Sermons

Good morning, Trinity. It's good to be with you, especially on this occasion. The Lord's Day together and the installation service at the end of the service for one of your new pastors being added to the team, Matthew Ng. a dear friend of mine for a good part of a decade. I've known Matt a little bit longer than I've known Trinity. So, first came to Trinity in 2018 as a guest, and I return in 2028 as a guest. What year is it, 2028? Something like that.

Will you open your Bible to 2 Corinthians 4:5-12, is the object of our attention. 2 Corinthians 4:5-12. It's just an incredible passage about gospel ministry, and it's been my prayer that the Lord would use this to align our hearts with His. 2 Corinthians 4:5-12.

(Scripture reading) "For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Christ Jesus 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 jars of clay. To show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted 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. So, death is at work in us, but life in you." (End)

(Prayer) Father, we ask for the assistance and enablement of Your Holy Spirit. May Your Spirit illuminate to us the words of Christ and His servant, the Apostle Paul. Show us the glory of the gospel of Your Son, the gospel You've entrusted to us with such power. That You've displayed in the life of Your Son, in His suffering and service, and help us to follow in that same path joyfully with freedom and grace and all glory to You, God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (End)

Introduction

Well, I've had the privilege of knowing Matt and serving alongside of him for the better part of a decade, and I was able to watch a Bruin, that's a UCLA creature, a Bruin reach other Bruins with the gospel very effectively on campus at UCLA, not a spiritually light place, and I watched him faithfully minister to college students and serve in numerous capacities in church together, and through those years, I saw qualities in Matt that I came to appreciate. Humility, hard work, faithfulness, genuine dependence on the grace of God.

I got to watch him love and lead his family as they've added to their tribe over the years, and they're an easy family to love. And when Matt and Andrew asked me to preach for Matt's installation today, I began thinking about what I would want to say to him, as he enters this new season of pastoral ministry, and I found myself in 2 Corinthians 4, because it's here that Paul gives us what I think is one of the clearest depictions in all of scripture of what Christian ministry actually is. And when I look at this passage as you just heard it read, I think what Paul is saying here is very clear.

He's telling us that Christ is Lord. that we are His servants, that the treasure belongs to Him, that we have a special possession that is ours called weakness, and alongside the weakness that God has entrusted to us, He's also given us His divine power, and that power belongs exclusively to God, and the result of that power is life for others, And I think that is the shape of Christian ministry in this passage, and in many ways, Matt, I think that describes what I've been watching you pursue from your church back home in San Francisco to your time in LA and now your time in Dallas, the three greatest cities in the world. In that order.

In many ways, I think that is a pretty simple charge in this passage. It's to keep going. But this message isn't just for Matt, so he can not be so red the whole time. Trinity, this message is for you. This passage is for you. Because as soon as we look at this section of scripture, we're reminded of where we are.

I mean, if you go back a little bit to chapter three, verse 18, it says, and we all, this isn't just about the Apostle Paul. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

There's a movement in this passage from the we all in chapter three, verse 18, to Paul's particular ministry in chapter four. And though there is a description of pastoral ministry in chapter four, it gives us a pattern and a particular calling that belongs to everyone in the church. And as Andrew and I were talking, we thought what an appropriate call this would be for all the church, for every member of this church to re-engage at this season in the church's life in very active ministry. All churches have a summertime kind of lull they set into as people travel and whatnot. The fall is a time to hear about new ministry opportunities, to sign up to help teach children, to help with the students in the church, to get involved in a Sunday school class, to get into the normal flow of life as you connect with and evangelize your neighbors and you counsel your brothers and sisters in the church and you open your home with distinctive Christian hospitality and people's suffering doesn't take a break no matter what time of year it is, and so the church is there for suffering people.

And so, this isn't just a depiction of one particular minister's role, this is a depiction of what all ministry, what all service to Christ looks like for all of us.

And I see it unfolding in three movements here. First, the message is Christ's. The message is Christ's, and then a description of the power that's attached to this message. The power is God's, not our power. And then it concludes in, I think, a surprising way that helps us understand the reality of life and ministry for the Christian, because it tells us that the pattern is death before life. And so, unfolding this in these three parts, let's dive right in.

