Preach Christ Jesus As Lord Or Be Quiet

Second Sunday After Pentecost
Light of Christ Anglican Church
The Rev. Michael J. Moffitt June 02, 2024

SCRIPTURE: 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Years ago a fellow from the church we attended at that time got a job selling cars for a local dealership. I needed a good used car, so I decided to go and see him. When I arrived at the dealership I saw the car that I wanted. It was a gorgeous fairly new Monte Carlo, and I made a beeline for it. My friend walked up to me smiling and shaking his head up and down. He said: “It’s a beauty isn’t it? Let me get a tag for it so you can drive it around.”

It started right up and purred like a kitten. I drove onto Williamson Rd. in Roanoke and headed for Interstate 581 so I could unleash it. When I did so it didn’t feel right and seemed to pull to one side. I took it to a mechanic friend who looked it over and announced, “This car’s been in a wreck. I think the frame might be bent.” I drove back to the dealership and asked the salesman (my supposed friend) if he knew the car had been wrecked. His answer shocked me, “Well, yeah I knew about it, but I could see you really loved the car, and I didn’t want to disappoint you.” As you can imagine I wasn’t happy with that answer. I felt betrayed by someone who should have been more concerned with treating me fairly than selling a car. His reasoning seemed to be that the main concern was that I be happy, the fact that the car was significantly damaged was secondary.

Regrettably, this tendency seems to have filtered down into the pulpits of many in this nation who preach what people want to hear as opposed to what they need to hear. The evil one has blinded the hearts and minds of many that preach a gospel of peace, prosperity, and unity. It sounds compelling because it promises that the desires of our hearts will be granted by a God who wants to give those things. Well, it’s true that the God of the Bible does offer peace and unity, but it usually comes with a price. Tens of thousands gather weekly to receive a positive message where sin and repentance are foreign to the message. This is not a new tactic but was used by Satan in the time of the early church. Of course it’s still being used today because it still works effectively.

Paul repeatedly had to deal with discouragement in his ministry. There were others who came behind him criticizing the gospel message that he preached and suggested that he had ulterior motives and methods.

In our passage this morning from 2 Corinthians 4:1-12 the Apostle Paul begins by addressing the importance of preaching the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not merely what people want to hear.

One of the greatest preachers of all time, in my estimation was Charles Spurgeon who said,

“The preacher should either speak in God’s name or hold his tongue. My brother, if the Lord has not sent you with a message, go to bed, or to school, or mind your farm; for what does it matter what you have to say of your own? If heaven has given you a message, speak it out as he ought to speak who is called to be the mouth of God.”

In the previous chapter (2 Cor. 3:7-18) Paul draws a comparison between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Paul made the point that the old was always designed to be preliminary to God’s plan for the ages, the new covenant age that would last until the coming of the Lord Jesus. In the old covenant the people of God saw his glory revealed through the glowing face of Moses, who had been in the presence of God. This caused the people to be afraid, and rightly so if they weren’t seeking to praise, honor, and obey the one who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and set them free from slavery. Their fear was so great that Moses had to put a veil over his face to hide what was already fading. Paul makes the point that in the new covenant the glory of Christ must be unveiled. Listen to 2 Corinthians 3: 15-18,

“Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Let’s now focus on this morning epistle reading from 2 Corinthians 4.

I find it helpful to remember how it was that Paul received the apostleship from Jesus. He begins this section by acknowledging that he wasn’t allowing himself to be discouraged because he had received his ministry by the mercy of God. He would resist any obstacles inside or outside of the church to pressure him to quit, to give up what God had given him through the encounter with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. He had been abruptly stopped from pursuing Jewish Christians who had fled to Damascus as a place of refuge.

Paul made the point in chapter 3 that he was serving in the new covenant, the glory that far exceeded that of the old covenant under Moses. Previously, as a Pharisee he had zealously sought to destroy the early Christ followers because of his love for the law of Moses and the God of Israel. I have never seen or heard of any record that gives an approximate number of those of “the Way” who he had been responsible for imprisoning or being put to death. But I know enough about the methods of the enemy to speculate that Paul, previously Saul was often reminded of who he had been. As effective as that can be at times, I’ll guess that for Paul it was the motivation to stay the course that God had put him on. He confessed that if for no other reason he would remain faithful to the Lord who had shown him such mercy. I don’t know about you, but I totally understand that motivation.

That gratitude and commitment worked to enable him to not lose heart in his work as an apostle. This meant that he would be intentional in two areas of his ministry. 1. He would not give in to disgraceful or underhanded ways- deceit. He would not use cunning or tamper with God’s word. 2. He would not give in to the pressures of persecution and hardship.

For him to give up or give in to those who opposed him would be to allow a different gospel message to be preached without challenge. Paul knew that the message that he preached was from Jesus himself and he therefore had nothing to be afraid of. He knew that if lives were to be transformed then those who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ must make sure that it was his gospel.

