THE SHINING LIGHT IN A PLAIN JAR
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Hidden away on a high shelf in my closet I keep a small box. This box is worn down and broken from 50 years of use. But it is the most priceless thing I own. If I were to lose this box, I would literally tear my home apart to find it. If it were to be stolen, I wouldn’t stop searching for and praying over and seeking its return. This box may mean nothing to you, but to me it is precious. This box represents my father. Inside it is a medal given to my father in appreciation for his sacrifice. Inside is a Purple Heart. It represents the blood and body, which was shattered so that I may have political freedom, and so that I may have physical life. My dad, in a very real sense, died on that battlefield so that I might live.
You and I carry about with us a different, but even more priceless treasure. God has chosen to use us as carriers of His precious Son. How amazing is that! Please turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. Let’s stand in honor to God as I read this passage today!
Theme: God’s light is released through broken vessels!
1. There is no treasure greater than a personal relationship with Christ!
I think we lose sight of the incredible truth of Scripture that when I trusted in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, God almighty came down and placed His Holy Spirit inside of me. Paul put it this way: Christ is you, the Hope of Glory!
The treasure Paul is speaking of here is Jesus Christ Himself. We have been entrusted by God to carry the Light of the World to the world! We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ entrusted with the Gospel of Reconciliation. The Power and presence of the Almighty resides in you and in me!
Don’t pass over that! Think about it! Meditate on it for a moment this morning!
Isaiah wrote:
“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God stands forever.”
“Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, or with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighted the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance? Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed Him as His counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten Him? And who taught Him the right way? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. To whom, then, will you compare God? Do you not know? Have you not heart? Has it not been told you from the beginning? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing. To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” Says the Holy One.
John, writing in His vision of Revelation writes this of Jesus:
I saw someone “like a son of man” dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw Him, I feel at His feet as though dead!
On the Mountain of Transfiguration, for a brief moment, Peter, James and John were given just a glimpse of the Glory and Majesty of Christ!
WE HAVE THIS TREASURE! Have you trusted in Jesus for your salvation! Then this Jesus, the Son of God lives in you! That is why Paul could say with boldness in Romans 1:16
“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes!”
It is why Jesus likened the Kingdom of God to a treasure, a pearl of great price that if one fully understood its value they would spend everything they had to purchase it! Listen to His words in Matthew 13:44-46
“The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”
Do you realize what a precious treasure you have in Jesus! He is with you. He promises to never leave you or forsake you. The creator, the author and perfector of your faith, the provider, the merciful and compassionate One, the ruler of the universe, the maker of heaven and earth has entrusted to you, Himself! He is with you, Emmanuel!
I think it was this realization that led the hymn writer to pen these words:
Take the world, but give me Jesus, All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever, Thru eternal years the same.
Take the world, but give me Jesus, Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me, I can sing tho billows roll.
Take the world, but give me Jesus, Let me view His constant smile;
Then thruout my pilgrim journey Light will cheer me all the while.
Take the world, but give me Jesus, In His cross my trust shall be;
Till, with clearer, brighter vision, Face to face my Lord I see.
O the height and depth of mercy! O the length and breadth of love!
O the fullness of redemption, Pledge of endless life above!
Don’t forget the treasure! His priceless! His gospel is the greatest news anyone could ever hear! Where is your treasure this day?
Jesus said: “Where you heart is, that is where your treasure will be also!”
Is your heart with Jesus today? Is He the most important thing in your life? Is He more important than the air that you breathe, and the water that you drink?
Give me Jesus! Give me Jesus! Give me Jesus! Lord, I want you!
“Whom have I in heaven, but thee, and besides thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart my fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
God wants us to want Him. Seek Jesus – not His answer to your prayers! Seek Jesus –not the healing! Seek Jesus – not the comfort of this world! Seek Jesus!
We have been given a priceless treasure! Do you treasure Him above everything else?
2. God places His treasure in the plainest of jars!
God almighty visits us! You and me! Imagine it! Why? Why would He choose me?
The word for vessel here is ‘skenos’! It means the plainest and simplest of clay pots. Nothing extraordinary, nothing valuable, nothing fancy – just pots!
A vessel is simply a container. It is only intended to carry contents that are poured into it, stored, and then poured out. These vessels can come in all different shapes and sizes and colors, but that is not what distinguishes them or makes them valuable. Some are lovely to look at. Some are pretty ugly. Some are bigger. Some are very small. But none of those things really matter. The only thing that matters is what it contained inside.
Jesus chose you. He chose me. We had nothing to do with it. It wasn’t because he liked us more, or we gave a better first impression. He simply chose to fill this battered old shell with Himself. I can’t look at myself and say, it was my superior intellect, or my physical prowess, or my tender heart that gave God the idea to fill me with Himself. I am just a pot, and I don’t mean my belly!
Paul wrote:
Think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, SO THAT NO ONE may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written; “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Friends, I find one of the most destructive things to the work of the Church and to the glory of the Gospel of Christ being shown in our world today is this: PRIDE! Please hear me today! God will share His glory with no one! The moment we start taking credit for our own spirituality, or our own ability to live a Christ like life, or our own grasp of the scriptures, or whatever it may be – that is the moment we shame Christ and cover over the glory of Christ with our own humanity! When we start comparing ourselves to others, and start feeling good about ourselves and our accomplishments – Watch out!
Rather, instead, we should glory in our weaknesses!
Paul spoke of His own experience in this way:
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. 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.
We should glory in the fact that we are clay vessels. God chose you and me. Praise the Lord. Jesus knew I had a problem with weight – He chose me anyway. He knew I had a tendency to get depressed from time to time. He chose me anyway. He knew that I had a fear of speaking in front of groups. He chose me anyway.
