Afflicted but not Crushed 2 Cor. 4:5-12; Deuteronomy 5:12-15; Mark 2:23-28

Grace, mercy and peace to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Afflicted but not Crushed, is our message, taken from our Epistle, 2 Corinthians 4, especially verses 8 and 9: 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

On the cross, Jesus was afflicted and crushed in our place, that by His death and resurrection, He would defeat sin, death, and the devil, so that they would not crush us, even in our sufferings and afflictions.

One of the devil’s diabolical goals in leading Adam and Eve into sin, was that humanity would not just die, but would suffer and die.

In his sick, sadistic mind, the devil loves to see us suffer. He rejoices in our afflictions.

Sin would warp our minds, too, and cause us to enjoy the suffering of others when they’ve hurt us or sinned against us.

Contrast that with our Creator, who loves to see humanity alive and well, and rejoices to redeem and heal us.

And so He sent His Son to suffer and die that we might live, and our hearts and minds be healed.

There’s an abundance of pain and grief in this fallen world, to the devil’s delight… and even more can be heaped upon us as we follow Christ. 

As He was treated poorly by the world He came to save and serve, so we can expect the fallen world to treat us, His followers, poorly, as we serve in His name.

 In our Epistle, Paul opens up about the fragility of his body, and being treated poorly by the antagonists of the Gospel… 

… all for the benefit of those who would believe and be blessed and saved through the Word he spread… and all for the sake of Christ, to the glory of God. 

Paul says, 5 For what we proclaim (he and his fellow missionaries, but Paul is especially talking about himself in a modest way by saying “we”) is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants, for Jesus' sake. 

We fallen sinners can be prone to promoting ourselves, wanting others to think more highly of us than we might deserve. We do it because we’re afraid and insecure, which is the consequence of falling away from God and His holy love and ways.

If we were entirely holy in His love and without sin, we’d have no fears and no insecurities to act on and be misled by. That’s how it will be in Heaven.

As the people of God on earth, the Holy Spirit helps to make our lives, and our words, and our thoughts, and our deeds to be more about Jesus, and less about us.

With it being less about us, everything becomes more about God. With our lives more about God, more to His glory, then our lives better bear witness to Him… and people can better see the light of the Gospel and the face of Christ through us.

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit has enlightened us with the knowledge of Christ, so that we can share His light and presence in a world made dark by sin, even though we are weak and fragile in many ways. 

Still, we, God’s baptized children, are the ones who’ve been given the light to shine and share, in spite of our weaknesses and limitations, and our mortal lives, and our fragile, breakable bodies. 

Paul says, 7 But we have this treasure (the Holy Spirit in our spirit, and the Gospel in our mind) in jars of clay, (our fragile and decaying bodies), to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 

Paul shared the Gospel with many, and he started many churches with many followers of Christ, but he empowered no one to believe, only God has that power.

Paul is saying, anyone who looks at me can clearly see, that this ministry I’ve been given, this spread of the Gospel like fire in the world, isn’t because of me, but it’s Christ who’s doing it through me. 

And He would do the same through us. 

And so we persist, even though… 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…

The devil inspired opposition and persecution toward the apostles and  missionaries wherever they went. He does the same today. 

Last week two Christian missionaries in Haiti were killed by gang violence. Certainly the devil’s handiwork.

Yet, as the spread and ministry of the Gospel persisted in the early Church by the grace and power of God, so it persists today, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Church, us. 

Paul continues, 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.

In Romans 6, Paul says that in Baptism, by faith, we spiritually die with Christ and rise with Him. 

And so His death and resurrection are always at the core of our lives, where ever we are, whatever vocations we’re fulfilling and engaging in, it’s all about and because of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us. That’s our reason for everything! 

Sometimes we pay a price and carry a burden to serve and glorify Christ in our daily lives.

Whenever we suffer or sacrifice to follow Him in this fallen world, we have His suffering and death for us to remember, and to be strengthened and inspired by, knowing how deeply loved we are that Jesus would do that for us.

It’s that amazing love that gives us the power to endure and persist when we suffer or hurt or go through trials and temptations.

And the healing and rising of His body, reminds us of His great power for us,  giving us glorious hope to live by.  

As this mortal body is only temporary, so our suffering is only temporary… it doesn’t last. The body raised in glory by Christ will never suffer ever again.

This is the Gospel in our hearts and minds, we carry it with us in all circumstances, and it’s our great assurance.

So, as Paul says in the first verse of this chapter, we do not lose heart, even  we are jars of clay, even though our fragile earthly bodies are so easily broken and hurt. 

We have the strength of a soul redeemed by Christ, and a heart empowered by faith and love, and a mind enlightened by the Word and the Spirit.

Even though we may be spurned and rejected for loving the light and following Christ, we refuse to give up and surrender to the darkness.

We may be perplexed, as Paul says, but with the help and presence of God, we’re not driven to despair or resignation.

As we look at our world, and our nation, our culture and society, we see so many corrupt, godless things happening, such evil, twisted things being taught and promoted and coerced on people… it can alarming.

Still, we don’t panic and we don’t give up, because our strength and endurance comes from the One who has already defeated all the evil powers and influences in this world, and in the world beyond. 

And so as Paul says, 8 We are afflicted… but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

Let us never lose our faith, nor give up on our calling to bring Christ to the world; let us persist in the light… speaking truth, having courage, and demonstrating Christ-like love.

And as we do, let us be encouraged, knowing that the peace of God, which passes understanding, will guard our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who makes us strong to share His Word. Amen.