Humility in the Life of the Believer (Jars of Clay)

Have you ever seen a little boy struggling with a heavy weight, only to have his father relieve it without his knowledge? The boy swells with pride at his super human feat, and trots around the room giving high fives to all his admirers. This indeed is how God interacts with us. He allows us to strain, but it is solely his strength that accomplishes the task.

A Call To Humility

What is a clay pot worth? Absolutely nothing. It is worth only what it contains. Clay pots are ordinarily not set aside for holding gold, or choice drink, or anything of value. Paul reveals to us however that the condition of our bodies is like a clay pot. This is a humbling thought. Why does God choose clay pots? So that the super surpassing power of God may shine ever brighter. God’s light, His power, His glory, is so bright that it not only illuminates a dark room but it shines light on reality. It is a spiritual light that reveals things before unseen. Things that are eternal.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed

How does this sound as a descriptor of a successful gospel ministry?

Charles Spurgeon was a great 19th Century pastor who experienced great success in his ministry. But Spurgeon was plagued by all sorts of adversities. He had wisdom for believers walking through darkness.

“It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but he is the skilful singer who can sing when there is not a ray of light by which to read,— who sings from his heart, and not from a book that he can see, because he has no means of reading, save from that inward book of his own living spirit, whence notes of gratitude pour forth in songs of praise “

I want to hone in on a few things Paul is saying here about the relationship of suffering and Christian life.

“always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.”

It Is by death that we live so we carry this death with us.

“Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”

“Light momentary affliction.”

Paul had been subject to extreme affliction

“While we are still in this tent we groan.”

Tent here is another word for the body.

All of these things Paul has laid out for his readers so that they may be overwhelmed with the understanding that God is the one who does the work in us. This knowledge allows us to say a holy “so what”. But not to others, to ourselves. We must preach the gospel firstly to ourselves every day. And part of the gospel is the deep, sobering understanding that we are fragile clay jars that contain an immeasurable treasure! Who cares what trials come against us? So what!!

Humility in the believer is the foundation for the building that God is doing in your life.

God will not build in the life of a man or woman who constantly takes credit for what has been done in his life and glorifies himself over God

Home

Talk about what home means to people.

“Whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”

Paul refers to being alive in this world as being away!

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” C.S. Lewis

Paul knew Plato. Cave Analogy

This is not our home, but Christ has made His home in our hearts, so of course we can be encouraged and bear up under the suffering of this world.

We endure these things because we have tasted and seen the hope of the Gospel. We have glimpsed reality, and every day it is becoming more real to us.

God in His goodness has given us a the story of His plan.

The Psalms are the bridge between the old and the new. David groaned under the weight of his sin, but he had an unshakeable confidence in the redemptive nature of God.

Psalm 73:24–28 NASB95

24 With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. 28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

Psalm 73:24-28

This morning we have seen the thread of suffering throughout God’s word. But the beautiful thing about suffering, is that throughout God’s word we see Faith Hope and Love wound together with suffering into a beautiful testament of who God is. Jesus and His light is the scarlet thread throughout the word of God.

Today I want to invite you to take part in God’s beautiful redemptive plan for His people. The story of Christ and his work is for everyone. The believer and the unbeliever. If you are a believer here today, preach yourself the gospel anew every day. Drink deeply of Him in His word. If you have arrived here today not in God’s family, know this: Your true Father sacrificed everything to purchase you. He loves you in ways that we cannot fathom, and he died for you at your worst. The resurrection of Christ and the hope that this brings is life. This is the gospel. And the gospel can carry you through your suffering, and turn it into a beautiful unfolding of God’s masterpiece in your life.