Why Aren't Followers of Jesus More Impressive?

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we think about your word.

Father, we thank you that every word that is written in 2 Corinthians 4, 7-18,

that every word is a word that has ultimately come from you.

It is the word that you desire to speak to us.

And Father, we acknowledge before you that it can be hard for us to listen to others

and it can be really hard for us to listen to you.

But we ask, Father, that you would gentle our minds and humble our minds and humble our hearts

and grant us open ears that we might hear you speak.

And may you speak deep into our lives so that our lives, day by day,

will bear much fruit that brings you glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Amen. Please be seated.

So quite a few years ago, when I was in my early 20s, there wasn't any move-in movement.

But I lived with four other Christian guys in a house.

And so we were five Christian young men, all single.

And we met together regularly for prayer and Bible reading.

And we also tried to do different types of things in the community.

And one of the things that we often tried to do in the community,

we felt fairly comfortable with this because we were five young men.

And we'd often bring people in to live with us for a period of time because they needed some help.

And one of the guys, I'm going to call him Bob,

often the people that we would have come and live with us had some type of mental illness.

And this one time we had a guy, I'll call him Bob,

he came to live with us and he was suffering from,

I guess they'd call it now bipolar disorder.

They used to call it manic depression.

And that's what he was suffering from and struggling with.

And he came to live with us for a little period of time because he was homeless.

And actually, I've made a mistake in saying that he was struggling with his bipolar disorder.

At the time that he was with us, he definitely wasn't struggling with it.

And he was surfing it like he was just completely and utterly given over to his disorder.

And it was July.

It was very, very hot as July can be in Ottawa.

Very hot and humid.

We were in a house that had no air conditioning.

And basically, he would wake up in the morning

and he would sit in this one couch, one chair in the living room all day.

The only time he would get up was if he went to get something to eat

or to go outside to smoke a cigarette.

And this is what he did every day.

And after he'd been doing this for a while, I mean, he hadn't showered, hadn't bathed.

He was beginning to get a ripe smell.

And so I was picked by the group of five guys to have a conversation with him

about his need to deal with he was beginning to smell quite ripe.

And so I actually had to literally stand at the other side of the room

because he was getting quite ripe.

And I begin to try to talk to him about this.

And he interrupts me and says,

George, if you knew who I really was, you would fall down right now and worship me.

And he said it with complete seriousness, you would fall down and worship me.

I said, I think I said something like, Bob, I know who you are and you need a shower.

But he said with complete and utter seriousness, if you knew who I was, you would fall down and worship me.

We Christians, if you're a guest here this morning and you're a seeker

or maybe you've just been dragged here against your will, I don't know,

and you're just trying to figure out the Christian faith,

you're an anthropologist trying to figure out this weird tribe called followers of Jesus.

Because, you know, we followers of Jesus, we have a very similar problem to Jim.

Not that we go around telling people that they have to fall down and worship us,

but we have a very, very similar problem.

And that is, if you think about it for a second, you know, in the Creed and the Bible,

and we tell people and we know that, you know, what is it?

That when we come to faith in Jesus, we've been made right with God.

When we come to faith in Jesus, Jesus lives in us and we live in Jesus.

We're given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the very same Holy Spirit that caused the Bible to be written

and the planets to be formed and raised Jesus from the dead.

That Holy Spirit lives within us.

And we will go to be in the new heaven and the new earth.

And if you think about all of these problems, here's our Jim problem.

Why aren't you more impressive?

Like, why am I not more impressive?

Why isn't this congregation more impressive?

Like, you know, if you think about it, often one of the reasons that we don't actually want to say anything

about our friends to our friends or our neighbors about the fact that we go to church

or that we're followers of Jesus is because we don't feel very impressive.

We say to ourselves, well, how on earth can I say something to them about Jesus?

I mean, they're way better educated than me.

You know, they're so much better at relationships.

They're way better behaved.

You know, they speak more languages than me.

You know, they're fitter.

They're younger.

They're prettier.

They're better looking.

Like, we go through these things.

And why do we go through these things?

Because we sort of believe that we're not very impressive.

