I'd like to leave your Bibles open there and bow your heads and we'll pray.
Gracious Father, we thank you for the privilege of being able to meet together now.
And as we look at the global task that you've given your church,
we pray that in our weakness and our weariness,
we might be filled with hope and expectation
of what you might do with us for one or two or hundreds or many more.
And so Father, fill us with the hope of your spirit and your purpose
to bring light in amongst the darkness.
And we ask it for your sake. Amen.
So how does it make you feel when you hear of things
like 2.8 billion people in the world have never heard of Jesus?
The modern missionary movement has done a lot and achieved much,
and yet there is still so much more to do.
How does it make you feel that 50 million people a year
slip into a Christless eternity?
That's it. 50 million people a year.
Is that enough to make you lose heart that the task just seems so big?
2.8 million, 50 million a year.
What can you do about that?
Forget about that.
Let's just look at something a bit smaller.
Look at the corporate vision of our church.
We are hoping under God to grow to 500 in attendance
by the end of next year.
That is people coming to know Jesus
through the ministry of the church.
Not 500 people coming from another church,
but people who have come to know Jesus
in our area and ministries of influence.
It's not 2.8 billion people,
but maybe it's still enough to make you lose heart.
We're talking a couple hundred people here,
something like that.
Maybe you've seen these church vision things
and they seem never achieve what we hope.
We always see maybe a bit of growth,
but nothing really spectacular.
And at the end of the day,
we walk away and say,
we didn't really get there.
Seen it again and again and again.
Forget that.
Forget 2.8 billion.
Forget a couple of hundred.
What about your neighbour and your family member
or your friend and your colleague
who you've been representing Jesus to?
And it appears that they are no clearer on Christ now
than what they were 12 months ago,
10 years ago, 25 years ago,
for some people, 50 years ago.
Is that enough to make you feel weary and weak,
wondering what God is doing in this world?
Why bother keep speaking about Jesus
and his lordship
and the need to repent and to follow him
why bother praying
because I've done that
and it doesn't seem to work
and why bother giving to global mission
because there's still 2.8 million people out there
who need to know Christ?
It doesn't make you feel weary and weak
when you think of the global task
that God's given us.
Now let me tell you,
it does for me.
I think of the task of just seeing us as a church grow
so that there are pews that are filled
or soon-to-be seats filled
with people just coming to know Christ.
The great English preacher Charles Spurgeon
wrote a lecture to his ministry students
titled The Minister's Fainting Fits
and in it he describes the pressures
upon the Christian minister to lose heart
and he says this,
a bit of old language,
our work when earnestly undertaken
lays us open to attacks
in the direction of depression.
Who can bear the weight of souls
without sometimes sinking to the dust?
Passionate longings after people's conversion,
if not fully satisfied
and when are they fully satisfied,
consume the soul with anxiety and disappointment.
The kingdom comes not as we would.
The reverent name of Jesus
is not hallowed as we desire
and for this we must weep.
How can we be otherwise than sorrowful
while men believe not our report
and the divine arm is not revealed?
All mental work tends to weary and to depress
for much study is a weariness of the flesh,
but ours is more than mental work,
it is heart work.
The labour of our inmost soul,
such soul travail as that of a faithful minister
will bring on occasion seasons of exhaustion
when heart and flesh will fail.
I think Spurgeon's words there
will find sympathetic agreement
with any heart acquainted with Christian ministry and mission.
I'm not just talking about those involved in vocational ministry,
which is what Spurgeon was talking about there.
I'm talking about anyone involved in Christian ministry
and ministry mission in any form.
The community group leader who has taught and pastored
and exhorted people to follow Christ
for months and for years
without any apparent fruit that comes from that.
The disciple who has represented the Lord Jesus
to their friends and their family members
and their colleagues at McDonald's
and without any apparent response whatsoever.
Weak, weary, sceptical, tired, loss of confidence.
They're the feelings which bubble away there
at the depths of the heart,
even if there is an exterior which is triumphant at times.
And I think that no one has ever experienced
more of what Spurgeon describes there
than the Apostle Paul.
As you look into 2 Corinthians,
you see it in 6 and you see it in chapter 11,
1 Corinthians 1 primarily,
a list of what you might call
deadly ministerial pressures
that were upon the Apostle Paul.
And it's astounding what he suffered
in the midst of this ministry that he's involved in.
And the list is capped off there in chapter 11,
verses 28 to 29,
with his concluding comment,
which is,
apart from the other things,
there is the daily pressure on me
of my anxiety for all the churches.
Who is weak and I am not weak?
Who is made to fall?
And I am not indignant.
