Rev. David Holwick 2 Corinthians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
April 4, 1999
2 Corinthians 4:7-16
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SERMON SUMMARY: Christians face the same pressures in life everyone
else does. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, but we have an
inner strength from God that can help us endure and overcome.
Always keep God in the picture.
I. When the pressure is on.
The man, asleep in the trash bin, was awakened with a jolt.
He had been scooped up along with the trash by a 21-ton
Indianapolis garbage truck.
Knocked unconscious, he came to upside-down and squeezed
into an area where as the driver later put it,
"a human being shouldn't fit."
The truck continued down the street and picked up two more
loads of trash.
When the driver stopped for a third load, he heard some hollering.
Getting out, he looked around.
The voice sounded far away, and he could see no one.
So he started the compactor.
That's when he heard a banging inside the truck.
Thinking something mechanical was wrong, he stopped the
cylinders.
Then, he later reported, he "heard a voice saying he sure would
like to get out of wherever he was."
Fortunately, the driver saw to it that he did.
Did you ever feel caught in a compactor?
Feel that you had too much responsibility, too many concerns,
too much to do and not enough time?
Too many engagements and not enough strength--so much so that
you sure would like to have gotten out of wherever you were?
#1447
II. Our pots, God's power.
A. Clay pots as an image of basic humanity.
1) Useful, but fragile.
2) Most are not much to look at, but can be porcelain.
a) (Becca broke beautiful porcelain birds, Grandpa fixed)
3) Pots are made to hold something.
a) We are meant to hold God himself.
B. The pressure is always there.
1) Hard pressed ... not crushed.
a) Afflictions: These are the normal trials which everybody
faces, Christian and non-Christian alike.
Your washing machine breaks down on Monday morning,
your mother-in-law arrives just when you didn't want
her, sickness strikes in your family,
heartbreaks come --
These buffetings of life come to everyone.
b) Afflictions come, but they can't crush us.
2) Perplexed ... not in despair.
a) Perplexities: This refers to all the pressing calls for
decisions, when we don't know what to decide.
We are at a loss, we can't see the end, we don't know
how it is going to turn out.
We are afflicted with fears, anxieties, worries, and
uncertainties, all gathered up in this word
"perplexities."
b) We don't have all the answers, but Christians don't
have to cave in to depression and depression.
3) Persecuted ... not abandoned.
a) Persecutions: These are the misunderstandings we all
run up against, the malicious actions and attitudes,
deliberate slights, attacks on our character and
our reputation.
Often it is the bigoted, prejudiced, unfair practices
of members of society against one another.
b) We may feel all alone, but God never leaves us.
4) Struck down ... not destroyed.
a) Catastrophes: Stunning, shattering blows which
drop out of the blue into our lives.
Accidents, fatal illnesses, war, earthquake, famine,
riot, insanity -- these terrible episodes which
shatter a family or an individual.
In Kosovo right now it is happening to hundreds of
thousands.
b) Even this cannot destroy a Christian.
1> We can lose our lives but not our souls.
2> This is the ultimate victory - Hitler and Stalin
and Mao have no power over eternity.
C. Paradox of power.
1) Christian victory is not an obvious thing.
a) Even at first Easter, only believers appreciated it.
1> And they had to be dragged kicking and screaming.
b) What is advantage of being a Christian?
1> Wealth and health?
2> Popularity?
3> No, it is certainty of final victory.
A> Our outward lives can seem lousy.
B> But we bear up with faith.
2) Our troubles bring out God's power.
a) Christ's moment of greatest power - not today (Easter)
but Good Friday.
b) He kept faith and was obedient against all odds.
c) The way we bear up under pressure and troubles is the
greatest testimony we can give.
III. Life can be tough, but not more than we can handle.
A. Hard times don't have to break us.
1) Traumatic stress syndrome is popular.
a) Attitude that we are powerless before bad events.
b) Scars are inevitable and probably disabling.
2) If valid, why doesn't it show up in Holocaust survivor?
a) You are more resilient than you may realize.
b) God's help can make you invincible.
B. Christians can overcome.
1) The deeper the pain, the greater the joy and impact.
In August 1932, Gospel singer Thomas A. Dorsey was scheduled to
be the feature soloist at religious services in St. Louis.
Because his wife Nettie was pregnant, Dorsey had reservations
about leaving her behind.
"Something was strongly telling me to stay," he recalls.
Yet, commitments had been made and he knew people in St. Louis
would be disappointed if he canceled.
So Tom Dorsey left for the revival service.
During the performance the next night in the steaming
St. Louis heat, a messenger from Western Union approached
Dorsey on the stage with a telegram.
Puzzled, Dorsey opened the envelope and read the four
devastating words: "Your wife just died."
He rushed to a phone and called home, only to hear it confirmed:
"Nettie is dead."
