Seeing Jesus With Unveiled Eyes | 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 | 3/1/26

Do you guys ever get discouraged as

you're serving Christ?

The expectation for all Christians is

that we serve Christ and his church. But

sometimes that can be discouraging,

can't it? Maybe you're treated poorly by

a person that you're just trying to

help.

Maybe you've done the same thankless job

at church for years and no one notices.

No one sees, no one appreciates you.

Maybe you give regularly financially,

but no one ever will know how generous

you are.

Maybe you regularly share the gospel

with friends and strangers, and you see

zero results.

No one's listening to you. No one's

believing your gospel.

When things like this happen, we can

easily become discouraged. We can want

to quit.

It feels like it's not worth it to serve

Christ. After all, there is a a level of

suffering or at least discomfort or

unpleasantness that comes with serving.

You're missing out on things. You're

using your time, your money, your

energy. And for what?

If it doesn't result in any tangible or

visible results, why do we do it? Why do

we keep on serving?

In our text today, Paul is going to

answer those questions. He's going to

show us how to endure when ministry is

hard. We've been in this section in

Paul's letter to the Corinthians where

Paul is defending his own ministry. He's

defending his ministry because his

reputation and his authority as an

apostle are being challenged by a group

of false ministers who have crept into

the Corinthian church. They're

undermining Paul. They're saying things

like, "Oh, he's not a real pastor. He's

not even a real apostle.

He left you guys. He canceled his plans

to come visit Corinth. Also, he's not

eloquent.

He's not trained in public speaking and

rhetoric like we are. He doesn't have a

huge following like we do. He can't sway

the hearts and minds of people like we

can.

And so Paul has been responding to these

critics and explaining how true

ministry, remember that word ministry

just means service to Christ and his

church. How true ministry, authentic

service, is not about how eloquent

someone is.

It's not about getting people to do what

you want them to do.

It's not about earning a great name or

having a huge following. Paul has been

contrasting his authentic ministry with

the fake ministries of his opponents in

Corenth. And last week we saw that one

of the main ways that you can know a

true ministry or a true minister is that

there will be transformation taking

place. People will be transformed from

one degree of glory to another. You will

see that people are growing in their

love for Christ and their knowledge for

God. Knowledge of God. You will see

people who are dropping off sinful

patterns and pursuing the fruit of the

spirit. This all comes from genuine

ministry.

But what happens when you don't see

those results or at least not yet? If

they're slow coming or if you can't just

you don't you don't recognize the

transformation around you? You don't see

lives transformed because of your

service. Is your service then fake?

Are you wasting your time?

But let's read our text together this

morning and find out. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. We'll be reading verses 1-6.

If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and

make your way over there. 2 Corinthians

chapter 4:es 1-6.

Paul writes,

"Therefore, having this ministry by the

mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but

we renounce 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. 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. For what we proclaim is not

ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,

with ourselves as your servants for

Jesus's sake. For God who said, "Let

light shine 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. This is the word

of God.

In these six verses, Paul gives us five

principles for persevering in Christian

service. Five principles for persevering

in Christian service. Principle number

one,

remember God's mercy toward you.

Remember God's mercy toward you. We see

this principle in verse one. Therefore,

having this ministry by the mercy of

God, we do not lose heart. Here in verse

one, Paul has given us the problem that

he's trying to address, the the problem

he's trying to solve in our text.

He's acknowledging that in ministry,

it's possible to lose heart. It's

possible to become discouraged. In fact,

it's likely. Paul himself is tempted

that way. Now, how do I know that he is

facing discouragement? That he's tempted

to lose heart. Because when everything

is wonderful, you don't say things like,

"We're hanging in there." Or, "We're not

losing heart." You say that kind of

stuff when things are really, really

hard. I'm not giving up even though it's

really, really hard. That's what Paul is

saying.

He doesn't lose heart. He doesn't quit.

He keeps on going.

Why?

Why keep going? Paul Paul tells himself

that his ministry is a gift from God to

Paul in verse one he said having

received this ministry by the mercy of

God he's saying the only reason I have

this ministry the only reason I am a

servant

is because God has been merciful to me

now let me ask you do you think of

service as a mercy from God

I don't usually think of it that way

I'll be honest I don't usually think of

it that way. Most of the time when we

think of us serving Christ or serving

others for Christ's sake, we think we're

the ones with the mercy. Oh, I'm being

merciful. I'm giving my time, my money,

my energy. I have the mercy to give.

