I want to read for you excerpts from a poem by an unknown poet,
a member of the "human potential" movement. I think
you will find it relevant and helpful. At times members of this
movement are quite good at analyzing various problems we face
in life. They don't know how to provide us with workable solutions
to them, however.
The poem, entitled "Please Hear What I'm Not Saying",
has a lot to say about what we will be looking at this morning.
Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask, I wear a thousand masks
I'm afraid to take off.
And none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
But don't be fooled, for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
That all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without,
That confidence is my name and coolness my game,
That the water's calm and I'm in command, and that I need no one.
But don't believe me, Please.
There is a great need for transparency in the Christian community.
Christians must strive to live their lives not as their fantasies
would demand, not as they would like others to think they live,
but live so that the world can see Jesus Christ living in and
through them.
That is the subject the apostle Paul addresses in the section
to which we have come in his Second Letter to the Corinthians.
Paul is writing this, his "thankful letter", in response
to the Corinthians' warm reception of another letter by him (his
"painful letter") in which he took the Corinthians to
task over sexual immorality in the church. He shared why he couldn't
visit them right away.
Various problems he faced helped him realize what it meant to
be a servant of the new covenant, the eternal arrangement for
maintaining a living, loving relationship between God and man.
As we cast our lot in with God and lay hold of his life, he will
increasingly bestow on us his power for obedience and his forgiveness
for weakness and failure.
Paul then went on to contrast the old covenant with the new covenant.
The old covenant, with its demands and its rituals, brought only
death and emptiness to those who tried to carry out its demands
on their own. But the new covenant, the new arrangement for living,
produces life. All the power, wisdom and love, all the necessary
ingredients for life as it was intended to be lived are ours through
Jesus Christ in this new covenant.
How can we attain a transparent lifestyle? Paul now goes on to
explain to the Corinthians the secret of his boldness and his
transparency by giving a two-fold answer to that question.
Allow the Lord to remove our veils 2 Cor. 3:12-18
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
"Therefore, since we have such a hope," Paul says,
"we are very bold." He is not saying he has hope in
hope. Referring to the terrible hardships which he suffered in
Asia (1:8-10) he says his hope rested on "God, who raises
the dead." Further, his hope was based on the promises of
God. God had promised that if Paul would place his faith in him
he would make him an adequate servant of the new covenant. The
apostle's hope was that God, by his Spirit, would provide all
that was necessary to cope with present realities. He didn't need
to produce for the Corinthians "letters of recommendation"
about his background, his apostleship or his personality. His
power, courage and boldness in his ministry were coming from God
through Christ. He was free to speak without fear, confident,
open and transparent in the sight of God and the Corinthians.
This boldness was not rudeness, but an ability to tell the truth,
to preach the word of God, to be transparent in his dealings with
others-- freedom to live without veils, in other words. Paul was
bold because God's law was written on his heart by the Holy Spirit;
because he was reconciled to God through Christ; because he had
personal access and knowledge of God; because his sins had been
forgiven by Christ's death on the cross. The apostle was experiencing
the truths of the new covenant as it was set out in Jeremiah 31
and repeated in Hebrews 8.
In the passage we have just read, Paul is recalling the second
giving of the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, as recorded in Exodus
34:
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord's presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord. (Exodus 34:29-35)
Here we see that the glory of the law and the glory reflected
in the face of Moses was a fading glory, as we saw in the section
we just read from 2 Corinthians. When God gave the law to Moses
the first time the law came with great glory. God descended on
Mt. Sinai in a dense cloud of smoke and fire. Trumpets blared
and the mountain quaked violently. Forty days and forty nights
later, God delivered the law, written on tablets of stone, to
Moses. But when Moses came down from the mountain ready to share
with the Israelites the law of God, the heart of God written in
the law, he found the people worshipping a golden calf. In anger
Moses broke the tablets.
The second time God gave the law, Moses asked God if he could
behold his glory. God told him that no man could behold him and
live, but he allowed him to see his back as he passed by. Forty
days later, when Moses came down from the mountain, his face was
shining because he had been with God. The Israelites were afraid
of him so he had to put a veil over his face to cover the brightness
before he told them what God wanted from them. Whenever he went
back into the presence of God he took the veil off and was open
and transparent, but he placed it back on again when he spoke
to the people.
