Thanksgiving Eve

All right, our scripture reading tonight is going to come from 2 Corinthians 4:7–18, which reads.

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.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:7–18

When it comes to describing this past year, what kind of adjectives would you use to describe 2020? Awesome, right? Beyond our wildest expectations. Nothing negative. Naturally, unless we’re thinking heavenly, we would probably have some negative adjectives to describe some of the events of 2020. I know I would. And yet here we are today celebrating Thanksgiving, which is a time to stop, regardless of our circumstances, and give thanks.

And it’s not just simply the fact that our circumstances could always be worse. That’s not how Christians view this. It’s not like, oh, you think you’ve got it bad. I know somebody who’s got ten times worse. No. Bad is bad, right? We know what bad things are. And just because somebody has worse circumstances than us doesn’t mean what we’re going through isn’t bad. It’s not a Christian perspective. But regardless, as Christians, we do celebrate thanks. We have a profound reason to always give thanks regardless of our circumstances. And 2 Corinthians 4:7–18 gives us an abundantly clear reason for that. And I just want to share with you a few reasons for that briefly tonight before we leave together.

But some of the reasons Christians always give thanks regardless of our circumstances, you know, verse 7 tells us, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” Well, that tells us that our weaknesses have a purpose. You see that in that text? We have struggles, we have trials, we have weaknesses, and it’s for a purpose. And so what Paul is comparing Christians to, he compares us to clay pots or jars of clay. And jars of clay back then were very common, easily breakable pots that you would store stuff in.

And Paul’s saying, Christians, we’re like that. We’re jars of clay on our own. There’s nothing special about us. It’s just this brown, cheap, junky, you know, jar. There’s nothing special about it. There’s nothing grand about it. It breaks very easily. It’s extremely fragile. However, Paul points out, there’s something inside of every single Christian that’s not fragile. There’s something inside of every single Christian, which is incredibly powerful because it, in fact, is the power of God Himself. And that power, that divine Holy Spirit that is within us, means we have a treasure that’s beyond our wildest imaginations.

Why did God decide to put this mighty power inside of such weak vessels? Well, verse 7 tells us, if you have your Bibles, you can look there, 2 Corinthians 4:7. He says, to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. On our own, we have nothing to offer. Nothing. We’re clay pots. We break easily. But it’s the power of God that is put within us by grace through faith that gives us power, that makes us have a surpassing hope. 2 Corinthians 12:9, I’ll read this again. He says, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

It is not the pot that holds the value, it’s what’s stored within it that holds value. Even with clay pots back then, they weren’t valuable, but what you put in it was valuable. The same with Christians. Our bodies are not valuable. They’re weak. They’re fragile. They’re wasting away. But what’s within us has eternal value that will never fade. Circumstances don’t change that. It doesn’t matter how bad your circumstances are, if you know Christ, it’s overshadowed by the glory that’s coming.

Even when our bodies start to chip away, when cracks appear, and they will, some of you know what I’m talking about, and you know, right, like it’s going to happen. Even when that happens, though, we have a hope that surpasses all of that. Because circumstances are not where our hope is. You realize the world around us, that’s where their hope is. How the election goes, how their job goes, how their health goes. For Christians, while we don’t enjoy bad things, none of that ultimately matters. None of that will have any factor upon eternity.

The second reason that Christians are thankful in all circumstances is because we follow a persecuted but a risen king. And Paul talked about that in this text. He talked about how Christ suffered, and so too will we. Which means, church, that the person that we follow went through the absolute worst of circumstances. He was crucified. You realize that we worship a homeless, poor guy. That’s his life. He was homeless. He was poor. He was beaten, and he was murdered. Why should we expect life to be any different for us? However, by God’s grace, it often is. We live pretty good comparatively, don’t we?

Even though we do have cracks in our jars of clay and problems that come in our life, we shouldn’t expect life to go perfect for us. If it didn’t for Christ, it surely won’t for us. John 15:20 says, “Remember what I told you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” As followers of Jesus, we are always dying, yet never lifeless, even when we die. We have life in the midst of death because we serve a Savior who was crucified, but a Savior who rose again from the dead. That changes everything.

