The Treasure in the Target Bag: Finding God’s Power in Your Weakness

[00:00:02] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:02] All right, if you got your Bibles, and I hope that you do, I want you to take them out and open with me, and have them with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians 4, and you know what? I know you just sat down, but could we stand for the reading of God's Word this morning? Can we do that? Everybody stand to your feet all over campuses. You listen as I read. I will start in verse 7.
[00:00:25] 2 Corinthians 4, 7, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
[00:00:34] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.
[00:00:36] Perplexed, but not driven to despair.
[00:00:39] Persecuted, but not forsaken.
[00:00:40] Struck down, but not destroyed.
[00:00:43] Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.
[00:00:50] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake.
[00:00:54] 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. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thank you. You may be seated.
[00:01:14] I read an amazing little spy story recently, just after the end of World War II, as the Cold War was really starting to heat up, the British ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. needed to get an urgent piece of communication back to London, but he didn't want to use the
[00:01:32] phone lines because he suspected that the Soviets might had already bugged the phone lines. There was this little diplomatic box that traveled back and forth across the pond every day between London and Washington, D.C., but the information that this ambassador had was so sensitive and so critical
[00:01:49] that he did not want to risk it being in a place that the Soviets might target it for some kind of heist or theft.
[00:01:57] So he put some of the most classified, most top secret material in the world, he put it into a plain envelope and just sent it to the ordinary male because he figured that is what would make it the safest.
[00:02:10] In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul tells the Corinthians not to let the unremarkableness of the gospel envelope caused them to miss the importance of the contents.
[00:02:24] Verse seven, he says, "'We have this treasure in jars of clay.'" Why?
[00:02:29] To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
[00:02:34] It's very important to understand the question Paul is trying to answer in this chapter.
[00:02:38] You see, some of Paul's critics have said, "'Hey, Corinthians, Paul's troubles, "'those are proof that God's power is not really on him.
[00:02:47] If he really was God's man, if he was walking in favor and blessing, then Paul would prosper and he would be mighty.
[00:02:55] You probably have had a similar thought at some point like that.
[00:02:58] If God really was pleased with some person, if he really was honored by that ministry, well, things would be going better for them.
[00:03:06] Look at how difficult things for them.
[00:03:08] Clearly, they aren't hashtag blessed.
[00:03:10] Or maybe you had that thought about yourself.
[00:03:12] if God's favor really is on me if I'm someone walking in the blessing of God well then things would be going a lot better for me it's one of the oldest deceptions in the book it's the substance
[00:03:25] of what Job's friends Job's stupid friends had said to Job Job if God really was pleased with you you wouldn't be having all these problems oh to the contrary the apostle Paul says in second
[00:03:39] Corinthians 4. My sufferings are not a rebuttal. They are a confirmation of God's hand of blessing on me. And Paul ties this claim into the very nature of the gospel itself. You see, God saved
[00:03:56] us, Paul said, not through Christ's prosperity. God saved us through Christ's suffering. The greatest act of God in the history of the world involved an unjust cross and unfair suffering.
[00:04:07] for Jesus the way to glory led through the cross Jesus's humility is what led to his exaltation his weakness led to his triumph for Jesus the way up was the way down and that's how it works for
[00:04:24] his followers also Paul says the way up is always the way down Martin Luther the great reformer said that a lot of confusion in the Christian life, a lot of heresy, comes from substituting what he called the theology of glory
[00:04:42] for the theology of the cross.
[00:04:45] The theology of glory, Luther says, expects to find God in strength.
[00:04:51] The theology of the cross, however, knows that God is really found in weakness.
[00:04:56] The theology of glory says God's favor is demonstrated by visible success.
[00:05:02] The theology of the cross says no, his favor is usually hidden in apparent failure.
[00:05:08] The theology of glory looks for God in the spectacular.
[00:05:12] The theology of the cross knows, by contrast, that he's found in submission.
[00:05:18] The theology of glory presents the Christian life primarily as a ladder to climb.
[00:05:24] The theology of the cross presents the Christian life primarily as a cross on which to die.
[00:05:30] Y'all listen, much of the worship music, not that we sing here, but a lot of it just out there in the world, is based on the theology of glory. You're walking in prosperity, you're walking in blessing, ain't nobody can stop you,
[00:05:42] everything's going great in your life, and that's just the proof that God's favor is upon you.
[00:05:46] This whole chapter, 2 Corinthians 4, is an explanation of the theology of the cross and a refutation of the theology of glory. Again, our key verse is verse 7. We got this treasure in jars of clay. Jars of clay. By the way, in those days, jars of clay were considered the
[00:06:03] cheap containers. If you had something nice you were trying to keep in your house, you put it into a bronze, a silver, maybe a gold, even a stone pot. Jars of clay were literally what you
[00:06:14] used as a toilet. So if you're a thief breaking into a house and you saw a clay pot, you'd probably avoid it. For us, let me update the analogy a little bit because most of you don't keep things
[00:06:26] and jars of clay. It would be like this. Two ladies walk into the room. They have two different bags. One of them has a bag that looks like this, right? It's a cheap little Target bag. We got all
[00:06:37] these in our houses, lining trash cans usually, okay? The other lady has in her hands this right here, okay? This is the Gucci Lady Diana bag. This bag retails for $4,660. It is not mine.
[00:06:56] Veronica also asked me to make sure that I told you it is not hers.
[00:06:59] No, we borrowed it from John Muller.
[00:07:01] This is what John Muller keeps his hair ties in and he let us use it for just this thing.
[00:07:07] Okay, I'm just kidding.
[00:07:08] I borrowed it from a friend who got it as a gift and she let me borrow it.