The message is Christ, not ourselves — v. 5–6

The passage starts in verse five. Verse five and six, the heading is, the message is Christ, not ourselves. The message is Christ, not ourselves. Look at verse five. For what we proclaim, or we do not preach ourselves, 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.

This is incredibly simple because our theology of ministry is in one sentence. It's simply this, Christ is Lord and we are His servants. It doesn't get any more clear than that. This is the ground, the foundation, the identity of every minister of the gospel is the simple proclamation that Christ is Lord and we are His servants. And the Lordship of Christ is clearly announced by the Apostle Paul. What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.

It's a ministry of the New Covenant, chapter four, verse one, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Those words in verse one, having this ministry by the mercy of God, are a reminder before we get to verse five that Paul is referring to his calling as one who, and you can translate it this way, has been mercied. Every part of our service to God is grounded in the mercy of God.

Paul refers to his calling as one who has been mercied. Garland, in his excellent commentary on 2 Corinthians, a Baylor grad, by the way, or maybe he teaches there. Either way, he's a bear, like Matt Ng, different kind of bear. Paul refers to his calling, he says, when he says that he has been mercied. And such language shows that he regards his ministry as a gift from God, not some personal achievement. With this gift comes the formidable responsibility to spread the gospel faithfully and to speak the truth forthrightly.

Ministry is mercy. MacArthur used to say that all the time. Ministry is mercy. It's not achievement, it's not a rival, it's not a seminary degree, it's not a status attained, it's not something that you earn. Ministry is mercy received from heaven. And with mercy received comes responsibility given. Mercy is ministry. Ministry is mercy. And God gives us something that doesn't belong to us and charges us to faithfully give it to others.

And so that helps us. Verse one of chapter four helps us understand why verse five says, for what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. And you may be thinking, well, why in the world would we proclaim ourselves? What sort of preacher would incessantly talk about themselves? And then you would open Instagram and be like, oh yeah, I know what you mean. Lots preach themselves. Lots preach Christ and ourselves. Many preach Christ but make themselves the main attraction.

Christ is the message and the minister becomes a monument, but the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, sort of a big deal, spiritually speaking, simply says, we do not preach ourselves. Is he talking about the opponents? Does he have them in mind in 2 Corinthians? I don't know. But he isn't talking about himself. He refuses to make the message about the messenger.

Another line from Garland, to preach oneself is to vaunt one's superior qualifications, to put on airs, and to turn the throne of Christ into a soapbox. So many ministries are personality cults. They are so associated with the man and his ways and his expertise and his background, and the Apostle Paul wanted no part of that. There's lots of ways to preach yourself, to put yourself at the center of your ministry, whether you're a preacher, a Sunday school teacher, or just a servant in the church trying to put your stamp on the task that God has called you to. Dependence on our personality, our learning, our cleverness, our accomplishments, our influence, our platform, our success. Churches can create the kind of ministry opportunities that reward personalities and connections and polish and entertainment, but Paul says we do not preach ourselves.

There is something about ministering in the church where we need to learn to shrink back. If it was possible to hide, it would be the heart's desire of every Christ-centered minister to shrink down and disappear. And that's not God's way, otherwise He would have spoken without an intermediary. But He speaks through people, He uses people to serve one another in the church, and as He does that, the attitude that His servants have has to be an attitude that's centered around Christ. Not preaching ourselves, but positively, what do we preach?

Verse five, Jesus Christ as Lord. Christ is the subject of our ministry. Christ is the message. Christ is our treasure because Christ is Lord, kurios. He is the God of all. He is the Master. And therefore, Paul sees himself in now a clearer depicted lens. He says, and ourselves, you see, he's still present. He hasn't disappeared because that's not an option. He's preaching Christ and not himself, but he sees himself a particular way now because of the Lordship of Christ. He sees himself as a bondservant, your bondservant, for Jesus' sake.

And that's because if Christ is Lord, then no one else can be. Not the most competent preacher, not the greatest and most influential Sunday school teacher. No one can be Lord if Christ is Lord. And therefore, everyone who seeks to proclaim Christ is going to do so with the accent on Christ and then informing themselves in their view of themselves as one who is simply a bondservant, your bondservant for Jesus' sake. Because if Christ is Lord, you cannot be.

If Christ is Master, if Christ is sovereign, you cannot be master and sovereign. You see, Jesus came down from heaven in the incarnation. And as He lowered Himself, He showed His servants the way of their horizontal concern for one another would be a similar lowing, a similar sacrificing, a similar downward direction.

