Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
There is a wry saying often uttered among pastors in the privacy of their personal enclaves. It goes like this… “Ministry would be great if it wasn’t for people!”
That statement communicates two things. One is that ministry is difficult. That’s kind of the same as the opening line of M. Scott Peck’s bestseller, The Road Less Travelled. The book opens with these three words: “Life is difficult.”
Well, yes, of course. Life is difficult and ministry is difficult because life is difficult.
But the pastoral statement, “Ministry would be great if it wasn’t for people,” is meant to be a funny reminder that, of course, ministry is all about people.
Sometimes it is easy to forget that when one is reading the Bible. It is easy to think that ministry, or religion, is all about learning theological principles, doctrines, etc. Actually, it is all about people, about relationships, our relationship with God, and our relationships with one another.
Paul
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 refers directly or indirectly to four people, or four groups of people. If you want to keep from losing heart in life, you need to understand something about all four of these people…
First, Paul refers to himself. In verse 1 he says, “Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.” Paul uses the plural “we” in this verse. He realized that ministry is not a solo effort. He was in it with others. But he is also talking about himself here.
The Greek word translated as “lose heart” refers to weariness. But it is an inner weariness caused by negative external circumstances.
It is so easy to lose heart in ministry and in life in general. How do we keep from losing heart? How do we keep from growing weary?
We need to do two things that Paul did. First, he was conscious of a great task. Paul calls that task “this ministry”. Literally, the ministry is “the service”.
If we are going to keep going in life, we all need a sense of purpose. As it says in Proverbs, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
I love the story of Nehemiah in the Old Testament. Nehemiah was a Jew living in exile. He was also the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes. In other words, he was the one who drank the king’s wine before him to make sure the king wouldn’t be poisoned. That’s an important job.
Nehemiah got word that his fellow Jews who had returned to Jerusalem were having a tough time because the wall of the city was broken down. When he heard about this, he asked the king for permission to return to Jerusalem himself and oversee the rebuilding of the wall.
Nehemiah did just that, but the project was not without opposition. There were other people living in the land of Judah who did not want to see the Jews succeed and take possession of the land again. These enemies tried to distract Nehemiah and his workers.
I love Nehemiah’s response when his enemies tried to get him to come down from the wall and give up his work. He said, “I am carrying on a great work and cannot come down.” (Nehemiah 6:3)
Nehemiah was conscious of a great task that had been given to him. Paul was also conscious of the great task God had given him. When you have a sense of purpose and direction in life, it is harder to lose heart, to grow weary and give up.
The second thing that kept Paul from losing heart was the memory of mercy received. Paul knew that it was through God’s mercy that he was given the task of carrying the good news of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. Paul never forgot who he was and who he had been. He never forgot that he had been a persecutor of the Christians and that it was only by God’s mercy that he was saved and appointed to God’s service.
Did you know that John Newton, the preacher and hymn writer of such great hymns as Amazing Grace wrote his own epitaph? It went like this…
JOHN NEWTON. Clerk. Once an infidel and libertine a servant of slaves in Africa was by the rich mercy of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.
John Newton never forgot that it was by God’s mercy, by God’s grace, that he was forgiven and appointed to God’s service in Christ. Paul was the same. He never forgot who he was or where he came from. He remembered God’s mercy and that kept him from losing heart.
Paul’s Opponents
The second set of people referred to in these verses were Paul’s opponents. Once again, we have to read between the lines of what Paul is saying to understand what was going on in Corinth.
Paul says, “… we have renounced secret and shameful ways.” Apparently, some people in Corinth were accusing Paul of secretive and shameful behavior. This was not true and so Paul answers the charge directly and says that he is committed to not acting in such a fashion.
He goes on to say, “We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.” Apparently, Paul was being accused of deception and of distorting the Scriptures.
It could be that this attack was coming from visiting missionaries in Corinth who were insisting that followers of Christ still needed to be circumcised, to follow kosher laws, and in fact, follow all the laws of Moses. Paul taught the exact opposite of this, and so these false teachers suggested that Paul was the one who was distorting the Scriptures.
“On the contrary,” Paul says, “by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”
We can learn a lot from Paul about how to answer opponents in life. There is a time when we must, like Nehemiah, say, “I am carrying on a great work and cannot come down.”
Abraham Lincoln once said,
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
There is a time when that is absolutely the right way to answer one’s opponents. But Paul knew he had to do more than that on this occasion because the Gospel, the Good News about Jesus Christ, was at stake. Paul did not want anyone in Corinth, or anywhere else for that matter, to be mistaken about the Good News. He wanted it to be crystal clear that we are not saved by works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ alone. That’s why he answered his critics point for point on this occasion.
Unbelievers
A third group of people Paul refers to in these verses are the unbelievers. Last week we saw Paul talking a lot about veils and how a veil lies over the eyes of the Jewish people whenever they hear Scripture read because they don’t see how it points to Christ. Paul picks up on that theme here and says, “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.” Then he goes on to say, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Who is the god of this age? Paul is talking about the devil, Satan, the adversary. He is the one who causes spiritual blindness so that people will not see the light of the good news and turn to Christ for salvation. Now, if that were the end of the story, our lives would be truly miserable.
Knowing how much I like C. S. Lewis, some people sometimes ask me, “Is there anything you disagree with Lewis about?” The answer is, amazingly, “Yes.” Others ask, “Are there any of his books you don’t like?” The answer, amazingly again is, “Yes, The Screwtape Letters is, perhaps, my least favorite Lewis book.” “Why?” you might ask. Because it is all about the devil. It looks at life upside down. It does not have the light and joy that so many other Lewis books have. Lewis himself said it was his least favorite book to write because he had to put himself in the mind of the devil and imagine how to tempt other people and how life would look from Satan’s perspective.
Thankfully, God does not leave us in Satan’s grip, unless we want to be left there, unless we choose it.
Jesus
That leads me to mention the fourth person that Paul refers to in these verses. That is Jesus. Paul says…
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”[a] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Paul did not preach himself. Yes, he sometimes talked about his spiritual experiences. But his preaching did not focus on himself. He focused on Jesus Christ.
As some of you know, I was a drama major in college. On one occasion, my father came to see me in a play that I was in. It was quite an interesting play, all about two college age friends. One commits suicide and the other ends up having a conversation with his friend’s ghost while camping alone out in the desert.
It was a one-act play written by a fellow college student. And in the play, I had some very long monologues. Furthermore, I had to undress in front of the audience. Don’t worry, I have renounced such tactics ever since.
After the performance, my father came up to me and said, “Well, you can be sure of one thing.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Either you need to be an actor or a preacher.”
Not long after that, I decided I wanted to be a preacher. I decided I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life speaking other people’s words. I wanted to spend the rest of my life speaking God’s word and pointing people to Jesus.
Paul had the same goal. I think it is one of the worthiest goals in life because Jesus is the one who can remove our spiritual blindness. Jesus is the one who brings us light and love and peace and joy.
Do you want to know if Jesus is who he claimed to be? Ask God to shine the light of his presence in your heart. Ask Jesus to reveal himself to you, and he will. And as Jesus shines his light and his love into your heart, he will keep you from losing heart.
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