⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. ⁸ We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. ¹¹ For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. ¹² So death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³ Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, ¹⁴ knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. ¹⁵ For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

How do we not lose heart? The temptation is real. Let’s say daily you make it your aim to please the Lord at work. You’re honest, diligent, someone who sacrifices to see others succeed. But your Christian commitments suddenly set you at odds with a current political trend, one that your company wants to ride to generate greater profits. Yet now you find yourself kicked to the curb, as others are chosen not because of their qualifications but because of their political stance. How do you not lose heart?

Or maybe you fled your country during upheaval. This country granted you asylum with the promise of applying for permanent residency. So, for years you invest here. You and your family even plant a church. It grows to 80 members or so. The Lord knits you together with others; your kids are friends with their kids. Like always, on time, you submit paperwork for asylum extension. But to your surprise it’s suddenly denied. Even worse, you have a month to leave. Wouldn’t there be a temptation to lose heart?

Or maybe a close friend starts drifting from the truth. You reach out, but for a good while efforts get ignored. Finally, you’re able to meet. Compassionately and clearly, you seek to help them understand the nature of their error from Scripture. But then you’re called an oppressor, a bigot—all for showing them the truth of Jesus’ words about marriage and sexuality. In the end, they want nothing more to do with you.

Or maybe your spouse has felt distant for a while. You make every effort to draw near and image Christ to them. You learn new ways to sacrifice your preferences, your goals, your time—all to support them and build good things into the relationship. Still, cold shoulders continue. The pain of neglect cuts deeply. At night, you turn your pillow over—one side is too wet from the tears. And you know that tomorrow calls you to make the same sacrifices again. How do you not lose heart?

The apostle Paul was someone tempted to lose heart. At times, his afflictions put enough pressure on him to despair of life itself. And not only his afflictions, but even fellow believers—his own children in the faith—started doubting him. Like a good parent would do for their child, Paul poured everything into them. Yet they quickly abandoned Paul for the new guys who were polished, popular, and powerful. If anyone felt the temptation to lose heart, it was Paul. Yet last Sunday in 4:1, we heard these words: “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” Then next Sunday in 4:16, he’s going to say it again: “Therefore, we do not lose heart.”

The verb has to do with “weariness and despair that leads to a slackening of effort, a neglect of duty,” to use the words of Murray Harris.[i] But Paul remains determined. What helps Paul not lose heart in the face of his sufferings? That’s what I want to know—because there’s plenty that tempts me to lose heart. What helps Paul stay motivated and keep bearing up under the pressure he faced as a Christian and apostle? In verses 7-15, I see at least four reasons not to lose heart in suffering for Jesus’ sake.

God’s Power Works in Our Weakness

Number one, God’s power works in our weakness. We see this in verses 7-9. Speaking about himself and his partners in ministry, Paul says, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay.” By “this treasure,” he’s reaching back to verse 6: “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” The message about God’s glory revealed in Jesus—that’s the treasure.

In the person of Jesus, there are glories that far surpass anything we could imagine. He is the eternal Son, who is God over all, blessed forever (Rom 9:5). In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Col 1:20). To borrow from an older catechism—he is “infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible…almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious…and abundant in goodness and truth.”

And according to his works, not only did he create all things, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; not only do all things hold together in him (Col 1:16); but this same Son became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father (John 1:14). And through him God reconciled to himself all things, making peace by the blood of his cross. He is also the beginning of new creation, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent (Col 1:18, 20). He is seated at God’s right hand—all enemies being set beneath his feet.

The treasure is the message about this Jesus. Now, with a treasure so glorious surely the messengers themselves are glorious. Surely, God’s messengers are like those who came with great fanfare to announce the reign of their king. Or maybe this treasure is of such incredible value that it’s housed like the crown jewels in a tower with security measures out the wazoo and armed guards and guided tours and a display case with special lighting. But that’s not what he says. No, while the message is glorious, it’s housed in jars of clay—the jars of clay referring to the messengers.