That's not how Paul frames it. No, this

merc this ministry is a mercy from God

to Paul.

That's how Paul thinks about it.

He remembers the mercy of God in moments

when he's tempted to lose heart. He

reminds himself that God gave him this

ministry and that it is a gift and not a

curse.

It's a mercy, not a burden.

Isn't it easy to think of our ministries

or our service as a burden or a curse?

Especially when it's not going well. I

can imagine Paul wanting to quit after

all of the shenanigans that the

Corinthians were were giving him. I

mean, this guy gave his blood, his

sweat, and his tears to plant this

church.

And then the second he walks away a few

months later, there's new leaders who

have crept in who are saying things

like, "He's not a real pastor."

And Paul's got to be like, "You you you

really think that after all we've been

through? You really think that?"

If I were Paul, I would be tempted to

just throw in the towel. But he doesn't

lose heart.

He's like, "It's okay. It's okay,

Corinthians, that you're struggling with

this.

God gave me this job to do, and he has

given me his mercy."

It's easy to endure in fake ministry.

It's really easy to endure in fake

ministry. Those guys in Corinth, Paul's

opponents, the ones who swooped in with

their eloquent speeches and their

letters of recommendation and just kind

of took over the church, they won huge

crowds. They were making huge

collections of money. In fake ministry,

you're heavily rewarded.

With money, with praise, with

popularity. But true ministry, authentic

ministry, is hard. And it often goes

unrewarded in this life, unrecognized by

anyone, unseen by anyone, and

unappreciated by those you serve. But

none of that has caused Paul to quit. In

moments when he's tempted to spare,

instead of having a pity party, he has a

mercy party.

He remembers the mercy of God towards

him. And what do you think comes to mind

for Paul when he thinks of the mercy of

God? Don't you think he thinks about his

old life? What was Paul before he was a

Christian? Before he became an apostle,

who's a persecutor of the church? He

hunted down Christians. Jesus appeared

to him on the road to Damascus and said,

"Why are you persecuting me?"

That's who Paul was before.

That's what he's thinking of when he

thinks of the mercy of God.

But God had mercy on him. God confronted

Paul, gave him a new heart, and gave him

a mission for his life.

And just like Paul received mercy from

his life of persecuting Christians, all

of you have also received mercy.

So many of you were rescued by God out

of extreme darkness.

You were raised in destructive families

and you were bent on your own

self-destruction.

You were harming many others along the

way. But God in his mercy rescued you

and changed your heart. You heard the

news that you could be forgiven and set

free. And so you believed it and God

showed you mercy and your whole life

changed. That's many of you in this

room. Some of you didn't have that kind

of life, though. Some of you had a

different kind of life where you grew up

in church and you had great families.

You too have received mercy.

It's a mercy that God put you where he

put you. It was a mercy that you did not

that he did not give you over to your

most depraved inclinations, but instead

he rescued us from a young age. That's

mercy.

But that's not where God's mercy ends.

He doesn't just forgive us and then

bring us into his family and then leave

us alone to just enjoy the family life.

No, he gives you a purpose. That's part

of God's mercy. He gives you a purpose.

He gives you a job to do. He gives you a

ministry, an area to serve him and the

rest of the family.

His purposes in your life is a mercy. I

think we so easily forget that. We so

easily forget that there are millions of

people in this world who are living

their life completely aimless. They have

zero purpose. They don't understand why

they're on this planet. They're just

trying to bump along and feel their way

to some kind of meaning and you have it.

It's been given to you. That's

incredibly sad that the rest of the

world doesn't have it. But that's not

us. God's mercy has forgiven you and

God's mercy has given you a job and a

purpose.

Think back to the triumphal procession

imagery from a few week few a few weeks

ago in chapter 2. Do you remember what

Paul said? He said, "Thanks be to God

that he always leads us in triumphal

procession." The imagery was of a Roman

general who was coming back from

conquering barbarian lands. And he was

coming back with this victory parade

through the arch into Rome. And all of

the people of Rome came out to celebrate

with this general. And who was in this

parade? With this general. There were

captured barbarian slaves who were being

led to their execution.

There were those guys.

But then there were the rescued Roman

soldiers who were prisoners of war in

barbarian lands. They were the ones who

were honored with the incense carrying.

