Author: missionspaul

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4 v 8-9)

• Are surrounded by problems but somehow it is more than possible that you are not overwhelmed by them.
• Are questioning many things and are perhaps confused by what has happened to you; but you are not feeling hopeless.
• Are facing rejection, opposition, the critics are pressing in; and yet you know you are not alone.
• Are on the ground having fallen but you continue to have the capacity to get up again

How is this even possible? This paradox of situation. It is possible because within you is a resilience given by God to keep going, to keep rising again.

You just won’t stay down nor give up. You are a ‘but not’ person. Many will focus on being hard pressed, perpl0065ed, persecuted and struck down. But not you. You can always see that it could be worse. Today whatever the situation you walk into it will be the same for you. You are a person that gets up from the floor. Right?

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” 2 Corinthians 4 v 7

Today I, along with the uncountable across the globe, will stand and preach the gospel. I’ve done the same thing most Sundays the majority of my life. It is always delivered from a heart that doesn’t feel very important, that asks the question, ‘who am I to speak about the glory of God in Jesus? (v6) I am a mere man, ordinary and this not to be self-deprecating, but the gospel flows from a common place, like a jar of clay being a familiar part of every day life, that’s who I am. That’s who we all are. Common jars of clay.

It is always delivered from a heart that is weak and that is vulnerable because I continue to ask the question, ‘who am I to call people from darkness into light?’ (v6). I have an acute self-awareness of my own sinful nature, my own brokenness, a humanity that is flawed. That’s who we all are. Broken jars of clay, shattered so easily, dropped or pushed over and ready to be discarded.

This isn’t to sound morbid. It is how it is supposed to be. For what will flow from me today and from you and the many is the power of God, which has got nothing to do with me, but all of Him and for Him. He is the potter and we are the clay. The potter does all the work. He creates and we are worked upon and He produces something beautiful in His hands.

I am more than happy to be ordinary and aware of my own frailty. I am just a jar of clay. Today the ‘all-surpassing power is from God and not from (me)’.

I am happy because I am chosen. I am loved. And so are you. In whatever situation and circumstance you are in, God chose you. Our boast is in Him, in His wisdom and righteousness. He covers all our ordinariness and weakness, sins and brokenness with His blood.

So today we walk as a jar of clay confidently not in our own ability but the power of a Saviour. Our strength comes from Him.

Yes. I would much rather be a jar of clay wouldn’t you?

A survey commissioned by the Bible Society and called, The Quiet Revival, reveals positive news for the Church in the UK in 2025. Attendance figures have shot up by 50% in the last 6 years and much of that is because there is a rise in the church population of young men between 18-24 yrs old. I was so encouraged by the Easter figures of baptisms in so many churches and large numbers too, one church baptised 29 people. The Elim Global church in Germany baptised 65 people! The Gospel works! But are there reasons behind such growth?

“Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4 v 2-6)

Could the reasons possibly what Paul spoke about:

• The Church has had to come back to the importance of integrity. What has needed to be exposed has been and its leaders are now focusing more about honesty and being real than about performance and pretence. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 
• The Church has stopped condemning and instead has become patient with those taking a long journey to God; the Church has realised that prayer is hugely important. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 
• The Church has stopped ‘build it and they will come’ based around our own stage and we have poured all our attention on Christ and directed people to Him not us. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
• The Church has realised that holiness begins on the inside illumination of Christ and not mere outward behaviours. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

Maybe it is us who have changed and those changes have brought a quiet revival?!

Let me inch forward into a new chapter (though obviously Paul didn’t use the chapters). Let me do that by reminding you of what Paul has written and say that these truths are ours also.

We are very bold, (3:12). Throughout the New Testament boldness is referring to our approach to the world and also to the presence of God. Here Paul is speaking of us taking the gospel to people, with boldness.

We are free, (3:17). Yes it is true. You are free. You are free from every power that sin, flesh, the world will throw at you. You are free from every addiction. You are free from every fear and phobia. You are free from all guilt and shame. You are free from the past. You are free in the present. You are free tomorrow. Remaining free means you will have to let go of pleasing man and the rules that supposedly protect your status with God.