Don’t think fancy painted ceramics from World Market, think less than terracotta pots—the ones that got kicked around on the bottom shelf at Walmart. Think weak and fragile vessels that have been chipped and well used. There’s nothing about them that draws the eye and leaves you impressed. They are breakable, expendable. Paul wants you to connect the weakness of these clay pots to his own weakness as God’s messenger. God places the treasure of his mighty gospel in weak jars of clay.

Why does he do it that way? Verse 7 says, “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” God purposefully places his treasure in ordinary, fragile people—people who will be exposed through sufferings as weak and breakable and needy—all so that everyone sees God’s surpassing power on display.

What does that look like in real life? Paul tells us in verses 8-9. “We are afflicted in every way.” Affliction has to do with various kinds of pressure you experience from circumstances squeezing you. For Paul, that was prison and riots he didn’t ask for and false charges and hunger and sleeplessness and dangers at sea and shipwreck, and then he makes it to shore and gets bitten by a viper. If anybody could’ve said, “Are you kidding me?!” it was Paul. His obedience to Jesus led him to experience all sorts of pressure. Yet he’s not crushed, it says. God brings him through it.

He also describes himself as one who’s “perplexed.” His sufferings have left him in a confused state of mind at times, with questions unanswered, with doubts swirling in his head—which is so often the case in suffering. Yet he’s not driven to despair. Now, in 1:8 we heard the same word: “we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.” But in that moment, we learn how the Lord did not allow such despair to overwhelm Paul as ongoing state of mind. Instead, God comforted and reassured him with resurrection hope (2 Cor 1:9).

He’s also persecuted. Imprisonments, countless beatings, stoned once, five times he received the forty lashes minus one. Yet he’s not forsaken by God. You’ll find several instances when Paul says, “But the Lord stood by me.” He’s also struck down. In Paul’s day, this word comes from the world of athletics, in which a wrestler or a boxer beat you down. I’ve heard some of you say things like, “This week was an absolute beat down.” Paul knows what it’s like. Yet, he says, we are not destroyed. God helps him get up for another round. Like in Acts 14—they stone Paul and drag him out of the city, supposing he was dead. Then he gets up, goes to the next city, and preaches again.

What do each of these examples display? That in and through Paul’s weakness, God puts his power on display. Paul is but a mere jar of clay, and a very battered one. But his life of weakness becomes a theater for God to display his power. Paul doesn’t lose heart because of God, period. God keeps showing up. God keeps proving himself strong. In Paul’s hardest moments, God gives him the grace to keep going.

Put another way—Paul’s life of weakness keeps all the attention on the Treasure. People don’t look at him and say, “What a strong man he is!” They say, “What a powerful God!” And that’s where Paul is content to live.

What about you? Are you willing to accept the fact that you are simply a jar of clay? I know only some of the afflictions squeezing you, pressing you down. I know only some of the days beating you down. And in many of these cases, I know you feel exposed as very weak and breakable. Yet I hope you take heart in this: God chose to put his treasure in you. All the treasures of the world combined—they are nothing compared to the treasure of the gospel in you. His power is made perfect in your weakness. He’s chosen your weakness to display his power. That’s a good reason not to lose heart.

God Displays Christ in Paul’s Sufferings

Reason number two that Paul doesn’t lose heart: God displays Christ in Paul’s sufferings. Verse 10 continues the thought in verses 8-9 but relates those sufferings to Christ: “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”

“We who live”—he doesn’t mean “We who are merely existing with the rest of humanity.” Recall that many are already perishing because they don’t know Jesus. By contrast, Paul (along with other Christians) are among those who are alive to God, alive by the Spirit. But, as he’ll say later in 5:15, Jesus died “so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Paul lives, but not for himself. He lives for Jesus’ sake.

That means Paul spends his life in a manner that shares in the sufferings of Jesus. The message of Christ crucified shapes the messenger. Paul proclaims a crucified Lord while embodying a crucified life. In fact, the verb he uses in verse 11, “being given over to death,” is the same verb applied to Jesus throughout the Gospels. “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men” (Matt 17:22). Paul applies the same language to himself. God is handing him over to death like he handed over Christ.

