Second Corinthians 4:7 opens with the words, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels.” The word “but” indicates a contrast with what has gone before. In verse 6 Paul says, “Because the God Who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One Who shined in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” The phrase “this treasure” refers to verse 6. Because of the shining in our hearts, we have this treasure, a treasure that is wonderful, precious, and marvelous. However, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in something that is not at all marvelous. Because the treasure is in earthen vessels, Paul opens verse 7 with “but.”
All of verse 7 reads like this: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” The Greek word for excellence also means transcendence, surpassingness, exceeding greatness. The fact that we are earthen vessels proves that the excellence of the power is of God and not of us. Here Paul seems to be saying, “I am nothing more than an earthen vessel, low and worthless. In myself I am sinful, fallen, and low. How can such a person manifest the truth and shine forth the glory of the gospel? I do not have the power to do this. The excellence of the power is not of me—it is of God. Although I am a worthless earthen vessel, God has shined this precious treasure into me. Now this treasure becomes the source of the power energizing me and enabling me to shine forth God’s glory and to manifest the truth.”
Do you not have a divine motor within you? The marvelous treasure is now a heavenly motor empowering us from within. This motor may not trouble us while we are sleeping, but during the rest of the day it bothers us. Preachers often tell others that Christ will give peace. In my experience, He often does not give me peace. He gives me joy, but instead of giving me peace, He bothers me. If I do not go along with His inward bothering, I cannot have peace. Sometimes I cooperate with His bothering and have joy, but still there is no peace.
According to your experience, can you sit quietly at home and enjoy peace? Is it not true that the Lord often bothers you inwardly? Christ is a bothering One. This treasure is a living and active treasure operating within us. This treasure even constrains us to do certain things. According to 2 Corinthians 5, the love of Christ constrains us. Christ not only bothers us; He constrains us, pushes us on. This is the power, the source of strength, for the apostles to behave themselves in such a way as to shine the gospel and manifest the truth.
Beginning at verse 8 we see that the apostles did not live a glorious life, but a crucified life. To live a crucified life is to live a life under grinding. It is to be like grains under a grinding stone. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived a life under grinding. His mother, His brothers, all His disciples, and His opposers and persecutors functioned as grinding stones. Daily the Lord Jesus was under the grinding.
In grinding grain two stones may be used: a stationary stone on the bottom and a movable stone on the top. We may say that the Pharisees and Sadducees were the bottom stone for the Lord Jesus, and the top grinding stone, the movable stone, was His mother, brothers, and disciples. For grinding, the bottom stone needs a top stone to match it and cooperate with it. This means that the Lord’s mother, brothers, and disciples helped the Pharisees and Sadducees to grind the Lord Jesus.
Our experience today is the same in principle. Those who oppose the Lord’s recovery are the bottom stone, the stationary grinding stone. But our husband or wife, the elders in the church, the co-workers, and the saints are the top stone. Therefore, the members of our family and the saints in the church cooperate with the persecutors and opposers to put us under the grinding. Brothers, is it not your experience that your wife grinds you much more than the opposers do? Her criticism is a grinding. If it were not for the dear ones around us, the opposers would not be able to grind us. The real grinding comes from those close to us. The opposers simply lay the foundation for the grinding to take place. Once this foundation has been laid, your husband or wife or certain of the saints will do the actual grinding.
If you read the four Gospels again, you will see that it was those close to the Lord Jesus who caused Him to experience the grinding. When the Lord was persecuted, He was happy. But one day as He was preaching to the multitude, His friends thought He was beside Himself (Mark 3:21). At one point the Lord Jesus even asked, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” (Matt. 12:48). Then He said, “For whoever does the will of My Father Who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:50). Today we also experience grinding from those close to us, those who love us and care for us in a natural way.