2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Down but Not Out!
A Christian need never suffer. At least that’s what some preachers might tell you. However, that is not the message of scripture. Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20). We should expect no better treatment than that received by our Lord. So, when suffering comes, how can we handle it?
In today’s scripture, Paul was writing in response to some “super-Apostles,” people who were flamboyantly teaching the gospel, yet perverting it as the very first prosperity preachers. Paul talked about his own sufferings and suggested that, through our weakness, through our frailty, God can shine through even brighter. Paul says, “It’s not about you; it’s all about Christ in you.” So imagine yourself in the crowd of First Church, Corinth, as Paul’s letter is read aloud. Let’s listen in and see what we can learn about making the most of our suffering. Lesson #1:
1. You don’t have to be in the spotlight, because you have the light of Christ in you (v. 6)
Paul contrasted true believers with those false teachers who drew attention to themselves. They wanted to be in the spotlight. Yet, Paul says, “It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus in you!”
Sometimes we feel the pressure to perform. We want to be bigger, better, louder, faster, smarter, prettier, brighter. We’re tempted to toot our own horns, to draw attention to ourselves. Yet, Paul reminds us that Christ’s light shines in our hearts the moment we surrender to his lordship. In verse 6, Paul states that the one who spoke light into being at creation is the same one who puts the light of Christ in your heart. The moment you become a believer, God creates again. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: the old has gone, the new is here!”
Now for Paul, this image of Christ’s light was very personal indeed. Paul became a believer when he was blinded on the road to Damascus. The light of Christ was brighter than the noonday sun. Paul asked, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord answered, “I am Jesus, the one you’ve been persecuting.” Paul shared in detail about this light in at least three separate occasions preserved in the New Testament. Christ’s blinding light changed him forever.
As Craig Groeschel said, “God did not call us to blend in, but to stand out. Let your light shine.” “This little light of mine: I’m gonna let it shine!” How are you at letting Christ’s light shine through you? You don’t have to try harder. You just need to trust more. Trust that God will use you as you make yourself available for his purposes. Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” You don’t have to be in the spotlight, because you already have the light of Christ in you. And lesson #2 ...
2. The older you get, the more glory God gets (v. 7)
The moment we are born, our bodies begin to die. The aging process sets in, just as it did for our first parents, Adam and Eve, the moment they sinned. Death and dying is part of our sinful world, for now at least, until God makes all things new.
Yet, the good news is, the weaker we are, the more glory God gets. Paul gives an object lesson in verse 7. He says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Our bodies are like jars of clay, or another translation reads, “earthen vessels” or “clay pots.” The Amplified Bible calls them “unworthy earthen vessels of human frailty.” I look in the mirror, and I see a body much different than 20 years ago. Although I think I’m the same person, the mirror does not lie.
Now I did some research this week on clay pots, and here’s what I found. [Show a terracotta clay pot intact from the store.] Here is a modern clay pot. Back then, people used earthenware for all kinds of storage, from human waste to remnants of scripture, like the ones which housed the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were kind of like our modern-day storage containers, canning jars, or cardboard boxes. Yet, like a lot of storage containers, they are fragile. According to my research, here is what happens when you drop a clay pot on a hard surface. [Share some fragments wrapped up in a towel.] Even though something important may be stored in the pot or jar, the container itself is not that important.
That’s how it is with us. Our bodies house our spirit, which for believers will one day go to be with God, as our bodies go back into the soil from which they came. “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.” Yet, our spirit will live on, with God’s Spirit, someday to receive a new resurrection body.
Scripture tells us to take care of our bodies, for they house the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Yet, we don’t have to obsess over them. I give you permission not to worry about facelifts, tummy tucks, or hair transplants. Aging is normal. And Paul points out that, in our human frailty, the power of God can shine through. If we have the hope of Christ in our hearts, God can do in and through us more than we could ever do on our own. There is something particularly sweet about an elderly person’s love for the Lord. It is simply contagious. So the older you get, depend on God more and more, and let the love of Christ shine through you, giving God all the glory. Lesson #3,
3. Because of the gospel, you may get down but not out (vv. 8-9)
The Urban Dictionary defines the phrase, “Down but not out,” as: “resolve (or stupidity) when a person has lost the upper hand in a competition or in life but has not yet lost or quit.” We see it used in sports a lot. For instance, consider the boxer who takes a beating but keeps getting up. Or in the last Super Bowl, Philadelphia was down towards the end of the game, but they proved in the last quarter that they were not out.
