The glory of God in the face of Christ
2 Corinthians 4:1-6

Introduction

I try very hard not to give too many sporting analogies in my preaching. They tend to cause the ladies’ eyes to glaze over. But I have to tell you about State-of-Origin this year. For those who aren’t aware … State-of-Origin is when you take the top 34 first-grade rugby league players in Australia … and you split them into 2 teams … N.S.W. and Queensland … and you let them play. Now since 2005 … N.S.W. have only won the State-of-Origin 4 times. That’s 4 times in 18 years. So we New South Welshmen are not used to glory. And this year … the men of Earlwood Anglican got together for Game 1 … it’s become quite a nice tradition. And in the 7th minute … one of our players was sent off for the rest of the match. Needless to say … playing 70 minutes of football with 1 layer down meant we lost.

But N.S.W. came back in game 2. In fact we absolutely crushed them. At half time it was 34-0 … the highest half-time margin ever in State-of-Origin. So with 1 game a piece … that meant it came down to Game 3 … which was in Queensland. The problem with THAT is … Queensland beat us almost 70% of the time when playing on their home soil. Add to that … in 44 years of State-of-Origin … N.S.W. have only won the decider in Queensland twice. So everything is against us. Yet N.S.W. came out firing in Game 3. Their intense offense … of peppering the Queensland try line … was only matched by Queensland’s intense defence. But what was even more amazing … was BOTH teams kept that intensity up … until the last 15 minutes of the match. N.S.W. then finally made a breakthrough and scored the first try of the match. That intensity … coupled with some really skilful plays … coupled with 2 halves of really tight footy … made it probably the best game of rugby league I’ve ever seen. It was glorious. On top of all that … N.S.W. won.

Now … not everyone shares my enthusiasm for State-of-Origin 2024. The Queenslanders certainly don’t. But chances are YOU will have things in your life that might get YOU equally as excited. It might be sport … or be an awesome TV show or movie. It might be your kids … or grandkids. It might be an accomplishment at work … or a really nice holiday you had years ago. Most of us have things in our life that we get excited about … because we find them awesome … glorious.

But how often do we get excited about the gospel? How often do we get SO stuck by an aspect of the message of Jesus … that we just can’t wait to talk to someone about how awesome it is? OK … we LOVE talking about the footy … or movies … or music … or our kids. So how does our enjoyment of THOSE things compare with enjoyment of the gospel? That’s what we’re looking at today.

But to get there … there’s an even deeper question we need to answer. What IS the most glorious thing about the gospel? What is it about the good news of Jesus that should get the most excited? Or as John Piper puts it … what is the sweetest, highest, best and final good of the gospel?

Is it justification by faith? Is that what should get us the most excited?
Is it forgiveness of sins? Should that be our greatest joy?
Is it liberation from sin’s power?
Is it salvation from Hell?
Is it eternal life in paradise?

As good as those things are … they are NOT the sweetest, highest, best and final good of the gospel. So what is it about the gospel that should get us VASTLY more excited … than say winning the State-of-Origin … or whatever floats your boat? That’s what we’re looking at today; how to get excited about that which is most exciting. How to enjoy that which is most enjoyable? And I’ve got 3 points to help us unpack this glorious passage today. And they are (i) What keeps Paul going … v. 1-2. Paul is under attack yet again. We’re then going to look at (ii) What Satan blinds us to … v. 3-4. And what he blinds us to is the sweetest, highest and best aspect of the gospel. We’ll then wrap up with our application … which is (iii) What we DO with the sweetest, highest, best good … v. 5-6. So if you would like to enjoy that which is most enjoyable … then please come with me … as we figure out what that highest good is.

What keeps Paul going (v. 1-2)

Now if you’ve been with us across this series so far … and BOY, what an awesome letter 2 Corinthians is … you will know that the occasion of this letter is that certain false teachers … pejoratively referred to as ‘super-apostles’ in chapters 11 and 12 … had arrived in Corinth and had started bad mouthing Paul. They wanted the Corinthians to STOP supporting Paul with their offertory … and start supporting them. And the NEXT charge they’ve brought against Paul … is that Paul has thrown the towel in.

2 Corinthians 4:1 (NIV) Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

So reading between the lines … is SEEMS the super-apostles were accusing Paul of either giving up on the Corinthians … or giving up on ministry altogether. And if I’m being honest … there are MANY things that can make us lose heart in ministry. And AGAIN … by ministry I don’t just mean being an ordained minister. I mean doing ANYTHING for the kingdom.

Like … imagine serving in a particular way for 5 years … 10 years … 20 years … and no one ever thanks you. No one ever encourages you in your ministry. That can be disheartening.
What about when people complain about your ministry? Many moons ago I had someone offer to step down from doing the sound desk … because someone complained about how they do it. I had to break to them that apart from the minister … the sound desk ALWAYS gets the most complaints … and they’re ALWAYS from people who refuse to step up and do it themselves. Thankfully they stayed.
What about when people attack you? I’ve had people tell me to my face that they don’t think I’m suitable for paid church ministry. That’s REALLY disheartening.
But that’s nothing compared to what Paul dealt with. He was flogged, beaten, pelted with stones, arrested, exposed, starved and shipwrecked. I would have lost heart YEARS ago if I were Paul.
But the MAIN way we lose heart … is when our loved ones just DON’T see the light of the gospel … no matter how hard we work … or how long we pray for them.

