Nathan E. Lewis

This past Sunday at Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, those of us gathered had the privilege of hearing elder Michael Kane deliver a charge to Dann Golden-Collum at his ordination as an elder. The ongoing result is the ringing of the gospel in our ears and hearts.

CHARGE TO RULING ELDER DANN GOLDEN-COLLUM
EVERGREEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
JUNE 7 2009
2 Corinthians 4: 7

Dann,

Well, you’re about to have a rare experience – a sermon written just for you!

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us

Having spent 18 months establishing a congregation in Corinth, Paul found a few years later there were numerous problems - many of which he addressed in his first letter. But in his second letter, he has a more personal challenge: to defend the church against false teachers who were attacking both his authority and his ministry. And he has to remind the Corinthians that his ministry is “by God’s mercy” and that his message is that Jesus Christ is Lord. And, in the course of this, Paul identifies three realities that I hope will encourage as you begin ministry as a ruling elder

1. We have been given a treasure

The context makes clear that the treasure is the gospel. Elsewhere, Paul writes of “men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel” and of a sort of apostolic succession in which Timothy is to entrust the gospel to reliable men who are qualified to teach others. Dann, you are being entrusted with the treasure of the gospel in the same way.

When we use the language of treasure, we think of something precious and valuable. I picked up my check book this morning and there was an advertisement from Key Bank encouraging me to keep my valuables in a Key Bank Safe Deposit Box. We want something secure, preferably surrounded by armed guards.

But Paul reminds us that, in regard to the treasure of the Gospel, God has not chosen that route. Instead, He has taken what appears to be a huge risk because

2. He has placed this treasure in jars of clay

like you and me. And of course a clay pot is the exact opposite of a safe deposit box. Clay pots get broken and their contents are easily lost. The next few verses, Paul’s autobiographical notes, give an indication of how this worked out in practice:

➢ hard pressed on every side,
➢ perplexed,
➢ persecuted,
➢ struck down,
➢ in some way we can barely understand sharing in the sufferings of Christ,

and even having his own life at risk. That’s what it’s like to be a jar of clay.

Dann, when the elders met with you recently and you spoke of God’s work of grace in your life my sense was that this phrase, “jar of clay”, is one you would identify with.

And the obvious question is why, why would God do this? Why entrust something so precious to people like you and me who are so fragile? Well, Paul gives us the answer:

3. God has placed this treasure (the treasure of the gospel) in jars of clay (like you and me) for His glory

God has acted in this particular way “to show that the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us”.

Elsewhere, Paul notes that, “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” and then he describes his own preaching,

My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on man’s wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Cor. 2: 5)

It’s as if there is a choice. We can reject the vulnerability of being a “clay pot” and chose to be a “strong” guardian of the gospel preaching in our own strength. But if we go down that road, Paul argues, the Corinthian’s faith would rest on man’s wisdom. It would be all down to you and me. But that’s one approach to ministry.

The alternative is to accept that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness that the only way for God’s power to be seen and experienced is when He works through jars of clay like you and me.

It’s one or the other. Both options will reveal power – the question is whose. Only one will show that “the all-surpassing power is from God, and not from us”. And, lest you think that this is just theory the rest of Paul’s autobiography illustrates how this works out in practice:

➢ Hard pressed on every side? Yes, but not crushed!
➢ Perplexed? Yes, but not in despair!
➢ Persecuted? Yes, but not abandoned!
➢ Struck down? Yes, but not destroyed!
➢ Being given over to death? Yes, so that His life may be revealed in our bodies.
➢ Death at work in us? Yes, so that life is at work in you.

Dann,

You have been entrusted with the greatest treasure of all, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You, like me, are a jar of clay, vulnerable, fragile, in need of grace. The temptation to avoid that will be there throughout your ministry.

Better, however, to remain a jar of clay so that those you serve here at Evergreen and elsewhere may see that the all-surpassing power of the Gospel is from God and that it is His power that is at work in your life.

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