WEBVTT 00:00:02.220 --> 00:00:06.360 You know, most of us try to hide the things that 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:12.119 are fragile. We reinforce them. We protect them. 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:16.120 We strengthen them. If something is breakable, 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:20.640 we don't necessarily put something valuable inside 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:25.039 of it. We don't typically store treasures in 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:31.559 things that could crack. But, God does. Paul 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:36.420 says we have this treasure in jars of clay. God 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:40.420 does not use gold containers. He does not use 00:00:40.420 --> 00:00:46.460 reinforced steel. He uses clay. Ordinary. Common. 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:53.219 And breaker. Because that is what we are. We 00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:56.579 need to clean his burnt vessels. That is where 00:00:56.579 --> 00:01:00.460 God chooses the place of his treasure. You see... 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:05.280 When Paul points this out, he's not saying that 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:09.819 we are the treasure in the earthen vessels as 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:14.159 much as he is saying that this treasure is in 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:20.680 earthen vessels. We have this treasure. Because 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:26.540 it's not us. We're the jars. We're the ones inside 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:29.340 of which the treasure is to be found. But you 00:01:29.340 --> 00:01:32.000 see, the treasure is the gospel. The treasure 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.780 is Christ Himself, life, death, resurrection, 00:01:36.379 --> 00:01:39.859 that Jesus has carried out. But then He has brought 00:01:39.859 --> 00:01:46.739 it for us, to us, and kept it in us. And He does 00:01:46.739 --> 00:01:49.439 it for this reason, to show that the surpassing 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.900 power belongs to God and not to us. If the jars 00:01:53.900 --> 00:01:58.219 were impressive, we might mistake the source. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.719 If the containers were flawless, we might trust 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:05.659 the container as being what's important. We see 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:09.080 that so often, where time and time again people 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:12.960 continue to try to put on their best face, their 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:16.520 butt's front. Put the right foot, the best foot, 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:19.379 or if you're left handed, the left one. And you 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:22.360 go forward with that and you say, this is my 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:25.620 best side. This is what I want everyone to see. 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:29.740 Because we want people to trust us. We want them 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:34.800 to turn to us. And yet, we are the ones who are 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.120 continually fragile. We just make sure that nobody 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:44.020 knows that side. Because something powerful is 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:49.639 still at work. But it's not us. It's God. But 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:53.219 Paul gets very honest. He says we are afflicted 00:02:53.219 --> 00:02:56.669 in every way. We are pressed, we are squeezed. 00:02:56.969 --> 00:03:00.969 Life does not handle the jar gently. There is 00:03:00.969 --> 00:03:04.909 pressure from every side. He says, afflicted, 00:03:05.150 --> 00:03:10.169 perplexed, persecuted, struck down. Let's be 00:03:10.169 --> 00:03:14.449 honest. This is not abstract. As I say those 00:03:14.449 --> 00:03:19.610 words, at least one of them hits you as real. 00:03:21.430 --> 00:03:25.430 One of them... if not all of them, strikes you 00:03:25.430 --> 00:03:29.009 as something you have felt in, not all that long 00:03:29.009 --> 00:03:34.710 ago. These lived experiences that we have, they 00:03:34.710 --> 00:03:37.789 show the pressures that we go through, the strained 00:03:37.789 --> 00:03:41.129 relationships where we wonder, why is it that 00:03:41.129 --> 00:03:44.750 everything keeps turning into a fight? The uncertain 00:03:44.750 --> 00:03:48.669 finances of, I know, I worked hard, why are these 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:51.740 things not getting paid? The failing health, 00:03:52.060 --> 00:03:55.639 where we wonder, I eat well, I exercise, why 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:59.479 can I not seem to get where I want to be? Or 00:03:59.479 --> 00:04:05.300 the emotional exhaustion. You try, try, and try, 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:09.259 and nothing seems to let up. And even sometimes 00:04:09.259 --> 00:04:11.819 the questions that we just can't answer, and 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:15.180 we sit there wondering, why is it that the world 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:19.019 seems to be taking crazy pills, or is it eating? 