Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we think about your word.
Father, we thank you that every word that is written in 2 Corinthians 4, 7-18,
that every word is a word that has ultimately come from you.
It is the word that you desire to speak to us.
And Father, we acknowledge before you that it can be hard for us to listen to others
and it can be really hard for us to listen to you.
But we ask, Father, that you would gentle our minds and humble our minds and humble our hearts
and grant us open ears that we might hear you speak.
And may you speak deep into our lives so that our lives, day by day,
will bear much fruit that brings you glory.
And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Amen. Please be seated.
So quite a few years ago, when I was in my early 20s, there wasn't any move-in movement.
But I lived with four other Christian guys in a house.
And so we were five Christian young men, all single.
And we met together regularly for prayer and Bible reading.
And we also tried to do different types of things in the community.
And one of the things that we often tried to do in the community,
we felt fairly comfortable with this because we were five young men.
And we'd often bring people in to live with us for a period of time because they needed some help.
And one of the guys, I'm going to call him Bob,
often the people that we would have come and live with us had some type of mental illness.
And this one time we had a guy, I'll call him Bob,
he came to live with us and he was suffering from,
I guess they'd call it now bipolar disorder.
They used to call it manic depression.
And that's what he was suffering from and struggling with.
And he came to live with us for a little period of time because he was homeless.
And actually, I've made a mistake in saying that he was struggling with his bipolar disorder.
At the time that he was with us, he definitely wasn't struggling with it.
And he was surfing it like he was just completely and utterly given over to his disorder.
And it was July.
It was very, very hot as July can be in Ottawa.
Very hot and humid.
We were in a house that had no air conditioning.
And basically, he would wake up in the morning
and he would sit in this one couch, one chair in the living room all day.
The only time he would get up was if he went to get something to eat
or to go outside to smoke a cigarette.
And this is what he did every day.
And after he'd been doing this for a while, I mean, he hadn't showered, hadn't bathed.
He was beginning to get a ripe smell.
And so I was picked by the group of five guys to have a conversation with him
about his need to deal with he was beginning to smell quite ripe.
And so I actually had to literally stand at the other side of the room
because he was getting quite ripe.
And I begin to try to talk to him about this.
And he interrupts me and says,
George, if you knew who I really was, you would fall down right now and worship me.
And he said it with complete seriousness, you would fall down and worship me.
I said, I think I said something like, Bob, I know who you are and you need a shower.
But he said with complete and utter seriousness, if you knew who I was, you would fall down and worship me.
We Christians, if you're a guest here this morning and you're a seeker
or maybe you've just been dragged here against your will, I don't know,
and you're just trying to figure out the Christian faith,
you're an anthropologist trying to figure out this weird tribe called followers of Jesus.
Because, you know, we followers of Jesus, we have a very similar problem to Jim.
Not that we go around telling people that they have to fall down and worship us,
but we have a very, very similar problem.
And that is, if you think about it for a second, you know, in the Creed and the Bible,
and we tell people and we know that, you know, what is it?
That when we come to faith in Jesus, we've been made right with God.
When we come to faith in Jesus, Jesus lives in us and we live in Jesus.
We're given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the very same Holy Spirit that caused the Bible to be written
and the planets to be formed and raised Jesus from the dead.
That Holy Spirit lives within us.
And we will go to be in the new heaven and the new earth.
And if you think about all of these problems, here's our Jim problem.
Why aren't you more impressive?
Like, why am I not more impressive?
Why isn't this congregation more impressive?
Like, you know, if you think about it, often one of the reasons that we don't actually want to say anything
about our friends to our friends or our neighbors about the fact that we go to church
or that we're followers of Jesus is because we don't feel very impressive.
We say to ourselves, well, how on earth can I say something to them about Jesus?
I mean, they're way better educated than me.
You know, they're so much better at relationships.
They're way better behaved.
You know, they speak more languages than me.
You know, they're fitter.
They're younger.
They're prettier.
They're better looking.
Like, we go through these things.
And why do we go through these things?