Many who opposed Paul accused him of distorting the word of God. For example, he rejected a legalistic view of the role of the Old Testament law in the Christian church. In his earlier letter (1 Corinthians) he attacked those who relied too heavily on human wisdom. He taught that Christians could eat meat that was offered to idols but also insisted that the weaknesses of others should take precedence. Paul wasn’t objecting to others questioning his teaching if they did it with good intentions and in the sight of God.

Paul knew that many who opposed him were adding to the gospel things that made it seem more palatable to unbelievers. It’s what we call “watering down” the gospel. What are some good examples that we find today? Actually, for the sake of time I’ll mention a few because once I got started thinking of examples I found many.

Inviting people to “come to Jesus” for a better lifestyle.

Leaving out the issue of sin separating us from a holy God.

Painting the Christian life as being trouble free and joyful.

Leaving out spiritual warfare and suffering.

Forgetting the part about “putting to death the deeds of the flesh.

Teaching that being good and loving is what God is looking for.

The reason that I chose to bring that up is that when we only preach the message of the gospel that deals with blessings, we are essentially gutting the message. Paul points out that it is the full, unabridged gospel that pierces the conscience and brings the conviction of sin. Let’s read verses 3-4,

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Paul explains why it’s the full, complete, unfiltered gospel that Paul is teaching about. It wasn’t that the message itself or those who faithfully preached the gospel hid the glory of Christ. Instead the “god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers…”

When the Christian message is preached by those who deceive, or who rely on worldly wisdom, the gospel may be veiled. But when it is proclaimed plainly by those who focus on the Glory of Christ in his death and resurrection, the problem doesn’t reside in the gospel or it’s ministers. The problem is that unbelievers cannot see “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

When Paul writes that the “god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers” he is using a term to describe Satan that is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. Paul adopted the Old Testament use of the word “god” in reference to supernatural or angelic beings, not to the Lord God. Rather, it indicates that the being so identified is worshipped as if it were divine, but it isn’t.

A person who is blinded in this sense is unable to see the truth that the gospel points to. The glorious truth is that the gospel is the revelation of the glory of Jesus Christ who is in the image of God.

Paul knew that those who follow Jesus Christ should not allow themselves to be discouraged when unbelievers rejected the gospel message imparted to them by the Holy Spirit. The call of God upon their lives was that they preach and teach the word of God, but they had no power to save the listener, only God could do that.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 4:5-6,

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Paul wanted to set the record straight. Those who preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ are not pointing people to themselves but to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Those who preach were to see themselves as servants of God for Jesus’ sake. The truth was that apparently Paul was not a good speaker but that wasn’t a real concern for him.

Listen to 2 Corinthians 10: 9-11,

“For I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. For they say, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.’ Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.”

Paul knew that the gospel was not dependent on charismatic or popular preachers because it was the message that through the Holy Spirit shined the light of Christ into the darkness of the unbelieving heart.

Dr. Richard Pratt in his Commentary on 2 Corinthians wrote,

“Paul’s confidence that true preaching focused on the glory of Christ rather than on his ministers rested in the fact that just as when God first created light, God…made his light shine in their hearts. When God sent Christ, he acted much as he did when he created physical light. Jesus spoke of himself as the light of the world… the illumination of the hearts of individuals is not just a mental state of enlightenment. From Paul’s perspective it was an act of re-creation.”

If we properly understand Satan’s strategy with unbelievers it should affect how we pray for the lost. We should ask God to shine His light, to bind the blinding work of Satan, and to give faith to overcome the unbelief that invites the blinding. It’s the next part that sheds light on how God chose to spread the gospel message and the light of Christ throughout the world. Listen to verse 7.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

There are at least two important points to be gleaned from this metaphor. The first is that there is a treasure. The treasure represents the new covenant ministry empowered by “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (4:6).

In Paul’s day (and in ours as well in much of the world) earthenware containers were used to hold many different items. Paul seems to be encouraging the reader to understand the extreme value of the gospel by comparing it with valuable treasures like silver, gold, or precious gems. He is equating the value of the gospel and it’s ministry as very precious cargo. However, this precious cargo was to be stored in jars of clay, a vessel that can be easily shattered.

The counterpart to the jars of clay in Paul’s metaphor is the ministers themselves. Paul simply compares the “value” of God’s light and glory and the “value” of what He chose to put His light and glory into. When you compare the two, it isn’t hard to be amazed that God has put such a great treasure into clay pots, or more specifically, frail human beings.

Paul chose this comparison, this metaphor because it symbolized the reality of his ministry. He had received the incredible, life changing, soul restoring light of God in Christ and was commissioned to spread this gospel throughout the world on behalf of Jesus Christ.