That’s not to say that Paul is seeking out the suffering, but that he seeks to honor Jesus, even when it’s going to cost him. And twice he tells us God’s purpose: “that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies;” “that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.” What does he mean by “the life of Jesus”?

I don’t think he means the earthly life of Jesus but the resurrection life of Jesus. Notice the correspondence in the structure of his sentence: “Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus” (verse 10) corresponds with Paul being “afflicted” and “perplexed” and “persecuted” and “struck down.” At the same time, “the life of Jesus manifested in our bodies” corresponds to “not being crushed,” “not driven to despair,” “not forsaken,” and “not destroyed.” Those “nots” are only true if Jesus is alive.

But the resurrected Jesus is not visible to the world right now—you are. The risen Jesus (through the Holy Spirit)—he chooses to manifest/reveal his life through his people living like him. So, whenever Paul suffers on behalf of others and then comes out the other side still a Christian—still talking about the Treasure, still holding on—they say, “Okay, this man’s message about Christ crucified and risen, I believe it (in part) because I see Jesus in his daily life. I see Jesus alive as you keep giving up your body.” And when they believe the message about Jesus, they too experience his life.

“Therefore,” verse 12, “death is at work in us, but life in you.” Isn’t that a peculiar thing to say? “Death is at work”? We don’t normally think of death working. If anything, death puts an end to all working. Ecclesiastes 9:10, “there’s no work in Sheol.” But for those in Christ, God works even in our dying to bring others life.

George Guthrie tells the story of some missionaries who went to spread the name of Christ in the Congo Republic. “When the missionaries first came, the people thought them odd and their message suspicious. The tribal leaders, seeking to test the missionaries, slowly poisoned them to death over a period of months, even years. Children of the missionaries died one by one, but the missionaries stayed and proclaimed the gospel, even as they died.” Later on, an old man who was converted under their preaching said this: “‘It was as we watched how they died that we decided we wanted to live as Christians.’ Death leads to life.”[ii]

Some of you probably feel like you’re being given over to death for Jesus’ sake. The sacrifices you make, the time and heartache that come in the path of loving others—you’re feeling some of this. Beloved, when we suffer for Jesus’ sake, it’s not in vain. Much like Paul’s sufferings, the Lord uses your sufferings to display Christ and bring life to others. What was it that Jesus said in John 12:24? “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” In your dying, God works to bring life to others. So, we do not lose heart.

God Will Raise Us from the Dead

A third reason not to lose heart: God will raise us from the dead. Verse 13, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak.”

He’s quoting from Psalm 116:10, a fitting Psalm for what Paul’s going through. Paul is being given over to death for Jesus’ sake. Likewise, on a similar path of obedience, the psalmist suffers the threat of death. Psalm 116:3, “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.” He was in a place where he “was brought low,” verse 6 tells us. Verse 10, “I am greatly afflicted.” We’re not told the exact circumstances—it might be related to others threatening him or (verse 11) people lying about him.

But when he cried, the Lord delivered him. “When I was brought low, [the Lord] saved me,” he says. Verse 8, “You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” Then he says, “I believed, even when I spoke: ‘I am greatly afflicted.’”

What did he believe? That God would be faithful to rescue him in the face of death. That God would enable him to walk in the land of the living. That God would be true to his word when “all mankind are liars” (Ps 116:11). Sure enough, God comes through for him. And the result is speech that pours forth praise and thanksgiving.

Paul experiences the same “spirit of faith.” That could be his human spirit believing, or the Holy Spirit producing his believing. Either way, the point is the same: even in the face of death, he trusts the Lord to come through on his word. Only he knows something the psalmist did not. Verse 14, “knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” Paul believes because he knows that Jesus’ resurrection is but act one of our resurrection.

There’s no question whether he will walk in the land of the living. He will because God already raised Jesus from the dead and God will raise us. That knowledge leads him to trust God to follow through—“and so we also speak.” Knowing leadings to trusting leads to speaking. When Paul is hit with temptations to give up, the resurrection fans the flame and keeps him going. He will stand before God with these Christians; and therefore he can’t help but speak of Christ to them.

Perhaps a lesson for us here: when you’re tempted to lose heart, meditate on the assurance of final resurrection. That’s what encouraged Paul back in 1:9. He was so beat down that he despaired of life itself. He says, “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” When it comes to losing heart, death is one of our greatest enemies. Death is our greatest beat down—a beat down from which you cannot get back up on our own.

But we also know that death will not have the final say over believers. Jesus has already passed through death. He stands victorious on the other side. If death has no power over Jesus, it has no ultimate power over those he represents. And that’s why we can go on speaking and living for Christ without despair, without being forsaken, without worry that we’re just going to be destroyed. No, God will not forsake you, even in death. So, we have good reason not to lose heart in our sufferings.

God Increases Thanksgiving for His Grace

One more reason not to lose heart: God increases thanksgiving for his grace. Verse 15, “For it is all for your sake”—“all” referring to Paul’s preaching and his suffering. “It’s all for your sake [for your benefit], so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.”

Paul doesn’t lose heart because, in and through his sufferings for Jesus, God’s grace extends to more and more people. In Scripture, grace has to do with God’s unmerited favor toward sinners at Christ’s expense.

We live in a world swarming with religions that assume man is good enough to make things right with God, man can earn God’s favor, man can work his way to heaven. Our world is also teaming with people who exhaust themselves trying to meet society’s expectations or win the approval of some higher power. Even worse, so-called churches have taught others that if they’ll just do X, Y, and Z, then God is sure to bless you. That’s not good news. That’s poison. We have a better message, better news.

God has taken the initiative to save us. He sent Jesus into the world. Jesus obeyed everywhere we failed. God then offered him as an atonement for our sins. He raised Jesus from the dead. He draws sinners to himself. And he forgives anybody who comes and receives his free offer of salvation. Grace is not something that can be earned, worked for. It’s God’s free and extravagant generosity in Christ.

No matter your background or despair or shameful past or heinous crime—God’s grace is greater than all your sin. If you’re saying, “I don’t know if God can save someone like me.” Please know that your sin is not the determining factor in whether you can be saved. Grace is. And God’s grace in Christ is more than sufficient to save anybody, including you. So, come to him! Leave your exhausting man-made religions and come to Jesus who completed the work for you. And then give him the praise.

That’s where Paul ends: “so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” There’s a lot that’s wrong with the world. But a widespread problem is that people, on their own, do not worship God or give thanks to him. Romans 1 says people exchange the glory of the immortal God for images of all sorts of stuff. But when God’s grace sets you free from sin, it changes all that. God turns false worshipers into true ones. People recognize God for who he really is; they start giving him the praise he deserves. And Paul finds that to be a very good thing. The worship of God makes all that he endures well worth it. Paul does not lose heart, because thanksgiving abounds to the glory of God.

I wonder if the temptation to lose heart is, sometimes, because we’ve lost sight of this goal to bring God glory. We get disappointed because it’s not so glorious to be a weak, battered jar of clay. It’s not so glorious to have to keep giving up your ambitions and your preferences to serve others. It’s not so glorious when nobody sees you, recognizes you, or thanks you; and you start thinking, “Maybe I’ll just quit. I’m not all that motivated to keep displaying Christ’s sufferings in my body.” But a question we need to ask ourselves is, “Why are you doing it to begin with?” Is it for your own praise and recognition? Or are you content with the fact that God is getting all the praise.

Through your obedience, through your suffering, through your preaching, his grace will spread to more and more people. And when it does, they will give thanks to God for his grace; and that is our lives. That is the chief end of man—to glorify God and enjoy him forever. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us,” says the psalmist, “but to your name be the glory.” How do we not lose heart in suffering? God’s power working in our weakness; God displaying Christ in our sufferings; God raising us from the dead; and God increasing thanksgiving for his grace. Your weakness with his power spreads his grace to bring him glory. We are fragile jars, but we have a faithful God.

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[i] Murray J. Harris, 2 Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 323.

[ii] George Guthrie, 2 Corinthians, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2015), 266.