Glory … in a Jar

And to the second epistle that
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, we find ourselves in chapter
four. Second Corinthians, chapter four. And I would have to ask you not
to blurt out. But where do you keep your riches? Now, you know why I asked you
not to blurt out. Where do you store your riches?
Where do you keep your good things? Better yet, if God were to give
you a measure of glory, where would you keep it? And what would
you place it for safe keeping? Where would you put it to preserve
it? Throughout the pages of Scripture,
we see God’s glory dispensed in various measures. I was reminded of this little
passage in the construction initially of the ark, the ark of the covenant. Bazaal made the ark of acacia
wood. Its length was two and a half
cubits. Its width was one and a half cubits. Its height, one
and a half cubit. He overlaid it with pure gold
inside and out and made gold molding for it all around. He
cast four rings of gold on its four feet. Even two rings, one
on each side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. He made
poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He put the poles
and the rings on the side of the ark to carry it. And on and
on it goes. And then in order to accommodate
God’s earthly manifestation of glory in the tabernacle, there
were additional explicit directions provided for the provision of
God’s glory. Then once we saw the temple built,
as we reviewed in recent months, the explicit directions down
to the very inch and every little detail in between of how that
temple was to be constructed. God is concerned for His glory.
God is very concerned for His glory in how it’s preserved,
in how it’s presented. If God were to give you a measure
of glory, where would you keep it? Paul has been speaking of glory
in this great section on the Christian ministry, which we
began some months ago. In chapter 2, verse 12, he began
to talk about the Christian ministry. Glory come down and now being
dispensed in a new way. The ministry, the testimony,
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ going forth, going out. We looked at the momentum in
ministry. We looked at the glorious nature
of the gospel ministry. We looked at the blessings that
accrue to us believers in the gospel ministry. For those that
are a part of the gospel ministry, we looked at the preparation
that goes into them, that they are steeled, as it were, for
the gospel. And we had to look. as Paul took
us there, at the ineffectiveness in the gospel ministry, that
the light often does shine in the darkness. And there are many
that will not comprehend it, but they do not overcome it. Paul wants to address the storehouse
of glory. And in order to get there, as
we often will do, I want to back all the way up to verse one.
We’ll take a running start. We’ll pick up the new material
beginning in verse seven. We’ll return there in a moment,
if you would. Chapter four, verse one, therefore,
since we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. But we
have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking
in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, But by the manifestation
of truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the
God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving
so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves,
but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants
for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, light shall
shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. so that the surpassing greatness
of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We are afflicted
in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing.
Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the
body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly
being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the
life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh. This passage is the single most
passage to which the Lord has taken me during days of distress
and pain and difficulty and frustration I would even say that this is
the most likely reason why I even went to this great section in
the first place. I remember telling you that I
think I started here or thereabouts, and then I began working my way
back to try and find out what is the beginning of this great
section on the Christian ministry. I centered on chapter 2, verse
12, as you know, and we moved forward from there. In fact,
I didn’t even initially set out to preach the entire thing, but
I kept feeling drawn back. And as I said, this is the most
frequent place that the Lord has brought me. In recent days, some of that
has come into perspective on why the Lord perhaps even drew
me back in here for my own personal encouragement. And I hope for
yours as well. What we have in this section
in a very real way is glory in a jar. And I know that sounds
absurd. I did it intentionally because
that is what is exactly presented to us. Where on earth would you
store glory if God gave you a measure? Where would God place his glory
If he were to bestow a great measure in our own day and age,
he’d place it in clay pots like you and I. What Paul does in
looking at the humble containers of the gospel ministry is present
to us here three God honoring contrasts. Every one of them
ultimately will exalt Christ, will exalt God and will humble
man. Three God honoring contrasts
regarding the vessels of the gospel ministry. First of all,
God is greatly glorified in the contrast of heavenly and earthly
things. Look, if you would, back at verse
seven, where Paul says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels,
but it starts with that little word, but. The contrast there
is between the glory which Paul has been talking about for nearly
two chapters on and off, constantly returning to this great theme,
the glory of God in the gospel. In the giving of Christ His Son,
a glorious ministry attended with glory. A glory that’s exceeding
the Old Testament glory. What Paul means to say when he
says, but, he confirms what he has already
said, that the preachers do not preach themselves. Those in ministry
that are truly in it for God and for God’s glory do not preach
themselves. They themselves are despised,
even persecuted. This but introduces a contrast
between the splendor, the glorious nature of the gospel ministry
that Paul has, as I said, been talking about. And the poor,
simple vessels in which it’s contained. But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels and the gospel is a treasure. When Paul speaks of it, he’s
not talking about silver and gold. He’s not talking about
all the diamonds and jewels and precious stones that the world
could ever produce collectively. He’s talking about something
far more valuable. He’s talking about the knowledge
of divine glory. The fact that God’s power is
completely unlimited. The fact that this glorious gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ has come and is going forth. The
treasure, to state it simply, is the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God, as Paul had already put it. When Paul
speaks of the gospel as treasure here, he does so for a variety
of reasons. The gospel is rich. It’s rich
in truth and it’s plentiful in those truths that man is not
basically good, that man is sinful and in desperate need of a savior.