We reflect the Lord’s glory, (3:18) The word ‘glory’ in the Bible means ‘weighty, heavy’ and refers to the presence of God. Our glory is the original condition mankind was created with. Adam lost it because he wanted to be somebody else instead of being happy with who God created. Adam lost it for us and Jesus gave it back to us but we keep on losing it because we want to be somebody else other than who God made. We want to be and we want to have and we pursue this at all costs even if that cost is our glory. We exchange our glory by choosing to speak a certain way, or by our certain actions, or the way we spend and the way we give, what we use and what we keep. We do all those things for the image of somebody in our mind. 

Through the Spirit people see the glory of God in our lives.

THEREFORE ….

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” (2 Corinthians 4 v1)

Layers upon layers, building, rising, boldness, freedom, glory until we can all declare that:

We do not lose heart, give up or back down because we have been given this ministry through ‘God’s mercy’ to our lives. 

Years ago, there was a master violinist in Europe. He would play in concerts, and he had a magnificent

Stradivarius violin, extremely expensive. He would play the Stradivarius violin in concert and everyone would whisper in the crowd, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” He would play in churches, and people would say, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” He even played before kings and queens, and they, too, would turn to one another and say, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” All the glory went to the instrument.

Then one day this master violinist was walking by a pawn shop. He noticed an old, beat-up, worn-out violin. He walked into the pawn shop and asked how much it would cost. The owner of the pawn shop told him the American equivalent of five dollars. He bought the violin, and he took it home. He polished it, and he refined it, and he tuned it, and he re-tuned it, and he built some character into that violin. Then, when he was to play the greatest performance of his life in a concert hall, he took out the little, five-dollar, worn-out, beat- up violin that he had polished and refined. He put it up to his chin, and he began to play, and everybody in the concert hall whispered, “Listen to the beautiful sounds of the Stradivarius.” (“Rejoicing in Our Suffering,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 74)

I have met and will continue to purposely meet many five-dollar, worn-out, beat-up, violin-type people around the world. At first glance there isn’t much to look at until you realise the master has got hold of their life and something beautiful emerges. I have heard the beautiful sound of the Stradivarius from the amputees of Sierra Leone; the persecuted of northern Nigeria and Burkina Faso; the raped and the child-soldiers of DRC; the prisons of Niger; the HIV stories of Eswatini; the famine of many nations; the slums of Kenya; the lepers of India; the graves of Zimbabwe; the orphans of Malawi; the list just goes on. And the sound coming from the pain … there is none like it in the whole world! 

They are rejoicing because of mercy. They are not carrying the evil acts that were committed against them. Mercy has cleansed the evil that has been done to them. They do not give up, they have beautiful ministries given to them because of the atrocities done to them and they received them by the mercy of God. And so have we. Today I am with a wonderful Pastor on a missions trip who knows this mercy. He nearly gave up but God gave him a fresh ministry, He was merciful. 

If your life is tough right now pursue mercy from God and for others. Mercy will see you through. Mercy will open heaven to you. Mercy will give you a ministry. Mercy will cause you not to lose heart.

Before moving into chapter 4 I had to come back to this verse today.

It’s a verse not only to memorise but to live by?

What does it mean? Here are 7 thoughts to mull over:-

• We don’t try anymore to please God by our performance, instead we welcome the Holy Spirit to have a relationship with us.
• The Lord being the Spirit means this is a new spiritual covenant; buildings, styles, practices, philosophies of ministries are not the big deal, for God is bigger than anything we build for Him, no matter if we build it out of some divine revelation we have had of Him. The monopoly on truth never exists.
• What we build isn’t necessarily wrong, so long as we know who we are truly building for; neither can we say because we have come away from these established norms that we are now the exclusive enlightened ones.  
• The Spirit in us will increasingly declare the righteousness of God in our lives which makes us realise we are not condemned.
• The Spirit empowers us to overcome destructive patterns and behaviours, to be free from them.
• There is freedom to be in the presence of God for the Spirit is the Lord.
• The Spirit in us means people see the presence of God in us, that makes sense, but there’s more: the Spirit increases that for He continually changes us, there is a progression of His seen manifest presence of our lives.

If you try to be free then this freedom you find will not make you truly free. This freedom doesn’t come from trying.

