To be revealed in our body

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:10)

 

Real life of faith contains both anguish and joy. Those two sides appear not only in faith, but in common life. That is a general principle, which was given to the creatures outside Eden. While confessing as sinners in front of God, Christians are also convinced themselves the righteous who have been saved. Paul the apostle thought that faith through Christ was like a treasure in an earthenware. He contrasted these two; a ruinous situation without the gospel and the glorious faith in knowing Jesus Christ. The faith in Jesus makes us gain glory and pleasure, out of the poor life like a small earthen vessel.

 

Our situation in Christ is like a trifling vessel containing treasure. The treasure and the vessel don’t belong together, but they express a very reasonable relation for the principles of faith. If a squalid beggar gives someone a gold treasure wrapped in a torn dirty rag, the person who does not know what it is in won’t be willing to accept it. For he wouldn’t have dared to think that the beggar would give himself a great thing. To say that the earthenware contained treasure is an ｅxpression of some unbecoming facts, like a word “a gold ring on the pig’s nose.” However the matter to believe in Jesus and to be a people of God is a more extreme case than the earthenware’s. But I don’t think many people regard that way about faith, for they are not in Christ.

The reason why the treasure can be in the earthenware is not because of the vessel itself’s value and utility. If an owner decides to use an earthenware that way, that is, because of the aim for treasure, the treasure could come into the vessel. In the same way, God made you have faith the treasure in you like an earthenware. Therefore, you can say everything that is done in faith is done in the grace by the power of God. Under that principle, you must not be discouraged no matter what difficulties you face. Paul the Apostle sent the epistle to the Corinthians for the second time around AD56 when he was on the third journey. The first was a journey to the Near East Asian region; he set out from Antioch in Syria and returned there to report on his mission. on his second journey, he also started Antioch in Syria and returned there, through Athens, Corinth, Ephesus and Jerusalem, after crossing over to Philippi the land of Europe. The Corinthian church was built by Paul during the second journey of evangelism. Paul went on the third journey shortly after the second, and the third had an object to encourage churches by revisiting the places he had gone during the first and second rounds. For him, even the process sent to Rome as a prisoner was a chance to preach the gospel of Christ. He abandoned all the good conditions and made it his own choice the road of hardship. only Jesus the Lord, who saved and renewed him, gave himself strength to do so.

To be hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, in 2 Corinthians 4:8~9; though all of these things, Paul went through incessantly on his way for the Gospel. But he never complained or let down, and instead spent his life with a lot of passion. No one who does not believe will understand Paul’s experience. Even Festus, the successor to Felix, a Paul’s acquaintance the Roman governor who ruled Judea at the time of Paul, said that Paul’s abundant learning had made Paul himself crazy, in Acts 26:24. Unfortunately, there are also people in the church, who have a negative perception of the sufferings for Christ. Such a person like to be a churchman to be treated comfortably, but refuse to bear the burden of Jesus’ hardship. If so, do you know what the consequences will be? Jesus’ vitality cannot be seen in himself at all. A faith without the life of Jesus is a dead one. The Holy Spirit is active in you when you bear Jesus’ hardships as yours.

 

It’s nice to know that Jesus’ Christmas has become like a holiday all over the world. And it’s good to hear that the number of Christians has increased. It sounds good to hear that someone who believes in God has been chosen as a president. And now there’s one thing that we absolutely need. Always we should confess that the sinner who crucified Jesus is myself, not anyone else. And we have to live by showing Jesus’ life God gave me newly. That’s the real mission of every life!

 

(Written by Koonoh, Pastor of JDO Presbyterian Church in Korea, on Jan 19th 2020)