But the gospel also tells us that there is a savior. The gospel is rich and plentiful
in those truths, the value of which far exceeds the greatest
storehouses of gold or silver the world could ever have. The
gospel is also rich in the blessings that it bestows on all who embrace
Christ. Eternal life, forgiveness from
sin, restitution with fellow men, peace with God. But furthermore, these blessings
are not merely earthly, earthly, but they’re spiritual. The gospel
is also rich in the promises of God, an unconditional promise
from a gracious and truthful God that when he promises, he
will see it through. But finally, and most of all,
because of the infinite riches of knowing Christ, the infinite
riches of knowing Christ, Paul said it this way, writing to
the Colossians, He spoke of Christ Himself in
whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In a very real way, the treasure
could be considered Christ Himself going forth, emanating, as it
were, from the disciples. Jesus spoke of it in these terms,
spoke of the gospel in these terms in Matthew 13, 44, when
He said, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure. hidden in
a field. Yet, it’s so much more. If you
know Paul, again and again, he has dwelt on the good possessions
of the Christian. What we gain, what we have in
our possession of Christ. By our faith in Christ, what
do we gain? We have confidence through Christ
toward God. 2 Corinthians 3. We have hope. 2 Corinthians 3. We have this
ministry. We have mercy. 2 Corinthians
4. We have the same spirit of faith. It’s a God-given thing. 2 Corinthians 4. We have a building
from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 5. We possess all things. 2 Corinthians
6. The Gospel is a rich treasure.
eternal, inexhaustible riches are there. So where do we keep
it? Paul says it simply. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels. We don’t use the language that
way anymore. We don’t speak of things being
earthen typically. In a literal sense, this reference
pointed to articles of furniture in the home, various accoutrements
that you might have in your own home. And they differed very
broadly in value and use. It just meant a tool, a vessel
of some sort in your home. And it wasn’t just a vessel for
holding things, containing things. But certainly in the metaphorical
sense in the New Testament, That’s how Paul uses it as a vessel
to contain a treasure, to contain a commodity of some sorts. Earthenware vessels were frequently
used as banks. It started with the common people
not wanting and not being able to suffer even the slightest
theft. They would put their treasures
in these earthen vessels and bury them. There are even many
who believe that the field where the treasure was discovered in
the Gospel, where the man went and paid a great sum of money,
perhaps was even plowing in the field and hit one of these clay
pots. So think many. They’re referred
to small pottery lamps. And if you’ve traveled through
the Holy Land or seen somebody who has, almost everyone brings
back one of these pottery lamps. That’s how plentiful they are.
They’re hardly considered archaeological finds, they were so plentiful.
