It is not ourselves, I tell you, that we're preaching; it is Jesus Christ as Lord, for whose sake
we are your humble servants. For the God who said, "Let the light shine in darkness," has
shined in our hearts so as to floodlight the wonderful knowledge of God beaming in Christ's
face.
Imagine it! A priceless thing like that in clay pots like us! It just proves all the more the real
power is from God and not ourselves. Just look! We catch it from every direction but we
don't let them squeeze the life out of us. We don't know which end is up, but they don't upend
us. We are persecuted, but never wiped out. We are knocked down but we are never knocked
out. On every hand we bear the slaying of Jesus in the body so that the life of Jesus in our
group might be clearly evident. We who live for Jesus always flirt with death, in order that
Jesus' life may be all the more evident in our fragile flesh. So while death is operating in us,
life too is in you.
(Clarence Jordan, The Cotton Patch Version of Paul's Epistles [New York: Association Press]
1968, pp. 79-80. NOTE: I have replaced Jordan's translation "We are banged all over, but they
don't get rid of us," with "We are knocked down but we are never knocked out." from J. B.
Phillips, The New Testament in Modern English [New York: The Macmillian Co.] 1958, p. 385)
INTRODUCTION
Sermons often begin with what strikes a person of common sense as dumb questions with
obvious answers. For example, "Are you ever tempted to lose heart?"
Of course! We all are from time to time. Even as strong a Christian as the apostle Paul
certainly was tempted to lose heart. Both before and after today's text, Paul insists that he did
not lose heart, a sure sign that he considered the possibility. (Gerard S. Sloyan, Proclamation
5 - Pentecost 1, Series B [Minneapolis: Fortress Press] 1994, p. 29)
Because we are tempted to lose heart, I selected for us to sing this morning two songs of
comfort, Just a Closer Walk with Thee and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. I hope they helped!
As Paul was fighting the temptation to lose heart, he used a series of four balanced expressions,
all in the present tense in Greek to indicate their continuing action:
- afflicted but not constricted- desperate but never in total despair
- persecuted but not forsaken
- struck down but not destroyed
(Ched Myers, Proclamation 6, Pentecost 1, Series B [[Minneapolis: Fortress Press] 1996, p. 23)
We can try and figure out what specific events he had in mind. For example, "struck down but
not destroyed" may refer to what happened at Lystra, where Paul was struck down by stones,
left for dead, but revived and went on with his ministry. (Acts 14: 19f.)
"afflicted but not crushed" may refer to the way Christians in Jerusalem were leery of
associating with Paul. When a man has been trying to kill you one day, and the next day
presents himself as a member of your group, your trust receptors are in the caution mode! No
one wanted to associate with Paul until Barnabas, the encourager, included him in the circle of
fellowship. (Brian L. Harbour, Second Corinthians: Commissioned to Serve [Nashville:
Convention Press] 1989], p. 42)
The Bible recognizes the terrible possibility of rejection by the very ones who should love and
include us. In addition to Paul's initial reception by the church, there is, for example, Psalm
27: 10 which says, "When my father and my mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up."
God can be depended on even when the strongest family ties grow weak.
In spite of these various circumstances which could cause one to lose hope, Paul says in
Barclay's translation, "We can be at out wit's end but never at our hope's end." (William
Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, rev. ed. [Philadelphia: Westminster Press] 1975, p. 199)
Some Korean Christians understand what Paul was talking about. When they were asked how
they endured pain, one responded, "We are like nails. The harder you hit us the deeper we go."
(Harbour, op. cit., p. 42)
Matthew Arnold met a minister in the London slums who was of like faith and order to Paul and
the Korean Christians. The great author asked the minister,
"`Ill and o'erwork'd, how fare you in this scene?'
`Bravely,' said he, 'for I of late have been
Much cheer'd with thoughts of Christ, the living bread.'" (Barclay, op. cit., p. 199)
WE PREACH NOT OURSELVES
Perhaps one reason Paul was tempted to lose heart can be found in his continual need to
establish his credentials. This struggle is behind the comment in verse 5, "We preach not
ourselves."
But in a sense we all preach ourselves in spite of ourselves. It's the notion that we are the only
Bible some people will ever read. The attractive power of a healthy, robust Christian life is thestrongest testimony for the presence and purpose of God in our world today." (Harbour, op. cit.,
p. 38). The old Baptist gospel song writer, B. B. McKinney, put it this way:
Your life's a book before their eyes, They're reading it through and through;
Say, does it point them to the skies, Do others see Jesus in you?
