"I Believe in Jesus, Too" Sermon: II Corinthians 4:1-6 (manuscript)

“I Believe in Jesus, Too”

II Corinthians 4:1-6

March 15, 2020 YouTube

            What do you believe is most important in a Christian preacher, teacher, or believer?  Is it that they be beautiful in their body?  Always having a smile?  Always promising good?  Never feeling bad, or mentioning sin, or calling us to repentance?

            Should they require payment upfront?  (That’s how we know they are good and right, right?)  Should they have golden tongues and never speak anything grammatically incorrect?

            One of the things that Paul addresses in his letters to the Corinthians are people that Paul mockingly calls, “super-apostles.”  These were Ken and Barbie preachers and teachers who came into town with the right clothes and the right speech and spoke in a way that made you feel good – you had to pay upfront, of course, and pay them well to speak.  And then they would tell you what you always knew about yourself.  They would teach you how to think better to live better, get you to next level thinking, and teach you how to declare your will into reality!

            These “super-apostles” were critical of Paul.  Paul was short and had a big nose.  He was not a great speaker.  And they said you could tell he was not a great apostle, because he suffered so much.  True apostles don’t suffer, after all, they said (cf. https://ssg.church/past-articles/the-super-apostles/).

            Paul’s Gospel is different from the gospel of the “super-apostles.”  Paul says this is the Gospel:

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles” (I Corinthians 15:3-7, ESV).

The Gospel is what Jesus did in history to merit our salvation.  Period. Nothing more, nothing less.

We must respond to it, but the Gospel is the work of Jesus and the work of Jesus, God the Son, alone.  That is why it is good news.

In this morning’s text, we look at part of Paul’s attack against – and warning about – the “super-apostles.”

First, God gives us His ministry.

“Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.”

It is easy to get discouraged – especially if we are serving a small church.  It could be easy to get discouraged if we understand we are not the most handsome, most well-built, most eloquent and brilliant speaker for miles around.  We could become discouraged and think that the church simply will not visibly grow because we are preaching the Whole Counsel of God – and some of it makes us feel bad.  We could become discouraged if we believe that the church stands and falls on us.

We need to get it into our heads – not just those who have been called to ordained ministry – but everyone who has been called to faith in Christ – that the Church, the Gospel, and our role in proclaiming the Gospel are the gift of God given to us in mercy.

If we have prayed and are faithfully prepared and present the Gospel from the Whole Counsel of God to the best of our abilities, relying on God the Holy Spirit to do with it as He wills, we have been faithful and obeyed the call on our lives.

So, we have hope.  We have hope because it is God’s Gospel, God’s Church, God’s Salvation, and God’s choice to use humans to proclaim His Gospel.  Our hope is not in ourselves – not in our abilities and presentation and looks and manner, but our hope is in the Gospel that God has promised to bring to fruition.

We are called to be faithful and obedient – and we are not.  So, thank God our hope is not in ourselves, but in God and His work.

Second, proclaim the Gospel plainly and clearly.

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.”

The “super-apostles” came with all their college words and impressed people to no end, but people didn’t really understand what they were saying.  Also, the “super-apostles” preached certain things and left other things out – and even added to the texts.

If your pastor is preaching on Genesis 19 – about the angels visit to Sodom – and your pastor preaches on “How to Make Friends in a New Neighborhood,” no matter how handsome the pastor, no matter how beautiful the language, no matter how good it made you feel, he has failed in his call to proclaim the Gospel simply and plainly.  He has preached another gospel, which is not a gospel at all.

The “super-apostles” are disgraceful – they are underhanded in the way the get their message across and want us to praise them, rather than God – to give glory to them, instead of the Gospel of our God.

The true preacher – the true proclaimer of the Gospel – who relies on God Alone and gives Him the glory is not cunning (like the serpent we saw in the Garden a few weeks ago).  He does not tamper with the Word of God to make it more acceptable to the hearers.  Rather, he studies the text and presents it as a herald, “Thus says the Lord” – as plainly and clearly as he can – neither adding nor subtracting from it – admitting when there are passages that he has not  come to understand yet.

Doing so, “we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.”

The true follower of Jesus Christ who faithful tells others the Gospel does so keeping in mind that he is doing so in the sight of God.  First and foremost, we are responsible to proclaim what God has said – and He is watching, and He knows if we have spoken truly.  His concern is that we clearly and plainly proclaim the Gospel. 

Be comforted in knowing that God does not usually choose Ken and Barbie:

As Paul explains to the Corinthians:

“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (I Corinthians 1:26-31, ESV).

