Treasure in Clay Jars | Hilary Mushambi

But let me just jump straight into this.

What do you and I have in common with a cardboard box?

I don't know if you've ever thought of yourself in those

terms, but I hope that every one of you will feel encouraged by

the comparison by the time I'm finished here.

Because today I want to zoom in on one of my favorite verses and

reminded remind us why it is such a blessing to be compared

to a cardboard box. I'm going to read from 2

2 Corinthians 4:7

Corinthians 4 verse 7. But we have this treasure in

jaws of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God

and not from us. Of course, if we really want to

dig into just one verse, we're going to need to dig into the

context. So I'm going to touch on the

background of that verse of Paul's second letter to the

Corinthians before I ask some questions like what is the

treasure that Paul is talking about and why clay pots?

And then we look at what it means for all of us.

But before I begin, let us just pray and ask God to help us.

Father God, thank you for Your word and for the truths of your

gospel that you have revealed to us.

Thank You that we can know You as our Lord and Saviour.

Help us as we look at your word today, to rightly understand the

message You have for US. Open our eyes to see and know

You better and to know what that means for our lives in Jesus

name, Amen. Now it is possible that the

first thing most scholars will tell you about Paul's second

letter to the Corinthians is that it wasn't actually his 2nd

letter to the Corinthian church. They will trace the timeline

from Acts chapter 18 where Paul first went to Corinth and he

Acts 18 · chapter mention

spent 18 months there teaching and speaking about Jesus while

working with Priscilla and Aquila who were also tent makers

like him and with many people responding to Christ at that

time. We see the growth and the

beginning of the church in Corinth.

Then there is mention of a letter that came before the one

that we have in our Bibles that we know as One Corinthians.

And Paul after that makes another visit to Corinth, which

he refers to as the painful visit.

At this time he was involved in a difficult confrontation.

There was some particular sin in the church that needed to be

called out. And then after he was gone, he

sent another severe letter following up after his visit.

So by the time we get to what we know as Second Corinthians,

there is a lot of back story to that particular context, that

particular church, and what he teaches has to do with the

fallout after that. And in this letter, we see it

starts with Paul comforting the church after all the conflict.

He's now working on repairing relationships within the church

and between himself and the church.

And he also covers some practical matters in the letter,

like explaining the changes in his travel plans and making

arrangements about a gift he's been collecting for the

struggling believers in Jerusalem.

But there's one other thing that's also a primary concern of

his He spends some time confronting challenges to his

own leadership. You see people in the church

have been influenced by a group who were going around known as

super apostles, right? I think actually super apostles

is something you'd probably feel familiar with today.

We've got people who go around with titles and and status as

leaders in these big church movements and these super

apostles have been going around and expressing challenges to

Paul's ministry, saying that they were superior, they were

better in ministry than he was. And in two in two Corinthians

chapter 3, we see Paul has to now defend his ministry, but

let's look at how he defends it. He asks, do you do we need as

some do letters of recommendation to you or from

you? You yourselves are our letter

written on our hearts, to be known and read by all, and you

show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written

not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on

tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

You see, Paul doesn't feel the need to prove himself as the

Super puzzle impossible super apostles seem to imply that he

should. The very existence of the church

in Corinth is the evidence that Paul's ministry is from God.

He continues in verses 5 and 6 by stating that not that we are

sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but

our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be

ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the

Spirit. For the letters, letter kills,

but the Spirit gives life. Paul knows he doesn't need to

prove his qualifications because God is the one who calls him.

God is the one by this, by his Spirit, that makes him enough

for the task. And it is this confidence that

he has in his ministry that leads him into this most

beautiful comparison between the ministry of the Spirit and the

ministry of the letter or the law which was given to Moses.

Now he refers to events that we would read about in Exodus 34,

and he describes how after receiving the law directly from

God upon Mount Sinai, Moses face was shining with so much glory

just from being in the presence of God and that the people, they

couldn't bear to look at him. And as a result, Moses ended up

covering his face with a veil until the glory had faded from

him again. So Paul says of the ministry of

the Spirit. Will not the ministry of the

Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the

ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must

far exceeded in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once

had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the

glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to

an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have

glory. If the ministry of the law that

came through Moses, which only ended up showing how far we fall

short of God's standards, came with that kind of glory that

Moses had to cover his face for days, how much more glorious is

the ministry of righteousness which comes through Jesus and

which frees us from any condemnation because of His

death on our behalf. And if the glory of the law was

temporary, the law acting as our teacher and our guardian only

until Christ came and fulfilled it, how much more glorious will

the unending ministry of the Spirit be.

Paul can't help but get all poetic about the ministry that

he's received from God. It is so much greater than what

came before, and it is his hope in this ministry, this glorious

ministry, not in his own ability, that gives him the

confidence to preach about Jesus Christ so that we all with

unveiled faces seeing the glory of the Lord, can be transformed

into the same image from 1° of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Paul is less concerned with proving himself than he is with

helping people to see the glory of the Lord.

