I am not much of a gardener. The Scripture says that there is a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, but I must tell you that I don’t know the difference. I pluck up only what I am told to pluck up, because I don’t know a weed from a willow. However, the mistress of our little estate knows, and she hovers over me while I dig and plant and pluck.
So I was instructed to replant some things that had been stored for the winter in clay pots, and, to my amazement, was told that in order not to disturb the root system, I should just break the clay pot and get the dirt and the plant out whole. That was a shock, because all of our married life we have been frugal. We don’t just throw things away when they get old – I mean, look at me. She’s kept me! When things break down, we try to fix them, and if we cannot fix them, we save the parts that might be useful somewhere else. We don’t just pile things on the trash heap and run out to buy the next and the newest, and we certainly do not intentionally destroy anything.
But, she said, it won’t matter. It’s just a clay pot. It’s cheap, and if you have to break it to get the plant out undisturbed, no great loss. Go ahead, break the clay pot.
That helps me understand why Paul could be so dismissive of earthen jars. Paul says we have a treasure, but it is in earthen jars, clay pots, so that it might be made clear that power belongs to God and not to us. Paul is not very impressed with clay pots, he is much more interested in what they contain. And he wants to make sure that we do not confuse clay pots with what they hold. Our concern is not with the pot, but with the power. Our attention is not on the vessel, but on the volume inside, not on the container but the contents.
But, brothers and sisters, the issue is that we get it all wrong. We get it backwards. We focus on the clay and forget about the contents. We value the vessel and forget about what’s in it. We get it backwards and we miss the treasure and its power.
What are these things, pot and treasure, containers and contents? What is in this metaphor for us? Let me turn your attention first to the contents and then to the clay.
I
What is this treasure that Paul speaks about? What is it that is put into the little clay pot that is my life? “We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God ...” We have this treasure; what treasure? The treasure is the Gospel. It is the good news of salvation. And it is a powerful thing. Listen again to just how powerful, as Paul sums it up:
A
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.” The Gospel is able to hold us together even when everything seems to go against us. I’ve known people who lost their health, who were drained financially, who struggled against all sorts of disappointments, but who from their very death-beds radiated victory! “Afflicted in every way but not crushed.” After worship today I am going to visit a friend in a nursing home; Eugene has, over the last several years, gone bankrupt, been divorced twice, experienced the murder of his estranged wife, sent his rebellious daughter to corrective boot camp, been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, lost thousands of dollars in unpaid contracts, suffered the theft of a copyright, and watched his house burn down. Small wonder that the latest of his afflictions is a stroke from which he has spent many months recovering. And yet, afflicted as he is, he ministers to me when I visit him, for he will speak of the goodness of God and will tell of God’s mercy. What a powerful Gospel we have!
B
Not only are we afflicted but not crushed, but there is more to this treasure. We are “perplexed, but not driven to despair.” “Perplexed but not driven to despair.” The Gospel helps us make sense of things. Even when we cannot answer the great “why” questions, the good news brings us a perspective that nothing else can bring. Not long ago I walked through a death experience with a family connected to my family, and someone asked me, “Why? Why did this happen?” But before I could struggle with any sort of answer, someone broke in and said, “She fulfilled her purpose and the Lord took her home.” I don’t know that that kind of answer makes any sense to the world out there; it isn’t a scientific answer. It may not even be an emotionally satisfying answer. But it is faith’s answer. Even when we are perplexed and puzzled, because of the good news of salvation, we are “not driven to despair.”
Are you with me, now? The Gospel is a treasure, a powerful treasure, a treasure that must be kept and held. It holds us together when all else fails, it helps us make sense of our lives. But more ...
C
We are “persecuted but not forsaken”. “Persecuted but not forsaken” We are living in a society which is more and more secular. Fewer and fewer people acknowledge Christ as Lord, and it is fashionable everywhere to deride Bible-thumpers and born-again believers. Let’s acknowledge that we’ve brought much justifiable criticism on ourselves. Some Christians have been stubborn when we should have been smart, we’ve been judgmental when we should have been compassionate. But the fact remains that this is not the easiest of times to be openly Christian.