Because we sort of believe that we're not very impressive.
And really, we should be impressive.
And that's our Jim problem.
Why aren't we more impressive if these biblical things are true?
The Bible text today actually has a lot of really important things to speak into this issue
about our desire to be more impressive and how it messes up our lives.
Very powerful Bible text about this.
So it would be a great help to me if you'd get your Bibles and you'd open them up
to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.
2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.
And it speaks directly into some of these issues.
It's actually a really, really, really, there's two really, really, really beautiful Bible texts
in here that many of you should want to memorize.
It's a good thing to memorize the Bible.
And there's wonderful texts here for us to memorize and to be able to think about.
And look how the text begins.
2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.
And if you're wondering why I begin at verse 7, if you're a guest here this morning,
we do something which is very, very old-fashioned.
In fact, I mean, if you go back and you read Augustine and you go back and you read St. John Chrysostom
and you go back and you read Ambrose, they used to preach through books of the Bible.
And that's sort of a lost art.
We're preaching through the book of 2 Corinthians.
And that's why we're starting at verse 7 because we did up to verse 6, you know, 1 to 6 last week.
And listen to what it says in 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.
It's a very, very beautiful text, isn't it?
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Now, some of us might say, you know, that's a really beautiful text.
You know, my mom always told me that I was a treasure.
And you know, at school they try to tell you that you're a treasure.
And it's like it's a really nice text.
I'll have to show my teacher this text or tell my mom about this text because it's very, very Canadian, right?
Everybody's a treasure.
We all have this treasure within us.
And so it can sound like it's a very Canadian text, but it's actually a text which is very problematic for Christians.
And in fact, I'm going to do something a bit dangerous with you now because at first you might say this is a really nice verse to share with your friend.
But when I actually show you what it means, you might be terrified that your friend finds out about this text.
Because it's so profoundly un-Canadian.
Notice in verse 7 it begins with but.
And I'm sorry, I can't resist it.
It's a big but.
I love saying that.
I don't know why.
It's a big but.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay.
It means it's connected in a very particular way with what just goes on before it.
And so actually, Andrew, could you put that up on the screen?
Could you say this all with me?
It's a beautiful text, the two together.
For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Isn't that a beautiful text when put together?
It's so beautiful.
And last week we talked a little bit about verse 6 because I went through verses 1 to 6 of chapter 4.
So there's a bit of a context about this language of for God who said, let light shine out of darkness.
You know, earlier on in 2 Corinthians it said how every human being is veiled or blindfolded.
And it talks about almost as if every human being, on one hand, we're born with this blindfold.
On the other hand, we like to hold it on.
And the blindfold means that we don't actually get to see the reality the way it is.
We don't see reality.
We like to have blindfolds on.
And it implies that in terms of understanding God or seeing God or understanding God that we have a blindfold on.
And that understanding ourselves in light of God, our hearts, the center of who we are.
We can only understand who we are in light of who God is.
And we have a blindfold on about it.
And then just above this verse, it talks about on top of that, the devil blinds us.
On my drive in here this morning, it really struck me.
This is a bit of an aside.
I know I can have problems with asides.
You know, Bob Dylan just got the Nobel Prize, right, for poetry.
He has a line in one of his songs.
I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined.
I wish I could say it the way he said it.
Born already ruined, stone cold dead as I stepped out of the womb.
And by his grace, but by his grace, I have been touched.
By his word, I have been healed.
By his hand, I've been delivered.
By his spirit, I've been healed.
I've been saved.
That's a Dylan song.
Isn't that sort of cool that he just won the Nobel Prize for poetry?
And that's some of his poetry.
It comes right from 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined, stone cold dead as I stepped out of the womb.
And anyway, I think that's cool.
I'm an old Dylan fan.
So what's going on?
Just before this text is up here, for God who said,
let light shine out of darkness as shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
What the text is saying here, it's very, very powerful.
The same God who created all things and who on the very first day of creation said, let there be light.
And there's light scattering the darkness.