And really, we should be impressive.

And that's our Jim problem.

Why aren't we more impressive if these biblical things are true?

The Bible text today actually has a lot of really important things to speak into this issue

about our desire to be more impressive and how it messes up our lives.

Very powerful Bible text about this.

So it would be a great help to me if you'd get your Bibles and you'd open them up

to 2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 4:7

2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 4:7

And it speaks directly into some of these issues.

It's actually a really, really, really, there's two really, really, really beautiful Bible texts

in here that many of you should want to memorize.

It's a good thing to memorize the Bible.

And there's wonderful texts here for us to memorize and to be able to think about.

And look how the text begins.

2 Corinthians 4, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 4:7

And if you're wondering why I begin at verse 7, if you're a guest here this morning,

we do something which is very, very old-fashioned.

In fact, I mean, if you go back and you read Augustine and you go back and you read St. John Chrysostom

and you go back and you read Ambrose, they used to preach through books of the Bible.

And that's sort of a lost art.

We're preaching through the book of 2 Corinthians.

And that's why we're starting at verse 7 because we did up to verse 6, you know, 1 to 6 last week.

And listen to what it says in 2 Corinthians 4, 7.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

It's a very, very beautiful text, isn't it?

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Now, some of us might say, you know, that's a really beautiful text.

You know, my mom always told me that I was a treasure.

And you know, at school they try to tell you that you're a treasure.

And it's like it's a really nice text.

I'll have to show my teacher this text or tell my mom about this text because it's very, very Canadian, right?

Everybody's a treasure.

We all have this treasure within us.

And so it can sound like it's a very Canadian text, but it's actually a text which is very problematic for Christians.

And in fact, I'm going to do something a bit dangerous with you now because at first you might say this is a really nice verse to share with your friend.

But when I actually show you what it means, you might be terrified that your friend finds out about this text.

Because it's so profoundly un-Canadian.

Notice in verse 7 it begins with but.

And I'm sorry, I can't resist it.

It's a big but.

I love saying that.

I don't know why.

It's a big but.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay.

It means it's connected in a very particular way with what just goes on before it.

And so actually, Andrew, could you put that up on the screen?

Could you say this all with me?

It's a beautiful text, the two together.

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.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Isn't that a beautiful text when put together?

It's so beautiful.

And last week we talked a little bit about verse 6 because I went through verses 1 to 6 of chapter 4.

So there's a bit of a context about this language of for God who said, let light shine out of darkness.

You know, earlier on in 2 Corinthians it said how every human being is veiled or blindfolded.

And it talks about almost as if every human being, on one hand, we're born with this blindfold.

On the other hand, we like to hold it on.

And the blindfold means that we don't actually get to see the reality the way it is.

We don't see reality.

We like to have blindfolds on.

And it implies that in terms of understanding God or seeing God or understanding God that we have a blindfold on.

And that understanding ourselves in light of God, our hearts, the center of who we are.

We can only understand who we are in light of who God is.

And we have a blindfold on about it.

And then just above this verse, it talks about on top of that, the devil blinds us.

On my drive in here this morning, it really struck me.

This is a bit of an aside.

I know I can have problems with asides.

You know, Bob Dylan just got the Nobel Prize, right, for poetry.

He has a line in one of his songs.

I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined.

I wish I could say it the way he said it.

Born already ruined, stone cold dead as I stepped out of the womb.

And by his grace, but by his grace, I have been touched.

By his word, I have been healed.

By his hand, I've been delivered.

By his spirit, I've been healed.

I've been saved.

That's a Dylan song.

Isn't that sort of cool that he just won the Nobel Prize for poetry?

And that's some of his poetry.

It comes right from 2 Corinthians chapter 4.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

I was blinded by the devil, born already ruined, stone cold dead as I stepped out of the womb.

And anyway, I think that's cool.

I'm an old Dylan fan.

So what's going on?

Just before this text is up here, for God who said,

let light shine out of darkness as shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

What the text is saying here, it's very, very powerful.

The same God who created all things and who on the very first day of creation said, let there be light.

