When we have pain, we can think of nothing else. We focus on the pain and can forget everything. Our first thoughts do not automatically go to ways to honor God while we hurt. God gave me a blessing in my “suffering” so far. I have not had any real pain, so my focus was mostly on God and giving others HOPE. For others, they could step away from the pain and see what we’re going through objectively, we could see how our reaction to pain, our attitudes, our words can still reflect a trust in God. In a world focused on self, the believer’s attitude in the difficult times points beyond self to the One we love and trust- the Lord. Every part of life- including difficulties- is an opportunity to glorify God. We don’t need to honor the pain points in our lives, but let’s consider how we can use those pain points as a way to honor God.

                                 Read 2 Corinthians 4:7-11

Paul began 2 Corinthians 4 by referring to the ministry God had given him and his response of not giving up. We honor God when we “keep on keeping on” and that is exactly what Paul did.  

         Here in Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, we are examining one of the clearest passages in Scripture, to declare the process by which the power of God is released among men. We long, we pray, for that power to be released among us; everyone wants that to happen. There is increasingly concerned, however, about the ignorance of Christians, not only in other places but right here today, as to their true power. Through Christ we have more power than we realize. We are surrounded by evidences of decay in society, of increasing corruption, of the disintegration of personality, of increasing hurt and darkness and despair. But all the time I can hear Jesus saying to us, “You are the salt of the earth,”(Matthew 5:13 RSV). Salt is designed to stop corruption, so His word to us is, “You Christians are the salt of the earth. You can stop this kind of thing. If there is moral darkness around, so people do not know the difference between good and evil, so they are blind to what is happening, you are the light of the world, and your light can dispel darkness.” Of course, he says, your salt has to have savor; it has to be salty. You cannot merely put on a front of being salty. You have to be salty, that is, you have to have the divine life and power at work in you, because salt without savor is good for nothing. And light has to be visible, Jesus said. You have to put it up on a hill where it can be seen. Nobody lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel. You cannot live isolated from the world around you. You have got to be right out in the midst of it.

        Paul has been describing his ministry in terms of direct combat with what he calls the “god of this age,” the invisible being behind this darkness and corruption, the one who has, as he put it in the passage “blinded the minds of the unbelievers,” (2 Corinthians 4:4b RSV). But as Paul lives and speaks in light of the fact that Jesus is Lord, then the light begins to break out in the darkness of the world. That is God’s process. In Verses 7-11 of Chapter 4 there is a detailed description of how to exercise the power of God; and Verses 12-15 describe how to display the glory of God. That is what life is all about. Christians are Christian in order to exercise the power of God and display the glory of God. That is what Paul is talking about here.

          First, it is obviously God’s deliberate program that His mighty power be displayed through “earthen vessels.” That term is not very complimentary. An earthen vessel is nothing but a clay pot, that is all, yet it is a beautifully descriptive term for basic humanity. All of us, in one sense, are nothing but clay pots, although some of you have a little finer clay than others, perhaps. You know, clay can be made into beautiful, fragile chinaware, which, of course, cracks easily. Some of you have cracked already! (I hear they are developing a science in California called “psychoceramics.” It deals with cracked pots! – and there are many of those out there.) Others are more rough and rugged. They are made of adobe mud, baked in the sun (half-baked sometimes, perhaps). But this is our humanity. We are nothing but clay pots.

