2 Corinthians 4 Jars of Clay

God often blows me away with how he does things. He uses ordinary people who struggle with sin, depression, doubt, fear, lack of faith and more. Even how Jesus saves us is upside down to many of us; Jesus takes our sin and punishment to the cross where he beats Satan. Think about that, Jesus wins by dying in a horrible way! In the cross we see how much Jesus loves us; there he brings us forgiveness and eternal life. Jesus calls us to follow and trust in him alone, to obey him in response to his love. Jesus knows that we’ll mess up again and again, and still he chooses us to build the kingdom of heaven here. Salvation’s not about getting to heaven; it’s about joining Jesus in his work in building the kingdom of heaven here.

Paul’s writing to the church in Corinth, a church he’s had fights with when they stopped listening to him and honoured richer and more popular teachers instead. Paul worked while he preached, he was poor and they were mostly rich, so they preferred preachers more like themselves. They didn’t understand that it’s through who we are as regular ordinary people that Jesus shines light and hope into the world. Jesus uses plain ordinary people like us to carry out his plans and build his kingdom here.

Question: why would Jesus use regular people like us to build his kingdom

Paul shows us how that works; describing us as clay jars and God is the potter who creates and shapes us. He talks about not losing heart because Jesus is the treasure; God’s glory that lives in us. That doesn’t mean that life’s always easy. As Paul says, the world is filled with darkness. We hear of people going on shooting sprees, or living in abusive relationships, of people living with depression, mental illness, deep poverty and more. Paul writes, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Jesus is shining hope into the world and uses us because regular people connect with regular people. Each of us has a ministry of hope here!

Clay jars are common, ordinary and useful for storing almost anything, including treasure. Some were beautiful, most were plain. Just like life, when you’re working with pottery, things don’t always turn out as expected, but even the mess-ups can be used to create beauty when they’re broken up and used in mosaic tiles or art pieces. Even the pieces that are left over can be broken up and placed in the bottom of planting pots to help with drainage or placed on pathways to create variety. This means that the light of Jesus has opportunities everywhere to shine.

Clay jars are durable, but also vulnerable to cracking and breaking. That means most of us are probably cracked pots in one way or another. Paul acknowledges that we can feel hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted and even struck down at times, creating cracks, sometimes painful cracks in our lives. Paul wants us to understand that Jesus gives us strength and that whatever we accomplish comes from him and not ourselves. When we wonder how to go on because of loss, hurt, struggle, betrayal, and sin, we find strength because of Jesus, we’re not crushed, not consumed or in complete despair because he never abandons us nor allows us to be destroyed.

Question: are there cracks in your clay jar and how did/does Jesus give you strength

The picture of God as a potter is common in the Bible. Jeremiah 18 says, “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.” God’s the creator, an artist who takes pots that are misshapen and reworks them into new jars to be used to store his treasure of grace, the treasure of Jesus’ Spirit and the glory of the kingdom of heaven. Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

The events of our lives shape us, and when brokenness cracks us badly, Jesus offers healing and hope; the potter reforming the clay, echoing Isaiah 64:8 “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay; you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” A couple of my cracks are anger and depression. So, God brought people into my life who helped me learn to control my anger by focusing on Jesus. He’s able to give me the ability to change my perspective on things so that my anger is more manageable. They taught me to recognize and focus on the blessings all around me and to live out of a spirit of gratitude. My cracks allow me to understand those who wrestle with anger, and those who experience dark times of the soul.

Our struggles in life shape us, making us different from each other. Because of differences, Jesus is able to use these differences to be a blessing to different people around us. Our cracks are how Jesus uses us to reach others to provide hope and guide them to Jesus. As Paul writes at the beginning of his letter, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

Question: how can your life history help you to give hope to others

My sister died in a car accident at 18. After the funeral a woman in the church came up to mom and simply hugged her. Her daughter died in a car accident when we were 18 years old. She understood my mom’s suffering and could comfort her in a way that no one else could. Our nicks and cracks help us comfort others with similar cracks because we’ve experienced Jesus’ comfort during our suffering and can now offer Jesus’ comfort to others. Someone who’s divorced can walk alongside someone going through a divorce better than I can. I can walk alongside someone whose child is cutting or has attempted suicide because Joyce and I walked that pain with a couple of our children and we understand the fear, guilt, and horror of getting the call from the police to get to the hospital fast.