On your best day, when you have truly been that good Christian, you haven’t sinned (too much!) and you feel a sense of satisfaction that today was better than yesterday, why is it you still feel less than perfect? Why do you feel you could have done more? Maybe that’s just how it was meant to be if we were left to our own strength to become what only God could make us.

“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3 v 12-18)

The law of God, given to Moses was holy, just, good and spiritual.

But this law cannot change you. It is spiritual and we are fleshly. This godly lifestyle that you want to achieve will not make you godly because you are ungodly. 

The law of God cannot help you into freedom. Left to ourselves we cannot obey God’s laws and even God’s law cannot get us to obey them. Even though we know God wrote His law, even that doesn’t impact us enough to be able to keep it.

The law doesn’t make me free, rather it imprisons me.

So if it is pointless to try to keep a godly lifestyle; if the godly lifestyle only tells me I have failed; if I become even more trapped by this godly lifestyle: why bother? Who will rescue me?

It is always and only and all of Jesus who leads us into freedom and who through the Spirit of God lives, breathes and works through our lives. If we fail then the blood of Jesus continues to deliver us!

 

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹ If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰ For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹ And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (2 Corinthians 3 v 7-11

This beautiful section reminds us that it is in the unveiled Christ that we see the glory of God, we see and know God!

The beauty is in the fact that you have experienced this individually. Obviously you have not seen Him in an outward physical form but however, you have seen Him in a greater way. For you have experienced His reality to change you. He has written upon your heart His life. His submission to the will of His Father is printed deep in you. This glory has taken hold of you and you now know that it is what He wants from you also. From manger to cross He carried the marks that indicated His life was not His own, He was here for others. This is what others see in you as you have seen this in Him.

Paul calls for us all to know this:-

• The ministry that brings the Spirit is more glorious than what brought death (which had glory within it).
• The ministry that brings righteousness is more glorious than what brought condemnation (which had glory in it).
• The ministry that does not fade is more glorious than that what does (which had glory in it).

These 3 things, life, righteousness and permanence is a better way for the glory never dies. Where is that glory? Yes in Christ but also in you! Now that is beautiful!

Most ministers have what are called credentials. They are usually a simple credit card shape with details of the governing body who ordained the person, their name and details etc. It means that when visiting places like hospitals and prisons there is proof they have been given authority to represent that group in being a minister.

It was the same in Paul’s time. The credentials were letters. To stop the lone-rangers and especially false apostles and prophets, reference letters were carried as these messengers went from city to city. Paul did the same thing.

But in writing to the Corinthians he veers away from external credentials and brings us to the core of authentic spiritual leadership.

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. ⁴ Such confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3 v 1-6)

Paul is saying to the Church, “I don’t need letters/credentials.”

Why?

“I have you.” Their transformed lives are the proof of his authenticity.

His use of the Old Testament law given by Moses on tablets of stone Paul moves us to see how because of Easter and then the outpouring of the Spirit, there is a New Covenant.

What can this mean for us?

• Are we the living letters? The world is reading us.
• What letters of recommendation do we rely on the most? Our experience of knowledge or of lives that have changed because God has used us?
• Authentic Credentials flow from hearts that are transformed by the Holy Spirit.

Today on Easter Sunday right across the world the gospel message of the power of Jesus Christ, that he died and rose again, will be told from under trees to major Cathedrals.

For some who will hear it then it will lead to life but for others it won’t. The gospel message is a huge responsibility. It is literally life and death.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” (2 Corinthians 2 v 14-17)

Who is competent? Who is equal to such a task?

Someone has to preach Christ, but who can?

• No one is worthy or qualified to speak of this overwhelming act of God, the death and resurrection of Christ. We don’t speak from any level of status that we have earned or achieved.
• So the effectiveness of the gospel message that will be preached today does not come from some skilful orator or strategic communication.
• The task of representing Christ and the Easter story is beyond our ability.
• Therefore the results are not with us or because of us, they belong to God.
• So the preaching that is done today needs to happen when we are not in the way:-
  • We are not watering the gospel down for some kind of gain or acceptance (peddling)
  • We remember that the words we speak are done before God who knows the sincerity and transparency of our heart.
  • We acknowledge that no one calls us to speak the gospel except God. It is He who sends us all out with the gospel. It is all about Him.