Show Notes
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Our Heavenly Father. We give you so much praise and our hearts are filled with thanksgiving for the life that you have given to us in Christ.
[00:00:10] To have our sins forgiven, to have fellowship with you and your loved ones, to belong to a kingdom that is unshakable. These things are glorious to us. They are settling and they bring peace to our hearts. We thank you for the reminders and the recalibration. We thank you for reforming us and conforming us to the image of Your Holy Son. We ask that you would bless the reading and preaching of Your Word. Now we ask that you would help us to understand these things, that through the words of Your servants, Your apostle, we would come to know and hear the words of our Savior and that Lord. We ask that as we hear, we would follow. We would believe and have life.
[00:01:04] It's in his name that we pray. Amen.
[00:01:09] If you're able to remain standing, please do. And let's give our attention now to God's Word in two Corinthians.
[00:01:19] Two Corinthians, chapter four, verses seven through 18. So verse seven through the end of the chapter, let's hear God's Word.
[00:01:41] But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
[00:01:51] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down but not destroyed.
[00:02:07] Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
[00:02:18] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus'sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you, since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written. I believed and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence, for it is all for Your sake.
[00:02:58] So that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
[00:03:06] So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
[00:03:37] Praise be to God. Please be seated.
[00:04:05] When we talk about pride, especially in church, we usually have a very negative connotation of that pride is a bad thing and something to be resisted. But in English, we use pride in a positive way, a morally positive way, which means to put a healthy, trust in something that's trustworthy, right? To be proud of the mission of your work or to be proud of your child who did a good job in something right? These are things that we mean well and are well. It means to trust and to boast in something that's boastworthy it's worth trusting in.
[00:04:51] Paul uses similar language to that in chapter five, which I didn't read. It's in the next chapter. Chapter five, in verse twelve, he says, we are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us.
[00:05:07] It's not that Paul wants them to think of Him more highly than they ought, but he knows that he is worth their trust, not because of anything in himself, but because what the Lord has done in Him and is doing through Him.
[00:05:23] And he tells this for a very particular reason. Reading on in verse twelve, he says so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.
[00:05:35] In other words, there's people that are looking at Paul, looking at Timothy, looking at Titus, looking at the work and the servants of the Lord, and saying, that is not impressive.
[00:05:47] I'm looking at this situation and I'm seeing a man in jail. Your quote unquote messenger, the one who is supposed to go out to the Gentiles, is sitting in prison.
[00:05:59] How effective really is your Lord?
[00:06:02] This one that you boast of, he is weak in his speech. This one that you are following, this one who writes you letters and you're paying attention to, who is this man?
[00:06:16] Sure, his words are mighty, but the form of his speech is not. His knees get shaky. He's not an impressive person, not like these other people that the enemies of the apostles and the Church would point to.
[00:06:33] Paul is saying, though, here in two Corinthians four, and continuing on for the next few chapters, that this is a bad estimation, this is a bad way to look at things and look at the apostolic ministry.
[00:06:48] The apostolic ministry is the work of Jesus Christ in His Church, and it's important for us to see it that way. And so he's giving us reasons. He's telling us what his heart is. He's talking about how we ought to understand the sufferings that he's enduring, how we ought to think about what Jesus, our Savior, is doing at this point in time in His Church, and what he's continuing to do for us through His Word.
[00:07:15] Because the work of the apostles and prophets on which the foundation of the Church is laid is that same foundation which every single soul here is on. Our Church is built upon that foundation.
[00:07:30] And so we ought to understand it. We ought to have reasons to trust it and pay attention. When the Apostle Paul opens up his heart and speaks in ways that are even kind of crazy, and he says are kind of bold, but he tells them I'm doing this so that you understand me. He's risking and he's being a little bit vulnerable. I'm paraphrasing things he says later on in coming chapters, he's being vulnerable and being risky in how he says things because he really wants us and them to understand what's going on.
[00:08:06] So what's going on?
[00:08:09] What's going on is that the Lord is using the apostle Paul in his sufferings, in the frustrations of ministry for a purpose.
[00:08:19] That's the sufferings and the outward things, the transient things, the problem things that are going on in his life are serving a very particular purpose. And he begins to help us to see that here in this passage.
[00:08:35] So let's think about that this morning. First, by looking at his suffering, trying to really understand what he says here about that, he talks about it in other places and then some of the reasons that he gives for that.
