The band, Jars of Clay, got their name from the Bible. Perhaps you knew that, but perhaps you haven’t known where in the Bible that name came from or really understood the full meaning of that expression. It comes from 2 Corinthians 4:7. We’re clay jars. The gospel is the treasure on display in our lives.

On Sunday we’ll hear the second message in a four part series, Treasure in Jars of Clay, a complement to our previous series in Job. This series takes us to the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians for some of the Bible’s most important and full teaching on the subject of suffering in Christian life.

One thing that we learn from the book of Job that becomes even more profoundly clear as the Bible unfolds is God’s purpose to make himself known in and through the suffering of his people. Here’s how Ryan put it on Sunday:

Imagine a mother whose baby is never sick, in need, crying, or hurting. Most moms, if given the choice, would probably want that kind of baby, for mom’s own sanity and out of love for her baby, wanting the baby to never have to suffer. But in such an imaginary world, there are certain motherly instincts and characteristics that that un-needy baby would never know; that a watching world would never see. A mother’s soft arms, and gentle-yet-secure embrace, her prayers over an injury, her sweet singing to quiet her baby’s crying — these will never be experienced. The baby might grow up to hear in theory that mom is a tender care-taker, compassionate, but if there are no tears to wipe, if there is no restlessness to console, no booboos to kiss, there is a part of that mom that the baby never experiences.

Now, no mom is glad her baby is hurting so that she can comfort him or her. But let’s not forget that the Bible tells us everywhere that God is intent to show us who he is and what he’s like. There are verses all over the Bible which tell us of God doing this or that for his glory, his fame, his name. Isaiah 48:9-12, for example: “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it . . . for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.”

In other words, as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

This Sunday’s message, “Redemptive Suffering,” will be from 2 Corinthians 2:1-11. Read ahead, invite a friend, and we’ll see you on Sunday.