And so, Paul sees himself as a slave for the Corinthians. And if you know a little bit about the Corinthians, it was not an easy place to pastor. He spent 18 months in Corinth, and he wrote them at least four letters, two of which we have in the New Testament. And his frustration with the Corinthians was obvious, as well as his deep affection for them.

And Paul never made it personal. He never made it an issue about himself. Instead, he preaches Christ is Lord, Christ remains his subject, his message, his treasure, and he sees himself simply as a bondservant for Jesus' sake. Because if Christ is Lord, no one else can be. He's the One who descended from heaven, He's the One who gave His life, He's the One who was the ultimate expression of a servant, He gives Himself and therefore His ministers become servants and the displacement of the great apostle is clear. He is not the center; Christ is the center. And we are simply servants. Verse six helps us see this when he says, for God, who said let light shine out of darkness. That's a Bible quote that every kid knows, right? Any kids in the room? Where in the Bible does it say God said let light shine out of darkness? I'll give you a hint; it's on the first page. It's a Genesis thing, right?

So why is Paul talking about light shining out of darkness? God speaking the sun and the stars into existence. Well, he's illustrating something really important. In verse six, 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. The God who said let there be light has used that same voice, that same power, that same illuminating significance when He enlightens our sin-darkened hearts. This is a depiction of creation and new creation, of God ministering in this world by speaking the sun and light and photosynthesis and everything that accompanies the rotation of the planets around the sun into existence with His words, that same God with those same words causes light to shine out of darkness in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ is the face in whom the glory of God is seen.

Paul already talked about that earlier in the chapter. Look back at chapter three, verse seven. He's talking about the glory of God that shone on the gaze at Moses' face because of that Shekinah glory in the book of Exodus. And he says how much more the ministry of the Spirit is glorious, chapter three, verse eight.

For if there is a glory in the ministry of condemnation, in the law the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in the glory. Paul sees this shining light glory emboldening him to a greater glory than even Moses experienced because it's shown in the face of Christ.

And as he speaks of his role in ministry and all of our responsibility to proclaim Christ and not ourselves, he reminds us of the simple reality that should motivate us in ministry for the entirety of our lives, and it's this. Were recipients of salvation. We didn't do anything to come up with this message. We didn't earn it. We didn't figure it out like some kind of detectives. God broke into our sin-darkened hearts and He caused the light of the glory to shine. And every single day of our Christian lives, in whatever capacity we're called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and to serve His people and lay our lives down, we do it because we've been the recipients of God taking blind spiritual eyes and dead spiritual hearts and shining His light in. And so, the gospel is our supply. It's the reason God has revealed His glory to us. Christ's face is where that glory is seen. And so, He's the One we proclaim. And then Paul says something that is, I think, really provocative, because now we're eyes wide open to the glory of Christ, and we see the entire redemptive ministry of God from creation to new creation, and we are servants who've been woken up to the reality of the light of the gospel, and we've been entrusted with this message, and the message is simple. We proclaim Christ, we preach Christ, Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. But what's provocative is what he covers next in verse seven, and that's our second heading.

The power is God's, not ours — v. 7

The power is God's, not ours. He's really answering the question, where is God gonna put all this glory? If you were God, where would you put it? Verse seven. But we have this treasure, this glory of God, this proclamation of the Glorious Christ, greater glory than Moses. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. The treasure? this incredible power of the glory of God, the enlightening God speaking into darkness and illuminating spiritual realities, this treasure, the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the life-saving message, the message of incarnation of God, of the death, substitutionary, and resurrection of Christ, this entire package, all this power is God's and not ours, and He puts it in earthen vessels. What a contrast. Verse 6, the glory of God in the face of Christ. Verse 7, earthen vessels. Simply clay pots, common pottery. What is it like? It's everywhere.

If you've ever taken a trip to Israel as one of those Israel tourists on the buses with the crazy outfits and hats. People that go to Israel dress so badly. They leave behind their American clothes for their tourist Israel clothes. It happens; I've seen it. Giant sun hats like they're on a safari or something. You can bring your normal clothes; it's like a civilized place. Anyway, they dress like they're gonna do an archeological dig on the bus. So, when you get out there, you do find all kinds of little chunks of pottery everywhere. And at first, it's really cool, and you fill your pockets, you know? And then you realize, like, I can't fit all this in my luggage, and it all looks the same.