Here in his letter Paul points out something not recorded in Exodus
34. Verse 13: "We are not like Moses, who would put a veil
over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the
radiance was fading away." Moses kept the veil on longer
than was necessary, long after the glory of God reflected on his
face had faded. Why? Is it possible he feared losing the respect
of the Israelites and his authority over them? Is it possible
he decided to fool the people by wearing a mask, for the longer
he stayed away from the presence of God the more the glory faded?
Just like the suntan you picked up in Hawaii began to fade as
soon as you got on the plane in Honolulu, you had to try and maintain
your tan by going into a suntan booth when you got home so that
when people asked where you got your beautiful suntan you could
say you had been to Hawaii. Moses wasn't transparent about his
fading glory either, so he hid it. The glory, power and authority
belonged to the Lord, not to Moses, and God's glory never fades.
Moses' face, however, merely reflected that glory.
In the context of Paul's letter, what does the veil mean? In the
case of Moses, the veil represented a false sense of competence,
power, authority, glory and pride which he used to cover his fear
and inadequacy. As long as he was living in the presence of God
and drawing on his glory to speak the words of God there was no
need for the veil. After he left the presence of God, however,
fear entered his heart and he sought in his own strength to represent
the glory that had faded from his face. But Paul says that he
and his fellow workers are not like Moses. They had learned through
hard experiences in Asia to no longer trust in themselves but
in God who raises the dead.
Now Paul shifts his focus from Moses to the sons of Israel: "But
their minds were made dull (or hardened) for to this day the same
veil remains when the old covenant (the law) is read (in the synagogues).
It has not been removed, because only in Christ (Messiah Jesus)
is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil
covers their hearts." Here the apostle points out several
truths which are quite evident. When the Israelites heard Moses
recite the law of God in the wilderness their hearts were filled
with pride. "We can do it," they said. There is a certain
glory, a certain joy in trying to keep the Ten Commandments. But
with that comes pride, self-righteousness and contempt for those
who fail to keep the law. Finally shame and despair are the lot
of those who fail; followed by guilt, weariness and death. During
this period when the Israelites said they could obey the law,
God said to Moses, "O that my people had such a heart in
them, that they would fear me and keep my commandments all the
days of their life...." (Deut. 5:29) But they disobeyed.
They tried to obey by reckoning on their own strength and God
hardened their minds by the process of dulling their spiritual
perception.
Secondly, according to Paul, the hardness of their hearts continued
for over 2000 years, up to the moment when he wrote this letter.
That same veil of pride and self-sufficiency remained over their
minds, for each time they heard the law they said, "We can
do it." Here is how Ray Stedman describes the veil:
The veil becomes the symbol of whatever interferes with and delays
the work of the law. Instead of being open, honest and transparent
before God and saying, "I can't do it," we put a veil
over our face and say, "I can do it." The law has come
to condemn us. It is a minister of death to show us the emptiness
of trying to keep the law. The veil puts off the death that we
need to come to in order to receive the life God is willing
to give us in Christ.
Nothing has changed in the 2,000 years since Paul wrote his letter
to the Corinthians, either. At the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem today
you can plainly see that the veil has not been removed from the
hearts of the Israelites. They stand there, crying out to God,
reading the law, singing the Psalms. They are arrogant and prideful;
their hearts are hardened still; they hold the Gentiles in contempt.
But until they accept Jesus as the Messiah the veil will not be
removed. Yet there is nothing more enjoyable than seeing a Jew
come to accept Jesus. They have a boldness and an openness that's
wonderful to behold.
Here Paul uses the Jewish experience to say to the Christian community,
"We are not like Moses. Don't fall into the same trap of
trying to live out your Christian life behind the same veils of
pride and self-sufficiency." Unfortunately the Christian
community of our day has fallen into the distortion of wearing
veils within the church itself.
Here is another verse from the poem I quoted at the outset:
My surface may seem smooth
But my surface is my mask,
My ever varying and ever concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness or complacence.
Beneath dwells the real me
In confusion, in fear, in aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness
And my fear being exposed.
That's why I frantically wear a mask to hide behind.
A nonchalant, sophisticated facade,
To help me pretend,
To shield me from the glance that knows.
Many are in the church because of their confusion and fear
that God doesn't really care, that he never did make a new arrangement
for living. They go through life wearing a variety of veils such
as spiritual togetherness, humility, a quiet spirit, touchiness,
defensiveness and anger; or else they count on their family name,
their skills, their wealth, even their poverty. As Christians,
we must ask ourselves, "What veils are we wearing so that
our brothers and sisters can't see the fading glory, veils that
leave others thinking we are competent and confident?"
