Vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)
In the fall of 2008, I started having trouble walking. My legs simply didn’t want to move the way my brain told them to move. Things progressed slowly, but I was soon using a cane and then a walker. If I were going a long distance, I needed a wheelchair. My neurologist at West Virginia University never could pinpoint what was wrong, but I was going downhill.
While my ability to walk deteriorated, I continued to preach. I was in the pulpit twice every Sunday, and I taught the Sunday morning class. But the church wasn’t supportive; in fact, they were anything but supportive. One of the elders wasn’t having it at all. He once asked me, “How long are you going to be like this?” He even told me that if I continued to go downhill, I might not be able to step up into the pulpit (it was a struggle) and not be able to stand to preach.
I went to a neurologist appointment, and she told me that she couldn’t do anything else for me, because she didn’t know what was wrong. As Tammy and I walked out of the doctor’s office, I looked at her and said, “There goes my job.” A few weeks later, the elders and deacons called me in and said, “We need a preacher who is more physically able to do the job,” and I was terminated immediately.
Thankfully, I’ve learned how to manage the dystonia, and I’m back in the pulpit. But, let’s be honest, we all struggle with health issues. How many of you struggle with arthritis? How many of you have gone under the knife for cancer? How many of you have had back surgery? How many of you struggle with pain? Have any of you struggled with heart disease or pain or some other ailment?
Paul struggled with physical ailments, too, and he wrote about those ailments in this morning’s text. But his physical ailments weren’t from cancer or arthritis or a neuromuscular disorder; his physical ailments came from severe persecution.
Yet, Paul’s ailments and your ailments and my ailments have a beauty, for our physical limitations demonstrate that the gospel is God’s power, not man’s. This passage declares: “God entrusted imperfect men with his perfect will.”
Scripture (2 Corinthians 4:7-12)
verse 7:
“This treasure” clearly refers to the gospel; Paul spoke about “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” in the previous verse.
God placed his gospel “in jars of clay.” Corinthian pottery was known throughout the ancient world. Clay jars—unlike bronze ones—broke easily. However, clay was easily accessible and cheap, so if you broke a clay pot, you just went and got another one.
God placed his valuable gospel in easily-broken vessels “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God’s power to save lies in the message, not the messenger. The message doesn’t depend on great oratory; God stands behind his message, God convicts hearts of sin, and God produces the harvest.
verses 8-10:
Paul here described various ways he suffered for the gospel. Notice that for each way Paul wrote that he suffered, he also listed hope. Paul placed his trust and confidence in God. No matter what struggles adversity brought, Paul knew in whom he had placed his trust.
verse 11-12:
Paul and those with him were “always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake.” They never knew when persecution would finally take their lives. However, that was “so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” In other words, Paul’s hope in the resurrection in spite of his suffering testified forcefully to the truth of Jesus.
Application
“God entrusted imperfect men with his perfect will.” Paul was imperfect physically, and as he preached the truth with all those imperfections, God’s power was magnificently displayed. Only God could use such imperfect people to proclaim his perfect will.
How can you—as imperfect as you are—proclaim God’s perfect will?
One: You Share the Word.
Paul said, “We have this treasure [the word of God] in jars of clay.” You have the treasure.
God has given to mortal man the obligation of sharing his word. Before ascending back to the Father, Jesus gave that obligation to the Twelve: “Go . . . and make disciples of all nations” (Matt 28:19).
There is no other way; only disciples of Jesus make disciples of Jesus. An Ethiopian eunuch was traveling back from Jerusalem where he had worshiped, and he wanted to know more about the scriptures. As that eunuch was going down the road, “an angel of the Lord said to Philip, Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26). That angel could have gotten in the eunuch’s chariot, that angel could have answered his questions, and, I imagine, the angel could have baptized the eunuch. But that’s not God’s way! Man shares the word with man.
So share the word! Invite someone to worship. Set up a Bible study. Give someone a tract. Do something this week to Share the Word with someone.
Two: You Share your Wounds.
Paul said, “We have this treasure in jars of clay [imperfect people].” You have as many imperfections as Paul did.
There are so many people who think that we Christians believe we’re perfect and have everything together. What if we were open with people and admitted we didn’t? When Paul was arrested in the temple, he spoke to the people, and he said, “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women” (Acts 22:4). Paul told Timothy, “Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” (1 Tim 1:13).
How might your Wounds impact someone else? If you were raised in error and came to truth, how might your story help someone else? If you had serious sin in your life you needed to abandon for Jesus, how might your story help someone else? If you have had serious health issues and you’ve needed to rely on God over and over again, how might your story help someone else?
When you share Share your Wounds, you humanize Christianity. No longer are we those folks who have everything together, but we’re folks who rely on God to put us back together. No longer are we hypocrites who judge people for sin, but we struggle with sin ourselves. No longer do people think we consider ourselves superior, for our sins put Jesus on that cross.
Do something this week to Share your Wounds with someone.
Conclusion
“God entrusted imperfect men with his perfect will.” You—as imperfect as you are—have been entrusted with God’s perfect will. Have you responded to that perfect will for your own soul?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.