were most common, and others seem so mysterious and shameful that no one talked about them.
• One of my cousins wrote and published a family memoir that chronicles the results of that dysfunction in her experience.
While we were in that circle of prayer, near the conclusion of the family reunion, this scripture came to mind, it’s verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 4:
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
As we were praying I was very much aware of both great truths that Paul refers to:
• The all-surpassing power that is from God. I had experienced it in that family.
• And I knew that the treasure, the all-surpassing power from God, came to me in jars of clay.
Look in 2 Corinthians 4 with me where Paul uses this picture to describe himself and his ministry.
What did Paul mean by “jars of clay”?
Look at verse 7. I’ll read it in the New Living Translation.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Clay is by definition "earthy" material.
• It is abundant
• It’s so common that it seems to be most everywhere
• It is fragile
• And that means that it doesn’t last. it seems to be quickly gone.
While there was the occasional work of art, clay was meant for temporary use. Clay jars were the disposable containers of their day. When a person went to the market place to buy wine or olive oil in a clay jar, there was no confusion over what was of real value: it wasn’t the container; what was valuable was the oil or wine within.
Of course, on the other hand, have you ever tried carrying a quart of olive oil without a container? What if you went to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk and all you had was your purse or your pockets to carry the milk home in. The container is absolutely necessary!
Paul didn’t use this comparison to devalue himself. The clay jars are absolutely necessary. But he was making a his point clear by vivid comparison. As he says in 2 Corinthians 4:5,
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”
We don’t preach ourselves! We proclaim the message that Jesus is Lord. And our lives— however inadequately— are servants for that message about Jesus.
Who have been the “clay jars” that have brought the “great treasure” of Jesus into your life? Thirty years as a pastor has underlined the same truths that so impressed me at my family reunion.
1. God uses the church to share the shining light, the message of Jesus as Lord. I’m constantly amazed at how Jesus is revealed in real peoples’ lives, right here in the church!
2. And yet I’m always very aware that the church— even beloved Valley Grace— is a clay jar. We are real people with real problems and real limitations. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
He means that as a declaration of faith and hope. We are “in Christ.” For us “the new creation as come.” We can in truth say that “the old has gone, the new is here.” But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still dealing with real human sin and all its consequences. We are still very much in process. Sometimes people get impatient with that process. They get frustrated with the real human limitations of the church. Yes, even Valley Grace.
That’s when it good to remember the message of verse 7.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Look at some of what this meant for Paul and his ministry.
1. Paul’s goal was to share the message of Christ with complete integrity.
Look at verse 2.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
2. Paul let success rest in God’s hands.
Look at these verses.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
3. Paul sees his own life and sufferings in the perspective of God’s bigger plan.
Look at verses 8-10.
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. 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.
4. Paul had learned the sufficiency of God's grace.
Look at 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God doesn’t need perfection in order to make us effective! Instead, God wants us to be clay pots that are available, ready to be used by him.
Is there something about yourself that if you could you would change?
• Do you have a tendency towards melancholy and depression?
• Do you have a emotions that are hard to control?
• Or is it your weakness for chocolate?
• Do you wish that your IQ could take a 30 point jump or that you had done better in school?
• Maybe you would want to change some event in your childhood or undo something that has left a lasting, hurtful impression on your life.
Can people with obvious faults, weaknesses and failings be effective for God? God can use people like you and me because God’s grace is sufficient. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s grace is sufficient. When you think about it anything else would be absurd.
Several years ago our family took a trip to Vancouver Island. There we had the chance to go swimming in cold salmon streams.
• Water just warm enough to swim in
• This part of the stream was called the "potholes" because the stream had dug out swimming holes in the rocks.
• There were some small waterfalls with fast moving water
• I had the greatest fun getting into that waterfall, feeling the rush of the current all around me, sitting back under the waterfall, and watching the water cascade in front of me.
• That was one of those times that I just spontaneously prayed, thanking God for the power and beauty of his creation.
• As I sat there I thought of how this was a very small waterfall as waterfalls go— and yet it was so powerful!
What is your picture of God's grace that is "is sufficient for you"?
• More like the water from the kitchen faucet?
• Or the overwhelming roar of Niagara Falls?
God's grace is the roar of Niagara that can:
• Forgive any sin
• Can make up for any weakness
• Give us strength to face any challenge
You, too, can be a "jar of clay" that shines the light of Christ in someone's heart.
• Make it your goal to share to message of Christ with complete integrity.
• Let success rest in God's hands.
• Put your own life and sufferings into the perspective of God's bigger plan.
• Learn the sufficiency of God's grace.
Pastor Greg Smith
Today I want to preach on a text that helps me think through and apply the gospel to some of my family memories and issues.
These past few months I have renewed connections with my mother’s side of our family. Facebook has been great! I totally recommend it as an easy way to communicate and keep up with each other.
Before Facebook the Cummings side of our family would have occasional family reunions. Before the memorial service for my mother’s sister in July, we had our last reunion about seven years ago. It was a remarkable gathering. Included in the reunion were three pastors, plus many more very dedicated Christians.
We had a wonderful time!
• We played basketball, looked at pictures, barbecued and ate picnic food, and generally got caught up on people that most of us rarely see.
• But we also had a time for sharing songs and singing hymns together. We got out a hymnal, one of the cousin's spouses played the piano, and we sang hymn after hymn.
• Finally we gathered for a circle of prayer, thanking God for our family and praying especially for those who were not present or struggling.
