We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.
5 sermons cite this verse
… driven to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thank you. You may be seated. I read an amazing little spy story recently, just after the end of World War II, as the Cold War was really starting to heat up. The British ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., needed to get an urgent piece of communication back to London, but he didn't want to use the phone lines because he suspected that the Soviets might have already bugged the phone lines. There was this little diplomatic box that traveled back and forth across the pond every day between London and Washington, D.C., but the information that this ambassador had was so sensitive and so critical that he did not want to risk it being in a place that the Soviets might target it for some kind of heist or theft. …
… And I want to read verses 7 through 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 7 through 10. and it says this, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed. We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. Ooh, I love all those verses right there. Ooh, I could run around this building on just all of that. Always caring about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. Isn't that profound? It's amazing. If you don't have the right perspective in life, you'll make horrible decisions. You'll enter into depression. you'll lose confidence in God if your perspective of the circumstances in your life are not right. And if I could just drop this one little section of Scripture and get you to look at your life from a different vantage point life can be so much better. …
… The righteous go through, number four, because we're becoming more powerful. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 through 12 is on the screen read it with me if you only look at us you might well miss the brightness this is Paul talking we carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives that's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. keep going keep going we've been surrounded and battered by troubles but we're not demoralized we're not sure what to do but we know that God knows what to do we've been spiritually terrorized but God hasn't we've been thrown down Thank you. but we haven't broken what they did to jesus they do to us trial and torture mockery and murder what jesus did among them he does in us what does he do So everything that you've gone through is to really connect you to Jesus. …
… not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifest in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal life, so death works in us, but life in you." Pragmatism wants to eliminate all of that. Pragmatism wants to find a way around any kind of pain or difficulty. And I think good intentions may be behind it, coupled with ignorance. Promoting effort to advance the kingdom, to advance the gospel by political lobbying, by any form of pragmatism, shallow gospel entertainment, emotional manipulation, acceptance of sin and sinners, is to cross over into the devil's work. It's to cross over into the devil's work. John makes a statement in 1 John 2 that all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is of the world, is not of God, and it's all passing away. …
… What he's saying is, I've been knocked down, but I haven't been knocked out. I keep getting up, always bearing about in the body, that is my body, this clay pot, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also might be made manifest in our bodies. Now what Paul is saying is, listen, it's not me thereafter, it's Jesus. I simply have Jesus on the inside of this clay pot. And the reason they keep striking the pot, the reason that they keep after this earthen vessel is because there is a treasure in this earthen vessel, and rather than treasuring the treasure, they detest the treasure, and so they're after me. But he says, when I endure these blows, I only endure the blows for Jesus who took the blows for me. I bear about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus because he died for me. And when I react with love, when I react with wisdom, when I react with courage and gentleness, what do they see? …