[00:08:47] So first, his suffering, the way I'd like to approach this is simply by going through the passage very quickly and looking at the various ways, just like in a list form of the ways Paul describes this. The first thing he says is in verse seven, he describes himself as a jar of clay. He describes himself this way to say that he's breakable, fragile and not very important. This is not a vessel of gold or silver, it's a jar of clay.
[00:09:22] The second thing he says with regard to his suffering, the way he describes it here is in verse eight, with this big list reading the first half of each of these pairs, he says that he and Timothy and others in his ministry are afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and struck down.
[00:09:47] Imagine if you had a friend, you call them up and you say how it's going? And they say, I'm feeling very afflicted, perplexed, persecuted and struck down, right? All the alarms would be going off, right?
[00:10:03] This is a person who's in trouble and that's how he's describing his personal and their personal experiences in his ministry.
[00:10:13] If that weren't enough, in verse ten he says he is always carrying in the body the death of Jesus.
[00:10:21] Can you imagine yourself saying those words?
[00:10:26] Things are so difficult and not just their level of difficulty, but the way that I understand them is such that I can say I am carrying in my body the death of Jesus.
[00:10:38] In verse eleven, he says he is always being given over to death for Jesus.
[00:10:46] In verse twelve he says death is at work in us. And then in verse 16 he says our outer self is wasting away.
[00:10:57] This is a man, these are our men. This letter, you may remember, is written specifically by Paul and Timothy. We see that in one verse, one who are suffering and suffering a great deal.
[00:11:16] To illustrate that suffering and his perspective on it, he points to Psalm 116 and I'd like to look at this with you. You note before we jump there, look at where he gets this quote from. It's in verse 13.
[00:11:31] He says since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, I believed and so I spoke. We also believe, and so we also speak.
[00:11:42] To paraphrase, what he's saying here? Is he's saying, I identify with Psalm 116.
[00:11:49] That's what he's saying. He uses this verse in Psalm 116 to refer to the whole psalm and say this is me, these are my words. So let's turn there and see what it is Paul has in mind. Psalm 1116 u. So the words that he quotes, he paraphrases are from verse ten. Psalm 116 verse ten he says I believed even when I spoke. I am greatly afflicted. Right? So here the psalmist says I'm greatly afflicted. And what he's confessing is even in that moment of affliction, he is believing.
[00:12:34] Even in the moment of affliction, he's trusting and hoping in what? In who? Well, that's what this psalm answers.
[00:12:44] I'm going to read the psalm now, and what I want you to pay attention to as we read is both the themes of affliction and the theme of salvation from God. Notice how it is embodied in this person who speaks this psalm. And not to be too complicated, but think about Paul taking these words on his own lips as one who is ministering the Lord's own life and ministry.
[00:13:14] Psalm 116 I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy, because he inclined his ear to me. Therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
[00:13:28] The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of shiol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish.
[00:13:36] Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul.
[00:13:43] Gracious is the Lord and righteous our God is merciful. The lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you, for you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed even when I spoke. I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars.
[00:14:17] What shall I render the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon or call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
[00:14:30] Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your maid servant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving. And call upon or call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.
[00:14:58] So here is someone who has experienced great suffering, much like the apostle Paul in verse three, he describes it. He says that the snares of death encompass me, the pangs of sheol laid on me. I suffered distress and anguish. But he looked to the Lord and the Lord delivered him.
[00:15:20] Even in death, he has confidence. The psalmist does. Verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. He confesses that even in his death the Lord is present, the Lord is at work, the Lord is merciful and loving.
[00:15:38] So what's Paul doing?
[00:15:41] Paul sort of takes this psalm, he references it and says, I'm doing the same thing here. These words are my words. I have this same spirit of faith that is expressed here. In these words I believed and so I spoke. Paul's saying, I speak of my trouble and I also believe.
[00:16:03] Well, as we turn back to two Corinthians and look at verse 14, we see the reason that he's hoped, the reason that makes him so strong that he says twice in this chapter, we do not lose heart. We do not lose heart. How is this man who says he is wasting away, not lose heart?