Which means that the hardship we face as God’s children not only brings glory to God, but that glory is also coming for us as well. In fact, it’s bringing a glory we can’t even possibly fathom. We can’t even explain it. Right now we live in a world that is fallen. It’s very broken, and it results, as we’ve talked about, in our outer selves wasting away. But just as the outer self of a caterpillar must be shed, so the inner self—let me say that again. Just as the outer self of a caterpillar must be shed, so the inner self may come forth as a beautiful butterfly, so our inner self too, as Paul tells us, is being renewed day by day.

And what Paul is saying here is that the reason he doesn’t lose heart, the reason he doesn’t get down and depressed, is because he knows that the riches, treasure, and absolute wonder of God that is laid up for him is so amazing that it makes the troubles of this life look like no big deal. They are a big deal, but not compared to the glory that’s coming. Not by comparison.

One example we’ve used before when we’ve talked about this topic is: if you think about it, if your house burns down, you lose your job, your car is totaled, would you consider that a pretty stressful week? Yeah, you’d probably be pretty financially stressed, wondering how you’re going to make do. But if you knew that in six months you were going to have $50 million deposited into your bank account, how worried would you be about your house burning down or your car getting totaled? You wouldn’t be worried at all. You’d be like, I got a credit card. I’m fine. No big deal. You know, like, whatever. I’ll go live in the holiday inn for a while. It wouldn’t be a big deal at all.

And so too, Christians, the same way for us. This world is wasting away. We have a deposit saved up for us that is as sure as anything. It is coming. It is glory, actually. It’s Christ’s glory that is coming for us. And we’re going to partake in that glory. Because Paul realized this about his future, it impacted his present. If you don’t realize that about your future, it’s not going to impact your present. You’re going to get stressed out about the things of this life. You’re going to feel the weight of this life instead of feeling the weight of glory, which makes the weights of this life nothing. Light as all can be.

And Paul realized that because he realized who Christ was, and he realized that Christ was in him. And because of that, Paul could see the glory that was coming. And none of us can see this with our physical eyes. We can’t see the glory that’s coming, but that’s why we have to see it with eyes of faith. We have to have eyes of faith to gaze upon the glory that’s coming. And so with eyes of faith, we can view what is coming when right now nobody else can. Right now, everybody around us is freaking out about the little things of life, little things that are fading away, things that are wasting away. They’re freaking out about clay pots. But we don’t do that because we know what’s coming.

How do we let our hearts not be troubled or to not lose heart, as Paul said? Well, because it happens, right? We all know this happens. We have times in our life where we start to worry about the things of this world. I do. I know you do as well. And so what’s the solution for that? It’s dwelling upon the promises of God by faith. Eyes of faith. Looking at God’s word with eyes of faith, dwelling on his promises, telling those promises back to yourself when you don’t feel like it. When you know it’s true, but your heart tells you, no, it’s not true. But we know it’s true. And so we need to tell ourselves over and over: read the promises of God, dwell on the promises of God. Do what we’re doing tonight, where we come together and praise God for those promises and the glory that He’s promised to bring.

Whether our jars of clay, which is our body, breaks or not, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:52, Paul talks here about what’s going to happen, and Christ is coming back. And he talks about some jars of clay who they will not die. They will not be broken and cracked. Some of them will actually be just ushered up into glory immediately with Christ. And so either way, though, whether our jars of clay, our bodies, die or Christ comes back and he takes us to be with him, we have a hope that’s beyond our wildest imaginations. And so that is ultimately the reason why we’re thankful, regardless of circumstances. Even if cancer comes, even if poverty comes, even if persecution comes, you name it, that does not change the eternal reality for all the children of God who have the eternal glory coming by grace through faith through his Son.

So I’ll end with this. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” And I trust that this will bless you as it’s blessed me. This is, you know, in times I get down, I’m human like you guys are. I know you guys have times where things of this world, you start to feel the weight of this world. And this really is the solution for that. Praise God. It is.

Father, I thank you for this time we can come together and hear testimonies of how you’re working in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. So, Father, help us to remember what you’ve done for us. You’ve made us your children, who can boldly run into your throne room before you. It’s a remarkable thing. And so we praise you for Christ, who tore the veil in half to make so that we can come before you as your children, not as your enemies. We pray these things in Christ’s name. Amen.