FAITH OVER FEAR - Under Pressure
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 March 12, 2023
Introduction:
When I was growing up we only had 3 channels on our TV except for on really clear days when you could pick up channel 3 from Cincinnati…and Saturday mornings were reserved for cartoons.
One of my favorites was Superman…faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leaf tall building in a single bound, It’s a bird, It’s a plane, It’s Superman!
I remember when I was about 6 or 7 reading a comic book and seeing Superman do something absolutely astounding with a piece of coal…It looked like this
SHOW PIC OF SUPERMAN SMASHING COAL INTO DIAMOND
I remember going to get a charcoal briquet off our porch and putting it into my dad’s vice in the workshop…only to discover vices don’t make coal into diamonds…they turn coal into dust which has to be cleaned up before your stupidity is discovered.
It takes tremendous pressure to form a diamond from rough coal…more than I can produce.
Here’s the question for this morning’s Faith Over Fear message: Anyone here this morning feel pressure on a regular basis? LOL…Silly question, huh? We all do…at work, with our families, from friends and enemies alike…lots of pressure!
But the Apostle Paul starts out “But we have this treasure in jars of clay.”
If you ask Kari she’ll tell you I’ve dropped enough dishes in my life to know that fragile jars don’t survive very well when gravity and floor collide. Jars of clay don’t do very well when they’re put under a lot of pressure…unless these jars are filled with some kind of supernatural protection, they’re going to get broken.
Maybe that’s exactly what Paul meant when he writes…we hold God’s treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Only God can truly make a diamond out of coal and only God’s Spirit can protect and use fragile human beings to shine for Him…Let’s look at something really important in our text:
I. THE POWER OF US, WE, AND OUR FOR YOU
The pronouns we, us, and our are used 9 times in 5 verses…the pronoun “I” isn’t ever used through this discussion of persecution and mistreatment.
“We” are hard pressed…perplexed…persecuted…struck down… “We” carry around in “our” body the death of Jesus. “We” are always being given over to death…
And the answer is “We” are not crushed…or in despair…or destroyed…the life of Jesus is revealed in “our” body. “We” are ALIVE!!!
Paul doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties that God, he and his companions are going through…He even lists some of them at one time…In 2 Corinthians chapter 6 he tells the Corinthians…We’ve shown our faithfulness through great endurance in troubles, hardships and distresses, in beating, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger. (v. 4-5)
If your view of the Christian life is one that is trouble free, devoid of suffering, and without physical distress, pressure and discomfort…you’ve been sold a bill of goods by the Evil One…And if you are pursuing comfort over the cross you are not pursuing Christ.
Remember we are saved by God’s grace through faith…but how much faith does it really take to serve Jesus when there is no pressure when we have all the answers, when no one is coming after us?
Not much!!! Jars of clay just sitting on a shelf don’t need the all surpassing power of God to protect them or fill them there.
Paul says, “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”
As the Apostle traveled with Timothy, Titus, Barnabas, Silas, and John Mark to bring the gospel of Jesus to a lost world, they surrender everything…including their physical well being so Jesus could be revealed.
I love the story in Acts Chapter 16 where Paul and Silas cast out an evil spirit in a woman who was in slavery…she earned her owners a lot of money by predicting the future…after she’s set free the owners realize the money train is over…they seize Paul and Silas…drag them to the marketplace to face the authorities…They are severely beaten, and then thrown into jail…The jailer puts their feet in stocks…and locks them in an inner cell.
Listen to what happens next:
ACTS 16:25-34
That’s teamwork…that’s an amazing example of what we can do together…with our brother or sister…even in the worst circumstances for others to come to know Christ.
No wonder Paul declares:
REREAD 2 CORINTHIANS 4:13-15
We believe…We speak…We know…We live for you…So God’s grace can reach more and more people.
The power of us, we, and our, for You!!! When we live like this thanksgiving overflows from our lives and God is glorified.
[On May 6, 1954 a British medical student named Roger Bannister became the 1st person to run a mile in less than 4 minutes…Bannister was immortalized - but he couldn’t have done it without 2 friends who paced him - Chris Chataway and Chris Basher…few people know their names, but without those who ran with Bannister and pushed his pace he would have never broken the record.]
You can endure almost anything if you don’t have to endure it alone…when Jesus enters our lives, He becomes “a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” But men and women, we also need that band of brothers and sisters during tough times…They lessen the burden and they multiply the joy.
Who are your pacemakers? And who are you pacing?
What helps us endure even while we’re under pressure:
II. OUR FOCUS IS ON THE INWARD AND UNSEEN
I might not know a lot about nuclear physics or botany…but I knew a little about “outwardly wasting away.” I know about parts wearing out and being replaced.
[Katherine Hepburn was asked one time what it was like to get older…and her response is a classic…She said, “Our bodies are like cars…something breaks down and we take it to the mechanic to have the parts replaced…but eventually you take it in and the mechanic says, “We don’t make parts for that model anymore!”]
I was telling my buddy George the other day…I’m not so sure if it’s the year of the car that matters…it’s the miles on it…If you have a 2017 with 350,000 miles on it, it’s gonna be pretty wore out.
The Apostle Paul had a lot of miles on his physical body…He’d been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and snake bit. He also had a “thorn in his flesh” that would not go away…and God didn’t remove…He had to deal with scars and physical pain on a daily basis.
When you are in pain or lonely or struggling emotionally, it is very easy for that focus to become your whole world. You feel that outwardly wasting away pain on a daily basis and maybe you’ve felt it for a long time…the Bible calls that “long suffering.”
But the Apostle Paul gives us an antidote for this fear…he says:
1. “Be renewed inwardly day by day.”
God’s Spirit is a comforter…and as we read God’s Word and seek God’s presence through prayer…God renews our courage, refocuses our eyes on what’s eternal and important. James promises that when our faith is tested through trials…that endurance is produced and that makes us mature and complete, not lacking in any good thing. (James 1:2-3)
That which drives us to our knees before God’s throne of mercy is never a bad thing…It also reminds us that earth isn’t our home…heaven is.
2. “fix our eyes on the unseen and eternal.”
Corrie Ten Boom said this at one time in her life…“I’ve learned not to hold onto anything too tightly because it hurts when God has to pry my fingers from it.”
It’s human nature to want to hold onto what we see…and who we see…but all of what we see one day will melt in fire and heat and be made new…And all of who we see will be in heaven or hell.
No wonder Paul says, “These light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)
I don’t want to live in a body that has to have heart attacks, new hips and shoulders, back fusion and neck fusion…I don’t want to have skin graft scars for eternity…In fact all these things help me let go of earth and long for heaven.
That’s exactly why Paul follows our text with these words:
END WITH 2 CORINTHIANS 5:10 (p. 805)
Let’s pray.
