Treasure in Jars of Clay

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As you may know, we launched Resound Project out of Central Church four years ago in fall 2021 with a vision to help strengthen the Church for a changing world. We recognize that the ground is shifting underneath our feet. And this past weekend we hosted one of our annual leadership gatherings for Christian leaders from here in New York City and around the country. We recognize that the Church today is facing a unique set of challenges as well as opportunities, and therefore we need one another to help figure out how to navigate this new cultural terrain.

If you're headed into uncharted territory, where no one has been before, what you need is a good orienteer. If you're going someplace where there are no maps, you need someone who knows how to use a compass and who perhaps knows how to read the stars. Otherwise, you're gonna get completely lost. So as we are navigating this new cultural terrain, we need a cultural orienteer, and I would suggest that one of the best is the sociologist James Davison Hunter. He argues that we're currently living in a Nietzschean moment, and here's what he means by that.

He would say, if you look back over the last several centuries, there have always been people who have rejected Christian faith. That's nothing new. But over those centuries, even though people might have rejected Christian beliefs, they continued to hold on to and live by Christian norms, Christian values, and Christian morals. James Hunter calls this the hybrid enlightenment. But he also suggests that as we’re moving deeper into the late modern world, those shared values and norms and morals are beginning to erode, which means that the fabric of our society is almost literally unraveling right before our very eyes. And when there’s no longer a shared sense that life has meaning or value or purpose, it leads to a dark place. It leads to a kind of nihilism because all that's left is power. And that's what Nietzsche predicted would happen. All that's left are power grabs.

So what we're experiencing right now is something of an epic power struggle, and I think that helps describe for us what we see playing out on the world stage: an epic power struggle. It's not just a philosophical debate about ideas or policies, but rather what we're witnessing is a cultural war over who gets to define what is good, what is true, what is beautiful, what is just. So disagreement and deliberation and debate have been replaced with domination. Instead of debating what is true, the question becomes whose truth will dominate? Instead of debating what is just, the question becomes whose justice is going to be imposed upon everyone else? So it's like we're watching this cage match between right versus left, rich versus poor, MAGA versus woke.

And you see, when you're in a culture war, everything gets politicized, and our institutions become the battleground. Our institutions of government, media, the universities, courts, tech platforms, etc. become the battleground, because whoever controls the cultural institutions gets to define reality and impose it upon everyone else.

So we're in the midst of this power struggle, but I would suggest to you that that is what makes 2 Corinthians the letter for our times, because we may not have realized it before, but the Apostle Paul also experienced a power struggle, specifically as it related to the church that he had originally founded in the city of Corinth. But the way in which Paul responds to this crisis models for us how to choose the way of Jesus rather than the way of Nietzche.

Now, here's what you need to understand. After Paul left Corinth, there were new teachers who slipped in, and they tried to discredit Paul and turn the Christians in the city against him. As a result, Paul was forced to do something that he never liked to do, and that was to talk about himself. Paul was being attacked and criticized, and so he was compelled to defend himself. But even then, he wasn’t concerned with his own image or his own reputation. He simply knew that if people believed some of these lies that were being told about him, then they might also think that his gospel is a lie. And he couldn’t have that.

So he writes 2 Corinthians in part to set the record straight, but he does so in a way that completely deflects the attention away from him himself and places it squarely on the person of Jesus. And through it all, he reveals the central theme of his letter, which is that God's power is made perfect not in human strength but in human weakness. So I'd like us to consider what Paul has to tell us about God's power. And as we do, we'll learn a couple things from 2 Corinthians 4. Paul reveals to us: 1) the nature of God's power, 2) the vehicle of God's power, and 3) the impact of God's power.

¹Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ²But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. ⁶For 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.

⁷But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹For 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. ¹²So death is at work in us, but life in you.

¹³Since 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, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 4:1-15

The Nature of God’s Power

First, let's consider the nature of God's power. What is it? How does Paul describe it? Well, the key verse is verse 7. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Now that word “surpassing” could also be translated as incomparable or immeasurable. Paul is saying that the power of God can't even be compared to anything else. Now, normally we might describe the power of something relative to something else. We might describe the power of an earthquake relative to a volcano, or we might say that the energy that a hurricane releases is the same as 10,000 nuclear warheads or a thousand strikes of lightning. But Paul is saying here that the power of God is not even on the scale. It transcends a scale itself. Therefore it can't be compared. It is incomparable, immeasurable.

Now, Paul's critics in Corinth were suggesting that Paul was a weakling, and therefore they shouldn't bother listening to him. “You can ignore Paul.” But Paul's response is, “Look, it's not about me. Who cares about me. I'm not presenting myself; I'm presenting the power of God, which is incomparable.” And he frames this power in terms of: 1) the power of creation, 2) the power of revelation, and 3) the power of resurrection.