The very same God who has created all things is the same God that converts us.
who sees that we as human beings are veiled and blinded.
And earlier on in 2 Corinthians, it says that when we turn to the Lord, in other words, when we realize that unless God shows us mercy,
we cannot fix ourselves or help ourselves or save ourselves.
And we call out to God to show mercy to us.
And God, seeing that we are blinded and seeing that we are veiled,
he bypasses both.
And the very same God that created all things on the first day, began to create all things on the first day of creation,
shines in our hearts, the center of who we are, the command center of our lives.
And he shines into that to create the new creation.
The same God who creates is the same God who fits us for the new creation when we turn to Jesus in faith.
And that's what it's saying here in the text.
And when it talks about the glory of God,
for God who said, let light shine out of darkness as shown in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
the glory of God is not talking about a mystical vision.
It's not talking about the beatific vision.
It's not just saying you have to have a mystical experience.
No, it's not talking about that at all.
We'll see it more later on in 2 Corinthians.
But think back to the Gospel of John.
In the Gospel of John, the glory of God is an important theme throughout the Gospel of John.
And in John chapter 17, when Jesus is praying over his disciples,
he knows that after this prayer, he's going to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.
He's going to eventually be captured by his enemies and that he's going to die on the cross.
He knows all of that.
And he says to his disciples,
now you will see the glory of God revealed.
In other words,
Jesus dying on the cross
is the perfect revelation of the glory of God.
And that's what it's talking about here in 2 Corinthians.
When it says to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that God shines in our hearts,
it's giving a knowledge of what Jesus has done for us on the cross
to be gripped by what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
And when it says the face of Jesus,
it's to constantly reminding us that it's the person of Jesus who dies upon the cross for us,
that we're to have a personal knowledge,
that it's not just that some ritual happens to us
or that God just does some,
you know, it's as if he just shines a flashlight into us,
but that he comes and shines beneath our veiled and blinded eyes
into the very center of who we are
to bring home to us the reality of who his son is
and what his son has accomplished for us on the cross.
And so the word knowledge is personal knowledge,
not abstract knowledge,
not the way we know 2 plus 2 equals 4,
or that we know, you know,
who won the Stanley Cup last year,
anything like that.
It's not just abstract or mere information,
it's personal knowledge of a person
who has done this mighty act to save us,
revealing the glory of God in saving jars of clay
who are blinded and veiled.
Could you say this text with me again, please, one more time?
For God who said,
let light shine out of darkness,
has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that the surpassing power belongs to God
and not to us.
This is why I've now done a dangerous thing to you.
Because you might have said verse 7 is so wonderful,
I think I'll tell my teachers about that
or my friends about it.
They're always telling me,
this text is saying
that every human being
is a jar of clay.
It doesn't matter if it's
the people who win the gold medals in the Olympics,
it doesn't matter if it's the person
who will win the MVP award
in the NHL this year
or the MVP award in the playoffs.
Every human being is a fragile jar of clay.
But not every human being
has that treasure within them.
That's the bad news.
But the good news is
every jar of clay that turns to Christ,
God will turn no one away
and he will shine
and can shine
and will shine into their hearts
to bring the glory of God
and the knowledge of Christ
and all that wonderful stuff
and they will have that treasure within them.
It is both very bad news,
but it's also the best possible news
that you could hear.
All of us who struggle with being fragile.
So here we need,
just to be very honest,
most of us,
maybe all of us,
like, you know,
probably many of us
in our minds
at different times
we're legends
in our own minds.
And wouldn't,
you know,
if I,
maybe I'm just way more wicked
than the people here
and way more pride.
You know,
it would actually be very proud
for me to think I'm
more wicked than all of you.
That's a bit of a conundrum.
I'm just averagely wicked.
I don't know.
Averagely proud.
Oh, is that proud as well?
Anyway,
you can get,
you can see the devil
can really play us
like an instrument.
I mean,
he really can.
But, you know,
here's the thing.
Many of us would be so,
we'd all be so horrified
if other people
could just listen in
to how we talk
and think
and imagine
and daydream
throughout the day.
