WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:00.719 Amen. 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:02.000 Good morning. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.240 My name's Nathan. 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.360 I'm one of the designated survivors this morning. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.800 It's good to be with you and to open up God's word. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:17.600 If you would turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, we're going to be looking at the first 12 verses. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:25.679 You can see it printed in your worship guide, or you can find it on page 907 in the Bible that's in front of you in your chair. 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:33.759 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:37.280 Beginning in verse 1. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:50.320 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:54.399 We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:01.119 But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:05.040 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:15.599 In 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. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:24.560 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:36.319 For God 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. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:45.359 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 00:01:46.000 --> 00:02:07.680 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:18.960 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. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:23.199 So death is at work in us, but life and you. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:53.120 Amen. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:04.800 I love when I get to stand up and preach, and the sermon has basically already been preached through all of the liturgy, all the words that we've sung and prayed together. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:10.800 That we are not to be reliant on ourselves, but dependent upon God alone. 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:16.240 Most of us carry an expectation about how life is supposed to go. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:26.560 In almost every area of life, growth means that we become more competent, more in control, there's less volatility. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:34.879 If you think about it, in your work, as you grow, you're expected to be more capable, more efficient in your job, less overwhelmed. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:43.039 In our finances, we hope to be more stable, less risk, fewer surprises in the portfolio, in home. 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:49.120 We want to make sure there's more margin in our calendar, that things feel more settled, less chaotic. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.080 That's what growth would mean in these environments. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:58.000 And sometimes we can naturally import that way of thinking into our spiritual lives too. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:09.840 We assume that as we grow, as we mature, as we walk in Christ longer, that we become more in control, less shaken by our circumstances. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:16.480 But then something happens that doesn't quite fit within that framework. 00:04:16.720 --> 00:04:18.160 A phone call. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:25.759 A diagnosis, a moment in a doctor's office when everything shifts. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:30.800 And suddenly all the categories that we had are shaken. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:35.279 We realize how very little control we actually had. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:38.560 We realize how fragile we are. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:46.879 And over time, if you've walked with Jesus for some time, you notice something maybe a little unsettling at first. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:57.600 In some ways, you may feel more aware of your own weakness, more aware of your limits, more aware of even your own sin. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:03.120 And if you haven't had that experience yet in life, I promise that it will be. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:19.279 But a question that I want us to be thinking about during these few moments together is: could it be that true spirituality is not about increased control or strength, but an ever-increasing dependence upon God? 00:05:19.839 --> 00:05:32.319 And I want us to think about that as we walk through this passage together because the answer will help us shape everything that we understand Paul is saying to the church here in Corinth. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:44.879 God puts his treasure in fragile people so that his strength, not ours, shows up, just like it does at the cross. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.560 That's what we're gonna talk about this morning. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:57.519 God puts his treasure in fragile people so that his strength, not ours, shows up, which is just how we see it in the cross. 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:02.000 We're gonna focus really on verses 7 through 10 in this passage. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:08.319 I want to read it for the broader context, and we're gonna even go on a little bit further at the end of this time. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:14.319 But Paul begins verse 7 with an image that would have been immediately clear to his audience. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.639 You see it in the title of the sermon. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:20.800 But we have this treasure in jars of clay. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.279 Now, a jar of clay was the most ordinary object in the ancient world. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:30.560 We still find them as we dig up archaeological sites all out in the ancient Near East. 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:34.879 It was cheap, it was common, it was easily broken. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:41.920 You didn't display them, you didn't protect them, you used it, and when you cracked it, you destroyed it and you buried it in a pit. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.079 And Paul says, that's us. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:52.160 We are not the treasure, we are the container. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:07:01.600 But most of us in DC, I think, if we're honest, at least functionally, live as if the goal is to become impressive containers. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:11.120 We want to be strong, we want to be polished, we want to be capable, competent, people who look like we have it all together. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:17.600 But Paul is telling us that this is the paradox, that Valley of Vision prayer that we just read. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:21.680 The paradox is that the design works the other way. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:28.720 The treasure is the gospel of Jesus Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.800 That's the power, that's the value, that's what matters. