2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 4:1-7,
“We Have This Treasure In Earthen Vessels”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO
1.1.
In our last study, we finished up chapter 3 and continued our emphasis on the walk in the
power of the Holy Spirit Vs the walk of legalism and law and rule-keeping, and
we saw that in that study Paul told us the way to have victory over sin and
self in this ‘Ministry of Life’ in the ‘New Covenant’
1.1.1. We saw that the legalist
finds himself knowing what he ought to do, however because legalism doesn’t
give him the desire to do what is right nor the power to do so, he constantly
finds himself falling short of what the Lord would have him to do
1.1.1.1.We saw that many Christians
are in a cycle of condemnation in their walk with the Lord, they read their
Bible or go to church and hear their pastor tell them what they ought to be
doing as a Christian, and yet they constantly find themselves falling
short. Again and again they head out the
door of their house or their church intending to go and do what their
conscience has been shown that they ought to be doing, but instead they fall
short and fail to do what they know they should do
1.1.2. We saw that many Christians
place themselves on a works relationship with the Lord. They have come to know Christ and the
salvation that He imparts by faith, but then they go on from that point and
think that they have to ‘tow the line’ or measure up to some standard of
righteousness in order to be pleasing to the Lord, and yet because none of us
as Christians and as people are good law-keepers they end up constantly falling
short of their standard
1.1.3. We saw that at a certain
point in our Christian walk, we realize that although we may do something that
externally might be considered to be right and good, if our motive for doing it
is wrong, then it is wrong. ‘Motive’ is
a key then to walking in true righteousness
1.1.3.1.Love for God and people must
become our motive for the things that we do as Christians
1.1.3.1.1.Paul wrote the book of
Galatians to combat the teachings of the Judaisers in the area of Galatia, and
in Gal. 5:6 he wrote about how that carrying out a bunch of legalistic rules,
such as being circumcised, didn’t amount to anything in comparison to the much
greater act of doing what we do in faith from a motive of love, “6 For in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith
working through love.”
1.1.3.2.We saw though that much
ministry derives not from love, but from compulsion, feeling that we have to do
this or that, and being driven, or from a motive of making yourself look good or
trying to prove some sort of point to someone
1.1.4. We saw that when we as
Christians study about what our motives for the things that we do ought to be,
then we realize that to varying degrees we all struggle with legalistic
attitudes and behavior, and that in our flesh we tend to gravitate towards a
walk in legalism and law and rule-keeping
1.1.5. Paul wrote that the way that
we get victory over sin and walk in that ‘Ministry of Life’ is by simply
keeping our gaze upon the Lord. We
become transformed into His image as we simply focus on and keep our eyes fixed
upon the Lord
1.1.5.1.Thus, we see that it must be
very important that each of us as Christians make it a top priority to spend
time with the Lord each day, and that we learn to talk to the Lord and pray about
things that come up all throughout our day
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at how Paul continues to
defend himself against the ‘super-apostles’ who had come in amongst the
Corinthians, however he does so indirectly by showing what his true heart
motives were for the ministry which the Lord had given to him. Primarily, the apostle Paul is trying to show the
Corinthians in this section of scripture that we are looking at that he and
those with him did not point people to themselves as their resource, for they
did not consider themselves as being adequate for ministry, but rather they
pointed people to Christ as their resource and adequacy
1.2.1. Paul says that they did not
lose heart in their ministry because of the mercy they had receive from the Lord
1.2.2. They had renounced the
things hidden because of shame in their lives, and now they were trying to live
their lives in such a way that they were commending themselves to every man’s
conscience
1.2.3. They were trying to teach
the full counsel of God, and they were not adulterating or corrupting the word
of God in any way
1.2.4. They were not preaching
themselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord
1.2.5. They had come to serve the
Corinthians, but the ‘super-apostles’ had come to be served by the Corinthians
1.2.6. Paul says that he and those
with him were just common earthen vessels, but the Lord had placed a
tremendously valuable treasure within them, Jesus Himself dwelt in them through
the gospel
2.
VS 4:1 - “1 Therefore,
since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,” – Paul tells the
Corinthians that he and those with him do not lose heart in the ministry that
God has given to them
2.1.