[00:07:12] And she is paying very close attention this morning through that camera to see what I do with it.
[00:07:16] But two ladies walk in with two bags.
[00:07:19] Here's the question Paul asked, which bag probably contains the important items?
[00:07:23] which lady carrying which bag has status if you thought something valuable is in the what would it be well obviously paul says you would think it's here in this really nice gucci bag he said
[00:07:37] but in reality god has chosen to put his great treasure i have one it's not super valuable but it's something my grandfather left for me it's a little diamond ring it doesn't look like that
[00:07:47] much but you know it's a ring of power one ring to rule them all okay these are the kinds of treasures that God puts in vessels that are more like this than they are that Gucci bag.
[00:08:01] Paul says, when God puts his power into things, he does it into jars of clay. Why? Because he's trying to show that the surpassing power belongs not to the impressive bag, but it belongs to God
[00:08:13] and not to us. Let's let Paul build this out a little bit. Drop back with me, if you would, to verse six. Paul says, you see, for God, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness has
[00:08:24] shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Y'all, what a verse. When God created the universe, how did he do it? Was the secret of
[00:08:35] God's success in creation that God started with some really amazing ingredients and some awesome potential? Was God the father like the original Papa John's who says the secret to our pizzas is that we only use the finest ingredients.
[00:08:49] Was God like better ingredients, better creation?
[00:08:52] Papa God, is that what Genesis 1 says?
[00:08:56] No.
[00:08:57] In creation, God starts with literally nothing and spoke all of this beauty out of nothing with just a word.
[00:09:06] In the same way, you gotta catch this.
[00:09:08] This is amazing.
[00:09:09] It's a powerful concept.
[00:09:11] Paul says when God brings salvation and spiritual life to somebody's heart, he doesn't start with the amazing talents of the witness.
[00:09:17] He doesn't start with the innate goodness of the hearer.
[00:09:19] No, just like God spoke into dark, dead nothingness and said, let there be light, and it was so.
[00:09:24] So he speaks into the darkness of our spiritual hearts and says, let there be spiritual life, and it is so.
[00:09:31] Make no mistake about it, Paul says, lost people are under supernatural bondage.
[00:09:37] Supernatural bondage that even the smartest, most self-disciplined cannot escape.
[00:09:42] Verse four, the God of this world, he says, has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
[00:09:51] And there is no talent in the preacher that can overcome that kind of blindness.
[00:09:56] You might as well be telling a blind person to go enjoy a sunset.
[00:10:00] Say, I'm standing with a friend, a friend who is blind and we're out on the mountainside and I'm like, wow, look at that sunset.
[00:10:06] It's amazing.
[00:10:08] And they say, I can't see that.
[00:10:10] And so I grabbed them and I turned them and I point them and say, there it is right there.
[00:10:14] Look there.
[00:10:15] And they say, I still can't see it.
[00:10:17] I say, well, just open your eyes wider.
[00:10:19] And then I hand them my glasses and say, try these.
[00:10:22] Eventually they're going to say, you know, the problem is not that I'm not looking the right direction.
[00:10:26] The problem is not that my eyes aren't open wide enough or I don't have the right glasses.
[00:10:29] The problem is I'm blind.
[00:10:32] Salvation is a supernatural burst of light into your soul.
[00:10:36] One day you are listening to a message or you've just gone through something and suddenly the healing light of God's salvation breaks in on your soul and suddenly you can see.
[00:10:48] When Jesus asked Peter who he was, Matthew 16, and Peter for the first time confessed, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.
[00:10:54] Jesus did not respond.
[00:10:56] Finally, Peter, you figured it out.
[00:10:57] You finally paid attention enough and got smart enough.
[00:11:00] No, Jesus said, Peter, flesh and blood did not reveal that to you.
[00:11:03] My father in heaven revealed that to you because the father is the only one who can give that kind of sight.
[00:11:10] One of my favorite hymns, Charles Wesley, talks about that moment in his life, long that my imprisoned spirit lay.
[00:11:16] fast bound in sin and nature's night thine eye diffused a quickening ray quickening means life giving a life-giving ray I rose my dungeon flamed with light my chains fell off my soul was free I rose went forth and followed thee friend do you remember when that happened to you
[00:11:34] it may not have been a bright flash of light it likely wasn't but you aren't sure what really changed but things just started to make sense the gospel made sense who Jesus was made sense
[00:11:47] Paul explained in his other letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, he says that kind of sight comes only from the Holy Spirit.
[00:11:54] No man can say that Jesus is Lord unless the Holy Spirit enables him to know that from his heart.
[00:12:01] And that kind of power, Simon, that kind of power in a moment like this, in a sermon like this, that doesn't come through human talents and ability.
[00:12:09] So I mean, listen, I work hard in these messages, I do.
[00:12:12] I try to bring the very best of what I am into every message here, but I am very aware that when you come in here, you don't need a man of eloquence and learning who can persuade or entertain you.
[00:12:22] You need somebody anointed with the resurrecting power of God.
[00:12:26] And that kind of power didn't come from working out of the powers and talents of my flesh all week.
[00:12:31] That kind of power comes from the prayer closet.
[00:12:35] And what drives me to the prayer closet is not my worldly success, but my worldly weakness and my failures and my sorrow.
[00:12:43] The power of resurrection only comes through the pain of the cross. And so in verse eight, Paul starts to give us a kind of resume, except his resume doesn't brag on all his accomplishments like ours typically do.
[00:12:58] Paul's resumes, he says, I'm afflicted. I'm crushed. I'm persecuted. I'm struck down.
