Transcript

Years ago, the famous annual Rose Parade was winding through Pasadena, California. Beautiful floats covered in flowers, along with all sorts of creative exhibits, were traveling down the parade route. Suddenly, right in the middle of the parade, a beautiful float sputtered and stalled.

While the designers of this float had cared for everything and it all looked beautiful, they had overlooked one thing. The truck pulling the exhibit had simply run out of gas. The irony is that this particular float represented the Standard Oil Company. The entire parade halted until someone was able to find some gasoline and restart the truck.

This story made me wonder whether we are running on empty today. We might look good, but is there fuel, so to speak, in our spiritual tank?

Now as we set sail into 2 Corinthians 4, Paul begins and ends this chapter with the same thought and promise: Notice verse 1, “We do not lose heart,” and verse 16, “We do not lose heart.”

Between these verses, Paul spells out several reasons why we can stay encouraged and keep moving forward in our lives today.

First, we can do so because God has given us the privilege of seeing the light of His gospel. Look at verse 6:

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.

How did God’s light shine into our hearts, giving us the glorious knowledge of Jesus Christ? Through the gospel. Paul makes this clear in verse 4, where he mentions “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The unbelieving world, Paul writes, is blind to the light of the gospel of Christ. Simply put, they do not see it. Frankly, they do not want to see it. And because of that, they have nothing to encourage their hearts when life gets difficult or discouraging.

But for the believer, God has shone His light into our hearts. He has opened our eyes!

When Paul writes in verse 6 that God said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” he is taking us back to Genesis 1, where God commanded in verse 3, “Let there be light.” Beloved, your salvation—from darkness to light—was just as supernatural as the creation of light at the dawn of human history.[1]

If you belong to Jesus, you are a creation of amazing glory. Of course, do not go around taking credit for it! Give glory to God, and let the joy of your salvation grow. That will keep you from losing heart. That will put some gasoline in your spiritual tank.

God has given us the privilege of seeing the light of His gospel.

Here is the second reason we do not lose heart: Because God has granted us the treasure of His grace. Paul writes, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (verse 7).

I love this! The treasure of God’s gospel of grace has been deposited into us. And who are we? We are ordinary clay pots. I like the fact that Christians are not compared here to teacups but to clay mugs—clay pots for everyday use.

As I have traveled the world, it has been my tradition to bring home to my wife a beautiful teacup from the country where I preached. Today she has a wonderful collection that has grown over the years with cups from many different countries. Some feature beautiful patterns of flowers and birds and landscapes; others have regal insignia from the royal families who ruled these countries. But all these teacups are delicate. She displays them on special shelving in the dining room, and we use them with care.

God has chosen to pour into us His priceless treasure of grace. Instead of looking around for something especially beautiful or rare or regal, He chooses us—clay pots. Maybe that is because He does not plan on putting us on a shelf for special occasions but out there in the rough and tumble duties of daily life.

The fact that God has saved us and then wants to use us—humble clay pots—is like giving us a full tank of gas to get out there and serve Him with joy.

Paul gives us one more reason for not losing heart—that God has given us the promise of future glory. Notice what he writes:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away – our bodies might be wearing old – 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. (verses 16-18)

Now some of you might be ready to jump out of your seats and say, “Wait a second, Paul! What do you mean we are experiencing some ‘light momentary affliction’? I have been dealing with some agonizing problems for years!”

Well, I assure you, Paul knows what he is talking about. He even gives us a running list of some of his own troubles. Back in verse 8, he writes, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair.” The word here for “perplexed” refers to an inability to figure out what God is doing. So, even Paul had unanswered questions.

He goes on in verses 9-10 to add to his list of troubles:

[We are] 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.

Paul is reminding the Corinthians that his ministry and that of the apostles was constantly bringing them to death’s door. Paul never hesitated to put his life at risk for Christ’s sake, and he came close to dying many times from the severity of his afflictions.

So, let me put it this way: When it comes to experiencing affliction, Paul is an expert. And he is the one who reminds us all that afflictions—even like the ones he experienced—are nothing compared to the glory of heaven that awaits us.

Paul writes in verse 14, “He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” Paul knew that your suffering and mine—and his—no matter how long or intense it feels, is temporary. Resurrection is coming. Life together in Jesus’ presence is next on the agenda, and it is all “to the glory of God” (verse 15).

That is why Paul can write this incredible statement in verse 16: “So we do not lose heart.” We do not run out of gas. We might get tired in the ministry, but we do not get tired of the ministry.

By the way, did you notice here that Paul could get discouraged but he did not quit? He suffered pain and frustration and at times confusion, and he did not pretend it was not real. But he took courage in the coming glory of Christ; he found joy in being a simple clay pot for Christ; and he rejoiced that God had opened his eyes to see the light of the gospel. And that put gasoline in his tank; it kept him moving forward for the glory of God.