Don’t you know that the pressures upon the apostle Paul’s heart and
life must have been tremendous? He was
constantly being chased by Jews wanting to kill him, and if they weren’t trying
to kill him some Gentiles were at the door to do so. His travels were always perilous, and he was
often finding himself in the trial of being robbed by robbers or ship-wrecked
at sea. He was constantly providing for
his own financial support through his tent-making, and thus only able to do
ministry on the side. His health appears
to have been an issue at times, with him suffering some kind of problem with
his eyes and being sick, possibly so sick with Malaria at times that he was
unable to continue in an area. The
church in Jerusalem was little support if any to him or his work, and now there
were these Judaisers, whom he calls ‘super-apostles,’ who were following behind
him going to all of the churches that he had planted trying to get the people
to divert from the essential truths of the gospel message of salvation by
“faith in Christ plus nothing.”
Constantly facing all of these difficulties we wouldn’t be at all
surprised if our hero of the faith would finally ‘lost heart,’ yet he tells us
in this verse and elsewhere that he refused to “lose heart” or “weary in
well-doing.”
2.1.1. When persecutions and trials
face our lives as Christians as a result of our trying to serve the Lord, we
must never become “weary in well-doing.”
Rather, we must always realize that in due time we shall reap the
blessings and the fruit for our good labors for Christ.
2.1.2. Many in the ministry
struggle greatly with discouragement and often want to quit. However, we must encourage those who have
been called by the Lord into ministry that it is never time for them to give
up!
2.2.
Paul’s ministry could be described as being one of difficulty,
especially in comparison to that of these ‘super-apostles’ against whom he has
been defending his ministry to the Corinthians:
2.2.1. He was constantly suffering
trials, difficulties, and persecutions because of the ministry, however they
had sort of come along after all of the hard work had been done by Paul and
were now living the easy life in comparison to Paul.
2.2.2. God was allowing Paul to
experience great suffering so that he could in turn minister to the Corinthians
when they would suffer the same things, however the ‘super-apostles’ were just
living a legalistic life of law and rule-keeping and not having God turn their
suffering into good, since they experienced little of suffering.
2.2.3. Paul had paid for his own
support in the ministry in virtually every place in which he had been sent by
the Lord to plant churches and preach the gospel, however these ‘super-apostles’
had come to the Corinthians demanding salaries, and getting them.
2.2.4. Paul and those with him and
come to the Corinthians to serve the church, however these ‘super-apostles’ had
come to be served by the church.
2.3.
Paul tells the Corinthians in this verse that the fact that he had
received mercy from Christ, the mercy that comes to a sinner who submits
himself to the grace of God through Jesus Christ, motivated him to keep on
keeping on in the ministry and to never lose heart in it.
2.3.1. The ‘super-apostles’ in Corinth
were trying to establish their own righteousness based upon their works as they
taught that a person was saved by faith in Christ plus works, and thus they
were not motivated by the mercy of God they had received, for they saw
themselves as not needing God’s mercy since they were earning His acceptance
through their works (an impossibility).
2.3.2. The mercy of God that each
one of us as Christians has received from God must be a motivation for us that
is sufficient to cause us to desire to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord
and allow ourselves to be used by God in whatever ministries the Lord would
have us to be involved in.
2.3.2.1.When we think of what sins
the Lord has forgiven in our lives, what undeserved gifts He has bestowed upon
us, what miracles He has performed in times when He has protected or provided
for us, what godly friendships He has brought into our lives, etc., etc., then
we realize that we must never lose heart and come short of competing that which
the Lord has apprehended us to complete in this life.
3.
VS 4:2 - “2 but we
have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or
adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending
ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” - Paul tells the Corinthians that he and those
with him were commending themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of
God
3.1.
We saw earlier in our study of this book in chapter 1 that Paul was
defending his integrity, and that he realized that the most important thing
that he had to commend his ministry was his own personal integrity. Here, Paul again speaks of the importance he
placed on his having integrity.
3.2.
In this verse, Paul is telling the Corinthians of his commitment to
live a life that was above reproach before God and man. He writes that he and those with him:
3.2.1. Had ‘renounced the things
hidden because of shame.’
3.2.1.1.This is perhaps a inference
to the life that he had lived before coming to know Christ where though he
outwardly was a Pharisee among Pharisees by his keeping of the law, that
inwardly he was anything but righteous, for though he externally kept the law
in his heart he coveted everything that was wrong and outside of God’s will for
him.
