Finding Fulfillment: The Treasure Within Us

1. "But have you ever thought of yourself as a jar? Can't really say that I have. But the Word of God tells us, that we are all jars. In fact, Paul wrote about it in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. If you have your Bible so you can turn with me there, the scripture's going to be in. We're going to be looking at one verse of scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7, Paul wrote this, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all -surpassing power is from God and not from us. So Paul starts out by telling us that all of us, we are jars. And what is the purpose of a jar?" [07:26] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "And understanding that you and I are created to be jars. We're created to hold something, to possess something, to be filled with something. And if we don't have something in us, then we will be empty. And I think that's what explains why so many people in our world today are trying to fill themselves with something other than what they were created to contain. I don't think it's any accident that Dr. Carl Jung said that today there is a neurosis of emptiness in our world. And we find so many people in their lives that are being swept over from young teenagers all the way up to older adults. They're being almost swamped by this great wave of emptiness that they feel." [08:25] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Paul goes on and says, not only are we jars, but we're jars of clay. Clay. Paul's day, jars were made out of dirt. They were made out of clay, very common materials, which in and of itself is of no value. But that's Paul's day. That's a long time ago. But today, our glass is different, right? Do you know what glass is made of today? Well, they tell us it's a chemical compound called silicon dioxide. Or it's made with sodium ash. Or it's made with quartz. But do you know what the primary ingredient of all of those ingredients are? Sand, dirt, clay. So after all these years, it's still the same thing that glass is made of just common ordinary things and and we do we we camouflage some of that as as fine crystal it's just made of sand just made of dirt and and some people are kind of like fine crystal they're easily breakable and and some are kind of made out of common clay they crumble when pressure comes i like what one writer says we're we're all made in the same mold though some of us are moldier than others yeah we're all we're all jars of just clay fragile breakable in and of ourselves maybe not worth a whole lot but we're all made as jars and to hold something and paul tells us in that verse he said but we have this treasure in jars of clay the jar the vessel is not much in itself but it holds a precious treasure a treasure that is beyond price and what paul's talking about here is it's not a something that we hold but it's a someone that we hold he said this precious treasure that you and i have been given is none other than jesus christ He is that precious treasure. He is that treasure beyond price. Jesus living in us." [11:56] (146 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "But I want you to understand, Christianity is more than just about our past. And it's more than just about our future. It's about what Christ wants to do in us right here today. It's Christ in you is the hope of glory. He wants to live his life in and through you. Now, let me give you a little explanation of what Paul was talking about. In the Old Testament, where did the presence of God dwell? In the temple, in the tabernacle. In the tabernacle, in the picture, you had the outer courts. Then you had the inner courts. And then you had the holy place. And then you had behind here, you had the most holy place. And then you had the holies of holies behind. Say, if there's a big screen there. And behind there was... the ark of the covenant and that's where the presence of god dwelt now no one could go back there except a high priest and he could go once a year with fear and trembling right so he could go there once a year where god was that's the old testament but then in the new testament jesus came and guess what god became flesh and dwelt among us so when people saw jesus they saw all so god in fact jesus said if you've seen me you've seen the father didn't he say that shake your head if you you know if i wanted to make sure i was wasn't off there he said if you've seen me you've seen the father so we see that the presence of god dwelt in the bodily form of jesus christ and jesus walked the face of the earth and people saw him they saw god he moved from behind the curtain the curtain was broken and hell he was here in the flesh and jesus lived his life here on this earth and he died on a cross for our sins so that we might have forgiveness for all of our sins and then he was resurrected he was alive again but then as soon as he was alive again he ascended back to the father but then jesus said don't worry i'm not going to leave you as orphans i'm going to send someone to be with you now watch this to be with you and to be in you the presence of his holy spirit Living and dwelling. Now, watch this." [16:21] (144 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "No longer is he in a place. No longer is he dwelling in just one person. But today, the post -resurrection home of the living Lord Jesus Christ is now in you and in me. That's what Christianity is all about. Not just us following some rules and regulations, trying to be a good person, trying to be a moral person, going to church once a Sunday, try as many times as you can. It's more than just that. Real Christianity is coming to the place where we say, Lord Jesus, I open up my heart and life to you. Come and live your life in me. And then live your life through me. That's the treasure that we have been given. The truth of his gospel, the presence of the living Lord Jesus in us. So that now we can go into our world and tell people that where Jesus is, there's forgiveness for all of our sins. Where Jesus is, there's hope. Where Jesus is, there's peace and love and joy and freedom and a future and life not only abundant but eternal. So we go into our world with this Christ living in us. So that we might not only share the good news, but so we might show his power that is at work in and through our lives. Remember, we're just jars of clay, right? We're fragile, we break easily, we're not worth much in of ourselves. But we go out into our world to show not only his glory, but to show his power that is at work within us. Look what Paul says." [18:11] (118 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "But verse 7, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all -surpassing power. Stop right there. This all -surpassing power. What was Paul referring to? Different translations translate it different ways. An all -surpassing power. An excellence. An exceeding greatness. Something that is beyond measure. Something that is beyond the ordinary. Something that is above ourselves. Something exceedingly superior. All of those could be translated. One even translated transcendent power. Well, I didn't know what that meant, so I didn't think I'd use it. No, transcendent means something above ourselves. Beyond what we can even think about. It's not the kind of power that tears, destroys. But it's the power which unites us, which harmonizes. renews us which remakes us it's the power of god that is living in us that transforms us from within to without you see it's his power that is at work within us to change us to mold us to shape us to fill us to demonstrate his glory through our lives how can that happen how can you and i go into our world and people actually see jesus in us because we're so good no it's not about us it's about his power that is demonstrated through us as he lives his life in us through his power he changes us and changes and and works through us and lives through us and it's not something that originates within us but it comes from his power that is from god and not from us so you see what he wants to do in you what he wants to do in me is he wants to come in and display his limitless power in his glory through limited and common vessels like you and me he wants to come and he chooses his treasure To be contained in fragile, unimpressive, vulnerable containers like us." [20:55] (154 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)