EmmDev 2016-08-11 [Treasure in Clay Pots (2Cor)] Life and Death

Life and Death

For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.      (2Corinthians4:11-12)

Yesterday I alluded to the fact that the early church saw suffering as a privilege. They believed that to suffer or die for the faith was to join Jesus on the cross - to share in His suffering. They believed that they shared a special fellowship with Jesus when they suffered because they were experiencing just a little of the suffering that He experienced for us.

But there was another dimension to Paul's understanding of the frailty and death of our "mortal bodies"... The Greek word that Paul uses for "mortal bodies" is more commonly translated as "flesh" and, in Paul's theological framework, the "flesh" is our sinful human nature which has to die so that Christ's resurrected life can be revealed in us.

This is a powerful victory - our bodies may be frail and suffering may be real, but in the midst of suffering and struggle we realise that flesh is not our be-all and end-all and we begin to recognise that there is LIFE - full, beautiful and ever-lasting LIFE - Life that is found in Christ alone.

So death is at work in Paul (and the Corinthians) and life is at work in the Corinthians (and Paul).

Why is there brokenness and heartache in the world?
The answer is actually very simple:
We are broken and dying.
The world is broken because we are broken.
And we have no-one to blame but ourselves.

BUT... in... Christ... we... can... come... alive!
Our old self can die away and we can become more like Jesus.
And death becomes life
and brokenness becomes wholeness
and despair becomes hope.

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