It's literally just a broken piece of dirt. But it's ancient. It's from, you know, the Hittites or whatever. We get excited about it. I think it would be really funny for anyone in Bible times to see us picking up these broken pieces of pottery because it would be the equivalent of you going to the Piggly Wiggly and finding a plastic grocery bag in the ground and going, wow, check this out. It's so plastic and light and translucent. To fill your pockets with plastic bags because an earthen vessel was just that. It was the most common kind of pottery.

It was fragile. In other words, it was easily broken or chipped or damaged. And when it was, it was just thrown out. It went back to being dirt. Throw it in the pile of rocks. It breaks up into little pieces. It's kind of the ultimate version of recycling your Tupperware. This is a very, this is a very transient kind of pot, a very common kind of pottery. It's fragile. It's lowly. There are fancy pots in the ancient world. You can go to the museum and you can see a Grecian urn or a gold goblet or a king's cup ordained with all kinds of rubies and fancy ornamentation and artwork. You can find decorative objects in the household of prominent people in the ancient world.

That's not what Paul's talking about. He's talking about earthen vessels, clay pots, just jars, ordinary household pottery. When it broke, you didn't glue it back together, that would make no sense, just get another one. That earthen vessel, the only significance that it has is what it contains, what it carries. Paul isn't teaching you that you are worthless like a paper bag or a plastic bag or a piece of clay. It's not worthlessness. It's a disproportionate realization of what really matters is the treasure inside, not the vessel that holds it. And so, this staggering reality is between the container and the contents. We're just jars. We're just a plastic bag or a paper sack. It's crumpled up. There's no production to it that's impressive.

It's cheap, it's ordinary, it's disposable, and no one confuses the value of what's inside the bag with the value of the bag. It's like putting a diamond in a lunch sack. It's like putting a treasure from a museum, one of those fancy Russian eggs, and throwing it in the in the grocery store bag. Nobody gets home and takes out the diamond and throws it aside and says, man, this bag is so handy and convenient and brown. The value is what's inside. But a minister who glorifies himself or a servant in the church who thinks, man, what would this place do without me? Is saying, man, you've gotta see the bag it came in. Sometimes when we go to a birthday party, you know, we'll go to Target and get, I'm sorry if you protest Target, but it's where we spend our money. Target, and we get the birthday bag, you know, for the kids to take to the present, and some people really take care of those bags. They like fold them up, they keep them so they don't have to go to Target, they can just get old birthday bags. Other people just rip them apart, especially at a kid's birthday party, because the bag's not the point. MacArthur says it this way, the human container does not reflect the value of the gospel treasure that it holds. And what a terrible indulgence it would be for the wrapping to take the spotlight away from the gift itself, for the vessel or the container to rob the treasure of its glory.

It's a picture frame in the museum, and you go, man, that square part's the best. I wanna look closer at that. No, the point is what's inside. I read this great little book this year called The Clay Pot Conspiracy. I brought it up here with me because it's little. And the author's name is Dave Harvey. And I like that it has the word conspiracy in it because conspiracies are hot right now. You into conspiracies? Yeah, me too. You know why? Because there's something going on. Harvey calls it the Clay Pot Conspiracy.

And what he explains is that there's a divine strategy operating between this strange arrangement where human wisdom is saying, you know, it's about the polish, it's about the presentation, it's about the excellence, it's about the, you know, how we go about this, we gotta really make sure that our profile is well done. And that's all human wisdom.

And God says, I'm gonna take the greatest message, the most valuable message in the history of redemption, and I'm gonna put it in a clay vessel. His equation, he makes an equation out of it. It says, our weakness plus God's power equals resilient ministry. Our weakness plus God's power equals resilient ministry. Why does God do it that way? Well, it says why. Verse 7, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. That's a hina clause. It's a, in order that in Greek, it's saying, why did God do it this way?

Why did He put it in such an unimpressive vessel? Why in such fragile and disposable and unseemly kind of vessels? Why does God put His message in that sort of packaging? Well, the Purpose Clause says because we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that in order that it's in this container, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.