The Power of Creation

First, consider the power of creation. Do you realize how immense the universe is? Do you know that if you took the most powerful telescope that we have, and somehow we could transport that telescope to Alpha Centauri, the star that is closest to planet Earth, if somehow we could get that telescope on Alpha Centauri and then point it back this way, do you know that you would not even be able to see planet Earth, even with the most powerful telescope, because our little planet would be too small and too dark to even detect? And when you realize that, you join the psalmist in Psalm 8 in saying, who are we? What are we human beings that God is mindful of us? That he cares for us? We're just nothing. We're puny. We're minuscule. The size and the complexity of the universe is simply staggering. It boggles the imagination. And that's why it's so amazing that the Scriptures tell us that God created the universe with a mere word. “Let light shine in the darkness.” He said it, and it was done.

The Power of Revelation

So there's the power of creation, but then secondly, there's the power of revelation. Paul wants to make it clear that the same power that spoke the world into existence is at work in the gospel itself. Listen to what Paul says in verse 6: “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.”

See, these new teachers in Corinth relied on their eloquence and their rhetorical skill. They were promoting themselves and they were twisting God's Word in order to try to ingratiate themselves with some of these Christians in Corinth. But Paul, by contrast, says, we renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We would never do anything duplicitous. And he says, we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word. We would never do anything to manipulate or to control. And he says, we refuse to promote ourselves. Verse 5: “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.”

The Power of Resurrection

Now Paul does acknowledge that there really is a dark power at work in the world. He calls him the God of this age who has blinded the minds of those who do not yet believe. So he keeps them from seeing the light of the gospel. But what Paul wants us to understand is that the simple, bold announcement that God really has come to us in the person of Jesus — that the very power of God is now available and accessible to us in and through Jesus — is enough to shatter the darkness. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. So as a result, the gospel carries the very power of resurrection, of new life, of new creation.

See, the gospel, the message of Jesus, is not good advice; it's good news. The gospel is not good advice about what you need to do, but rather the gospel is good news about what God has already done for you in and through the person of Jesus to change your situation fundamentally forever. And if that's true, then it means that the gospel is not a proposal; the gospel is power. The gospel's not a proposal about how you should live the good life or become a better person. No, the gospel is the very power of God.

Have you noticed that whenever Paul talks about the gospel, he associates it with the power of God? For example, in Romans 1:16, he says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” In 1 Thessalonians 1:5, he reminds the Thessalonians, “our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power.” And in 1 Corinthians 2:4, he reminds the Corinthians, “my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” You see, what Paul's telling us is that the gospel doesn't merely contain power, reveal power, show power, or give power. No, it is the power of God. So when the gospel is announced and when it is received, it lifts you up, it turns you around, it changes you, and you can never be the same. It changes everything.

So if you think that the gospel is just teaching or advice or a proposal, you haven't experienced it at all, because the gospel is power. It is the power of God. It's the power that raises the dead. It's the power that ushers in the new creation. And that's why Paul says in verse 13, “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.”

Before I move on, I want to just stop and think about our current cultural power struggle for a moment. Because what do most people think? Most people think that in order for “our side” to win this conflict — whichever side you're on — in order for our side to win this power struggle, we need the power of the Oval Office. We need the power of the Supreme Court. We need the power of Congress. We need the power of the military. We need the power of the Fed. We need the power of the governor's mansion. We need the power of the mayor's office. We need the power of media. We need the power of the universities. We need the power of the tech platforms.

But do you realize that even if you had all that political, cultural, legal, economic, military, social power, it would be as nothing compared to the all-surpassing power of God? Do you know what all that power combined would be like? It would be like striking a match and then seeing if you could increase the heat of the sun. All of our human power is nothing compared to the all-surpassing power of creation, the power of revelation, the power of resurrection, the power of new creation. That is what we need. That's the kind of power that will change our world.

The Vehicle of God’s Power

So Paul lays out for us the nature of God's power, but what's the vehicle? How does this power come to us? Well, let me borrow an illustration from our guest today. N.T. Wright has shared the story of Sir Oliver Franks. Sir Oliver Franks was the UK ambassador to the United States at a very important time in history, from 1948 to 1952, just as the Cold War was beginning and just as NATO was being formed. And so Franks was the confidant of leaders literally all over the world.