And the question that I ask
when I look at the Apostle Paul,
when you look at his life,
you look at what he suffered,
what he gave up,
and the hardships and the attacks,
did he grow faint?
Did he lose heart
in the midst of all that difficulty?
And the answer that chapter 4 gives us
is no, he did not.
We do not lose heart,
is what he says.
He says it twice in chapter 4.
And so when the task of 2.8 million people
are in front of us,
when the task of Chatswood
and our friends and our family
are in front of us,
and it seems so huge,
and I am tempted
to lose heart in the face of that,
I need to listen
to a bloke like Paul
who suffered more
and did not lose heart.
And we need to do that too.
And he says here
in chapter 4, verse 1,
therefore since through God's mercy
we have this ministry,
we do not lose heart.
And I want to know
why he didn't lose heart.
And not more
why he didn't lose heart,
but what continued
to propel him forward
again and again
for God's global kingdom cause.
The first reason
I think he doesn't lose heart
is in those two words
in verse 1,
this ministry.
It says there,
therefore since through God's mercy
we have this ministry,
we do not lose heart.
And the ministry
that he's talking about there
is the ministry
of the new covenant
of the Spirit,
which he spent most
of chapter 3 talking about.
And especially
what he does there
in chapter 3,
he compares
the old covenant ministry
with the new covenant ministry
of the Spirit.
And in the old covenant ministry
he particularly hones in
on Moses
and Moses' ministry.
And the surprise
of chapter 3
is that this impressive
old covenant ministry
that Moses had,
and it was impressive,
you know,
you see Moses and God
talking face to face
as a man talks
to his friend,
that's impressive.
The mountain shakes,
the cloud descends,
there's fire
and there's lightning
and stuff like that
when God gives
the Ten Commandments
to his people
through Moses,
parting of the waters.
It's all
pretty impressive stuff
that Moses involved
in with his old covenant ministry.
And the surprise
of chapter 3 is
Paul says
it ain't a patch
on what
new covenant ministry is.
It doesn't even compare.
It's like getting a torch
and shining at the sun
and saying,
take that, son.
The brightness
is incomparable.
See what he says there?
Chapter 3, verse 9,
if you've got your Bibles open,
have a look at it.
If you don't,
open your Bibles
and have a look at it.
If this ministry
that condemns men
is glorious,
how much more glorious
is the ministry
that brings righteousness?
For what was glorious
has no glory now
in comparison
with this surpassing glory.
And then down
in verse 18,
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.
There's the comparison.
Notice the difference.
Old covenant ministry,
death,
new covenant life.
Old covenant ministry,
Exodus 33,
when Moses talked
with God,
he had to put a veil
over his face
because his face
was just beaming
with brightness.
Had to put a veil
over it
because it freaked out
all his mates.
And here it says
in new covenant ministry,
we all with unveiled faces
reflect the full glory
of God.
That's the difference.
Veiled glory,
full glory.
So that's the first reason
I think that Paul
doesn't lose heart.
In spite of how things
look on the outside,
and it looked like
Paul was pretty unimpressive,
and the ministry he had
was pretty unimpressive,
that's the whole argument
of Paul's opponents
in 2 Corinthians.
We're impressive,
super apostles,
Paul's false
because he gets rejected,
he gets beaten,
his speaking doesn't
amount to much,
he's not the real deal.
And what Paul says
is that regardless
of how it looks,
the ministry
that he's involved in,
new covenant ministry
of the Spirit
is a ministry
about life,
and it's so much
more impressive
than anything
that even Moses
did in the Old Testament.
There's another reason
in verse 1.
Therefore,
since through God's mercy
we have this ministry,
we do not lose heart.
And so the second reason
he doesn't lose heart
is that this ordinary
looking,
but glorious ministry
has been given to him
through God's mercy.
And so what is happening
here in 2 Corinthians 4,
particularly in these
early verses
of chapter 4,
is it's Paul's own story
being traced out.
You see,
he was an unbeliever,
he was blinded
to the glory of Christ,
he persecuted Christ,
and then on the Damascus road
Paul had seen the glory
of God in the face of Christ.
Paul was fully aware
that this glorious ministry
was given to him
at the moment of his conversion
on the road to Damascus
when he was knocked
to the ground
by the flash of light
of the glory of Christ.
His salvation
and his apostleship
were solely due
to God's mercy.
And so the combination
of this mercy
at his own conversion
and the astonishing glory
of this ministry
kept him from losing heart.
And not only did it not
cause him not to lose heart,
but in fact he was propelled
forward in this ministry.
So see it there in verse 2.
We have renounced secret
and shameful ways.
We do not use distortion,
nor do we,
we do not use deception,
nor do we distort
the word of God.
