Something that American Christians sometimes
have a hard time accepting is the biblical truth that there’s a physical realm
and a spiritual realm which interact with
each other on a regular basis. Of course, most of the time, the spiritual realm
influences the physical world “behind the scenes,” so to speak, at least in the
Western world. People outside the West, however, usually would have no problem
with this.
As Evangelicals—everyone who take
the Bible seriously—we believe in the spiritual realm interacting with the physical
realm in theory. But do we act upon this?
In our defense, part of the problem
is that we’re reacting to excesses on the other side. Some Christians go way
overboard and blame Satan for everything bad that happens in their lives. If my
car breaks down, then it’s because of a demon. If I’m sick, then it’s because I’m
under an assault from Satan’s minions.
But just because some well-meaning people go overboard doesn't negate what the Bible says about this.
From today’s passage, I’d like to point out some things:
From today’s passage, I’d like to point out some things:
·
If someone is presented with the Good News of Christ,
it’s a battle on many fronts. Yes, you want to engage their brain
and their heart. But the battle has to won on the spiritual front as well. Paul
specifically says that their minds can be “veiled.” If something is veiled,
then that means that something else (or in this case, someone) is
blocking access to it. Paul specifically says that “The god of this age [Satan]
has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the
gospel that displays the glory of Christ.” If you’re shining light in a dark
place, there’s no real “battle” between light and darkness. No, if the light’s not
blocked somehow, it wins.
·
Appearances are really deceiving. You’ve
probably seen or heard of a “book safe,” right? You take your valuables and
place them inside what looks like a book and place it on your shelf. That way
if a burglar breaks into your home and is looking for something to steal, he’s
likely to bypass the ordinary “book” on your shelf. In Paul’s day they had something
similar: clay pots. They’d hide treasure in jars of clay so as to not draw
attention to what was inside. Well,
we have something analogous here, but the purpose is the opposite. If you look
at most Christians, we appear pretty ordinary. You’d likely pass us on the
street and not look twice. But every follower of Jesus. . . has the Treasure to
end all treasures inside him. The Message of salvation in Christ is more
valuable than Bill Gates’s, Warren Buffett’s, and George Soros’s bank accounts
put together. It’s more precious than all the gold and cash that any man ever
dreamed of. But what I meant as to a
difference in purpose is that people of the world hide valuable treasure inside
something innocuous in order to draw attention away from the treasure towards the outside shell and keep people from
taking what’s inside. In our case, God’s placed this Treasure inside each of us
to draw attention away from the outside (us) and towards what’s inside. And he’s
not doing this to keep anything from anyone; quite the opposite. No, the Gift
of Salvation is not meant to be hoarded but to be cast out and shared with as
many people as possible.
·
Our triumph is in Christ, not despite our
Enemy’s best efforts, but because of them. Despite the
Treasure within us, we’re still jars of clay: Nothing much to look at,
seemingly cheap, and frail. Yes, very frail. And our Enemy takes every
opportunity to destroy us. To the degree that he gets our Father’s permission,
he might press hard on us, perplex us, persecute us, or even strike us down. But
he can go as far as our Father’s leash on him allows, and not one inch further.
Not one millimeter. No one picometer.
And even if he presses hard, he won’t crush us. If he perplexes us, he can’t
drive us to despair. He can persecute us, but no, we will never ever EVER
be abandoned.
He can strike us down, but he can’t destroy us. And the only reason why our Father would let
him near us, much less strike us, is only to give him enough rope to hang
himself on. He let Satan strike down his own Son, and look how that turned out.
And in our case, when we let the death of Jesus be expressed in us, then the
life of Jesus will shine through (vss. 10-11).
Of course, we don’t go looking for
death, and most of us (in America, at least) aren’t going to be physically
persecuted anytime soon. But when I deny myself, when I count
myself as being dead to sin and alive to God, when in the Spirit’s power I say “No”
to my own way of doing things and “Yes” to doing things his way, that’s when it
happens. To the degree I do that, that’s the degree to which I’m going to see
the life of Jesus “revealed in [my] mortal body.”
And why does he place this Treasure
inside us, why does he place this flawless diamond in paper bags? Simple
enough: “to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
With us being the screw-ups we are, if any real progress is made on expanding the
Kingdom, then you know it’s from him and from us.
So take heart, all you “paper bags”
and “clay jars.” You’re prime candidates!
Lord Jesus, in and of myself I’m not
much. In fact, I’m nothing outside you. But whatever I am, I’m yours. If you
want me as your hands, if you want me as your mouth, the answer’s “Yes.”
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