Transcript

A Successful Gospel-Centered Ministry-Part Three

2 Corinthians 4:1-6
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Pastor Randy Smith

His bloodied body is strapped to an old wooden cross. One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. They lift Him up. Over His head is a sign that says "King of the Jews." Jesus Christ is on display. Some weep. Others mock. The pain is excruciating.

This is the side of the cross that the average bystander observed that day, the side of the cross that most people can understand. I'll finish this story at the end of the sermon, but if we leave it here we have to wonder exactly why Jesus died on the cross.

Was He basically overcome against His will by the Jews and Romans? Was He truly guilty of the crimes charged against Him? Was He simply a martyr? Was He trying to demonstrate by example the extent we are to go in our love for others?

The Bible teaches our Lord's death on the cross was the master plan of the triune God throughout all eternity. Sin would enter the world and spread to all humans. Sin would bring death, both physically and spiritually. The only hope for the human race to be cleansed of their sin and thus reconciled back to a holy God would be if God Himself would become man as our substitute, take our sin upon Himself and absorb the punishment we deserved for those sins. Paul put it like this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "He [the Father] made Him [the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." This is our hope that we can have total forgiveness from the living God when we call upon Jesus Christ through faith for salvation. This is the New Covenant.

We've been covering from 2 Corinthians the details of this New Covenant that God purchased for His people on the cross. Salvation entirely based upon the work of Christ whereby God will receive those who surrender to Him with all their hearts. The Bible describes it as a message of grace, a free undeserving gift, a treasure entrusted to us. Sin eliminated. Guilt eradicated. Wrath removed. Righteousness declared. Holy Spirit indwelling. Prayers heard. Freely adopted. Entirely forgiven. Eternally loved. Joy, peace and hope. Direct, confident access into God's holy presence around the clock without fear or condemnation.

And if you are in Christ, this is the covenant, the promise God has made with you. And for what reason? To simply keep the great riches of this all to yourself, personally bask in your relationship with the Creator and then look forward to heaven when you die? Such a selfish attitude is contrary to everything we learned about the selfless and sacrificial nature of the cross.

According to the Bible, the Lord has much more in store. From the second you are saved in the New Covenant, you by God's grace have been made a minister of the New Covenant. God wants to put you on an adventure to be used by Him in His plan to extend His kingdom through others. You have experienced the Gospel. Now it's up to you to allow others to share that experience. You have been given spiritual gifts. Now you need to use those gifts for the common good. But how do we do these things? Now that we have received the New Covenant, how do we most effectively become a minister of the New Covenant? Today we will find out! After Paul explains the glories of the New Covenant in 2 Corinthians, he now instructs how to be a minister of and within the New Covenant in chapter 4, verses 1-6.

As the Lord permits, the goal this morning before we break for the Lord's Table is to finish this three part series consisting of five points. We'll review the first three points and then we'll wrap it up by covering the final two points.

1. GOSPEL TRANSFORMATION (3:18 - review)

So, the first point, briefly by way of review, successful Gospel ministry must start with life that has been completely transformed by the Gospel in salvation and is presently being transformed by the Gospel in sanctification. In other words, as we dwell in the presence of Christ, we will forever become more like Christ. As Paul said in 3:18, "[We] are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

So true New Covenant ministry is Christ shining through us. True New Covenant ministry is imparting what we already possess. True New Covenant ministry is showing Christ as well as speaking Christ.

2. GOSPEL RESOLUTION (4:1 - review)

Second, successful New Covenant ministry is then developing Gospel resolution.

People make resolutions for the New Year. Often it's a firm decision based on a determined attitude to do or not to do something regardless of the foreseeable hardships that would prevent us from obtaining our goal. Likewise, before we ever start ministering in either sharing Christ or serving His people, we too need to develop a resolute commitment to the calling we have before us.

Our Lord promised us that we would be tempted toward discouragement and despair. The visible fruit from our ministry will be less than desired. People will prove to be unfaithful. The encouragement will be minimal. The labor can be strenuous and the burdens we carry intense.