           A pot, or a vessel, is made to hold something. This is a beautiful figure to use, because basic to our humanity is that we are not designed to operate on our own. We were made to hold someone; and that someone is God himself. The glory of humanity that we can never get away from is that somehow God designed us to correspond to his deity; and that his marvelous deity, with its fullness and wisdom and power should somehow relate to and correspond to and be manifest through our basic humanity. We are earthen vessels, and that is what Paul is talking about — clay pots. He is very likely thinking of that Old Testament story of Gideon, who was called of God to deliver Israel from the hands of Midian hosts which had come into the land. Gideon was nothing but an obscure member of one of the more remote tribes of Israel. He had no reputation, he regarded himself as inferior to everyone else, and yet God called him to deliver the nation. When 32,000 men gathered to help him, God cut the number down to 300.  God told them to take earthen jars, common clay pots, put candles in them, and during the darkness of the night to circle the Midian camp. At the signal of the sound of the trumpets, they were to break the pots so that lights would spring up on every side. When they did that the Midian army was demoralized. They suddenly saw lights springing up all over the mountainside. Thinking they were ringed by an army they panicked and began to kill each other. That story has great significance for us, because it is really telling us that if we begin to live on the basis of the new covenant, acting and living as though Jesus is Lord, in control of everything in our life and the life of the whole world, we can demoralize the antagonists of Christianity and they will begin to attack one another.

         Christians have no longer to fight hard, pitched battles, for the battle is often won. That is what Paul is saying here. God’s purpose in your life and mine is that we so live that people are actually baffled when they look at us. They say, “I don’t get it. I know this person. He (or she) is so ordinary; there is nothing outstanding there, but yet what happens as they go through life is so remarkable that I just don’t understand it.” They can see that the power is not coming from you; it is coming from God. Paul goes on to describe the way it is going to appear, in Verses 8-9: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 RSV). I like the graphic way William Barclay translates these verses: “We are sore pressed at every point, but not hemmed in; we are at our wit’s end, but never at our hope’s end; we are persecuted by men, but never abandoned by God; we are knocked down, but not knocked out” (2 Corinthians 4:8-8 Wm Barclay).

            Notice the weakness of the “pot” there, and the transcendence of the power. “Transcendent” means “beyond the ordinary.” The power of God is not ordinary. It is different than any other kind of power we know about. Therefore, it is wrong to expect it to be dramatically visible. It is a quiet power that is released in quiet ways, and yet what it accomplished is fabulous. Here is the weakness of the pot: “We are sore pressed; we are at wit’s end, we are persecuted, we are knocked down.” On the other hand, here is the transcendent power: “We are not hemmed in; we are not at hope’s end; we are never abandoned, and we are never knocked out.” That is the way God expects us to live. The remarkable thing, and the place where we struggle is, it takes both of those. It takes the weakness in order to have the strength. That is what we do not like. We all want to see the power of God in our lives, but we want it to come out of untroubled, peaceful, calm, circumstances. We want to move through life protected from all the dangers and all the difficulties. But that is not what God has in mind. We are to have difficulties and afflictions and persecutions. That is the point. We ought to expect to be “sore pressed,” and “at wit’s end,” and “persecuted,” and “knocked down but never knocked out.” We are not even permitted to choose the scene of our own martyrdom. We cannot go through a list and choose, “Well, I’ll take a few afflictions, but I don’t want to be knocked down.” We get what God sends. Whatever he wills is what we have to go through. Yet we are never to be knocked out, that is the point.

           Paul is saying that we are not protected from life. I wish people could get over that idea. It is difficult, I know, because the “folk” religion that we are constantly exposed to today is telling us something else. It is telling us, “If you’re a Christian, God will keep you from all these dangers and troubles. Why, you won’t even get sick. If you’re really a Christian, you’ll have no physical illnesses; troubles will evaporate and never come to you.” This is absolutely wrong. Christians can get cancer, Christians can have financial collapse, Christians can go through difficulties, family separations, divorce, problems of every sort. Sure, they can. In spite of all they do, no matter how close to the Lord they walk, they can have these difficulties because out of them God wants to demonstrate a different attitude, a different reaction than other people have. He wants to demonstrate that there is an obvious love and joy and peace about your life that can never be explained in terms of you, but always must be explained only in terms of God at work in you. Even that is not automatic, because I know many Christians who are afflicted and they are often crushed; they have perplexities that drive them to despair; they are persecuted; they feel abandoned; they are knocked down and often they are knocked out for weeks and years at a time. What makes the difference? Paul’s answer is in Verses 10-11. Here we have a marvelous setting out of the process of walking in victory: “…always carrying in the body, the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:10 RSV) Notice that the “life of Jesus” always rests upon the “death of Jesus.” We must have, in our experience, the “death of Jesus” in order to have the “life of Jesus.”