[00:13:06] I'm always carrying about in my body, the death of Jesus. By the way, he's not saying that to solicit your pity. He's not saying that to try to prove how tough he is. That's how I always see
[00:13:17] this verse use? Well, I'm struck down, but not destroyed, right? I get knocked down, but I get up again. I'm perplexed, but not driven to despair. No, what Paul is saying is that those are proofs
[00:13:27] that he's anointed by God. Because in those sufferings, the pattern of his ministry resembled Jesus's. And just like with Jesus, God is bringing resurrection power through those weaknesses.
[00:13:40] So in verses 14 through 18, Paul gives specific comfort to people who are undergoing their own crosses you see I know you're not an apostle neither am I but I know that many of you if not
[00:13:52] all of you have often wondered why things are the way they are for you why the pain why the certain unanswered prayers why certain things have not worked out for you like they thought that they
[00:14:07] should and would you're going into another Christmas and you thought you wouldn't be single this year you thought surely you'd be married by now you thought your body wouldn't hurt anymore you've prayed for healing and you feel like God should give it, but it hadn't come or you thought
[00:14:28] your family would finally be back together. You thought you'd be pregnant, but that's not what this Christmas brings for you. Verses 14 through 18 is Paul's answer to you. The apostle says, I can't tell you everything God is doing. Nobody can do that. But what I can give you,
[00:14:50] I can give you four guarantees and they all come straight out of the gospel itself.
[00:14:56] The first one is in verse 14.
[00:14:59] Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
[00:15:05] Guarantee number one, if you're taking notes, Paul says, just like God raised Jesus after the cross, he'll raise you too.
[00:15:14] And of course he means in eternity at the final resurrection, but get this, he also means here on earth too.
[00:15:24] Listen, the resurrection was not just pie in the sky.
[00:15:28] It wasn't just an amazing thing that happens to us after we die.
[00:15:32] The resurrection power was something that happened on earth.
[00:15:37] God did not simply raise Jesus' spirit to heaven.
[00:15:39] He raised his physical body too for a space of about 40 days.
[00:15:44] And what that shows you is that God is bringing life back to our physical world also.
[00:15:49] A lot of times we present the resurrection as if it's all just about heavenly benefits one day.
[00:15:54] Paul says the bodily resurrection shows you that God is bringing physical blessings to the world right now through salvation also.
[00:16:02] That's why King David says, this is sort of a mashup of the Psalms I put together.
[00:16:06] King David says the dead can't praise you on earth anymore.
[00:16:11] The dead cannot testify to your goodness to people still alive.
[00:16:15] The dead can't tell my kids about the faithfulness of Jesus.
[00:16:17] So God, let me see your goodness in the land of the living.
[00:16:21] God, I expect goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life.
[00:16:26] This is the promise of resurrection.
[00:16:29] God is working life and goodness through your pain.
[00:16:33] So Paul says, hang on, friend, hang on.
[00:16:36] Your suffering is not in vain.
[00:16:38] I'm not saying you're always gonna be able to see or understand the reasons for all of it.
[00:16:42] I'm just saying that as sure as you know Jesus got out of the grave, you can know he's bringing victory and resurrection through your suffering also.
[00:16:49] So don't give up.
[00:16:52] I've noticed that I've got a bad habit when watching sports.
[00:16:56] I'm what I call a to the bitter end guy, which means even when it is painfully obvious that my team has lost, there is some delusional optimism that just kicks in.
[00:17:08] I don't know where it comes from.
[00:17:09] It makes no sense.
[00:17:10] We'll be in the fourth quarter.
[00:17:12] My team is down 34.
[00:17:14] The starters are on the sidelines wearing parkas.
[00:17:17] The announcers have totally stopped talking about this game and are now talking about next week's matchups.
[00:17:23] But I'm still sitting there on my couch thinking, you know, maybe if we get a quick turnover, hit a couple of onside kicks in a row, then the other team suddenly forgets how to play football.
[00:17:33] We might still be able to pull this out.
[00:17:35] It's delusional.
[00:17:36] I know it's delusional, but y'all, I can't give up.
[00:17:39] And I think I'm ruined because of a handful, just a couple of games that I have seen in my lifetime.
[00:17:45] Like the 2017 Super Bowl Patriots versus Falcons.
[00:17:49] Remember that one?
[00:17:50] Falcons are up 28-3 at the end of the third quarter.
[00:17:55] And the Patriots come back and win at 34-28.
[00:17:58] All right, Tom Brady deflates the ball and bam, we're there, okay?
[00:18:01] Anybody remember that game?
[00:18:04] Or that 2018 UVA versus Louisville basketball game?
[00:18:08] We watch all the UVA games in my house because Veronica, she went to that school.
[00:18:12] Louisville's up 66-59 with 17 seconds left.
[00:18:16] 17 seconds.
[00:18:17] By the way, I checked later.
[00:18:19] Vegas odds at that point gave Louisville a 99.98% probability to win, which means that if you had placed a bet right then, which you shouldn't, by the way, because sports gambling is stupid, okay? But if you had, you would have gotten 10,000 to one odds. But somehow UVA pulled it off and
[00:18:42] won. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. Veronica, like I said, who went there, She was in a good mood for like six straight weeks after that.
[00:18:50] But the bottom line is because of those couple of games, no matter the score, million to one odds, I'm like million to one odds.
[00:18:57] So you're telling me there's a chance.
[00:18:59] That's probably dumb in sports.
[00:19:02] But Paul says, when it comes to Jesus, you can be a to the bitter end guy because the end's not bitter and the comes back guaranteed.
[00:19:10] Friday's bitter.
[00:19:11] Saturday's even more bitter.
[00:19:13] But on Sunday, sweetness himself walks out of that grave.
