We have this treasure
2 Corinthians 4:7-12 · Vern Peterman · May 2, 2010
1 & 2 Corinthians, No. 44
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492622145075

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to announce here a change in the schedule for this next Sunday. The usual teaching schedule will be canceled so that Courtney can sing for us an aria next Sunday. OK. Or maybe not. You have as a half page slide in your hand down, this poetic pattern for the passage that Courtney did just read for us. Fortunately, it didn't sing an aria for us. But anyway, Courtney just read for us. And what we have laid out there is a poetic pattern. And some of the things that I would point out come out as a pattern in this passage are we have this and not and but not pattern here.

And we'll see as we step into that a little bit more of what that is telling us. We have also at the end of verses 10 and 11 this use of the word body or as he restates it with a rhyming term, mortal flesh. We also have the three we's. We have, so here is a possession of the believer. We are, this is going on with the believer. And then we who, we who are doing the living, the acting.

We also have in there, very interesting, a line that Paul repeats verbatim in verses 10 and 11. And so we'll take a look at that in more detail shortly here. But interesting how Paul has put this passage together in the poetic pattern with items repeated, with items emphasized, and a consistent pattern of contrasts in the but not. Now, one thing that's really neat about this passage, it addresses a lot of real critical issues of our day.

Issues that society is dealing with, questions people are asking and wrestling with. Both believers and unbelievers are dealing with some of these issues. And certainly church bodies are dealing with the issues that are addressed in this passage. Questions like this, how am I to think of myself as a person? People individually wrestle with that. We, even as a society, wrestle with that question.

Will I be adequate for life? Isn't that really a wrestling point for a great number of people? How is life to be lived out? How do I go about doing the living? What place do trials and struggles and difficulties have in my life? Large, small, short, long, different kinds? Whom do others see in me and in my life? Who do they look at? What do they see? These are questions that are certainly ones that our entire society deals with, as well as individuals and even our church body.

He starts off the passage with, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. Now, it turns out that in Corinth, there were two primary materials for making vessels of different kinds. They were made of clay, or earthenware, and bronze. And it turns out that Corinth was famous for its fine bronze vessels. Oh, they made other things of bronze too, but certainly vessels were one of them. You have a picture here of a piece of Greek pottery from Corinth, about 600 BC. Looks to be in pretty good shape. Here's also a Greek bronze vase, maybe from Corinth or not, 4th century BC. But both of these were used, and the Greeks, well matter of fact, throughout the entire Roman Empire, the Corinthian bronze was very highly prized for its color.

Paul chose, however, to refer to us, as believers, as earthen vessels. The clay pottery was what he picked as the picture. And the earthen vessels were also far more fragile, which is probably a good indication of our character. Have you noticed that you're a tad fragile? That we are vulnerable creatures, that things can happen to us.

So the real value of an earthen vessel could very well be what's inside rather than of the vessel itself. Here is this vessel that's fragile. Here is this vessel that Oh yes, you can paint it up nicely, but the reality is it could break within the next second, could be broken. And so what's inside of it could end up being the enduring value, the greater value than the vessel itself.

And that was actually often the case. Many times, things of great value were put in pots, not just as we've given the example here, coins. But how about, for example, what's known as the Dead Sea Scrolls? They were found in the late 40s and into the 1950s in various caves. And a great many of them had been stored in pieces of pottery in order to preserve them. The value was not in the pottery. but in the scroll itself.

Now, we mentioned before that Corinth was famous for its bronze vessels. There's a fellow named Pliny, the name rhymes with Winnie, wrote that bronze made in this region was renounced for its very fine coloring. Now, you may look at that and say, but Vern, it's green. Well, you'd be green, too, after 2,000 years. So anyway, now.

So what is this treasure that Paul is referring to, right? This treasure in earthen vessels that he talks about here at the very beginning of verse 7. You see, in verse 6 Paul had written this, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. I believe context and the fact that he also said something very similar in verse 4 tells us that's what he means by this treasure. This treasure is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That's the treasure. That's the priceless treasure that's in these earthen vessels called us. The treasure is glorious and eternal.

