Treasure in Clay Pots 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

Three college students from the State University of New York went to a Salvation Army thrift store to buy a couch for their living room apartment. The roommates found a couch they liked, or rather one they could afford, and paid the cashier $20 before they carried the couch out the door. The couch was not pretty, it was old and worn and had an odd smell, but it was the only couch they found that fit the space they had available in their apartment and also fit their budget. The couch had been sitting in their apartment for a few months when one of the students noticed a zipper on the bottom of one of the cushions. When he unzipped the zipper he found an envelope full of fifty and one hundred dollar bills. The young man told a reporter from WABC, “So we pulled it out of the couch and we were freaking out. The most money I’d ever found in a couch was like 50 cents. Honestly, I’d be ecstatic to find just $5 in a couch.”The first envelope contained about $4,000, but there were more envelopes and more money hidden in the couch. By the time they were finished counting the money they had found $40,000 hidden in the old smelly couch. One of the roommates, Reese Werkhoven, said they were talking about what they would buy with the money, but then they found a name, a woman's name, mixed in among the cash. The roommates decided if they could find the woman they would return the money since it rightfully belonged to her. They did find the woman who was now 91 years old. She had recently suffered a fall and had back surgery. While she was in the hospital, her children had donated the couch to the Salvation Army. When they returned the money the lady was elated and thanked the students for their honesty. The three roommates learned the ladies husband, when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, began to give her money each week. The $40,000 was money he had given her over the years until he died. I’m always looking for a good story, a story that spotlights character and integrity, because we hear so many stories that cause us to doubt if there is any hope for humanity. It is a great story, and like the 91 year old woman, I’m grateful for the honesty and character of those students, but that’s not why I’ve taken the time to tell you the story. The value of the story for me this morning is the treasure that was found in that old, broken down, smelly, $20 couch. In our Scripture for this morning, Paul likens you and me to that old couch. Let’s read our Scripture and see what we can learn this morning.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 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. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (2 Corinthians 4:7-12 NIV)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay…” Paul used a Greek word to describe himself as nothing more than a cheap, common clay pot. The jars or containers that he was referring to were nothing more than easily breakable, disposable, baked clay. If you go to Israel today you can find shards of the broken pottery from biblical times most everywhere you stick a shovel. The jars of clay were easily broken, but it didn’t matter because they were so cheap you could make or buy another for next to no cost.The baked clay utensils and pottery used in biblical times, and in some parts of the world today, wasn’t Paul’s only option when he sat down to think of something to use to describe himself. Paul could have described himself as a beautifully crafted Grecian urn or a gorgeous golden goblet with intricate designs, like the ones put on display at Xerxes’ feast in Esther 1:7. There are lots of different materials Paul could have chosen to describe himself, but he chose the cheapest material of all–baked clay.What a great reminder for us, those of us who live in a day when we will do most anything to upgrade our appearance, expand our brand, and increase our own sense of self-worth. Like those jars of clay we break easily, we wear out eventually, and we are more fragile than any of us cares to admit. I can remember when I was young and older people would try and tell me about what was sure to come as the years passed. I thought to myself, “That may be your reality, but I’m different. I’m tougher than nails. I’ve been through three-a-days. I’m made out of barbed wire and granite.” I was so naive, or maybe just plain arrogant and dumb. We are all made out of the same thing, we’re just jars of clay. Did you know that every single one of us is made up of about 60-75% water? We are also made up of magnesium, sodium chloride, which is nothing more than salt, nitrogen, iron, and a dash of other elements. It doesn’t matter if you are Tom Brady who just retired to take a job with Fox Sports which will pay him more than he made during his whole 23 year career, $375 million over the next ten years, or a homeless man living in the ravine out in Chisholm Creek–we are all made of the same stuff. Society may put a value on you or me that either puffs up our chests or makes us slump our shoulders in shame, but when you get down to it we’re all just a jug of water, a pinch of fertilizer, a few iron nails, and a dash of salt. It’s not the container that should be praised and paraded around town, but we should stand in awe of the contents within these cheap, broken containers. Paul said,

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV)

God places His treasure, the treasure of the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,” in such weak vessels so that there will be no mistaking that the “all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” We are not the treasure my friends. This is where the world has gotten it all wrong. We “treasure” people for what they can do, what they have, or who they are not realizing that we are all, from the greatest to the least, all the same, nothing more than cracked pots. The true treasure is Jesus and what He has done and offered to any who will look to Him. Paul wrote to the brothers and sisters in Colossians and explained this truth to them. Read along with me from Colossians 2:2-3.