Like,
we'd spend time
both howling
with laughter
at how preposterous
we think we are
and then we'd be horrified
and then we'd be crying
with pity
because we're addicted
to boasting.
All human beings are.
That's one of the reasons
I think why this image
is so powerful
to humble us
to make us realize
that we aren't the legends
we believe in our own minds.
And most of us,
if we're honest,
when we daydream
and when we think,
it's always around
becoming more powerful
and more impressive.
And this text is saying,
you know,
when you come to Jesus
and God shines his heart,
his light into our hearts
and we have this
unbelievable treasure
but he leaves us
his jars of clay.
He doesn't make us superheroes.
We don't get the bodies
of Wolverine,
the wealth of Bill Gates,
the intelligence
of Stephen Hawking
and the niceness
of Mother Teresa.
We stay jars of clay.
And this is part
of God's good plan
for us
because he knows
how addicted we are
to boasting
and he wants to work in us
in such a way,
what does the text say?
To show that the surpassing power
belongs to God
and not to us.
Now, just as a bit
of a time out here,
this text,
if this was the only text
in the Bible
that talked about this,
we'd have a bit of a problem
because it could almost sound
as if it means that,
you know,
when I'm thinking about
my sermon for the coming week,
I should plan to do
as crappy a job as possible
so that God will be glorified.
It's not how it works.
You know,
it could be that
you dress as bad
as you can
and you bathe
as often as Bob
so that God,
that's not,
if this was the only text,
maybe you could think that.
I mean,
the fact of the matter
is that there's lots
of Bible texts
that really tell us
that if we want
to bring God glory,
why wouldn't we do
the best we absolutely
can do for him?
But at the same time
that this text is,
that the Bible
is encouraging us
that once we follow
Jesus as our Lord,
that we are to try
to give our absolute best
for him,
at the same time,
it's powerfully reminding us
that we are always
jars of clay
and that the surpassing power
comes from God
and never from us
and the praise
for his surpassing power
must go to him
and never to us.
And so one of the things
you could do
just as a time out,
like for us,
for those of us
who are praying
for our kids,
those of us
who are parents,
just here's the thing,
remember that you
are a jar of clay.
Remember you are
a jar of clay
and you're dealing
with your kids
who are jars of clay
as well.
You know,
I think it's so powerful,
jars of clay
are fragile.
One of the fruits
of the Holy Spirit
is gentleness.
Nowhere in the Bible
does it commend us
to be a bull
in a china shop.
But the virtue
of gentleness
is constantly
encouraged upon us
and we are to pray
that we can be gentle
in how we handle people
and to pray
to be gentle
with our kids
and husbands
to be,
you know,
gentle with your spouse
and spouse
to be gentle
with your husband
and to remember
that we're jars
of clay
and that we have
to pray
that God's
surpassing power
will work through
the fact
that we will always
be imperfect parents.
And one of the things
you can pray for us
as a church
is that when the council
meets that we remember
that we're jars of clay
and that we don't say
we can't do that
or we can't do this,
God can't be leading us there
because we're not impressive
and powerful enough
that area,
but to remember
that we're jars of clay.
And maybe God
is going to lead,
maybe God will always
lead us into areas
where we are only jars of clay
and the surpassing power
has to come from God
and we have to say
only God.
And if you're in work
and you're afraid
or your neighbors
and you're afraid
to share the gospel
or even tell people
that you know
that you go to church
on a Sunday morning
because you say to yourself,
you know what,
I don't get the best job review.
You know,
maybe I'm in the bottom part
of the office
in terms of job review.
Well, you know,
pray to God
that you can do better
in your job
but remember
that God uses
jars of clay.
to bear witness
to others.
Now,
some of you might say,
George,
you know,
you asked us
to have this Bible
and while you were talking,
that was very,
you know,
good, George.
But,
George,
I think that some
of the things
that happened after this,
like that was very helpful,
George,
but, you know,
you've just been talking
about one verse,
verse seven,
and the stuff
that comes afterwards,
I don't know
if the Bible's true,
George.