He wants people to see Jesus, to really see Jesus in all of his

glory. And he wants to see lives

changed and transformed by the Spirit as people grow more and

more like him. And this is what keeps him going

despite any opposition he faces. So I'm going to read from

chapter 4 of Two Corinthians from verse one until we get to

our text. Therefore, having this ministry

by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but 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.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those

who are perishing in their case. The God of this world has

blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the

light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of

God. For what we proclaim is not

ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your

servants for Jesus sake. 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 jaws of clay to show that the

surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Paul's response to the Super apostles is simply to keep on

doing what God has called him to do.

He doesn't lose heart because he knows this ministry is a result

of God's grace, God's mercy, and so he continues to commit

himself to be faithful with what he's been given.

He's not going to play by the playbook of the others of the

Super apostles. He's not going to use

underhanded methods to promote himself.

He won't use deceit or trickery to manipulate the church.

He's not going to twist God's word to say what he wants it to

say and make himself look good. But instead, people will know

that he is someone of integrity and honesty because of how

openly he proclaims the truth of the gospel.

These are the criteria by which he expects to be measured.

His credentials as an apostle have nothing to do with how

powerfully he speaks, or the size of the crowds that come to

hear him or the titles that he carries.

No, his qualifications can be seen in how he proclaims the

gospel clearly and faithfully and plainly before everyone.

There are many people today who gain large followings because

they speak the message that people want to hear.

But Paul relies on the gospel to commend itself.

He's not interested in promoting himself.

He wants to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ as Lord, and he

sees himself only as a servant of that in the hopes of reaching

people with his gospel. He already had said in one

Corinthians that his aim was to become all things to all people,

so that by all means he might save some.

The message is what his focus is.

That's what he wants to promote, not himself, but Jesus.

And while he recognises that not everyone will want to receive

the message, he knows that this is because the gospel is veiled.

For those people, those people who don't want to know that God

revealed in Jesus, they've been blinded to the truth, prevented

from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.

But for those who do believe, he sees the powerful hand of God at

work. For the same 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

Christ. Just think about that.

The same God who spoke into the darkness on the first day of

creation and said let there be light is the one that causes the

light to shine in us so that we can see and know God's glory as

it is revealed in Jesus. The same power that spoke the

universe into being is the one that speaks into us, allowing us

to see and recognize His glory in the person of Jesus Christ.

This Jesus that was born in Bethlehem and walked around in

Jerusalem and Judea. This real person that lived

about 2000 years before we did, that history testifies, lived

and died and rose again from the dead.

He is the one in whom we see the very glory of God.

Hebrews one verse 3 puts it this way.

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of

his nature. So if you want to see God, look

at Jesus. And when we see Jesus and when

we recognize him for who He really is, that veil is removed

from our hearts. This is what the Spirit is doing

through the Gospel. It is showing us who Jesus

really is. And when we put our trust in

him, we enter into a relationship with Him and He

begins to change us. But we have this treasure in

jaws of clay. So what is this treasure?

This treasure is the light of the knowledge of the glory of

God in the face of Jesus Christ. This treasure is the gospel that

Paul proclaims. This treasure is the gospel of

Christ Jesus received and believed that transforms us by

his Spirit so that we can reflect that glory to the world

around us. Or Simply put, the treasure is

Jesus. It is Jesus and all that he is

and all that he has done for us in his life, his teaching, his

death and his resurrection. It's the Jesus that the gospel

message proclaims, and it is Jesus that is personally known

and loved by every person who belongs to him.

It is Christ in us that empowers us and enables us to live out

the calling we have as God's children.

Jesus is the treasure, the same treasure that keeps Paul from

losing heart when his ministry is brought into question.

And the good news is, that same treasure is living in each and

every person who confesses Christ today.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay.

Now maybe you think there are better places to keep treasure

than clay jars, and you might be right.

Nowadays we have banks and safes to keep our valuables secure,

but this treasure of such infinite worth God chooses to

keep in clay jars. Now, most of us probably don't

have too many clay jars lying around our houses, so this image

may be a little hard to resonate with, but for most people living

in the 1st century, clay jars were what you used all the time.

If you could afford something more durable, you might have

some bronze containers, but for most people, clay was the

standard storage method of your choice of choice.

You would use your clay jars to store your olive oil, your

vinegar, your water. You would use them to store your

dry goods like your wheat and your barley, your nuts and your

dried fruit, your dates and figs.

They would be in the clay jars too.

They were common. Everybody had them.