And so they carried the incense in this

parade. That that is the aroma of

Christ. You're a servant in the parade

with a great privilege of boasting about

the mercy that you have received, the

rescue that God has accomplished for

you, that he saved you from slavery in a

dark place.

Just like God gave Paul a ministry out

of mercy, he has given you an area of

service, a job to do, incense to carry.

Yes, you're helping someone else. Yes,

you are providing the mercy of God to

someone else, but it is also a mercy to

you. That's how Paul looks at his

ministry, and that's why he can keep

going. So, that's principle number one.

When you're facing discouragement,

remember God's mercy. Principle number

two, maintain a clear conscience.

Paul shows us this in verse two. 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. Paul is

again contrasting his own authentic

ministry with his opponents fake

ministry. His opponents were using God's

word as a means to an end.

They were using the Bible to as pretend

service to Christ as a platform for

their own fame and popularity, for power

and influence and financial gain. They

weren't actually serving Christ. They

were in name. They were saying, "We're

Christian pastors."

But they were really serving themselves.

They were pretending to serve Christ so

that they could create servants to serve

them. That's not serving Christ. That's

creating servants of yourself.

Part of enduring in ministry is

maintaining a clear conscience. Knowing

that you are not in it to serve

yourself. You're not here for you.

Knowing that you are not using the Bible

to manipulate people into doing what you

want them to do. The Bible is a powerful

tool. You can use it to control people

or you can unleash it and let God's

spirit transform people.

Paul says in verse two that part of his

strategy for battling discouragement,

for not losing heart, is that he

maintains a clear conscience.

He renounces the way of doing ministry

that his opponents are using. He refuses

to twist God's word or to tamper with

its meaning.

Church, what Paul is saying here is that

in your frustration or in your in your

jealousy, in your impatience in

ministry, don't take shortcuts.

Don't take shortcuts. We could easily be

like Paul's opponents in Corinth. We

could easily start to skimp on our

service to Christ, to do only what

others can see, and to gravitate towards

ministry and service that gets us praise

in the eyes of people. But in secret, we

do nothing for Christ. We could easily

make our lives a massive charade where

the perception is that we are great

servants, but the reality is that we

only serve ourselves and our own

reputation.

It could be easy to fall into that trap,

to just serve where you can be seen and

not where only God can see.

If we do this, we rob ourselves. We are

robbing ourselves of the joy that comes

from selfless service

for Christ and his kingdom and his

church. And on top of that, we will have

to wrestle with our own conscience.

Having robbed ourselves of the glorious

purpose that God has called us to, we

will be left with only the shallow

satisfaction of this. Well, at least

people like me.

At least people like me.

Paul refused to settle for shortcuts. He

refused to be self-s serving, keeping

his conscience clear, knowing that if he

settled for serving himself, he would

not be serving Christ or Christ's church

because you can only serve one master.

Paul's first two principles, remember

the mercy of God, maintain a clear

conscience. Principle number three,

realize spiritual forces. Realize

spiritual forces. We see this principle

in verses three and four. Paul says,

"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. Notice how Paul said, "Our

gospel,

our gospel, even if our gospel is

veiled, it is veiled to those who are

perishing." He's setting up another

contrast here. The contrast is again

between the authentic ministry of Paul

and his companions and the fake ministry

of his opponents in Corenth.

The problem is not just the motives of

the fake ministers. The problem is also

their gospel.

Paul will even say in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11 that the Corinthians are

tolerating a different Jesus and a

different gospel than the one that Paul

taught them.

This is bad.

The Corinthian opponents of Paul have

brought in a new gospel, a wrong gospel,

a a different Jesus, the wrong Jesus.

And it seems like Paul feels the need to

vindicate himself and his ministry

partners to explain why so few people

are believing his gospel.

That tells us that one of the complaints

about Paul on the part of the complaints

that the opponents of Paul have made

about him is that he doesn't have a lot

of converts. He doesn't have a lot of

followers. That's one of the things they

must be saying about him for him to have

to defend himself this way. Or maybe

they're saying his gospel is hard to

understand. It's hard to believe the the

gospel that Paul is preaching and Titus

is preaching and his other companions

are preaching.

You can imagine fake ministers in

Corenth boasting about the large crowds

that they draw and how so many people

find their gospel so compelling, so easy

to believe in.

And as they compare themselves to Paul

by those standards, he seems far

inferior.

And Paul wants to be clear, they are

preaching a different gospel.

