Sermon Tone Analysis

II Corinthians 4:7

 

! Introduction

            Our son-in-law has prepared to be a golf pro.

Although he plays very well, he is not a playing pro, but a club pro and a teaching pro.

It isn’t easy to achieve pro status.

He went to college for two years and studied golf course management.

Then, in order to get his pro status, he had to pay almost $1000 to play two games of golf in which he had to get below a certain score in both games.

Then he has to spend several years working as an assistant under a qualified head pro.

During this time his wages are very low.

Then, if he can find a club, he can be a head pro at a golf course.

The preparation is rigorous.

I asked Kendall what is required to become an accountant.

First of all, he got a business degree, then he worked for a firm for 2 years, during which time he continued to take classes.

At the end of that, he wrote a test that took 4 hours a day for 3 days.

Ken took 2 months off work before that test strictly to prepare for it.

The preparation is rigorous.

In order to be a light for Jesus, you have to be born in a Christian home, you have to go to Sunday School from when you are 2 until you are at least 18 and then you have to attend Bible College for three years and then Seminary for another three years.

The preparation is rigorous.

Actually you know very well that that is not true.

The preparation for being a golf pro, an accountant and many other things is rigorous, but in order to be a light for Jesus, you have to know Jesus as Savior by faith and then begin to live for Him and speak for him.

There is almost no preparation.

II Corinthians 4:7a says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay or as some translations say, “clay pots or earthen vessels.”

!

I.

The Problem

            That is a most amazing thing, almost unbelievable.

!! A. The Treasure

            The text talks about this amazing treasure that we have.

It is spoken of throughout the Bible, but the words used in verse 6 are “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have this tremendous privilege of knowing the glory of God.

We know the glory of life and hope and eternity and peace.

We have received a glimpse of how amazing God is.

We know God! Furthermore, we hold this treasure, not as something to be kept to ourselves, but to be shared with the world.

The light that shines in us because God is present with us by His Holy Spirit is a light that must shine from us into the darkness of the world.

That is the treasure which this passage is talking about.

The treasure of the light of God in our hearts, which is meant to shine in the world.

It is a treasure which is precious, eternal and glorious.

A treasure much greater than owning a beautiful house or cottage, than having the best job in the world or owning a really great car.

An amazing treasure!

!! B. Earthen Vessels

            A year or two ago, Ron and Wendy were over and we showed them a birch bark biting that I had received many years before.

I kept it in a little plastic holder.

When they saw it, they let us know that it was a valuable piece of art - a treasure - and really deserved a better frame.

So we spent the money to have it appropriately framed.

Our reasoning was, if it is something precious, then it deserves a precious way of being held.

Contrary to that kind of thinking, in ancient days, they often used cheap things to hold precious items.

They had cheap, little clay lamps, which would give off precious light.

In the celebration of the Macedonian victory of Aemilius Paulus in 167 BC - 3000 men, carried silver coins in 750 earthen vessels.

A great treasure carried in an inexpensive container.

When a precious item is carried in a cheap vessel, the contrast between the vessel and the contents is magnified and that is precisely the contrast that is intended when Paul says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay.”

One writer says, “the treasure of the gospel has been entrusted to men subject to the infirmities and limitations, the instability and insecurity of their finite condition.”

How true that is!

We are called to be a holy people.

I Peter 1:15,16 says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

Yet we know very well that we are not nearly always holy.

Even the same Biblical writer who called for holiness, was not always holy.

Paul says about Peter in Galatians 2:11, “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.”

I John 1:8 says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Clay pots indeed!

We are warned in Matthew 18:6, “…if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

I cringe when I think of what I said to the young fellow who sometimes came to our boys club and was always trouble.

On one occasion, I was very critical of him and spoke to him in a hurtful way.

How often do our words or our lifestyle cause young believers to stumble?

While being the only light Jesus has left on earth, we are sometimes not too bright.

Matthew 5:14 says that we are the light of the world, but Paul’s light was not always completely clear.

Peter says in 2 Peter 3:15, 16, “our dear brother Paul’s… letters contain some things that are hard to understand…”

            God gives us gifts in order to do His work and it is, of course, through these gifts that we are able to do much of the work of bearing His glory and communicating it, but we often fail in our expression of our gifts.

We do not have gifts in every area, we fail to develop our gifts, we hide our gifts, we try to serve in areas in which we are not gifted.

Paul admitted in Ephesians 3:8, “Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…” This is simply another expression of this truth that we have this treasure in jars of clay.

He felt totally inadequate to preach the riches of Christ.

His inadequacy as a servant of God was picked up by others.

In 2 Corinthians 10:10 he admits what people said about him, “For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”

If that is true of Paul, how can we be effective in ministry?

Even though we are to be examples to others, we know that there are times when we would rather people were not watching us.

Paul said in Philippians 3:17, “Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.”

But we find in Acts 15:36-41 that he and Barnabas had such a severe argument that they had to part ways.

Is that an action that is imitable?

While being called to do all to the glory of God, all of us share the same physical weakness that demands that we sleep 7 - 8 hours a night and that we need to get a break once in a while.

The great apostle Paul had times of great distress in his physical weakness.

He says in 2 Corinthians 11:27, “I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”

While being called to be bold in standing for Jesus, the Bible also promises that anyone who does stand up for Jesus will experience persecution and opposition.

Paul recognizes this difficulty when in I Corinthians 4:13 he says, “Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.”

How can the gospel draw people when its messengers are scum?

How can God do this?

How can God leave the tremendous treasure of the gospel in such inadequate, poor, weak vessels?

How can we live the gospel when we fall all the time?

How can God entrust us, to proclaim his powerful gospel?

!

II.

The Promise

            The answer is amazing and glorious!

There is purpose in this seeming mystery.

The verse goes on to say, “to show” which indicates purpose.

What is that purpose?

“To show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

We are called to something beyond us.

Because of our sin, our heredity, our failures, our weaknesses, our humanness, we can’t live the Christian life and we can’t effectively call others to the Christian life.

Therefore, when we live faithfully and when people come to Christ, it has nothing to do with us, but it does have to do with a demonstration of the power of God.

Scripture powerfully demonstrates this truth.

Ephesians 2:8 says, “by grace you have been saved.”

II Corinthians 3:5 - “our competence comes from God.” II Corinthians 12:9 - “my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I Corinthians 2:3-5 - “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.