Not doing anything or quitting will oftentimes seem like the best options. And while many will chose these routes, Paul made it a point to bookend this section on ministry by commanding us in verses 1 and 16 to "not lose heart."

3. GOSPEL PERSONIFICATION (4:2 - review)

The third principle, also by way of review for successful New Covenant ministry is that we must personify the Gospel. Look at what Paul said in the Word of God in verse 2: "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

What Paul is doing here is comparing himself to the false teachers. As the church was seeking to determine whose teaching to believe, Paul encouraged them to examine not only the instruction, but also the lifestyles from among their potential leaders. The point: God's true teachers of the Gospel will personify the Gospel. They will be people in their public and private life that model what they teach and show Gospel transformation of Christlikeness personally within them. The same applies for us. The personality of Christ's servants must be marked by Christ's character.

I remember hearing a story told by a pastor of a large church. Someone from outside the church commented that he would never attend that particular church because of a crooked lawyer that he knew was a member of that church. Just one person and his ungodly behavior spoiled the testimony of an entire congregation. When this pastor told his congregation this story about this one unknown man, he said several attorneys come forward that Sunday in repentance thinking the story was about them!

The greatest proof that we really believe our message will be seen in the desire to live out our message regardless of the sacrifice. Like Paul, verse 2, can we commend our lives to the conscience of others? Like Paul, verse 2, are we ourselves living with a clear conscience "in the sight of God?" It's impossible, even damaging, to have successful New Covenant ministry if our heart and actions are not modeling what we claim to proclaim.

Also when we handle the Word of God in whatever setting that might be are we careful to speak God's meaning with the desired goal to see it result in God's glory? Paul said in verse 2, he was cautious to avoid "adulterating the Word of God." In other words, claiming love and pledging fidelity for the Word, but then cheating on it to achieve our own selfish purposes.

4. GOSPEL CONVERSION (4:3-4, 6)

Alright, the new material, point number four: Successful New Covenant ministry must understand God's process for the conversion of a soul.

You see, when we have a false conception of how God works in the hearts of humans, we will be driven to false and unprofitable methods in the attempt to achieve God's purposes.

So there is a person you know without Christ. You wish to share the Gospel with him and see him embrace Jesus as his Savior. Here's the question: Who will turn his heart to Jesus? Is it you or is it God? It's a simple one word answer, but your answer to that question will radically affect the way you do ministry.

Let's get our answer from the Bible. Verses 3 and 4, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." Let's break these verses down.

Paul is continuing to use the imagery of Moses' veil. Remember, Moses had a veil over his face to shelter Israel from the glory of God. Here Paul speaks of the unbelieving, "those who are perishing," as having a veil over their hearts and eyes. They are, according to verse 4, "blinded." Blinded by whom? Blinded by the "god of this world" - Satan. And because of that, verse 4 they can't "see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ."

Think of it this way: if you were blind I could put the most desirable items in this world before your eyes, and if you were never exposed to the greatness of these items before, none of them would have any deep attraction to you. I could be the best salesperson in the world, but you are simply unable to see and thus desire the excellence of these selections.

The Gospel works the same way before the blinded unbeliever. Explain it as perfectly as possible, and they sadly just do not see it, they don't get it. The problem is not necessarily the presenter. The problem is definitely not the Gospel! Paul says in verse 4 the Gospel is "the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." That's impressive, as good as it gets! But because of the blindness of the individual, unable to see the Gospel's greatness, there is simply no desire. And add to the blindness, a spiritually dead heart (Eph. 2:1), and there is absolutely no way a person on his or her own will ever desire Jesus Christ. In other words, they are not blinded because they chose to renounce the Gospel. Rather they renounce the Gospel because they are blinded by the evil one.

Therefore, it is essential that we do Gospel ministry, but it is also essential that we understand that apart from God giving people spiritual eyes to see and spiritual hearts to beat we will never see any meaningful change in a person's life. Paul said this in Acts when he shared his testimony with King Agrippa how God must "open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins" (Ac. 26:18). How about Lydia in Acts 16:14, "The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul." Same thing!