They are preaching a different Jesus.

Our gospel is veiled, but it is only

veiled to a specific group of people.

Church, there is a way to water down the

gospel to such an extent that it becomes

believable to almost anyone.

And there is a way to sanitize Jesus to

such an extent that he becomes desirable

to almost anyone.

You can preach a kind of Jesus that

demands nothing of people. No

repentance, no faith, no taking up your

cross and dying for yourself, no

fighting for your sin. You can preach a

gospel that has been scrubbed of its

offensiveness, where there is no mention

of sin or righteousness, where there is

no heaven or hell. If you preach the

sanitized Jesus and the sterilized

gospel, you will win crowds. You will be

popular. You will be praised for your

tolerance and for being on the right

side of history, but you will also be

preaching a false gospel and a false

Christ.

Paul is saying to his opponents, "Wow,

nice following.

Too bad they believed the wrong gospel

and they have followed the wrong

Christ."

He's saying in verse three, "I know that

people don't believe the true gospel

that my companions and I are preaching,

but if they don't believe it, it's not

because the true gospel is wrong.

there's something else going on that

prevents people from believing the true

gospel and the true Jesus.

He goes on in verse four to explain why

people don't believe it. He says in

their case,

the god of this world has blinded the

minds of unbelievers.

Now, who is the god of this world? The

apostle John called Satan the ruler of

this world. This is Paul's version of

that. He's calling Satan the god of this

world. Now, this doesn't mean that Satan

is like a god like God is God. Satan is

not as powerful as God. He's not on a

similar level as God. God created Satan

as an angel and then Satan fell. But he

is powerful and he is deceptive. But he

is not like God. And Satan has been

attempting to destroy God's work since

before the fall of humanity.

One of the ways that Satan destroys the

work of God is by blinding people from

seeing how amazing God is.

From seeing how amazing and glorious and

beautiful the gospel is.

When people can't see the glory of God,

they won't believe the gospel and they

won't be transformed. They won't be

forgiven. And so, Satan wins. If he can

prevent you from seeing the glory of

God, you will stay in your sins

and you will be destroyed. And that's

what he wants.

And so borrowing from the imagery of the

last few weeks when he talked about

Moses and how Moses saw the glory of God

and how his face would glow. Paul

borrows from that imagery and he says

the glow that was so intense that the

people of Israel didn't even want to see

it. And so Moses put a veil over his

face to prevent them from seeing the

refracted glory of God. Paul takes that

imagery and he says that's like what

Satan does to the gospel. He puts a veil

over people's faces to prevent them from

seeing the goodness of the gospel and

the greatness of Jesus Christ.

Paul's defense is there isn't a problem

with our gospel just because people

aren't believing it. Just because the

gospel is rejected doesn't mean the

gospel is broken.

John Calvin said, "The sun does not

cease to be the sun, even though the

blind do not see it."

The inability for some to understand or

believe in Paul's gospel has nothing to

do with his rhetorical abilities,

but has everything to do with Satan and

the hardness of their hearts.

It seems like these fake ministers in

Corinth have seen so many people reject

Paul and his gospel and then they've

figured out how to make the gospel more

palatable for the masses and they've

changed it and used their rhetorical

expertise and their new gospel and

they've won the hearts of the citizens

of Corinth.

Can you follow the logic of Paul here?

Paul's like, just because no one likes

my gospel doesn't mean it's wrong.

It simply means that Satan hates it.

There is something wrong with your

gospel. If everyone likes it.

If your gospel has been scrubbed to the

point that non-Christians find it

pleasing, then it has ceased to become

ceased to be the gospel. If it's not the

aroma of death to someone, then it's not

the aroma of life to anyone.

And there's a twofold lesson for us

here.

First, don't be discouraged when your

gospel is not believed.

It's not because you're too weak or

because you're not smart enough to

explain it. It's not because the gospel

is faulty, but because the God of this

world has blinded the minds and the

hearts of the people you're talking to.

The only way that you can fail is to

keep your mouth shut.

Second,

don't stop sharing the gospel even if

people are rejecting it.

That was you at one time, a person who

rejected the gospel.

That was you at one time. The God of

this world does indeed blind people, but

the God of the universe heals the blind.

We all can sing with John Newton. I once

was lost, but now I'm found. was blind

but now I see. Even if someone has been

blinded by Satan, that does not mean

that they will stay blind.