Cheap, breakable, easily replaceable, virtually valueless. Often they were used for rather
common everyday purposes, even taking out the trash. These kinds
of clay pots had no real value. It wasn’t like they were family
heirlooms. The worth that they had was really just contained in what function
they would perform in the home. In fact, it was so common in
Paul’s day, we might miss the illustration that he’s pointing
to here. Try this one on. We have this infinite wealth
in a Tupperware tub. We have this overwhelming treasure
in a mason jar. This past week, I read of an
artifact discovery While construction workers were building a road,
they began to dig up what they immediately recognized was ancient,
very old for American standards, pieces of broken plates. I’m
not talking artifacts. I’m not talking about anything
that was whole or entire. I’m talking about broken pieces
of a plate. Several hundred years ago, granted,
but really just fractured pottery, much like that which Paul alludes
to here. What are these vessels? To what
do they refer? He talks about not just the body,
the physical body of men to whom the gospel is entrusted, but
the whole personality, his being is as a broken clay pot or at
least a breakable clay pot. The divine treasure was given
By God, it was there to enrich the world. It is there to be
dispensed by these clay pots, these earthen vessels. This earthen
indicating the general plainness of the vessel. The insignificance
of it. The insignificance of the men
who preached the Gospel. They weren’t in focus. The Gospel
was. When it speaks of earthen, it
isn’t even just talking about the fragile character of their
bodies. It’s talking about the fragile character of the man
himself. This metaphor of earthenware,
you know it well, representing human beings is common in the
Old Testament. It was a frequent illustration
used in Scripture that with respect to The powerlessness and littleness
of men compared to God. He is like a clay pot, an earthen
jar made by the potter for the potter’s own purposes. We see
the illustration again and again in Isaiah, Isaiah 29, 16, 30,
14, 45, 9, 64, 8. 45.9 says it this way, woe to the
one who quarrels with his maker. An earthenware vessel? Among
the vessels of the earth will the clay say to the potter, what
are you doing? Or the thing you are making say,
he has no hands. It’s a beautiful image of a sovereign
God. placing us and molding us and
shaping us for His good pleasure. The image of the clay in the
hands of the potter is an image of absolute sovereignty of God
as our Creator, that He can make us for what purpose He desires
and use us for whatever He wants. As one said of this illustration
in the context before us, there could be no contrast more striking
than that between the greatness of divine glory and the frailty
and unworthiness of the vessels in which it dwells, through which
it is manifested to the world. Glory in a jar. That’s what we are. If we are
serving Christ, if we desire to serve Christ, the very best
that can be said of us is that we are conduits, that we are
glory in a jar. Unfortunately, as one pastor
warned, the world is filled with people too enamored with their
own cleverness and importance and ability to be used by God.
But when God chose the men through whom He would give His Word to
mankind, He did not choose the learned scholars of Alexandria,
or the distinguished philosophers of Athens, or the eloquent orators
of Rome, or the self-righteous leaders in Israel. He passed
them all by in favor of simple Galilean fishermen. Despised
traitors like Matthew. Obscure men like Philip. And
by using frail, fallible people, God makes it clear that the power
lies not in the human messenger, but always in the divine message. This truth was stamped on the
hearts and the minds and the demeanor of those who proclaimed
the word of Christ because of their sufferings, that they would
seek nothing for themselves because they were simple servants of
God. And they left the extraordinary
results of whatever they did to the power of the gospel itself,
to the glory that was in the clay pot. Secondly, I’ve suggested that there are
three God honoring contrasts regarding the vessels of gospel
ministry. God is greatly glorified in the
contrast, not only of heavenly and earthly things, but in the
power of God and men, as we have already seen. God is greatly
glorified here in this contrast between the power of God and
the so-called power of men. Look at verse 7. We have this
treasure in earthen vessels so that, for that, for the express
purpose that The surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and
not from ourselves. The power, the glory that dwells
within us if we serve Christ in ministry is far more than
sufficient for the purpose because it triumphs over all opposition.
It accomplishes its ends. It will accomplish the purpose
for which God sent it. The power is the power of the
preaching of God’s word. We may participate in it, we
may excel at it, but ultimately it is God who accomplishes his
ends, not us. Not in our cuteness, not in our
cleverness, not in our oratory, not in our even our great faithfulness. It’s God. When Paul mentions the earthen
vessels here, he’s talking about the infirmity of human nature,
which can do absolutely nothing without being strengthened by
Almighty God. And through them and only because
of Him, God proclaims Himself through those that are weak so
that His glory may be given to Him and not to him who preaches. God purposed and designed that
the power in spreading the gospel should be recognized as his. Because of that, he chose humble
instruments, clay pots, Tupperware bowls who could not even be conceived
of as producing any effects on their own power. In order that God would be seen
behind the great ministry of the gospel so that it is seen
as God and not us. Paul points out that it’s not
because of our natural abilities ever. It’s not because of any
diligence on our part or industry, hard work. It’s not because of
any acquirements, whether it’s degrees or knowledge or letters
behind our name. It’s not because of any instructions
which we’ve heeded, but it’s because of the grace
of God effectively working through us and all that so that God gets
all the glory. God gets the glory. I want to
take you to a passage And for some of you, it may take you
a minute to find it. Judges chapter seven. Judges
chapter seven. Sing the song, if you must get
there quickly, if you will. Judges chapter seven, I want
to tell you the story about Gideon. God is always concerned, always
jealous, always insistent that He get all of the glory. God isn’t inclined to share the
glory with any of us, with any of His servants, even the best
of them. Look at verse 1. Jeroboam, that
is Gideon, and all the people who were with him rose early
and camped beside the spring of Herod. And the camp Midian
was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley.
