Life in the church is not about image. It’s not about how we look. It’s not about making a big impression.

Life in the church is first and foremost about letting the power of God shine through us. [READ 2 Cor. 4: 7-12]

Life is all about God

It’s not about us. It’s not about how we look, individually or as a church. It’s not about preserving the clay pot.

It’s all about letting the treasure of God shine through. It’s all about God being seen and active.

It doesn’t matter if our pot is cracked, full of holes, or ugly. It doesn’t matter if we look pretty good. What matters is to what extent we are able to “show off” the treasure of God, the activity of God in us.

Because of the strong desire to look ok, our strong desire to not be a cracked pot, the church sometimes tries to present a lie.

We’re tempted to put on the appearance that we’ve got it all together. That we don’t struggle. We don’t doubt. We don’t wrestle with doing things that we wish we didn’t do.

People who don’t know God aren’t impressed by our pretending. Instead, when they walk into that kind of church, they feel out of place, inadequate, and unwelcome. Even other Christians look around at all these seemingly perfect pots, and feel like something must be wrong with them, because they aren’t perfect.

Perfect lives that don’t struggle are not the best way to show off the treasure of God. The truth of the matter is, God is most clearly seen and most clearly experienced…God is best shown off in pots that are beaten and cracked, not beautifully sculpted and designed ones.

“In my weakness, Christ is strong.” When we are honest and open about our struggles, when we stop putting our energy into making what’s on the outside look attractive, then the true treasure of God within us can begin to shine through. It is then that we experience the deep healing of God.

It is then that others look at us and see God. And, when they see the power of God at work in our imperfect but open and honest lives, they want it. They want God to move in their lives. They want that treasure for themselves.

Several years ago, I saw this come to life.

When we were in Boise, we had a group of High Schoolers from our Yearly Meeting minister to us through music and drama. After the service, they spent the night at the church.

One of the members was a girl I knew from my days here as a children’s pastor. I was her pastor when she was in 5^th grade. That night, she was at a point of real struggle with doubts about her faith, serious questions about the very existence of God that were deepened by having a dad who was a devout atheist.

As several of us talked and were willing to share times in our lives where we had doubted God, she began to open up. We continued to share about the healing that God had brought to us.

She had serious intellectual questions about the existence of God, but it wasn’t intellectual answers she was looking for. She wanted to find real people who had struggles like her. And, she also found people whom God had healed in the midst of their questions and brokenness. The treasure of God began to shine through, and that night proved to be a turning point for her in her relationship with God.

Take a look at this painting [Powerpoint].

It’s by a friend of mine, Melanie Weidner, and it’s called Fill.

Sometimes I think it’s my beautiful pot, my life that is so together, that God is going to use. And when I find things in my life that are going wrong-impatience, failure, frustration, arrogance, sin-I panic and think God can’t use me. I think my pot is broken and empty and will drain out, that I won’t have anything left to give.

But it isn’t about me. It’s about God. And God’s treasure, God’s power, God’s healing touch, can never run dry. That’s what I love about this painting. These panels show my fear, and lead to God’s healing. God’s waters are much deeper than my cracks and failures.

I want to give you some time to reflect about your own life. Where do you identify with this passage of Scripture? Use the silence to think and pray. Carefully examine this picture if you want. And, as we’re inviting God into our thoughts, the ushers will be passing out a piece of broken clay pot that we’ll talk about at the end of the message. [GIVE SPACE]

Sometimes we’re very frantic about keeping up the appearance of our pot.

Our kids are almost all grown out of them, but the Alfie and Annie Rose books are favorites at our house [SHOW SLIDE]. Their neighbor is a great example of frantic, futile energy… that misses the point.

[CLICK] In one story, Alfie sees water dripping from the ceiling, and tells his babysitter Maureen. Maureen calls next door for her mom, Mrs. McNally, who scurries here and there… [CLICK] “It’s ruining your mother’s floor! Fetch some towels, Maureen!” She’s busy “emptying brimming bowls”, all to no avail.

[CLICK] It’s Maureen who saves the day, going to get her dad to shut off the water. The problem of the burst pipe…[ CLICK] …is solved. [CLICK] Sometimes, we have to forget about appearances and get to the heart of what’s causing the problem. [CLICK]

We can go to all kinds of trouble to make sure that we look ok, without really dealing with the root issue. We can base our decisions in life not on what God is doing, but on what makes our image look ok.

Our decisions can’t be based upon how our image, our pot, will be preserved. We can’t make decisions based on how it will improve how the pot looks. We’ve got to get out of the first frame of Melanie’s painting…otherwise we’ll run dry! [CLICK]

God doesn’t need our frantic activity to make sure our church looks ok. God can take care of us, and God can take care of himself.