[00:19:17] Maybe you're in a Saturday of waiting right now, waiting on God to answer some prayer waiting on a family member to come back waiting on a body to be healed but you need to hang on because Sunday is coming just like God raised Jesus after the
[00:19:28] cross he's going to raise you too here's your second guarantee Paul says Jesus uses our suffering to bring others to heaven I want you to notice the end of verse 14 Paul says he'll bring us with you
[00:19:41] into heaven just like Jesus's suffering produced life in us so our suffering produces life in others look at the next verse verse 15 for it's all paul says all this suffering it's all for your sake he says to the corinthians so that his grace extends to more and more people thanksgiving
[00:20:02] may erupt from you to the glory of god because of my suffering paul says why am i suffering it's for your sake why did jesus suffer for my sake why am i suffering for your sake it's one of the simplest
[00:20:15] but most difficult truths in the new testament life in the world only comes through death in the church in john 12 jesus compared the coming of spiritual life to the world he compared it to
[00:20:31] a seed you know it's a fascinating story in fact here's how it went down john 12 a group of gentiles greeks come to the disciples and they say sir we wish to see jesus the disciples come and they
[00:20:46] relay this message to Jesus. Now, this is a rather significant moment in the life of Jesus.
[00:20:53] You see, up until this moment, Jesus has spent all of this time among the Jews.
[00:20:58] In fact, for the whole Bible, God's focus has been on the Jewish nation, but we know that God's ultimate purpose, because he told us at the beginning, his ultimate purpose has always been not just to come for the Jews, but for the whole world. And now for the first time, the Gentiles
[00:21:16] the non-Jews are actually coming to seek Jesus.
[00:21:20] But instead of rushing over to the Gentiles and saying, guys, I am so excited about this.
[00:21:26] This is what we've been waiting for.
[00:21:27] This is what biblical history has been about.
[00:21:29] Instead of doing that, he turned to his disciples and he said, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone.
[00:21:37] But if it dies, it will bring forth much fruit.
[00:21:40] It's a rather odd analogy when you think about it.
[00:21:43] How many of us think of a seed as going into the ground and dying?
[00:21:47] I mean, I actually think the opposite.
[00:21:49] I think of a seed going into the ground and just beginning to live.
[00:21:54] And yet when a seed goes into the ground, it is dying in a sense.
[00:21:58] Its life as a seed dies, its shell has to crack open.
[00:22:03] But see, when that happens, all kinds of life comes from it, a hundredfold, a thousandfold.
[00:22:08] In fact, think of an acorn.
[00:22:10] Take a little tiny acorn.
[00:22:11] I found this one in my yard.
[00:22:12] It's the one that the squirrels have not gotten yet.
[00:22:16] This little itty bitty acorn, I can crush it.
[00:22:18] In fact, part of it has already fallen apart.
[00:22:19] I can crush it with my fingers.
[00:22:21] This can produce an oak tree so big that I could not carry that oak tree in 200 loads.
[00:22:30] It produces thousands of acorns, but in order to become all that, it first has to die as an acorn.
[00:22:37] The message is clear.
[00:22:39] Jesus is saying to his disciples, if the Gentiles, if life is gonna come to them, if they're actually going to see me and know me, it's not gonna come through your prosperity.
[00:22:50] It's gonna come through your death.
[00:22:51] Life in the world only comes through death in the church.
[00:22:58] Spiritual life among your friends, spiritual life in your family, spiritual life in your sons and your daughters, spiritual life among our community, spiritual life among lost nations in the world.
[00:23:10] Some of that only comes through death in us.
[00:23:15] By the way, I have that statement.
[00:23:17] Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
[00:23:19] I have it right up here in front of me.
[00:23:22] It's right here every time I preach or whenever somebody preaches here, just right there.
[00:23:25] Sir, we wish to see Jesus. That's what it looks like. And I have it up here as a reminder that, A, what you need to see is Jesus, not some middle-aged preacher trying to demonstrate
[00:23:34] that he's talented. And B, it reminds me that the way that you will see Jesus is not through my prosperity or through any talents of mine. It's going to be through my perseverance and suffering
[00:23:47] and the power I learned through weakness. And when I suffer sometimes, not that my suffering is anywhere close to what the Apostle Paul went through.
[00:23:57] And it's not as bad as some of what you were going through.
[00:24:00] I know that.
[00:24:00] But see, when I suffer, I say, it is all for your sake, Simon.
[00:24:06] It's for your sake so that as grace extends to me, more and more people in this congregation may give thanksgiving to God because they learn about God's faithfulness through my suffering and my testimony of it.
[00:24:18] And see, that adds meaning to my joy and my suffering.
[00:24:22] I asked you this a few weeks ago.
[00:24:24] who is your suffering for?
[00:24:28] Whose sake is it for?
[00:24:30] Who needs you to be faithful in that suffering so they can learn about God's faithfulness from you?
[00:24:36] You probably don't even know the half of it yet.
[00:24:39] But I'm telling you, if you're a follower of Jesus, your suffering is for somebody.
[00:24:46] Number three, Paul's third guarantee is that Jesus not only uses suffering to bring others to heaven, Jesus uses our suffering to bring heaven to us.
[00:24:58] Paul says, so we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away.
[00:25:02] Our inner self is being renewed day by day.
[00:25:06] The outer man is wasting away.
[00:25:09] And all God's people over 40 said, I feel it.
[00:25:13] I've talked enough about this, right?
[00:25:15] I mean, forget persecution for a minute.
[00:25:18] Age is not kind to your outer man.
[00:25:21] I heard somebody say recently that growing old is like watching a really rich person slowly become poor.