And the Lord said to Gideon, the people who are with you are
too many for me to give Midian into their hands.” Any soldier,
anyone who has ever strategized battlefield strategy must have
thought by reading this, this is absurd. What do you mean there’s
too many for me to give them into your hand? God explains himself. Ever grace
gracious, there are too many. For me to give median into their
hands for Israel would become boastful, saying my own power
has delivered me. Now, therefore. Come, proclaim
in the hearing of the people, saying, whoever is afraid and
trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.” And
22,000 soldiers took off. Well, that’s one way to do it.
10,000 remained. The Lord said to Gideon, the
people are still too many. And Gideon perhaps scratched
his head. And God said, bring them down to the water and I
will test you for them there. Therefore, it shall be that He
of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you. He shall go
with you. But of everyone of whom I say to you, this one shall
not go with you. He shall not go. And what exacting
test did God use? Did God look at their character?
Did God look at their strength? Did God look at their great training
in military prowess? He brought the people down to
the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, you shall separate
everyone who lapsed the water with his tongue as a dog, as
well as everyone who kneels to drink. He said there’s going
to be two great groups. One is going to lick the water
like a dog and the other are going to kneel to drink. The number of those who lapped,
verse 6, putting their hand in their mouth was 300 men. The
rest of the people kneeled to drink the water. The Lord said
to Gideon, I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and
will give the Midianites into your hands. So let all the other
people go, each man to his home. So the 300 men took the people’s
provisions, their trumpets into their hands, and Gideon sent
all the other men of Israel to his own tent. Retained the 300
and with those 300 men, the Lord gave the Midianites into Israel’s
hand that God would be glorified. God loves clay pots. The principle is there throughout
scripture, Zechariah 4, 6, not by might nor by power, but by
my spirit, says the Lord. Jeremiah 9 23, let not a wise
man boast of his wisdom, let not a mighty man boast of his
might, let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who
boasts boast of this, that he knows and understands me. That I am the Lord. We have this
principle in the first letter to the Corinthians when Paul
wrote to them and said in chapter 1 verse 26, Consider your calling,
brethren. There were not many wise according
to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen
the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen
the weak things of the world to shame the things which are
strong, the base things of the world, the despised things God
has chosen, the things that are not so that he may nullify the
things that are that no man May boast before God. God loves clay
pots. The simple truth that he was
affirming here is entirely applicable to every servant of Christ. That
in all of our abject weakness, in every affliction that we endure
and suffer, Christians We are not only conquerors, we are,
as Paul says, more than conquerors because of the grace of God that
courses through us. God loves clay pots. I said that there were three
God-honoring contrasts regarding the vessels of gospel ministry. God is greatly glorified in the
contrast, as we’ve seen, of heavenly and earthly things. In the power,
secondly, of God and man. But God is also greatly glorified
in the contrast of living and dying. Look at verse 10. Don’t panic, I’m not skipping
any verses. You essentially have from verse
eight through 11, five illustrations of the way which the frail instruments,
these clay pots, would be used by God and would
suffer even fracture and damage, even brokenness because they
were allowed by God to do so. It essentially is an outline
of Paul’s own experience and really anyone who would serve
God in this capacity. But verses 10 and 11 provide
an overarching illustration, one that encompasses all of the
previous four. We’ll look at this one illustration
briefly and then we’ll look at the four that preceded individually. First of all, the illustration
of the contrast of living and dying, look at verse 10. Where
Paul says we are always carrying about in the body, that is in
our physical bodies, the dying of Jesus so that the life of
Jesus may also be manifested in our body. In other words,
if we didn’t suffer, if we didn’t travail, if we didn’t have difficulty
in heartache, if we were not a clay pot, if we were some kind
of a bronzed, you know, gilded vessel, we may not appear so
fragile. We may not be so usable. As I
said, this fifth illustration sums up the first four. The four
kinds of suffering are all rolled into this phrase, the dying of
Jesus. And the four kinds of deliverance