Don't be discouraged in your ministry,

in your service to Christ in his church.

Don't be discouraged in your evangelism

because you need to realize that there

are spiritual forces beyond what you can

see at work here. Your job is to be

faithful. Leave the healing of blindness

to God.

Paul's first three principles. Remember

the mercy of God. Maintain a clear

conscience. Realize spiritual forces.

Principle number four, recognize you're

a servant. Recognize you're a servant.

Paul's next principle for battling

discouragement in ministry is in verse

five. For what we proclaim is not

ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord with

ourselves as your servants for Jesus'

sake.

There are two things I want to point out

in verse 5. First, who is the servant in

this verse?

Paul says he is the servant to the

Corinthians for Jesus's sake. This might

be new to you if you're new to church or

if you're new to Christianity, but all

Christians are called to serve. We are

servants of God. Every single one of us.

There are no exceptions. When God

removes the veil from your eyes and

enables you to see how amazing the

gospel is. When he forgives your sin and

he removes your heart of stone and puts

his holy spirit in you, he makes you his

child and he brings you into his family.

But as a child of God, in the family of

God, you are asked to serve the other

children of God.

That's the expectation.

That's the command.

Let me read for you the words of Jesus

in Luke 17:es 7-10. This is going to

sound harsh, but this is your Lord

speaking. Jesus said, "Will any one of

you who has a servant plowing or keeping

sheep say to him when he has come in

from the field, come at once and recline

at table? Will he not rather say to him,

prepare supper for me and dress properly

and serve me while I eat and drink, and

afterward you will eat and drink?" Does

he thank the servant because he did what

he was commanded? What he was commanded?

So you also when you have done all that

you were commanded say we are unworthy

servants. We have only done what is our

duty.

Sounds really harsh to our 21st century

years, doesn't it? We don't like that.

And the point of Jesus's words is not to

insult you or to demean you in any way.

Rather, it's to snap us out of our sense

of entitlement.

It's easy to feel entitled when you're

the spoiled child of a generous and

benevolent God. And we are the spoiled

children of a benevolent and generous

God.

Sometimes we get so comfortable enjoying

the benefits of being in God's family

that we forget that good members of good

families serve one another.

We are in fact unworthy servants.

We didn't earn our place in God's

family.

We didn't rip the veil from our own eyes

by our own strength. We are not worthy

to be called children of God. And yet he

has made us children because he loves

us.

And then he asks us to serve. And then

he asks us to serve.

But who does he ask us to serve? Who is

Paul a servant of? Look at verse five

with me again. Paul says, "We are your

servants for Christ's sake." He's the

Corinthians servants. This actually has

profound implications for your ministry,

for your service in the church. When God

calls us to serve, he doesn't call us to

serve himself as if he needs anything.

I mean, what could you possibly give God

who owns everything?

We go to him for power and resources and

help. Are we going to go to him and be

like, "Hey, I've got stuff for you." It

doesn't work like that. No, he asks us

to serve other people, and that is our

service to him. He asks us to serve the

church and that is our service to him.

We serve Christ by serving his people.

That's what Paul means when he says that

he is a servant of the Corinthians for

Christ's sake. So the first implication

is that we serve God by serving his

family.

The second implication is that we serve

God's people even when they don't

deserve it

because it's not for their sake. It's

not for their sake that you're serving.

Whose sake is it for? It's for Jesus's

sake. It's for Christ's sake. You've

probably been in that place before where

you were serving someone who just didn't

appreciate you. They were so ungrateful

for your sacrifice, your time. How

deflating is that? It makes you want to

quit

until you realize this isn't about them

at all. It's not about their gratitude.

It's not about the results. This is

about serving Christ.

They are just the object of your

service. Your motivation is Christ.

You're not doing it for them. You're

doing it for him.

Just a quick point of application. If

you're not serving, if you're not

serving, you need to get in the game.

You're missing out. You're missing out

on everything I'm talking about this

morning. Become a member. Serve the

church. Find people in our community in

need and serve them.

The first thing I wanted to show you in

verse five was who the servant is.

That's Paul. That's us.

All Christians are servants. Here's the

second thing I wanted you to see in

verse 5. Who is the Lord of the servants

in verse 5?

Look at verse five again. For what we

proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus

Christ as Lord.

Who is the Lord of the servants? It's

Jesus.

And people easily confuse this.