        “For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that [in order that] the life of Jesus may he manifested in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:11 RSV) What we want, of course, is the “life of Jesus;” every one of us wants to be like him. But the power of God is the miracle of others seeing in us, in the midst of our pressures and trials, the character and the life of Jesus coming out. I have always been amused and challenged by the verse in Colossians 1, where Paul prays that his friends in Colossae may be “strengthened with all power, according to God’s glorious might,” (Colossians 1:11). What are they going to use all this power for? It sounds as though Paul ought to say, “So that you can go about doing great miracles; so that you can astonish people with the tremendous magnetism of your preaching and teaching and be followed by great crowds, making a great impact.” But that is not what he says at all. He says, “I pray that you may be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, unto all endurance and patience with joy,” (Colossians 1:11 RSV). That is what takes power; that is where the life and the power of God is manifest. That is the “life of Jesus.”   

          How do you get it? Well, here is the way. The secret, Paul says, is our consent to sharing the dying of Jesus, “always carrying in the body the dying of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” What does he mean by the “dying of Jesus”? You know he does not mean that we have to go out and get ourselves nailed to a cross. But that cross is a symbol of something very real in our experience. What was Jesus like on the cross? He was not powerful, and impressive, and significant; He was not being applauded by the multitudes who listened to his every word. No. The cross was a place of physical weakness, of rejection by the proud and arrogant world around him. It was a place of obscurity, a place where he was willing to lose everything he had built and trust God to bring it back and make it significant. But the Christian gospel cuts right across all that. That is the very thing that the “cross” says has to die. We have come to the end of our dependence on ourselves and rest upon the willingness of God to be at work in us, without any flash or demonstration, but in loving, quiet ways to change our whole character until it is like Jesus in the midst of rejection and lack of recognition. Are you willing to do that? If so, you can have the “life of Jesus.”

                                      Read 2 Corinthians 4:12-15

So, then death worketh in us. This is the conclusion of the foregoing account, or the inference deduced from it; either the death, or dying of Christ, that is, the sufferings of his body, the church, for his sake, ενεργειται, “is wrought in us”; fulfilled and perfected in us; see Colossians 1:24 or rather a corporeal death has seized upon us; the seeds of death are in us; our flesh,

our bodies are mortal, dying off apace; death has already attacked us, is working on our constitutions gradually, and unpinning our tabernacles, which in a short time will be wholly took down and laid in the dust: but life in you. Some understand these words as spoken ironically, like those in 1 Corinthians 4:8 but the apostle seems not to be speaking in such a strain, but in the most serious manner, and about things solemn and awful; and his meaning is, ours is the sorrow, the trouble, the affliction, and death itself, yours is the gain, the joy, the pleasure, and life; what we get by preaching the Gospel are reproach, persecution, and death; but this Gospel we preach at such expense is the savor of life unto life to you, and is the means of maintaining spiritual life in your souls, and of nourishing you up unto eternal life; and which is no small encouragement to us to go on in our work with boldness and cheerfulness: or these words regard the different state and condition of the apostle, and other ministers, and of the Corinthians; the one were in adversity, and the other in prosperity.

       We are having the same spirit of faith – The same spirit that is expressed in the quotation which he is about to make; the same faith which the psalmist had. We have the very spirit of faith which is expressed by David. The sense is, we have the same spirit of faith which he had who said, “I believed,” etc. The phrase, “spirit of faith,” means substantially the same as faith itself; a believing sense or impression of the truth. We also believe … – We believe in the truths of the gospel; we believe in God, in the Savior, in the atonement, in the resurrection, etc. The sentiment is, that they had a firm confidence in these things, and that, as the result of that confidence they boldly delivered their sentiments. It prompted them to give utterance to their feelings. “Out of the abundance of the heart,” said the Savior, “the mouth speaks,” Matthew 12:34. No man should attempt to preach the gospel who has not a firm belief of its truths; and he who does believe its truths will be prompted to make them known to his fellow-men. All successful preaching is the result of a firm and settled conviction of the truth of the gospel; and when such a conviction exists, it is natural to give utterance to the belief, and such an expression will be attended with happy influences on the minds of other people.