2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Colossians 2:2-3 NIV)

All the true treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Jesus, but hidden from the world. It is perfectly understandable that those who are not followers of Jesus would place such value on people because of their appearance, performance, or popularity. The problem is that like what Paul was battling in Corinth, the church in America has adopted the ways of the world instead of invading the world with the wonderful truth of God. You and I, as followers of Jesus, have no excuse. Do you remember how Paul reminded the people of Corinth…

26 Brothers and sisters, 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. 27 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. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NIV)

I am so glad Paul said not many were brilliant or influential or possessing a country club pedigree, because some did fit into those categories and some of us fit into these categories as well. Regardless of whether we have a Ph.D. or a GED, regardless of whether everybody knows our name or we are a nameless nobody, regardless of whether we dine at the country club or the Jesus House–we are all just a bucket of mud, a clay pot. We are not the treasure, but it is the good news of who Jesus is, what He has done, and what He is still doing in our world today that is the priceless treasure. There is a reason why Paul makes much of what God has done in Jesus and so little of himself. Remember, there were some new teachers who had arrived in Corinth. Their message and manner of ministry was a stark contrast to Paul. They reflected the culture of success and prosperity that everyone in Corinth desired for their own lives. David Garland writes,

Paul confesses that no one looking at him would mistake him for something grand or be so taken by his grace and comeliness that they would then miss the source of power that was working in and through him to reconcile the world. In this way he undercuts his showy, bombastic, and pretentious rivals, whose manner was so different from his own. (Garland, David. 2 Corinthians. pg. 223).

Paul wanted everyone in Corinth and in all of creation to know that God’s most glorious treasure is housed in brittle, broken, weak vessels. It is not the vessel which makes the treasure strong, lasting, and true, but it is the power of God at work within the weak vessel. The next few verses illustrate how Paul was a broken and battered clay pot. Read along with me from 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV)

“We are hard pressed…perplexed…persecuted…and struck down.” Each of the descriptions which Paul uses are in the present tense in Greek, they are trials and troubles which were ongoing, they were not only past experiences. Let’s take a look at the first thing Paul says about himself. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed.” The Greek word translated “hard pressed” is the word, “thlibo" and it is translated “troubled, pressed, and afflicted” in other translations of the New Testament. Paul, no doubt, would have placed the situation he faced in Asia into this category of being “hard pressed.” He wrote about his experience in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. Read it with me.

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NIV)

Paul thought he was going to die. He had no resources within himself from which he could draw and nobody that he knew who could rescue him. If anything was going to happen to change his predicament then God would have to act…and He did. He did, and Paul learned that when he was between a rock and a hard place he could only depend on the Lord and not himself. Paul was “hard pressed” in Asia and at other times during his life, but he was not crushed because his strength came from the Lord and not himself. Paul goes on to describe himself as “perplexed, but not in despair;” The Greek word for “perplexed” means to be at our wit’s end, to be at a loss, not knowing what to do.  There were times Paul was discouraged and perplexed, like the time he could not figure out why the Galatians were so quickly abandoning the Lord and turning to a different gospel which was really no gospel at all. There were those times. Paul was perplexed, but he had not given over to despair. The next description Paul shares is that he was “persecuted, but not abandoned;” The Greek word for “persecuted” means “to pursue,” or “to hunt.” Paul was a wanted man, he was hunted down by those who opposed him, he had been abandoned by those he loved and served, but he had never been abandoned by God. In Acts 9, we find that while he was in Damascus and sharing the good news about Jesus, there was at the same time a group of people who were plotting to kill him. He moved on to Jerusalem and another group met together to see how they could get rid of him. In Acts 14, while Paul and Barnabas were in Iconium, Jews and Gentiles joined forces to try and stone Paul and Barnabas. They narrowly escaped and moved on to Lystra where some believed his message while others became furious. We read in Acts 14:19,

19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. (Acts 14:19 NIV)

And over and over again Paul was hunted down, plotted against, hated and forsaken by those he loved and with whom he wanted to share the glorious gospel. Last of all, Paul said he was “struck down, but not destroyed.” The Greek word translated “struck down” means “laid low by a blow or a weapon, abused or bullied, cast off or rejected, stricken with an illness, or even slain.” Paul was knocked down time and time again, but he was never knocked out. Paul’s own jar of clay had been cracked over and over again, it had holes knocked in it, become worn and battered, but through those cracks the light of the knowledge of God expressed clearly, perfectly, in the Person of Jesus was shining with a brilliance only explained by the power of God at work in the life of Paul. Paul described what had happened to him in his letter to the people in Galatia.Before we dig into our last three verses for this morning I want us to go back and read 1 Corinthians 1:22-25. The reason for our going back is to see that Paul, in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12, continued to be moved and motivated by his suffering Savior.  The verses in 1 Corinthians 1 show us the focus of Paul’s message and the yearning of the crowd in Corinth. Read it with me.