Like,
George,
why is it so hard
to be a Christian often?
Like,
you know,
George,
later on it's going to say
about,
you know,
you face despair
and you're broken
but not,
you know,
crushed but not,
you know,
and all that stuff
but it's all this
other victory stuff
but,
George,
I don't know,
I've been in a really long
season of despair
and I don't know
what to do
and,
you know,
a lot of the praise songs
in churches,
it's all about
got the victory
and Jesus
and I'm dancing
but,
you know,
inside I don't feel
like I have victory
and I don't feel
like I'm dancing.
George,
I have a heavy heart
and I've been in a long season
and I don't know
if it's true,
George,
or maybe,
does that mean
I'm not a Christian
because it just seems
like it's so hard?
It's so hard.
Well,
there's two things
about this
and the first thing
is,
well,
let's look at
verses eight to 15
and I'll talk about
the first thing
and I'll tell you
the second thing
about that
for those of us
who aren't sure
if the Bible's true
and they're finding it
really,
really hard
and they're wondering,
you're wondering,
we're wondering
if our brokenness
is something
that's going to be
the story of our lives.
Look at verses
eight to 15.
One of the problems
we have with it,
I'll see in a moment
because it's a very simple
way to understand it
is it's very powerful
poetic imagery
to communicate
a simple truth
but let's read,
we are afflicted
in every way
but not crushed.
That's the part
some of us don't believe.
I'm afflicted
and crushed,
George.
We're perplexed
but not driven
to despair.
George,
I'm struggling
with despair.
Persecuted
but not forsaken.
I feel forsaken,
George.
Struck down
but not destroyed.
George,
I feel 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.
Since we have
the same spirit
of faith
and just pause here
the word spirit
could be capitalized,
probably should be capitalized.
it's the Holy Spirit.
So it's actually saying
that the same Holy Spirit
that caused the Bible
to be written
is the Holy Spirit
that Christians have.
Since we have
the same spirit
of faith
according to what
has been written,
I believed
and so I spoke,
we also believe
and so we also speak
knowing that
he who raised
the Lord Jesus
will raise us
also with Jesus
and bring us
with you
into his presence
for it is all
for your sake
so that his grace
extends to more
and more people
it may increase
thanksgiving
to the glory
of God.
Here in a very
simple way,
this is a very,
very rich text
filled with powerful
poetic imagery
but in a very simple way,
here's the first thing
that the text is saying
in answer to why
is it that the Christian life
seems so hard
and what's it talking
about all this being broken
and death
and all of that stuff.
It's Luke chapter 6
verse 40.
Luke chapter 6
verse 40.
Can you put it up Andrew?
We're not going to have us say it
but I'm just going to read it.
What does Jesus say?
A disciple is not above
his teacher
but everyone
when he is fully trained
will be like his teacher.
A disciple is not above
his teacher
but everyone
when he is fully trained
will be like his teacher.
There's a four or five
places in the Gospels
where Jesus says
a variation of the same thing.
Jesus' death
upon the cross
is the lamb of
his dying
is the lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world.
That's what his death is.
On one hand,
his death is a
sacrifice for sin
that makes human beings
right with God
and that's completely
and utterly unique to Jesus.
We don't do anything
like that to save people
but Jesus consistently
tells us in the Gospel
that we are to be like him
and Jesus
made himself nothing.
Jesus was tempted
by the devil
in the wilderness.
Jesus got tired.
Jesus served others
and was misunderstood.
His family thought
he was insane.
If you go back
and read the Gospels,
they thought he was insane
and he was whipped
and he was beaten
and the Bible text
here in 2 Corinthians
is telling us
this very, very hard truth
but it's an important truth
to remember
that all Christian ministry
and all Christians
have a ministry
is cruciform.
It's in the shape
of the cross.
Jesus says,
pick up your cross
and follow me.
And Paul here
is talking about that
in very, very powerful
poetic imagery.