It's also intimate and personal, not simply material. We said before that glory, which Paul had mentioned repeatedly, in the middle of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, is the radiant essence of who God is. God also is eternal, most certainly, and it refers to our knowledge and beholding of Christ. It is intimate and it is personal. It is not simply a thing, something of value as a thing outside of ourself, hard and lifeless. but it is of great value with its intimate and personal relationship with the Lord.

One of the things that this passage puts out, it sets forth this idea, what people need is not better self-esteem, but Christ-esteem. There has been in recent decades a push for people to try to elevate the self-esteem of people. You may have even seen various special seminars and classes and things of that sort, books written about it, and other documentaries put forth with the idea that self-esteem is what you really need, that that's really the human problem. We just need to deal with people's self-esteem. And so we have here a nice self-esteem supplement.

The self-esteem supplement is guaranteed to make you think at least twice as highly of yourself. Caution, overdose can cause negative side effects. Now what we've found is not only is self-esteem not the answer, but letting off steam isn't either. So letting off steam won't get you there.

What's really needed is exactly what God's Word prescribes and has for almost 2,000 years now. It's Christ's esteem. It is esteeming Christ for who He is, not a look at ourselves and saying, oh, what a fine person I am, but a look at the Lord and continuing to look at and behold Him and realize the greatness of the Lord, realizing who He is. Having Christ esteem is exactly what we need. In 2 Corinthians chapters 3 and 4, These passages have been telling us that Christ is our adequacy within the very first half dozen verses of chapter 3. He is our righteousness, the very middle part of chapter 3. As this passage says, He is our treasure. As we saw in the previous passage last week at the end of verse 3, He is our life, the one whom we are to behold and so be transformed. So we've had all these messages here that focus on Christ's esteem, not self-esteem. You see, self-esteem won't be or do any of these things. None of those things will get accomplished by self-esteem, but will by Christ's esteem. It's esteeming Him.

That's what we need. It says there in verse 7 also that the power will be of God. There's a lot of talk today about empowerment, empowering people. A great deal of it. Oh, it happens in a business context, it happens in a social context, even in a political context. People being empowered. As nice as that might be, and there's a lot of talk about it, what this passage tells us is the most important part is the power of God.

It's God's power that is needed, not ours. That's ultimately what we need. Our adequacy, as the first part of chapter three talked about, and what God desires to accomplish in us and through us is all from this intent. God intends to be enabling and empowering and energizing each one of us who believes in him. And that's over the top in greatness. He is not intending to enable and empower and energize us with just a bare sufficiency, but with all of his total sufficiency.

If you've been watching any of these crime and courtroom shows, you will know quite well that the three elements of a crime are motive, means, and opportunity. And I suggest to you that might also involve chocolate. Anyway. The three elements of the Christian life, how the Christian life gets lived, are motive, means, and opportunity.

Which doesn't mean that being a Christian is criminal, except in the minds of some. It is motivated in the Christian life by thankfulness for God's mercy and His grace. That's the motivation. for the believer. So now we have motive. Let's move on to means. Life is to be lived by means of God's enabling, his energizing, and his empowering. Now we have means.

And finally we have Ephesians 2.10, the opportunity. Since he has prepared every good work that we might walk in them, we have God-given opportunity. We have motive, means, and opportunity. The only thing we're missing is chocolate.

In verse 7, how does he end the verse but to say, it's not from ourselves? He not only says, here's the treasure, here's how it happens, here is what God intends, here's what's valuable, but he also gives the opposite, the what it's not statement. It's not from ourselves. We don't have to produce it. And this is actually wonderful news.

God does not intend that you just simply give forth your best effort. He does not want for us to pay Him back. You might notice that we're not perfect at it, believe me, but we actually try to avoid songs that talk about paying God back or I owe Him. Because that's not grace. Why do we make a point of that?

Have you ever gotten a Christmas gift and then gotten a bill along with it when you open the little card? Right? You don't want that, do you? Right? Here's a nice Christmas gift and then here's the bill. Well, wait a minute. That's not a gift, is it? That's what grace is. It's a complete gift.