Yet I’ve been so pleased that here at this church adult men have come forward making professions of faith. Are you aware of how rare that is, for adult men to step out and confess Christ? Somehow, it’s not a “guy thing”. Men don’t hit the golf course and say, “Guess what, fellows, I accepted Christ this weekend.” They don’t shoot layups and then talk about being baptized. So you ought to be astonished and grateful that here clearly there are some folks who know that they may be persecuted, but they are not forsaken. The Gospel brings us the power to stand up for something, even when the world sneers at us.
D
And then, Paul says, we may be “struck down, but [we are] not destroyed.” When it is all over, and we can stay in this life no longer, even then we are not destroyed. We are not lost. For God has promised life eternal. The Gospel is good news even at life’s end, for “we serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today. I know that He is living, whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer, and just the time I need Him, He’s always near. He lives!” He lives!
That, brothers and sisters, is our treasure. A good news that sustains us against disappointments, that guides our thinking, that strengthens our spirits, and that promises us eternal life. What more could we ask for? What greater priceless treasure could we possibly want?
But what did I say earlier? That the issue is we get more focused on the clay pots than on the treasure. We get more invested in the containers than in the contents. We value the vessel more than its volume. We have this treasure, and it’s in cheap throwaway pots – but we decide to maintain the pots and ignore the treasure.
So, having examined the treasure, let’s turn and look at the clay jars:
II
The clay jar is, of course, this life. It is this body and the stuff that we use to support ourselves. The clay pot is my house and my bank account and my investments and my car, my stuff. I don’t know about you, but I sure have worked hard to get all that together. But I need to be clear – all that I have, even life itself, is just a clay pot, just an earthen vessel, used to contain something far more precious. Let’s not confuse the treasure with the vessel. So clay pots: what do we know about clay pots?
A
For one thing, clay is impervious. It does not react with the stuff that is put in it. Some vessels will contaminate the contents. Around my workbench are metal containers that are orange with rust or gray with oxides because they reacted with whatever was put in them. Now we are learning about PBE and how it affects the foods stored in it. But clay packs hard and keeps things pure and uncontaminated. It’s impervious.
If I am going to be a clay pot for the Gospel, then a part of my job is to see to it that the good news is properly preserved. I don’t need to succumb to the latest politically correct opinion. I don’t need to compromise the Gospel just to be popular. I need to be impervious to all contaminants.
Some time ago I attended a meeting of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. One of the Christian pastors there tried to set the tone by saying that he didn’t intend to convert anybody, he didn’t have the need to see anyone accept the Christian faith. “Don’t worry, Jewish friend or Muslim brother, I am not out to get you to accept Christ.” But immediately a rabbi spoke up and said to the Muslims, “Don’t you believe that! Don’t you believe what that man says. The very heart of Christianity is that they believe that Jesus Christ is THE way and THE truth.” Wow, a non-Christian understood better than some Christians about the uncontaminated treasure of the Gospel!
We need to keep this treasure in an impervious vessel, one that is not compromised by popular opinions. We need to make sure that we are clear about what we value, so that it can be shared in its purest and most powerful form.
B
Clay is impervious; and something else about clay: it is a good transporter. It is good to carry things in, because it is lightweight and yet durable. Clay jars are designed to get the goodies from one place to another and then to be used again or just broken up. They are excellent carriers of good things.
Jesus told us, in no uncertain terms, that we were to be His witnesses and carry the good stuff. We heard it on Ascension Sunday three weeks ago. “You will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth.” Many of us grew up memorizing the Great Commission, about sharing the Gospel with the whole world. “Go therefore and baptize all nations, teaching them whatever I have commanded you.” We are to be proactive with the Gospel.
So all these things mean that the good news is not to be bottled up, but is to be shared. The Gospel is not to be caged within the four walls of the church, but is to be offered to a waiting world. I used to have a friendly argument with my financial secretary when I was a pastor; she would say, “We need to save money in case the roof leaks.” I would say, “We need to use the money for ministry and evangelism.” She would say, “If you don’t maintain the church building, you can’t have church.” I would answer back, “The early Christians met in homes and American slaves met in brush arbors.” And she would say, “Show me the brush arbor that anybody in Washington, DC, will go to.” We were just going round and round, but we did agree on one thing – that Christians are to share the Word of God. And to share the Word of God we need something in which that Word can be carried. We need the church.
C
Clay is impervious, clay is a transporter, and one more thing: clay can be shaped. Clay can be molded and sculpted. Whoever you are, whatever you have, you can shape it into something the Lord can use. We can shape our resources to proclaim the Gospel through this church, for years to come. We can invest our time, our energies, and our gifts so that this church can forever present the good news in all its power.