[00:25:28] Every other kind of money you start out with, you tend to grow it.
[00:25:30] But here in this one area, you start out with this rich bank account of good looks and physical prowess.
[00:25:36] And every year it decreases a little.
[00:25:38] And I get the privilege of standing up here over a lifetime so you can just watch it little by little.
[00:25:44] You can slow it down for him, but you cannot stop it.
[00:25:47] For Paul, Paul's referring to more than just growing old, of course.
[00:25:50] Paul had his health stripped away through beatings and starvation.
[00:25:55] Paul spent some of his best years in prison.
[00:25:57] his outer reputation was trashed by people who were jealous of him or resentful of him and yet paul says while this is happening my inward man is being renewed i'm getting younger i'm getting stronger here's an important truth you need to understand about resurrection power
[00:26:16] listen resurrection transformation hear me happens on the inside first that's where god is doing it right now. And to prove it to you, I'm going to go way back to 2004. You millennials, this is for
[00:26:32] you. Way back in 2004, there was a show on MTV called Pimp My Ride. Anybody remember this show?
[00:26:39] Now, for you older people, to be clear, this was a show about cars, not about pimps, okay?
[00:26:44] It was hosted by the rapper Xzibit, which is what made it cool. They would take somebody's old beater car and transform it into this tricked out car with a new paint job and amazing wheels
[00:26:54] and spinners and a cool sound system and hydraulics and the whole nine.
[00:26:58] It sounds really dumb now.
[00:26:59] Even as I say it, it sounds dumb, but I promise it was a whole thing back then.
[00:27:04] But one thing they almost always did on the show is they would almost always start with the inside of the car and renovate that first.
[00:27:11] And somebody asked Exhibit why they did it that way.
[00:27:14] And Exhibit said it was because if the owner saw them strip the outside of the car first and rip it apart, they would get discouraged and that would not make for good television.
[00:27:25] He said, but when you've already got a remade and renewed interior, then the owner knows that whatever is happening to the exterior is gonna end up matching up with the quality of what has happened on the interior.
[00:27:38] Who knew that exhibit was such a theologian?
[00:27:42] Apparently, you see, God is doing the same thing with us.
[00:27:44] He renews and glorifies the inside and that comes with the promise that one day he's gonna do in the outside what he's done in the inside.
[00:27:51] but for you and me that's going to happen later in our physical resurrection the question is can you wait for that and even more importantly can you focus now hear me it's about to get really
[00:28:05] personal can you focus now on the one thing that God is actually working to beautify now if we peek ahead to chapter five just real quick chapter five verse one one thing we're going to
[00:28:18] see that Paul calls our bodies a tent a temporary dwelling now I know this is going to cause me to to lose respect with some of you, but I don't really like camping. I mean, I love spending
[00:28:33] time out in the woods. Genuinely, I do. That's what I do on my day off. I love hiking, but sleeping in an un-air-conditioned piece of plastic on the hard ground with no running water, y'all, civilization has worked too hard and we have come too far to voluntarily go back to that.
[00:28:48] That feels like an insult to our forefathers. But in those wretched times when I've actually had to stay in a tent and I wake up in the morning feeling like I got trampled by a pack of stampeding
[00:28:59] elephants, I remind myself, this ain't my real house. My real house with AC and electricity and running water and dimmers for my lights and refrigerator and a toilet you can flush, that's just a night or two away. Paul says that's how he looks at his earthly body. He says, I'm staying for
[00:29:16] a few nights in this ratty plastic tent, but one day I'm going to my permanent home and it's way better. Some of you spend so much time on this ratty plastic tent and you ignore the one thing
[00:29:31] God is actually trying to beautify, which is your mind and your heart. You exercise this ratty plastic tent. Maybe plastic is a really good word to use in this context. You exercise and you count your
[00:29:44] calories and you measure your macros and you tighten, color, nip and tuck. You spend so much time on an outer tent that is perishing and pay almost no attention to that one thing God is
[00:29:55] bringing resurrection power to renew. I'm not saying don't pay any attention to this jar of clay. I'm just saying focus your energies on the things that matter. Better for you to limp across the finish line with a body falling apart and a soul full of the glory of God than sprint into
[00:30:11] heaven with an N-shaped corpse and a dilapidated shriveled up spirit. Going to the gym will change this, being generous with your life is what will change your heart. I'm not saying don't exercise.
[00:30:23] I'm saying put more energy and time into the renewal of your inner man than you do the maintenance of your shriveling outer man. Because Paul, in his other letter, said bodily exercise profits a little, not nothing, a little, but godliness with contentment. That's where the
[00:30:39] real action's at. Number four, fourth guarantee. One day, Paul says, our suffering now will seem light and momentary this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight that's a key word of glory beyond all comparison now you know first what paul says there sounds almost insensitive
[00:31:01] right light and momentary you're calling my divorce light and momentary you're calling the death of my child light and momentary this chronic pain that I've struggled with every single day of my life you're calling that light and momentary or the fact that I'm single or I'm single again
[00:31:31] and all I've ever really wanted is to be happily married you're calling that light and momentary and Paul says yeah now let me remind you that Paul was not one unacquainted with pain Paul's not some college age macho guy going well it doesn't kill me makes me stronger
[00:31:54] so bring on the pain because he's never actually experienced any real pain except being tired after he you know runs around the field for a little bit no Paul been tortured he'd been betrayed by
[00:32:05] friends he'd been falsely accused he'd been in prison he missed a lot of Christmases sitting in a jail cell he had some apparent chronic condition in his eyes that caused him great ongoing pain that he begged God to heal him from. And God never did. He reasoned with God,
[00:32:21] God would be so much more effective at ministry if I didn't have this problem. And God said, no, Paul had been the subject of racial discrimination. Paul had been marginalized and maligned. Paul had shed a lot of tears. I dare say more than most of us. And yet, and yet Paul says, all of it is light
[00:32:40] and momentary compared to what's coming. Paul puts our pain on the scales opposite of the glory and the joy that God is revealing through it.