Paul was a servant of the Corinthians,

but they were not his master. Did you

catch that? Paul was a servant of the

Corinthians, but they were not his

master.

Okay? So, you can be a servant of

someone and they are not your master.

That's what's happening here.

It's really important in ministry to

distinguish who you're serving and who

your master is. This will help you in

all of your service to Christ in his

church. Let's imagine a scenario

together. It's a totally fake scenario,

but pretend you're an employee of a

Christian boss and she tells you, "Hey,

I'd like you to take all day Thursday

and go help out at the church office. I

want you to go to the church office and

I want you to help put together some

bulletins for the church because, you

know, Robin's leaving." And so you need

to go there, clock in here at the

office, and then go to the church and

then help there. And you're like, great,

that sounds awesome. I don't think this

is legal, so don't try this, but maybe

it is. I don't know. Um, but if you come

to the church office and you you've

clocked in at your at your place of

employment, you come to the church

office and I greet you at the door and

I'm like, "Hey, I'm so glad that you're

here for bulletins. I've actually got

something that's a higher priority. I

need you to weed whack the hill and then

also clean the bathrooms.

I've got something more urgent for you.

You need to do this. You should respond

in that moment. I'm here to serve the

church and here to do what my boss told

me to do.

The one who employs me is the one who

commands me. I'm here to serve you, yes,

but for my boss's sake.

I don't take orders from you, Jason.

This is how Paul is with the

Corinthians. He is their servant. That

does not make them his boss.

His Lord is Jesus Christ. Church, this

is so important in all kinds of

ministry. This is important for my sake

as much as it is for your sake. This is

important for the the church elders and

pastors. Sometimes we will have to tell

you things you don't want to hear.

Sometimes we will have to challenge and

correct you. And if you are our boss, we

will never do that.

We can never do that.

But if we are your servants, and we are,

but Christ is our Lord, then we will

serve you by doing the things that

Christ commands us to do, even when

they're hard. And that will help you.

A friend of mine was at his church one

time, and a disgruntled member of the

church was complaining rather loudly

about the worship pastor. who's saying,

"The worship pastor never plays any

songs that I like and I pay his salary."

Presumably talking about his giving to

the general fund of the church. My

friend responded, "Thank you for giving

to the church, but he doesn't work for

you. He works for Christ."

This is more this is important for more

than just pastors and elders. This is

important for all Christians because

sometimes you will be serving someone

and they are asking you to do more or

differently than what Christ has asked

you to do.

Yes, you are their servant. No, they are

not your boss.

So, let me ask you, do you ever get

tired of serving?

Serving your special needs child for

Christ's sake? Serving your aging

parents for Christ's sake? Teaching

Sunday school when the kids are rowdy

and crazy? Are you tired of giving

financially to the church when you feel

like you can't give enough to make a

dent?

Remember,

you're a servant of that person for

Jesus's sake. He is your master, not the

church, not the person you're serving.

He will give you the rest that you need

and the reprieve that you need because

he is your master and he is a good

master.

Endure and be faithful to what your Lord

has called you to do.

Okay, so we've made it to our last

principle. Principle number five for

enduring in ministry. Rejoice in the

glory of the gospel. Rejoice in the

glory of the gospel. We see this

principle in the last verse of our text.

Look, look with me at verse six. For God

who said, "Let light shine out of the

darkness

has shone in our hearts to give the

light of the knowledge of the glory of

God in the face of Jesus Christ." First,

I want to point out that Paul is using

creation language here. He's he's

talking about he's taking us back to

Genesis and talking about the creation

of the universe. He's trying to take

your mind out of your discouraging

situation, this really hard place where

you're serving. He's trying to take you

out of that tiny moment that's so

challenging and say, "Have a bigger

picture.

Think about the creation of the world

for a second. Go back in time to that

moment. Go back to the formation of the

universe, the creation of the sun, the

earth, the solar system, the galaxies.

The same God who created the heavens.

The same God who created the universe

and then brought light into his

creation. That God considered you. That

God loved you. That God chose you and

that God created light in you as well.

Paul says he has shone into our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge of

the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ. Now, that is a mouthful. That's

a lot. There's a lot of phrases there.

So, let's unpack it one phrase at a

time. First, God shone in our hearts.

Paul is referring to the sovereignty of

God in our salvation.

It was God who initiated your salvation.

We love because he first loved us.