And there's light scattering the darkness.

The very same God who has created all things is the same God that converts us.

who sees that we as human beings are veiled and blinded.

And earlier on in 2 Corinthians, it says that when we turn to the Lord, in other words, when we realize that unless God shows us mercy,

we cannot fix ourselves or help ourselves or save ourselves.

And we call out to God to show mercy to us.

And God, seeing that we are blinded and seeing that we are veiled,

he bypasses both.

And the very same God that created all things on the first day, began to create all things on the first day of creation,

shines in our hearts, the center of who we are, the command center of our lives.

And he shines into that to create the new creation.

The same God who creates is the same God who fits us for the new creation when we turn to Jesus in faith.

And that's what it's saying here in the text.

And when it talks about the glory of God,

for God who said, let light shine out of darkness as shown in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,

the glory of God is not talking about a mystical vision.

It's not talking about the beatific vision.

It's not just saying you have to have a mystical experience.

No, it's not talking about that at all.

We'll see it more later on in 2 Corinthians.

But think back to the Gospel of John.

In the Gospel of John, the glory of God is an important theme throughout the Gospel of John.

And in John chapter 17, when Jesus is praying over his disciples,

John 17 · chapter mention

he knows that after this prayer, he's going to go to the Garden of Gethsemane.

He's going to eventually be captured by his enemies and that he's going to die on the cross.

He knows all of that.

And he says to his disciples,

now you will see the glory of God revealed.

In other words,

Jesus dying on the cross

is the perfect revelation of the glory of God.

And that's what it's talking about here in 2 Corinthians.

When it says to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,

that God shines in our hearts,

it's giving a knowledge of what Jesus has done for us on the cross

to be gripped by what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

And when it says the face of Jesus,

it's to constantly reminding us that it's the person of Jesus who dies upon the cross for us,

that we're to have a personal knowledge,

that it's not just that some ritual happens to us

or that God just does some,

you know, it's as if he just shines a flashlight into us,

but that he comes and shines beneath our veiled and blinded eyes

into the very center of who we are

to bring home to us the reality of who his son is

and what his son has accomplished for us on the cross.

And so the word knowledge is personal knowledge,

not abstract knowledge,

not the way we know 2 plus 2 equals 4,

or that we know, you know,

who won the Stanley Cup last year,

anything like that.

It's not just abstract or mere information,

it's personal knowledge of a person

who has done this mighty act to save us,

revealing the glory of God in saving jars of clay

who are blinded and veiled.

Could you say this text with me again, please, one more time?

For God who said,

let light shine out of darkness,

has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay

to show that the surpassing power belongs to God

and not to us.

This is why I've now done a dangerous thing to you.

Because you might have said verse 7 is so wonderful,

I think I'll tell my teachers about that

or my friends about it.

They're always telling me,

this text is saying

that every human being

is a jar of clay.

It doesn't matter if it's

the people who win the gold medals in the Olympics,

it doesn't matter if it's the person

who will win the MVP award

in the NHL this year

or the MVP award in the playoffs.

Every human being is a fragile jar of clay.

But not every human being

has that treasure within them.

That's the bad news.

But the good news is

every jar of clay that turns to Christ,

God will turn no one away

and he will shine

and can shine

and will shine into their hearts

to bring the glory of God

and the knowledge of Christ

and all that wonderful stuff

and they will have that treasure within them.

It is both very bad news,

but it's also the best possible news

that you could hear.

All of us who struggle with being fragile.

So here we need,

just to be very honest,

most of us,

maybe all of us,

like, you know,

probably many of us

in our minds

at different times

we're legends

in our own minds.

And wouldn't,

you know,

if I,

maybe I'm just way more wicked

than the people here

and way more pride.

You know,

it would actually be very proud

for me to think I'm

more wicked than all of you.

That's a bit of a conundrum.

I'm just averagely wicked.

I don't know.

Averagely proud.

Oh, is that proud as well?

Anyway,

you can get,

you can see the devil

can really play us

like an instrument.

I mean,

he really can.

But, you know,

here's the thing.

