2 Corinthians 4:6 ~ 20180819 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
08/19_2 Corinthians 4:6; The Creative Power of Authentic Ministry; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20180819_2cor4_6.mp3
Paul is describing authentic Christian ministry; giving reason why he does not lose heart, get discouraged, give up, burn out. Ministry, the ability and opportunity to serve others, is a gift. It is God's mercy to sinners.
2 Corinthians 4:1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 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.
He describes his methods; he does not use shameful hidden methods; he refuses to water down, add to, or distort God's word. He speaks plainly, openly, with integrity.
He recognizes there is an adversary to the truth, a powerful enemy who seeks our eternal destruction, who would cast a veil over the hearts and minds of people to keep them from seeing the truth.
2 Corinthians 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 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.
He lays out the simple message he does proclaim; the person of Jesus, the Christ, the Lord, and he explains his role as a minister of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 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.
Verse 6, our subject today, he gives us the creative power of authentic ministry, the ultimate ground of his confidence in gospel ministry, why he is content to openly proclaim the truth, to not adjust the message to suit his audience, and why he does not lose heart even in the face of seeming ministry failure. We proclaim Jesus, and God speaks and shines light in hearts that are veiled and blinded. God is powerful to overcome the darkness. Authentic ministry is ministry God speaks through to accomplish his purposes.
God Said
The ministry Paul is talking about is primarily a speaking ministry; he simply and plainly heralds the Lord Jesus Christ. He proclaims. He uses words to communicate truth. He communicates simply, openly, plainly. His ministry is ministry of the word; he administers God's word to people. He communicates God's truth. He communicates the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ as Lord. Ministry is speaking, proclaiming, communicating truth, to reflect our God who is a communicating, speaking God. Verse 6 begins 'because God said.'
Don't ever let this cease to amaze you. Our God is a speaking God, a communicating God. He could have left us wondering, guessing, groping in the dark. But he spoke. He communicates who he is, what he is like, what he requires, how we can have a relationship with him. Our God is a speaking God. We speak because he has spoken.
The Power of The Word
And his speech has power. When God speaks, things leap into being. That which did not exist comes into existence. Psalm 33 says:
Psalm 33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. ...9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
By his word, by the breath of his mouth, by his speaking, at his command, everything came into being. The heavens and all their starry hosts, universes, galaxies, all breathed out by him. Hebrews 11 says:
Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
The universe created by the word of God. That which is visible came out of that which is invisible, the spoken word. God's word is creative! God's word has power! Romans 4 talks about
Romans 4:17...the God ...who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
God calls, God speaks, and things that do not exist come into existence! This is absolute power! Everything God says happens.
This is what we are asking when in the Lord's prayer we ask that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May we respond to your word with unhesitating and absolute obedience, the way your word causes even things that do not exist to be for your pleasure.
Out of Darkness, Light Shine
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”
God commanded 'out of darkness, light shine!' Any idea what passage Paul is referring to here?
The first thing that comes to mind is creation, where 'God said Let light be, and light came into existence' (Gen.1:3). Darkness was over the face of the deep, and God said “Let there be light.” and there was light. Genesis 1 is clearly in mind here, because God is creating light out of darkness. And he does it with his word. He speaks, and it comes into being. 2 Corinthians 4:6 starts out 'the God who said' and Genesis 1:3 starts out 'and God said'. But in Genesis 1, God says 'let light be or exist; in 2 Corinthians he says 'let light shine' – a different verb. And Genesis 1 takes place at the beginning of creation, before humankind exists; where 2 Corinthians is talking about God shining light into human hearts made flesh. So while Genesis 1 is definitely in mind, there may be other passages in mind as well.
There is another passage that includes darkness, light, and the same verb 'to shine' that we find in 2 Corinthians 4. It is Isaiah 9. You are probably familiar with the well-known Christmas passage Isaiah 9:6:
Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9 begins by pointing us to 'Galilee of the nations,' and verse 2 says:
Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
Here the subject is people, people walking in darkness, upon whom the light shines. And in the context of Isaiah 9, the light shining is the child born, the son given, whose name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Matthew 4:13-16 quotes Isaiah 9:1-2 and says that it is fulfilled in Jesus. The light shining in the darkness of human hearts is Jesus!
In Isaiah 60 we see this same theme again of light coming into darkness, and it is the glory of the Lord on people.
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
The light that overcomes the thick darkness is the glory of YHWH rising. What we proclaim is Jesus Christ as Lord; YWHW.