We don't have to pay the Lord back. We don't have to just seek to outwardly conform to his behavioral specifications. We don't have to go around impressing others with ourselves. Matter of fact, the life, the treasure, it's not from ourselves. It's not our doing. It's not our efforts. It's not our accomplishment. It's not our merit. It's not our worth.

He is the worth. We are intended by God to be this earthen vessel that holds the priceless treasure. That's God's intent. What is that? The light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The radiant essence of who He is. Where is that? In the face of Christ. Beholding Him. The very same message given to us by the last verse of chapter 3, verse 18. Not from ourselves. Him. Not from us. It's his job. It's his doing. He's the treasure. In verses 8 and 9, we're afflicted in every way, but not crushed.

We're perplexed, but not despairing. Ever been puzzled by what's going on? Ever thought, Lord, what are you doing? ever been in a spot where you just can't quite figure out what's happening? Even maybe ask, why is this happening? But not despairing, because ultimately, though we don't understand everything that's going on, we do know someone who does. We know that he knows the purpose for what's going on, even if we haven't figured it out yet. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Not abandoned. Struck down, but not destroyed. Not wiped out. So he has the four statements of this, but not this. This, but not this. It's this, but not this. This, but not this.

Ever notice some folks, they're mad or disappointed at God? I'm really mad at God because da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Because this happened or this didn't happen. Or they were expecting God to do something and God just didn't follow through like they expected. Some folks have not figured out the magic.

How do I twist God's arm so God does what I want? What's the magic that I've got to do? Oh, I know. You've got to have the right number of zeros on the check that you put in the offering, right? Then God will be happy. Is that what it takes for God to be happy? By the way, no. Okay? All right. I know what it is. I know what it is. I've got to be there at the third... No, there's nobody in the third pew. Anyway, the fifth pew back. The fifth pew back every Sunday without fail for 52 weeks.

Then God will be happy and He'll do exactly what I want. Is that the way it works? No. Not at all. But some folks are always looking for what's the magic key so I've got God over a barrel and he'll do exactly what I want. What do I have to do to twist God's arm so God says, Uncle, okay, whatever you want. Right?

Some folks are mad. They're upset. That having troubles and trials and difficulties in this life is exactly what believers can expect. Someone becomes a believer, and I don't know how it happens, but somebody gives them the idea, hey, if you become a believer, you'll just be on one smooth highway all the way to heaven, right? And then all of a sudden something terrible happens. They say, Lord, that's not what I signed up for. But you know what? That's exactly what you signed up for. How do you like that? That's exactly what you signed up for. That's exactly what believers can expect.

If you want to get mad at God, I suppose you can do it. It's not going to hurt Him any. But it's certainly a misunderstanding of what God intends. As long as we're still here, God isn't done with us yet. One person has put it this way, if you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. If you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. Because God isn't through yet.

And one of the things he's going to do is he is going to bring trials. He is going to bring difficulties. Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. Notice some of these things are external. And some of them are even kind of wrestling in our heads and in our hearts. This perplexed is one that can be within us. You see, we may have difficulties that are many, varied. Matter of fact, James 1, 2.

Rejoice when you encounter various. That word for various is the word where we get our English word polka as in polka dots. Big ones, little ones, various ones. Rejoice when you get polka dot like trials. Different ones. Some of them may be large. None of them are ultimate. Paul gives a brief list of troubles here, these four, this but not this.

He gives a little sampling of them. In truth, he will later on list more because this is just the introduction. This is the first of several tribulation lists given here in this book of 2 Corinthians. We also will encounter in chapter 6, chapter 11, and chapter 12 additional lists of these trials and difficulties that he or others go through. As many, as varied, as large as those trials that we encounter may come to be, even the total of them is not ultimate. Death would be the ultimate, but is it a defeat? No, it is not. Death is not a defeat. It is a victory in Christ. It's a victory in Christ.

I was amazed when I was a kid. We had a fellow whose name was Dick Kingham in our church body. And Dick had a degenerative condition in his nerves. And he began to lose the ability to both feel and act in his extremities. And then it got to the point where all he could move was his head.