Many of us would be so,

we'd all be so horrified

if other people

could just listen in

to how we talk

and think

and imagine

and daydream

throughout the day.

Like,

we'd spend time

both howling

with laughter

at how preposterous

we think we are

and then we'd be horrified

and then we'd be crying

with pity

because we're addicted

to boasting.

All human beings are.

That's one of the reasons

I think why this image

is so powerful

to humble us

to make us realize

that we aren't the legends

we believe in our own minds.

And most of us,

if we're honest,

when we daydream

and when we think,

it's always around

becoming more powerful

and more impressive.

And this text is saying,

you know,

when you come to Jesus

and God shines his heart,

his light into our hearts

and we have this

unbelievable treasure

but he leaves us

his jars of clay.

He doesn't make us superheroes.

We don't get the bodies

of Wolverine,

the wealth of Bill Gates,

the intelligence

of Stephen Hawking

and the niceness

of Mother Teresa.

We stay jars of clay.

And this is part

of God's good plan

for us

because he knows

how addicted we are

to boasting

and he wants to work in us

in such a way,

what does the text say?

To show that the surpassing power

belongs to God

and not to us.

Now, just as a bit

of a time out here,

this text,

if this was the only text

in the Bible

that talked about this,

we'd have a bit of a problem

because it could almost sound

as if it means that,

you know,

when I'm thinking about

my sermon for the coming week,

I should plan to do

as crappy a job as possible

so that God will be glorified.

It's not how it works.

You know,

it could be that

you dress as bad

as you can

and you bathe

as often as Bob

so that God,

that's not,

if this was the only text,

maybe you could think that.

I mean,

the fact of the matter

is that there's lots

of Bible texts

that really tell us

that if we want

to bring God glory,

why wouldn't we do

the best we absolutely

can do for him?

But at the same time

that this text is,

that the Bible

is encouraging us

that once we follow

Jesus as our Lord,

that we are to try

to give our absolute best

for him,

at the same time,

it's powerfully reminding us

that we are always

jars of clay

and that the surpassing power

comes from God

and never from us

and the praise

for his surpassing power

must go to him

and never to us.

And so one of the things

you could do

just as a time out,

like for us,

for those of us

who are praying

for our kids,

those of us

who are parents,

just here's the thing,

remember that you

are a jar of clay.

Remember you are

a jar of clay

and you're dealing

with your kids

who are jars of clay

as well.

You know,

I think it's so powerful,

jars of clay

are fragile.

One of the fruits

of the Holy Spirit

is gentleness.

Nowhere in the Bible

does it commend us

to be a bull

in a china shop.

But the virtue

of gentleness

is constantly

encouraged upon us

and we are to pray

that we can be gentle

in how we handle people

and to pray

to be gentle

with our kids

and husbands

to be,

you know,

gentle with your spouse

and spouse

to be gentle

with your husband

and to remember

that we're jars

of clay

and that we have

to pray

that God's

surpassing power

will work through

the fact

that we will always

be imperfect parents.

And one of the things

you can pray for us

as a church

is that when the council

meets that we remember

that we're jars of clay

and that we don't say

we can't do that

or we can't do this,

God can't be leading us there

because we're not impressive

and powerful enough

that area,

but to remember

that we're jars of clay.

And maybe God

is going to lead,

maybe God will always

lead us into areas

where we are only jars of clay

and the surpassing power

has to come from God

and we have to say

only God.

And if you're in work

and you're afraid

or your neighbors

and you're afraid

to share the gospel

or even tell people

that you know

that you go to church

on a Sunday morning

because you say to yourself,

you know what,

I don't get the best job review.

You know,

maybe I'm in the bottom part

of the office

in terms of job review.

Well, you know,

pray to God

that you can do better

in your job

but remember

that God uses

jars of clay.

to bear witness

to others.

Now,

some of you might say,

George,

you know,

you asked us

to have this Bible

and while you were talking,

that was very,

you know,

good, George.

But,

George,

I think that some

of the things

that happened after this,

like that was very helpful,

George,

but, you know,

you've just been talking

about one verse,

verse seven,

and the stuff

that comes afterwards,

I don't know

if the Bible's true,

George.

