It is a great thing for Christians to remember that God has not introduced grace and His Son and Spirit to make us get along easily in this world, but to bring us to the enjoyment of heavenly things and to live in them. What characterizes a man is what his mind is on, and then all his ways flow from that.
Paul says that we “in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened” — that is all we have in this world. Redemption being settled, we find difficulties and exercises come in, and the Apostle gives us in 2 Corinthians 4:12 what the principle and power of his walk is. What we are called to is the manifestation of the life of Christ; our whole life is to be nothing but that. God is revealed, we have life, and the Holy Spirit is our power; we are set here as the epistles of Christ, for men to read. While waiting for Christ to manifest Himself in glory, we have to manifest Him in grace.
It is not pleasant to do well and suffer for it, but is it not what Christ did? It is what we have to do in lowliness and meekness. He first gives us a place in heaven, and then He sets us down here to do that. We have the knowledge of God and power to walk in this world; in addition, heavenly things are revealed — the things that belong to the place in which we are. “We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given us of God” (1 Cor. 2:12). There we are to live and get the motive that characterizes us as Christians. If that were always so, we should be always really epistles of Christ — in our houses, in our dress, in our everyday life, in all the things that are the expression of a man’s heart. Is Christ the motive in everything we do? If not, we tend to leave Him for some vanity or other. What every Christian has to do is to commend himself “to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2), that if they judge him, it should be for consistency.
His holiness, His majesty and His love have shined into our hearts that we may give it out. That is very simple, but it is not all. It is God’s way to put this in an earthen vessel. The Apostle does not speak here of wickedness, but weakness. It is not a question of sin or failure, but of the path of the Christian as such. The first element is that he has the whole glory of God revealed, but it is in this earthen vessel, “that the excellency of the power may be of God” — constant dependence.
The Vessel
Wonderful as the treasure is, He has put it in a place which, to man’s eye, is unfit for it. Therefore, in our lives we get these two elements: all the glory of God revealed in our hearts, but put purposely in earthen vessels, because we need to learn what poor, weak creatures we are. Peter said, “I will lay down my life for Thy sake” (John 13:37). We all know what happened. The flesh is treacherous, and it comes out even when we are seeking to serve Christ honestly, as Peter was. God puts the treasure in this vessel that it may learn itself, and we must learn it. We may earnestly go and preach Christ, but if we have not learned ourselves, there is some confidence in self, and we make mistakes. We must keep watching the flesh, for we know what it is; then we lean on a strength that is not ours. We wait for God’s direction and guidance, for we know ourselves in such a way as not to have confidence in ourselves, but rather in Christ.
Paul had a thorn in the flesh; he had to be kept down that he might know it was not the capacity of Paul, but that the power of Christ might rest upon him. He lived in the consciousness that the Lord was always there, and he wanted Him. Even in sincerity of heart we are apt to go on as if we did not want the Lord, and where there is not that dependence, there will be failure. We cannot do anything without Him, and we are slow to learn it.
There are two remedies for this. First, “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:10). If we applied the cross to every thought that arises in our hearts, the flesh would never put up a thought at all. If I let my body live, there is flesh. In order to manifest Christ always, I hold the flesh dead. That is our part in faith. Then comes the second thing — God’s part. “We which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11). However faithful we are, God has to help us; He cannot trust us.
The Heart
The glory has shined into our hearts, but He puts it in an earthen vessel, because our hearts have to learn what we are. No will of man, no thought from the vanity of this world, can be allowed — nothing that does not suit this treasure. There are things that do not take the form of gross evil, but that are not Christ. Is our speech “alway with grace, seasoned with salt”? When I apply the cross of Christ, it stops the moving of my heart. We can bless God for it. He puts down the flesh that wants putting down. “Death worketh in us, but life in you.” Death was working in Paul, and nothing but life worked as regards others. Oh that it were so with us!
The practical effect of it is, “All things are for your sakes.” When self is down, we begin to think the thoughts of God, and everything is for us. He makes everything work together for our good — every circumstance in our lives. Whatever is needed for that, He will do. If I am in His path, He helps me on, but I must be there with His strength. Every trouble gives the apprehension of what is to come, but the inward man is not touched; he is “renewed day by day,” and we get blessing by these very things.
Are we ready to take this place, willing to be under God’s hand, and saying, “I want to get Christ, to win Him, and here I have one thing to do — to manifest Christ”? Are we willing to have our flesh put down? What Satan seeks to get us to have, even ever so little, is confidence in the flesh. Do we say, “Let the vessel be dealt with as He will, in whatever He sees needed, so that Christ may be manifested, whether by life or by death”? May that be the desire of our hearts.
J. N. Darby, adapted