[00:16:26] Well, part of it is because of verse 14, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
[00:16:42] This language in Psalm 116, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living is what Paul has in his heart and in his mind. As he speaks about this, he's looking at the Lord Jesus Christ crucified and raised and says, I'm going to be fine, I'm going to be fine. And then he just drops this encouraging note, right? He says, the Lord Jesus will bring us. He will raise us to be with Him and with you in his presence.
[00:17:15] This is so wonderful because as Paul's talking about his ministry, as Paul's encouraging us and telling us how he thinks about his own life, his own suffering, his own resurrection, he says, and we're going to be together in this this ministry that the Lord is working through Him is going to have these ripple effects these ripple effects in the people of God.
[00:17:40] Resurrection effects, we might say, unto new life.
[00:17:48] So the psalm and all these descriptions definitely describe to us the degree to which Paul and Timothy and others were suffering on behalf of the Corinthians and all of the others, including us, who would come after and read these words.
[00:18:03] What's the purpose of this now? What's the purpose? What's God doing in this?
[00:18:11] We see one answer to that question in this language of jars of clay. In verse seven, we have this treasure the ministry that he's been given the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the Gospel.
[00:18:28] We have this treasure in jars of clay. Why? To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
[00:18:40] That's one reason.
[00:18:44] There's an outward way in which you can look at the apostolic ministry and say there's a mismatch here.
[00:18:51] What you're saying doesn't really match up with what's happening.
[00:18:56] And when we see those things in life we usually call them lies.
[00:19:00] If somebody sells you a beautiful car and then it doesn't start and it's falling apart, you say, hey, you said this was a good car and I could depend on this. And yet look at the evidence. And so people are making a similar claim with the apostles ministry. You say that the Gospel is about life and healing and life and power and all these sorts of things, but what am I seeing?
[00:19:25] I'm seeing people that are dying, I'm seeing ministers that are weak. They call themselves jars of clay. Where's the power in that? Where's the strength in that? Where's the glory in that? You're telling me that the Son of God came into the world to save the world and yet his man's in prison and being beaten and on the run.
[00:19:50] The Gospel promises pleasure and healing and yet I'm seeing the people that hold, that seem to hold Him the most precious, that seem to follow Him the most zealously, are experiencing a lot of pain and heartache.
[00:20:06] Is this not proof that the Gospel is false? Or at least he's not the true minister of the Gospel?
[00:20:14] If God's not failing to deliver on these promises, I think you are. Paul is the argument.
[00:20:23] So why the mismatch? Is there some explanation for this? What's going on here? And Paul tells us, he tells us two things. The first thing is that God himself is making it happen this way. And he does it because he wants to show that the surpassing power of the Gospel belongs to Him first and foremost, not to men.
[00:20:50] God could have sent out these super beautiful, really wealthy people who just get it all right and do everything not just morally right, but have all of the social status and the things that the world sees and the world would probably follow, wouldn't they? Because that's who the world follows. When the world sees people that are fit and wealthy and have lovely families and don't seem to have any troubles, we say, how can I get that life? How can I get that life?
[00:21:22] Well, Paul is certainly morally good. He's leading as it was good way by example. But his life does not look like the life most people want. Suffering, beaten on the run, all these kinds of things.
[00:21:36] God wants us to see that the power that actually does come through the Gospel comes from Him. That these men, these apostles are not gods. They are slaves of God, servants of God, bound to Him.
[00:21:55] Where do we see the power? Paul tells us. He says, sure, the outer self is wasting away, but it's transient.
[00:22:07] It's transient. Who cares? Who cares that it's wasting away? When you compare it to the eternal weight of glory that is coming, the eternal weight of glory that is promised, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
[00:22:26] The Apostle Paul, despite the world pressing down on him to control him, to keep the Gospel from spreading, it's not working, is it?
[00:22:40] Despite the work of the world and the evil one, to keep the Gospel under control, to keep it from spreading, the plan is failing because the Corinthians are believing and the Philippians are believing and the thessalonians are believing and the Colossians are believing and the Tucsonans are believing.
[00:23:02] All over the world, the Gospel is spreading and spreading and spreading. He talks about this, doesn't he? He says in verse 15, it's all for your sake.
[00:23:13] So that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.
[00:23:23] The Gospel is doing what God said it would do.
[00:23:28] And the things, sure, the things of this world, they are passing away, and they are transient. But the things that are unseen, the things that are coming will last forever. And at that point in time, the glory that everyone's looking for will be so outstanding, so amazing, that people will ask for rocks to fall upon them.
