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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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Light of the World

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by Jeff Foerster

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) The Christian stands as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Attitude, displayed in actions and words, tells others of the character of Jesus.

“Wow,” you might say, “that sounds like a tall order.” Yes, indeed it is. Or, is it? I’ve read this verse from a fleshly, or earthly, perspective and I find myself moving down a path that leads to being overwhelmed: More work. More responsibility. More to do. I feel the weight of another burden atop my shoulders. Doing “good works” when I feel instead like saying, “Good grief!”

What it Means

Yet, a closer reading breathes life into my heart and yields a sigh of relief. Look with me at the first word in that verse. “Let”. Not “make.” “Let” can be defined as “giving opportunity to” or, “to free from—as if from confinement.” This is not an arduous manufacturing of good works, but a releasing of what already exists that others may benefit, and God may be glorified.

When Jesus told us that his yoke is light, and not heavy, he was not deceiving us. But this command is hard to fulfill, and it is easy to sin. So, how do we make sense of these things that seem to conflict?

If my focus begins and ends with me, I’m sunk. But, if I rightly understand, meditate upon, hold closely in my heart, and act upon the fact that as a believer the Holy Spirit resides within me and is at work in me, I will find peace growing inside me. 

How I Know

Our attitude can be described as a basketful of emotions we present to others. We have been given the wonderful gift of emotions by the Lord. These emotions act as both temperature gauge and harbinger. As a temperature gauge our feelings give us a status check, prompting a decision to be made. This takes place when a “temperature” change has occurred. When anger arises within us that temperature has clearly gone up, and it is not without reason. When frustration grips us, likewise, there is a story behind it.

Emotions are a harbinger because, if they are not respected and investigated, they act as a foreshadowing—signaling our future reactions. But, “time heals all wounds” —right? Nope. Time makes one grow older, but does not ensure maturity. Maturity develops with proper use of the gift of emotions.

What To Do

Emotions we experience are an invitation. The Holy Spirit has invited us into greater union. He is the one who knows us most. He is the one who knows us best. From the number of hairs on our head, to our length of days, to our innermost thoughts, He is our teacher and transformer to be shaping us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know of no other way to heed my emotional temperature, and make good use of it, than to go to God and ask Him to explain it to me.  I need time spent with God—time spent listening.

I was going to end right there, and it would be easy to do so, but a quiet time spent with God is not the end, merely the beginning. So, after God reveals to you why you feel the way you do, ask this question of God: “What must I do with what I now know?”

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Going with Church

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by Jeff Foerster

How many times did you go with church last week, last month?

“Oh, I go to church usually once a week, sometimes twice. And, by the way, you made a grammatical mistake in that question you asked.”

Actually, I didn’t. We go with church when we cross the street to visit a neighbor. We go with church when we share barbecue with a believing friend at Po-Boy on Meridian. We go with church when we interact with local librarians, store employees, police officers, and DMV workers. We go with church when engaging with homeless folks. We go with church when visiting those in the hospital. We go with church when we go out into the world. We go out into the world when we do so with purpose, from a position as God’s fellow workers by grace through Jesus Christ. We do so with purpose when our desire is to share the love Christ has given us with others in our community, with current believers, and especially with those who don’t yet know Jesus.

Is this some sloppy or ethereal notion of “church” I am foisting upon you? In ancient Israel, God revealed Himself in the Holy of Holies, in the inner part of the Temple, to one person, on one day each year, and that only after a great amount of purifying ritual was performed. In our present age, we are given access to God through Christ Jesus. And more than that, each follower of Jesus has been given the Holy Spirit to dwell within them, 24/7 and 365 days a year—constant access. We are each members of the body of Christ, the Church, and where we go, He goes with us; God dwells in His church.

Going out, we bring the church to the world. We bring freedom to those in slavery. We bring light to those living in darkness. We bring the very presence of God to dwell alongside those without hope in this world. We are to be on mission—every one of us.

But we can go into the world choosing to clothe ourselves so as not to be seen. We can avoid scrutiny by blending in and valuing an average American lifestyle of comfort and selfish preoccupation. But that is not who followers of Christ are. As Brian Sharpe reminded us this last Sunday, we are lights made to shine ever more brightly in a world growing dim.