Therefore, since salvation is a work of the Lord, I can draw these simple conclusions: First, I must share the Gospel with passion. Yet when it comes to conversion I need to leave the matter in God's hands because that is a work that only He can accomplish. Second, my responsibility is not to save people, but rather my responsibility is to faithfully share the "good news." Therefore, I don't need to resort to gimmicks or manipulation, but rather prayer and trust in God's sovereignty. It is not the skill of the proclaimer, the packaging of the message or the techniques used to proclaim it, but the unadulterated Word and trust in the Holy Spirit. We need clarity, not cleverness. Third, once I share the faith, I can be at peace regarding the eternal outcome of souls and am I thankful for that!

How does God do it? How does God open blind eyes and regenerate dead hearts and bring spiritual light? Answer: with the same Spirit-driven power He used in creation to bring physical light. "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light" (Gen. 1:2-3). Likewise, hearts are spiritually darkened and dead. Yet when the Gospel is proclaimed, the Spirit regenerates by shining light to make one now see and thus desire the glory of Jesus Christ who is the visible representation of God more than anything else they ever desired in the past. At some point for all those truly in Christ, God said, "Let there be light!" and with that they immediately and freely received Christ as their treasure.

This is what Paul says in verse 6: "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." The same power once used in creation is now unleashed in recreating the new creation of God.

When people initially come to the Lord, they don't realize any of this. All they know is that Jesus Christ is something they want. Thus they hear the Gospel and embrace Christ. Yet once we are in, we realize everything including the faith and ability to believe was part of God's gift. You aren't smarter than the thousands in our area that are rejecting Christ. If you are in Christ, you have had a divine miracle performed in your heart. That's what made you, as Paul says in 5:17, a "new creation in Christ" (NIV).

Therefore, as we do ministry we must understand that God must work in order for there to be any success. And do you see how all this talk in verses 4 and 6 is Theocentric, a long and fancy word meaning God-centered? When it comes to ministry, we're just the instruments that water and plant (1 Cor. 3:6). It's God's job to save and sanctify those He's redeemed. We're the privileged and rewarded servant for the Master who gets all the glory.

5. GOSPEL PROCLAMATION (4:5)

So we are transformed personally and are progressively being made more into the image of Christ. We have a great calling as we serve a great God, so we don't lose heart. We minister out of a life that is blameless, modeling what we believe. We trust God to do the spiritual work whenever we serve people. And finally, point 5, the natural conclusion, we in whatever we do, proclaim not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.

Look at verse 5, "For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake."

Paul's opponents peddled the Word of God (3:17) and adulterated the Word of God (4:2) simply because they wanted to preach themselves. Many who want fame and power use ministry to exalt their names. True servants use the ministry to exalt Christ and humbly desire to see Him receive all the glory. Therefore true ministers in all things speak and show Christ Jesus as Lord and view themselves if He is truly Lord of their lives as nothing more than a slave for Jesus' sake.

So has Christ performed a miracle in your heart? Are you presently being transformed into His image? Do you serve Him out of a pure love? Only then will you want the glory of His name to shine through you. Only then will you say with John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn. 3:30).

We conclude our story (as I quote Joni Eareckson Tada).

While on the cross our Lord begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around His nose, but His heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon His spotless being - the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father's eye turns brown with rot. His Father! He must face his Father like this!

From heaven the Father now rouses Himself like a lion disturbed, shakes His mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at Him so, never felt even the least of His hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky.

The Son does not recognize these eyes. "Son of Man! Why have You< behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped - murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed overspent, overeaten - fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have You ever held your razor tongue? Does the list never end! I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about You consumes Me! Can you not feel My wrath?"

Of course, the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed [in His people]. The Father watches as His heart's treasure, the mirror-image of Himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah's stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.

"Father! Father! Why have you forsaken Me?!" But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply. The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled Him. The Father rejected the Son whom He loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted His sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished (Joni Eareckson Tada, When God Weeps: Why Our Sufferings Matter to the Almighty).