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Sweetly Broken

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By Larry Short

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)

I write for a website called Quora. People visiting this website submit questions about faith, science, and almost every other topic you can imagine. Anyone can respond to these questions, and the more your responses get upvoted as helpful by those reading them, the more you will be asked to provide answers to similar questions.

I get lots of questions, primarily about faith, but also about mushrooms! (Who knew?)

This week someone asked, “What does Paul mean by ‘jars of clay’ in 2 Corinthians 4:7?”

I thought that was a great question, so I began digging into it. I wanted to share with you what I learned, because I think it relates very closely to the challenges we are currently experiencing.

Actually, if you look carefully at that verse, “jars of clay” isn’t the only interesting metaphor there. Perhaps even more important is the phrase this treasure. What is the significance of these two metaphors? And what do they have to do with us here on earth, battling COVID and isolation and social injustice and upheaval and political quandaries and economic problems and everything else that we have been struggling through?

It’s All About the Treasure

As I looked at verse 7 and its context, I realized that Paul first defines this treasure in the verses that precede verse 7. Verse 4 refers to the treasure as being the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” And verse 5 adds, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Verse 6 says that the God who declared that the light He created would “shine out of darkness” also has “shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

“This treasure” is the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that He loves us and gave Himself for us so that we could live forever with Him! And like any light that God has created, it has to shine out of darkness. Unless impeded (thinking here about Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:15, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house”), light can do naught but shine.

Our job, therefore, is to not impede the light that otherwise wants to shine out, overcoming darkness! The problem is, there are distinct similarities between our jars of clay and the basket Jesus refers to. Both can impede light and keep it from shining.

So What Exactly Is a Jar of Clay?

I think the verses that follow verse 7 help us understand what Paul means by the phrase jars of clay. These verses focus on who we are as Christ followers. We are afflicted but not crushed, perplexed but not overcome by despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Death is at work in us, so that God’s life can be at work in others.

In other words, we are (and forgive the pun) a basket case! But we are God’s basket case.

One thing about jars of clay is that they are fragile. They are made of dirt and are easily cracked and broken.

Another thing about cracked and broken jars of clay is that the light can shine out of the cracks!

Brokenness may not be something we say we aspire to. It hurts to be broken. And in these days of pandemic, social chaos, financial difficulties, and political conflict, I think we are all feeling pretty broken.

But—if we allow it—brokenness is exactly something God can use to shine His gospel light brightly out of the cracks in our lives! As songwriter/worship leader Jeremy Riddle sings:

At the cross, You beckon me
You draw me gently to my knees
And I am lost for words, so lost in love
I’m sweetly broken, wholly surrendered

Let’s not just be cracked and broken. Let’s be sweetly broken, wholly surrendered!

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When Healing Hurts

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By Larry Short

Given some of the painful woes of our current situation, many of us have learned afresh how to lament the many challenges we face.

Some are more serious than others. Many have family members or friends who are struggling to recover from COVID-19—and as we know, not all such struggles end well. Or perhaps they are struggling with the prospect or fear of a potentially fatal illness and not the reality.

Others have lost jobs or income streams. They may have children at home who must be shepherded through the new learning process, requiring great and unaccustomed sacrifice of time and trouble.

Others, like me, face smaller challenges: The weight of isolation from family and friends. The inconvenience of restrictions on the way we go out, shop, or worship. Or perhaps the loss of retirement investments we had really hoped would “be there” for us in our sunset years and the prospect of possibly having to continue working after we would otherwise have retired.

All of these things, and more, to which each of us are subjected in these days of pandemic and societal upheaval, are painful.

Timothy Dalrymple is the president of my favorite magazine, Christianity Today. They have been taking a consistently hard, honest, and thorough look at the challenges presented by the current cultural context to us as Christians and to the churches we invest our lives in.

In the September issue, he took an interesting look at our pain, what is causing it, and what God might be doing in the midst of it. In an editorial titled “When Healing Hurts,” he recalled the story of Jesus healing the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda and the fascinating question with which our Lord initiates that interaction: “Do you want to get well?”

It seems almost absurd. The man had been paralyzed for nearly four decades of his life and daily lay out with other very sick folks hoping for a long-shot chance at a miracle. Who would not look at such a person and think, “Of course he wants to get well!”

But Dalrymple spoke about what many of us realize upon deeper reflection: “Suffering, especially chronic suffering, can become precious to us. When suffering persists, we sculpt our lives around it. We craft an identity that encompasses our suffering until we scarcely know who we would be without it.”