Like,

George,

why is it so hard

to be a Christian often?

Like,

you know,

George,

later on it's going to say

about,

you know,

you face despair

and you're broken

but not,

you know,

crushed but not,

you know,

and all that stuff

but it's all this

other victory stuff

but,

George,

I don't know,

I've been in a really long

season of despair

and I don't know

what to do

and,

you know,

you know,

a lot of the praise songs

in churches,

it's all about

got the victory

and Jesus

and I'm dancing

but,

you know,

inside I don't feel

like I have victory

and I don't feel

like I'm dancing.

George,

I have a heavy heart

and I've been in a long season

and I don't know

if it's true,

George,

or maybe,

does that mean

I'm not a Christian

because it just seems

like it's so hard?

It's so hard.

Well,

there's two things

about this

and the first thing

is,

well,

let's look at

verses eight to 15

and I'll talk about

the first thing

and I'll tell you

the second thing

about that

for those of us

who aren't sure

if the Bible's true

and they're finding it

really,

really,

really,

really hard

and they're wondering,

you're wondering,

we're wondering

if our brokenness

is something

that's going to be

the story of our lives.

Look at verses

eight to 15.

One of the problems

we have with it,

I'll see in a moment

because it's a very simple

way to understand it

is it's very powerful

poetic imagery

to communicate

a simple truth

but let's read,

we are afflicted

in every way

but not crushed.

That's the part

some of us don't believe.

I'm afflicted

and crushed,

George.

We're perplexed

but not driven

to despair.

George,

I'm struggling

with despair.

Persecuted

but not forsaken.

I feel forsaken,

George.

Struck down

but not destroyed.

George,

I feel destroyed.

Always carrying

in the body

the death of Jesus

so that the life

of Jesus

may also 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.

So death

is at work in us

but life in you.

Since we have

the same spirit

of faith

and just pause here

the word spirit

could be capitalized,

probably should be capitalized.

it's the Holy Spirit.

So it's actually saying

that the same Holy Spirit

that caused the Bible

to be written

is the Holy Spirit

that Christians have.

Since 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

knowing that

he who raised

the Lord Jesus

will raise us

also with Jesus

and bring us

with you

into his presence

for it is all

for your sake

so that his grace

extends to more

and more people

it may increase

thanksgiving

to the glory

of God.

Here in a very

simple way,

this is a very,

very rich text

filled with powerful

poetic imagery

but in a very simple way,

here's the first thing

that the text is saying

in answer to why

is it that the Christian life

seems so hard

and what's it talking

about all this being broken

and death

and all of that stuff.

It's Luke chapter 6

Luke 6:40

verse 40.

Luke chapter 6

Luke 6:40

verse 40.

Can you put it up Andrew?

We're not going to have us say it

but I'm just going to read it.

What does Jesus say?

A disciple is not above

his teacher

but everyone

when he is fully trained

will be like his teacher.

A disciple is not above

his teacher

but everyone

when he is fully trained

will be like his teacher.

There's a four or five

places in the Gospels

where Jesus says

a variation of the same thing.

Jesus' death

upon the cross

is the lamb of

his dying

is the lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

That's what his death is.

On one hand,

his death is a

sacrifice for sin

that makes human beings

right with God

and that's completely

and utterly unique to Jesus.

We don't do anything

like that to save people

but Jesus consistently

tells us in the Gospel

that we are to be like him

and Jesus

made himself nothing.

Jesus was tempted

by the devil

in the wilderness.

Jesus got tired.

Jesus served others

and was misunderstood.

His family thought

he was insane.

If you go back

and read the Gospels,

they thought he was insane

and he was whipped

and he was beaten

and the Bible text

here in 2 Corinthians

is telling us

this very, very hard truth

but it's an important truth

to remember

that all Christian ministry

and all Christians

have a ministry

is cruciform.

It's in the shape

of the cross.

Jesus says,

pick up your cross

and follow me.

And Paul here

is talking about that

in very, very powerful

poetic imagery.

