This Week's Sunday School Lesson, "The Hidden Treasure In Us", 8/17/2014

 

THE HIDDEN TREASURE IN US

2 Corinthians 4:1-15

 

V:1. " Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart."

 A. Because of God's favor, we have been given the ministry of preaching the Gospel

      of Jesus Christ.

    1. We were also equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit who is our teacher and

        guide to the understanding of God's Word.

    2. Every believer has been given gifts to be used in preaching the Gospel and

       building   the body of Christ.

 B. We were baptized in the death of Jesus Christ and raised in the newness of life.

    1. The old man in us is dead and a new creation is alive,

    2. We have victory over sin and an eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

 

 V:2. " 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 every man's conscience in the sight of God."

A. Having been taken out of the world and placed in the body of Christ, we do not

     practice our old sinful ways.

   1. With the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells us, we can resist the temptations of

       the world and practice the righteousness of God.

   2. With the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that indwells us we can easily recognize

       deceptive schemes of the devil as they develop and put them aside.

B. We preach and teach the Word of Truth.

    1.  God's Word is the guide to our conversation.

    2. Our job is to be a witness for Christ Jesus

    3. The Word convicts and draws unbelievers to Christ.

    4. This ministry of preaching faith in Jesus Christ produces eternal life.

 

V:3. " And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing."

   A. There are those in the world who will not listen to the witness of Jesus Christ.

       1. They are blinded by their own knowledge and will not accept Christ.

       2. It is by God's design that only those who He draws to His Son will be

           saved.  John 6:44

       3. The world will not receive the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 2:14

  B. The God who created the world and all it's inhabitants is a just God.

       1. He gave all mankind the ability to may choices.

       2. Some will choose idol gods made with their hands over the true and

           living God.  

 

V: 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see
 the   light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

 A. Satan is the prince of darkness.

     1. He is the father of lies.

     2. He came to steal kill and to destroy.

 B. The reason Satan has dominion over the world is his voice is louder than the voice

      of Jesus in man.

    1. From the beginning, Satan raised his voice against God and was cast out of

       heaven.

       a. The voice of God should have been fixed in the hearts of Adam and Eve.

       b. They allowed the voice of Satan to over ride the voice of God.

    2. The world is blinded by what they hear from Satan.

 C. Believers are the light of Jesus Christ that unbelievers ought to be drawn too.

    1. When our voice is silent, the Gospel is not proclaimed and the Glory do the

         God is not given by us.

    2. It is our job to be a role model for Christ giving honor to the Father.

    3. The world should hear the voice of God from all believers.

 

 V:5. " For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your

   servants for Jesus' sake."

 A. We must push ourselves to the back and promote Christ in all we do and say.

     1. If we put our interest first in our conversation, the interest of Christ will

         takes a back seat and may not be promoted.

     2. We preach Christ not for believers only, but for the sake of the non believers.

 B. We should see ourselves as servants of Jesus Christ.

     1. Christ came down from heaven and took on the role of a servant for us.

     2. His death was in the role of a servant dying for the sins of the world.

     3. Likewise, we are servants who died in Christ so that the glory of God is

         shown through us. 

 

V: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 the glory of God in the face of Christ."

 A. God started His creative process by bring light out of darkness.

     1. God made Adam in His own image and likeness.

     2. Adam was made to be the light in the Garden of Eden.

         a. God talked with Adam keeping him in his light.

         b. It was Adam's sin that brought darkness into God's creation.

  B. The Word is the knowledge of truth.

      1. God gave us His word to reign in our hearts.

      2. The Word of God should be in our thinking, our talking and our planning. 

  C. The World must be able to see Jesus, the light of the world in us.

      1. We are  the Church that world ought to visit each day.

      2. When our conversation includes Christ, Church is in session.

      3. Anytime Church is in session, God gets the glory.

      4. We have this great opportunity to have Church every day changing lives along
           our   way.

 

 V:7. " But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power
    is    from God and not from us."

 A. The body of Adam was formed from the dust of the earth.

     1. God placed in Adam the treasure of His Word.

     2. Adam became the first earthen vessel of the Word of God.

B. Each believer is an earthen vessel for the Word of God.

    1. Each believer is gifted with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

    2. We are armed by God with His powerful Word to plant the seeds of

        the Gospel into minds of nonbelievers.

    3. We must see ourselves as being on a mission of God to enlighten the world.

 

 V:8. " We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair."