The disparity between the packaging and the priceless message is intentionally designed, and I like that it's called a conspiracy because we would have never guessed it. There was something going on behind the scenes in heaven reserved for this moment of revelation as Paul is writing the Corinthians and he's telling them God did it this way on purpose. He did it according to His unfathomable wisdom and the disparity between the messenger and the message being so glorious of a message and so not glorious of a messenger, is designed by God because weakness isn't an unfortunate reality that God will work around.

Weakness is part of it so that the explanation for what happens in Christian ministry as you see God grow His church and people come to saving faith in Christ in remarkable and magnificent ways; when it happens, as it happens, as God works in this church to grow people to Christian maturity and greater Christ-likeness, as they cultivate generosity and care for one another, as they become far less selfish, more concerned about the good of others and about the light of the gospel reaching this city and people being saved. All of this is happening in an increasing way with vessels that are continually unimpressive in order that the design is that weakness is not something God is working around, but the weakness of the vessel is part and parcel of the arrangement so that the explanation of what happens in Christian ministry never goes to, man, it's because you were so faithful. It's because you're such a competent and godly minister. It's because you've got such a great pastor.

Garland says it again, Paul's weakness in some sense actually serves as the grounds for divine power. Or I like the way John MacArthur says it, by using frail, fallible people, God makes it clear that the power lies not in the human messenger, but in the divine message. The treasure, friends, is His. The weakness is ours, and that way, the power is all of God.

And there's incredible liberation here. There's so much freedom and joy and relief to say, I'm just a jar. That's it. Say what you will about me, but you're not gonna be able to hurt my feelings, because I'm a jar. Just a jar. Look, jar. That's very heavy. That's an impressive jar. Your goal isn't to be wonderful and impressive, but it's to show Jesus as wonderful and impressive because He is. That's our testimonies. That's we have been mercied.

It can give you such relief in your ministry as a parent, as a mom under the mountains of laundry and kids and stuff, as a dad and the burden and weight of your spiritual leadership of your family. You don't have to be perfect because you're not. You don't have to be impressive. You don't have to have it all dialed.

You're a jar. You have one responsibility. What's a jar supposed to do? Carry the treasure. Carry the treasure. Just hold it faithfully. Carry the treasure and the discovery and the conspiracy is in our insufficiency. It's built in that way. Fragile jars carry the treasure into a broken world with our manifold imperfections, and what happens?

The pattern is death before life — v. 8–12

Well, that leads us to the third movement. It tells us what happens, verses 8 through 12. There's a pattern here, and it's death before life. Verse 8. We are afflicted 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 manifest in our mortal flesh. So, death is at work in us, but life in you.

And I know what you're thinking. Okay, that was a lot of death. That's the outcome? That's the pattern? Affliction, crushing, despair? Persecution, being struck down, and then death a whole bunch of times? I mean, you feel motivated or what? Paul isn't saying, look what I'm made of. He looks at his testimony and his years of toil for the gospel, and he said, here's all my hardships. And no one should walk away going, man, Paul, what a tough guy.

On one of my many trips to Texas, I visited the John Wayne Museum in Fort Worth. It's okay. My dad liked John Wayne a lot. He used to watch John Wayne movies and I'd come in the room at night and he'd be watching a John Wayne movie and his favorite was where John Wayne fought that guy at night instead of in front of everybody. I don't remember which movie it was but it became my favorite too. John Wayne was a tough guy. Paul didn't want to be known as a tough guy. Paul wasn't saying, look how resilient of a jar I am. He's not saying, check out this particular clay infrastructure that my jar has. What he's saying is, look at what God's power can sustain. They didn't have John Wayne back then. They had these guys called the Stoics. They were like nerd versions of John Wayne. And the Stoics loved to suppress all emotional highs and lows. Unfeeling was the goal of their philosophy. And that's not what Paul has in mind.

It's what so many Corinthians would have been interested in and resonated with because it was a popular philosophy in this day. But Paul understood that these hardships that he endured were not things that were just intended to show how immovable Paul was.

But all the glory, all the credit for Paul's perseverance and sustenance in ministry through difficulty and hardship, through affliction and perplexity and persecution and struck downness, Paul just amplifies that God's work has not kept any of those things from him. but it has not crushed him, despaired him, forsaken him, or destroyed him. Four participle contrasts here piled up in these memorable words, all describing the fragility of the jar alongside the persevering power of God. The jar stays intact because God's power is on display.