We’re all cracked pots and Jesus uses our cracks to bless others by allowing him to shine through us; bringing healing by using us as his hands, voice and arms. You can be how God reshapes someone else’s soul and heart when you open your life and allow Jesus to use you. Through mentoring, you can change another person’s life. You can change a community through the power of Jesus. How many lives can you touch with Jesus by starting a support group; perhaps a parent support group, a divorce or marriage support group, a grief support group, a life or addictions support group; something to think about as we look to reach our community for Jesus. Our light shines brightly by walking with each other and our community and offering Jesus.

Question: what has God put on your heart to bless our city: share it on Bethel’s Facebook page

We carry the life of Jesus in us because of the resurrection, this is the hope we offer: new life and a changed reality because of Jesus’ love. “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

1 John 3:1-3 Loved

Proverbs 19:22 tells us, “What a person desires is unfailing love.” The word for love here is ‘hesed,’ a special word in Hebrew that speaks to loyal unfailing faithful love and grace. The En-Gedi Resource Center describes this Hebrew word as, “the gracious forgiveness that comes from love that is so enduring that it persists beyond any sin, always seeking to forgive.” The GEMS girls club theme this past year was “Loved;” discovering that they are loved. We have been created to be loved. You might wonder where I find that thought in the Bible, and I believe we find it already in the creation account where God says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” We are made in God’s image to be loved, to be cherished, made precious, as Paul later says, “We are God’s masterpieces.” We were created to be in relationship with God, which to me means God made us to love us.

John points us to just how much God loves us, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” For those of us who have adopted children in our families, or are adopted ourselves, we know the power and blessing in this simple sentence. God, our Father has chosen us to be his children, he didn’t have to make us his children, he chose to, and he chose to knowing how messed up we are, knowing how often we will hurt him, turn our backs on him, reject him even, and still he has chosen each one of you listening here this morning to be his daughter or son, to be princesses and princes in the greatest kingdom ever, the kingdom of heaven! Talk about love!

There’s just one problem though. If we miss the amazing truth that God loves us, loves us so deeply that he gave his own son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be called children of God, then our hearts go looking for love in all the wrong places, as the old song goes. If we don’t experience healthy safe love at home from our parents and family, we will go looking for it. We see this happen in some families where a child may not feel loved, or there are issues of abuse or neglect, and the child will go looking for love from someone else. Even when you’re doing your best as a parent, the power of our culture is pervasive, especially through social media.

As a youth pastor, I saw this played out way too many times. Bullying and abuse are way too common. We live in a society that is especially hard on young girls. The GEMS organization has done a study on the impacts of our culture on young girls, and girls in churches and Christian schools are just as vulnerable to these influences as other girls. Our culture encourages girls to look for love and acceptance through their appearance, performance, popularity, experiences, or social media and it can be brutal on them emotionally and spiritually and even physically.

Little Big Town, a country music group, recently released a song called The Daughters that speaks about expectations on girls and young women today, here are some of the lyrics:

Oh girl, wash your face before you come to the table
Girl, know your place, be willing and able
Take it on the chin, let the best man win
Girl, shoulders back and stand up straight
Girl, watch your mouth and watch your weight
Mind your manners, smile for the camera

Girl, don't be weak but don't be strong
Say what you want, just as long
As you nod your head with your lipstick on

I wash the dishes, feed the kids, and clean up all this mess
Do my best, forgive myself, and look good in this dress

And pose like a trophy on a shelf
I'll dream for everyone, but not myself

This has had a huge impact on our girls. Girls as young as 5 are worried about their weight and looks, 50% of girls aged 12-16 have experienced some form of depression, and 70% of girls feel like they don’t “measure up.” I have seen this in my own family and it’s a tragedy. This will often carry over into adulthood, I’m often amazed at how many adults are insecure and unhappy because they constantly compare themselves and their lives to what they see on social media.

Mother Teresa said that the worst poverty of all is loneliness, the absence of love. When you are searching for love, you are more vulnerable to being lied to and willing to do almost anything to experience love. Some of the hardest times I’ve experienced as a pastor is walking alongside women who have experienced abuse and rejection and who keep returning to their partners because they’re afraid not to return because they believe that no one else will love them, that they’re damaged goods.

Pastor Miles McPherson writes, “If your love can see the pain and hopelessness in someone’s heart, there is a good chance your love will speak to them; there is a good chance your love will encourage them.” Knowing that you are a beloved child of God will not prevent you from never getting hurt, but it can help make sure that the hurt doesn’t overwhelm you. Reading the story of the Apostle Paul taught me the importance of knowing deep in your heart that you belong to God and that he loves you and has not forgotten you; seeing your times of pain as times where God is drawing close to you to help you rely more on him, leading you to trust more in him.

In the times of hurt, God can and will use you to encourage others, showing others that there is a way forward, that you can find healing, hope and love in Jesus and that Jesus will bring people into your life to walk with you. This is Paul’s point in 2 Corinthians 1:3–7, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.” Even Jesus walked through pain and suffering to bring us the forgiveness and renewal that we need in order to be called children of God. Pain is often one of the ways God uses to help us connect with one another and give us opportunities to show love.

John reminds us that we know what love looks like in verse 16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” This is the Good Friday message: love drove Jesus to the cross, love brought him to the grave and love rose him from the grave to wash us clean from our sin and heal us from our brokenness. But this is also a call for us to be willing to love like Jesus. John goes on in verse 16, “And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”

Love is experienced in relationship, but it may not always be felt right away by the person you’re loving on. Joyce and I were foster parents for many years and blessed by having a number of the children that came into our home truly become part of our family, but that didn’t happen overnight, and it took some of our children years to really experience the love we were trying to pour into them. Sometimes hurt runs really deep, but we also know that Jesus’ love is able to bring healing to even the most broken of hearts and lives and he uses us to bring that love.

If you are struggling, we’re here to walk with you and help you experience Jesus’ love and strength, if you’re doing well, keep reaching out to the people around you to keep reminding them of your love, a love that comes from our God who calls us his children!

Matthew 28:1-10 He is Risen, Just as He Said!

It’s Easter! Christ is risen, he is risen indeed is how the church has greeted each other for thousands of years each Easter. The world has never been the same since Jesus rose from the grave and left his tomb. That first Easter was a crazy kind of day after a crazy bad weekend. Everyone’s waiting to see what’s going to happen, both enemies and friends. No one’s really expecting a resurrection, but there is a sense of uneasiness. Jesus’ enemies are actually more prepared for something unusual happening. The religious leaders ask Pilate for guards to be placed at Jesus’ tomb and a seal placed on the rock to prevent anyone from coming to steal Jesus’ body and then claiming he’s still alive, while most of the followers of Jesus are hiding away in a locked room, mourning and afraid.

Morning has arrived, the sun is peeking above the horizon and Mary Magdalen and the other Mary head off to look at Jesus’ tomb. They know where Jesus’ body is because they followed Joseph of Arimathea Friday when he had taken Jesus’ body down to place it in his own tomb. The unusual now begins, “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightening, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.” The angel’s now guarding the tomb as an honour guard, while the soldiers guarding the tomb are lying there like dead men; so much for the religious leaders’ plan.

The first words out of the angel’s mouth are, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said,” powerful words at any time, but especially powerful to the women, and to us in a time like this when many of our plans and hopes are up in the air. How do you live with the hope and comfort of the resurrection in such unsettled times, when even going to the grocery store can cause you to catch this nasty virus? God recognizes the power of fear, this is why the first thing most heavenly visitors say is, “Do not be afraid.”

With Easter, we discover the power Jesus has; power even over death, power over viruses and economies, over all things. This doesn’t mean there aren’t difficult times and that we won’t get sick, lose a job, business or even life, but we know that in all things, God is in control and that Jesus is with us; nothing can separate us from the love of God, Paul tells us in Romans, and Jesus tells us that he will send his Spirit to be with us always, something we’ll celebrate at Pentecost!

