Knocked Down, But Not Knocked Out

Introduction – Turn to 2 Corinthians 4

1. Example – A New York City lawyer traveled to South Texas to do some dove

hunting. He shot a dove and when it fell in a nearby pasture, the lawyer climbed

the fence to retrieve his bird. As he walked through the pasture, the rancher who

owned the property came driving up on a tractor. He asked the hunter, “What

are you doing on my property?” The lawyer said, “I shot a dove, and I’m going

to go get it.”

1. The rancher said, “This is my private property, so you can just get off of it right

now.” The hunter said, “I’ll have you know that I’m a lawyer from New York

City, and if you don’t let me get my bird, I’ll sue you for everything you’ve

got.”

2. The rancher said, “Down here in Texas, we settle disputes with the Texas

three-kick rule.” The lawyer said, “What’s that?” The rancher said, “Well, I

kick you three times, then you kick me three times, then I kick you three times,

and so on until one man gives up.”

3. The lawyer looked at the old rancher and thought, “I’m stronger and younger

than this old man. I can take him easily.” The rancher climbed off the tractor

and walked toward the lawyer. Before the lawyer could prepare, the rancher

planted the tip of his old cowboy boot in the middle of the lawyer’s shin.

4. Then the rancher kicked the lawyer in his mid-section knocking the breath out

of him. When he fell to his knees, the rancher kicked him on the side of the

head. The lawyer lay there in pain for a few minutes, but then he got to his feet

and said, “Now it’s my turn! I’ll show you how we kick in New York.” As the

lawyer moved toward him, the rancher smiled and said, “Naw. I give up. Go

get your dove.”

1. When we’ve been knocked down physically, it stuns us and leaves us in a daze.
2. Example – Preaching in Opp and looking through the doors to see where they

were in the service. Boom! Door to the head. Jay Mikel was leading singing and

saw me stumble back, feet flying in the air and the door close. He looked down

at Tia with a big smile across his face. She had no idea until I came down the

aisle before the sermon with a band aid on my forehead.

1. But being knocked down spiritually, mentally, and emotionally can be more

difficult to handle than a punch to the jaw. AND these times can come when

we least expect them. We are blind-sided, much like a door to the forehead.

1. Put of the frustration is that we want to kick back (like the lawyer in the

earlier story) because we’ve been wounded and hurt. But we know that

“kicking back” won’t help anything.

1. Good news is that though we are knocked down on occasion, we are NOT

knocked out. Here’s what the apostle Paul had to say:

1. 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 – But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this

all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on

every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not

abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our

body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our

body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’

sake, so that his life may revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work

in us, but life is at work in you.”

1. Paul says we are jars of clay. I’m not the first preacher to say that what Paul

really means is: we are cracked pots! We are broken pieces of pottery yet God

chooses to display His purposes through our imperfections.

1. In fact, we are much like a container that houses the treasure of Jesus Christ.
2. Example – Minister David Dykes says, “Sometimes you can find treasure inside

the most ordinary things. There was a couple in Lander, Wyoming who visited

the local garbage dump to dispose of some trash. As they were dumping their

trash they saw someone had discarded the headboard to an old wooden bed. The

couple took the headboard thinking they might be able to restore it. The

headboard was extremely heavy and as they were loading it into their truck, a

wooden plug on the bottom of the one of the bedposts came off. From inside the

headboard, which had been hollowed out, a large amount of old gold coins came

spilling out. Both legs of the old headboard had been hollowed out and

contained a fortune in gold coins dating to the 19th century.”

1. We can find treasure in some of the most unlikely places, can’t we?
2. Let me be clear. I am NOT suggesting that Christians are God. But, God does

want us to be image bearers of His son Jesus and to communicate His message.

1. Even though we are flawed, or in this case, cracked, as Paul suggests, we can

still be used to display the character of Jesus and share the gospel.

1. But this doesn’t come without trials and difficulties and challenges. We are

like clay in the hands of a potter. We are not perfect but the potter is seeking

to shape us into what we need to be.

1. This doesn’t happen without some pain, grief and heartache along the way.
2. In our lesson, we want to examine HOW we get these cracks and then WHY

God uses pain to make us better vessels of service.

Body

1. God permits us to be cracked but not crushed.
2. Paul mentions four sources of pain in his life that we may experience too.
3. Number One – We may be cracked by personal pressures.
4. Paul says, “we are hard pressed on every side; but not crushed.”
5. The word “pressed” is a word meaning to be confined on every side. Have you

ever felt as if all the walls of your life are closing in on you?

3. There may be different reasons people feel this kind of pressure. It could be

pressure you feel at work/job; or pressure at school; or pressure at home; or

an unbearable financial pressure that weighs on you heavily.

1. Several years ago, people would often have an “IN” basket and an “OUT”

basket on their desks to keep things under control and organized.

1. Example – One guy was so overwhelmed by the work he had to do, he

decided that the “in” and “out” baskets on his desk weren’t sufficient.

Instead, he labeled them: Urgent, Frantic, Overdue, Forget it.