Of course, in this position as the ambassador, he had to get messages back and forth from London to Washington, and he couldn't use the phones because the phones certainly would've been tapped. One way to get messages across would be through a diplomatic bag that would carry messages back and forth, usually by overnight air. But everyone would know that important, urgent, necessary messages would be contained in a special bag, like a diplomatic bag. Franks realized that he needed to outwit those who might want to intercept his messages. And so if he had information that he needed to communicate that was truly classified, truly confidential, top secret, do you know how he would send it? He'd put it in an ordinary envelope and send it through the regular mail. That was his double bluff to outwit those who might want to intercept his messages, because who would ever think of finding a top secret message in the regular mail?

Now the new teachers that had come to Corinth were telling the Christians there, “Don't pay any attention to Paul, because Paul's a loser. Paul's a failure. Paul's a weakling. He's a nobody.” He didn't fit the mold of a strong, bold, powerful leader. And besides that, they said that Paul just kept experiencing one difficulty and setback after another, which was surely a sign that God disapproved of Paul, and perhaps even that God had rejected Paul.

But Paul responds by saying, “You've got it all wrong. You're mistaking the messenger for the message. You're mistaking the envelope for the letter. Who cares about the envelope? The envelope is not what's important. What's important is what the envelope contains.” And he says, “Look, I'm just the messenger. I'm not supposed to be powerful. The power lies in the message.”

And so God's double bluff to deceive the powers of this world that try to blind us from the truth is to place his treasure in jars of clay. Verse 7 says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” So Paul speaks of a treasure — something priceless, something invaluable, like in Jesus' parables about the kingdom of God. When you find it, when you discover it, it's so priceless and so valuable you'd be willing to sell everything to completely reorient your life in order to get it.

So what is this treasure? Well, it's the gospel. This treasure is the life-changing message of Jesus that releases the power of God in the world, but we find this treasure in the oddest of places. I mean, imagine if you found a priceless natural diamond that's worth thousands and thousands of dollars — two, three, four carats. Where would you put a diamond like that? Well, you'd probably put it in a beautiful, soft, cushioned jewelry box, and maybe you'd even lock it up in a steel safe to keep it safe, to preserve it, to protect it, to make sure no one could steal it. But what does God do with his treasure? Paul tells us that we have this treasure in jars of clay, earthen vessels. You couldn't think of anything in the ancient world that was more common or ordinary. Jars of clay were inexpensive. They were easily broken. You drop it, you step on it, it'll shatter into pieces — just shards of pottery.

Now, think about what Paul's telling us. The world around us would say, “Don't listen to Christians. Christians are deluded. Christians are deranged. Christians have lost their minds because they believe this fantasy that God has actually become a human being. And not only that, they believe that God died a shameful, horrific death on a cross and then was raised to new life. Christians have lost their minds. Don't bother listening to them. They're crazy.” But what Paul is telling us is no, this is all part of God's double bluff. This is all part of God's divine strategy. We have this treasure in jars of clay so that it's obvious to everyone that the all-surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

You do realize, of course, that God doesn't need us. God can go direct. He can make himself known to people directly without us. That's what he did with the Apostle Paul. He can knock anyone down to the ground and blind them with light and reveal the Lord Jesus in all his glory to whoever he wants at any time. But you see, the primary way in which God chooses to reveal himself is through people. He uses people to reach people with the message of the gospel.

Now you might think, well, that's a pretty risky way to do it. It sounds a little inefficient, doesn't it? Certainly there must be better ways to reach people. And there are. But God has chosen to place his treasure, the power of the gospel, in us weak, frail, fallible, finite human beings — jars of clay — so that we might have the privilege, the opportunity, and the joy to be a part of his work in the world. He doesn't have to do it that way; he chooses to do it that way.

The Impact of God’s Power

So finally, let's ask, what is the impact then of God's power? Why does it matter? What difference does it make? Well, in two words: grace and glory. It's all about grace and glory. Verse 15 says, “For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” It’s all about 1) grace and 2) glory.

Glory

So let me take glory first. What is Paul's ultimate goal? It's not to make more and more converts. No, his ultimate goal is to show God's glory. What motivates and inspires him is that he wants more and more people to experience the life-transforming power of the gospel, not so that he can put more notches on his belt and say, “Look at how many followers of Jesus I've helped create.” No, he wants more and more people to experience the life-transforming power of the gospel because as grace extends to more and more people, it increases thanksgiving, all to the glory of God. That's all he wants: Soli Deo Gloria.

I had a seminary professor who once said, what is the purpose of mission? The purpose of mission is not to make more converts. No, the goal of mission is ultimately doxological. The goal of mission is the glory of God.

