WEEK EIGHT
CRACKED POT
“PERFECTLY FLAWED”
2 Cor. 4:7-12
As we have spent these weeks discovering and defining the New Covenant, there is now only one question that remains unanswered. “What does the New Covenant, applied in my life on a consistent basis, look like?”
Let’s back track for a moment. The New Covenant is everything coming from God, nothing coming from me. We have seen in detail the craftiness of the flesh. Jeremiah 17:9-10, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doing.” We have also seen the battle that is going on within us, where the redeemed heart desires to please God, but the “old nature”, the flesh, does not. Then, last week, you saw the greatest mystery ever known to man. 2 Cor. 4:6 –7, “The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…in earthen vessels.” The mystery is not in the glory of God seen in the face of Jesus, but rather what God chooses to place this treasure in – us – earthen vessels.
Let’s note a few things about vessels:
- Vessels are made to hold something. God designed us to be containers and we will always be containing something – either full of ourselves or full of Jesus.
- The vessels called “mankind” are uniquely designed to contain God. Col. 1:27b, “…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Therefore, anyone not having the Holy Spirit dwelling in them is less than how God designed him to be or sub-human (Colossians 2:6-19).
- The vessels God made to contain Him are earthen, that is, dried mud – common, ordinary, everyday “pots”. Clay pots are very fragile and weak. They are of little value in and of themselves.
Why? Why would God place the greatest treasure, Himself, in something so worthless as a “clay pot”? 2 Cor. 4:7, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Here we are given the reason. God purposefully places Himself in us so that other “clay pots”, indwelled with themselves, would see that the value is not in the “pot”, but what it contains. The treasure we hold is Christ in us and this is what makes us special. We “clay pots” will always look for significance in our clay outsides, or our dirt inside. Psalm 103:13-14, “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For he knows our frame. He remembers we are dust.” God never intended us to be anything special as a vessel. We were always just meant to be common so that He, in us, would be the extra-ordinary one. As people see the “pot” which is just like them, they will also see Christ, who is extra-ordinary, and glorify Him. Our job, as “pots”, is to make sure we are containing Him and not trying to make people notice or pay attention to our “pot”. This is accomplished by being transparent – cracks and all. If we seek to hide our cracks or decorate our pots, then we are not living as God designed us. Another thing the world sees is that we can be triumphant because of what we contain – Christ – rather than what we serve as. In other words, my significance is not my knowledge or service or job or success or anything other than God dwelling in me. Another way of saying this is – “Me, in Christ, equals my identity. Christ, in me, equals my sufficiency.”
The great lie that Satan tells Christians is, “You have to have it altogether to maintain Jesus’ witness that He is God.” Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We are being lied to if we think we need to dress up our “clay pots” or even patch them up to make ourselves a better witness. In reality, it is my commonness that will enable people to see Christ in me. People will only see fakes when we try to be something we are not, which is glorious in the flesh. We all face this decision. Do we want people to see our flaws and commonness and God’s perfection, or our phony, self-righteous “pot” and not God? We don’t have to have it all together to show the world that God is real. In fact, we need to get off from our pedestal and BE real.
God has built into the Christian life certain realities that are designed to cause us to be ordinary “pots”, manifesting an extra-ordinary God. In 2 Cor. 4:8-9, we see what these realities are – trials. “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” The Christian life is not a bed of roses and we are not immune from life’s difficulties. We will go through times of being “hard pressed” – “perplexed” – “persecuted” – “struck down”. The situations and circumstances of our lives at times will be overwhelming and, at times, paralyze us as to what to do with unfair situations and unjust circumstances.
And just as we begin to see cracks appear in our “clay pots”, God will come shining through our stress fractures. As He does this, “we” won’t be “crushed” – “despairing” – “forsaken” – “destroyed”. All of this will produce 2 Cor. 4:10, “…always carrying about in the body the dying of Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” That is to say, the flesh, with all its self-importance, will constantly have to die for it will be unable to live under the strain. As this happens, Jesus’ life shines through.
