Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
I wonder if you remember doing something called ‘show and tell’ in kindergarten? You brought something from home and stood before your class to explain what it was and why it was important to you, right? All through your life you have frequently used that skill as you’ve explained things to your children and other people. But have you ever considered that GOD does that with you and me? Yes, that’s what the Bible book of JOB is all about, right? And it’s the power of this statement from Isaiah, about all God’s people: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD, for the display of His splendor.” (Is. 61:3)
Did you know the apostle Paul urged his Corinthian Christian friends to see this amazing reality in themselves and each other? Paul wrote these words to them: “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us…” (2 Cor. 4:7) Do you see that Paul calls us to be living displays of God’s awesome power?
Paul uses the phrase “jars of clay” to describe himself and all humans. While God has designed and created the human race as an amazing species of living beings, the truth is we are quite fragile. Our bodies wound and bleed easily. These bodies don’t do well in extreme temperatures nor without food or water for long. As these bodies age we grow weaker and more prone to illness and injury. In old age our joints and even organs may need replacement!
However, what God does inside these bodies, to our soul & spirit, is miraculous when we trust Jesus Christ to save us from our sin bondage! And the living, dynamic relationship God offers every person, as God places His Holy Spirit within us, is nothing short of staggering, even breathtaking! That’s why Paul calls it a TREASURE and a living demonstration of the power of God unleashed in frail, fragile human beings. Pause. That begs an important question: Are you and I EXPERIENCING what Paul is describing?
But let’s be honest my friends, living a life ‘walking with Jesus’ sometimes encounters the darkness of our world or push back from people who don’t want Jesus in their life or their world. So that’s why Paul next wrote: “We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” (2 Cor. 4:8, 9) Oh my, that’s a painful list of experiences that we would do almost anything to avoid, isn’t it? But the truth is, that gruesome list is the harsh reality Paul lived with almost every day, from the time of his encounter with resurrected Jesus, on the road to Damascus, all the way until Paul was executed in a Roman prison about 30 years later.
As you read carefully through that powerful statement from Paul I wonder if you hear discouragement or celebration, adversity or victory? I hear Paul celebrating that the power of God alive in him was giving him the courage, perseverance, endurance to withstand very difficult experiences. I also hear Paul’s confidence that his perseverance is a powerful ‘show and tell’ demonstration of the supremacy of Jesus Christ alive in Paul! Do you see that? Are you experiencing this extravagant life?
Naturally many people looked at Paul and simply scratched their heads or stroked their beards wondering HOW Paul lived joyfully and with such resilience while facing such adversity and often in great physical pain? Paul answers that with his next words: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the [resurrected] life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body…” (2 Cor. 4:10) Oh my, what did Paul mean? The death of Jesus on the cross is profound in its implications for you and me today, but most people don’t understand why. May I give you three very important and powerful realities about how the death and resurrection of Jesus should be affecting your life and mine EVERYDAY?
First… The torture and crucifixion of Jesus is the ultimate example of Jesus submitting in obedience to God the Father and the Redemption Plan God devised for the deliverance of humanity. You’ll remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus prayed to His Father saying “not My will but Yours be done”, Jesus ‘sweat’ drops of blood rather than perspiration, because the stress and agony was so horrific. (Luke 22:44) Several times every day you and I face choices in life and the submissive, obedient death of Jesus provides for us the example we should follow in always submitting to what we know will be the most God honoring choice.
Second… The death Jesus died on that cross is the death you and I and every human being has earned because of our sinful rebellion against Holy God. Oh but more, my friends. It wasn’t just the horrificness of crucifixion, it was the unimaginable wrath of God poured out in judgment on His Son Jesus as Jesus took upon Himself the sinfulness of all humanity. Every day, as you and I see the sinfulness of our world and even our own sinfulness, we should be overwhelmed with gratitude to Jesus for His paying the full sin price so we won’t receive that horrific wrath of God which we deserve.
Third… For 40 days after His resurrection, victorious Jesus engaged with many people proving the resurrection power God had unleashed to defeat death and sin and Satan, while also transforming the decimated body of crucified Jesus into His glorified, fully healed, immortal, heavenly body. The accounts we have of those who saw and touched, talked with and ate with resurrected Jesus should give us great joy and confidence that we too will experience a very similar transformation when our bodies finally die and we receive our immortal, glorified, heavenly bodies. Every ache and pain we experience should awaken in us hope and point us forward to our glorious resurrection!
Do you see now why Paul wrote: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the [resurrected] life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body…” (2 Cor. 4:10) Oh my we need to praise Jesus right now, do you agree?
Let’s praise Him by digging into the “Lessons Learned” for even more understanding of these great truths. Then let’s praise Jesus with the worship song enclosed, and then let’s praise him with prayer. May I get you started right now… “Oh Lord Jesus we praise you and we thank you for ALL You have accomplished for us and in us…” Now you continue the prayer, my friends.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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