On the contrary,
by sending forth
the truth plainly,
we commend ourselves
to every man's conscience
in the sight of God.
And so what it says here
is that
in the face of temptation,
Paul rejected all cunning,
all manipulation,
trickery,
nor did he tamper
with the word of God,
nor did he falsify it,
distort it,
confuse it,
water it down.
Instead,
what he does here,
he embraces openness
and candor
and forthrightness
and clarity
about the glory
of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no vague meaning.
There is no confusing language
coming out of Paul's mouth.
There is no ambivalence
about where he stood
or what he meant.
He imparted the truth
without deviation.
That's what it means.
Without distortion means
he went straight
with the truth.
Undiluted.
He wanted the news
about Jesus Christ
to be absolutely
crystal clear.
not vague
and clouded views
about Jesus.
Why?
I think the first reason
is at the end
of verse 2
where he says
he sets forth
the truth plainly
in the sight of God.
That is,
the first reason
he did it
was because God
was his audience.
He didn't give a rip
about what people
thought of him.
God was his
primary audience
and he would ultimately
answer to him
and no one else
and he wanted
to make sure
that that was
a good day.
Another reason
is given to us
in chapter 4
verses 4 to 6.
This is why
he sets forth
the truth plainly.
This is why
he didn't deviate.
This is what
propelled him forward.
And let's start
with verse 4.
The God of this age
has blinded
the minds
of unbelievers
so they cannot see
the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ
who is the image
of God.
You see what
he's saying there?
The weight of what
he's saying there?
This is why
it is so essential
for Paul
that Jesus
be crystal clear
that the word
of God
be not distorted
that he speak
the truth
wherever he could.
He says
people
who don't believe
in Christ
are blind.
They can't see
the supreme
value
of Christ.
And so they won't
receive him
as their treasure
and they will not
be saved.
They're blind.
The work of God
is needed
in our lives
to open our eyes
and give us life
so that we can see
and receive
and savor
the Lord Jesus Christ
so that he might
be our greatest
treasure.
But without that
we're blind.
And that's not
the state of some
people.
It's not just the state
of two people.
It's the state of
everyone without Christ.
Blinded.
It was my condition
for 23 years.
Blinded
to glory of Christ.
I can read
the Bible
and I cannot
see Christ
in it
for 23 years
or for as long
as I can read.
At the heart
of this impressive
new covenant
ministry
is the message
of the gospel
in the word
of God
the Bible.
The glory
of this ministry
is the gospel.
And this is
what we are
blinded to.
The gospel
is what Paul
came to see
and believe.
The gospel
is what he
wants others
to come and
see and believe.
But it's this
gospel that
they're blinded
to.
The gospel
is the good
news that God
sent his son
into the world
to live a
perfect life,
to die as a
substitute for
sinners,
to absorb
the anger
of God,
to take away
our guilt,
to provide
the gift of
right standing
before God
and to give
eternal joy
through faith
in the Lord
Jesus alone
apart from any
works of
obedience on our
behalf.
That is what
we are blinded
to.
All of us.
We are all
blind to the
glory of those
facts unless
verse 6
happens.
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.
Christ.
What Paul
describes there
in verse 6
is the new
birth,
even though he
doesn't use
the term.
The God who
created light in
the beginning
does the same
thing in the
heart of every
human being
that comes to
Christ.
Only the light
this time is not
a physical
light,
but the light
of the knowledge
of the glory of
God in the face
of Christ,
or as verse 4
puts it,
the light of the
gospel of the
glory of Christ
who is the
image of God.
God causes
the human
heart and
the mind to
see the truth
and the beauty
and the worth
of Christ,
the glory of
Christ.
Not just to
see the facts,
but to see the
glory of the
facts.
Darkness
remains in
our hearts
and in our
minds until
God illumines
the heart and
the mind.
And when he
does,
darkness cannot
stop it.
This light
that he
shines in
pushes all
darkness and
blindness out
and the
darkness and
the blindness
cannot resist
it,
cannot prevail
against it.
So then we
see Christ for
who he is.
We receive him
for who he is
and that's what
we want.
Is it not for
our children,
whether they be
6 or 16 or
26 or 66,
and for our
parents and our
spouses and our
neighbours and our
colleagues and our
friends at school and
for all the
chastardly 2.8
billion people in
the world,
the darkness
might be removed
in the heart.
We want the
light to shine in
their hearts so
that they see and
receive and savour
Christ.
We want them to be
born again.
It is a mighty
act of God and we
cannot do it.
But that does
not mean passivity
on our behalf.
Just because it's
a work of God
that we can't do
doesn't mean we
sit still and
just kind of
twiddle our
thumbs and wait
for God to
work.