That's why he's afflicted in every way but not crushed. Afflicted means pressed or squeezed under pressure. But he's not crushed. That's the idea of being confined, trapped, having no room left. He's pressed but he's not pinned. He's squeezed but he's not without room. The pressure doesn't finally crush the jar.

He says he's perplexed, but not despairing. That's a great word because Paul is playing with that same root. Perplexity means he's at a loss, he's uncertain, he doesn't know where to turn, but he's not despairing, he's not utterly at a loss, he's not completely without a way to turn. At a loss, but not lost, you could say. Confused, but not hopeless. Unsure, but... not without any kind of idea of how God can solve this.

He's stressed, but he's not done. The perplexity leads to persecution, outside pressure, but in his persecution, he's hunted, he's chased. He's scorned, but he's not forsaken. Why? Because God is with him. He's not abandoned. He's not deserted. He's not left behind. He's pursued, but he's not abandoned. He's hounded by people and persecuted by people, but he's never been deserted by God. No one has stayed with him, but God has not forsaken him. He's struck down, but he's not destroyed. Struck down means chucked down, knocked down. Destroyed means ruined, killed, and brought to an end. MacArthur says knock down but not knocked out. The jar hits the ground, somehow, it's not done. What's Paul describing? The real pressure, the real confusion, the real persecution, the real blows that all are a part of life in the church in a fallen world and service to Christ and others. but it's not final defeat, it's not hopelessness, it's not abandonment, it's not destruction. He's not minimizing the suffering, the pressure is real, the perplexity is real, the persecution is real. He really has been beaten and treated terribly and suffered in a real and powerful and painful way.

But the point is, this hasn't shown what he's made of. It's shown what God's made of. That's what's on display in your ministry. No matter how you serve God and others, what God is trying to display is Him, not you. They're evidence for verse seven. This is the evidence, that we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. Why isn't it crushed? Why aren't we despairing? Why aren't we abandoned? Why aren't we destroyed?

Because the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. There's that equation again. Our weakness plus God's power equals resilient ministry. Not because we are resilient, but because God is resilient through in and through us. Verse 10 says, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifest in our bodies. Paul's not done. He's not done because he's not crushed. But verse 10 tells us what it means. He's always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus.

It's that picture of being knocked down but not knocked out. The durability of the pottery is not what's remarkable. What's remarkable is the power of God. Our weakness plus God's power makes ministry resilient. Verse 10 and 11 give us the interpretation of this entire passage because he says what he's been doing all along is carrying about in his body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body. What kind of resilience is the outcome of this sort of ministry? Well, it's a cruciform ministry, a ministry that's shaped like the cross.

Christ crucified is the message of Paul, right? First Corinthians one. He wanted to know nothing among them except Christ crucified. That's his message. That's the message that he announces in verse five. What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. That's his message. But the message is also the model. The Christ that Paul proclaims is the pattern that Paul lives. The cross isn't merely the message of Christian ministry, the cross is the shape of Christian ministry.

Carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested. In the ancient world they had these pomp and circumstance displays, parades, and manifestations of divine power with these big manufactured shows. It's likely something in the background of Paul's language here. This manifestation of power, whether it was the ringing of this massive gong at a temple to a false god or a massive military display of power dedicated to the god of war, all these different parades and manifestations and showings of power were part of this world in ancient Rome, but Jesus says that the life of Jesus is on display in the battered body of His servant. The dying of Jesus is carried around in the body of His messenger so that the life of Jesus will be manifest in that same body.

Death working in us is the shape of our ministry so that life will be the outcome. There's weakness, so there'll be power. There's death, so there'll be life. There's a giving away of self, a lowering of self, so that Jesus is raised up high. This is not just Paul's ministry paradigm or strategy; this is the gospel. Christ dies so that we might live. And that's the gospel we proclaim, and when we proclaim that gospel, we take on the same shape as that gospel.

I think Harvey says this really well in his little book. He says ministry becomes a gospel reenactment in the life of the leader where God puts us through little deaths so that gospel life might flow. I think that's true, but it's true on an even grander scale because our life is a gospel reenactment. That's Romans 6, right? We all are carrying around the life and death of Christ in our testimonies, in our salvation. That is the shape of the gospel reenactment of our life, and therefore it is the shape of a gospel reenactment of ministry.