This new life in our “clay pots” has two beneficiaries:
- 2 Cor. 4:11 – The life will be manifested in our mortal flesh. This is to say, that we will have the fruit of life and victory. Of course, the cost of this is the death and reign of the “self”, which wants its own way, ego, reputation, dreams, etc.
- 2 Cor. 4:12 – Our death will benefit others as life will be produced in them.
In summation, the New Covenant is God’s power in our “pot”. God deals with me so that I will see my weakness in order that I might operate in His strength (2 Cor. 12:7-12). God’s plan for “clay pots” is that we will be constantly broken, in order that we might be totally dependent upon what is inside us – to live. In living upon God’s strength and not our own, the world will see Him and NOT us.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE – PART 2
“The Belt of Truth”
In one part of this series on spiritual warfare demon possession was mentioned briefly. It may not have occurred to many of you that this is a fairly uncommon phenomenon in America today. With a little bit of thought we can see why. 1 Timothy 1:4 gives us a clue to the answer, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.”
What this scripture is saying is that in this period of time, called the “latter days”, there are hosts of invisible evil forces which are involved in the business of changing people’s thinking patterns. The enemy is seeking to control the minds of men. And his campaign has been very effective in the U.S. No wonder demon possession isn’t that common. The devil’s goal is to control people, whether it is directly or indirectly, by influencing the way we think. Our culture has been deluged with lies about humanism, materialism, mysticism, sexuality, the epicurean philosophy, and so on. Satan has been very effective in masking his attack by his wiles (Eph. 6:11), snares (1 Tim. 3:7), and devices (2 Cor. 2:11). Why should he need to be more overt?
It is of great comfort, however, for us to realize that Jesus has stripped the power of the enemy, which even includes his power to deceive. Jesus, Himself, speaks of this in Luke 11:21-22, “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when someone stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils.”
The “strong man” here is Satan. His “palace” is the world (2 Cor. 4:4). His “goods” are mankind itself (1 John 5:19). And the “stronger one” is Jesus Christ Himself. He has overcome the wicked one, taken from him his defenses (his armor) and has divided his spoils. No one else could have done it, least of all the goods themselves. Mankind, being in the grip of alien powers, has no strength to deliver itself from the strong man. But it is the testimony of the New Testament that Jesus Christ has done just that.
Consider the following verses:
Hebrews 2:14b – “…that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil.”
Acts 26:18 – “To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.”
Colossians 1:13 – “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”
1 John 3:8 – “For this reason the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”
Perhaps Colossians 2:15 demonstrates this truth the most graphically, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (the cross).
If we can imagine a great New York City type ticker tape parade with the streamers, confetti, and wild roaring crowds, we’ll get the picture here. Now in our mind’s eye, we see a majestic looking, triumphant figure standing in the lead car. And walking doggedly behind that car is a slumping, chained figure, who is being followed by scores of other figures, all of whom look very badgered, forlorn, and defeated. Jesus Christ is the one receiving the crowd’s adulation because He is the victor over all of these powers of hell, who have been defeated in the cross. This is exactly what took place 2000 years ago in the spirit realm when Satan’s doom was sealed.
The fact is that these evil forces are finished but will not admit it gracefully. This helps to explain that which seems very puzzling to many Christians. That is the fact that even as Christians we can become demoralized, almost totally discouraged, or perhaps more miserable at times than before we ever knew the Lord. The reason? We are the only ones who are seeking to even oppose these forces! We’re the only ones who have the potential capacity to “put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). The armor is God’s solution to the problem. It is that which makes us victors rather than victims. Without putting it on, however, we won’t be able to stand. James’ admonition to “resist the devil and he will flee from you” will not accomplish anything until we first submit ourselves to God by taking up the armor He’s provided.