What we come back to is a deep and profound truth, one I see God reminding me of over and over again: It isn’t about me and my pot, or us and our image as a church.

It is about being obedient to God and open to God to such an extent that it is the treasure within that shines through, and not the pot.

It’s about God, not me. And that is both a word of correction, and a word of complete hope and joy.

It is a word of correction…

…because what God does through us or through me isn’t because my clay is so beautiful. It is because the treasure of God is so good and powerful.

Our scurrying and bustling and hustling and frantic energy to change the world aren’t helpful. God isn’t frantic. That energy too often is going to improve the image of a pot. God wants to correct our paranoia about our image, because it isn’t about us.

But it is also such a profound word of hope to say it’s about God not me.

It means I don’t have to do it. I can’t do it. We can’t do it. We cannot make this church last forever, or change Newberg, or do any of the good things that we would like to do by ourselves. But God can.

God’s treasure is bright and rich and powerful and sustaining and life changing. As we quit worrying about our pot and start focusing on listening to and obeying God, that treasure begins to shine through us more brightly, and moves powerfully through us. It is hopeful to know and act as if it is about God and not me.

Caryl Menkhus, Pastor at Camas Friends Church, gave me a great word picture.

She said that worship, our encounter with God, is simply striving for a thin place between us and God.

So many things make the space between God and us thick. Disobedience. Selfishness. Pain. Hurt. Anger. Apathy. The part that fits in with our theme today is that sometimes our concern about preserving our pot, our concern about our image, can itself create a thick space between us and God.

As we strive to make the appearance of our pot ok, we are doing what is only God’s job to do. We are doing the impossible. And our efforts and energy actually make the space between ourselves and God thicker. It makes it harder for God to actually work in our lives.

An open, honest, even a leaking pot before God is at a very thin place. It knows it cannot do its job. It cannot hold together. It cannot be strong and self-sufficient. It can’t do anything except let the treasure of God leak through and around and out of its broken pieces.

And it is then that the presence of God, the treasure of God, heals. It fills us. It floats us. It sustains us. And others can then see the power and the treasure of God at work.

Look back at 2 Corinthians. The treasure we have is the power of God to make us into his own likeness!

How do we let the treasure of God shine through?

We have to start with the belief that God wants to be active in our lives every day of the week. We have to take Jesus’ words seriously that he came so that we would follow him completely. Being a part of a church is not about image.

It’s not about what our attendance is, or how our building looks, or having reputable people as a part of our congregation.

All of those things are about the pot, not the treasure of God. God wants to move in us at a much deeper level than that. God wants to bring healing in our lives, emotional and spiritual and physical healing. God wants our lives to find purpose and meaning, by joining with him to make God’s Kingdom a reality.

If we believe God is at work in us, we’ll strive to make choices that are in line with God’s direction.

We can’t continue making the same choices we’ve always made in our lives and then complain that God isn’t at work in us.

We must be willing to change and choose to obey God. That’s part of letting God’s treasure shine through, because as we obey God, God works within us. The treasure begins to gleam and shine.

Then, we have to be willing to share with others what God is doing in our lives.

Sometimes that simply comes one on one, in the friendships that we have. Sometimes that comes in our gathered meetings for worship on Sundays.

It’s not preaching. It’s not acting like we’re better than everybody else. We simply are called to live lives that are being transformed by God, lives that are being changed, and then being willing to give God the credit for it.

That’s this whole passage in a nutshell.

Don’t worry about how you appear. Focus on being someone in whom God is working. Let God change you, and then be willing to let God have the credit, rather than taking that credit yourself.

As we become a group of people who are like that, God’s treasure will shine through more and more brightly. And that is exactly what we want. It doesn’t matter if our pots are chipped, cracked, rusty, or even if they are ugly 70’s style avocado green. If God is shining through our changed lives, we’re doing our job. We don’t have to worry about how our church appears.

If God’s treasure is showing through our changed lives, people will want to be a part of what we’re doing. We won’t have to worry about numbers and all the “image” that entails. Because as we become people who don’t have to appear perfect, who are willing to share our struggles and also share and show how God is at work healing those things, people will feel at home. They’ll want to get to know us. They’ll want to know how they can have some of this treasure, too.

Will you stand with me?

Take your piece of cracked jar home with you, remembering that it isn’t the outside of things that matters.

When you feel ugly, or cracked, or broken, remember the hope that Paul gives to us: it is exactly in those moments of brokenness that God’s power and treasure shine through.

God is at work among us. Let’s let that work shine.