         Being fully confident; having the most entire assurance. It was the assured hope of the resurrection which sustained them in all their trials. This expression denotes the full and unwavering belief, in the minds of the apostles, that the doctrines which they preached were true. They knew that they were revealed from heaven, and that all the promises of God would be fulfilled. Shall raise up us also – All Christians. In the hope of the resurrection they were ready to meet trials, and even to die. Sustained by this assurance, the apostles went forth amidst persecutions and opposition, for they knew that their trials would soon end, and that they would be raised up in the morning of the resurrection, to a world of eternal glory.

        For all things are for your sakes. All these things; these glorious hopes, and truths, and prospects; these self-denials of the apostles, and these provisions of the plan of mercy. For your sakes. On your account. They are designed to promote your salvation. They are not primarily for the welfare of those who engage in these toils and self-denials; but the whole arrangement and execution of the plan of salvation, and all the self-denial evinced by those who are engaged in making that plan known, are in order that you might be benefitted. One object of Paul in this statement, doubtless, is, to conciliate their favor, and remove the objections which had been made to him by a faction in the church at Corinth. That the abundant grace. Grace abounding or overflowing. The rich mercy of God that should be manifested by these means. It is implied here, that grace would abound by means of these labors and self-denials of the apostles. The grace referred to here is that which would be conferred on them in consequence of these labors.

                                        Read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Be ye followers of me.  Imitate me; copy my example; listen to my admonitions. Probably Paul had particularly in his eye their tendency to form parties; and here admonishes them that he had no disposition to form sects and entreats them in this to imitate his example. A minister should always so live as that he can, without pride or ostentation, point to his own example; and entreat his people to imitate him. He should have such a confidence in his own integrity; he should lead such a blameless life; and “he should be assured that his people have so much evidence of his integrity,” that he can point them to his own example, and entreat them to live like himself. And to do this, he should live a life of piety, and should furnish such evidence of a pure conversation, that his people may have reason to regard him as a holy man.

           Day by day, our physical bodies are in the process of dying. Death is a fact of life—something we all must face eventually. We don’t typically think about this, though, until we start to grow old. But from the moment we are conceived, our flesh is in a slow process of aging until the day we reach our final breath. When we go through times of serious affliction and trouble- like with cancer- we may feel this “wasting away” process more acutely. However, I can say I have never felt closer to God than through this cancer. At the same time, Barbara’s inner spirits shone with remarkable grace and light as they were renewed by God day by day. Her ordeal with cancer wasn’t a “light momentary affliction.” It was the hardest thing both of us had ever faced. And her battle dragged on for nearly two years. During the months of suffering, I thought about this verse, particularly the “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” What is this eternal weight of glory? It’s a strange phrase. At first glance, it may sound like something unpleasant. But it refers to the eternal rewards of heaven. Our most extreme difficulties in this life are light and short-lived when compared to the heavy-weighted rewards that will last forever in eternity. Those rewards are beyond all comprehension and comparison. While my loved one was wasting away, she kept her eyes on things that were unseen. They focused on eternity and the weight of glory they are now experiencing fully. Are you disheartened today? No Christian is immune to discouragement. We all lose heart now and then. Maybe your outer self is wasting away. Perhaps our faith is being tested as never before. Like the Apostle Paul who wrote these words, “Like my loved ones, you can look to the unseen for encouragement.” During unimaginably hard days, let your spiritual eyes come alive. Look through a farsighted lens past what is seen, beyond what is transient. With eyes of faith see what cannot be seen and get a glorious glimpse of eternity. The Glorious Future- the title of my book.                    

                                            Next: HOLY