3.2.1.2.This could also be a
reference to Paul’s persecution of the church before coming to Christ. After all, because of his doing this Paul
considered himself the chiefest of sinners in the church.
3.2.1.3.This could also be a
reference to the things done by the ‘super-apostles’ in secret, for in all that
they did they had a secret motive of leading the church away after themselves.
3.2.2. Were ‘not walking in
craftiness.’
3.2.2.1.The ‘super-apostles’ there
with the Corinthians were not what they claimed themselves to be. They were not truly sanctioned by the
apostles who were at the church at
3.2.2.2.In our day, those who are
involved in cults will teach 49 truths in order to sneak in one deadly
heresy. In 2 Cor. 11:13-14, Paul
describes these ‘super-apostles’ as being like Satan himself who comes amongst
us as if he is an angel of light, “13 For such men are false apostles,
deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.14 And no
wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
3.2.2.3.There are many deceivers in
the church today.
3.2.2.3.1.If you just turn on
Christian television today, you will find men and women selling prayer cloths
that are supposed to bring blessing or healing, preachers telling you that if
you want God to do a good work for you that you need to have “seed faith,” and
if you will send them a certain amount of money that God will answer your
prayer, or preachers telling you that if you send them a certain amount of
money that they will personally pray for your prayer request. One such televangelist daily receives a few
palates of letters each day, each of which was filled with letters that
contained a prayer request and $20, and
he spends a few minutes praying over each palate, never having even read any of
the personal requests.
3.2.2.3.2.I have known more than a few
Christians who were what I would call, “con men for Jesus.” These men intentionally deceive people into
thinking that they are doing ministry for the
3.2.2.3.2.1.One pastor I know sought to
solidify his leadership of his church by being louder than everyone else. He was always the center of attention and
trying to be extremely boisterous and charismatic. Instead of pointing people to the Lord, He
was trying to be the focal point of the church.
3.2.2.3.2.2.If you try to get everyone
to be centered around you in ministry, first of all you will get burned out,
and secondly, when you leave people will be lost for they will not know to go
to the Lord as their source and adequacy.
Some churches begin to die when their leader leaves.
3.2.3. Were ‘not adulterating the
word of God.’
3.2.3.1.The ‘super-apostles’ were
adding to the word of God by teaching that salvation comes by faith plus
something, plus works.
3.2.3.2.There are warnings in the
word of God about not adding to it or taking away from it, for example Rev.
22:19, “19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the
holy city, which are written in this book.”
3.2.3.3.Spurgeon once wrote about how that
in seeking to commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience that we must in our
preaching never cut or trim any truth from the word of God to make it more
palatable to people, “If we
do preach undiluted, unadulterated truth, we must not expect that the natural
heart of man will commend our honesty. We are to commend ourselves to every
man’s conscience, not by cutting and trimming the Word so as to make it
palatable to our hearers, leaving one truth out to please this man, and
dwelling too long upon another truth so as to please some other hearer, but by
bringing out the whole teaching of the Scripture in clear truthfulness that
shall command the approval of the conscience oven of those who may not accept
the truth that we proclaim.”
3.2.3.3.1.Sadly, many preachers today
though do water down the word of God as they teach so that people will not be
offended.
3.2.3.4.What is of greatest
importance in the church of all eras is preaching of the word of God. The word that is preached however must not be
compromised or added to in any way. The
“whole counsel of God” is what Paul told the Ephesian elders upon his leaving
them, that he had always taught them.
More than anything this is what the church needs, the whole word of God
taught plainly and clearly just as it is, scripture compared with scripture
with proper theological balance, and no truth obscured or left out. This must be done by the pastor(s) or
teaching elder(s) whether or not this is what people in their congregations
want to hear.
3.2.3.4.1.Paul in 1 Thess. 5:12-13a
wrote about how Christian leaders who perform this invaluable function for the
church of teaching and leading should be looked up to because of the importance
of their hard work, “Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work
hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in
the highest regard in love because of their work”
3.2.3.5.One of the things about the
Calvary Chapel movement that is a built-in protection is that the word of God
is always talk verse by verse sequentially, and every verse is then taught in
the context in which it is found in. It
is when teachers are teaching topically and bouncing all over scripture taking
out a verse here or a verse there to make a point, that you are in danger of
interpreting a verse out of its context.