God knows you. He knows your weaknesses. He knows that tendency to pride, or fear, or depression. He knows you are bashful, or shy, or have a bad temper. He chose you anyway. He wants to glorify Himself through you. He wants to shine through us clay vessels.
That means I must start looking at people differently, including myself. God can use you! Will you let Him! And God can use that person across the aisle from you that you are ready to write off your list for whatever reason.
God forgive us for putting ourselves and others in boxes that say “Not to be used for this ministry!”
I have struggled my whole life with perfectionism. If I couldn’t do it perfectly, I wouldn’t try. That is the main reason why I stayed away from sports. If I couldn’t hit the ball perfectly, I didn’t want to “embarrass myself” in front of others. Some of us are like that when it comes to serving the Lord. If I can’t witness perfectly, I’m not going to try. If I can’t pray perfectly, I’m not going to risk opening my mouth in a prayer meeting. If I can’t explain the bible perfectly, I’m not going to try to teach that 3rd grade Sunday School class. And so we sit on the shelf collecting dust. But that is not what God made these vessels for.
But God is saying to you and to me – get your eyes off of yourself. It’s not the clay pot that matters. It’s the treasure inside. Take that risk. Go to bat for Him, and let him deal with the strike-outs that inevitably come.
Paul urged Timothy:
“Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord. In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses Himself from the latter, He will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."
God wants to use you. Are you in the Potter’s Hands? Are you surrendered to His purposes for your life? Are you willing to be shattered for Him?
3. The power of God is released through broken vessels!
I believe that when Paul was writing this passage, he had in mind Gideon’s torches. Remember the story. Gideon prepared to battle for the Lord with thousands of soldiers, but God said: “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into your hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength saved her, send them away.” God made him send all of them away except 300. Then when they approached the camp of the Midianites, they surrounded them with trumpets and clay pots. Inside the clay pots were torches that had been lit. At just the right moment, they surrounded the enemy, the clay pots were smashed revealing the light that was within, and they blew their trumpets and shouted: For the Lord and for Gideon!
Look at how Paul described this process in His own life:
Verse 8
We are hard pressed (the picture hear is of the walls closing in all around you – like one of those death chambers in some horror movie). At times life and it’s circumstances press upon us so much, that we feel like we will be crushed under the weight of it all, but as Paul affirms –we are not crushed – but in this process a little of the light of Jesus Shines through.
We are perplexed (This phrase was used to describe a person who was ruined in business by their creditors, at wits end – totally at a loss for finding a way out of the predicament they found themselves in). Maybe you feel that way today. You don’t have a clue how you are going to get yourself out of the mess you’ve gotten into. You’re perplexed. But know today, that you don’t need to be in despair. God has not forgotten you. There is hope. This treasure of Jesus dwells inside of you. And when you are at wits end, and learn to trust in Him – a little more of His light shines through!
We are persecuted (This term referred to the practice of hunters chasing down a wild animal). I don’t think we have a clue what this is all about, yet. But in many parts of the world today, Christians are literally being hunted down and murdered for their faith. In Sudan, in Indonesia, and in many other parts of the world, just for believing in Jesus you could be hunted down in the middle of the night and forced to watch your wife and children raped and killed before your eyes, and see yourself thrown into a dungeon. It is happening today, somewhere in the world. But Paul says:
We are not abandoned. God sees. God knows. And God is with us! And when we have courage to face persecution with Him – a little of His light shines through.
We are struck down (This was a wrestling term, a term of the gladiators. When an opponent would be pinned to the ground awaiting for the thumbs up or thumbs down signal). Paul was saying, they can kill the body, but not my spirit. No matter what comes my way: I have this treasure. And when I trust in Him – a little more of His light shines through!
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus. The Church Father Philo wrote it this way: “The Christian is one who daily carries around the body of a corpse!” We are dead, but He lives. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer about me – it is about Him! And when I die today to self, and let Jesus reign in my life – a little more of His light shines through!
This is why James could write: Consider it pure joy, brothers, when faced with trials. Welcome them as friends!
Well, what have we learned today:
God has given us a treasure!
We are all clay pots, none better, none worse!
The Potter breaks us to reveal the Light within!
Will you submit your life to Him?
I began this morning with an illustration of my Dad’s Purple Heart. It symbolizes for me the broken body and shed blood of my father. He suffered so that I might have physical life and so that I might be a free American.
My dad used to carry around with Him a picture of “The Sacred Heart” of Jesus. It was a reminder to Him that Jesus had suffered and died for His freedom and life. One symbol Jesus gave to us was His broken bread and poured out wine. Last week I experienced one of the most personally moving communion services of my life. I felt anew the awe of Jesus broken for me – and as I took the bread, and placed it within my mouth – I could not swallow. It sobbed as I realized once again what the broken body of Christ meant. I thought – I am not worthy to have Christ in me.
But Jesus spoke to my heart, and He said: take it, eat it – it is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Share in my brokenness!
Then the cup was passed, as I placed it in my mouth – for the first time the grape juice tasted bitter. Again I couldn’t swallow. I remembered the bitter wine given to Jesus on the cross. I pictured again the bitterness of His sacrifice. It was my sin that put Him there. Again, I said I am not worthy. But the Lord spoke to my heart and said –take it, drink it – This is my blood! Share in the bitterness!
Will you share in Jesus’ brokenness and bitterness! Will you offer yourself once again to him. You are the pot. He is the potter. Let Him use you. Let Him break you, so that His light might shine in your life. Let’s pray!
