“God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:6-76For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. (2 Corinthians 4:6‑7)). What is that treasure and why call it a treasure? What is a treasure? It is something we value, something the heart is set upon. The blessed Savior said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” and when we have a treasure, we have that which is valued. The heart is occupied with it.
What is this treasure it speaks of? It says we have it in earthen vessels. The vessels, we find further down in this chapter, are these poor bodies — of the earth, earthy. Should the Lord not come to redeem them in a little while, they will return to the earth from which they were taken, in which case God’s power in resurrection will come in and bring them out of the dust again. In the natural course of things, the earthen vessel is simply these poor bodies.
This treasure is simply Christ as life and eternal life. Real Christians are those who know Christ as their Savior, Christ as their life, Christ as their righteousness, Christ now and Christ forever. In God’s sight, whatever you may be in the sight of this world, you are not a Christian if you do not know Christ as your Savior. What is a Christian? He is one that knows and confesses and follows Christ. The disciples or believers were first called Christians at Antioch, not Jerusalem, and that is what a Christian is. He is a confessor of and a follower (in some feeble measure, more or less, but a follower) of Christ. He owns Him as his Lord, as his Savior, as his Example.
How far, fellow-Christian, is the truth that Christ is our Savior and the truth that we have eternal life and shall never perish — how far is that a treasure to your soul? It is not a mere doctrine, not merely resting in the satisfaction that you shall never perish. In the way of Scripture, it does not ask what is that truth to your conscience, but to your heart. Is it a treasure? Dear fellow-Christians, in a very special way, the ministry of the truth of God among Christians should be ministry for the heart. God wants your heart! But His way of getting at the heart is through the conscience. God never stops His work in the conscience. It is conscience that makes us know what we are in the sight of God and that makes us know our need of His grace — our need of the Savior He has found for us.
W. Potter