A man with broken arms went to see the doctor.

Man: “Can I play piano after my hands are healed?”

Doctor: “Yes you can”

Man: “Amazing, I couldn’t play piano before”.

Who has ever broken something? Sometimes the bone has to go and be reset. Sometimes it has to even be rebroken. Here’s how God works. You must first be broken in order to be made whole. This sermon…and the content within it is going to be somewhat like resetting a broken bone. It may not be pleasant, but it is necessary for our growth and vitality.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

We won’t be dwelling on verses 7-9, but we see some of Paul’s heart and resolve in his following of Christ. It’s because Paul shares in Christ’s sufferings that his own are a benefit to others. When you live as one who is unbroken though this world should have broken you, you know what you are doing? You are demonstrating Christ.

Think about Jesus! If anybody was afflicted, crushed, perplexed, driven to despair, persecuted, and struck down, it’s Jesus! It’s the whole reason He came! Listen to what is said about Him 700 years before He came.

Isaiah 53:3-53 He was despised and rejected by men,    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;and as one from whom men hide their faces    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs    and carried our sorrows;yet we esteemed him stricken,    smitten by God, and afflicted.5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;    he was crushed for our iniquities;upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,    and with his wounds we are healed.

Think about this. What’s the worst the world can do to you? Kill you? They can only put you to death. God’s power is able to raise the dead! That’s why Paul is not completely crushed. He knows that when he is crushed, God will bring resurrection.

Here’s what I want to talk about…how do you carry around in the body the death of Jesus? He says that is how the life of Jesus is brought forth and manifested in us. So, what does it mean and what does it look like to carry around in the body the death of Jesus?

We are going to see, hopefully, what it means to die. To die to self. To carry with us the death of Christ. And, hopefully, by the end of this message, you will say, “Pastor Jacob, I want to die.” *haha*

We should carry around the memory of Jesus’ death. We should never forget the death of Jesus. Death is one of those things that you can’t shake. If you’ve seen it, it is etched in your mind forever. But we so often forget the death of Jesus. Remember. Remember what it is that hung Him on that cross. Every single one of your sins. Remember the pain and agony that He endured. Hebrews 6 talks about those people who have claimed Christ and then act and live as if He doesn’t exist and have fallen away from Him, it says they are crucifying Jesus all over again. It is your sin that nailed Him there. Not just all your sins of the past, but the next sin you are going to commit again. Another blow of the hammer onto that nail in His hands. Another spear in His side.

When we remember the death of Jesus, it should cause us to HATE our sin. I remember after my sister died, I went through a phase where I would say to myself, “I HATE SIN.” Because of what Romans 5 says,

Romans 5:12 – Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because