  A. Mission of God is not without trials and tribulation.

      1. God's missionaries are an open target for Satan and his demons.

      2. We are always under the protection of God.

  B. When we awake we must put on the full armor of God, because Satan is on the

       attack.

     1. Christ said take on my yoke and learn of me for my burdens are easy. Mat 11:29-
         30

     2. We gain our strength through trust in God.

 

V:9. " Persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

 A. God is more than the whole world against us.

     1. The whole world is against the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

     2. It is easy to be blinded by the hardships we face from the glory

         of God.

     3. One of the deceptions of Satan is to persuade us into believing that hardships

        are the evidences that God is against us or does not exist.  

     4. But the Word says that temptations are the trying of your faith that develops

         patience, and patience make you perfect and lacking nothing. James 1:2-4

 B. God said that He would never leave you of forsake you.

     1. We have this promise from God that He is working with us to prefect us

          through our trials and tribulations.

     2. Believers must be able to see the work of God through their troubles.

 

V:10. " We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus

  may also be revealed in our body."

 A. We must believe that Jesus died for us.

     1. We must believe that the only way for us to have a relationship with Father is

          through faith in the death of Jesus for our sins.

     2. We are dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus.

 B. Jesus humbled himself to the Father by being nailed to the cross as a curse for sin,

      even though He is equal to the Father.  Phil 2:6

    1. We are eternally alive in Jesus.

         a. Even though we are dead to the world, we are alive in Christ.

    2. People we come in contact with need to hear this testimony directly from us.

    3. We must always be ready to defend our faith.  Phil 1:17

 

 V:11. " 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."

  A. Our life should be nothing but a testimony for what we have received from Christ.

       1. We are in a war with Satan.

       2. We must beat our bodies into submission so that the light of Jesus can shine  

            through us.

  B. The world must see in us the character of Christ.

     1. When Jesus is projected through us, the world will see his light.

     2. When we can maintain our Christian attitude under trials Christ is magnified.

     3. When we can bless when we are curse Christ is magnified.

     4. When we have hope with no end is in sight, Christ is magnified.

 

 V:12. " So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. "

   A. When the world can see the Cross in us, then Christ will be at work in them.

        1. When the world sees a change in us because of our faith in Christ, the Word

            is having it's effect.

        2. There is life in  the Word.

        3. There is light in the Word.

        4. There is salvation in the Word.

        5. There is hope in the Word.

   B. Our increasing faith through trials and tribulation is the evidence that God is at

       work in us.

       1. When we express Christian attitudes under pressure, the world learns from us.

       2. When we are joyful in trials, the world learns Jesus Joy.

 

V:13. "It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak. "

 A. King David expressed his trust in God to be his deliverer in Psalms 116.

     1. When we trust in God, we can see that all things work together for our good.

     2. God works  not for our good only, but also that others can see that our faith in

         God is profitable for the soul.

      3. When others are enlighten and drawn to God, He is glorified.

 B. What God did for David, He will also do for us.

     1. In Psalms, David left his testimony to the goodness of God.

     2. We should be a living testimony to the goodness of God.

 

 V:14. " Because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also

  raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence."

 A. It was by the Spirit that seed of Jesus was planted in the human body of Mary.

     1. It was by the same spirit that Jesus was comforted through His troubling time

         on earth.

     2. It was by that same spirit that Jesus was raised from the dead and seated at the

         right hand of the Father.

 B.   It is by the same spirit of faith that we are raised with Christ from eternal death

        into eternal life.

     1. We are a living testimony to the power of God to change lives from

         death  and destruction to one of life and enlightenment.  

 V:15. " All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more

   people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."

   A. All of our suffering for Christ benefits other believers and nonbelievers.

       1. God has designed the events of our lives to be the  help in building the body of

           Christ.

       2. We were called out of the world to be God's vessels holding on to the truth

            of the death and resurrection of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

       3. Our knowledge about the Word of God should benefit not only ourselves, but

           others in the body of Christ and those predestined to be drawn to him.

  B. We should be joyful and give thanks for those who are drawn to Christ by our

       Christian service.

      1. The grace of God continues to flow out to other locations  by our

          witness , service and devotion to the great commission of Jesus to take

           the Gospel to the ends of the earth. 

 

LET US BE JOYFUL AND THANKFUL THAT GOD CHOSE US TO BE HIS WITNESSES.

 

Rev. M. Mitchell,  Ass Pastor of GMBC.