The verse by verse study of the whole word of God protects from
adulterating the word of God via our own preconceptions or ideas.
3.2.4. Were by the ‘manifestation
of truth commending themselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.’
3.2.4.1.As children of light living
in a dark world they were walking as children of light (Eph. 5:8).
3.2.4.2.Paul knew that though he
might be able to fool men that he could never fool the Lord, for the Lord knows
everything about all of us all of the time.
Therefore, he always sought to live his life as righteously as he would
do if the Lord were standing right beside him.
3.2.4.3.There are many ways that we
as Christians by just being honest can practically carry out this commending of
ourselves to every man’s conscience. For
instance:
3.2.4.3.1.Have you ever realized that
someone over paid you, and then go and return the money to them? We can commend ourselves to the conscience of
a cashier by simply telling him or her that they gave us more than they were
supposed to when they have made a counting mistake. People are shocked and taken aback when
someone returns money when there is no way that they ever could have been
accused of taking it. When you return
the money, you can even possibly say something like, “I am Christian and I
would want to steal anything from anyone!”
3.2.4.3.2.When others are gossiping
about someone, you can simply say, “I don’t want to hear bad things about
people!” I have one friend who whenever
a Christian tells him some gossipy tidbit, he stops their gossiping by
blurting out, “Is this gossip?!”
3.2.4.3.3.I love to talk about my
happy marriage of 22+ years to people.
This is such a testimony to people in our world today who think that
marriages last maybe 7 years at best.
3.2.4.3.4.Etc., etc.
4.
VS 4:3-4 - “3 And even
if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,4 in whose
case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they
might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image
of God.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians that if the
gospel that he preached was veiled, that is not understood or believed, it was
because those who didn’t understand or believe his gospel message had been
blinded by the Devil (the god of this world)
4.1.
The ‘super-apostles’ who were in
4.2.
It is important for us Christians to realize that there is always a
spiritual force that is at work whenever people are going astray from the Lord
or when they are leading others astray.
People aren’t leading their own lives, though all men do have a
will.
4.2.1. Unconscious to those who are
unbelievers, the Devil is actually leading and guiding them around, and using
them for his own purposes in leading others astray.
4.2.2. Christians are being led by
the Lord, even though many times through their own stubbornness and self-will
they can act to thwart God’s perfect will for their lives.
4.3.
Bob Dylan wrote a song many years ago which stated the truth that
everyone is going to have to serve someone, either the Devil or the Lord. Non-believers usually do not want to admit
that they are serving the Devil, however by the way they live their life and
the influence that they have in this world, they are in fact serving the Devil.
4.4.
Paul makes the statement here that Christ ‘is the image of God.’ If people want to know what God is like all
they have to do is take a long look at Jesus Christ from the scriptures, and
they will see what He is like.
5.
VS 4:5 - “5 For we do
not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your
bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” - Paul tells
the Corinthians that he and those with him did not preach themselves, but
Christ
5.1.
The gospel that Paul and those with him preached placed Jesus as
‘Lord,’ or master. Jesus is the head of
the church and of every man, Paul has written in his letters.
5.1.1. Paul also mentioned earlier
in this letter that he and those with him did not lord it over the Corinthian’s
(or anyone else’s for that matter) faith.
5.2.
The ‘super-apostles’ in the church in
5.2.1. On the other hand the
‘super-apostles,’ as we have already seen, always considered themselves to be
adequate, as do all legalists. They
believed that they were adequate for ministry because of their superior
knowledge of true righteousness which consisted of rules and law-keeping, and
they could even show you how you too could become adequate.
5.2.2. The ‘super-apostles’
preached themselves and their giftedness, superior knowledge and ability, and they
tried to rally God’s people around themselves.
5.2.3. Instead of pointing people
to Christ as the head of the body, and the One who would meet every need, the
‘super-apostles’ did what every deceiver in the church does, they sought to get
the people to look to them as their resource instead of Christ.
5.3.
Paul knew that Christ was his sufficiency, for in Christ were hidden
all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). Therefore, he sought not to attract people to
himself as their resource, but to educate them to look to the Lord to meet all
of their needs, for the Lord’s resources were infinite and would never fail
them.