John's gospel begins this way.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ...9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Jesus is the true light that shines in the darkness, that gives light, that was coming into the world. Notice in John's gospel that he names this one 'the Word.' The Word gives life and light. It is the speaking one, the communicating one, the one we proclaim; Jesus Christ the Lord.
Paul takes a thread from Genesis 1 where God brings light into existence that did not exist by his powerful word, and ties it together with Isaiah 9, where the promised Son of God shines light into the deep darkness of humankind, and Isaiah 60 where the light is the glory of YHWH.
The Means of Conversion
2 Corinthians 4:6 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.
Paul is talking about confidence in gospel ministry, and he points to his own conversion, and he invites us to think of our own conversion. The God who said 'out of darkness, light shine!' has shone in our hearts.
Do you remember? Do you remember when the lights came on for you? I grew up in a Christian family, in a Christian church, attending camp and Sunday School. I knew all about Jesus, and Samson and Delilah and David and Goliath and Adam and Eve and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Paul and Timothy. I knew all about creation and Babel and the ark and the tabernacle and the disciples and the miracles and the cross and the resurrection. I knew that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I knew it. I saw it all in living color on Mrs. Dean's flannel graph. I even believed it. But I remember when I got it. When it came home to me. When the lights turned on. When God shone in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of Jesus. I felt the weight of my sin, and I was a grievous sinner at the ripe age of seven. I had been feeling the weight of my sin, but now I saw that Jesus took that sin – my sin. He died in my place. For me! He loved me and gave himself up for me. He was pursuing me. He wanted a relationship with me! I finally got it, and I wanted it. I wanted him! I embraced his forgiveness. I embraced him. How did it happen for you? When did the lights come on?
Paul invites us to look at our own conversion, our own transformation, our own new birth, as something God did. God the Creator spoke light into existence in our hearts and our blind eyes began to see! People talked 'till they were blue in the face, explained, clarified, answered questions... nothing. But when God said 'let light be,' then the lights came on.
The Creator God has shone in our hearts and we saw. We can take confidence in gospel ministry because we experienced God's illuminating power. And we know he can turn the lights on for anyone!
Paul is confident in proclaiming plainly the simple message of Jesus Christ as Lord; he does not lose heart, because he is confident that God is at work shining in dark and veiled hearts to illuminate Jesus to them.
Romans 10 is helpful here. Romans 10:13 says:
Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And then he goes on to explain:
Romans 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? ...17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Salvation comes through calling on Jesus in faith. Faith comes through hearing the word proclaimed. But not all who hear believe. God must turn the lights on. Proclamation is necessary, but it is not the decisive thing. God must be speaking in our speaking to create light in the hearts of those who are blind. Paul said in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:21 ... it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ...23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
How is it that the folly of what we preach becomes the saving power of God and the wisdom of God? Through the God who said 'Let light shine out of darkness' shining in our hearts to give light. We can confidently proclaim the simple message of Christ crucified, Jesus Christ as Lord, confident that God will open blind eyes and conquer hard hearts. We cannot 'claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God' (2Cor.3:5)
The Glory of God is the Glory of Christ
Let's look again at what we see when God shines in our hearts.
2 Corinthians 4:6 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.
What is it that we see? It is the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Let's pair this with what our enemy wants to keep us from seeing in verse 4. What the enemy wants to blind us to is what God overcomes by his creative word to give us the light of knowledge. Paul states the same thing in different words, and the pairing of these two verses sheds even more light on Jesus.
2 Corinthians 4:4 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.
What our adversary wants to keep us from seeing is 'the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.'
2 Corinthians 4:4--------------------------------2 Corinthians 4:6
In their case the god of this world-------------For God, who said,
------------------------------------------------------- “Let light shine out of darkness,”
has blinded the minds of the unbelievers,----has shone in our hearts
to keep them from seeing-----------------------to give
the light of the gospel---------------------------the light of the knowledge
of the glory of Christ,---------------------------of the glory of God
who is the image of God.-----------------------in the face of Jesus Christ.
'The light of the gospel' is 'the light of the knowledge.' what is the content of this knowledge, this good news? 'The glory of Christ' is 'the glory of God'. Paul as plainly as ever identifies Christ with God. The knowledge of the glory of God is the good news of the glory of Christ. The glory of Christ is that he is very image of God. The glory of God is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
O Lord, open our eyes to behold the good news of the glory of Christ the image of God; let us see the glory of God in the face of our Lord
Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org