Some of us,
the imagery of death
and of life,
it's a better way
to get into our consciousness
and into our hearts
than just this mere thing
that if we follow Jesus
we'll be like him.
But that's what Paul
is saying here.
It's a very, very powerful thing.
But some of us might say,
George,
okay,
you said there's a second thing.
You know,
I'm going to be really honest
with you.
So,
you know,
I struggle with
any type of self-worth
or purpose.
And,
you know,
I don't know
when to say no to people.
And,
you know,
in my head,
I carry around
what my dad said
about not respecting me
or I'll never amount to much
or what my coach
or my teacher said.
And I carry that around
in me, George.
and I,
I mean,
I want to follow Jesus
and I,
and I'm willing to pick up
the cross
and follow him,
but,
oh,
I still don't know
if all those things
about,
you know,
being broken,
you know,
but not finally
and all,
I don't,
I don't know if it's true,
George.
I don't know,
George.
It just,
it just seems hard.
Well,
just look at verse 14 again.
What does it say
in verse 14?
Knowing that he who raised
the Lord Jesus
will raise us
also with Jesus
and bring us with you
into his presence.
For it is all for your sake,
so that his grace extends
to more and more people
it may increase
thanksgiving to the glory
of God.
And then these wonderful
verses at the end,
verses 16 to 18,
more verses to memorize.
Could you put it up
on the screen
and could you,
could you folks
say it with me out loud?
So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self
is wasting away,
our inner self
is being renewed
day by day.
For this light,
momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison.
As we look not
to the things that are seen,
but to the things
that are unseen.
For the things that are seen
are transient,
but the things that are unseen
are eternal.
I mean,
here's the thing
about this Bible text
about us being jars of clay.
The fact of the matter is,
is jars of clay
is a very, very accurate way
to describe us.
I know we have
some doctors here
and some people
who are in med school.
Tiny, tiny,
microscopic things
cause us to die.
And I mean,
this week I know
it's a shock
to politicians,
Jim Prentice dying.
And we are very fragile.
And we don't really
want to acknowledge it.
And this whole text,
when it tells us
about us being jars of clay
and being very fragile,
and when it tells us
that if we don't have Jesus,
that treasure's not within us,
that in fact is telling us
that our situation
is vastly worse
than we normally
are comfortable
of thinking about.
That it's vastly worse,
that we are in far more danger
and far more trouble
than we want to usually
think about
apart from Jesus.
But the text
is also telling us
that we are so much
more loved
than we can possibly imagine.
That once we put
our faith and trust
in Jesus
and we have
that treasure within us,
that doesn't just
trust touch us
at the moment
that we realize
that we've given
our lives to Jesus.
Because some people
it's a very conscious thing
and some people
it's something
that they come to realize
with greater and greater clarity
from the time
they were young children.
Or maybe it's something
for some people
that over a period
of six months or a year
they make this transition
from not being
trusting in Jesus
to trusting in Jesus.
They don't know
the moment it happened.
It doesn't matter
if you know the moment.
But that when it has,
it touches the entire length
of our lives.
It goes right back to us.
Us being a jar of clay
goes from the moment
of our conception
to the future
which is the moment
of our death
and everything in between.
And that we're a jar of clay
for that entire time.
And the treasure,
the shining of the light
of the gospel
of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ
that comes
and that takes up
the whole length
and depth of our lives
with nothing left over.
And so it means
that whether we were aware
of it or not
there is no time
in our life
that we have not been
profoundly,
sacrificially,
gloriously,
deeply loved by God
even if we feel
completely and utterly alone
and we are suffering
and feeling
and afraid of despair,
there has never been
a time that we have been
not been deeply loved.
And then this text
is telling us
that it's impossible
for us to imagine
that an ever-increasing glory,
an ever-increasing weight
of glory
will be the final word
about us in Jesus.
And this is not me
telling you this
in humanism,
this is God telling us
in his word.
I have no authority
to tell you this
because we're jars of clay.
But the Bible says,
for this light momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison.
Jesus,
when he died upon the cross,
he took upon himself
my doom
and yours.
and as he dies
upon the cross,
he offers you and me
his destiny.