Then Paul offers hope to all who no longer desire to be closed,
hidden and phony, but seek to be open, transparent and honest.
Here is the good news: "Whenever anyone turns to the Lord
the veil is taken away." Paul has already mentioned that
if the Jews turn to Jesus as their Messiah they will be set free
from the flesh, from pride and self-sufficiency, from their "We
can do it" attitude. Now he turns to the Gentiles, reminding
them of Exodus 34. When Moses was in the presence of God there
was no need for the veil. In the same way, when Paul spoke the
words of God to the people he needed no veil for he was drawing
on the fellowship, person, presence and power of God to function
as a minister of the new covenant while teaching the principles
of the new covenant. The key to transparency is to turn to the
Lord, to embrace his new covenant which is powerful to make us
adequate for every situation, and bring us forgiveness in the
midst of our weakness.
"But," someone says, "if I allow the Lord to define
my veils and turn to him to have them removed I'll be naked, I'll
be in a no man's land, a place of vulnerability and weakness."
Paul's answer to that is better than we ever dreamed: "Now
the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's
glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
First, Paul says, "the Lord is the Spirit." First Peter
speaks of "the Spirit of Christ". Second Corinthians
3:3 speaks of "Spirit of the living God, the Spirit who gives
life." Paul is not saying that Jesus and the Holy Spirit
are the same person. Rather he is saying that they are working
toward the same purpose. The apostle understood the ministry of
the Holy Spirit after Pentecost as essentially that of mediating
the life, word and activities of our resurrected Lord in and through
us to a world that needs to see and hear the good news.
Secondly, he says, "where the Lord (Jesus) is, there is freedom."
He is not talking about freedom to do whatever we want to do,
but freedom to be bold, open and transparent. There is no need
for veils, no need for masks. We are free to love and care for
people, to speak like Jesus spoke on earth while drawing on the
resources of his Heavenly Father. We are free to allow the Holy
Spirit to minister in and through us to the honor and glory of
Jesus Christ and his Father.
Thirdly, Paul says, having turned to the Lord and allowed him
to remove our veils we are then in a position, as Moses was, to
sit before him and draw on his power to face reality. We are unafraid;
we make no self effort. As we moment by moment draw on his character
and power, we are quietly being transformed. Veil after veil is
taken away, and instead of becoming naked we find ourselves becoming
like Jesus.
How can we attain a transparent lifestyle? First, we must allow
the Lord to remove our veils; and secondly we must,
Allow the Lord to use our lives 2 Cor. 4:1-6
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 every man'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 of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach 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 the glory of God in the face of Christ.
"Therefore," the apostle writes, "since through
God's mercy we have this ministry we do not lose heart...."
Christians are recipients of God's mercy. They have done nothing
to deserve it; all they brought into the relationship they have
with God was their broken lives. In exchange for those lives God
gave us his life, and out of that flowed the ministry of the new
covenant. As we draw on the power of Jesus to cope with reality
we have a ministry of the Spirit, of righteousness and transparency.
The result is that we don't lose heart, we don't get discouraged
and allow circumstances to get to us. We know that behind time
and space God is always leading us in triumph. "The fragrance
of Christ" which we manifest is "always acceptable to
God through Christ," and "through it we spread the knowledge
of him to all men, those who are being saved and those who are
perishing."
Paul goes on to give two reasons why he and his brothers and sisters
do not become discouraged in their ministry to the Christian community.
First, he says, "We have renounced secret and shameful ways,
we do not use deception." Their lives and their message were
an open book. They didn't need gimmicks or tricks, which is what
the false apostles in Corinth were using, cunning traps to get
people's attention.
Gimmicks and tricks are also being used in our own day to get
people's attention. For instance, a certain church which claims
to be Christian recently ran expensive advertisements in national
magazines giving their history, using the name Jesus freely, and
inviting all to join their church because they have, they claim:
a low divorce rate; they don't drink, smoke, or use drugs; they
are moral, upright, clean living; they love to sing, dance and
play games; they are good givers to worthy causes; they are high
achievers in sports, politics and entertainment; they have low
cancer and heart disease rates, and they live longer; their membership
has doubled in the last 10 years; they are against drugs, homosexuality,
abortion and immorality; their goal is peace. Yet, behind this
slick advertisement lie a variety of theological traps, two of
the more serious being their refusal to recognize the deity of
Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and their insistence that salvation
is accomplished by works.