00:04:20.370 --> 00:04:23.189 Sometimes it feels like life is pressing in from 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:29.550 every side. But each line of this from Paul doesn't 00:04:29.550 --> 00:04:35.350 just stand by itself. Pressed, but not crushed. 00:04:36.509 --> 00:04:40.889 Perplexed, but not driven to despair. Persecuted, 00:04:40.990 --> 00:04:46.110 but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. 00:04:47.430 --> 00:04:50.779 So the jar is fragile, but... It's not abandoning. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:54.420 God didn't put the treasure inside of you and 00:04:54.420 --> 00:04:58.500 then just walk away. Something holds us together 00:04:58.500 --> 00:05:00.839 that is more than just human resilience, more 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:04.860 than just try harder. The resurrection power 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:08.279 of the same God who raised Christ from the dead 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:12.800 and sustains His people. You see, the pressure 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.279 of all these circumstances does not destroy you. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:22.300 It feels like it sometimes. But feeling that 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:27.220 way doesn't mean it actually is. But it also 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:30.759 reveals something. That there is light in you 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:35.439 that does not come from you. And that's the thing, 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:39.899 is Paul ends up showing us that all these other 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:44.019 things cannot destroy us. But then he goes deeper 00:05:44.019 --> 00:05:47.699 and starts to talk about something a little bit 00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:51.389 confusing. Because then, he doesn't talk just 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:53.990 about surviving the hardships. Then he says, 00:05:54.689 --> 00:05:58.610 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus. 00:05:58.730 --> 00:06:02.269 Wait a minute. I thought we were not crushed. 00:06:03.629 --> 00:06:07.730 How are we carrying in the death of Jesus? See, 00:06:07.730 --> 00:06:10.629 this changes everything. Because we're not talking 00:06:10.629 --> 00:06:13.689 about random suffering that we feel like everything 00:06:13.689 --> 00:06:19.139 around us is caving in. This is our willing participation 00:06:19.139 --> 00:06:23.459 in Christ. Not letting the world decide what 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:28.660 will hurt us, but rather choosing to follow the 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:33.439 Christ who has given us life. But not just to 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:37.519 receive it, but to share the pattern, the pattern 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.060 of giving, the pattern of serving, the pattern 00:06:41.060 --> 00:06:46.779 of losing when we should, the pattern of trusting. 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:51.740 Always. See, the life of Christ is not just power. 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:57.579 It is cruciform. It is meant to be the form of 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:02.100 a cross, of suffering. Paul says we who live 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:05.800 are always being given over to death for Jesus' 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:09.019 sake. Not because we're just enduring stuff around 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:13.920 us, but willingly given over. Because this is 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:19.689 where faith becomes visible. to trust that when 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:22.910 we give ourselves over, there is new life on 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:26.110 the other side. See, this is what we often resist. 00:07:26.589 --> 00:07:29.550 See, we're willing to say, well, God sustains 00:07:29.550 --> 00:07:33.610 me in the hardship. We're not talking about God 00:07:33.610 --> 00:07:37.389 sustaining us just in the hardship. Paul says, 00:07:37.730 --> 00:07:43.949 my life is being poured out. Being willing to 00:07:43.949 --> 00:07:47.879 go to that. Because this is the pattern of Christ 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.699 himself. Jesus did not simply endure suffering, 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:55.660 he gave himself. And through his death came life. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:58.399 And that's the pattern that we're looking at. 00:07:59.060 --> 00:08:02.220 Is to be willing in these quiet everyday ways 00:08:02.220 --> 00:08:06.759 to let go of so much that we try to cling to. 