I am asking you this morning to consider offering your legacy in and through the First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg. Once we recognize that this short life is only an earthen vessel that will soon be set aside, we can turn our attention to this church and to its treasure. Let me tell you some stories about how this might be done.
At Takoma Park church, several years back, a former member told me that she wanted to honor the memory of her parents, who had given themselves to teaching the Bible at our place. We worked out an endowment fund, to which this daughter continues to give – probably approaching $100,000 by now – and it supports discipleship events. Just a couple of weeks ago I got a postcard about a health fair that that church was sponsoring, and at the bottom it said, “Supported by the Leland and Marie Robinson DePue Fund.” The clay, you see, was shaped so that the church would keep on doing what it is called to do.
Another Takoma Park member, who had joined our church because she saw our commitment to young people, left us a sum of money for college student scholarships. We added her gift to an endowment fund we already had in place, and that produces enough income that every year the church gives scholarships to members who graduate from high school. Sadie Simmons’ clay was shaped so that the church would keep on doing what it is called to do.
One day a call came from someone asking about joining our church. I found out that she had been caring for her ailing parents for years, and she had not attended worship in a long time. In fact, the church of her younger years had actually gone out of business. But now, her parents deceased, she was ready to be a part of a church again. When I visited her in her tiny little house, there was very little evidence of any wealth. She did join our church, and participated faithfully until her own health broke and death took her clay pot home. When Beulah Ottiger’s will was read, to my surprise, there was a significant bequest that paid down much of our building debt. Her earthen vessel had seemed broken from the start, but still it held the treasure.
Before our clay jars are broken, what can we do? Before life ends, how can we shape our resources? There are many things, from writing wills to creating trusts to buying insurance policies, that would shape your clay and strengthen the ability of this church to carry the Gospel treasure forward. I invite you this morning to visit the display in the gathering area and to speak with me about helping you work out the best plan for your needs and for the church. There are many approaches to legacy giving, many ways to shape the clay. I urge you to gather information and to think creatively about what you can do for this carrier of the good news.
For who will contend that it is vital that First Baptist Church be here to comfort the afflicted and see lives lifted in times of trial? Who would deny that it is crucial that First Baptist Church remain available to embrace the great questions and provide authentic answers? It is beyond argument that the First Baptist Church of Gaithersburg must stand for classic Christian faith in a day of challenges. And, speaking as a pastor whose greatest joy is seeing people come to Christ and whose second greatest joy is watching lives end with a witness to a living hope ... speaking as a pastor who has in a few months come to be more than ever convinced that you have a unique place in God’s plan ... we must do everything in our power to assure the future of this church. We must shape our clay and breaking the container pots where the treasure is, so that its power can be released. That means legacy giving, so that in generations to come there will be a strong and secure witness to God’s great gifts.
I mentioned earlier that I had gone through a tragic time with a family connected to mine. My daughter-in-law’s sister, age 33, had one evening begun to experience severe headaches. By early the next morning it was obvious that something serious was happening. Her husband drove her to Montgomery General Hospital; they then called for a Medevac to Georgetown Hospital. All day and all night the doctors did what they could, but by the next day the word came that her life could not be preserved. Everyone was so shocked that this could happen to an apparently healthy 33-year-old wife and mother of three children. I said earlier that someone just believed that Monica had fulfilled her purpose and that the Lord had taken her home; incredibly, that was Monica’s mother who said that. How could a bereaved mother command that kind of faith?! None of us had any response to that statement; we were caught up in the brevity of Monica’s life. How can a life purpose possibly be fulfilled in only thirty-three years?
But, brothers and sisters, you and I know someone else whose residence in an earthen jar was only three and thirty years. You and I know someone else who, it would seem, had barely begun His work when He was cut down, His clay pot shattered. You and I know the wondrous cross, on which the young prince of glory died, crying out, “It is finished!” How can that be?
But you and I know also that He promised that greater works shall we do, because He would go to the Father. You and I know that because He lives, we too shall live. Oh, I must shatter this little clay pot, for it is not the good news. It only holds the good news. But if I shape this clay, these resources I have, the church can carry the good news of the risen Christ, forever. “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past; only what you do for Christ will last.”