Everything looks like death and life so that the gospel will flow in every trial and sleepless night and sacrifice you make for the Lord and for His people, you may be feeling stepped on and crushed. You may be feeling the weight of that death sentence as you are poured out for God and for others, but this is all part of this larger story so that the life of Jesus may also be manifest in our mortal flesh, verse 11. Death so that life, weakness so that power, Christ dies so that we might live. Verse 11, for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our mortal flesh.

This is pastoral ministry. Trinity, this is Christian ministry. And every real ministry will cost you time, and energy, and convenience, and resources, and comfort, and preferences, and sometimes your reputation, and sometimes much more. And Christian ministry isn't fundamentally climbing towards significance; it's giving yourself away. Give yourself away so that the life of Jesus becomes visible in somebody else. Isn't this what the ministry of the Lord looked like? Isn't this what the Apostle Paul's ministry looked like? Isn't this what your ministry should look like?

Verse 12 shows us the final destination of all of it. So, death works in us, but life in you. Verse eight and nine showed us what weakness looks like. Verse 10 and 11, what weakness means. And verse 12 tells us what weakness accomplishes. Death in us and life in you.

God brings life to others through the self-giving of His servants. Paul isn't saying that ministry is hard, even though God sustains him. He is saying that suffering is actually part of the way that God brings life to others. The pattern of Christ is the pattern of Christian ministry. Christ gives Himself and others receive life and now Paul carries this anthem of the dying of Jesus in his own battered body so that the life of Jesus would be manifest through him. Death works in us but life in you. Paul lives out his life in Christ, and this paradox is this giving away of the life that you've received from Christ.

That's Christian ministry. You're not using people to build a platform for yourself. You're spending yourself so that Christ's life is built into people. You disciple, you sacrifice, you give, you care so that other people can grow and experience the life of Christ in them. You open your home because you show love. because you want to see the benefit go to the person who's receiving that love.

You give yourself away time and time again, no matter what the cost, no matter how much betrayal, and you trust that God has ordained this strange pattern of death in us and life in you. And you spend yourself and others benefit, and you teach when you're tired, and you love, when it's hard, and you forgive when they're undeserving, and you disciple, and you prepare your Sunday school lesson, and you preach Christ, and you engage your neighbors, and you endure misunderstanding, and you keep serving, and you keep suffering, not because the suffering itself is some virtue, but because God has this extraordinary way of bringing about, through this clay pot, through this jar, life through death.

Conclusion

Christ is Lord, we are servants, the treasure is His, the weakness is ours, the power is God's, and the resulting life is for others. I feel like the conclusion is chapter three, verse four. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we're sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Who is sufficient? If we've understood Paul correctly, the answer to that is none are sufficient.

We don't preach ourselves, but Christ is Lord. We're servants carrying incomparable treasure in fragile vessels. The power must be God's, not ours. We give ourselves away so that the life of Christ might be manifest for the good of others. And who's sufficient for these things? Chapter three, verse five, not that we are sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. That's the point of the jar. The jar isn't sufficient. The container isn't a treasure. The container doesn't generate the power. God does. God isn't asking the jar to become the treasure. He's asking the jar to carry it because our weakness plus God's power equals resilient ministry. And that's why we can say, along with the Apostle Paul, that our sufficiency is from God. Trinity, it's why you don't need pastors who are omniscient and omnipresent and invulnerable and flawless. You just need pastors who are faithful containers, and that's what you have. Weak vessels used by Christ to build His church so that everyone knows where the power comes from. And if you've wondered if it's time for you to serve the Lord in this church, you don't wait until you feel sufficient. teach and disciple and share and open your home and care for hurting people and carry the treasure.

We're not here to be impressive. We're here to be faithful.

(Prayer) Father, I pray that You would make that our heart's desire. And thank You for the ministry of these faithful brothers who lead this church as servants. And thank You for Matt Ng today as he's installed as one of these pastors. Thank You that he's not here for a title, he's here for the treasure of Christ and the proclamation of Christ and the formation of Christ in these precious people.

I pray that all would be more dependent on God's power, not their own, and as they give their selves away for each other, they would trust Your pattern, God, to bring life through death, because our sufficiency is from You. Thank You for the glorious Christ. Show us Him as we continue to follow that pattern of death and life for the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. (End)