There are MANY things that can make us lose heart in Christian ministry. Yet in spite of them ALL … Paul says he doesn’t lose heart. So WHAT keeps Paul going in ministry? V. 1 … God’s mercy. It’s the fact that Paul was GIVEN this ministry through God’s mercy. The word ‘mercy’ is defined as treating someone better than they deserve. It means showing compassion to someone who really deserves punishment. And this is what Jesus showed Paul on the road to Damascus. In Acts Chapter 9 … Paul was on his way to Damascus … to imprison, torture and execute Christians. Yet Jesus appeared to him in a glorious vision … and said ‘why are you persecuting ME?’ If anyone ever hurt my kids … it would hurt ME just as much as it hurts them. Perhaps more. In the same way … when people hurt Jesus’ followers … they hurt Jesus too.

And for the rest of his life … Paul knew that what he DESERVED … for persecuting the creator and redeemer of the universe … was to be hanging upside down in a dungeon somewhere. Yet instead … Jesus forgave Paul … and invited him to be a part of his mission on earth. And friends … that’s the same for you and me. Every Christian has been (i) forgiven of our sins … when we really deserve punishment, AND (ii) invited to be a part of our creator and redeemer’s mission here on earth.

So IF we ever find ourselves loosing heart in ministry … just remember … we’re not in the kingdom because we deserve to be. Nor are we one of Jesus’ co-workers … because we’ve earned it. We were given those privileges DESPITE what we deserve. So what are we going to do with these privileges?

Are we going to keep it ourselves? Are we going to be selfish with it?
Are we going to say ‘no thanks’ to serving his kingdom? Are we going to be lazy with it?
Are we going to use if for our own advantage? We believe Paul is referring to the super-apostles in v. 2 when he says

2 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV) Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.

These false teachers were distorting the word of God for money. Are we going to do that? OR:

Are we going to accept Jesus’ offer to be a part of his mission … and ‘set for the truth plainly’ … v. 2 … ‘in the sight of God’.

Friends there will ALWAYS be things that will tempt us to lose heart in ministry. Believe it. But when it happens next … remember … God’s mercy outweighs any opposition. Stay strong in the Lord … and serve him faithfully.

What Satan blinds us to (v. 3-4)

Well … after talking about being disheartened … Paul zooms in on THE most disheartening aspect of Christian ministry:

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers

Firstly … WHO is ‘the god of this age’? In a word … Satan. Until Jesus returns … Satan plays at being the ruler of this world. I say ‘plays at’ because God is actually in charge. But the thing Satan wants most … is to blind people to the gospel. Satan HATES people becoming Christians. And he HATES Christians trying to make MORE Christians. So whenever we keep the gospel to ourselves … whether it be because we’re too selfish, too lazy, too greedy … or just too scared to tell people about Jesus … we’re following Satan’s gameplan … not God’s. If you’d rather see Satan LOSE … then talk about Jesus.

But here’s the central question of this passage. What is it ABOUT the gospel that Satan blinds people to? I’ll give you a moment to see if you can figure it out … because it took my Bible study a WHILE this week. It’s NOT what you might think. So have a look at v. 4 … and see if you can figure out WHAT Satan blinds people to? [Pause] Can you see it?

2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV) … so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

What is the sweetest, highest, best and final good of the gospel … that Satan doesn’t want people seeing? It’s the glory of Christ … who is the image of God. V. 6 says the exact same thing … only it reverses it.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV) … the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

I LOVE that phrase. It’s arguably the best phrase ever uttered. ‘God’s glory … displayed in the face of Christ’. Now we’re going to see what we DO with this in our third point. But the thing Satan wants to blind people from … the sweetest, highest, best and final good of the gospel … is ‘the glory of Christ … who is the image of God’ … or ‘the glory of God, displayed in the face of Christ’. The glory of the Father and the Son is the greatest joy we will ever experience. OK … winning a nail-biting Game 3 State-of-Origin in the final 10 minutes … is like a mud pie … compared to the 7-star beach resort holiday that is the glory of God … displayed in the face of Christ. The glory of God is that which is most enjoyable.

So this leaves only 1 question … in all of life! The only question you and I EVER need to answer in life … is HOW do I enjoy the glory of God? Do you remember what the meaning of life is? ‘To bring glory to God and ENJOY Him forever’. So HOW do we enjoy the glory of God? Does anyone actually think they know? I’m not going to ask you to explain it to the class. But show of hands … if you think you COULD explain HOW to enjoy the glory of God.