(Wesley L. Forbis, editor, Baptist Hymnal [Nashville: Convention Press] 1991, "Let Others See
Jesus in You," by B. B. McKinney, No. 571) (NOTE: After the service Bill Childress reported
that in his youth he was B. B. McKinney's paper boy!)
We preach not ourselves but Christ. What is boils down to is this: the medium may become
part of the message, but no medium and no messenger should get in the way of the message.
A VEILED MESSAGE
But some times people just don't get the message.
It could be our fault. Maybe we set a bad example - our actions speak so loudly that they can't
hear our words.
Or maybe we don't communicate well enough or often enough.
But it could be that the message is veiled (v. 3). Have you ever heard someone say, "I didn't
get the message," when the truth is that he got the message, but just didn't want to act on it?
Have you ever heard someone say, "I don't understand," when she did understand, but just
didn't want to follow through?
"Paul understands nonacceptance of his message to be an incomprehension arising out of its very
clarity... Could the Gospel be widely rejected not because its demands are not understood but
because they are. Amidst the darkness in which our times seem bent on enfolding themselves,
Christ is a blinding light." (Sloyan, op. cit., p. 29)
I do believe some people do not accept the good news because we communicate poorly, or
because they do not understand it. But with Paul I believe that some people see the light, but
are unwilling to change their ways and leave the darkness. They prefer the familiar dark to the
challenging light.
CREATION
The references to light are a prompt to note that there are two creation metaphors here. Light
is the first.
(1) Light
The same God who made light shine in creation makes his light shine in us in redemption.
(George A. Buttrick, editor, The Interpreter's Bible [New York: Abingdon Press] 1953, Vol.
XII, II Corinthians, Floyd V. Filson, p. 317a)
In creation God says, "Let there be light" over the darkness upon the face of the deep.
In salvation God says, "Let there be light" over our darkness.
(2) Clay
One creation account tells us how God watered the ground and formed man out of the dust.
(Genesis 2: 6-7) The metaphor of a human being as clay molded by God as potter is a persistent
one in the Hebrew scriptures (Is. 29; 16: 30: 14; 35: 9; 64: 8; Jer. 18: 6; Lam. 4: 2; Job 10:
9) cited by Charles H. Talbert, Reading Corinthians [New York: Crossroad] 1987, p. 156. We
sing, "Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Thou are the potter, I am the clay."
(Adelaide A. Pollard, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord," No. 294)
In creation God shapes the dust of the earth into human form.
In salvation God shapes us into a new creation and into fit vessels.
"If any one is in Christ, that person is a new creation." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
AUTHENTIC MINISTRY
These creative transformations - the power of light over darkness and the power to shape dust
into humanity - these powers are in our time, Paul believes, exercised by God for the purpose
of authentic ministry.
Paul understood the basis of authentic ministry. It is based...
not on personal charisma - Paul was not most charming personality in the world,
not on powerful presence - traditions about Paul's appearance point to less than unattractive man,
not on rhetorical ability - Apollos seems to have carried the torch in this area,
not on performance of signs and wonders - Paul is not know for his healing miracles,
but on "human weakness, human frailty, and actual experiences of human suffering."
Paul's ministry is authenticated in transformational suffering. This means not stoic endurance
but the ability "to transcend and transform (suffering) - to experience strength through suffering,
power through weakness, and living through dying." (Carl R. Holladay (epistles), Preaching
Through the Christian Year [Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International] 1993. p. 294)
Paul not only contrasts with the flashy, tacky hucksters of religion, ancient and contemporary,
but also with a more admirable group, the sages, the Stoic philosophers who in the midst of the
flux of existence were able to achieve serenity. "Seneca says the sage remains unperturbed
because he is not `harmed by poverty, or by pain, or by any other of life's storms.'" Epictetus,
a crippled slave whose writings reveal a great spirit, says that the true sage is the man "who
though sick is happy, though in danger is happy, though dying his happy, though condemned
to exile is happy, though in disrepute is happy." Seneca says that the sage has the weakness of
a man and the serenity of a god. (Talbert, op. cit., p. 157)
Paul's ministry is not that of the sage who through philosophy disciplines his response and
attitude to suffering. "He sees hardship not as a discipline that engenders greater detachment,
but as the price of fidelity." (Myers, op. cit., p. 23) Paul does not simply endure, as admirable
as that might be; in Christ he overcomes. He is more than a conqueror. (Romans 8: 35-39).
