It is critically important that Christians have a proper view of themselves in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Our responsibility is to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4 can help us to keep it all in perspective.
We are to preach “Christ Jesus as Lord” (4:5), for that is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” in the midst of a world of darkness (4:6). The message of Christ is so desperately needed and so enormously valuable that it is called the “treasure” (4:7). This is all that matters, “that the excellence of the power may be of God” (4:7).
Now, how do we fit? “We do not preach ourselves” (4:5)—it’s not about us! We preach ourselves as “bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (4:5). We are to simply reflect (not create ourselves) “the light” that God “has shone in our hearts” (4:6). God wanted it to be so obvious that the saving power of the gospel was “of God and not of us” (4:7) that He put His most valuable treasure in the hands of “earthen (i.e., breakable, of little value) vessels” (4:7).