About this sermon
Having received this ministry by mercy, Paul does not lose heart, and he renounces craftiness and sets forth the truth plainly. The god of this world blinds unbelievers, but God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in believers’ hearts to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. This treasure is held in jars of clay, and momentary affliction prepares an eternal weight of glory for those who look to the things unseen.
Sermon transcript
Let us prepare together this evening to receive the Word of God as we open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, there we’ll read verses 1-18. I do remind you that this is the inspired Word of the living God. 2 Corinthians 4, beginning with verse 1. Let’s hear it together.
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But 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.
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. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing. persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believe, therefore we also speak. Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Thus far, the reading of God’s inspired word. Let’s pray together. Father, we do ask your blessing upon the reading of this portion of your inspired word. We ask, Lord, that you would imprint it deeply upon our minds, our hearts, our spirits, that we would not lose heart, that we would not grow weary, that we would press on. to attain that eternal weight of glory that has been laid up for us in Christ Jesus. May you bless now, Father, the hearing of your word among this people, and we pray that you would give the power of your Holy Spirit now, that the word of God as it goes forth would do so for the conversion and the upbuilding of your elect people. that together we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. May his name forever and ever be praised. We pray in that name now. Amen.
Quite distinctly and quite self-consciously, Paul views himself as a servant minister of a new covenant The fulfillment of the Lord’s Old Testament prophecy where God said He would make a new and better covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. That prophecy found in Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 33.
Paul’s very own apostolic ministry which he received as a gift of mercy is of one piece with the outworking of that new covenant. In other words, the new covenant provides for the apostolic ministry that Paul presents and offers even in himself. What Paul has from God as a gift from the exalted Christ, he pointedly tells the Corinthians in verse 1 of our text, is this ministry, underscore that word, this ministry, This new covenant ministry is the very gift of God to his church for her upbuilding and growth.
His political opponents, by implication, have that other ministry. He has this ministry which has been given to him, but those who would oppose him have that other ministry. A continuation of the ministry of Moses we read in the earlier chapter. A ministry which issues in condemnation and in death the old covenant, Paul calls it, whose temporal and fading glory is now clearly outshined by the eternal and the unfading glory of the ministry of the Holy Spirit according to the new covenant blessing which has now come.
This ministry then, this ministry of Paul, is a ministry of righteousness, chapter 3, verse 9. A ministry of reconciliation, chapter 5, verse 18. A ministry of liberty, chapter 3, and verse 17. By means of the ministry of this new covenant, the people now have boldness in the presence of God. Look at chapter 3 and verse 12.
And having such a hope, Paul himself uses great boldness in his speech. He writes in verse one, we do not lose heart having this ministry. We have renounced the hidden things because of shame. In other words, we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.
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 the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the very image of God.
In these words, the apostle appears to be answering his critics. Paul knew from bitter experience how few Jews accepted his message. The veiled mind which hindered their apprehension of the gospel, their apprehension of the glory, to which the old covenant had pointed, also prevented their receiving the apostles’ proclamation. They are still under the condemnation and death of the old covenant. They cannot see the light of the gospel. The apostles’ proclamation of the fulfillment of the new covenant blessing in this very Son of God, Jesus Christ.
As we read these things, it is clear that Paul is not losing heart. He has not given up. He is not undone by those who oppose him. Despite his many trials, his many discouragements, his many afflictions, this present epistle of 2 Corinthians is evidence that he has not given up. He is not undone. It is not that he persevered because of some natural what we might call true grit. He just hangs in there in spite of everything.
It’s not a natural true grit on his part, but rather he perseveres and he does not lose heart because of this ministry. This very ministry which has been given to him is the encouragement that sustains him and presses him on. this ministry which imparts forgiveness, this ministry which is a ministry of the Holy Spirit, a ministry of the glory of God. The effects of this ministry are reason enough for him to continue on with it.
The need for perseverance in ministry and in service is not confined, beloved, to gospel ministries, to be sure. The New Testament is very clear that every believer, you included, is given gifts by God with a view towards service, service for the building up of the body of Christ. And certainly for every believer, every servant, times of discouragement will come to everyone. All those who are engaged in service have temptations to give up, the temptation to grow weary and stop serving, stop giving, stop serving the other, stop thinking about the body of Christ and think only of oneself. Whatever our service, whatever your service may be, we would do well to say with Paul, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. After all, we serve a risen Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and we serve Him with a clear conscience.