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.680 We see the continuation of verse 7. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:41.680 To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:51.759 There was the whole point of the story of Gideon in Judges 7 and the 300 as that army was whittled down. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:08:02.240 It was to show that the strength of the Lord was the one who would win the battle, so that Israel could not boast in their own strength. 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:19.600 In other words, God intentionally chooses weak containers so that when something powerful, amazing happens, that there's no question about the source of where this strength comes from. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:28.160 God's strategy is not to bypass weakness, it is to work through it. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:30.720 That's the power of the gospel. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:40.399 Paul's hardship and the way that he works through it, as we hear if you read 2 Corinthians, is meant to be a help to them. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:47.039 Over and over we hear them saying, Do not lose hope. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:09:00.080 He's trying to teach the church how to trust God amidst their circumstances, whatever place they find themselves, and to find life there as well. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:12.159 And if that's true, if God is using Paul's weakness to bring life to others, then we should expect that same pattern to be true of our lives as well. 00:09:12.480 --> 00:09:28.639 That God would use our own weaknesses, our own frailty, the fragility of our clay pots for his glory, that he might be seen strong in our stories, in our own lives. 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:35.600 Which means that the first thing that we have to come to terms with this morning is that we are more fragile than we think. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:36.799 That's point number one. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.080 We are more fragile than we think. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:45.200 Paul doesn't leave the image abstract in any way. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:51.360 He begins to describe what this fragility looks like in verse 8. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:54.879 We're afflicted in every way. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:10:03.039 This idea of affliction is pressure, being pressed in, hemmed in, life closing in all around us. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:09.919 And before we move too quickly past that, it's important to notice what Paul assumes. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:24.720 He assumes that pressure is normal, not occasional, not exceptional, not a sign that something unusual has happened or gone wrong, but in every way it's comprehensive. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:28.000 It touches every part of our lives. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:38.399 And one of the primary places where we experience this type of pressure is in close relationships, especially marriage. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.879 If you're married, you know this to be true. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:46.559 Marriage doesn't create weakness, it reveals what was already there. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.279 So what do we do when the cracks begin to show? 00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:58.159 Most of us, we can assume that if something is breaking or broken, that something has gone wrong. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.480 If there's tension, something's off. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:03.440 If there's conflict, that something is failing. 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:07.360 But Paul's framework, again, challenges this assumption a little bit. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.000 We don't become weak in marriage. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.039 We discover that we already are. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:19.600 Marriage doesn't create selfishness, it exposes it. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.919 It doesn't create fear, it reveals it. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:25.679 I see a nodding head. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:27.759 A lot of nodding heads out there. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.639 People who are married, they know this to be true. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:36.879 There's a well-known story of the late pastor in New York, Tim Keller and his wife Kathy. 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:46.720 Early in their marriage, Tim had asked for three years so that he could really focus on planting their church, Redeemer Presbyterian, in Manhattan. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:52.240 Three years where he was going to keep his head down and that things will change after that three years. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:58.639 Well, three years came and went the grind of New York City and nothing changed. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:11.039 And one day he found his wife, Kathy, on the balcony of their apartment with a hammer and a piece of their wedding china in her hand. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:18.480 And one by one she was crashing it with the hammer, shattering it for all of their neighbors to see. 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:23.519 And he yelled up to the balcony, what are you doing? 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:28.720 Of course, Kathy was illustrating something deep in their marriage. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.960 You're not seeing me. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:35.519 And if you don't see me, this marriage won't survive. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:42.080 That was a wake-up call that he needed to hear and to see in that moment. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:54.399 Because the reality is most of our conflicts are not about dishes, they're not about schedules, they're not surface level irritations, but they're a deeper cry. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:55.759 Do you see me? 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:56.879 Do you hear me? 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.639 Do I matter to you? 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:06.799 Marriage exposes these cracks, not by creating them, but by revealing what has been there all along. 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:17.519 And the first step to us understanding the treasure that is within us is for us to understand the fragility of us as the vessel. 00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:24.480 And of course, marriage is just one example of where we can see this on display. 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.320 I woke up yesterday a little bit with a crick in my neck. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:33.600 I'm not sure if that's a medical term, but at least that's what we call it in Alabama, where I grew up. 