Why would God choose to do it this way? God was sending his messengers throughout the world by ordinary, weak humans being to “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

The expression surpassing power refers back to 4:6 which refers back to the divine power that first demonstrated that light appear (Gen, 1:3), and later in the order that the light of Christ shine in the heart of believers. God spoke and the light of creation shone, he spoke, and the light of re-creation shone as well.

The gospel is not merely a message that confronts the mind but an explosive power that turns a person's life upside down.

Paul highlights four exploits that would not by any stretch of the imagination be considered impressive or desirable either in his day or in ours. All four point up the hardships and trials that confront the gospel preacher. On every side (v. 8) and always (v. 10, 11) underline the extent and intensity of these so-called exploits.

First, he is hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. The verb hard pressed means "to press in hard against" someone, or, as we say today, to squeeze the life out of a person, while the term not crushed indicates that the pressure never got to the point where there was no escape or way out.

Second, he is perplexed but not in despair. There is a play on words here that the NIV misses. Although Paul may have been at a loss about how to proceed, he never as we say, went off the deep end.

Third, he is persecuted but not abandoned. The Greek verb means "to pursue" and is commonly used of tracking a prey or enemy. Paul was pursued from city to city by hostile Jews. But through it all, God never abandoned him. The idea here is that God did not leave Paul behind or in the lurch for the enemy to pick up.

Finally, he is struck down by the enemy but not destroyed. Paul was not only pursued by hostile Jews, but when they caught up with him, they stirred up trouble whenever they could. He may also be thinking of the time he was stoned at Lystra and left outside the city for dead. Yet he lived.

Hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down are summed up in the clause we always carry around in our body the death of Jesus (v. 10). Carry around refers to the itinerant life of the gospel preacher. Always points to the commonplace versus exceptional character of these experiences. The death of Jesus is actually "the dying of Jesus, a term that stresses the ongoing nature of the process. When we think of the "dying" of Jesus, we tend to think of the cross. Paul, however, has in mind the hardships, troubles. and frustrations that Jesus faced during his three-year ministry. The loneliness, the disappointments with his disciples, the exhaustion, the constant harassment by opponents, the crowd's continuous demands, the incredulity of his family, the mocking and jeers of his foes, the flight of his friends, the hours on the cross, the thirst and then the end. "I die every day" expresses the same thought (1 Cor 15:31). Paul is acknowledging the wearing effect that the gospel ministry had on Jesus mentally, emotionally, and physically. This would prove to not be an uncommon process. Jesus taught his followers that if anyone would come after him, "he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34).

Paul further explains this thought in verse 11: “For we . . . are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake”. Given over is the legal term used in the Gospels of Jesus' being handed over to the authorities. If this is the sense here, then the gospel ministry is being pictured as a "delivering up into death's custody  For Jesus' sake excludes a reference to the aging process or to the normal trials of everyday life. Paul is thinking of the hardships and troubles that he experienced as a result of carrying out his ministry. To what end? Why does Paul put up with a life of hardship and trouble? It is “so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Perhaps this is why Paul likens the gospel minister to the expendable, perishable clay pot.

I know this sounds unappealing, but Paul's approach is to make clear that it is God's power (v. 7) and the life of Jesus (v. 10) that empower and sustain him, and not his own fortitude. It has been debated whether by the life of Jesus Paul has in mind a human mode of existence or the power of the risen Christ. It need not be an either-or choice. The already/not yet character of salvation means that Christ's resurrection power is already impacting human existence. Paul acknowledges this very thing in his summary statement, “So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” While the Corinthians might have looked on hardship (death) as incompatible with a Spirit-directed ministry, it nonetheless produced a life that even now is at work, or better yet, is "energizing" them.

There is an important lesson here. The Corinthians, like many Christians today, believed that adversity was inconsistent with the Spirit-filled Christian life, let alone with the gospel ministry. At issue is how God manifests his power. Paul's opponents claimed that it is through the working of signs, wonders, and miracles. Paul, on the other hand, maintained that God's power is able to make itself known most effectively through ministerial hardship and distress.

This is a hard message for the 21st century mindset. We like to be in control of our circumstances and operate from a position of strength.

Actually, this type of description would not have been surprising to the church in Corinth. Paul had written in his first letter to them 1 Cor. 4:11-13,

“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and still are, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”

Today, this description would likely be seen as an example of failure as a pastor. But to Paul it was evidence that he was preaching the gospel faithfully. I have often considered the words of Paul as he wrote from a Roman prison not long before his martyrdom. 2 Tim. 1:8-12,

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,  for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.”

Oddly enough Paul saw his lot as an apostle as his greatest joy. He didn’t feel betrayed but instead marveled at the Savior who placed him in the position where he found himself. He had been the one who betrayed the God that he claimed to serve passionately. Instead of being judged and sentenced by the King of Glory, he was embraced and allowed to live and die for his Savior. He saw that for what it was and rejoiced. He wrote in Romans 8:18,

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Amen to that.

Let’s pray.