That's what he does
for us on the cross.
Some of you might say,
George,
this can't be for me.
Come on, George,
look at this.
Looking to the things
that are not seen
and unseen
and higher things.
George,
I'm an ordinary guy.
I'm going to be honest with you.
You know what I'm looking forward
to doing this afternoon?
Can a bud
and the TV on.
You know,
and maybe some others
are saying,
you know what
I'm looking forward
towards this afternoon,
George?
I'm just looking forward
to a cup of coffee
and Netflix.
I don't want to have to think
about higher things
and whoa.
Does that mean
I have to listen
to CBC and opera
and stuff like that
and highfalutin stuff
when I'm just
an ordinary guy
or gal?
It's not what
the text means at all.
Can you read this text
with me again?
So we do not
lose heart.
Though our outer self
is wasting away,
our inner self
is being renewed
day by day.
For this light
momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight
of glory
beyond all comparison.
As we look
not to the things
that are seen
but to the things
that are unseen.
For the things
that are seen
are transient
but the things
that are unseen
are eternal.
What Paul is talking
about here,
what the Bible
is talking about here
is not a distinction
between high things
and low things.
He's not talking
about high culture
versus low culture.
He's not talking
about having
a hipster burger
that cost $27
and a burger
at McDonald's
that cost $1.49.
He's not talking
about those types
of distinctions.
And he's not talking
about the soul
versus the body.
He's not talking
about inner things
versus outer things.
He's not talking
about that.
To use a big word,
he's making
an eschatological
distinction.
I know, I'm sorry,
it's a big word
and I have problems
spelling it.
An eschatological
difference.
What he's reminding
us is this,
that when Jesus
died upon the cross
and after he died
upon the cross
as the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world
and he descends
into death
and he tastes
all there is
to taste of death,
he bears our sin
and he tastes
all there is
to taste of hell
and on the third day
he rises triumphant
and he's defeated sin,
he's defeated death,
he's defeated hell
and all hostile
spiritual powers.
The beginning
of the end
of the age
has come
and he will
surely return
and when he returns,
this age,
this created order
will come to an end
and he will usher in
and bring the new heaven
and the new earth
where we will live
with resurrected
and new bodies
for all eternity
in the presence of God
in a new heaven
and a new earth
and what Paul
is saying here
is he's making
the distinction
between two different ways
of looking at us
as human beings.
On one hand,
you can look at us
as human beings
and in fact,
the word is actually
literally in the Greek
the outer man
and on one hand,
you can look at it
from the outer man's
point of view,
it's what the Supreme Court
of Canada sees,
it's what Apple sees,
it sees George the Consumer,
it sees how much money
George has
and the types of preferences
he has
and it's the outer thing
and that's part of this age
which is going to come
to an end
but then all of a sudden
there's a slightly
different perspective
by which you can look
at things
and you can look at things
and see that George
already has the light
of the knowledge
of the glory of God
and the face of Jesus Christ
within him
and that means
that he is already
part of the age to come,
that he is already God's,
he's already Christ,
that nothing can stop that,
that nothing can take that away
and that is unseen
by the Supreme Court of Canada,
it is unseen
by the Parliament
and the Senate,
it is unseen
by the CBC
and the University of Ottawa
and the University of Toronto,
it is unseen
by the Globe of Mail
and Hollywood
and it is unseen
by Bay Street
and it is unseen
by all the principalities
and powers of this world
but what is this other thing
that characterizes George
is what is unseen
by the world
is that when Jesus
died upon the cross,
it was the death
of death
in the death
of Christ
that what is unseen
was the defeat
of death
and sin
and hell
and all hostile
spiritual powers,
it is the coming
of God himself
who will bring
all things
to a completed end
and those are
the unseen things
that we are
to be gripped with,
not opera
and high poetry,
I am not against those,
if you like them
that is great,
if you like country
and western
that is great,
it is irrelevant
in the Bible,
the unseen things
are what happens
on the cross,
that there is a father
who loves us,
that this is his
created order,
that he hears our prayers,
that he wants to hear
our prayers,
that Jesus will come again,
that there will be,
those are the unseen things
made manifest
in his word,
the true
invisible realities
made visible
by God.