[00:32:52] And he says, what God is gonna bring to this pain is gonna be so incredibly beautiful that we won't hardly be able even to remember the worst moments of pain.
[00:33:01] In his other letter to the Corinthians, Paul said, I has not seen, nor is ear heard, nor is the human heart even able to conceive what God has prepared for those who love him.
[00:33:14] Listen, I'm a pretty imaginative guy.
[00:33:17] What that verse tells me is that if you can see it, if you can describe it, if you can imagine it, then you cannot compare it to what God is doing in heaven. And what Paul says is you got to hang on. You got to hang on
[00:33:37] because God is doing something absolutely amazing in this. And the worst of your pain at the end of the day is going to feel like one inconvenient bad night of camping. I mean, church, think about it.
[00:33:52] God created all the beauty of the planets and the stars and the oceans.
[00:33:58] He created love and marriage and friendship and sex within marriage.
[00:34:04] He created all that with just a word out of his mouth in the space of seven days.
[00:34:09] And look how beautiful all of that is.
[00:34:12] And yet to prepare what's coming there, it took the blood of his son and several thousand years.
[00:34:19] Ain't no wonder Paul says, his eye has not seen nor his ear heard nor has entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those that love him.
[00:34:26] I'm telling you, we are living in a garbage heap compared to what's coming.
[00:34:31] Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist and one of the greatest writers of the last 200 years, a man who spent many years in a prison in Siberia, so he knows about suffering himself, said through one of his characters, Ivan,
[00:34:45] in The Brothers Karamazov, he said this, I love this, one of my favorite passages from that book, I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for that all the humiliating
[00:34:57] absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage that in the world's finale at the moment of eternal harmony something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts for the comforting of all resentments for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity for
[00:35:16] all the blood that they've shed that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened all right y'all sports ball analogies dostoevsky and pimp my ride i don't
[00:35:29] know how to try any harder to become all things to all people okay but let me leave you with two takeaways from this chapter takeaway the number one don't lose heart paul says that twice once
[00:35:44] in verse one and then once again toward the end of the chapter in verse 16 he bookends the chapter with that statement because that's his purpose in writing the chapter don't lose heart when you
[00:35:54] suffer don't lose heart when you struggle that's the way of the gospel it's the way of the cross God uses the cross to bring about resurrection with God the way up with God is always the way
[00:36:05] down reject the theology of glory the prosperity gospel is a lie again I'm not saying you're always going to see God's purpose nor am I saying that if an act of injustice is happening to you right now
[00:36:18] that you should just accept it and submit to it as part of God's plan.
[00:36:22] Listen to me, God never intends for you to stay in an abusive relationship when you have the power to get out of it.
[00:36:28] Rather, what I'm saying, listen, is that even in the worst pain, after you've tried all you can do to get out of it and all you can do to make it right, and you can't, you can have the assurance
[00:36:39] that even in that, God is doing something beautiful in it and through it in your life and in another's life.
[00:36:47] Honestly, maybe the best way to communicate this truth is through stories and testimonies rather than explaining it to you.
[00:36:53] So let me just give you a couple of them, okay?
[00:36:56] First, I got this note from somebody in our G4 ministries recently.
[00:37:01] G4, in case you've forgotten, is where people who've been broken through anxiety, depression, infertility, betrayal, addictions, bereavement, prodigal children, they come together to find how Jesus really meets them in that spot of brokenness.
[00:37:16] And they meet with others who have walked or are walking through those same situations.
[00:37:23] Here's what one of our leaders wrote to me recently.
[00:37:27] She said, a few years ago, I discovered my husband was cheating on me.
[00:37:32] I was overwhelmed with the pain and suffering I'd never experienced and scarcely thought possible.
[00:37:39] I entered a long season of depression, anxiety, and despair as my life unraveled in those darkest of days.
[00:37:48] In those darkest of days, I wandered into the Summit Church and then G4 Ministries and the Lord met me there.
[00:37:53] He was ready for all the ugly, even when I was angry and disappointed with him.
[00:37:59] She goes on to talk about how God used the experience to teach her about his faithfulness and his power to heal.
[00:38:05] She says, and now God has equipped and called me to walk alongside other people in similar times of pain, to tell them God indeed is faithful and he yet has a beautiful plan.
[00:38:17] To be clear, I would never have chosen this path for myself, but I now see that it's all part of God's plan to turn me into a beautiful instrument of redemption.
[00:38:32] Give you one more, J.R.R. Tolkien, another one of the greatest writers of the last two centuries.
[00:38:39] If you ever read J.R.R. Tolkien, you wonder like, how did he learn to write with such depth of insight, such imagery that could inspire and move people?
[00:38:47] By the way, if you read Lord of the Rings and thought the coolest thing was the orcs and the rings of power, you totally missed the point.
[00:38:53] Was that just crazy talent, his ability to describe the human condition and paint these pictures of struggle and hope?
[00:39:01] Was it just crazy talent?
[00:39:02] No.
[00:39:04] J.R.R. Tolkien had a tragically sad life.
[00:39:07] In fact, you should read his biography.
[00:39:09] Tolkien's father died when he was four years old and Tolkien's mother died when he was 12 years old.
[00:39:15] By the age of 25, all but one of his best friends from school had died in World War I.