[00:23:51] There will be no wondering if this is truly glorious or not anymore.
[00:23:57] But we don't want to wait for that day before we believe and trust in the Lord. We don't want to wait for that day when the Lord is now sending his apostles, sending his ministers out into the world and calling us to believe, calling us to look and see at the power of the Gospel at work. Even in jars of clay.
[00:24:22] God didn't make a mistake when he put it in jars of clay. He did it to demonstrate this thing to us, to demonstrate that the surpassing power comes from Him.
[00:24:35] He also does it to demonstrate that the message matches the ministry as the ministry of the Gospel goes out. What does Paul say? He says, I'm carrying in my body the death of Jesus. Well, what is Paul proclaiming? The death of Jesus. The ministry is matching the message.
[00:24:58] That's god's point. That's god's work.
[00:25:01] God sent his Son into the world, the immortal second person of the Trinity, to take on human flesh, to live and to die and to accomplish the salvation for all of his people.
[00:25:16] Jesus'aim, for seeking and saving the lost, didn't fall apart in his death. It didn't fall apart on the cross. It was accomplished on the cross. It was successful and victorious. And we know that because on Sunday morning he rose from the dead.
[00:25:36] The tomb was empty and so also the apostles will find success on that last day, and so will you and every single person who puts their faith in the resurrected Son who accomplished salvation for us. Sure, we're jars of clay, but not forever.
[00:25:56] This tent, as he will describe in chapter five, is transient. It's going away. The Lord will raise us together, so to bring these things to a close and to impress them on their hearts. Yes. The apostle Paul is suffering. He doesn't deny that point. He embraces it.
[00:26:19] But he is not destroyed, he is not undone. He does not despair and he does not lose heart. Why? Because he knows that the suffering is the work of the ministry. It's the message of the Gospel being revealed in his work day to day, in his life, in his body, in his words.
[00:26:44] And as he does that, he reveals to us not only the effectiveness of the Gospel, but that God is doing it through Paul, through Timothy and others for us.
[00:26:57] That's why it's happening. So instead of looking at Paul and saying, not very impressive, we look at Paul and we should say, there is my savior revealing himself to me, teaching himself to me, helping us and helping me to know him. So that I wouldn't depend on the transient things of this world so that my hope wouldn't be in the things that are passing away.
[00:27:24] But my hope would be in the glorious promise of God that he's eternal.
[00:27:32] I'll close by saying this. Remember that list that I read at the beginning of Paul's suffering? Jars of clay, afflicted, persecuted, perplexed, struck down, carrying around the body of Jesus, or the death of Jesus always being given over to death, death being at work within us, outer self is wasting away. And then at the end, what does he call it? A light, momentary affliction.
[00:27:58] Remember your friend? Right. Like a war alarm, right. Who then says, but it's really okay, and I totally mean it.
[00:28:06] How can you say it's okay?
[00:28:08] You just told me you are dying and everything is coming apart. Oh, it is.
[00:28:14] But it's a light, momentary affliction. When I compare it with the eternal weight of glory, that is really beyond comparison.
[00:28:26] Praise be to God. Let's pray.
[00:28:31] O Heavenly Father, please give us this perspective.
[00:28:37] Help us to see things as they truly are and not as the world would have us see them, paying far too much attention to the things of this life.
[00:28:48] Help us to be watchful to the things of this life, enjoy the things of this life, revel in the goodness that you have given to us in this time, but let us not put our faith in them, lest we despair or come undone or be crushed or struck down or destroyed.
[00:29:11] You teach us here in the words, in the life and the ministry of Your servants, that when we put our faith in you, our faith is not in vain. And that even as the death of Jesus is manifested in our bodies, so also is the life of Jesus.
[00:29:32] And that one day this will become more evident to us than we can ever imagine. Now, Lord, you know the difficulties that we feel, the ways in which we struggle, the sufferings we experience.
[00:29:49] Help us not to lose heart, but to be encouraged and hold fast to the faith that has been given to us delivered. Help us to devote ourselves to the apostolic word, to the words of Your Scripture. Help us to learn it, to memorize it, to impress it in our hearts. Help us to see everything that we do in this life in light of the things that you have spoken here.
[00:30:14] Strengthen and encourage us today in the things that are eternal, unseen and everlasting because of Your grace. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