Let me try a different approach … because this is ALL I talk about. The word ‘glory’ means magnificence … impressiveness … splendour … beauty … awesomeness. If you’re taking notes … write down ‘glory = awesomeness’. So the way we enjoy God’s glory … is to enjoy how awesome He is. And the way we do THAT … is how we enjoy ANYONE who is awesome. So WHO do you find awesome? If I were to give you my Top 5 most impressive people … most awesome people of the last 50 years … one of them would be Nelson Mandella. After spending 27 years in prison … for fighting against Apartheid … Mandella became the first President of South Africa in 1994. His first job as president … was to stop South Africa from tearing itself apart.

In his FIRST year in officer … the Black-dominated Sports Committee voted to dismantle the Springboks Rugby team. The movie Invictus recounts Mandella RUSHING to that meeting after their vote … which was unanimous … to ask them to change their mind. Why? ‘Because’ … he said … ‘the Afrikaans (… the whites …) treasure Springbok rugby. And if we take that away from them … we lose them. We prove that we ARE what they feared we would be. We have to be better than that’ … he says. ‘We have to surprise them with compassion … with restraint … and generosity. All of the things they denied us. This is no time to celebrate petty revenge’ … he said … ‘this is the time to build our nation … using every single brick available to us’.

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a person not just showing forgiveness to the people who locked him up … and persecuted him for 27 years … but to show them compassion … restraint … and generosity. Is that not impressive? Awesome? Glorious? And we ENJOY Mandella’s glory by thinking about his forgiveness … pondering his compassion … meditating on his restraint … and celebrating his generosity. And that’s how we enjoy God’s glory too. We meditate on … and celebrate how God is infinitely MORE forgiving … compassionate … merciful and generous than even Mandella.

And THAT’S what Satan wants to blind people to. God’s glory. The reason being … that as SOON as a person realises just how glorious God actually is … they immediately convert. Why? Because why would you NOT want someone that glorious in your life? So Satan’s number 1 game plan … is to blind people … to that which is most glorious.

What we do with sweetest, highest, best good (v. 5-6)

So … the sweetest, highest, best and final good of the gospel … of LIFE for that matter … is the glory of God, displayed in the face of Christ. And that’s what we ALL have at our disposal as Christians. We CAN chose to ignore it. We can choose to chase other goods … like footy … that aren’t as sweet or high or delightful. But we at least have it at our disposal. So the final question we need to ask is … what do we DO with this sweetest, highest, best and final good … in existence? Well … I have 2 things we’re to do with it. 2 points of application today.

The FIRST is … we savour it. Enjoy it. Delight in the glory of God, displayed in the face of Christ. I’ve just shown you HOW … using Mandella as an example. You should ALL know now. It’s simple. We think about … meditate on … contemplate … Chapter 3 v. 18 … the different ways God is impressive … glorious.

So let me ask you … are you setting aside time to contemplate the different ways God is impressive? Because if not … then you’re NOT fulfilling the meaning of life. You’re doing life wrong. So here’s our first point of application. Set aside time in your life to contemplate God’s glory. That STARTS with church. Skipping church is not a small thing. It is missing the high point of the week … of fulfilling the meaning of life. If you miss church for anything other than illness or being out of town … you’re doing life wrong. Same with Bible Study … or youth group. If the meaning of life is to enjoy that which is MOST enjoyable … and you’re skipping church or Bible study to enjoy something LESS enjoyable … because EVERYTHING is less enjoyable than God … then you’re doing life wrong. It's the same with private devotions. If you find time to watch TV … or scroll through social media … or play video games each day … but AREN’T spending time with God … then you’re playing with mud pies … when a 7-star beach resort holiday is on offer. We have to be setting aside TIME to enjoy that which is most enjoyable.

The SECOND thing we do … is we share it. The thing we MUST recognise in v. 6 … is it is GOD who makes the light of his glory shine in people’s hearts. Satan tries to BLIND people to God’s glory … v. 4. God GIVES us the light of his glory … v. 6. Where do WE come in?

2 Corinthians 4:5 (NIV) For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

You and I are the bridge between Satan’s power … v. 4 … and God’s power … v. 6. God uses his disciples to open people’s eyes to God’s glory. So here’s our FINAL bit of application. We need to be praying that God will open people’s eyes. Evangelism ALWAYS starts with prayer. Outreach October is right around the corner. I hope you will be praying for 3 non-Christian friends. Pray that God will open their eyes to His glory. Because We certainly can’t.

But what we CAN do … is talk to them about Jesus. Invite them along to church. Show them how glorious YOU find God. And we don’t hit them over the head with it. The actual word Paul uses in v. 5 is ‘ourselves as your slaves’. It’s the only time in the NT that Paul calls himself a ‘slave’ of anyone other than Christ. We don’t stand over people. We don’t even stand beside them. We stand UNDER them … as though they are our masters … while we bring them the good news.

Conclusion

And THAT … is how we enjoy that which is most enjoyable. I’m NOT saying we CAN’T enjoy footy … or sunsets … or good food … or entertainment. What I’m saying is we’ve been DESIGNED as relational beings. What that means is … our deepest joys come through people. And the most glorious person in existence is God … displayed in the face of Christ. So may we this week … (i) enjoy and (ii) share: