5.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• As Christians in this world, we are like clay jars that carry a treasure.
  - The clay jar is our body, which is weak and full of suffering.
  - The treasure is the eternal life that God has given us through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• God gives us three things to remember in times of suffering:
  1. Even though we are wearing away on the outside, we are being renewed on the inside.
  2. It is only a little suffering for a moment, and then there will be a lot of glory for eternity.
  3. We are called to live by faith, not by sight.
• If we remember these three things, we will not despair.

5.2 – 2 Corinthians 4:7–9, 16–18←⤒🔗

^4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

^4:8 We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair;

4:9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,

…

^4:16 Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

^4:17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

^4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

© NET Bible

5.3 Treasure in clay jars←⤒🔗

Today we often hear this message: “God wants to bless you in this life. If you have enough faith, God will make you rich and healthy.” In Paul’s time there were some preachers who preached the same message. They said that they were the real apostles, not Paul. They said something like this: “If Paul is really an apostle, then why is God not blessing him? Why is his life always so hard? Don’t listen to him!”

Our passage comes from Paul’s 2^nd letter to the Corinthians. In this letter he explains that he is suffering because he is an apostle! He carries around a great treasure: the gospel of Jesus Christ. But he himself is like a clay jar. He is weak and broken in many ways (2 Corinthians 4:7-8).

As Christians, we are all like clay jars. Our bodies are weak and one day they will finally break. Our lives are full of suffering. But inside of us there is a treasure that can never break. That treasure is the eternal life that God has given us through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of the treasure in us, we do not need to despair (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Yet when suffering comes, we easily begin to despair. Our Heavenly Father knows this. In our passage, he gives us three truths to remember when we suffer. If we remember these three truths, we will never despair.

5.4 Truth #1: Wearing away on the outside, being renewed on the inside←⤒🔗

Paul writes, “even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Have you ever seen a person (or a picture of a person) who is dying of hunger? That is what it means to be “wearing away.” To wear away is to be slowly destroyed. And it is happening to all of us! Every day you are getting older. As you get older, your body becomes weaker. And sooner or later, you will die.

This world is still under the curse of sin (Lesson 1). Our bodies are also under that curse. We cannot stop it. On the outside we are wearing away.

But we can have hope, because on the inside we are being renewed! If you are a believer, then Jesus Christ is doing something beautiful inside of you. He is working through his Spirit to make you more like himself.

The Spirit renews us - in other words he makes us new. He slowly takes away our sin and he makes faith and love grow in us.

The Spirit even uses our suffering to renew us. Jesus was “a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3, NIV). The Spirit uses suffering to make us more like Jesus and to prepare us for heaven. In heaven our suffering will be over. There we will finally be perfect like Jesus (Romans 8:29).

So, here is the first truth to remember when you suffer: Even though we are wearing away on the outside, we are being renewed on the inside.

5.5 Truth #2: A little suffering for a moment, a lot of glory for eternity←⤒🔗

It is also important to remember that suffering is not forever. In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul says that “our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”

Paul says that his troubles are “momentary” and “light” (only there for a moment). Later in his letter, he describes some of his troubles:

Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with a rod. Once I received a stoning. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern for all the churches.2 Corinthians 11:24–28

When you look at all the things that Paul suffered, you will not call his suffering “light”! So why does Paul say that it is light? It is because he is comparing his suffering to the glory that waits for him.

Paul says that the eternal glory “far outweighs” the suffering. In other words: the glory is much, much more than the suffering. The suffering is like a feather in the wind. The eternal glory is like a mine full of gold.

Sometimes our suffering feels as if it will never end. It feels very heavy. But the glories of heaven are so great, it will make our suffering look like nothing!

Here is the second truth to remember when you suffer: It is only a little suffering for a moment, and then there will be a lot of glory for eternity.

5.6 Truth #3: Called to live by faith, not by sight←⤒🔗

It is easy for us to forget that we are being renewed on the inside. It is easy to forget the eternal glory that is waiting for us. These are things that we cannot see yet. For now, we see problems and weakness and death.

That is why God gives us a third truth to remember: We are called to live by faith, not by sight. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

If you live by what you see, you will despair. But if you live by faith, you will have hope that lasts.