Now
if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone,
came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of
Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the
Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious,
how much more abundant in glory is the ministry of righteousness! For what was
glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what
was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which
lasts!
Therefore,
since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would
put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the
radiance was fading away. (But their minds were made dull, for to this day the
same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed,
because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a
veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
taken away.) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes
from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
The Glory of the LORD is Meant
to Shine Through US
I. Whether we like it or not
In
Matthew
Do
you recognize that about yourself? Earlier
in this letter Paul described the Corinthians as his own personal letters which
he had sent out into the world, “known and read by everybody.”
(3:2) Isn’t that an
interesting way of describing this congregation? He turned each and every Corinthian into a
walking piece of paper with writing on it – a personal message from Paul and
the Holy Spirit to the world. It kind of
reminds me of how people today walk around with logo shirts and bumper stickers
– sayings which are nice and not so nice.
A lot of them are actually quite vulgar.
These sayings tell a lot about the people who wear them – whether they
are vulgar, immature, fans of a certain team, or even claiming
to be Christian. Paul said that the Corinthians were there to be Jesus’ human billboards to
I
ask you again, do you recognize that about yourself? Do you consider yourself – the way you talk
and the way you act – to be the “light of the world”? I guess one question would have to be, “How
do you judge such a thing? How do you
measure it?” Think of it within the
context of your role is in life. Are you
a father, mother, son, daughter, boss or employee? Have you been lazy in your role? Have you had a good attitude? Or have you been pessimistic? Angry? Do you perhaps get the job done in an
efficient manner - but do so in a way that nobody notices you at all? That’s better than slacking off. Yet you have to also ask yourself, “Is that what
a light does? Or isn’t a light meant to
be noticeable?”
You might proclaim, “I’m not the role model type. I don’t want people to notice me. I like to just blend into the
background. I’d rather just mind my own
business.” And so with that mindset we
end up with a congregation of individual Christians who only want to think
about themselves – what bills they are going to get paid, what homework they
are going to get done, how many hours they have to work, what vacation we will
take next, and we end up being a group of self centered individuals. We
forget about the fact that AS we do what we are called to do we are to let the
light of God’s grace shine through us – so that others are not attracted to us
but to Christ who shines through us.
We
also tend to use our sinfulness as an excuse.
“I’ve already blown it way too many times. I’m too sinful to let God’s light shine
through me.” So we never even attempt to change, because after all, “I’m not
the type – I’m just a run of the mill kind of guy. I just like getting along with everyone.” Some of us end up blending in so well that
many of our co-workers and friends would never peg us to be believers at
all. We complain with the best of
them. We abuse the system and lie about
sickness just like they do. What is
worse is that sometimes we even do this in the name of “evangelism,” convincing
ourselves that we are becoming all things to all people, while making no effort
to save anyone. In today’s text God’s
light was able to reflect through Moses – a sinful man. God’s light was not hampered in the least by
Moses’ sinful face. It doesn’t need to
be hampered by ours either. Jesus said,
(like it or not,) “you ARE the light of the world.” He wants to let His glory shine through
us.
II. It shines because of the ministry of
righteousness
Think of Moses. He
didn’t like it, but nonetheless he was chosen by God to go up
Exodus
34:29-35 When Moses came down from
Glorious
as it was, there were certain flaws with Moses’ ministry. One flaw was that it was “fading away” - just
like the glory of Moses’ face faded away.
It wasn’t meant to last forever.
Another problem was with the people.
Paul wrote, “Their minds were made dull, for to this day the same
veil remains when the old covenant is read. . . . Even to this day when Moses
is read, a veil covers their hearts.” As
they heard and read from the Law that Moses gave them they just didn’t get
it. Those who did obey the law thought
they would earn God’s favor through it.
A majority weren’t making the proper sacrifices. They weren’t obeying the laws that made them
lose money. They were misinterpreting
what they were supposed to be doing and doing it all wrong. Many
of them were just plain ignoring them because they felt they were too much
work. Even though the Law was a glorious
and God given thing, the ministry of Moses ended up making people either angry
or guilty. All the Law of Mt. Sinai
ended up doing was “condemn.”
The
ministry of the Spirit stood in complete contrast to the ministry of Moses. Its words had no requirements
whatsoever. The simple words were a
declaration of God – that sinners under the Law were no longer guilty because
of the sacrifice of Christ for their sins.