Going anywhere with church this week?

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Salt, Light, and Uber Mushrooms

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My son Nathan (far left) and I training up a generation of future mushroom hunters.

By Larry Short

In worship last weekend, we heard Pastor Martin share from John 2 of Christ’s consuming passion for both the symbolic and manifest presence of God in our midst.

For the Jews of His day, that symbolic presence was the Temple. Christ’s passion for this powerful symbol of God’s presence in the midst of His people was so consuming that this most meek, humble, and lowly of men stunned religious leaders, bystanders, and even His own disciples by making a whip of cords and forcefully driving exploiters out of His Father’s House of Prayer! (That would have been something to see!)

Passion for the Presence

One of the most fascinating things about this passage, to me, is the few verses that follow it. They reveal that while the Temple was the symbolic presence of God, the real presence of God there in Jerusalem, the real “Temple,” was the Body of Jesus Himself:

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Martin then went on to connect this passage with 1 Corinthians 3:16:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

The implications are profound. We are to be consumed with zeal for the presence of God in His Church, the Body of Christ—both corporately and locally, and, more specifically, as He dwells in the hearts of our brothers and sisters in Christ! Loving each other well is how the world will know we are His disciples. We are to burn with passion for His Church, His presence in the midst of a dark and decaying world.

Being Salt and Light

We are also to honor God’s presence in our own hearts by seeking His holiness and by being salt and light as He calls us to be.

Recently, on my personal blog, I shared how God used Cindy, one of our sisters in Christ here at Elim, to help me understand how He wanted me to recognize that part of the purpose for this particular season in my life, having been laid off from my career job with World Vision, was to “clear out the rubble” so I could move forward to see and embrace what He next had for me.

I had an epiphany of sorts about this while Martin was sharing on Sunday. He spoke about how he had struggled to understand how he could be salt and light while working completely within the “Christian bubble” that is Elim and how, as a result in 2017, he was planning to move “out of the bubble” and become a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) in order to start sprinkling salt into some of the places in our world that really needed it!

This made me think about what God was doing in my own heart and life. At World Vision, I too frequently felt frustrated that I never really had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the unsaved. (World Vision is another “Christian bubble.”)

Then, guess what? My “bubble” got burst! I was laid off. Since then, God has been building four new things into my life, and it wasn’t until Sunday that I realized each of them is an opportunity for me to become better salt and light. Here are the four things:

  • Writing a science fiction novel
  • Tutoring for the Puyallup School District
  • Developing a mushroom business, training young ‘shroom hunters, and writing about what fungus teaches us about the presence and heart of God
  • Driving for Uber, which has created many opportunities to share Jesus’s love with more than a few (because they asked)

For more about how each of these four activities creates opportunities for me to be salt and light (and how fungus declares the glory of God), see this blog post.


Salt and Light Is Humble and Simple, Right?

Working for nearly minimum wage as a tutor or a wannabe taxi driver is not something I anticipated as God’s best for me when I was laid off from World Vision. (Although I could see myself gushing about mushrooms or writing sci-fi! I’m weird, I know.) Compared to what I achieved and experienced at that wonderful organization, what I am doing now is humbling in the truest sense of that word. But as I realized as Pastor Martin was teaching, it’s not something I chose; it’s something God chose for me, even as I prayed for His best for my life and for how He might use me in His Kingdom.

So, that’s my challenge to each of us as we consider how God wants to use US to be salt and light. You may not be the next American Idol, or the Great American Novelist. But, maybe, does God want you to serve others in the humblest ways possible? Perhaps He wants you to help a bedridden invalid, or care for a foster child, or ride the bus and talk to a hurting stranger, or build and hand out homeless survival kits. Or maybe He wants you to spend your time and energy praying (in obscurity, like countless prayer warriors before you) for anyone and everyone. Who knows?

Being salt and light is not just an individual responsibility for the believer; it’s a Body responsibility. So we are also to encourage and hold each other accountable as we seek to “march off the map” and influence a world that desperately needs Jesus.

Pray for His best (both for you, for Elim, and for the Kingdom), and then let Him lead you where He wishes to!

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