And yet, the surprise of everyone in the resurrection story is somewhat surprising. Jesus told his followers many times that he would die and then rise again in three days; check out Mark’s Gospel where Jesus tells everyone in chapters 8, 9 and 10, and still they don’t really believe it. Jesus tells Martha at the death of her brother Lazarus in John 11, “I am the resurrection and the life.” I wonder if they just spiritualized it, and if we often do the same thing, not really seeing how the things Jesus teaches us fit in real life, but we simply put it off until heaven. Why should we be surprised that even today, many people have a hard time believing that Jesus really rose from the dead, that he’s alive right now and is with God in heaven, a real place, not just some make-belief place in the clouds when even those closest to him had a hard time accepting it.

The angel goes on and tells the women, “Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.” The women are still afraid, but can’t help feeling joy with the astonishing news, joy in hearing that Jesus’ enemies haven’t succeeded, that death isn’t the end of the story, instead resurrection and life is. But it’s still hard to believe and so as the women hurry from the tomb, there’s still fear mixed with the joy. I believe this is why Jesus appears to them with a word of greeting and the familiar, “Do not be afraid.” Seeing Jesus, touching him, hearing his voice, makes it finally, completely real and true! Now they go forward with confidence to do as Jesus told them, “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

It can be hard to believe in the resurrection, even Jesus’ disciple Thomas had a hard time believing, even though the other 10 disciples told him they had seen and talked to Jesus while he was gone. Thomas needed to see and touch Jesus before he could believe. Even the 10 disciples had a hard time believing Jesus was alive at first, as Luke writes, “They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.”  

Jesus tells Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This is us, and yet, even though we haven’t seen Jesus in the flesh, that doesn’t mean that our faith is based on thin air. We have a faith based on an empty tomb, even the chief priests acknowledged the empty tomb, creating a story that is still told today, that the disciples came during the night and stole the body while the soldiers slept. The soldiers were paid a large sum of money, because they were confessing to failing to do their job as soldiers; something they would be punished for.

There is the testimony of eyewitnesses, especially the women’s testimony. We may wonder, what’s the big deal about the women’s testimony, but at a time when women were often marginalized, the only reason to include the women’s testimony would be because they were really there and reported what they saw and experienced. They weren’t the only witnesses, Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,  and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

The greatest proof for me though is how Jesus’ resurrection changes, transforms people. Jesus’ resurrection has had a long-term impact on the lives of Jesus followers for thousands of years. The original disciples were cowering and afraid in a locked room, filled with fear and grief, unable to move forward and they were changed almost instantly into bold joy-filled witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. These disciples then went out into the world and preached the joy filled gospel that Jesus came as one of us and he died for our sins and was raised after three days as a sign that God accepted his sacrifice on our behalf. Many of the disciples gave their lives for the gospel. Why would they give their lives for a lie; it’s only for something they believed in with their entire being that would compel them to offer up their lives for Jesus: a living Jesus. Many of you have your own times of experiencing Jesus’ presence, his closeness in your own lives.

This is the great message still today; that Jesus is risen, death is not the end, and that the sorrow, grief and fear many of us are living in this Easter is not the end of the story. Jesus comes to change the world, to renew it and restore it. God goes before us and is with us always, as we are reminded in Deuteronomy 31; nothing can separate us from Jesus’ love as Paul reminds us in Romans 8. Celebrate today that Jesus is risen, just as he said and he is still at work today, renewing and restoring the world for his return.

Leviticus 23:33-44; John 7:37-43 Feast of Tabernacles

Can you imagine camping for 40 years? That’s what happened to the Israelites after getting scared when they saw how hard it was going to be to conquer the Promised Land. This is why God gives his people the Feast of Tabernacles where each family builds a temporary hut called a sukkot to live in it for a week to help them remember that God took care of them after bringing them into freedom and while they wandered in the wilderness.

God tells Moses, "On the first day you shall take the branches or fruit of luxuriant trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows" and "You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." It’s to make sure the people remember that God saved them and to trust him for all our needs: physically, emotionally and spiritually. This is why the cry “Hosanna,” which means “Save us,” from Psalm 118, became one of the cries of joy in this feast. It helps us understand why the people were shouting “Hosanna” to Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. They saw Jesus as a Messiah who has come to save them from their oppressors.

