Clay Pot... Your Hidden Treasure

CLAY POT…YOUR HIDDEN TREASURE

You cannot tell the value of something by the package it comes in. Like the treasure of salvation buried in the dirt in the parable that Jesus told, the treasure was so precious that the man sold everything to buy it and a pearl is found in an ugly oyster shell. The container does not always reflect the value of its contents.

2 Corinthians 4: 1-11

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not despair, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor falsifying the word of God, but by the disclosure of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God. But even if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. Because it is God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. BUT WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN CLAY VESSELS, SO THAT THE EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER OF THE POWER MAY BE OF GOD AND NOT OF US; in everything being oppressed, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that also the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are living are always handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body.

Let us speak about Paul for a moment, as I do not think that Paul, when he founded the church, had any idea how much they would break his heart. They did. It was not long after he had unburdened his grieving heart over their sin when false teachers came into the church and brought doctrines of demons. Hypocritical liars who wanted to achieve status. They had to become believable. They had to rise to the place where they were recognized as teachers, and to do that, they had to destroy the people’s confidence in their pastor, Paul.

So, they came, and they assaulted Paul relentlessly, mercilessly, and consistently for months and months. They attacked Paul and they undermined his integrity and his credibility, his apostleship, and his message. He was so devastated by this on one occasion that he went for a visit, and when he got there, to straighten things out and to call them back to himself, not for his own sake but for the sake of the truth, a man in the congregation apparently stood up and blasted Paul to the face and nobody defended him, and he left with a shattered heart.

How many of us has had that happen?

Second Corinthians is the hardest thing for a man of God to do because it is a letter that he must write to defend himself, and the fact is he knows he is nothing. He must defend himself as the teacher of the truth, as the apostle of Jesus Christ, as the messenger of God. And yet he knows himself to be nothing. If you go back to verse 1, he says, “Since we have this ministry” It is mercy, that I am saved, that I am called. It is like I am what I am by the grace of God.

We have a lot of reason to lose heart, but we do not lose heart. This ministry is too glorious, and despite what they are saying to you, “we have renounced the things hidden because of shame.” What the false teachers apparently were saying was, “If you really knew Paul, you would know he is a hypocrite, he is a phony, he is a fake, he’s a deceiver. On the surface, on the outside, he looks holy, the fact of the matter is he has a secret life of shame. They even went further, then, to attack his character. They went further, then, to attack his theology. They even attacked him personally.

2 Corinthians 10:10

"For his letters," they say, "are severe and boisterous, but his bodily presence is feeble, and his speech amounts to nothing."

Who were they talking about?

He is not particularly good looking, he cannot speak very well, and he has a disfigured face! (Gal 4:13-15). He obviously is not to be believed or followed because God’s man does not look like that. He is not charismatic enough, fit enough or blessed enough!! He is just like everyone else. He is just an ordinary human being. There is nothing unique or gifted about him. If he were the real thing, he would have it all together. He would be super capable. He would be much better than that. He is a phony. Sound familiar?