On the other hand, Dalrymple acknowledges that God often allows suffering for our instruction and betterment and for His glory. The Apostle Paul learned this when he sought for God to remove his infamous “thorn in the flesh.” He then acknowledges this torment was given to teach him humility, to help him realize the sufficiency of God’s grace for him, and to show him that God’s power may be made perfect in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

But in John 5, Jesus singles out the longsuffering paralytic for healing. First however, He asks if healing really is indeed what the man wants. And interestingly, the paralytic really doesn’t respond in faith to Christ’s question. Instead he makes excuses as to why he has remained so long unhealed!

In the midst of our current problems—political, racial, financial, and health challenges—I wonder if God would ask us the same question: “Do you want to be whole?”

Healing can be painful. We may have to humbly acknowledge our error, ask forgiveness of others, and prepare to embrace a new identity given by God, which seems risky and frightening to us. God may be calling us to slam the door shut on our habit of using social media as a weapon to broadcast our own rightness. He may be asking us to do a truly hard thing in listening to others and exalting their needs as higher and more important than our own. Or He may be simply asking us to trust Him implicitly—with finances, career, health, reputation, family, and friends—when we can’t see clearly the landscape into which He is asking us to follow Him.

In his current sermon series, Pastor Steve is sharing principles on how to get “disentangled” from sin’s deceitful web. I suspect that as Jesus (through His Holy Spirit) approaches us, as we struggle with the pain of our own sinful habits and behaviors, He will ask us the same question He asked the paralytic:

“Do you want to get well?”

I would suggest we respond to that question without making excuses. Simply bite the bullet and say, “Yes, Lord. Here I am. I need Your healing!”

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Can We Pass the COVID-19 Test?

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By Interim Pastor Steve McCoy

Tests are dreaded by most students, but teachers have been using them for years because they work. Students strive to learn their lessons so they can advance, pass the test, and move on to the next level.

God also administers tests. Jesus writes to the church at Philadelphia about testing the whole earthly population: “Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

The good news is that this church is going to be spared from that test. The bad news is God is going to test those who call this planet home.

Interestingly enough, our world is going through a planetwide test right now since God has allowed COVID-19 to sweep the globe.

How do we and the rest of the world pass the test?

Do we pass by coping and hunkering down?

Do we pass when we discover who is to blame and hold them accountable—China, politicians, virologists?

Do we pass the test when we wear a mask, socially distance, or get a vaccine?

Just how do we pass the pandemic test?

When God was leading Israel through their wilderness wanderings, Moses disclosed to them the purpose of their trials: “to test you in order to know what was in her heart” (Deuteronomy 8:2).

God is testing me, our church, other believers, unbelievers, and the whole world with COVID-19 to see what is in our heart:

  • Do I love God more fervently than before?
  • Is my service for God as passionate as before?
  • Is my obedience more complete than in previous days?
  • Is my character more reflective of Jesus?

I want to pass the test with a heart hot after God.

Perhaps God is preparing His church to come roaring back with more vitality and passion than ever before!

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Standing at the Crossroads

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by Cindy Waple

This weekend begins the in-person process of finding a new senior pastor for Elim. Don Rayman will be coming to meet with the elders and members of Elim. It will be our opportunity to “interview” him: to meet him and spend time with him, get to know him, ask him questions, and hear him preach. AND he will also be interviewing us. He will be meeting us and spending time with us, he will be getting to know us and asking us questions. He will hear us “preach”—actually, share—our thoughts about Elim, our past and present experiences of Elim, and our hope for Elim.

I recently was meditating on a passage, Jeremiah 6:16: “This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’”

The context of this passage is wrath and destruction, but that is not why I chose it.

I chose it because we are at a crossroads and have been at a crossroads since Pastor Martin left. And I would say, even before Pastor Martin left. Change was coming. And we have been looking and asking the Lord, “What is the way You are calling Elim to go?” The elders and the Transition Team spent months exploring that question. And then COVID hit, then racial injustice issues, then reopening the church, then more COVID, then ramping up for the elections, and COVID is still with us and schools are not opening and Elim is trying to reopen, people are leaving, our leaders aren’t doing what we think they should do, and on it goes—and we still stand at a crossroads, looking and asking, “Which is the way to go?” And sadly, depending on who you ask, the answer is varied. Go this way—no, go this way—go my way—no, go that way. And now we stand at the crossroads, divided. More divided than I have experienced during my 18 years at Elim.

Another verse that I was reminded of is John 17:20-21:

My prayer is not for them alone. I (Jesus) pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in me and I am in You. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me.

Jesus, before His arrest and crucifixion, had one prayer for His followers, that they would be one. And then He adds, “May they also be in us so that the world may believe that You have sent me.”

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we stand at a crossroads and we are looking and asking, “What is the way to go?” I believe with all my heart that there is only one way for us to go, and that is the way of Jesus. It is the way of love, grace, and mercy. It is the way of humility, surrender, and putting others before ourselves. It is the way of compassion, healing, and reconciliation. It is the way of saying, “Not my will, but Your will be done, Lord.” It is only as we seek to follow Jesus with all our hearts, as we seek to walk in His ways, will we find rest for our souls.