1. That might be the way some of us want to handle personal pressures.
2. Yet, we need to hear an uncomfortable truth at this point: God’s goal is NOT

to make our lives easy! The heretical “prosperity gospel” that God wants to

just make our lives easier and more prosperous is false.

5. If we were honest, most of us would admit that we are blessed beyond

measure by the Lord. BUT, we know that there are going to be rough times

in our lives, some of which may come unexpectedly.

6. Paul is saying, “Yes, we are going to be pressured, but God’s word promises

us that we won’t be destroyed. You may be cracked but not crushed.”

1. Number Two – We may be cracked by personal frustrations.
2. Paul wrote that he had been “perplexed, but not in despair.” This word

“perplexed” was used to describe someone who had been ruined in business

and his creditors had left him with nothing. This person was at his wit’s end

and couldn’t figure out what to do next.

2. I think Paul was bewildered because he was suffering so much when he was

trying to serve God. After all, it seems logical that if you love God dearly and

follow God sincerely, then life should be fine and dandy. But we know it

doesn’t work that way.

3. Guess what? Even the best of God’s people have had second thoughts.
4. When John the Baptist was in prison, he sent word to Jesus asking, “Are you

really the Messiah, or should we look for someone else?” This was the very

same guy who baptized Jesus and saw heaven opened and heard the voice of

God speaking, “This is my well beloved Son, listen to him.”

5. And yet, John was perplexed, and had to ask if Jesus was really the Messiah.
6. It’s okay to ask questions, as long as we don’t allow our frustrations to turn

into despair.

7. If you remember Job, he asked a lot of questions about why he was suffering.
8. God came to Job and started asking a series of questions Himself. Basically

God said, “Job, when you can answer my questions, THEN I’ll answer

yours!”

9. And yet in spite of Job’s perplexing situation, he never gave in to despair. By

faith Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13:15)

10. Life can be so frustrating that we find ourselves cracking under the

uncertainties. We may be cracked, but we won’t be crushed. We may be

perplexed, but we don’t ever have to be in despair.

1. Number Three – We may be cracked by personal attacks.
2. Paul wrote that he had been “persecuted, but not abandoned.” The word

“persecuted” referred to the practice of hunters tracking down an animal.

2. Paul understood this word better than we do, because during his ministry there

was a group of radical, militant Jews who followed him from town to town

trying to have him arrested and punished.

3. Persecution against Christians in America is more subtle. Most of the

persecution we receive comes from people who use taunts, slander, and

criticism to attack us for our faith.

4. Maybe you know what it is to have friends or family members ridicule you

because of your faith. Every time they make a sarcastic, cutting remark you

feel hairline cracks appearing in your faith.

5. Loving people is quite easy when they treat you right and treat you with the

proper amount of respect.

6. But what happens when we aren’t treated in a good way? What happens when

others don’t treat us with respect?

7. Example – What happens when you’re like the lady I heard about—her

husband gave her a fully paid funeral plan for her birthday (a cemetery lot,

nice casket, etc.). At her next birthday, her husband didn’t get her anything!

She asked him, “Why didn’t I get a present this year?” Her husband said,

“Because you didn’t use what I gave you last year!”

8. Matthew 5:43-45a; 46-47 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love you

neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for

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If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the

tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are

you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”

9. We may be attacked, but we will never be abandoned by God. We have to

take the high road and do the radical things Jesus says to do. BTW, most

people who attack us, aren’t properly dealing with stuff in their own lives.

1. Number Four – We may be cracked by personal failures.
2. Paul says that he had been “struck down but not destroyed.”
3. The word for “struck down” came from the gladiatorial games when a

fighter had been pinned by his opponent waiting for the thumbs up or

thumbs down signal. Many times the signal was a thumbs down.

3. Paul had been knocked down many times, but he had never been knocked

out! He realized he wasn’t a perfect, flawless vessel.

4. Romans 7:15; 18-19; 21 (NLT) – “I don’t really understand myself, for I want

to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. I want to do

what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to

do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. I have discovered this principle of life—

that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.”

5. All of us can relate to Paul, can’t we? Many things in life have knocked us

down and some of them are our own bad choices. The devil wants us to

STAY DOWN. But we have to GET BACK UP!

6. Example – In 1976 an unknown writer and actor by the name of Sylvester

Stallone presented a script about an underdog boxer named Rocky Balboa.

After being turned down several times, a studio took a chance and made the

film in 28 days at the very low cost of $1.2 million.

Rocky won best picture in 1976 and grossed over $117 million. There have

been many sequels but I personally loved #4 where he beat the Russian Ivan

Drago. Rocky was knocked down so many times and gotten back up that by

the end of the fight, even the Russians were yelling, “Rocky! Rocky!”

7. What was special about Rocky? He just wouldn’t quit! He would get knocked

down and get back up and kept fighting. He even LOST to Apollo Creed in

first movie (and yelled, “Adrian” at the end). But we were inspired by

someone who got knocked down but kept getting back up.

8. Good news: We are in a fight, but it’s a fixed fight! We win in the end, and

our victory is absolutely certain. Before the final round, we’re going to be

knocked down, but we won’t be knocked out.