Paul here makes no claim to an innate goodness in and of himself, no personal adequacy in and of himself. His answer to those who criticize him is that the Word of God is the basis of his life, so that all that he does expresses and seeks to manifest that word of God. In other words, despite all of his personal problems and disappointments, which he does not hide in his writings or in his life, he is living sincerely as a Christian and commends himself as such to the consciences of those around him, those to whom he writes even this letter. Moreover, he does this in the sight of God.
Look at verse 2. Paul has the deep, deep conviction that God witnesses all his motives and all his actions. Chapter 1, verse 23. And everything that he has done will be made apparent on the day of judgment. Chapter 5 and verse 10. These two facts, that the Word of God is the basis of his life, and that God is the witness and judge of all that we do and all that we think, have the potential powerfully to affect the behavior, not only of Paul, but of all other Christians as well, you and me included. We act on the basis of the Word of God in the face of God, in the presence of God, who sees all, who knows all, and will judge all. and that God is witness and judge of all that we do and all that we think, have the powerful potential to affect our behavior also, not just of Paul, but of all Christians everywhere. Paul is adamant that he did not distort the word of God. Look again at verse 2.
It is obvious that both Paul and the Judaizers, those other teachers, regarded the gospel as having a very specific content. The problem was that they had sharply differing opinions of what that content actually is, so that both accused the other, both Paul and the Judaizers, accused the other of adding extra elements to the gospel, and therefore of diluting the truth of the message of the word of God. What were the elements in Paul’s gospel which his critics regarded as extraneous? We may reasonably suppose that the doctrines which are so prominent in this letter and for which he argues may well have been in dispute with his critics there in Corinth. In essence, the word of God is that Jesus Christ, God’s son, is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Not Caesar is Lord. Jesus is Lord. And he is the source of the power of that word.
The elements in Paul’s gospel which would have caused acute difficulties for the Jews, including many Jewish Christians, were those which emphasized that the covenant of God with Israel was now fulfilled, even ended, chapter 3, verse 13. In particular, this proclamation of Paul that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God The yes to all of the promises of God must have created grave problems for the Jews, for the members of that race. Similarly, his insistence that the new covenant had superseded a de-glorified old covenant, an old covenant which issued only in condemnation and death, chapter 3, verses 7 to 9, could not have failed to have provoked strong reaction among those who remained loyal to Moses and to the old covenant law. The focus of these assertions of Paul, which so gravely affected the Jews, of course, was that Jesus Christ, over against a merely human Jesus, Paul emphasized The heavenly Lord, the heavenly Jesus, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, that One who had been crucified, raised victorious from the dead, the very Son of God, the Lord, the image of God, the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. The One who died for all, the One who Paul teaches was made to be sin. That was an affront to the Jews. How could Messiah be made to be a curse, to be sin. It was not merely a case of one set of theological opinions in conflict with another.
It was, for Paul, the Damascus Road event, which had so dramatically transformed his utter way of thinking about Jesus, and therefore his thinking also about Judaism. He now saw the cross of Jesus not as a stumbling block, as the Jews did, But he saw the cross, as he teaches, as the wisdom of God revealed. He is determined to know nothing among the Corinthians and others except Christ and Him crucified.
Paul now understood that Jesus was actually sent by God, sent by God to bear the curse of God on sin as an atonement for mankind, Jew and Greek alike. Chapter 5, verses 14 to 16. So many of the distinctive references to Jesus in this letter, which spelled the end of the old covenant, are directly traceable to Paul’s Damascus Road event. Jesus, the son of God, revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus, Jesus as Lord, the Damascus Road experience. Jesus, as the light of the glory of God. Remember the light that shined to Paul on Damascus Road as he met the risen Jesus there on the road to Damascus.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit. Again, the Spirit directs Paul to his ministry and service that is now his. All of these were the historical outworking of his meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus. And that’s the gospel that sets him apart from the old covenant Pharisee that he once was to the new covenant minister that he now is. The contents of Paul’s gospel, therefore, were not different from these other so-called these other so-called apostles. It was not simply a matter of opinion only, but it was a matter of history, a matter of God’s revelation in history of his son to Saul of Tarsus near Damascus on the road to Damascus in the year circa AD 34. It was a real historical revelation that transformed Paul’s ministry, transformed Paul and set him over against the Old Covenant and the Old Covenant way of doing and ministry. Christ made himself known to Paul and set him apart there on the road to Damascus as his chosen instrument, that one who would bear his name before the Gentiles and kings, and before the sons of Israel also.