But they were also weak and easily broken, so easily so that

broken pieces of clay jars became like note paper in the

1st century. And many archaeological finds

from that time are pieces of broken clay vessels that were

repurposed for the day-to-day use of people who needed to

write things down. Known by archaeologists as

Ostraca, these repurposed shards of play that have been found

include those that were used for things like receipts and records

of payments and taxes delivered inventories, lists of workers

and their attendants, records of deliveries and the source of the

goods, private letters, informal notes, letters of demand,

military correspondence, legal documents, medical

prescriptions, excerpts from stories or poems, and even

sketches and writing practice of people who are learning how to

be scribes. Many different things have been

recorded on these broken pieces of pottery.

Clay jars were disposable containers in their time, much

like our milk cartoons and our cereal boxes.

In many ways, the clay jars of the 1st century are more like

our cardboard boxes. They're everywhere.

So many of the things we buy come in cardboard boxes.

Just take a look around your kitchen and you'll find a few

examples, from cereal to bananas to tea bags and rusks and rice

and and spice refills and many other bigger things like

kitchenware and all of our deliveries from take a lot.

They also come in cardboard boxes.

Cardboard boxes are cheap, they're everywhere, they're

useful, and when you're done with them, you can repurpose

them and pass them on to the children for their artwork and

their craft projects. And yet this is what Paul says

God chooses to use to hold his greatest treasure.

But here is the thing. We are the clay jars.

We are the cardboard boxes that Paul is talking about when Job

was making his case to God. He describes himself in this way

in chapter 10, verse 9. Remember that you have made me

like clay, and will you return me to the dust?

This image appears a few times in the Bible, this comparison of

people to clay vessels, and it is a fitting one because in many

ways we are weak. We are fragile.

Like clay jars, we don't last long in the big scheme of

eternity, and it is this very aspect that Paul is leaning into

as he goes forward. It is this very weakness of ours

that shows that the power belongs to God and not to us.

The same way that when God called Gideon to lead his people

in battle against the Midianites, he said, The people

with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their

hand too many, lest Israel boast over me, saying my own hand has

saved me. And then he proceeded to reduce

the number of Gideon's men in the army from 32,000 to 300,

because that way it would be clear to them that the victory

was God's work and not their own strength.

This also echoes what Paul said in One Corinthians, where he

reminded the Church of his own weaknesses when he was among

them. He spoke not with convincing

words, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that

your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power

of God. The whole point of this

combination, the storing of a treasure of infinite value in

such a weak and common vessels, is that there is no doubt that

the power and the glory belongs to God alone.

This is why so often when people testify about God's goodness in

the midst of intense hardship, it is so impactful.

Why when Coritin Boom is able to forgive a man who tormented her

and her sister in a concentration Nazi concentration

camp, the glory goes to God alone.

When the singer Night Bird is able to carry such joy on ATV

Talent show in the midst of fighting a battle against cancer

that the whole world sits up to listen as she testifies about

how God meets her on the bathroom floor, God gets the

glory. When you see a mother openly

holding on to God's sovereignty and goodness and faithfulness

while grieving the loss of a child, God gets the glory.

The less capable we are in ourselves, the more God gets the

glory when He uses us. And This is why Paul loves to

boast in his own weaknesses, because he recognises that his

weaknesses add to God's glory. It is when he is weak that God's

power is displayed. And this power isn't just for

sure. It's the same power that spoke

the world into being. It's the same power that raised

Jesus from the dead. It's the same power that speaks

life into hearts of stone that enables us to persevere in the

hope that we have in Jesus. This is why Paul goes on to

speak about the result of having this treasure.

In the next few verses we reflected 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.

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. And Paul knew what he was

talking about when it came to hardship and persecution.

In fact, he lists a bunch of the challenges that he endured.

A few chapters later, in Chapter 11, he lists, comparing to the

Super apostles, that he's faced far greater laborers, far more

imprisonments with countless beatings, often near death.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews, 40 lashes

less, 1/3 times I was beaten with rods, Once I was stoned,

three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift

at sea on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from

robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the

Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger

at sea, danger from false brothers in toil and hardship,

through many a sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often

without food, in cold and exposure.

And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on

me of my anxiety for all the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not

indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of

the things that show my weakness.

Paul is able to endure because of God's power at work in him,

and he even boasts about these things because these things that

expose his weakness only make God's glory shine out even more.

He wants the life of Jesus to be displayed through his own

weaknesses. So his response to the request

for his qualifications, asking him to justify himself in

comparison to other super apostles, is to point away from

himself and towards Christ. And if these weaknesses only

serve to display God's glory even more, he will celebrate

them because his concern is not his own glory, but God's.

And he calls the church to join him in this way of thinking and

living, this turning upside down of our priorities.

Because the upside down way of living is consistent with

following the example of God whose character of self giving

love was revealed on a cross and not in a palace.

When we are content with our weaknesses, we are following the

example of the one who emptied himself of glory in order to

take on a weak human body and live among us and die for us.