are all rolled into this phrase, the life of Jesus. Servants of Christ are treated
as Christ was treated. They are neglected. They are
defamed, said one, despised, mistreated, oppressed with hunger
and thirst and constantly exposed to death. We die daily, Christ
said. For we who live, verse 11, are
constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake. And
Paul isn’t talking about literal death here. He’s saying that
ministry is dying. It’s a dying to self. It’s a
dying to others. It’s a dying in ministry. It’s a constant state of being
put to death. And now, if you would look back
at verse eight. And before I introduce these illustrations, I just want
to point out that when Paul says we are afflicted in every way,
Our translations are a little bit skewed in this sense, because
we would think that that in every way refers only to the afflictions
mentioned there in verse eight. When in reality, it stands at
the front of the verse and in a sense encompasses all of the
illustrations that follow in every way. In every way we are afflicted,
in every way we are perplexed, in every way we are persecuted,
in every way we are struck down. In every place, that’s how it
could be translated, wherever we are, whatever country we go
to, whatever ministry we have, whatever thing we do, because
we are associated with Christ. Could be translated always. Every
day, every hour we live, we are never free from one trial. Every
time we open our mouth for the sake of Christ, we have difficulty. Always, everywhere, by everyone,
we have every kind of trouble and all the stressful situations
of ministry and any of the things that frustrate us in ministry
and every situation of harassment in ministry, in each of the devastating
events of ministry, no matter what. First of all, look, if you would,
at the illustration of stress in ministry. And I know that this word is
so overused in our day and age, so overused, and, you know, I
even shy away personally from ever using trying to use the
word depressed because it’s so overused. But look at what Paul
says. We are afflicted in every way. The word just means pressure,
stress. Call it what it is. The guy is
between a rock and a hard place and he is being pressed in. And
it talks about extreme pressure. Paul was under constant physical
and spiritual pressure. Paul pointed out that just having
a multiplicity of churches for which he was concerned was almost
overwhelming to him. Scriptures speak about anxiousness,
even depression, a common theme in the Psalms. And I certainly personally know
that concern for people, as I’ve said in the past, The fragile
unity of the church that is constantly has to be attended, lest some
little thing become a big thing. The waywardness of some into
doctrinal error, the finances of the church, the false and
vicious attacks that come, all of that contributes to the pressure
of ministry. It’s there. And anyone that would counsel
someone to embrace ministry without telling them this part of it
is silly and irresponsible. Paul says we are afflicted in
every way, but we’re not crushed. I don’t remember what spy show
it was, but the image that immediately comes to my mind, right, is the
two walls closing in on the poor sap stuck in the middle. Paul
says, we are afflicted. We are under great grave pressure,
almost to the point of being mortally wounded by the closing
walls. The word is a compound meaning
narrow space. It literally means I am pressed
to the point of literally being squished to death by these walls. But these are not walls from
which I cannot escape. They are not walls that ultimately
will kill me. I am not hopeless because extraction
is still possible. I am not dead. The hostile forces that pressed
in on Paul, as one said, from all sides threatened to crush
and immobilize him. But a way out of these desperate
straits was always provided. Contrary to all human probability,
God brings him safely through. And we, anyone who has been in
ministry knows that. Anyone who has served Christ
in that capacity knows that things look very bleak at times. Secondly,
the illustration of frustration in ministry, frustration, you
say. Some would almost think that
that’s irreverent to use of the ministry. How can you say that
frustration? It’s we, the saints, God’s people
that you get to minister to. Well, in every way, we are perplexed. The word just kind of meaning
you’re just kind of in a fog, a personal fog. Sometimes you
don’t know which way to go, which way to turn, which course to
take, how you should move. You see, we, not even with the
provision of Trey, we don’t have all the answers. We are sometimes
completely stymied as to what God is doing. totally baffled
and frustrated. The word signifies literally
a doubting and uncertainty of what will become of us. How God
will dispose of us, as one said, one who is full of anxious, troublesome
thoughts about what shall be our lot in the world. This of
the pastors of the church. Travesty. It’s Paul. But in the original, it’s interesting.