Acts chapter 9, especially verse 15. How did Paul exercise, quote, this ministry, unquote, that was given to him This ministry is expressed by gospel preaching. Look at verse 5 of our text. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
Paul saw himself as a herald. a person who brought important announcements from the king to the king’s people, a king’s people scattered throughout his kingdom. For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness, is the one who has shown in our hearts, says Paul, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Under the new covenant, and this new covenant ministry, the shattered image of God is now being restored in those who behold Christ as the revelation of the glory of God, the very firstborn from the dead, the very image of the living God. Paul’s discourse naturally raises a question. If Paul is the minister of such a glorious new covenant, Why is his ministry so characterized by so much suffering and affliction and sorrow? Paul will argue that his apostolic sufferings on behalf of the Corinthians paradoxically reveal the eschatological power of Christ’s resurrection life, that at work in his mortal body. Already his inner nature is being renewed. And he trusts that he will also receive a resurrection body in the future. The God who raises the dead is transforming Paul and will transform him more and more.
Paul writes to the Corinthians, but we have this treasure. in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God, and not of ourselves, not from ourselves, chapter 4, verse 7. This term, earthen vessels, literally jars of clay, designates that which the Corinthians see, namely Paul’s weakness and his very inglorious appearance.
He continues saying, We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.
Paul views his afflictions in light of his union with Jesus Christ in his death and in his resurrection, Romans 6 and verse 5. It is significant, then, that Paul expects the life of Jesus to be manifested, quote, in our bodies. There is no denigration of the physical body here, in Paul’s thought. This jar of clay will be resurrected and wonderfully transformed not cast aside, to know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and to be called to spread this knowledge of that one is the most treasured, Paul says, of all possessions.
But the wonder of the divine dispensation is that while an earthly treasure, an earthly treasure is usually preserved in a precious container, a container of fitting dignity and beauty, The treasure of the gospel has been entrusted to men, men who are subject to infirmities, men who are subject to limitations, the instability and the insecurity of their finite condition. It is as though a most costly jewel were encased in nothing but a clay pot, and Paul sees in this a supreme manifestation of the divine law that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness, in human weakness.
This striking paradox makes it clear that the gospel, the good news, is no product of human ingenuity. It is no clever discovery of the human intellect. It’s no bright idea of some outstanding genius. But the gospel of the new covenant is a revelation, a revelation of the power of the sovereign God.
He may choose, that is, God may choose learned men or He may choose unlearned men to be His ministers, ministers of the gospel. But though they are chosen vessels, they are all earthen vessels. They are all clay pots in which another’s jewel is kept and preserved and passed on. We recognize that it is to the glory of God that His glory is made perfect in our weakness. And so God’s chosen vessels are earthen vessels, pots of clay, And may to God be the glory.
And let him who boasts, whether it be Paul or me or you or anyone else, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord and in the Lord alone. Amen. Let’s pray together. Our Father, we recognize in our weakness that you are strong. Your gospel is great. There is no greater treasure than to know the glory of God revealed in the face of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater privilege than to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the very glorious Son of God crucified, dead and buried, that one who became a curse for us, that we might be blessed and blessed forever. May we not be ashamed to bear about in our body then the dying of Jesus. Even as we suffer at the hands of the opponents of the gospel, we would not be ashamed. We would confess Jesus before men faithfully. that the treasure that we bear would be made known to all.
And we pray then for those who preach the good news. We pray for the servants and ministers of this new covenant blessing, that such men would be bold, bold to proclaim the good things which have been revealed. The wonder of that revelation made to Paul on the road to Damascus when the light shined from heaven and the very son of God revealed himself in resurrection body to that one who was a persecutor of the church, a hater of the Christian church, and loyal to the old covenant in every way. that one became the minister of the new covenant blessings of which we read and preach here tonight. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear a readiness and a willingness to embrace these things and to suffer for the sake of the gospel.
We pray these things together tonight in Jesus name. Amen. I invite you to join with me in singing from our hymnal number 24, please. Hymn number 24. Let’s stand together as we sing, please, number 24. The Rock of Ages evermore has been. What? Lacey, ring before thy first creation. Lord, the same as now, to end this generation, the everlasting vow. Our years are like the shadows, sunny hills that fly, or grasses in the meadow that blossom but to die. A sleep, a dream, a story by strangers quickly told, An unremaining glory of things that soon are old. O thou who cannot slumber, whose light grows never pale,
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