2 Corinthians
Remember,
this is what God declares. He is the
judge. He determines what He wants and
what He demands for heaven. Let me
illustrate it. When I had just turned 16
years old – a week after I got my license – I was pulled over for
speeding. I had no idea of how to deal
with a police officer. I tried to
convince him to let me off. He cut me
off tersely. Since he had the gun, the
badge – the power - I had no defense. I
had to slink back into my car. I could
say nothing. There was no appeal. The ministry of righteousness – the ministry
of the Spirit reveals to us what God declares is sufficient for heaven. God declares that in the suffering and death
of God’s Son – Jesus Christ – He would provide forgiveness, holiness and
righteousness for the sinners of the world.
This is the way it is, like it or not.
The
ministry of righteousness declares that you are saved only when you are IN
CHRIST. Mark 16 declares how someone is
put in Christ when it says, “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” This baptism is a powerful thing. It’s not the mere pouring on of water – it is
a putting to death of a sinful nature and a bringing to life of the soul. Paul wrote to the Galatians in
This
righteousness is not meant to be a nice little story in which we say, “oh,
isn’t that nice. Now what’s for
lunch?” No way. It is meant to completely permeate your way
of thinking, your emotions, and your actions.
Paul told the Corinthians that it was meant to give a person “hope” and “freedom” which would result in a “bold” way of living.
Think
of the hope aspect. There was once a man
who requested that he be buried with a fork in his hand. When he was asked why, he said that whenever
he ate supper and dishes were cleaned up that he was told to keep the fork for
dessert. Dessert was the tastiest
part. So also he wanted to be buried
with a fork to testify that He believed that the best part – heaven – was now
his – because Jesus died for his sins and promised him salvation through
faith. This is what righteousness does
to someone. It gives them hope. No matter how sick you get, how poor you are,
how much you have messed up in life, even if you’re dying or in the grave – you
have hope of heaven because of God’s declaration of righteousness in Christ. Hope
is an awesome thing. It makes us
actually look forward to dying so that we can be with Christ in the comforts of
heaven.
What
about “freedom”? Think about how the
ministry of righteousness affects the way we think about ourselves and how we
approach life. There are a lot of people
in life who like to drown their sorrows in a bottle of booze or who deal with
their feelings of guilt by trying to punish themselves. As they do this they end up addicted to drugs
and alcohol. Others try to make
themselves feel better by buying new clothes or constantly seeking approval
from others. In the meantime they end up
broke and in debt or at the very least constantly trying to put on a façade so
that people won’t recognize them for whom they really are. They are addicted to approval. Righteousness in Christ gives us freedom from
these things because we know that God approves of us.
All
of this gives us an ability to live boldly and confidently in who we are. We are sinners and yet saints. We don’t need to try to cover up what we’ve
done. We can confess it openly and
boldly recognize that Christ covers it.
We don’t need to fear what people think of us. Failure at work or school is not as tragic
when we remember the big picture of life and salvation in Christ. We can be sued and have our money taken
away. We can be slandered and have our
reputation taken away. But none of these
things can change the declaration of God.
God has declared that believers are righteous because of what Christ has
done for them. So we face the terrors of
this world with boldness. It makes our
light shine in the midst of darkness.
III. It shines when your face
is unveiled
So I
ask you again – are you shining? Does
your life reflect hope, freedom and boldness?
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul mentioned many problems that
the Corinthians were having. They were bickering with one another –
fighting over gifts – and not disciplining sin within. Yet Paul wrote in this second letter that a
change was happening with them. “We,
who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed
into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.” There’s the catch word
that so many churches love today – “transformed”! They claim that every program they have is
“transformational”. “Just follow these
seven steps and your _____________ will be transformed!” People eat it up because this is what the
LORD wants. It’s true – God wants us to
change. He doesn’t want us to remain in
our same sins for the rest of our lives.
But sadly these Christian leaders go back to Moses and his laws and
regulations to try to produce this change – telling people what THEY need to do
to transform their own lives. They miss
the point completely.
Paul
approaches transformation from a completely different angle. Look at what he says is the key. It’s the “unveiled face.” And how does the veil get removed? “Only in Christ is it taken away.” This only comes “from the Lord, who is
the Spirit.” The key to living a
free, bold, and hopeful life is to go where Christ is. Where is Christ? Christ is in the Word, in baptism, and in the
Lord’s Supper. Every sermon that focuses
on sin and grace – pointing you to Christ - helps you to appreciate a different
aspect of Jesus. Every day you think of your
baptism and remember that on that day you were buried with Christ and given the
promise of salvation in Christ – then the veil is removed. God does love you no matter what the law
says. Every time you take the Lord's
Supper you can once again have the same body and blood that was shed for you
come through time and eternity and enter your body – telling you, “Jesus died
for you! Jesus is with you forever!” You are forgiven no matter how guilty you
feel. These are the things the LORD
works through.