Let’s not go into a study of the armor itself. It will be apparent to us as we study that each piece is a particular aspect of Jesus Christ and His work. When we hear the phrase “Jesus is the answer”, we’re hearing the truth. He is. And each piece of the armor shows us how He is the answer. Putting on the armor of God is putting on Jesus Christ. Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Realizing this fact is very helpful because it keeps us from becoming mechanical in our application of the armor. For example, when I was very new in the Lord, I knew a girl who used to actually go through the physical motions of putting on a suit of armor. She did this every morning, right along with Ephesians 6. Well, I thought that was such a good idea that I began to try it. But very soon it became a technique, a mechanical exercise which lost its meaning. But realizing that the armor is Jesus Christ means that I am relating to a person, not a technique, and that helps a lot.
The armor, of course, is modeled after the armor a Roman soldier would wear. And Paul, being a prisoner in Rome when writing Ephesians, had opportunity to observe the Roman armor often. I can imagine that as he did, the Spirit was speaking to him about spiritual warfare and God’s weaponry in Christ.
There are six pieces in the armor of God made up into two divisions. The first division consists of three pieces – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of peace. These pieces consist of what was done in the past. They are what each believer receives at the moment of conversion. Notice the verbs in Ephesians 6:14 and 15. They are in the past tense – “having” girded your waist with the truth, “having” put on the breastplate of righteousness, and “having” shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This past tense is the aorist tense in Greek and signifies action completed in point and time. Because these are past tense and have happened to each believer, they are things which simply need to be called into remembrance on a daily basis.
The second division of the armor also consists of three pieces – the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. These are pieces which we are to “take up” in the present. We’re to “take up” the shield, “take up” the helmet and “take up” the sword. We’ll discuss that more later. It is also very important to note, however, that the order of these six pieces is important. It can’t be altered. One would not begin with the sword, for example. It is always necessary to begin with the first piece, the belt of truth. And so we will.
Paul says, “having girded your waist with truth”. Girding the waist was an action which symbolized the soldier’s readiness to fight. The soldier wore a long skirt, similar to a Scottish kilt, which would severely hinder his mobility. It was necessary to gather his skirt together and fasten it at his waist with the belt. Then he’d be ready to fight. So, when we’re attacked, or when we’re preparing for attack, we must begin with this – the belt of truth.
What is truth? By definition, it is reality, the real or true state of things. It is fixed, certain. It is in contrast to many movements and/or philosophies today which claim the “truth”. Truth is in contrast to humanism, physical fitness, TM, wonder diets, ESP, Mormonism, the peace movement, the work ethic, materialism, drugs, etc. All of these claim to hold the truth. Each would have us believe that participation in them will answer the questions of life. But none really answer the definition of truth – the real or true state of things. At best they contain some truth as one small aspect of life. At worst, they are downright lies, and contain virtually no truth.
The punch line, however, is that there is something that totally answers what we have defined truth to be. Jesus Christ Himself is the truth. He is reality, the real or true state of things. He is fixed/certain. And others said this of Him:
John 1:14b – “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:17 – The law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
And He said it of Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).
So when I came to Jesus Christ, I found the truth behind everything. I discovered ultimate reality. I found the One who is true. Actually, the One who is true found me. And in Christ are all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is the answer for man’s most searching questions – “Who am I?” “Where did I come from?” “How did I get here?” “What am I here for?” Only Jesus Christ provides these answers and only Jesus Christ answers the definition of truth. The belt of truth is the ultimate reality, which all who place faith in Christ discover. This is what is meant by 1 John 5:20, “…and we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
The question that naturally comes up next is “How do I know that? How do I know that Jesus Christ is the truth?” Let’s look at five points which help answer that question.
First of all, I know Jesus Christ is true because of what He said. He said things which are so radical, they boggle the mind. Take the beatitudes as an example and carefully notice how there is not one single appeal to man’s ability to live them out. And Jesus taught these things with so much authority that the crowds were astonished at His teaching (Matthew 7:28-29).