God usually chooses people like us to proclaim His Gospel clearly and plainly.

Third, the clear and plain Gospel is veiled to the unbeliever.

“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 uses imagery that would have been familiar to the Corinthians:  in Exodus 34:29-35, we read that Moses spoke face to face with God, and when Moses came out from speaking with God, his face shone with the Glory of God, and the people were frightened of him.  So, after Moses spoke with God and then gave God’s Word to the people, he wore a veil over his face, so he wouldn’t scare the people.

But here, he tells we who proclaim the Gospel that if people don’t believe what we say, it is not because we are not “super-apostles” – if we are clearly and plainly telling people Who Jesus is and what He did and they do not believe – if they do not believe, it is not because we are not cute enough or not golden-tongued enough, it is because the Gospel has a veil over it – not unlike the veil over Moses’ face – which blocks understanding – the reception of the Gospel.

When Moses receives the Ten Commandments, God says, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. (Exodus 33:19, ESV).

Paul quotes this in Romans 9 as he explains that God is the One Who opens the hearts and minds of people to receive the Gospel and believe.  Until God intervenes, no one will believe – the Gospel is veiled to everyone until God chooses to unveil it.  So, to God belongs all the Glory for salvation.

Ours is to be obedient and clear and plain in explaining and presenting the Gospel – no one needs a PhD before he can tell another person about Jesus.  No one has to know all the multisyllable words there are before he can tell people that God came to earth in the person of Jesus to life a perfect life, die for the sins of everyone who will ever believe and rise from the dead to secure our salvation – so, repent of your sin and believe.  We can all do that – and that is God’s call on us.

Veiling is the result of sin.  Unveiling is the work of God the Holy Spirit.  Ours is to be faithful and obedient and proclaim the Gospel, praying that God will use it to His Glory.  As we study and prepare and speak, we ought to also pray that God will use our presentation of His Gospel to bring the elect to salvation – that He will lift the veil and cause men and women to believe.

Fourth, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.

“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.”

The “super-apostles” preached themselves – their perfections – what they wanted to get across and what they wanted from the people who listened to them.  They believed they were better than everyone else.

But Paul tells us that we do not proclaim ourselves – the Gospel is not about you or me – much less our perfections or imperfections – but we proclaim Jesus Christ – God the Son, the Promised Savior, Who Alone gifts salvation to His people.

We rightly see ourselves not as “rock-star preachers,” but as servants of Christ and His Church.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism gets it right when it says the chief purpose of human existence is to glorify God and enjoy Him. God created us and gave us salvation and calls us to obediently proclaim the Gospel as a pointing to Jesus – our posture should be one of “don’t look at me, look at Jesus and what He has done.” 

And we – both as ministers and laity are to serve the Church – all other Christians.  With whatever gifts we have been given – along with the call to proclaim the Gospel – we are to serve all other Christians.

Peter writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (I Peter 4:10-11, ESV).

A word on ordained ministers in particular:  as we serve Christ and His Church, our congregations ought to respond to that by esteeming Christ – by holding Him in high regard – and by esteeming us for the sake of the office, insofar as we are being faithful.

The “super-apostles” ought not to be esteemed – much less worshiped.  But, if you find yourself with an ordained minister who may not stand out from the crowd, who may not do everything you would like, who may not be everything you prefer in a minister, but, if he is striving to be faithful and obedient to God – if he is preaching the Gospel each week as he finds it in all of the Scripture – if the Glory of Christ has shone into his heart and you can see it shining forth to you, such that you glorify Christ, you might well esteem him.

Let us all gather together – all Christians – in love and service of our God and Savior, Jesus – outdoing one another in joyful service – giving thanks that the work of the Gospel is accomplished by Jesus and is applied by the Will of God the Holy Spirit. 

You and I are called to be faithful and obedient – and to tell everyone the Gospel.  And as repentant, believing sinners, we can have great hope, because God is at work in and through us and will bring everyone He has chosen to salvation.

Let us be faithful and obedient – and tell everyone the Gospel – not worrying if we are holy enough or able enough or cute enough – you’re not.  We are the heralds of the Almighty God Who will without fail accomplish His work.  Let us rejoice and give thanks for the gift we have been given.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, we thank You for giving us the gift of salvation and for calling us to proclaim the Gospel.  Keep us from becoming proud and distorting Your Word.  Help us to speak plainly and clearly, showing ourselves to be Your servants.  Servants who are full of Your joy.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.