There is a
human means that
God uses to
make this great
work happen.
In verse 4 we
have the dreadful
plight of the
human condition
of the heart,
blinded, dead
if you like.
Verse 6 we
have the
sovereign work
of God causing
sight and light
to break in with
clarity so that
Christ is revealed
and he's embraced
and received and
new life comes.
And bang in the
middle of those
two verses is
verse 5 which
says we do not
preach ourselves
but Jesus
Christ as
Lord and
ourselves as
your servants
for Jesus
sake.
Paul's role,
our role is to
proclaim Jesus
as Lord.
Remember I
said that the
gospel is the
good news that
God sent his
son into the
world to live a
perfect life, to
die a substitutionary
death for sinners,
to absorb the
anger of God, to
take away our
guilt, to
provide the
gift of
right standing
before God and
give eternal joy
through faith in
the Lord Jesus
alone apart from
any works of
obedience on our
behalf.
But let me say
that the gospel is
not just about us
or even primarily
about us, about
the good news for
us, about God's
love for us.
It primarily says
something very
significant about
the Lord Jesus.
Philippians 2
describes this
great work of
the gospel in
the death and
resurrection of
the Lord Jesus
to take away the
sins of the
world.
And it goes on to
say this about
Jesus, therefore
this is the
consequence of the
death and
resurrection of
Jesus.
Therefore God
exalted him to
the highest place
and gave him the
name that is above
every name, that
at the name of
Jesus every knee
should bow in
heaven and on
earth and under
the earth and
every tongue
confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord,
Master, King,
Boss, Ruler,
over all things
for the glory of
his Father.
The crucified
Jesus Christ has
been exalted
through resurrection
as the heavenly
Lord.
God's suffering
servant is now
the ruler of the
universe.
The man Jesus
Christ, he
exalts a God
over all of
people, over all
nations, over all
of history.
And Paul says
you make that
clear.
Do not distort
that truth by
shying away from
the exclusive
claim that
Jesus Lord and
King and
Master and
Ruler over all
that is, has
been and will
be and call
people to
confess with
their tongue and
surrender their
lives to his
loving rule.
He said you
make that
clear.
And proclaim
it all this
from a heart
of love and
a life of
service.
That I think
is what it
means when he
says that we
don't preach
ourselves.
It's to make
that message
clear of the
Lordship of
Christ from a
heart of love
and a life of
service.
All self-interest
is laid aside.
My friends,
verse 5 is
why Christ is
to be clear
and the word
of God is
not to be
distorted.
The means
that God
uses to
affect the
great and
eternal
transformation
that we
long to see
across this
world in the
hearts of
every man,
woman and
child and
even teenagers
is bold,
clear, plain
proclamation of
the good news
of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
As Lord,
from a heart
of love and
a life of
service,
that is the
impressive
ministry of
the new
covenant that
causes the
blind to see
for dark to
be distinguished,
extinguished,
for death to
be defeated and
eternal life
granted.
That's the
impressive
ministry.
Let me tell
you that that
impressive ministry
is a ministry
that is not
well received
in a world
where exclusive
claims are not
tolerated.
And one of the
great challenges,
not just for the
preacher but for
every single
Christian, as you
are a witness for
Christ, is to
dumb down the
exclusive claims of
Christ.
Great temptation
when you're
speaking with a
friend or a
family member or
Lord or a
neighbour is to
not push hard on
the Lordship of
Christ over all
that is.
But just to say
Jesus died on the
cross to save you
from your sins and
you get to go to
heaven.
And so for those
who are struggling
with it, and I
think we do
struggle with it,
maybe even losing
heart, let's just
keep reading.
Verse 7.
But we have
this treasure in
jars of clay, this
impressive ministry
of God's
recreating power
bringing people from
death to life.
We have it in
jars of clay to
show that this
all-surpassing
power is from
God and not
from us.
The great
encouragement of
that verse there
is that God uses
weak and weary
and ordinary
people, ordinary
jars of clay, to
bring about his
great eternal
purposes in the
lives of people.
God wants to
display to the
world the glory
of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the
power and the
beauty of the
gospel, and he
does it via
unimpressive
vessels.
We're not the
treasure.
And when we
think we are the
treasure, or even
rely upon ourselves
because we've got
some clever
argumentation,
we're articulate,
passionate, humorous,
bubbly, successful,
stylish, beautiful,
then we will very
quickly lose heart
in mission and
ministry.
When we think we
are the treasure,
our programs are the
treasure, my
ability to beat
that person's
argument is the
treasure, we will
very quickly discover
that we are
powerless.
