Jars of Clay

2 Corinthians
Written By Steve Estes

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Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
April 30, 2023

2 Corinthians 4:7-12: But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Sermon Outline

1. Christians have something priceless

  • Knowledge of the glory of God

  • Knowledge of God reflected in the face of Christ

2. Christians have the priceless knowledge of Christ in frail bodies and hard experiences

  • "hard pressed on every side"

  • "perplexed"

  • "persecuted"

  • "struck down"

  • Frail bodies and hard experiences are portrayed as a living death

3. Our dying is a joining with Christ in his death

  • The statement: "our dying with him"

  • Fleshing out the statement

4. Through our suffering/dying with Christ, we share the very life of Christ

  • The statement: Suffering Christians share the very life of Christ

  • Illustrations of suffering Christians sharing the very life of Christ

Benediction

May you know Christ through the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings and the power of his resurrection. — paraphrased from Philippians 3:10

Romans 15:13: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him… Amen

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

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