[00:39:23] And Tolkien handled that by writing stories suffused with what he called hope beyond the walls of this world.
[00:39:31] He became a very committed Christian.
[00:39:33] In fact, he's the one who personally led C.S. Lewis to Christ.
[00:39:37] Talk about a cool thing on your heavenly CV.
[00:39:39] I led C.S. Lewis to Christ.
[00:39:41] That's gotta be cool.
[00:39:43] But Tolkien said, my pain forced me to find the beauty of heaven and the dungeons of earth.
[00:39:51] and one story he refers to tears as the wine of blessedness tears that infuse god's presence into your soul over the years i've told you about this ancient japanese art called kintsugi where they take a pot and they shatter it then they put it back together with gold in the seams
[00:40:12] i've been telling you about that for years but i actually found one and talked veronica to let me scrounge up a little money and buy it now this is not the most expensive kind you can get it is real
[00:40:21] gold, but it's not like, you know, the most expensive gold. But this is a pot that's been shattered. And sometimes I like to pull it off my shelf and just look at it and kind of look at the
[00:40:31] different seams and think about what it might represent in my life. Oh, this is that painful chapter. This is that unanswered prayer right there. This was that betrayal. This was that disappointment. These were all places that God poured into me the gold of his presence. By the
[00:40:54] By the way, this is the last message.
[00:40:56] I was absolutely convinced that before this was over, I would have dropped it and shattered it.
[00:41:00] And I didn't do it.
[00:41:01] It was gonna be more valuable though, after I broke it and re-put it back together with gold the second time, but that's what it is.
[00:41:05] That's your first takeaway.
[00:41:08] In your suffering, don't lose heart.
[00:41:11] Remember how the gospel works.
[00:41:13] The second is in verse seven.
[00:41:17] The weakest of you, Paul says, can be powerfully used by God.
[00:41:22] You wanna know why?
[00:41:24] Because this treasure's in a jar of clay And the point is not the quality of the clay, the point is the quality of the treasure inside of us.
[00:41:34] God brought salvation, Paul says, all by himself.
[00:41:38] That is a power that belongs entirely to him.
[00:41:41] And so from this point on, it is no longer about your abilities in ministry as if it had something to do with the quality of the clay, it's all about your availability to be used by him
[00:41:53] and the purposes of his kingdom.
[00:41:56] Jesus himself made the same point, Matthew 11.
[00:42:00] Actually his teaching here starts with a trivia question.
[00:42:03] Make me proud by answering this trivia question correctly, okay?
[00:42:06] According to Jesus, according to Jesus, who was the greatest, most powerful, most anointed, most eloquent preacher ever to live?
[00:42:16] Who was it?
[00:42:17] His name starts with J and rhymes with on the Baptist.
[00:42:22] John the Baptist, excellent guess.
[00:42:24] Jesus's favorite preacher was John the Baptist with what he said.
[00:42:28] Jesus podcasted John the Baptist.
[00:42:29] He wore WWJTB bracelets, okay?
[00:42:31] He loved John the Baptist.
[00:42:33] And yet, Matthew 11, here's what Jesus said.
[00:42:35] He said, truly I tell you, there's never been anyone born among women, which is everybody, who's been greater than John the Baptist.
[00:42:42] But I say unto you, the one who is least in my kingdom is greater than John the Baptist.
[00:42:50] Now, what does it mean to be least in Jesus' kingdom?
[00:42:53] That's Jesus' phrase, not mine.
[00:42:55] What would it mean to be least in Jesus' kingdom?
[00:42:57] Well, it would mean that you have the least talent, you have the least spiritual gifts, you have the least potential, You know the least about the Bible.
[00:43:03] You got the least engaging personality.
[00:43:07] You're the kind of person who walks into a room and nobody knows you're there.
[00:43:10] Your boss says to you one day, hey, are you new?
[00:43:12] And you're like, I've been here for nine years.
[00:43:15] All right, I don't know what all it means, but least in Jesus' kingdom means something, right?
[00:43:19] Here, think about this.
[00:43:21] In here, right now, in this room, somebody is the least of Jesus' kingdom in here, right?
[00:43:31] I'm not saying that to be mean.
[00:43:33] I'm just saying mathematically, that has to be true.
[00:43:35] Somebody has got to be at the bottom of the pile.
[00:43:37] That's just how math works.
[00:43:39] Right now, one of you is sitting there thinking, I think it might be me.
[00:43:47] And Jesus up in heaven is like, it's you.
[00:43:52] Bottom of the pile.
[00:43:54] But see, listen, even if that's true about you, you got more potential in ministry than John the Baptist, the greatest, most eloquent preacher ever to live.
[00:44:04] Why?
[00:44:05] Because you got something John the Baptist never had.
[00:44:07] And that is you got firsthand knowledge of the resurrection and you've got the Holy Spirit permanently fused to your soul.
[00:44:14] You have an incredible treasure in that rather unimpressive mundane jar of clay.
[00:44:20] And that means from this point on, friend, it is no longer about your ability to do great things in Jesus's kingdom.
[00:44:26] It's about your availability to let the treasure do great things through you.
[00:44:32] And then what we saw with the story with Luke and John a couple of weeks ago, the college students who saw that massive salvation wave in South Asia, just a couple of college students saying yes to Jesus. I remember experiencing that
[00:44:43] when I was in college. It was my second year of college. A small group of friends and I decided we want to do like a evangelistic event, like a revival. And so I got some money donated
[00:44:56] and we used it to buy like 500 hot dogs because that clearly was the way to reach college students was free hot dogs. And y'all listen, I've done enough things in my life that failed miserably.