This, I think, is
what we need to
get.
I made this
box about 30
years ago.
Can't believe I
can even say
that.
This box was
made to hold
cassettes.
For those of you
who don't know
what a cassette
is, it's one of
these things.
And so 30
years ago, these
were popular
cassettes were
because nothing
else existed.
And so now,
although I've been
given another
alternative for it,
so I wanted to
use this box,
cassettes have
long disappeared
into obsoleteness.
And in fact, I
didn't even have
one of these in
my house, and so
where do you look
for something that's
obsolete and no
further in use?
You look in church
cupboards.
And you will find
things like this in
existence still, still
being held onto.
And so I found
one, there it is.
It used to hold
it.
These are long
gone.
The box is not.
It hasn't had
anything in it for
ages.
Why?
Because the box is
more precious to me
than what was in
it.
That's anti-gospel.
That's anti-Christian
ministry.
The box isn't the
impressive thing.
This is closer to
the truth.
This is a takeaway
container.
It's a 21st century
version of the
1st century clay pot.
Its purpose is to
hold the spectacular
treasure of salt and
pepper calamari that
I enjoyed on Friday
night.
And once the
treasure is consumed,
it's meant to be
discarded, although my
wife seems to hang
onto them for some
reason.
I thought that's why
Tupperware was
invented, but that's
another whole story.
Don't get me started
on Tupperware.
I cannot understand
why you would sit
around for two hours
discussing plastic
containers.
I really...
Shoot me dead, for
goodness sake, before I
do that.
Anyway, I've had my
piece.
I've said my piece.
Friends, we've got
to understand that we
are the takeaway
containers.
The treasure is on
the inside.
It's not the box.
We're not the
treasure.
And sometimes I think
we act and we behave
as if we are the
treasure.
Anything eternal,
anything good,
lasting that God
will ever work out,
it's because of the
treasure that's inside.
It's not because of
how impressive that we
are.
God's concept of
ministry is so
different from what
this world thinks.
our world stresses
the classy, the
top shelf, the
polished containers,
not the glory of God
working through human
weakness.
The impressive
nature of the new
covenant ministry is
the great treasure of
the power of God
revealing the glory of
the gospel through
takeaway containers like
you and me.
Sinful, broken,
fallen, inept,
takeaway containers like
you and me.
And because we are
takeaway containers,
what that means is
you're meant to feel
unimpressive and weak
and weary, but not
ultimately defeated.
Verse 8, we are
hard pressed on every
side, but we are not
crushed.
We are perplexed, but
we are not in despair.
Persecuted, but we are
not abandoned.
We are struck down, but
we are not destroyed.
We always carry around
our body the death of
Jesus so the life of
Jesus may also be
revealed in our body.
For we who are alive
are always being given
over to death for
Jesus' sake so that
his life may be
revealed in our
mortal body.
Hardship and struggle
are the normal lot of
any sort of takeaway
container.
It's normal.
The temptation is to
lose heart and always
to think it doesn't,
it's not meant to be
like this.
And so if you're
feeling weak and weary
and out of ideas,
helpless in the face
of lost people,
unable to affect real
change in someone's
life, then you are
feeling probably what
you ought to be
feeling.
Pretty normal.
But know this, such a
clay pot is not a
liability to God.
Your weakness and your
weariness is normal,
expected, and not a
hindrance.
Our ordinary lives is not
a liability.
It is in fact an asset
to God's global
purposes.
That is, if you truly
want God to be
glorified.
On the other hand,
the proud, the
self-assured, the
confident person in
their own abilities is
in fact a hindrance to
God's global mission.
Because they will not
act out of a heart of
love or a life of
service.
God deliberately
chooses to use weak and
humble people, but he
never abandons them to
go it alone.
He puts the treasure of
his gospel and gifts in
clay pots like you and
me.
And so friends, if you're
sitting on the sideline
when you think of God's
global mission, and you
wonder, what can I
possibly ever say to my
neighbor?
What can I ever possibly
say to my friends?
What can I possibly do to
make a contribution to
2.8 billion people who
don't know Jesus?
The 50 million people I
can convey about of
corpses disappearing into
eternity.
What can I possibly do for
that?
I want to say to you
that no one is too
common, too weak, too
shy, too unarticulate,
too old, too disabled,
too young to be involved
in this spectacular
ministry of God's global
purposes going out into
the world.
And therefore, since
through God's mercy we
have this ministry, I
want to implore you not
to lose heart.
And for us as a church,
not to lose heart.
Let us press on in the
task of proclaiming Christ
as Lord out of hearts
of love and lives of
service while looking to
God to push out darkness
with the light of the
glory of the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.