Just like God initiated Paul's

salvation, Paul was an enemy of Christ

on a on a road to Damascus to to capture

and and imprison Christians. That was

his intention. And that was what he

desired. And God said, "No, you're done.

I'm going to take the blinders off of

your eyes. You're going to have a new

heart and a new mission, a new calling."

And he's done that for each of you here

if you're in Christ. We were blind. We

were veiled. We were previously full of

darkness. But God revealed himself to

us.

He didn't we didn't uncover him.

He uncovered our eyes

and he's shown into our hearts. And what

is it that he reveals? What is the light

in the darkness? Well, that's the second

phrase in verse six. He has shown into

our hearts to give the light of the

knowledge of the glory of God.

When God saved you, it's because he

showed you his own glory.

Not that you saw it physically like

Moses did. None of us have glowing faces

in here. We haven't physically seen God.

We'd probably be dead. But we saw God

with eyes of faith. Not the eyes in our

head. Eyes of faith. We be we beheld

God. We saw his glory. The glory is of

the only begotten.

We came to recognize in our hearts that

God is amazing, that he is awesome and

power, that he is majestic, that he's

loving and kind, that he's gracious and

forgiving. And you began to see these

things about God, and you began to

believe them, and it began to change

you.

He was showing you his glory, and you

were seeing it unveiled for the first

time.

That's what the knowledge of the glory

of God is. You came to recognize God as

he truly is, not what you used to think

he was.

And finally, the last phrase in verse

six, we received this glory. Paul ends

in the face of Jesus Christ. This is why

we talk about Jesus so much in church.

It's why it seems like he's like the

main character of the Bible.

He is the revelation of the glory of

God. He is the manifestation of the

glory of God. He is the glory of God

personified and made visible, made

tangible, made touchable, made

accessible to humans so we don't die.

When we see Christ, we see the glory of

God in his face.

So, how does all of this help you

rejoice

when you're discouraged in ministry?

When you're discouraged in your service,

how does all this language around the

seeing the glory of God in the face of

Christ? How does it help you rejoice?

Because I bet when you're discouraged in

serving Christ, the gospel doesn't seem

all that glorious to you. At least for

me, that's the case. Maybe I'm the only

one.

There are times when the greatness of

God just doesn't blow your mind.

Well, you've gotten used to it. You've

gotten calloused towards it. So, what do

you do when the gospel isn't glorious to

you? When it's not all that I'm saying

it is right now, or at least it doesn't

feel that way. What do you do? Well, I

can tell you what I do because this

happens to me a lot. I have to jumpst

start my heart a lot

because it's prone to get cold towards

God.

What do I do when I don't find the

gospel exciting or glorious? First, I

take it out of the theoretical. I take

it out of the theoretical and I make it

personal.

I remember that it is deeply personal.

Really, I'm not taking the gospel

anywhere, but I'm saying to myself, stop

thinking about this as theory. This is

for you, Jason. This is for you. I don't

think, okay, yeah, Jesus died on the

cross for sinners. No, no. I think Jesus

died on the cross for my sin. Me? What

sin? I look at my life and I'm like,

what sin? What past sins? If if I if he

if I wasn't forgiven for, what would my

life look like if I wasn't set free from

that sin, that habit? What would my life

look like right now? Make it personal.

Sometimes we get so used to the grace of

God that we forget how amazing grace is.

I make the gospel personal and I ask God

to warm my affections for him and that

usually does the trick. But if that

doesn't work, then at the end of the

day, I remind myself that the gospel is

still amazing and God is still glorious

even if my soul won't wake up to that

fact.

I recognize that my feelings may take

some time to catch up with reality.

Just because I can't see it right now

doesn't mean that the sun isn't real or

warm or bright.

Just because I don't feel it right now

doesn't mean that Christ isn't truly

glorious.

Your emotions are all over the place.

Mine are. We don't always feel things

that we should feel.

Tell yourself the truth and keep on

serving while you wait for your emotions

to catch up to reality.

Don't let the gospel be theory.

Don't let it be like it's just for

somebody else out there. It's for you.

It's for you personally.

And if the gospel is true and if the

gospel is for you, then you can keep on

going in ministry.

To summarize,

what do you do when you feel discouraged

in ministry?

Remember God's mercy. Maintain a clear

conscience. Realize spiritual forces are

at work. Recognize you're a servant and

rejoice in the glory of the gospel.

Let's pray.