When we humble ourselves in order to prioritize loving

others, we are following the example of Jesus who humbled

himself to the point of death on a cross for you and me.

When we choose obedience to God's word instead of self

gratification, that is following the example of our Lord who

calls us to deny ourselves and follow Him.

And when Paul experiences suffering and humility and

poverty, he sees that as proof that he is a true representative

of Christ as he follows in the footsteps of the one who

suffered on his behalf. The world around us values

success in terms of wealth and property and career and

reputation. But for Paul, he celebrated the

opposite. The things that make us weak in

the eyes of the world. Because that is where God is

able to work through us, and a greater glory is waiting for us

if we remain faithful in following Him.

This is why Paul doesn't lose heart, he says in chapter 4 from

verse 16. 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.

So what then does all of this mean for us?

Well, first I want to ask, what is your treasure?

Do you share Paul's concern for the glory of God and his delight

in and treasuring of Jesus Christ?

Is Jesus your treasure? Jesus Himself warned us in

Matthew 621 that where your treasure is, there your heart

will be also. So take a moment to examine your

heart. Where your heart lingers the

most is a good indicator of what it is that you treasure.

Do you treasure success or wealth or comfort?

Security. Maybe your treasure is your

family or your career. Perhaps it is your image and how

you think people see you, your social status.

Or is your treasure like Paul's Jesus?

The gospel that we read of in the Bible is not just a get out

of hell free card. That's it.

You say yes once and you're good to go.

It's an invitation. It's an invitation to treasure

the one who will complete you, who will come and live within

you by his Spirit, who will help you and guide you and transform

you until more and more you are living out the purpose for which

you are made. As Augustine said, you have made

us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they

rest in you. If you haven't yet seen this

about Jesus, then perhaps you are the person that Paul is

talking to when he says a little further on in his letter that we

are ambassadors for Christ. God is making his appeal through

us. We implore you on behalf of

Christ, be reconciled to God. Don't miss the chance to say yes

to Him and to experience Him and His glory in your life.

And if you want to talk to someone about this, please don't

hesitate to find someone afterwards, whether a friend,

whether an elder, talk to someone, but don't pass on the

chance to receive this treasure for yourself.

Secondly, if you are someone who already sees Jesus as your

treasure, then what this passage is for you and me is a reminder

that we should have that same eternal perspective that Paul

has. The upside down set of

priorities should make perfect sense to us when the world says

work hard to store up enough to have security in this world.

Paul teaches us that we should be generous and trust God to

provide for our needs like the Macedonian church he mentions in

chapter 8 who out of the poverty begged for a chance to give

first to the Lord and then the apostles collection for the poor

in Jerusalem. When the world says promote

yourself and your ability. We are to be humble and content

with our weaknesses because these are the areas where God

can be glorified in our lives. Our lives should reflect the

treasure that lives within us. He died for all that those who

live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for

their sake died and was raised. Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come and finally, once we understand the

nature of the treasure within us, we should also know that

Jesus is the true source of our strength.

When hardships come, and they will come, you also have access

to the same power that Paul knew.

The same Jesus that was his treasure that enabled him to

endure so much is the Jesus Christ that lives within you and

me through the Holy Spirit. In the same way that God told

Paul that His grace was sufficient for him, His grace is

sufficient for you too. Mums, when you are sleep

deprived and struggling to manage your own emotions on top

of the emotions of your children, His grace is

sufficient for you. Dads and single mums, when

you're feeling the weight and pressures of leading and

providing for your families, His grace is sufficient for you.

Workers, When you're facing pressures and deadlines or

navigating tensions between you and your Co workers, His grace

is sufficient for you. If you're in school or

university and struggling with the workload, the exam stress,

the social pressures, His grace is sufficient for you.

Whatever pressures or challenges that you are personally facing

today and everyday, you need to lean into the reality that this

treasure in clay jars, that we have this treasure in clay jars

so that the strength is from God and not from yourself.

Lean into the reality of who He is and who He is for you, and

carry this treasure joyfully, gratefully, because your

weakness is an opportunity for Him to receive glory.

Whatever the difficulties and challenges that come your way,

God's grace is enough. And knowing Him, walking closely

with Him, He will give you the strength that you need to

persevere. God is able to make all grace

abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at

all times, you may abound in every good work.

So be happy to be a cardboard box and let those weaknesses

lead you to a greater dependence on the one who makes you strong,

so that he may receive all the glory.

Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the treasure

that you are in our lives. Thank you for the way that you

don't look down on our weaknesses, but instead you

choose to come near and live in us.

That you make us worthy by Jesus blood to be carriers of this

glorious message to everyone around us.

Help us to walk in greater dependence on you.

Thank You that your grace is sufficient for us and that your

power is made perfect in weakness.

May the truth of Christ in US transform and empower us for all

the good works you have called us to do in Jesus name, Amen.