Paul is not serene in the midst of suffering, as praiseworthy as that might be; in Christ he
transforms suffering. He can be disdainful of the arrogance of the philosopher because he
wants to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to any mortal. (2 Corinthians
4:7) (David A. Hubbard, Pentecost 1 - Proclamation 3 [Philadelphia: Fortress Press] 1985,
p.22)
On Communion Sunday it is most important to understand how Paul surpassed philosophical
serenity with Christian victory in the midst of suffering. Remember the Matthew Arnold quote:
"`Ill and o'erwork'd, how fare you in this scene?'
`Bravely,' said he, 'for I of late have been
Much cheer'd with thoughts of Christ, the living bread.'" (Barclay, op. cit., p. 199)
Cheered with thoughts of Christ, the living bread, Paul knew solidarity with Jesus the Christ.
He lived in unity with his Lord in his suffering and his victory. If we always carry in the body
the death of Jesus, our suffering will have the transforming power of his death. This is our
solidarity with One who overcame in and through oppression. This is our resiliency in the
resurrection.
PERSECUTION
Such a life is not easy. Paul knew it, but the Corinthians did not. Unlike so many other early
churches the one at Corinth knew nothing of persecution. G. R. Beaseley-Murray quotes James
Moffatt on the church at Corinth: "The Church was in the world, as it had to be, but the world
was in the church, as it ought not to be." (Clifton J. Allen, editor, The Broadman Commentary,
Vol. 11, [Nashville: Broadman Press] 1971, G. R. Beaseley-Murray, 2 Corinthians, pp. 29-30)
The fact that their founding apostle suffered perplexed them. (1 Corinthians 4: 8ff.) The fact
that their spiritual leader was "high profile" in religious controversy troubled the fainthearted
Corinthians.THE TREASURE
Although Paul and the Corinthians did not have persecution in common, they did a basic
common denominator - the presence of Christ in the midst of human frailty. He spoke of this
interaction as being like having a treasure in an earthen vessel.
The treasure is "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (3.6) The
earthen vessel is people like Paul, the Corinthians, you and me. He had in mind his battered,
weary body, his conflicted personality, his limited rhetorical skills, and his ministry checkered
with ups and downs. (Beaseley-Murray, op. cit., p. 30)
Talk of treasure and Greek vessels takes me to the Walters Art Gallery. The Treasury Room
there is an out of the way nook glowing with petite treasures. In today's Sun the director of the
Walters, Gary Vikan, includes in his list of personal favorites one object from the Treasury, a
Fabrege egg. I hope you will visit the Walters and find your way to the Treasury.
Were Paul present, he would interrupt me and say before I could, "But Christ is the greatest
treasure! And we are not prize Greek vases - we are just clay pots! The treasure, not the
container - that's what I want people to discover!"
CONFIDENCEAND THE TREASURE
Paul's attitude about the treasure is the secret of his confidence and endurance. No one was
ever more overworked or overextended than this one man mission board who had most of the
Mediterranean world as his assignment. Though tempted he never gave into a negative attitude.
Many people and churches today have a negative spirit; they expect the worst; they anticipate
failure. Brian Harbour tells of a young man who went to his father about his difficulty with
math. "I don't understand math; the numbers just don't add up. I have a test tomorrow, and
I'm going to fail that test."
"Son," the father protested, "you have to be positive about life."
"O.K.," the boy answered, "I'm positive I'm going to fail." (Harbour, op. cit., p. 41)
Some are indeed programmed for failure; but not Paul. What was the source of his confidence?
He was confident in the treasure, not the vessel. The vessel did not have to be fancy, a Greek
vase. A clay pot would do, but it had to be clean, empty and available for service. Perhaps
Paul was thinking of a cheap, fragile Corinthians pottery lamp, whose value was not in its
artistic worth but in its purpose, shedding light. (Harbour, op. cit., p. 41)
The treasure which God places in each vessel that is clean and available is the gospel message
which is to be poured out to the world. As you receive the bread and the cup, I invite you to
reflect on your own life as a vessel, examining ourself by asking, "Am I empty? Am I clean?
Am I available for my Lord and his work?"