5.3.1. I have known pastors who
sought to cause everyone to look to them instead of the Lord. Some pastors set up almost a ‘personality cult’
within the church, where they encourage everyone look to them and emulate them
and their personality, instead of the Lord.
However, this is the opposite of what true and effective ministry is. True and effective ministry is to teach
people what a great God we have and to direct them to seek Him and His
resources to meet their needs.
5.4.
Paul mentions here also that he and those with him were the
‘bond-servants’ of the Corinthians. That
is, they had always come to them in order to serve them in any way that they
could. However, in contrast, the
‘super-apostles,’ as was mentioned had come to the Corinthians in order to be
served by them.
6.
VS 4:6 - “6 For God,
who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Christ.”
- Paul tells the Corinthians how that
God had shown light into their hearts to give them the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Christ
6.1.
In our last study, we saw that the glory of the Old Covenant of works
and law-keeping as a Jew was a glory that was fading and inferior to the glory
of the New Covenant in the grace of God through the shed blood of Jesus upon
the cross of
6.2.
The ‘super-apostles’ had not truly come to see the truly glory of God,
that superior glory found in the New Covenant which would never fade away nor
lose its luster. They were really still
in darkness for they were living in that which the Lord had declared “null and
void,” the Old Covenant, and its glory that had faded.
6.3.
Paul and those with him had had at some point the light of God shine
into their hearts which caused them to come to understand this New Covenant,
that which he already described is a Ministry of Life and a Ministry of
Righteous, not like the Old Covenant which was a ‘Ministry of Death and
Condemnation,’ and which ‘Killed.’
7.
VS 4:7 - “7 But we
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the
power may be of God and not from ourselves;” -
Paul tells the Corinthians that he and those with him had ‘this
treasure,’ which is the Lord, and the glory of the New Covenant of Grace,
within ‘earthen vessels’
7.1.
Spurgeon likened each of us as being like an oyster shell. The shell itself is not impressive at all,
however on the inside of the shell of some oysters forms a beautiful and very
valuable pearl. The pearl of the Lord
Jesus Christ each of us as Christians have within our hearts is a very great
and valuable treasure.
7.2.
The emphasis that Paul is trying to make here is between the vessel and
the treasure. The ‘super-apostles’
gloried in the vessel, that is, they thought that they were special and
adequate for ministry and serving God.
However, Paul and those with him did not think that they were anything
special and that therefore God could use them.
They were simply hunks of clay into which the Lord had breathed life and
poured in His glory. The greatness was
in the Lord and what He had poured into their lives, not in themselves.
7.3.
By realizing that they were just humble ‘earthen vessels’ and that what
was of value and the true treasure was what God had placed into their hearts at
salvation, they could also realize that what they needed was the power of the
Holy Spirit to work mightily through their lives. The greatness of the power in their lives
would be from God then, not form themselves.
7.4.
We Christians need to learn from this verse that when the Lord does
something through our lives, perhaps in impacting someone with the gospel for
eternity, that the part that we ourselves played in being used by God was
almost nil. We were willing to be used,
but it was God who:
7.4.1. Prepared the person’s heart.
7.4.2. Gave us the words to share
with them.
7.4.3. Opened the person’s
understanding so they could see and understand the truth.
7.4.4. Gave them the faith to
believe unto salvation.
8.
CONCLUSION:
8.1.
We need to realize that we are just humble ‘earthen vessels,’
inadequate to please God in our own merit and inadequate for ministry. However, we have been given an incredible
treasure through the gospel, and the Lord who is this treasure, dwells within
us
8.2.
We need to realize that we do not want to point people to ourselves,
but to the great Savior and Lord whom we serve, the One who is adequate to meet
each and every need
8.3.
We need to realize that the power that we need to live this Christian
life does not reside in us, it is not innately part of us, but it comes from
God. Thus, we need to constantly draw
upon the power of the Holy Spirit as we seek to live our life in the New
Covenant, the Ministry of Life (not death), the Ministry which brings true
righteousness, the Ministry that brings us not laws and rules to keep but grace
and mercy to help in our time of need
8.4.
We need to constantly draw upon the endless resources of Christ, who is
our sufficiency