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:11.870 Because by letting it go... Being willing to 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:14.709 be poured out is when we can finally receive 00:08:14.709 --> 00:08:18.850 what God has for us. When a parent sacrifices 00:08:18.850 --> 00:08:22.569 sleep, time, and energy for their child. When 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.310 someone forgives instead of retaliating. When 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:29.009 a person gives generously instead of clinging 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:32.309 tightly. When a believer speaks truth gently 00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:35.610 instead of trying to win the argument, saying 00:08:35.610 --> 00:08:41.379 yes whenever deeply you wonder why. when you 00:08:41.379 --> 00:08:44.620 bear with someone difficult rather than walking 00:08:44.620 --> 00:08:51.399 away. In those moments, something is dying. Control, 00:08:51.659 --> 00:08:55.759 pride, comfort, self -protection. But through 00:08:55.759 --> 00:09:02.080 that death, life flows in and then through us 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:07.539 to the world. So this is the tension. We're not 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:10.799 destroyed by the things that we endured. but 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.460 we are still called to give ourselves away. Nothing 00:09:14.460 --> 00:09:17.559 else crushes us, but we still pour ourselves 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:21.480 out. Nothing abandons us in this world because 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:25.200 we are always loved by God Himself and yet we 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.659 then still offer ourselves freely. But this is 00:09:28.659 --> 00:09:31.879 not weakness as if somehow it's just sitting 00:09:31.879 --> 00:09:36.059 there like some failure. It is not seeking the 00:09:36.059 --> 00:09:39.580 suffering just to prove something. It is trusting 00:09:39.580 --> 00:09:44.879 Christ enough to let go of it all, even when 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:50.100 it feels that it costs everything, because it's 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:56.039 supposed to. So as we come to the center of this, 00:09:57.419 --> 00:10:01.840 we see that it points to Christ, not the Jesus 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:04.940 that people love to try to plaster in front of 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:10.700 us, but the one who was afflicted and crushed, 00:10:11.899 --> 00:10:15.700 the one who was perplexed and forsaken, the one 00:10:15.700 --> 00:10:22.379 who was struck down and killed. We were preserved 00:10:22.379 --> 00:10:27.399 from those. He suffered them all. And why? So 00:10:27.399 --> 00:10:31.840 that you would not have to be. He entered fully 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:34.940 into destruction so that in him would never be 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:37.840 abandoned. Because he's the true vessel that 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:41.960 was ultimately broken for the whole world. He 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:46.360 took on the fragile form because he knew he would 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:51.039 need to be broken completely for us. And then 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:55.620 because he was raised, the life we carry is not 00:10:55.620 --> 00:11:00.620 fragile the same way that we are. Because sometimes, 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.279 as jars, we crack the load. Sometimes we find 00:11:08.279 --> 00:11:12.080 ourselves with a little hole in here. Sometimes 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:14.460 the wear and tear that we wish nobody else could 00:11:14.460 --> 00:11:19.779 see. But the treasure is still perfect and complete. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:24.740 And when those cracks do show up, the light from 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:30.620 it shines even more fully. So for you, you do 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:32.639 not have to pretend to be strong at all times. 00:11:33.289 --> 00:11:35.389 You don't have to try to hide your weakness. 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:37.970 You don't have to try to fear the pressures that 00:11:37.970 --> 00:11:40.570 are around you. Because the power of holding 00:11:40.570 --> 00:11:46.590 you is not yours. It is given to you. Because 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:49.090 your life is not meant to be preserved at all 00:11:49.090 --> 00:11:54.070 costs. It is meant to be freely given. Because 00:11:54.070 --> 00:11:56.750 in Christ, even the things that feel like a loss 00:11:56.750 --> 00:12:02.370 are not given. The treasure remains. The life 00:12:02.370 --> 00:12:05.850 of Jesus is still at work. And through jars of 00:12:05.850 --> 00:12:10.549 clay, like us, God is still bringing life into 00:12:10.549 --> 00:12:16.269 the world. So may we be willing to be fragile, 00:12:17.909 --> 00:12:22.750 and in Christ still have everything. Amen.