9. When it’s time for us to leave the ring, can we say like Paul, “I have fought

a good fight?” OR will we throw in the towel and quit?

10. I beg you to stand up and to stand firm and believe the promises of God! We

can all survive the experiences that threaten to crack us.

1. God has a purpose in our pain.
2. It’s a question that never goes away. We look around us and we see all of the

tragedy and struggles that we (or others) are experiencing and we wonder:

“Why God are you allowing these bad things to happen to good people?”

1. There are so many things God wants us to discover when pain comes our way.
2. Number One – Pain forces us to rely on God alone.
3. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul wrote about WHY he faced such pain and pressure.
4. 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 (NLT) – “We think you ought to know, dear brothers and

sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were

crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we

would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we

stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the

        dead.”

3. Please note what we just read! “Rely ONLY on God, who raises the dead!”
4. If God can raise the dead, why would any of us rely on anything or anyone

other than Him? What it is that God can’t do? Nothing!

5. Maybe you are in a tight spot right now and it feels like the world is caving

in around you. Maybe God is trying desperately to get your attention.

Maybe it’s because you are running away from God and His purposes for

your life.

6. Like Jonah, we want to run and hide from God. But then we found ourselves

in a tight spot, wondering what we should do. Jonah 2:1 – “From inside the

fish Jonah cried out to the Lord his God.”

7. Some of us are so stubborn, we wait until we get to a point of total

desperation before we ever cry out to God.

1. Number Two – Pain focuses our attention on heaven.
2. The beauty of this passage is how Paul speaks the truth about the reality

of facing big challenges in life but then he also speaks words of comfort.

2. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT) – “That is why we never give up. Though our

bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present

troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory

that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the

troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.

For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will

last forever.”

3. What a pity it is to think that so many people today (especially Americans)

believe that this life is this only life they’ll ever have. I can’t imagine

living each day like that.

4. But for the Christian, when the outlook is bad, we focus on the “up look.”
5. When the pain is almost too much to bear, when you feel like you can’t stop

crying, when your heart is burdened and weighed down with suffering of

life, concentrate on heaven.

6. Revelation 21:4 (New Life version) – “God will take away all their tears.

There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All the old things

have passed away.”

7. Example – One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and

writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven and the

prophets’ version of the end of all things. “It seems too good to be true,” the

son said at one point. A smile crossed MacDonald’s whiskered face. “Nay,”

he replied, “It is just so good it must be true!”

1. Number Three – Pain forms us to be more like Christ.
2. Paul wrote, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that

the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

2. It’s a challenge, isn’t it? We want a pain free life and yet the only way we

can display the same Christ-like attitude is through suffering. Can we pray

the following prayer of Paul?

3. Philippians 3:10 – “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his

resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him

in his death.” (The way to become like Christ is to share his sufferings.)

4. Example – Joni Eareckson Tada, who was paralyzed from the shoulders down

after a diving accident, said this, “When life is rosy we may slide by without

knowing about Jesus, with imitating Him and quoting Him and speaking of

Him. But only in suffering will we KNOW Jesus.”

5. It’s hard to hear but it’s so true: Christ like character cannot be formed in our

lives without suffering. Whole, unbroken, prideful and self-centered people

are of little use to God!

Conclusion

1. There are many of us who feel like “cracked pots” today. Some of us have more

“cracks” than others.

1. Good news: God delights in using cracked pots because those cracks allow His

light to shine forth.

1. Some are feeling a lot of pressure right now. Some are struggling and hurting

because of all the personal pain they’re having to endure.

1. I want to encourage you to hang in there and endure. You may be pressured, but

you WON’T be crushed; you may be perplexed, but you WON’T be left in

despair; you may be attacked and persecuted, but you WON’T be abandoned by

God; you might even be knocked down, but you WON’T be knocked out!

1. Let me use a borrowed illustration to drive this point home.
2. Example – Two Coke cans – On the surface they look the same. But there’s

a difference.

1. I’ll crush this one. Doesn’t take much strength because it’s empty. It’s open

to the world.

2. There’s no INTERNAL pressure to resist the OUTWARD pressure so it

collapses.

3. Sadly, this represents a person who is empty; living without Jesus. When

tough times come, they are crushed by the pressures of this world.

4. They can even claim to be a Christian, but there’s nothing on the inside. They

may advertise the name, but there’s nothing on the inside to live up to the

name on the outside.

1. Let me try to crush the other can. I can’t. Why? It’s full of something. It’s

full of the refreshing drink on the inside.

1. It can withstand external pressure because the drink on the inside not only

equals the external pressure, it exceeds it!

2. I could prove that by shaking up the can and popping the top. I won’t though!
3. Let this can represent a person who is full of the life of Jesus Christ.
4. The internal support Jesus gives is always stronger than the external pressures

of the world.

1. The Bible says, “Because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in

the world.” (1 John 4:4)

1. Jesus said, “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have

overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

2. So rejoice in the Lord, because you may get knocked down, but by the

powerful presence of Christ living in you, you’ll never be knocked out!

  – Associate/Family Minister