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.600 And my daughter Della said, Dad, that's sin. 00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:45.120 So I don't think there was anything I did in that moment that was sin that led to the crick in my neck. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:46.240 But of course she's right. 00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:57.279 This the fragility that we see in this world, the brokenness that we see all around us, is just a demonstration of the fall. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:02.159 How things are not the way they are supposed to be. 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:05.039 We're more fragile than we think. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:12.879 But the second point is this we often try to fix what God is using. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.240 This is also true in marriage, but that will be another sermon at another time. 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:19.840 But look again at verse 8. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.919 We're afflicted in every way, but not crushed. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:31.919 Before we get to the second part of that phrase, it's good to sit with the tension of the first because we see a lot of tension here. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.120 We're afflicted. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:34.639 The pressure is real. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:38.960 And what is our natural instinct to do when pressure comes? 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:42.639 We want to get rid of it. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.120 We don't want to embrace it. 00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:47.360 Our instinct is to remove it. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.799 We don't want to live as jars of clay. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:52.240 We want something stronger. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:56.720 We want to be that thing that doesn't crack under pressure. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.200 We want to be put together in control. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:09.200 And so when cracks appear, we interpret them as problems to solve rather than realities to sit with. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.440 We can say to ourselves, this shouldn't be happening to me. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:14.720 Why is this happening? 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:16.960 This needs to be fixed. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.600 This is not how it's supposed to go. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:26.960 And in that moment, our responses tend to fall in familiar patterns. 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:31.279 Again, often in relationships we see this most clearly. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:32.879 We're defensive. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:39.039 Or we withdraw or we try to win by justifying ourselves. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:42.000 We defend because we don't want to be exposed. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.120 We withdraw because we don't want to be hurt. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.799 And we try to win. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.440 Again, to justify ourselves. 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:53.840 But all of these responses have one thing in common. 00:15:54.080 --> 00:16:00.159 They're attempts to preserve the illusion of control or of strength. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:02.240 We try to hide our weakness. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:10.559 We work harder because we assume if something is broken that something has gone wrong. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:18.799 Paul says at the beginning of 2 Corinthians in chapter 1, verse 8 and 9, if you see the page to your left. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:28.159 For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:34.000 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:42.480 But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:51.120 Paul, over and over throughout this book, is helping reframe our entire experience. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:17:05.839 Because what if the breaking is not a detour from God's work, but the breaking is actually a part of what God is doing to help us rely not on ourselves, but on Him. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:15.200 What if the breaking, the brokenness is the very place where God is going to begin His work in us? 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:21.680 We sometimes get ahead, we try to fix what God is using. 00:17:22.559 --> 00:17:30.640 Third thing we see is that God reveals his life through what we try to hide. 00:17:30.880 --> 00:17:33.680 Now we come back to the full statement in verse 8. 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:38.480 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.880 Paul continues, perplexed but not driven to despair. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:48.240 Persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:17:53.599 Each of these phrases holds these two realities together. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:18:06.880 That there's pressure but preservation, confusion, but not despair, opposition but not abandonment, collapse, but not destruction. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.359 See, Paul is, he's not minimizing suffering. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:13.839 He's describing it honestly. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:27.599 Afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, even to such a point that he and his companions despaired for their very lives. 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:33.920 But in each case, we see here that there is a limit. 00:18:34.880 --> 00:18:42.559 That we are not crushed, we are not driven to despair, we are not forsaken, we are not destroyed. 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:47.759 And we have to ask ourselves the question, why? 00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.160 Why is this tension true? 00:18:52.400 --> 00:19:02.559 And we see in verse 10 an answer, because we are always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:08.480 Again, this is the interpretive key, how Paul wants us to reframe this. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:15.599 Because Paul says the Christian life is a continual participation in these two realities at the same time. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:21.039 Both the death of Jesus and the life of Jesus. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:26.240 And we will experience them at different moments in our lives. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:45.039 But if you find yourself in that low place, surrounded in the valley of the shadow of death, you are closer to understanding the reality of the cross, of the death of Jesus in that moment than you may ever be in your life. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:52.240 Those moments are the moments where He draws us closer to Himself. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:20:00.960 Through despair, through persecution, because we are not forsaken, we are not destroyed. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.480 We are carrying in the body the death of Jesus. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:10.160 And so that means that we have to have a continual dying to self. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:23.839 A dying to need to be right, a dying to the need to be in control, a dying to self-sufficiency, a dying to the illusion that we are the source of life. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:36.480 And when that happens, if we do those things, that is when we begin to see the life of Jesus manifested in us. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.039 When we are dying to ourselves in that way. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:54.960 In other words, the life of Jesus becomes visible not when we avoid weakness, but when we can glorify God even in the midst of our weakness, of our brokenness. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:02.160 Because God uses pressure to reveal what is in us. 00:21:03.680 --> 00:21:08.720 And what is in this jar of clay. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.799 It is the life of Jesus himself. 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:15.359 Jesus is within us. 00:21:15.599 --> 00:21:18.640 That is where the true strength comes from. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:38.240 So in marriage, that means the very places that we want to hide, the place of frustration or of conflict or of disappointment, become the place where Christ can be most seen in our relationship, in our health. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:53.920 When we hear about the diagnosis that we didn't expect and are suddenly aware of how little in control we are, that is the place where Christ can be seen most in our lives. 00:21:54.799 --> 00:22:03.839 In parenting, in those moments when we realize That we can't change our child's heart. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:11.839 When we feel our impatience, we are aware of our inadequacy. 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:19.119 When we feel our limits, then and only then we're almost there. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:25.200 Then we are understanding that that is where the place God wants us to be. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:30.400 Relying not on ourselves, but on Him alone. 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:35.119 That is where we will find Jesus. 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:48.079 Not because the situation is easy, but because something is happening in us that cannot be explained by our own strength, by our own gifts or competence. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:51.119 We are being sustained. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.200 We are not being crushed. 00:22:53.519 --> 00:22:55.119 We are not abandoned. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.119 We are not destroyed. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:02.480 And through that process, the life of Jesus becomes visible in us. 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.319 My mother-in-law introduced me to the Japanese art form called Kinsugi. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:12.319 You've maybe heard about this. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:17.519 And she is in the midst of her own battle right now, battling leukemia. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:19.039 She's in the midst of this. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:24.880 And when a piece of pottery breaks, they don't throw it away. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:27.519 They repair it with gold. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:31.519 The cracks are not hidden, they are highlighted. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:39.119 Because the object becomes more beautiful, not in spite of the breaking, but through it. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.599 That's the picture that Paul is describing here. 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:50.319 God does not waste weakness, he uses it to display something greater. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:58.480 He reveals his life often through the things and the places which we try to hide. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.920 The fourth and final point is this. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.319 The gospel makes us strong. 00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:22.640 Again, we see this great paradox that we are weak, but Jesus Christ in us, his life, his death, his resurrection, is what gives us strength to live today and to face tomorrow. 00:24:23.279 --> 00:24:24.960 How can we live like this? 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:34.000 How can we face weakness honestly, without fear, without shame, without constantly trying to cover over it? 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.960 The answer is Jesus. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:42.240 We are weak, made strong in the Savior's love, as we just sang. 00:24:42.480 --> 00:24:46.000 Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this pattern. 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:50.319 He is the jar of clay because he became weak. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:58.400 He took on human frailty so that we might have life. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.839 At the cross, he entered fully into suffering. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.000 But notice the difference. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:09.839 Paul tells us that we are afflicted but not crushed. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:12.640 Jesus was crushed. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.440 Paul says that we are persecuted but not forsaken. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:22.319 Jesus cries out on the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.759 Paul says that we are struck down but not destroyed. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:33.200 Jesus was struck down even unto death on the cross. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:34.400 Why? 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:38.799 The answer is so that we would not be. 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:42.480 He took on the full weight of judgment. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:50.960 He bore the curse deserved for us so that we might inherit the blessing that remained, the blessing of eternal life. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:55.279 And that is the only way that we can make sense of the brokenness in this world. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:00.079 That eternal weight of glory that we'll see in a few verses in just a minute. 00:26:00.240 --> 00:26:06.160 When Paul weighs the scale of what he sees in his own life, he has seen Jesus. 00:26:06.319 --> 00:26:12.240 And he has seen which is more valuable in the end, which is lasting. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:19.039 He took the full weight of judgment so that our suffering would not be judgment. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.400 He was abandoned so that we would never be abandoned. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:32.480 And after the resurrection, which we've just celebrated a few weeks ago, in John 20, Jesus appeared to his disciples. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.880 And what does he do? 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:45.279 They were not erased, they were redeemed. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:49.359 They became a part of his glory. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.279 And that means that that will be said of us as well. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:01.039 That's true of us too, that our cracks are not just a sign of God's absence. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:06.480 They are the place where God's presence is made known. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:09.759 And the gospel makes us safe. 00:27:10.079 --> 00:27:13.119 It makes us safe to be honest about that. 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:18.000 To be open about our own frailty. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:21.839 We don't have to pretend to be strong. 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.440 We don't have to hide our weaknesses. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:27.440 We don't have to perform. 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:31.519 Because our standing before God is not based on any of those things. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:35.119 It's based on Him and on Him alone. 00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:37.200 Glory be to God. 00:27:37.359 --> 00:27:41.039 That's the only way that we can make sense of this world that we live in. 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:47.440 Because the reality is that everything we long for in this world is already ours in Christ. 00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:58.480 When we long for control, when we long for beauty, when we long for these things, we find that they are already ours in Jesus. 00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:01.680 And so what does this mean for us? 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:12.079 It means that the goal of our Christian lives, if you would call yourself a follower of Christ, is not to be unbreakable. 00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:15.119 It's not to eliminate weakness. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:21.680 The goal is to become the kind of person through whom the life of Jesus is visible. 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:25.599 So is Jesus visible in your life today? 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:27.680 Is he visible in your marriage? 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:30.319 Is he visible at work? 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:36.799 Kids, is he visible in you when you walk in your school in the hallway? 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:39.680 Is he visible in our suffering? 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:45.920 Where do you feel most fragile right now, in this moment? 00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:50.720 That's where you need him most. 00:28:53.039 --> 00:29:00.240 So the question we should be asking is, what might God do? 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:08.240 How might he display his life through this, through my brokenness, through my weakness? 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.000 And Paul says, don't lose heart. 00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:16.559 Don't lose heart. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:21.039 Look with me at verses fourteen through eighteen. 00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:22.799 Let's pick up there. 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:25.279 Or we're starting 13. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:37.599 Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what has been written, I believed, and so I spoke. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:41.519 We also believe, and so we also speak. 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:50.319 Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:56.400 For it is all for your sake, so that his grace extends to more and more people. 00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.400 It may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:03.359 So we do not lose heart. 00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:10.400 Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:19.119 For this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:25.759 As we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:33.440 For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 00:30:35.759 --> 00:30:37.680 How can Paul say that? 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:44.400 That this is just a momentary affliction. 00:30:45.680 --> 00:30:57.839 If you've been through the loss of a loved one, or you are now enduring that type of suffering that we can't explain, it can almost sound like Paul is being a little callous here. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:01.599 Oh, it's just momentary. 00:31:03.200 --> 00:31:18.240 But again, Paul gives us that eternal perspective, that eternal weight of glory that helps us understand our suffering, helps us understand our brokenness. 00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:22.240 And the point is so that we don't lose heart. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:30.640 We are broken, more broken than we dared imagine, yet more loved than we dreamed possible. 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:38.559 We look to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:43.279 For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:44.559 Thanks be to God. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:32:00.720 So back to our original question: could it be that true spiritual maturity is not about increasing strength or control, but about increasing our dependence upon the Lord? 00:32:01.200 --> 00:32:03.039 And the answer is yes. 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:12.240 Because the gospel frees us from pretending so that Christ's strength can be seen in our weakness. 00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:14.400 Let's pray together. 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:38.079 Almighty God, we do thank you that you would use humble, weak vessels like us to reveal your life and light to those around us. 00:32:41.119 --> 00:32:45.599 We don't always feel that that's true. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:52.319 So, Lord, for the many ways that we fall short, we ask for your forgiveness and grace. 00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:58.960 Lord, we thank you for giving us everything that we need. 00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:04.960 We thank you for your work within us. 00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:13.519 Lord, help us to see that the power belongs to you and not to us. 00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:28.640 Help us when we find ourselves in the moment of despair, to know that you are with us, even in the midst of our circumstances. 00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:34.400 That we are not destroyed, that you have been destroyed on our behalf. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:38.960 But that wasn't the end of the story. 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:42.240 We thank you that you've been raised to life. 00:33:44.799 --> 00:33:52.559 And that in you, we too, those who put our trust and hope in you, will also be raised to life. 00:33:55.440 --> 00:33:59.839 So would death be at work in us. 00:34:03.519 --> 00:34:05.359 And life as well. 00:34:06.559 --> 00:34:09.840 We pray this in our Savior's name. 00:34:10.159 --> 00:34:10.800 Amen.