My dad fixed up a little arrangement where he had a pencil like this, unsharpened, and then a band that he put around his head. And Dick would write songs and poetry on the typewriter, because that's all he could do. He could move his head, so he would type up songs and poetry on the typewriter. Well, one day, the Lord took Dick home. Matter of fact, he told the nurse that day. He says, today I'm going home. And the nurse said, you're not going home, buddy. But that's not what Dick meant. He says, today I'm going home. And the monitor went steady. They came in and got things beeping for a little bit, and then it went steady again. He went home.

I was amazed at the memorial service. It ended after some very uplifting songs. Who knows? Maybe some of them were an aria. I have no idea. But it ended with a hallelujah chorus. It ended with a hallelujah chorus. Why? Because that was not a big defeat. It was not the end for Dick. It was the beginning. It was victorious. It was not ultimate, except in being an ultimate victory in Christ.

You have here another half-page representation here in 11. We have there in brackets, for we who are, who live are, because it is implied as it is actually stated in the next verse. We have the pattern we pointed out where body and mortal flesh are essentially rhyming terms for the same thing. We have two lines so that the life of Jesus may, excuse me, also may be manifested in our body twice, exactly verbatim, repeated. The points, of course, we want to make here is Paul is using a Hebrew poetic pattern so that people Read it twice.

Why? For emphasis. For emphasis. That's why things are repeated. That's why the value, or it's one of the values anyway, of this Hebrew poetic pattern. Things are repeated or they're restated in rhyme. For example, body and mortal flesh. Rhyming meanings, not sounds. So, there would be a pattern just like David used to write in his Psalms, this poetic pattern.

What does it mean? But that the message always and to Jesus and constantly and to Jesus sake are at least intended to rhyme in meaning if not be identical. Why? To emphasize, to emphasize Paul's message here. He wanted to just tell it twice so that they would let it sink in. They would understand what he particularly wanted to get across.

The terms body and mortal flesh are also rhyming in meaning, again, to emphasize it. Our body, our mortal flesh, and also this fragile earthen vessel, yeah, these things, is for the purpose of manifesting the very life of Jesus. Ever hear anybody ask the question, maybe you've asked yourself, why am I here? Why am I here? for the purpose of manifesting the life of Jesus. That's why you're here. Why am I going through this trouble? For the purpose of manifesting the life of Jesus. That's why. That's why you're here. That's why you're going through the trouble. At least one of the reasons. Manifesting the life of Jesus comes through the circumstances that may even threaten death. I recall that Hal would rejoice when he'd go in the hospital. That was rather amazing. Why would he rejoice when he went into the hospital?

He says, man, I get an opportunity to talk to people about Jesus, and they're going to listen. Besides that, they can't leave, right? And they're going to listen. And matter of fact, they're going to be in a better position to listen than if we were out there walking around. He says, this is great. It couldn't get any better than this. Right? He used to rejoice in that.

Circumstances that may even threaten death. Circumstances that are difficult. That's when the life of Jesus shows forth. Just like with Dick Kingham. His nerve condition was degenerative. But the more his nerves degenerated, the more he wanted to talk about the Lord, and the more the life of Jesus was evident in him.

Notice the pattern there, the dying of Jesus, death for Jesus' sake, none of the troubles and trials of Paul, obviously he's writing this so he's still alive, and his companions had yet resulted in death. They were certainly, however, a threat of death. And in some cases, he was actually even left for dead, as we'll see later on. They pressed toward death.

We can understand, of course, that troubles like Paul's describing here are for the cause of Jesus because, of course, he's doing ministry. But how can such troubles also be the dying of Jesus? How could that be? See, one of the things that's important for us believers to realize is that Christ takes our suffering as his own.

One of the points we made last Sunday as we looked at last Sunday's passage is that when Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus, He didn't say, Paul, why are you persecuting those Christians? He took it personally and asked Paul actually twice. Paul, why are you persecuting who? Me. Me.

