II Corinthians 4:1 begins reads, “Therefore, seeing we have this ministry…”

Even though Paul could say ‘this ministry’ because he was writing to the Corinthians, the word ministry is also used for service and labor in other places in the Bible. In addition, we should personalize this verse and say, Therefore, seeing I have this ministry, or I have this service or labor. Of course, Paul is referring to getting the message of the Gospel of the Good News of Jesus Christ out to the world, and just as I have told you from day one, this is not all about me or you.

We have our personal connections, but we must do what is necessary to get the Word to others to let them know the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how to grow in God’s Word. Once salvation is received, we are not to become a lump on a log and just sit doing nothing. We are to stay connected to the Father through Jesus Christ, but we also have a responsibility to a ministry to preach the rightly divided Word or to help the ministry spread the Word. Hopefully you are following a ministry or church that is getting it out to a world that needs it.

“Therefore, seeing we [No, personalize this] I have this ministry [service, labor, or ministry], as we have received mercy, we faint not.”

I can claim that mercy, and I am sure those reading this can claim that for themselves. The word faint in this verse, literally means that we do not lose heart. And there are many things that will come our way that will cause us to lose heart. That word could also be translated don’t be a coward. In other words, do not lose heart and do not be a coward. Skipping to verse 5 we read,“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Verse 7 is a very popular verse; you have probably heard or read it many times yourself.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power [really, the dynamic power] may be of God, and not of us.
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”

Now in verse 7 we read, “But we have this treasure…” That treasure is Jesus Christ. It is that simple. He is the one inside of us who is dynamically powerful and great. Although we are weak, human weakness is not a barrier for God to fulfill His purposes in me or in you and there is a reason for it. At times I feel so weak in the mortal flesh it is sometimes even hard to describe. Sometimes it is like that all day. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

When I feel like that, the best way to convince myself to continue is through God’s Word. So even though our flesh is weak, we are not a barrier to keep us from fulfilling God’s promise and fulfilling our responsibilities because “we have this ministry, we have received mercy”. It is no time to lose heart. In fact, I want this message to be titled Never Give Up. God’s power is made complete and perfect in what He wants to fulfill in our state of weakness because that treasure, Jesus Christ, is enhanced and magnified by comparison to this container, this earthen vessel you see in which He is placed.

Weakness

Everybody talks about being stressed out lately. Weakness! In Latin the word stress means to be drawn tight. Ask yourself what you are stressed out about. I have been doing it all day and I have come up with a lot of answers. Is it something that is happening right now in your present? Something that you know will happen in the future? Something that might have happened in the past but is still haunting you for some reason?

People get stressed out about employment. They get stressed out on the job. I was reading one article that over $150 billion a year is spent on doctor visits for people diagnosed with something stressing in life and, of course, it is causing other ills and problems that become health related. Some people say stress is the number one killer in America. Well, it is hard not to have stress in your life, but we know who can deal with it.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels…”

Paul is drawing an analogy here. Earthen vessels in Paul’s day were small pottery lamps. They were cheaply made for distribution and they were fragile. He is writing to the Corinthians, and the lamps could be bought in the local shops in Corinth. Cheap, fragile earthen vessels.

Let’s just concentrate on the fragile part. I am speaking from the heart. If you do not find this interesting, then so be it. If you want a Joel Osteen type of message, then I suggest you can probably catch him in one of the 45,000 reruns on Sunday evenings on some channel somewhere. He will give you a positive principle message of some sort that is not Bible based and not real. But let’s return to the fragile vessel. Even though I cannot see you, raise your hand if you feel at times you are a fragile vessel. I know I do right now and have been for a while.

The older you get

I am sure I would get more hands if you were in front of me, but younger people even become fragile for many reasons. They have their own set of weaknesses whether it is drugs or alcohol, whatever it is that brings them to that fragile point. It is a message for you too. These earthen vessels that Paul was using here as an analogy were everyday common vessels. The followers of Christ, the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ may be likened to such fragile vessels.

We go around in our mortal bodies and compared to what our original design was before sin, it is extremely weakened and fragile after Adam sinned. But Christ came, He died and rose again and, as Paul is saying here, He is a treasure in this weakened earthen vessel in which the Lord dwells if we just keep trusting Him, and not faint, or lose heart, or become a coward.

If you understand the history of this time period, it was not unusual for the most precious treasures to be stored in these valueless earth vessels. The treasure might not be a lot to someone else, but to you it was all you had; it was your treasure. The vessel had no value. They were sold in the shops on the street, they were not expensive, they were fragile and weak. They were not these huge safes found today to put your treasure in to be protected from fire, thieves or whatever.

If you think about it, a $100,000 diamond ring sits in a container that at best is worth a few dollars.

That is a valueless container holding something extremely valuable, and when the container holding the diamond ring is presented, it is presented with the treasure inside the container. What I am trying to say is what you see, this mortal flesh, might be weak, but what is inside of us is much more valuable because of the treasure on the inside.

Our weakness, our mortal flesh, this container, apart from the treasure that is inside, our lives would be worth nothing much. However, to Him the whole package is valuable, the container and what is inside, because He is inside it and because of this treasure that is in us we are more than conquerors. I have said it many times. Lately I have not felt like a conqueror. In fact, I felt like I have been conquered, but it is the same message.

Do not lose heart, do not become cowards, do not faint, and never give up!