Dorsey quickly returned to Chicago.
There he learned that just before his wife died she had
given birth to a boy.
Later that night, the baby died.
Dorsey now had to deal with two losses, two funerals.
"I buried Nettie and our boy in the same casket," he says.
"Then I fell apart."
During this painful time, one of Dorsey's friends made
arrangements for him to use a local music school's piano.
One week after his wife and son's deaths, alone with his
thoughts and a piano, Dorsey describes what happened:
"I sat down at the piano and my hands began to browse over
the keys.
Then something happened.
I felt as though I could reach out and touch God.
I found myself playing a melody, one I'd never heard or played
before, and words came into my head -- they just seemed to
fall into place:
'Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn,
Through the storm, through the night
Lead me on to the light,
Take my hand, precious Lord,
Lead me home.'"
Dorsey would recover from his losses.
He would go on to write and compose more than 400 songs,
but it was "Precious Lord" that became the best-loved gospel
song of all time.
Because it is about finding God's presence even in the worst
of times.
#2393
IV. Be encouraged by God's renewal of your spirit.
A. Sometimes Paul got "down."
1) Depression is not illegal for Christians.
2) But it is not the last word, either.
B. Don't neglect your inner life.
1) Paul talks of being renewed day by day.
2) Keep focus on God.
V. Put your life in the larger context.
A. There are two sides to reality.
1) Moment / eternity; visible / invisible.
2) Culture of instant everything makes us lose perspective
of time.
3) There is supernatural assistance for us.
B. The certainty of our resurrection. 4:14
1) If God can raise people from the dead, he can do anything.
Some years ago Billy Graham's Decision magazine printed a
a wonderful testimony.
You can't tell if it comes from a man or a woman because only
the initials of the writer were published:
"For a long time I had been bitter about life.
It seemed to have dealt me a dirty blow, for since I was 12
years old I have been waiting for death to close in on me.
It was at that time I learned I had muscular dystrophy.
I fought hard against this disease and exercised hard, but
to no avail.
I only grew weaker.
All I could see was what I had missed.
My friends went away to college, then got married and started
having families of their own.
When I lay in bed at night thinking, despair would creep from
the dark corners to haunt me.
Life was meaningless.
In March of last year my mother brought home from our public
library Billy Graham's book "World Aflame."
I started reading it, and as I read I realized that I
wanted God.
I wanted there to be a meaning to life.
I wanted to receive this deep faith and peace.
All I know is that now my life has changed and I now have
joy in living.
No longer is the universe chaotic.
No longer does life have no goal.
No longer is there no hope.
There is instead "God who so loved the world that he gave
his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life."
I continue to grow weaker.
I am close to being totally helpless and am in pain most of
the time.
But sometimes I am so glad I am alive that it is hard to
keep myself from bursting at the seams.
I can see for the first time the beauty all around me, and
I realize how very lucky I am.
Despair is such a waste of time when there is joy; and lack
of faith is such a waste of time when there is God."
1) This is the kind of thanksgiving that glorifies God.
2) Out of the midst of the pain, the pressure, the heartache,
and the perplexities there comes a joy, a strength, a
faith, and a love that makes clear that the power
is not coming from us, but from God.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#1447, "Packed Man," by Ruth Graham, Christianity Today, September 16,
1983, page 26.
#2393, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand," from sermon "Way Down in Egypt's
Land," Dynamic Preaching, Seven Worlds Publishing,
December 1992; original quote is from Catholic Digest,
February 1992, pp. 65-66.
These and 4,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Commentaries
I. Chafin.
A. The real treasure is Christ.
1) Hiding valuables in clay pots.
B. Life had not thrown more at Paul than he could handle.
1) [events don't have to break us.
a) Traumatic stress syndrome?
1> We are powerless before bad events.
b) If valid, why doesn't it show up in Holocaust survivors?
1> (slave narratives from 1930's.)
2) Christians can overcome.
C. He was encouraged by God's renewal of his spirit.
1) Sometimes Paul got "down."
2) Inward man was being renewed day by day.
D. He was encouraged by putting his ministry in larger context.
1) Moment / eternity; visible / invisible.
2) Culture of instant everything makes us lose perspective
of time.
E. Woven throughout is celebration of hope we have in resurrection.
1) Death might come to him before Second Coming.
2) God will raise us, too.
II. Spencer.
A. Treasure in jars of clay.
1) Jars are not bodies, but troubles.
B. We must carry Jesus' death if we are to reveal his life.
III. Scott.
A. Jars of clay is physical body.
1) Common utensil but transitory.
2) Also alludes to being created by God out of clay. Gen 2:7
3) The glory is not ours but God's.
B. Sharing in Christ's sufferings.
C. Renewal.
1) Not just inner vs. outer, but present vs. future. 5:17
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