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the spirit of celebration in this feast moves the people to cry out “Hosanna” to Jesus, the descendant of the great King David. Their dream is of a Messiah to come free them and put their own king on the throne in Jerusalem. The Feast of Tabernacles gets connected to the coming Messiah that all the nations would come and worship. Zechariah picks up on this when he writes, "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

During the feast, priests draw water from the Pool of Siloam and offer it on the altar with a prayer, asking God to provide rain for the land in the year ahead. On the last day of the feast, Jesus, seeing the priests pouring the water on the altar, tells the people, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Jesus is referring here to the coming of the Holy Spirit. The living water of the Holy Spirit is what flows out of us looks like grace, mercy, compassion for others and more. Jesus takes all the different parts of this feast and applies them to himself and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The next morning, looking at the burning torches, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

Jesus uses the images of the feast to tell us that we can trust him, find hope in him. He’s asking us, are you dry inside, are you beginning to wonder about what’s really important and what’s not? Do you go from worrying about one thing straight into worrying about something else? Is life a little dark right now and you’re looking for something to bring some light and hope? At a time like this, when we cannot get together in person and are staying home so much more, it’s easy to develop unhealthy routines and ways of thinking that focus on what we don’t have and aren’t able to do, leading to feelings of frustration, boredom, or anxiety. That’s why I think this feast today is so important, Jesus calls us to look to him, reminding us that we can experience Jesus in the everyday things of life like water, or a tree branch, or a simple light.

Jesus provides life for our souls and spirits. Jesus’ offer to fill us with his living water is to help us feel life and freedom and hope. He does it by taking our sin, sorrow and suffering to the cross and leaving it in the grave as he rises from the grave. Jesus says, “Trust me, come to me, meet with me and I will help you discover the purpose and meaning that brings shape to your lives.”

Sitting down with an older man a few years ago, he shared that while he was really successful, and he made sure I knew how successful he has been, he couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t happier. He felt as if there was something missing in his life. He figured that since I was a pastor, I should be able to help him enjoy his success more. I have to admit that I laughed out loud, probably not the most pastoral response, but I couldn’t help it. I asked him why he thought I would have an answer for him when he hasn’t been a serious part of the church for quite a while and God has never really been part of his life. He looked offended and so I asked him what he was using his wealth and stuff for and he said he was simply enjoying life now.

I told him that his sense of something missing came from believing his life was his, that he was completely in control and that he deserved everything his has. I told him that he had no sense of gratitude or thankfulness in his life because he earned what he has. I told him that once he could see that what he has is a gift, that he doesn’t deserve what he has, that there are many people who have worked way harder than he ever has and have so much less, and yet are happier because they are thankful. Those who see what they have as a gift are more likely to be generous and to bless others, bringing happiness and a sense of meaning as they help others to succeed. He thought I was spouting off a lot of nonsense and he left, but he was no happier. Pride and a lack of humility made him deaf to what I had said. This is why God told Israel to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, to help them remember that it’s God who gives them what they have.

Jesus meets us in our wilderness times when life is hard and the future is uncertain, as it is today with so many not working and wondering when we can be with friends and family again, when we can worship together in church again, and return to work and some semblance of normal. Jesus meets us; invites us to, “Come, drink from me and I will fill you with life again, follow me and I will bring light back into your world so that you can see life more clearly. Take some time and spend it with me, take a look at the stars and trust in me, the creator of the stars and know that this time too will pass and I am with you through it all.”

Jesus invites us to experience his presence. He asks us to think about how he can use us to bring light, hope and life to someone who is lonely, or afraid, or who needs a little help at this time. How can we create a healthy grace-filled community where everyone is taken care of during this time and moving forward? We know God provides for all our needs and calls us to make sure that everyone is cared for: body, heart and souls. At a time like this, Jesus provides for those who are lonely, those who are struggling with anxiety, worry and fear through us as we reach out by phone, email, text, messenger and other creative ways. For those who might find themselves in tense and even unsafe situations because of the stress, Jesus sees and cares for you; we are here to walk with you and more if you need us. We ask that you leave a message, give us a call and we will respond.

Like Israel we are on a journey and our homes in this world are not permanent, but only temporary tents, as Paul mentions. The Feast of Tabernacles invites us to trust Jesus to lead us, to trust that Jesus loves us and knows what we need and provides us with a way that leads to health and wholeness in life. Jesus not only teaches us how to live, he gives us an example of how to live and sends his Spirit to guide us, shine his light into our hearts and lives, and fills us with his comfort, peace, and hope during this unusual time.