Grace

Now secondly, how do you get this power, this treasure, into your life? It's all of grace. Paul begins to understand that the very same grace that brought the power of the gospel into his life is also being reflected out to the world around him through his own life and circumstances. He reflects on his life and he realizes that even though there's a sharp distinction between the message and the messenger — the messenger's really nothing; the message is all that matters — there's still a correspondence between the message and the messenger. The messenger is meant to embody the message. We're supposed to do the mission of Jesus in the way of Jesus. So there's a correspondence between the message and the messenger, but what is the message? Ultimately, the message is one of death and resurrection, and that means that the messenger must live a life that reflects the death and the resurrection of Jesus. We must live a cruciform life.

Back in chapter one, Paul wrote with profound emotional honesty. He's open, he's transparent, and he tells us that at one point he felt like he had received the very sentence of death, and he almost despaired of life itself. But God brought him through that distressing time. And now as he looks back over his shoulder, he can say, “We are afflicted, but we are never crushed. We are perplexed, but we are never driven to despair. We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken. We are struck down, but we are not destroyed.” And now he sees something of the gospel itself in his own life story, because he says we're “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may 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.”

See, what he's trying to tell the Corinthians is that if he is suffering so that they might flourish in their faith, they should not take that as a sign that God has rejected him, but rather they should take it as a sign that his life and ministry are following the pattern of the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Verse 12 says, “death is at work in us, but life in you,” because this is the Jesus way: my life for yours.

So let me close with a story. I wonder if you know the story of Corrie ten Boom. Corrie was a Dutch woman who, together with her father, Casper, and her sister, Betsie, helped many, many Jewish people avoid and escape the Nazis by hiding them in their home. But eventually they were discovered. They were caught and arrested, and all three — Corrie, Casper, and Betsie — were sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Their living conditions were absolutely horrific. They were piled into these overcrowded barracks that were filthy and flea-infested. At one point Corrie was feeling absolutely miserable, but her sister, Betsie, encouraged her by reminding her that despite the fact that they were in this concentration camp, they were able to sneak in a Bible. No one knew; no one had detected it yet. And in this Bible, they read 1 Thessalonians 5:18. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” And they took that verse to heart, and they decided that even though they were living in these horrific conditions in a concentration camp, they were going to give thanks in all circumstances for everything. They started giving thanks even for the fleas.

Well then a remarkable thing happened. The guards stopped inspecting their barracks. They stopped entering and barging in and checking in on them, which meant that they then had the freedom to read that Bible – not in secret, but now they could read that Bible out loud for everyone else in the barracks to hear. And they began sharing the gospel. Many women, even in that concentration camp, came to faith in Jesus because of that Bible that they smuggled into the camp. But then later, they discover something. They learn why the guards stopped inspecting their barracks. And you know why they stayed away? Because of the fleas. Thank God for the fleas.

You see, the point is we have this treasure in jars of clay. And even if we carry this treasure in the midst of a flea-infested concentration camp, it cannot stop the power of God. We carry this treasure in jars of clay so that everyone will know that the all-surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And that is how we choose the way of Jesus rather than the way of Nietzsche. The way of Nietzsche is the way of domination that says, “I will take your life for mine.” But the way of Jesus is the way of sacrifice: “My life for yours.”

So then how do we get this treasure? How do we get this power into our heart and into our lives? Well, it's not something that you can seize; it's only something that you can receive. And so consider the power of Jesus. We're told that Jesus was there at the very beginning. All things were made through him. Nothing has been made apart from him. Paul tells us in Colossians that everything that has been created in heaven and on earth was created by Jesus, and that even now, Jesus holds all things together.

The author of Hebrews tells us that Jesus upholds the universe with the word of his power. Even now Jesus is upholding the universe. Jesus has more power in his little pinky than millions of suns, than millions of supernovas. And yet, on the cross, Jesus gave up his power. He gave it all up in order to become a jar of clay, an earthen vessel — weak, fragile, vulnerable like the rest of us. He even lowered himself to the point where he allowed himself to be thrown on the ground and trampled underfoot, broken into pieces — nothing more than shards of pottery. And why did he do it? In order to make you his treasure. You and I were so priceless, so valuable to him, that he was willing to go for broke, to sell everything, to completely reorient his life in order to get you. And now he entrusts the treasure of the gospel to us, jars of clay that we may be, so that we might share it with the world.

Let me pray for us.

Father, we thank you that Jesus, the one who holds the power of the universe with a mere word, was willing to empty his power for us. We thank you that you have entrusted this treasure, the treasure of the gospel, in weak, frail, vulnerable, fragile people like us, so that we might be part of your work. And so, Lord, we pray that your grace might extend to more and more people through us to increase thanksgiving all to the glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermons

Power in Weakness: Treasure in Jars of Clay

The Nature of God’s Power

The Vehicle of God’s Power

The Impact of God’s Power