Secondly, I know Jesus Christ is true by what He did. His miracles, His death and ultimately His resurrection, all prove that He is the Son of God. Christ rose from the dead on the third day, as He himself had predicted. Without the resurrection, our faith is meaningless and we’re still in our sins.
Thirdly, Jesus Christ is the truth because He fulfilled over 70 specific prophecies, all of which were written at least 300 years prior to His birth. Peter Stoner, in his book Science Speaks, has outlined the mathematical probability of any one man fulfilling that many prophecies. The odds are absolutely staggering. Yet Jesus fulfilled those and many other less major prophecies, all just in His first coming.
Fourthly, the fact that Jesus Christ is a man of history shows that He is true. There is more documentary evidence concerning the life of Christ than any ten pieces of ancient literature combined!
Fifthly, I know Jesus Christ is the truth because of what He’s done for me and thousands more! In every part of this world, there are “born-again” Christians, all testifying to the same basic explanation of their experience – they have had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, a radical, life-transforming meeting with the Son of God. And He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He always has been and always will be the truth!
When I was a fairly new believer, I had an exchange with one of my best friends. I was telling him why I’d become a believer in Jesus Christ. I said to him, “Rick, the reason I am a Christian today is because I’m absolutely convinced that Christianity is true, and that Jesus is who He said He is.” And that is still the reason why I’m a Christian. And it is extremely important that every believer settles this issue personally, once and for all. As Josh McDowell puts it, “get a satisfied mind”.
But what is really important is that I call this into remembrance every day. This will be extremely helpful to me when I’m under attack. In John chapter 6, when the peer pressure was to leave Jesus in a time of testing, Jesus asked the disciples a probing question, “Do you also want to go away?” And Peter’s answer was so true. He said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:67-69).
What Peter is saying is, “Lord, we haven’t any other options. You’re the truth.” And so, when I’m under attack I begin by realizing that I’m in the truth in Christ. When going through hard testing, I begin by remembering that Jesus Christ is the truth, and I’m in Him. He is ultimate reality. Though all else may fail, He will not because He is fixed. He is certain. He is the belt of truth.
GROWTH OPPORTUNITY QUESTIONS
WEEK EIGHT
Spiritual Warfare: Part 2
- As a result of the teaching, “The Belt of Truth”, be prepared to discuss:
- What does Colossians 2:15 say to me about my own feelings (i.e.: despair, defeat, depression, giving up, etc.)?
- What is necessary for us to stand firm?
- What results? (Give specific examples from either personal observations or from the teaching.)
- List some of the specific ways the devil’s deception has appeared to you.
- Why is the “Belt of Truth” an important piece of the armor of God?
- How may we put on the “Belt of Truth”?
Master Plan of Evangelism
Chapter 2
- List the various examples of the essence of Jesus’ training program and comment as to why I think they are/are not effective.
- On page 42 comment on Jesus’ methodology of “knowledge by association before explanation” and tell why I think it is/is not effective.
- As Jesus’ ministry continued over the 3 years, how did He change His time priorities?
- The reason(s) why I believe Jesus’ methods aren’t used today in the church is/are?
Chapter 3
- Couple together the sections on “Obedience” (pg 51) and “Must Count the Cost” (pg 53).
- How do I see them fitting together?
- What does it say about those who fade or don’t follow through? Why do I suppose they were that way?
- List some of the disciples’ difficulties in learning.
- Read page 56. Why did “Jesus not urge His disciples to commit their lives to a doctrine, but to a person…”?
- The proof of love was?
- Give some examples of how Jesus modeled this proof Himself.
- Therefore, what does that say about learning how to lead?
- According to Coleman, why are so many Christians stunted in their growth?
- As I go back over the principles in this chapter:
- Which one applies most specifically to my own life?
- What do I intend to do about it?
- What is keeping me/holding me back from accomplishing it?