Paul gives four poetic couplets to illustrate this truth in his own life and in the lives of believers going through hard times. Read with me from the outline verses 8-9: “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” One of these couplets is a play on words in the Greek. The English equivalent might be, “I am struck down, but I'm not struck out.” Or, “I’m at a loss, but never lost.”
On Paul’s very first missionary trip, a crowd tried to stone him to death. They threw rocks at him until they thought he was dead. He was down but not out. After the crowd drifted away, fellow believers helped him up, and he moved on. Talk about a rough beginning! I wonder if Paul was thinking about this event when he wrote these words.
Summarizing the four couplets, for the believer, it’s not over until God says it’s over. We may feel weak, lost, adrift; yet God’s strength is at work in us. God will keep us in the fight, as we depend on him instead of ourselves. And even when it’s over, that just means eternal life has shifted from this life to the next. What’s the worst they can do to me for my faith? Kill me, and that means I get to go to heaven. It’s a win-win for me whether I live or die. Which leads to #4,
4. You may suffer for your faith, but Christ will use your sacrifice to bring life to others (vv. 10-12)
We live in a time when popularity is coveted, when people like to be liked. Yet, sometimes you may have to suffer for your faith, or God forbid, die for it. Paul did. Even as Paul knew his days were numbered, he did not despair. He knew that any suffering or death for him meant life for others, as they embraced the gospel through his witness. Verse 12: “Death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
Let’s return to our initial thought today, which is: it’s not about you; it’s not about me. It IS about “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). That is what matters. Friends may come and friends may go, popularity may rise and fall. Yet, if we follow Jesus, we may be down but never out.
I have heard from many a Combat Veteran that a turning point came in their deployment, a time when they thought, “I’m not coming home alive.” The fear left them, and they were able to function fully, without the crippling anxiety creeping in. In a sense, that is what happened to Paul here. He decided that he only had to please an audience of one. No one else mattered. If he lived for Jesus, he might die, but through his sufferings, others would live forever, embracing the gospel, becoming new creations themselves, joining the family of God. And that made everything worthwhile. May we take such a selfless approach to life. Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, as we see our bodies grow older and we experience the inevitable difficulties of life, may we take heart, knowing that you will use our weakness to magnify your greatness. Help others see Jesus in us. Help someone in this place today to give their life to Jesus, including all of their sin, all of their pride, all of their inadequacies, all of their fear, and allow Jesus to replace it all with his forgiveness, with his love, with his strength shining through. Amen.
[Lead in to Communion]
If you’ve never given your life to Jesus, do it now, and take Communion as a Christian believer for the very first time. Simply invite him in, to forgive your sin and take charge of your life. As we prepare for Communion, I would like you to hear a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. Two years before his death, Francis withdrew from the crowds to rocky Mt. LaVerna. One of his recorded prayers, from September 1224, is as follows:
“My Lord Jesus Christ, two graces I ask of you before I die: the first is that in my life I may feel, in my soul and body, as far as possible, that sorrow which you, tender Jesus underwent in the hour of your most bitter passion; the second is that I may feel in my heart, as far as possible, the abundance of love with which you, son of God, were inflamed so as willingly to undergo such a great passion for us sinners.” [James Howell, “Conversations with St. Francis,” Abingdon Press, 2008.]
Today we celebrate Jesus’ passion for us. We pass the bread, remembering his body given for us. We pass the cup, remembering his blood shed for us. Ushers, please come. If you are a believer in Christ, you are welcome to participate. If you would like, you can hold onto the bread and we will all take together.