[00:45:10] that I knew exactly what it feels like right before it happens.
[00:45:13] I knew that feeling very well.
[00:45:15] And it was the day before the event and I knew this was gonna be a disaster.
[00:45:21] We put flyers up all over campus.
[00:45:23] I put a little worship team together.
[00:45:25] I invited one of my friends, a new friend named Clayton King.
[00:45:28] He was gonna come and preach and we were gonna give tests.
[00:45:29] Nobody was talking about it on campus.
[00:45:32] Nobody heard about it.
[00:45:33] Nobody was inviting their friends.
[00:45:35] I'm like, this is gonna be a disaster.
[00:45:37] So we had our last leadership meeting.
[00:45:38] It was on lunch in the dining hall the day before the event.
[00:45:41] So I'm talking, trying to keep the team psyched up.
[00:45:46] And one member of our team, she was this really small, one of the quietest people I'd ever met.
[00:45:52] Her name was Amy.
[00:45:54] I mean, she'd go like nine days and I wouldn't hear a word out of her.
[00:45:57] I'm like, Amy, you still talking?
[00:45:58] And she's like, yeah.
[00:45:59] And just so quiet.
[00:46:00] She's the kind of person who walks in the room and you don't know she's there.
[00:46:03] So I'm over here, I'm talking to part of the team.
[00:46:04] She's right here to my left.
[00:46:05] And I'm trying to tell them it's gonna be amazing.
[00:46:08] And, and, uh, all of a sudden middle lunch, I hear this rough, like, you know, disturbance beside me.
[00:46:16] I turn and I look and Amy is standing on the table, like super, super woman.
[00:46:22] I'm like, good Lord, what is she doing?
[00:46:25] I'm like, please don't dance.
[00:46:26] That's not what we need.
[00:46:26] And she, um, she started, she stomps her foot the whole place.
[00:46:33] It's like 500 people in this dining hall.
[00:46:35] It gets quiet.
[00:46:36] Everybody just kind of looks at this girl on the table and she says, uh, I'm sorry to disturb your lunch.
[00:46:42] Said, I know this is weird.
[00:46:44] She says, it's weird for me too.
[00:46:46] She said, but tomorrow night, we're gonna have a worship band and we're gonna meet right on the quad and we're gonna worship.
[00:46:55] And then some of us are gonna get up and talk about Jesus and how he's changed our lives.
[00:47:01] And I really want all of you to come because Jesus changed my life and I think he can change yours too.
[00:47:08] And we're gonna have hot dogs.
[00:47:11] And then she sat down.
[00:47:12] That was literally all she said.
[00:47:13] sat down. I was, I just, I just never left. I was like, Amy, what in the world? She goes, I don't know. I just really felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to do that. Now, listen here. I'm not
[00:47:25] saying if you leave this place filled with the Spirit, that I want you to go to a restaurant and stand on top of a table. We make that very clear, okay? I'm not telling you that, but what
[00:47:34] I will tell you is that the next night we had 750 some people show up at this event and 52 people make professions faith. And I can tell you it wasn't because of the organizing talent or the
[00:47:46] free hot dogs of this guy. And it wasn't even about Amy's talent. It was simply because a young girl said, you know what? I can obey the Holy Spirit when he tells me to do it. And I will do
[00:47:55] what he tells me to do. And I will let him use me to do great things. So here's my question. Where is God telling you to obey this weekend? Or do you just need to trust him and obey? Conversation
[00:48:08] you needed to have, something you need to not give up praying for, a generous gift you need to make that's all about the legacy. He's just telling you, do this and watch what I do through it.
[00:48:18] Or how about this? Where do you need to trust him in pain? Say, God, I don't understand. I want you to take this away, but I'm going to trust you that through the cross comes resurrection, and I'm not
[00:48:27] going to let that hope go. Let me ask you, if you would, at all of our campuses, would you stand to your feet right now? Everybody at all campuses, stand to your feet. I'm going to ask our worship
[00:48:36] teams, go ahead and come on up. I'm going to invite you, Summit Church at all of our campuses, There's some of you that God is moving on.
[00:48:44] I want you to come up here and ask for prayer.
[00:48:46] I want you to ask for help.
[00:48:48] Yeah, you can do it in your seat.
[00:48:49] I get it.
[00:48:50] You can do it in your seat.
[00:48:52] But I'm telling you, there is a unique humility that is expressed in coming up here and praying in the presence of God's people.
[00:48:58] God meets people in a special way in a moment like that.
[00:49:02] So I'd invite you to come up and pray for strength.
[00:49:05] Bring a friend if you want to.
[00:49:07] Hey, if you want to pray with somebody, I'll put prayer team counselors off to the side.
[00:49:13] I'll have them off to the side.
[00:49:14] Or if you've got questions about a relationship with Jesus, you want to start a relationship with Jesus, they can help you with that.
[00:49:19] Just say to, hey, I'm not sure I've ever personally received Jesus as my savior.
[00:49:23] They'll take it from there.
[00:49:25] So if you want to pray with somebody, inquire about a relationship with Jesus, go over there.
[00:49:27] But otherwise, I just want to invite you, open up this altar at all campuses to come up here and pray, okay?
[00:49:33] Our worship teams are going to come.
[00:49:35] Our worship team is going to come and I want you just to listen to the Holy Spirit and as he is here for help, take advantage of that.
[00:49:42] Lord, I pray, not that we'd be in a church impressive in its talent, but mighty in its weakness, because we've learned to depend on you so that the power of resurrection happens through us as we embrace death in our mortal
[00:49:54] bodies. We pray in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Listen to the Holy Spirit. You come, you pray.
[00:50:01] Let's worship.