While we were praying in that unique circle of people, people with so much history, so much mystery, my mind was flooded by two great truths.
1. I received the gospel through this family.
• It was through these people that I met Jesus. Through these people I first experienced God’s forgiveness and grace. Through them I learned to love the Bible and I learned to love church, my second family.
• You may have heard me share before about the first time Marie and I had an overnight as a couple at my grandparents home in Cloverdale. We learned that my grandparents praying were for us by name, every day, even when we weren’t aware of it. This is a example of "prevenient grace."
2. The other great truth that I was aware of while we were in that circle of prayer was this: this is a family with many problems, many big problems!
• There was the aftermath of abuse. When my mother’s generation was growing up, my grandfather could be a saintly man one moment and the next, rigidly filled with rage and anger.
• There were several in the family that struggled with addictions: alcohol and gambling were most common, and others seem so mysterious and shameful that no one talked about them.
• One of my cousins wrote and published a family memoir that chronicles the results of that dysfunction in her experience.
While we were in that circle of prayer, near the conclusion of the family reunion, this scripture came to mind, it’s verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 4:
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
As we were praying I was very much aware of both great truths that Paul refers to:
• The all-surpassing power that is from God. I had experienced it in that family.
• And I knew that the treasure, the all-surpassing power from God, came to me in jars of clay.
Look in 2 Corinthians 4 with me where Paul uses this picture to describe himself and his ministry.
What did Paul mean by “jars of clay”?
Look at verse 7. I’ll read it in the New Living Translation.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Clay is by definition "earthy" material.
• It is abundant
• It’s so common that it seems to be most everywhere
• It is fragile
• And that means that it doesn’t last. it seems to be quickly gone.
While there was the occasional work of art, clay was meant for temporary use. Clay jars were the disposable containers of their day. When a person went to the market place to buy wine or olive oil in a clay jar, there was no confusion over what was of real value: it wasn’t the container; what was valuable was the oil or wine within.
Of course, on the other hand, have you ever tried carrying a quart of olive oil without a container? What if you went to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk and all you had was your purse or your pockets to carry the milk home in. The container is absolutely necessary!
Paul didn’t use this comparison to devalue himself. The clay jars are absolutely necessary. But he was making a his point clear by vivid comparison. As he says in 2 Corinthians 4:5,
“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”
We don’t preach ourselves! We proclaim the message that Jesus is Lord. And our lives— however inadequately— are servants for that message about Jesus.
Who have been the “clay jars” that have brought the “great treasure” of Jesus into your life? Thirty years as a pastor has underlined the same truths that so impressed me at my family reunion.
1. God uses the church to share the shining light, the message of Jesus as Lord. I’m constantly amazed at how Jesus is revealed in real peoples’ lives, right here in the church!
2. And yet I’m always very aware that the church— even beloved Valley Grace— is a clay jar. We are real people with real problems and real limitations. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
He means that as a declaration of faith and hope. We are “in Christ.” For us “the new creation as come.” We can in truth say that “the old has gone, the new is here.” But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still dealing with real human sin and all its consequences. We are still very much in process. Sometimes people get impatient with that process. They get frustrated with the real human limitations of the church. Yes, even Valley Grace.
That’s when it good to remember the message of verse 7.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Look at some of what this meant for Paul and his ministry.
1. Paul’s goal was to share the message of Christ with complete integrity.
Look at verse 2.
2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
2. Paul let success rest in God’s hands.
Look at these verses.
3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
3. Paul sees his own life and sufferings in the perspective of God’s bigger plan.
Look at verses 8-10.
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. 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.
4. Paul had learned the sufficiency of God's grace.
Look at 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God doesn’t need perfection in order to make us effective! Instead, God wants us to be clay pots that are available, ready to be used by him.
Is there something about yourself that if you could you would change?
• Do you have a tendency towards melancholy and depression?
• Do you have a emotions that are hard to control?
• Or is it your weakness for chocolate?
• Do you wish that your IQ could take a 30 point jump or that you had done better in school?
• Maybe you would want to change some event in your childhood or undo something that has left a lasting, hurtful impression on your life.
Can people with obvious faults, weaknesses and failings be effective for God? God can use people like you and me because God’s grace is sufficient. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” God’s grace is sufficient. When you think about it anything else would be absurd.
Several years ago our family took a trip to Vancouver Island. There we had the chance to go swimming in cold salmon streams.
• Water just warm enough to swim in
• This part of the stream was called the "potholes" because the stream had dug out swimming holes in the rocks.
• There were some small waterfalls with fast moving water
• I had the greatest fun getting into that waterfall, feeling the rush of the current all around me, sitting back under the waterfall, and watching the water cascade in front of me.
• That was one of those times that I just spontaneously prayed, thanking God for the power and beauty of his creation.
• As I sat there I thought of how this was a very small waterfall as waterfalls go— and yet it was so powerful!
What is your picture of God's grace that is "is sufficient for you"?
• More like the water from the kitchen faucet?
• Or the overwhelming roar of Niagara Falls?
God's grace is the roar of Niagara that can:
• Forgive any sin
• Can make up for any weakness
• Give us strength to face any challenge
You, too, can be a "jar of clay" that shines the light of Christ in someone's heart.
• Make it your goal to share to message of Christ with complete integrity.
• Let success rest in God's hands.
• Put your own life and sufferings into the perspective of God's bigger plan.
• Learn the sufficiency of God's grace.