Now,
you might listen to this and say, “there he goes
again, going back to baptism and the Lord's Supper – back to Christ.” You might be skeptical that this really will
produce any change. You might say, “I
don’t feel any different from my baptism.
I’ve been taking the Lord's Supper for years and I don’t notice any
difference. I’m not experiencing any
change at all.” Why is that? You need to continue to think about and grasp
the promises that lie within these gifts of God. The natural design and purpose of these
sacraments are to take your mind back to the cross and remind you of what
Christ actually did for you and how strong and gracious His Spirit is. When you remember your baptism you can’t help
but remember that you were crucified with Christ – your sinful nature has been
put to death. You don’t have to listen
to it. When you take the Lord's Supper
and you are taken back to the bloody sacrifice of Christ’s body you can’t help
but hear and taste that your sins are forgiven and the living Lord is with
you.
These
promises assure you that Christ is not somewhere way beyond the heavens – but
the same God who took on flesh is still here in and with you! The Holy Spirit is not flying around
somewhere in space. He is living within
you to strengthen and comfort you. You know it from your baptism! These words and promises – when believed - will
transform your thinking – to stop bottle necking your vision on how weak and
sinful and tired and depressed you are – to how gracious, merciful, and
powerful the Lord is. When you remember
that this forgiving and merciful God has performed a miracle on you, that He is
committed to you and with you in Christ, you will have less fear of failure and
more confidence to live. Your light will
naturally begin to shine more and more.
People will notice a marked change in your attitude. The hope and freedom will come shining
through the more you are connected to Christ.
You will be transformed.
IV. It shines when we take
God’s promises seriously
In
reality far too many of us are depressed and saddened over such simple things
in life – a lack of sleep – a bill we weren’t expecting – a little cold or the
flu – and we act and carry on and complain as if our world were coming to an
end over these little things. It
shouldn’t be that we let our bosses and co-workers affect our attitudes to the
point that we walk around with a scowl on our faces and act as if the whole
world had it out for us. The sad thing
is that those who are the most stressed and the most easily frazzled tend to be
those who attend Bible class and worship the least. There is a correlation here – yet they fail
to see it. These are members who have
every opportunity to be connected to Christ in a much more intimate way – yet
they act and live their lives as if all their stress will go away if they just
make more money – if they just get more sleep – if they just get the right
medication – when all along all they need is more Christ. What a transformation could take place if we
all really took God’s promises in baptism and the Lord's Supper seriously? Yet instead of changing, the same sorrowful
people remain sorrowful and resigned to their depression with a veil covering
their eyes – as if God wanted us all to walk around with sackcloth and ashes
every moment of our lives. Church is
approached as a burden – another responsibility – and so they occasionally manage
to “get through a service” so that pastor or family will get off their
back. This is not God’s design for us. If that is your attitude, I hope the Holy
Spirit is opening your eyes to how wrong this view is.
One
day Martin Luther was walking around like this.
Katie did a wonderful thing to get him thinking straight. She put on funeral clothes and came
downstairs. When he asked her “who
died”, she answered him “God did.”
Luther obviously retorted her and said, “silly
woman, God did not die.” She replied, “by the way you were acting I thought he had.” My friends, God is not dead. He is still alive and He is still
glorious. The only problem is that His
greatest glory is hidden under less than glorious things – like the humility of
the crib, the shame of the cross, the water of baptism and the wine and bread
of the Supper. When Jesus did not
perform the powerful miracles of judgment that John the Baptist was expecting,
even the forerunner of Christ had doubts as he languished in prison. Jesus answer to John was, “listen to Isaiah. I am who I said I would be. Blessed are those who don’t fall away on
account of me.”
The
Lord’s glory is revealed to us in Christ and where we find Christ. When we lose sight of this, life becomes more
and more of a deep dark whole of death and hell. This is not what God wants for you. Think of
it. God could have limited His glory to
the works of creation, the words of the apostles, or the waters of
baptism. He could have only had it shine
through the glorious sun or His powerful angels. Yet He decided to let His glory shine through
us sinful human beings. He decided to
give us hope and freedom in the midst of dark and depressed people. He wanted His glory to shine through weak and
sinful humans like us! Don’t forget that
about yourself. You are the light of the
world – like it or not. This is God’s
design for you. If you find yourself not
living like it, then go to Christ and go to cross more and more and more. Then, and only then, in the midst of your
sorrow, you will find your face and your attitude shining with a hope, freedom,
and boldness that can be seen from a mile away – knowing and believing that
because He lives, you also will live.
Amen.