Some of us,

the imagery of death

and of life,

it's a better way

to get into our consciousness

and into our hearts

than just this mere thing

that if we follow Jesus

we'll be like him.

But that's what Paul

is saying here.

It's a very, very powerful thing.

But some of us might say,

George,

okay,

you said there's a second thing.

You know,

I'm going to be really honest

with you.

So,

you know,

I struggle with

any type of self-worth

or purpose.

And,

you know,

I don't know

when to say no to people.

And,

you know,

in my head,

I carry around

what my dad said

about not respecting me

or I'll never amount to much

or what my coach

or my teacher said.

And I carry that around

in me, George.

and I,

I mean,

I want to follow Jesus

and I,

and I'm willing to pick up

the cross

and follow him,

but,

oh,

I still don't know

if all those things

about,

you know,

being broken,

you know,

but not finally

and all,

I don't,

I don't know if it's true,

George.

I don't know,

George.

It just,

it just seems hard.

Well,

just look at verse 14 again.

What does it say

in verse 14?

Knowing that he who raised

the Lord Jesus

will raise us

also with Jesus

and bring us with you

into his presence.

For it is all for your sake,

so that his grace extends

to more and more people

it may increase

thanksgiving to the glory

of God.

And then these wonderful

verses at the end,

verses 16 to 18,

more verses to memorize.

Could you put it up

on the screen

and could you,

could you folks

say it with me out loud?

So we do not lose heart.

Though our outer self

is wasting away,

our inner self

is being renewed

day by day.

For this light,

momentary affliction

is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory

beyond all comparison.

As we look not

to the things that are seen,

but to the things

that are unseen.

For the things that are seen

are transient,

but the things that are unseen

are eternal.

I mean,

here's the thing

about this Bible text

about us being jars of clay.

The fact of the matter is,

is jars of clay

is a very, very accurate way

to describe us.

I know we have

some doctors here

and some people

who are in med school.

Tiny, tiny,

microscopic things

cause us to die.

And I mean,

this week I know

it's a shock

to politicians,

Jim Prentice dying.

And we are very fragile.

And we don't really

want to acknowledge it.

And this whole text,

when it tells us

about us being jars of clay

and being very fragile,

and when it tells us

that if we don't have Jesus,

that treasure's not within us,

that in fact is telling us

that our situation

is vastly worse

than we normally

are comfortable

of thinking about.

That it's vastly worse,

that we are in far more danger

and far more trouble

than we want to usually

think about

apart from Jesus.

But the text

is also telling us

that we are so much

more loved

than we can possibly imagine.

That once we put

our faith and trust

in Jesus

and we have

that treasure within us,

that doesn't just

trust touch us

at the moment

that we realize

that we've given

our lives to Jesus.

Because some people

it's a very conscious thing

and some people

it's something

that they come to realize

with greater and greater clarity

from the time

they were young children.

Or maybe it's something

for some people

that over a period

of six months or a year

they make this transition

from not being

trusting in Jesus

to trusting in Jesus.

They don't know

the moment it happened.

It doesn't matter

if you know the moment.

But that when it has,

it touches the entire length

of our lives.

It goes right back to us.

Us being a jar of clay

goes from the moment

of our conception

to the future

which is the moment

of our death

and everything in between.

And that we're a jar of clay

for that entire time.

And the treasure,

the shining of the light

of the gospel

of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ

that comes

and that takes up

the whole length

and depth of our lives

with nothing left over.

And so it means

that whether we were aware

of it or not

there is no time

in our life

that we have not been

profoundly,

sacrificially,

gloriously,

deeply loved by God

even if we feel

completely and utterly alone

and we are suffering

and feeling

and afraid of despair,

there has never been

a time that we have been

not been deeply loved.

And then this text

is telling us

that it's impossible

for us to imagine

that an ever-increasing glory,

an ever-increasing weight

of glory

will be the final word

about us in Jesus.

And this is not me

telling you this

in humanism,

this is God telling us

in his word.

I have no authority

to tell you this

because we're jars of clay.

But the Bible says,

for this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory

beyond all comparison.