For me, and I pray for you as well, following the way of Jesus begins with examining my own heart and motives, then confessing and repenting of being led by my own pride and/or fear, of following my own agenda or the agenda of another on social media or the news, of judging and criticizing those I strongly disagree with (and for me, wanting to prove them wrong), of not loving well—first my brothers and sisters in Christ, and then those I adamantly disagree with (mostly people I don’t even know).

Following and walking in the way of Jesus means I am willing to come together with my brothers and sisters in Christ to lay aside our egos, agendas, latest reports, and stats supporting my opinion and humbly seek together God’s will and desire. To earnestly seek together to love God with all of our being and love one another, to be one in Christ and to truly desire to point others to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Don Rayman will be interviewing Elim. And in this precious church, he will find people confused, hurt, and, yes, divided. But more importantly, I know he will find committed believers longing and desiring to follow and walk in the way of Jesus above anything or anyone else. And if Don is the man God is calling to Elim, then I pray his heart will join with ours and together we can walk toward love, healing, unity, and hope for a whole and vibrant church, walking in God’s truth, sharing the Gospel, and shining the light of Jesus’s love on South Hill. To God be the glory.

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We Need Each Other

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By Larry Short

“May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.” (2 Timothy 1:16-18)

Last week Brian Waple spoke of how important prayerful dependence on the Lord is when things don’t go quite as we hope and expect. This was a timely word for Darlene and me, as we were traveling 2,500 miles east in our RV and had just experienced some serious technical challenges.

First came some troubling computer errors. We were zipping down the highway doing 80 in that big rig (the speed limit in South Dakota), passing a Mack truck doing 75 or so, when we hit a major wind gust. The engine suddenly cut out and all sorts of audio and visual alarms began to ring and flash. With traffic zipping angrily around us, we were finally able to pull to the shoulder. To make a long story short, one tire was quickly losing air, and both front tires were wearing unevenly. We replaced them in Indianapolis and got back on the road.

We were almost into Pennsylvania when the next big challenge arrived. Our RV is diesel, and all throughout the nation I’d been looking for those green-handled diesel pumps when I filled up. I pulled into a BP which said it had diesel for $2.25/gallon. I found a green-handled pump with that price on it and began filling up.

Suddenly I realized the pump I was pumping out of wasn’t diesel—it was regular fuel! I stopped immediately, but not until four gallons of regular fuel had been placed into my diesel tank.

Chagrined and embarrassed, Darlene and I discussed and prayed about what we should do. It was a weekend and finding a diesel mechanic in that small town would be next to impossible.

“Why don’t you call Brian Holthe?” she said.

Great idea! Brian used to attend Elim, and I have grown to trust him implicitly. Brian’s shop, Genesis Automotive, had been providing good service to our RV for several years. But the shop was closed, and I did not have Brian’s cell phone number.

My wife is always full of good ideas in challenges such as this. “Try Martin,” she said. “He will know how to get a hold of Brian.”

I called Martin, praying he would pick up—and he did. He provided Brian’s number and encouraged me NOT to start the engine. (He said he had once been in the reverse situation—accidentally putting diesel into his regular-fuel motorcycle engine—and Brian had been invaluable. I was encouraged, and I also didn’t feel as dumb as I had a few minutes earlier!)

Brian answered his mobile, and Martin was right, he was very helpful and gave me great advice. He provided the name of a diesel additive that would help, and suggested I fill the tank with as much diesel as possible to minimize the ratio of regular to diesel fuel in the tank. With luck, watching my engine temperature and listening carefully for any problems, he thought I’d probably be okay. (He said he would normally advise the tank be emptied on the spot, but that wasn’t possible in our situation.)

His advice was spot on. I hiked a mile to an auto parts shop that sold me the additive, then I added it and topped the tank with diesel. We then drove carefully the three hours to our daughter’s home in Pennsylvania, with no further problems.

Prayer is very important under such difficult circumstances. But we also found great help in fellow brothers in Christ who were willing to drop what they were doing to help us through a tight spot. I’m not sure what I would have done without them.

It strikes me that even the Apostle Paul leaned heavily on his brothers and sisters in Christ as he conducted his difficult ministry. In stressful times like these, it is more important than ever before to have brothers and sisters in Christ we trust to help us when we are in trouble.

And it’s also critically important that we ourselves be available to help others who need us!

Are you seeking to connect with and depend on other brothers and sisters in Christ, here at Elim and elsewhere, to be there when you need them to? As Brian suggested last week, take your challenges first to the Lord, but then listen carefully as He directs you toward people who can help you run the race with confidence and strength.

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