That's what's to grip us.
And so from that perspective,
I'm not diminishing,
I don't want to diminish at all,
I've had long seasons
where it's felt
very, very dark,
maybe not as long as yours.
You know,
here's the thing,
here's the Christian claim.
We want to be able
to boast and believe
that somehow
our faith is so strong
and so impressive
and our ability
to manage life
is so strong
and so impressive
that at the end of the day
it's always about
our ability
to hold on
to the hand of Jesus.
And this text
is reminding us
that the fact of the matter is
Jesus loves us
when we squeeze his hand
and he really does.
But the Christian life
is not about
how successful I am
at holding on
to the hand of Jesus.
This text is reminding me
that there are so many times
in my life
that my hand's like this,
that in fact
my hand's like this,
that my hand's like this
and I'm like this.
And what the text is saying,
Jesus' hand is strong
and it never lets go of you.
It never lets go of you.
And yet,
sometimes
and for some of us,
life is really,
really hard.
And the text here
has a very,
very particular progress.
If you look at it,
you know,
verse 17,
for this light momentary affliction
is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory
beyond comparison.
Not that somehow
momentary afflictions
just do it by itself.
As we look,
not to the things
that are seen,
but the things
that are unseen.
It's calling us
in the middle
of our afflictions,
even if all we do
is crying out to God
out of a heart
of despair
and tiredness
and anxiety
and just saying,
Father,
help me to be gripped
by what Jesus did
for me on the cross.
And it's as we're gripped
by these unseen things
that we start to have
some type of sense,
even if it doesn't change
our emotion or our pain,
that from the perspective
of eternity,
our pain
and our darkness
is not the final word
about us,
but the final word
about you and me
in Christ
is an eternal weight
of glory
beyond our ability
to imagine.
And when we put our faith
and trust in Jesus,
that is final
and unshakable.
And while it may be hard now,
in eternity,
we will realize
that our troubles
really were just momentary.
Please stand.
If you're here this morning
and you have a sense
that either you have
not really done work
with Jesus
to give your life to him
that he hasn't shown
in your heart,
you know,
I'm not going to tell you
there's no magic words
of prayer.
You know what you should
just say?
You should just take your Bible
and look at verses 6 and 7
and say,
God,
make that mine.
Make that mine.
Or those words
that were just up
on the screen,
maybe put up,
yeah,
put verse 6 and 7
up on the screen,
Andrew,
if you could do that.
Just say to God,
make that mine.
For those of us
who are having
a hard time in prayer,
just look at the final verses,
16 to 18,
and just say,
Lord,
make that me.
Lord,
make that me.
I can hardly even say it.
I'm so broken,
but Lord,
make that me.
And God hears,
and God will do it.
And if you've done it
for the first time
after the service,
just tell somebody
that you've done it
for the first time.
Devil will tell you
to be silent.
Tell the devil
to shut up
and tell somebody.
Let's just pray.
Father,
we thank you so much
that we are jars of clay.
And yet,
even though we are jars of clay,
you loved us so much,
seeing our deep need
that you sent your son
to take upon himself
a jar of clay
and live amongst us
fully and completely
as a jar of clay,
to die for jars of clay,
so that when we put our faith
and trust in you,
the glory of salvation
and Jesus
will live within us
and never leave
and fit and prepare us
for the new heaven
and the new earth.
Father,
we thank you
for this great promise
and this great victory
of your son
and this great love
for us
that you have
and this great glory
you have promised us
beyond our comparison.
Help us,
Father,
to begin
to be comfortable
with being jars of clay
and being weak
and call out to you
and walk
and follow you
in faith
so that your great power
may be displayed
in the world
in a way that brings
no glory to us
but only to you.
Make us disciples of Jesus
gripped by the gospel
living for your glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.