Jesus,

when he died upon the cross,

he took upon himself

my doom

and yours.

and as he dies

upon the cross,

he offers you and me

his destiny.

That's what he does

for us on the cross.

Some of you might say,

George,

this can't be for me.

Come on, George,

look at this.

Looking to the things

that are not seen

and unseen

and higher things.

George,

I'm an ordinary guy.

I'm going to be honest with you.

You know what I'm looking forward

to doing this afternoon?

Can a bud

and the TV on.

You know,

and maybe some others

are saying,

you know what

I'm looking forward

towards this afternoon,

George?

I'm just looking forward

to a cup of coffee

and Netflix.

I don't want to have to think

about higher things

and whoa.

Does that mean

I have to listen

to CBC and opera

and stuff like that

and highfalutin stuff

when I'm just

an ordinary guy

or gal?

It's not what

the text means at all.

Can you read this text

with me again?

So we do not

lose heart.

Though our outer self

is wasting away,

our inner self

is being renewed

day by day.

For this light

momentary affliction

is preparing for us

an eternal weight

of glory

beyond all comparison.

As we look

not to the things

that are seen

but to the things

that are unseen.

For the things

that are seen

are transient

but the things

that are unseen

are eternal.

What Paul is talking

about here,

what the Bible

is talking about here

is not a distinction

between high things

and low things.

He's not talking

about high culture

versus low culture.

He's not talking

about having

a hipster burger

that cost $27

and a burger

at McDonald's

that cost $1.49.

He's not talking

about those types

of distinctions.

And he's not talking

about the soul

versus the body.

He's not talking

about inner things

versus outer things.

He's not talking

about that.

To use a big word,

he's making

an eschatological

distinction.

I know, I'm sorry,

it's a big word

and I have problems

spelling it.

An eschatological

difference.

What he's reminding

us is this,

that when Jesus

died upon the cross

and after he died

upon the cross

as the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and he descends

into death

and he tastes

all there is

to taste of death,

he bears our sin

and he tastes

all there is

to taste of hell

and on the third day

he rises triumphant

and he's defeated sin,

he's defeated death,

he's defeated hell

and all hostile

spiritual powers.

The beginning

of the end

of the age

has come

and he will

surely return

and when he returns,

this age,

this created order

will come to an end

and he will usher in

and bring the new heaven

and the new earth

where we will live

with resurrected

and new bodies

for all eternity

in the presence of God

in a new heaven

and a new earth

and what Paul

is saying here

is he's making

the distinction

between two different ways

of looking at us

as human beings.

On one hand,

you can look at us

as human beings

and in fact,

the word is actually

literally in the Greek

the outer man

and on one hand,

you can look at it

from the outer man's

point of view,

it's what the Supreme Court

of Canada sees,

it's what Apple sees,

it sees George the Consumer,

it sees how much money

George has

and the types of preferences

he has

and it's the outer thing

and that's part of this age

which is going to come

to an end

but then all of a sudden

there's a slightly

different perspective

by which you can look

at things

and you can look at things

and see that George

already has the light

of the knowledge

of the glory of God

and the face of Jesus Christ

within him

and that means

that he is already

part of the age to come,

that he is already God's,

he's already Christ,

that nothing can stop that,

that nothing can take that away

and that is unseen

by the Supreme Court of Canada,

it is unseen

by the Parliament

and the Senate,

it is unseen

by the CBC

and the University of Ottawa

and the University of Toronto,

it is unseen

by the Globe of Mail

and Hollywood

and it is unseen

by Bay Street

and it is unseen

by all the principalities

and powers of this world

but what is this other thing

that characterizes George

is what is unseen

by the world

is that when Jesus

died upon the cross,

it was the death

of death

in the death

of Christ

that what is unseen

was the defeat

of death

and sin

and hell

and all hostile

spiritual powers,

it is the coming

of God himself

who will bring

all things

to a completed end

and those are

the unseen things

that we are

to be gripped with,

not opera

and high poetry,

I am not against those,

if you like them

that is great,

if you like country

and western

that is great,

it is irrelevant

in the Bible,

the unseen things

are what happens

on the cross,

that there is a father

who loves us,

that this is his

created order,

that he hears our prayers,

that he wants to hear

our prayers,

that Jesus will come again,

that there will be,

those are the unseen things

made manifest

in his word,

the true

invisible realities

made visible

by God.