It’s difficult to produce in English because it really is
just a blend of one word. And then the next word is a compound.
Opereo, ex-opereo. It’s an intensive compound, meaning
to be perplexed, even to a hopeless degree, confused, but not confounded. You get to a point where you
do not know the next way to turn. You do not know what God is doing,
but you trust Him. Paul said, I am hard pressed.
I don’t know which to choose life or death. It was a good
thing that God didn’t make him choose. God made the decision
for him. There are many of us who have been literally, as we
say quite often, between a rock and a hard place and so often
with decisions. That’s where it really manifests
itself, isn’t it? Where all we have is principles,
not an audible voice. We need God to tell us what to
do. But we are not despairing. As
I said, the play on words here means that We are hard pressed. We are perplexed, but we are
not despairing. We know that God is in control
and we trust him. Thirdly, look at the illustration
of harassment in ministry persecuted. Persecuted, but not forsaken,
we are in every way persecuted. Anyone who has ever stood on
principle and presented to someone else What God’s Word says on
any given subject is going to face, before long, persecution
as it were. You’re going to have a broken
relationship. You might even have a broken
nose. You might even be ostracized from a certain group of people.
You are going to face great difficulty. Paul, as one said, was pursued
from place to place, followed with menaces and curses, reproaches. He was laid hold of, imprisoned,
threatened with the severest tortures, even death itself.
But God never leaves us or forsakes us. The world hated Christ. We can expect nothing less. It
certainly is the history of this ministry. Almost any time we
stood on principle, we had to stand up to the challenges and
the challengers and pay the price. It’s ministry. But Paul says, I’m not forsaken,
and I take this to mean forsaken by God, because Paul repeatedly
was forsaken by men. Second Timothy 4.10, Demas, having
loved this present world, has deserted me. Second Timothy 4.16,
at my first offense, no one supported me. But they all deserted me, but not God. Even in the darkest
hour of the servant’s life, there is God. The fourth little illustration
is the illustration of devastation in ministry. We are in every
way struck down. And it is a violent word. It
means to be knocked to the ground. And many of us have been knocked
to the ground. Paul was knocked to the ground literally, repeatedly. It was a military word of striking
down and bringing your opponent low. And anyone who has served
knows this. Anyone who serves Christ knows
the heartbreak and the devastation in ministry. One pastor years ago wrote in
to a little publisher called Banner of Truth. And he said
this and it was a letter to the editor, but it was so popular
that it’s been reprinted a number of times. He said this, we cannot
deny. As so many pastors have this
tendency to to to put on a good face, we cannot deny the weight
of this suffering. Our resolve at times grows weary.
We break down and cry in our study when no one sees. We learn
a certain slowness of our trusting of others. Some proves proof
false and their evangelical statements are exceedingly hollow. Of others,
we may suggest that their hold upon the truth is so slight,
their sympathy with biblical emphasis is so superficial, and
their openness to the poor values of this crazed world is so wide,
that while they declare themselves to be profited under our ministry
today, we dread lest some turn of events shall quickly disrupt
their loyalty. The night watches tend to close
our mind upon these sorry things. Sleeplessness is our frequent
portion during the darkness. Weariness is our frequent portion
during the day. Loneliness is the salient feature
of our path. We do not prefer isolationism. We have often sought the company
of our colleagues, but our colleagues and we are so busy, so engrossed
that when the heart is so desolate, none but the sufficient quietness
of the spirit even discern it. We plow our lonely furrow with
none in our congregation. We could share these matters. Paul said, you know what, look,
we are struck down. But we are not destroyed. In the ultimate view, the Christian
is indestructible, he’s hard pressed, he’s hemmed in, he’s
in difficulty, and yet God will not, has not abandoned him. No
wonder he used the illustration of living and dying. But the beautiful thing about
this passage, we have this treasure in earthen
vessels. And our resolve to proclaim Christ
and to have Him alone magnified must reign. Even in our daily
dying, to see by divine means the life of Christ spreading
to others. That is ministry. And that is
our call. Would you pray with me? Merciful God, we thank you for
this passage that sheds light on how you course through life and ministry and spreading
the Word of the Gospel. And we pray, Father, that you
would be glorified in and through us as we do likewise. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen.