On Being a Jar of Clay

During my mini-workout this morning, I was listening to Sinclair Ferguson preaching on 2 Corinthians 4.  The text, which I have read many times, particularly struck me today.  The passage that most penetrated my heart was that of verses 7-12, which is below:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 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. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

I want to focus today on the first verse in this passage, 2 Cor. 4:7.  "This treasure" that Paul is referring to is mentioned in the preceding verse, as "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," or simply the Gospel.  And so we store this beautiful glory in ourselves, as jars of clay.  Why do we do so?  "to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us."

Too many teachers today (particularly the health and wealth preachers) are trying to paint the jars of clay.  To make us look better than we are.  When I go to a church service and the pastor says something to the effect of "we are all good people," I want to throw up.  That is not God-glorifying, claiming that we are good people.  We need to continually acknowledge, as Jesus did, that only God is good (Luke 18:19).  In direct contrast to this, Paul refers to us as "jars of clay."

Jars of clay have no particular beauty to them.  Sure, they are made for a purpose, for storage, but they are not very aesthetically pleasing, and certainly no one would attribute great glory to them.  For it is what is inside that counts when it is a clay jar.  It could be the most hideous jar ever (as my days in various ceramics classes produced), but if something is glorious inside, then we value that treasure.  This is what Paul is saying.  We do not have any particular glory ourselves (other than the dignity, value and worth in being created in the image of God).  But inside, we hold the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, jars of clay are brittle, and easily broken.  When we are broken, we are always shown for what we are.  Even the "super apostles" who espouse health and wealth theologies will be shown to be merely human when they are broken, in death or otherwise.  But if we have inside of us the Gospel, in all its glory and saving power, when we break, it is actually more profitable to the kingdom than if we do not.  God works much more often through weakness than strength, because man's strength adds nothing to God's strength, but God's strength in man's weakness adds to God's glory.

Let us remember that the surpassing power belongs to God, not to man.  Let us hold dear to the Gospel of Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection.  And let us take heart, when things push in from every side, that Jesus went through the same thing.  That as we might be crushed, he was crushed.  And that through these momentary afflictions, God might win even more glory to his name, because when we break, then the Gospel of Jesus Christ will shine forth from the rubble of our jar of clay.

So help us.  Amen.