22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1:22-25 NIV)

Signs and wonders? Brilliance and bravado? That may be what the crowds in Paul’s day desired and it is certainly what the people of our day crave, but for us…there is no moving on from the cross, from the suffering Savior who willingly gave up His life as an atonement for sinners. There is no deeper gospel, no fuller gospel, no new gospel revelation for the people of God. People are looking for everything under the sun, something, anything, to bring them peace and happiness in this life, but what they do not know is that everything the heart longs for, everything the soul thirsts for is found at the foot of the cross. Pastor Spurgeon wrote,

We owe all to Jesus crucified. What is your life, my brethren, but the cross? Whence comes the bread of your soul but from the cross? What is your joy but the cross? What is your delight, what is your heaven, but the Blessed One, once crucified for you, who ever lives to make intercession for you? Cling to the cross, then. Put both arms around it! Hold to the Crucified, and never let Him go. Come afresh to the cross at this moment, and rest there now and forever! Then, with the power of God resting upon you, go forth and preach the cross! Tell out the story of the bleeding Lamb. Repeat the wondrous tale, and nothing else. Only proclaim that Jesus died for sinners. (Spurgeon, Charles. Pictures From Pilgrim’s Progress (Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim, 1992), 87-89.)

Long before Spurgeon ever had that thought or penned those words, Paul was preaching Christ and Him crucified. Now, with that said, let’s read our last three verses for this morning. 

10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 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. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (2 Corinthians 4:10-12 NIV)

It was not difficult at all for those in Corinth to look at Paul, to see his unimpressive appearance and lack of skills compared to the great Greek philosophers and the super apostles of their day, and just dismiss him. To make matters even worse, when they heard him claim to be an apostle sent from God while they were fully aware of his troubles and hardships, many concluded Paul was either delusional about his claim to be an apostle or he was being chastised by God. Paul understood his troubles, hardships, and lack of talent as the blessing of following in the footsteps of his weak and lowly Savior. That I would even describe Jesus as “weak” and “lowly” disturbs some of you, but have you forgotten how the prophet Isaiah described our Lord? 

2 …He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. 4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:2-4 NIV)

“...nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Despised. Rejected by mankind. A man of suffering. Familiar with pain.” He was considered as punished by God, but those who gathered at the foot of the cross didn’t realize it was their punishment He had taken on. Paul saw himself as following in Jesus’ steps. He was lowly, he was despised, but God was using him, nothing more than a cracked pot, to be a vessel of reconciliation for those who were lost and far from God. And here is something else of vital importance for you and me, the Lord has given us this same privilege of being a vessel of reconciliation in the lives of those we know who are broken and lost, without Jesus. Could our ministry entail suffering? It very well might, but here’s one thing I know with certainty, our lives will entail suffering and the way we experience the hard times of life will speak volumes about our dependence or denial of our Savior. Could our ministry entail denying ourselves so that others might come to know the grace and mercy of our Savior? Absolutely! Being used by the Lord to serve as a conduit of His grace and mercy means that our lives are His, to be used however He sees fit, and not only at our discretion. Our time is up, but before we go I want to give you a living example of what we’ve been learning this morning. Wang Yi was born in a small town northeast of Chengdu in China in 1973. In 1995, he graduated from Sichuan University and began teaching law at Chengdu University. In 2004, he was included in the list of “50 Most Influential Public Intellectuals of China.” When he was 32 years old, Wang Yi was converted and baptized as a follower of Jesus Christ and everything changed. He became a Christian human-rights attorney in China. The following year, in 2006, he met with President George Bush and some other Chinese human rights attorneys at the White House.In 2008, Wang Yi resigned from Chengdu University and founded the Early Rain Reformed Church in Chengdu. Pastor Wang preached God’s Word, many Chinese men and women became followers of Jesus, and the government became more and more concerned. On December 9, 2018, he and 100 other members of the church were arrested by Chinese authorities. After he had been detained for 48 hours, the Early Rain leaders released Pastor Wang’s “My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience.” On December 30, 2019, Pastor Wang was sentenced to nine years for “inciting subversion of state power” and “illegal business operations.” After Pastor Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison, one of the members of the church posted,

Praise God for the faithful witness of our brother in Christ, whose reward is now great in heaven. May the Lord use Pastor Wang Yi’s imprisonment to draw many to himself and to bring glory to his name. “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.” (2 Cor. 4:11)

Since Pastor Wang has been imprisoned the church has grown, many are coming to know Jesus for the first time, and the Lord is answering Pastor Wang’s prayers. When he knew he would be put in prison, Pastor Wang wrote,

I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ. (Pastor Wang Yi)

You see, it is through our willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ that God works most powerfully. We are merely jars of clay, but within these cracked pots lies the greatest treasure in the history of the world. I want to invite you this morning to turn to Jesus. Mike HaysFebruary 5, 2023