The second reason why Paul does not become discouraged in his
ministry is because, he says, "we do not distort the word
of God." He did not water down the word, change it to fit
certain needs, as the false teachers apparently were doing. They
taught that salvation was earned by works (Acts 15:1); that mixed
marriages were permissible (2 Cor. 6); and that sexual immorality
was not sinful. In our own day we see people who say they believe
in Jesus as the Christ, yet they also say that Christians should
be both healthy and wealthy. Others say that homosexuality as
a lifestyle is normal; that a woman's body is her own to do as
she pleases with it; and that divorce is permissible for any reason
whatever.
Paul, on the contrary, drew on the power of the Spirit to function
as a minister of the new covenant in the following three ways.
First, "by setting forth the truth plainly." No gimmicks,
games or tricks, rather by telling people what God had to say
about reality. There was no articling, but rather the good news
of salvation by faith, by grace, not of works.
Secondly, Paul says. "we commend ourselves to every man's
conscience." They made an appeal to the mind, not to the
emotions. They appealed to man's conscience, the process of thought
which helps man distinguish between what is morally good and morally
bad, that which commends the good and condemns the bad. While
our conscience has been damaged by the fall, it has sufficient
discernment to know truth when it hears it, even if it rejects
that truth.
On Monday last I had a wonderful opportunity to do what Paul in
these verses said he did, "setting forth the truth plainly
[and] commending ourselves to every man's conscience." That
morning I grabbed my newspaper and my mail and went to my favorite
restaurant to have breakfast. It was crowded, and I had to squeeze
myself into a place I don't normally sit, stepping over a knapsack
to get to my place. The owner of the sack happened to be a young
man from Germany, a soldier in the German army, who was vacationing
in this country. He had slept out the night before and he was
still soaking wet. I invited him to come to my home and have a
hot shower, dry his clothes and get a map of San Francisco before
he set off from Half Moon Bay. After his shower we began to talk
about his trip around the United States and he asked me what I
did. When I told him I was a Christian pastor he said, "That's
fascinating. Everywhere I've been in the United States the only
people who have helped me have been Christians." I commended
the gospel to him and sent him on his way. I gave him my address
and asked him to write to me when he had become a follower of
Jesus Christ. He said he would.
Thirdly, Paul says, he ministers "in the sight of God."
Once again, as in 2:17, Paul refers to his awareness of the presence
and power of God. The apostle's life, motive, and actions were
transparent before the Lord. He senses his accountability to God
for his ministry.
Then Paul describes his ministry to the non-Christian community.
First, the bad news. "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 of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
As Paul preached the good news that Jesus Christ was and is the
Son of God he realized, as he has already stated in 2:15-16, that
his message was being heard by two groups, those who were perishing
and those who were being saved. He knew that pride and self-sufficiency
were veils over the minds and hearts of those who were perishing.
The god of this world, Satan, had blinded their minds so that
they could no longer see the truth of the good news (it was too
easy, they said), or the character of Jesus, the Son of God (there
were many ways to God, they held). A new age advocate wrote the
following, "We inherited the supernatural. As lords of our
own universe we create our own reality by the power of our thoughts."
After reading that a friend of mine commented, "I guess we
all would rather be gods than serve one."
Then the good news for unbelievers. "We do not preach ourselves,"
the apostle continues, "but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves
as your servants for Jesus' sake." In spite of the unbelieving
ones, the veils, the work of Satan who seeks to distort the person
of Christ, Paul is saying, we continued to preach Jesus Christ
as Lord. Jesus is not merely a prophet, a teacher, a moral man,
but the resurrected Lord of lords and King of kings. But the good
news is that Jesus can break through all opposition: "For
God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness', has made his
light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ."
There is hope for unbelievers. The God who said, "Let there
be light" is the same God who caused light to shine in our
hearts. Paul himself experienced that on the Damascus road when
the Lord appeared to him in a blaze of light and asked him, "Why
are you persecuting me?" No matter how prideful and stubborn,
no matter how many masks they wear, the God who said "Let
there be light" can reach the hearts of unbelievers.
How can we attain a transparent lifestyle? We must first go before
God and allow him to remove our veils. Have you noticed that when
you pray to God, when you come into his presence how the veils
drop off one by one? Then, having taken off the veils, we must
allow the Lord to use our lives to reach others through the power
of the Holy Spirit working in us.
Catalog No. 0532
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:6
Third message
Ron R. Ritchie
March 17, 1985
Updated August 28, 2000.
Copyright © 1985 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Discovery Publishing. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.