We continue in our journey through 2 Corinthians. As we have seen, it is one of Paul’s most personal letters, in part because of the relationship he has with the Corinthian church and in part because he frequently addresses in the letter some personal attacks he’s experiencing from the Corinthian church—either through individuals in the church or from itinerant preachers who have come to Corinth and in the course of trying to establish their credibility have attacked Paul’s. That is easily seen in the section of 2 Corinthians that is our Scripture reading for today—2 Corinthians 4:1-18. (Read)

Life is fragile. I think you would agree with me on that. The delicate balance of our relationships in life is a fragile thing. Bring a misspoken word, a misdeed of some kind, and the delicate balance of a relationship is put out of whack. The delicate balance of our bodies, health wise, is a fragile thing. Kim and I recently went to the Body World exhibit. How many of you have seen it? One doesn’t have to spend much time at such an exhibit to realize how delicate the balance is to our bodies. Something that affects one organ, or one muscle, one blood vessel causes upset to other areas of the body. Upset one aspect of a relationship, upset one area of our bodies and other areas are impacted. Holding it all together—whether relationships or our health—is a delicate, fragile thing.

For the apostle Paul, that may be seen nowhere else more clearly than in 2 Corinthians. In this portion of 2 Corinthians Paul displays his own fragility around the personal attacks he’s experienced and the difficult journey of being a 1^st century missionary for the new covenant that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He appears to be addressing some of the accusations made against him when he renounces "secret and shameful ways," denies practicing "deception" or "distorting the word of God." He’s been hurt by the character attacks and he seeks to distance himself from them. Even the apostle Paul has feelings and can be hurt by scurrilous attacks against his character. He is also capable of being hurt physically. A quick read of the book of Acts reveals some of the physical toll paid by Paul in his missionary activities. Dragged into court under false accusations, imprisoned, beaten and left for dead. Missionary life is never easy and Paul experienced some extreme difficulties in his missionary journeys. He writes of being "hard pressed," "perplexed," "persecuted" and "struck down," so much so that he says it feels like "death is at work" in him.

I wonder if life ever feels like that to you. Have you experienced moments of wrongful attacks on your character that leave you hard pressed and perplexed, feeling persecuted? Has your fragile psyche been fractured by vitriolic attacks? Or perhaps the delicate balance for you physically has been destroyed by an attack of some kind—perhaps an actual attack you’ve suffered from the hands of another person, or perhaps the invasion of some illness or disease. What sustains you, what restores you when the delicate balance of your psyche or your body has been upset?

Dr. Rachel Remen tells the story of one of her patients, a 24 year old man who had to have one of his legs amputated in order to stop the spread of bone cancer. As one might imagine, it was a severe blow to this young man. For a long time he was angry, bitter and depressed about his circumstance. Eventually, through therapy, including art therapy, he was able to address his wounded psyche as well as his wounded body and began to come out of the anger and depression. He started to visit other patients who were going through a difficult experience—exhibiting some of that comfort-for-others-through-the-comfort-he-had-received we saw in the 1^st chapter of 2 Corinthians. In one situation, he visited a young woman who had recently been operated on for breast cancer. Her room was dark and silent, the only noise being the radio that was on next to her bed. This young man tried to help her break through her depression, but nothing seemed to work. Suddenly, he removed his artificial leg and began dancing/hopping around the room on one leg, "moving" to the music playing on the radio. The woman began to smile, then smirk, then laugh out loud. Finally she said, "Man, if you can dance, I can sing." And she began to sing to the music on the radio.

About a year after the man’s therapy had turned around his attitude, he sat down with Dr. Remen to wrap up his official therapy with her. At one point they looked over the artwork he had done during his art therapy and discussed how his attitude had changed. One drawing from his therapy eloquently spoke to the change. At one point in his therapy he had been asked to draw a picture of his body. He had drawn a picture of a vase with an ugly, jagged crack running down it. His view of himself at that time was of brokenness and uselessness—a vase with a large crack in it. But now he realized that drawing no longer represented how he felt about himself and his situation. He took a yellow crayon and drew vibrant, yellow streamers pouring from the crack in the vase. "You see, Dr. Remen," he said, "where it is broken…this is where the light comes through."

That is the picture Paul paints for us today. Whatever difficult circumstance we might be going through right now, or still reeling from its effects, whatever crack might be running down the fragile jar of clay that is our life, the gospel of Jesus Christ can redeem. Paul experienced it…and we can too. He encourages us in several ways.

First of all, Paul reminds us that we have a ministry within the Kingdom of God. Each one of us has a calling to ministry at some level in the Kingdom. It likely will not be at the level of Paul’s! But, we have meaning and purpose in our life through the ministry we’ve been called to. Rick Warren has made a lot of money—and given most of it away, by the way—by writing about and talking about a purpose driven life. And he’s right. We have a purpose in life within the Kingdom of God. Each of us has a ministry to which we are called and this brings purpose and meaning to life.

Then, Paul reminds us that the power for that ministry—the gifts and abilities to perform that ministry—comes from God and not us. We are fragile jars of clay. Doing ministry on our own would be a disaster—broken pieces and shards all over the place. Now, when I look at myself—when I honestly take a look at myself and see the fragility of my condition, it’s good news to know the power for the ministry to which I’ve been called is God, not me.

Third, whatever ministry each of us is called to, the object is to point people to Christ. Be very cautious about people who seem to be seeking praise and accolades in their ministry. The object is to point people to Christ, not ourselves. One of my favorite verses sums this objective up nicely. Matthew 5:16, "…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." It’s not about you. It’s about Christ. Whatever we do—in our ministries and in our lives—it ought to draw people to Christ…and not to ourselves.

Then, Paul reminds us that when difficulties hit us hard, they are only temporary. He is not making light of our difficulties—remember, he suffered many of his own—rather, he is helping us see what he discovered was helpful in getting through a difficult time. It is temporary. Whatever difficulty hits, it is only temporary. The foundation for Paul’s view of the temporary nature of difficulties is the resurrection. The God who raised Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Him. Jesus conquered all the difficulties of life through his resurrection. The troubles, Paul says, are only "light and momentary" when compared to the eternal glory that is ours through Jesus Christ.

And, finally, something else that Paul reminds us in this passage is that the journey of a disciple is never done…in this life. Growing as a follower of Christ never ends…in this life. Outwardly we may be wasting away, Paul says, but inwardly we are being renewed daily. That ought to be good news to us. We are never without meaning and purpose in life. We never stop growing. There’s always room to learn more, to experience more, to grow in our spirits each day.

A pastor friend of mine once quoted this statement (he thought it was from George Whitefield but I haven’t been able to track it down), "Lord, please don’t let me rust away. Rather, let me fade away." There’s always something to do in the Kingdom of God. There’s always room to grow in our inward being, even as our outward being is wasting away.

What we need is eternal vision, looking beyond what is seen and experienced—the insults hurled from an adversary; the cracks and tarnishes on the jars of clay that are our lives; the outward wasting away of our bodies; the circumstances of our light and momentary troubles—looking instead toward what is unseen—the affirmation of God through His call to us in ministry; the power of God that is at work in us, even in our weaknesses; the inward renewal that takes place each and every day; and the eternal glory that is ours because of Jesus Christ.

Let’s take a moment of silent reflection.