That's what's to grip us.

That's what's to grip us.

And so from that perspective,

I'm not diminishing,

I don't want to diminish at all,

I've had long seasons

where it's felt

very, very dark,

maybe not as long as yours.

You know,

here's the thing,

here's the Christian claim.

We want to be able

to boast and believe

that somehow

our faith is so strong

and so impressive

and our ability

to manage life

is so strong

and so impressive

that at the end of the day

it's always about

our ability

to hold on

to the hand of Jesus.

And this text

is reminding us

that the fact of the matter is

Jesus loves us

when we squeeze his hand

and he really does.

But the Christian life

is not about

how successful I am

at holding on

to the hand of Jesus.

This text is reminding me

that there are so many times

in my life

that my hand's like this,

that in fact

my hand's like this,

that my hand's like this

and I'm like this.

And what the text is saying,

Jesus' hand is strong

and it never lets go of you.

It never lets go of you.

And yet,

sometimes

and for some of us,

life is really,

really hard.

And the text here

has a very,

very particular progress.

If you look at it,

you know,

verse 17,

for this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory

beyond comparison.

Not that somehow

momentary afflictions

just do it by itself.

As we look,

not to the things

that are seen,

but the things

that are unseen.

It's calling us

in the middle

of our afflictions,

even if all we do

is crying out to God

out of a heart

of despair

and tiredness

and anxiety

and just saying,

Father,

help me to be gripped

by what Jesus did

for me on the cross.

And it's as we're gripped

by these unseen things

that we start to have

some type of sense,

even if it doesn't change

our emotion or our pain,

that from the perspective

of eternity,

our pain

and our darkness

is not the final word

about us,

but the final word

about you and me

in Christ

is an eternal weight

of glory

beyond our ability

to imagine.

And when we put our faith

and trust in Jesus,

that is final

and unshakable.

And while it may be hard now,

in eternity,

we will realize

that our troubles

really were just momentary.

Please stand.

If you're here this morning

and you have a sense

that either you have

not really done work

with Jesus

to give your life to him

that he hasn't shown

in your heart,

you know,

I'm not going to tell you

there's no magic words

of prayer.

You know what you should

just say?

You should just take your Bible

and look at verses 6 and 7

and say,

God,

make that mine.

Make that mine.

Or those words

that were just up

on the screen,

maybe put up,

yeah,

put verse 6 and 7

up on the screen,

Andrew,

if you could do that.

Just say to God,

make that mine.

For those of us

who are having

a hard time in prayer,

just look at the final verses,

16 to 18,

and just say,

Lord,

make that me.

Lord,

make that me.

I can hardly even say it.

I'm so broken,

but Lord,

make that me.

And God hears,

and God will do it.

And if you've done it

for the first time

after the service,

just tell somebody

that you've done it

for the first time.

Devil will tell you

to be silent.

Tell the devil

to shut up

and tell somebody.

Let's just pray.

Father,

we thank you so much

that we are jars of clay.

And yet,

even though we are jars of clay,

you loved us so much,

seeing our deep need

that you sent your son

to take upon himself

a jar of clay

and live amongst us

fully and completely

as a jar of clay,

to die for jars of clay,

so that when we put our faith

and trust in you,

the glory of salvation

and Jesus

will live within us

and never leave

and fit and prepare us

for the new heaven

and the new earth.

Father,

we thank you

for this great promise

and this great victory

of your son

and this great love

for us

that you have

and this great glory

you have promised us

beyond our comparison.

Help us,

Father,

to begin

to be comfortable

with being jars of clay

and being weak

and call out to you

and walk

and follow you

in faith

so that your great power

may be displayed

in the world

in a way that brings

no glory to us

but only to you.

Make us disciples of Jesus

gripped by the gospel

living for your glory.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.