Jesus takes our sufferings personally. I think it's important for us to recognize as we're going through various things, the tendency may be for us to think, you know, I'm down here and I'm having an awful time and God's up there and he's just having a great time with his big party up in heaven and he's way up there and I'm down here, not recognizing that the Lord Jesus takes what we're going through personally. very much personally.

Colossians 124, Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. Are Christ's afflictions lacking? Didn't he say on the cross it's finished? Yes, his death on the cross completed everything that was intended to do. But the sufferings that we will have here on this planet, all of us here this morning who are believers, until the day the Lord calls his church home, the sufferings that we have, the Lord takes personally. That's completing the sufferings of Jesus. The sufferings that you go through, the sufferings that I go through, all those troubles and trials and difficulties, The Lord says, those are mine. Those are the sufferings of Jesus.

He's not up there way, way far away having a party while we're having a miserable time. He's right there with us in the sufferings. Right there. Ever so close. Taking it all very, very personally. The Lord's words to Paul there on the road to Damascus, why are you persecuting me? Paul had no idea what he was doing, but the Lord took it personally. Every stone, every stroke, every struggle, the Lord took it personally. In verses 4, 10, and 11, our identification with Christ has as one of its many purposes, several, but certainly one, that Jesus would be lived in and through us, that His life would be lived in and through us, each and every one.

That's what Galatians 2.20. It's no longer I who do the living, but Christ who does the living in me. That's one reason we died to the law. It's no longer us trying to conform to some outward specification of behavior or even occasionally like coveting the specification of attitude. It is his life living out these things in and through us.

The difficulties that we encounter, the struggles, the troubles and the trials, of this life have the purpose that Jesus' life would be lived in and through each one of us and that life would be manifest. Why are you going through the troubles that you have been going through this last week? The troubles that you're going through now are the ones, let me just say it, the ones you're going to encounter over this next week. Why are you going through those? Why are those happening?

God desires, it is His longing and desire and intent that Jesus' life be lived in and through each one of us. He has effectively bought out the theater. He bought out all the tickets for the theater And he wants to see you up there on the stage, just watching you. He wants to see you on the stage, and he wants to see the life of his son live through you. And he's going to accomplish that through difficulties.

Things that go wrong with our body. Things that go wrong with our car. Things that go wrong with their house. Things that go wrong in the house. Houses that we used to have, but can't live in anymore. Right? All these difficulties. All these difficulties have this purpose. God says, I want to see Jesus' life lived out. That's why we're going through them. What a paradox.

Okay? Not prairie dogs. Okay? Not a pair of dogs. Okay? Paradox. Verse 12 says, So death works in us, but life in you. Here's Paul and his companions. They're going through an awful time. Can you imagine what it would be like? You go into town and these people just want to throw rocks at you, and they're not gifts. There's no ribbons wrapped around them. They're going through an awful time.

But those to whom they minister and serve experience the benefits of true spiritual life, due to and because of and through the sufferings, the many sufferings of Paul and his companions. Death in us, life in you. Acts 9.16, For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. This is after Jesus had said to Paul twice, why do you persecute me? Now, Paul, he's going to suffer. He will.

Death in us, life in you. Why are the things happening in our lives that cause us concern? Things happen to people we love. It grabs us at the heart. Bad news. Phone calls that come at the wrong hour. So that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body.

How come things go crazy at work? Absolutely nuts. Things go wrong with machinery. Things go wrong with equipment. Things go wrong with people. Things go wrong with the people you work for. Things go wrong with the people who work for you. Things go wrong with you while you're working for people and having people work for you. Why does all that happen? Why all those difficulties?

So that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. That's why. Why do we have to call the ambulance? Oh, and by the way, they have to push it to the hospital. Why? So that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. Why does this guy get up here and talk to us for eternal hours on end? He only has two or three hairs and both of those are way beyond blonde. Why does he do that? So that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body. That's why.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your life. Even as we look forward to momentarily taking in the Lord's table. It is indeed a remembrance of your death. And the reason it has value is because of your life. And as we remember this morning, we just look to you. through the struggles, through the difficulties, through the problems of all kinds, of every variety. And we give you thanks because you have purpose in it all, an eternal purpose. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.