We will not lose heart

2 Corinthians 4:1-6

According to recent research, 93% of people have a great deal or fair amount of respect for nurses. Followed by doctors – 90%, then scientists, vets & engineers.

A mere 20% respect journalists, while politicians & bankers come in with 15% just beating car salesmen who are respected by 14% of people.

Church ministers are respected by 76% of people… in America… and 54% in the UK...!

I wonder how much you value your own profession - or the way you use your time if you’re not employed.

Do you wake up every morning and leap out of bed thinking, ‘Today could be the day when you change the world!’?

Do you feel that you lead a valuable life? That you use your time to do valuable things?

Do you believe that what you do is making a difference – a difference that will outlive you?

Whether you’re retired or you’re a full-time mum, whether you’re a nurse or a car salesman, you can make a lasting difference – you can have the most valuable, the most glorious job in the world.

The hours are long & the pay’s not great – at least not in terms of a monthly pay cheque.

And it will be hard work – in fact it will involve considerable suffering & hardship & pain & distress & sleepless nights.

You’ll be accused of being an intolerant trouble maker, and some people will refuse to speak to you.

What is this work?

It’s the ministry of the gospel  -  sharing the good news about Jesus Christ.

Last week we saw that the gospel ministry is the most glorious work anyone can ever be involved in. When you share the news that Jesus Christ is Lord and saviour, you give people the possibility of coming to the knowledge of Almighty God, of having their guilt removed, and being filled with the power of the Holy Spirit himself.

The gospel brings people into an eternal relationship with God the Father, and enables them to be transformed into the likeness of God the Son with ever increasing glory – 3:18.

“And”, says Paul, in 4:1, “since we have this ministry – this glorious ministry – we do not lose heart.”

Yes, there’s the temptation to lose heart – humanly speaking, it’s a stupid ministry. Fancy trying to convince people that God came to earth as a baby, healed people with a word, raised dead people to life, fed thousands with a picnic, died and rose again.

Humanly speaking, you’d have more respect and be seen as a more valuable member of society if you were a used car salesman.

But because this message is so powerful – because it comes with the authority of God himself to change people from enemies of God to friends with God – it’s glorious.

And nowhere in the Bible is this ministry the exclusive preserve of professional ministers or clergy.

From the very start of the church, the HS filled every believer to make every believer a minister of the gospel – to give every believer this glorious ministry – to empower every believer for this glorious ministry.

Now because this ministry involves suffering, long hours, hard work, sleepless nights & opposition, people have always been tempted to find a way to make it easier.

Again, we saw last week how some people water down the message to make it more palatable, and how others dress it up to make it more attractive. And by doing this, such people hope that they will make they themselves more attractive and more acceptable.

But, says Paul, we don’t engage in this kind of deception, Rather, v2,  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.

When J K Rowling sat in various café’s in Edinburgh writing her first Harry Potter novel, she could make Harry, Hermione and Voldemort do and say whatever she wanted. She was free to make it as believable – or unbelievable – as she wanted.

But the gospel is not our invention.

God decided on the gospel. And he didn’t just make it up in his head and write it down. He enacted it in history. It happened. It’s reality.

So if we change it, it’s no longer the gospel – for ‘gospel’ means ‘news’ it’s the reporting of events and their meaning.

If we change the message, it’s no longer the gospel. It’s just an empty story.

The task and commission of every Xn is to know and tell the gospel: to understand what God has done in Jesus, and then to tell the truth.

That’s gospel ministry. Knowing and telling the gospel. And it’s a glorious ministry because it’s a glorious gospel.

But, you might say, I’ve told people and they don’t respond – they don’t believe what I tell them…  ….I share your frustration!

But we shouldn’t be surprised – not if we understand what’s needed for people to see the glory of Jesus: have a look with me at vv3-4 READ

So non-Xns cannot see how wonderful Jesus is. They’ve been blinded to his glory by the god of this age.

It’s not that there is another god - “the god of this age” – but that whenever someone lives their life for something or someone other than Jesus, they have created their own god or idol.

I don’t need to list the gods people create for themselves – you all know them because, if you’re a Xn you know the gods you’ve been freed from, and if you’re a not yet a Xn, you probably don’t believe that you have idols and gods. Even if I named them, you’d deny that they were your idol.

But the truth is that everyone gives their life for something or someone, and that’s your god.

And our devotion to our little gods prevents us from seeing that Jesus Christ is the image of God – that if we want to know God we simply have to look at Jesus who radiates the truth and reality of God because he is the exact likeness of God.

Now the only way the non-Xn is going to recognise their need to change gods, the only way they’re going to see the glory of Jesus, is if God does a miracle in their life and opens their eyes.

Thankfully, God does do that – God does open the eyes of those who are blinded by the gods of this world – as many of us would testify.

But how does that happen?

Newton’s third law of motion is ‘every action has an equal and opposite reaction.’

If that were true of gospel ministry, there’d be no hope at all – the response to preaching the gospel would be equal and opposite – a 10 minute evangelistic talk would get a 10’ negative response.

Sometimes, I have to say, it feels like that!

But thankfully, Newton’s laws don’t apply to gospel ministry.
Gospel ministry is more like striking a match.

First of all, you need to make sure your matches are good – that they’re not wet.

Assuming the match is good, you strike it and it lights. But sometimes a gust of wind will blow it out as soon as you’ve struck it.

On the other hand, if the conditions are right, you strike the match put to the paper in the grate, and create a wonderful, warming fire.

Or, if you’re Ian, you can start a bonfire that will smoke for a fortnight!

Sharing the gospel is like that: first of all, we have to get the message right. We mustn’t damp it down, but use it fresh & straight from the Bible.

That’s what Paul’s saying in v5, We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.

We don’t muck about with the message, we don’t preach about our experiences or about our faith or even about our church. No. We tell people about Jesus Christ as Lord.

You see, if I speak about my religious experience or about my faith, people can respond, ‘Well, that’s nice for you, but I’m not religious.’ Or, ‘My faith’s a bit different from yours.’

And today, people think that all faiths are of equal, you choose your faith, I choose mine - you prefer Sainsbury’s, I prefer Morrisons.

But if we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, then we’re saying something very different.

Then we’re saying, ‘Look, if you want to know God, you need to look at Jesus. He is the only true image of God, and unless you look to him, you don’t know God, you can’t know God. More than that, unless you admit that he’s your Lord he will not admit you to his eternal home, and you will be cast out to an eternity where people constantly fight for their own supremacy. It’s called hell.’

That’s the match we have to strike.

And tho it will often be blown out by scorn and derision, sometimes we’ll find that God starts a great fire with as we strike the match of the gospel.

In v6, Paul describes this miracle, ‘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.’

At the beginning of time, on the first day of creation, God spoke and there was light.

But not the light of photons – the sun wasn’t made until the fourth day – this was the light of God’s self-revelation.

The room was dark. No-one knew God was there. Then he spoke. He revealed himself. There was the light of the knowledge of God.

And now, says Paul, God has spoken again, this time, he’s spoken into our hearts.

God has, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.

The only way we can know God is for him to speak into our hearts – for him to dispel the darkness of our ignorance and replace it with the light of the knowledge of him.

In particular, he gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ.

And that’s why, when we witness to others – when we engage in gospel ministry – we speak of Jesus.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not in our faith.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is not in our church.

Yes, my faith lived out bears witness to Jesus. Yes, our church points to Jesus and shows what he can do.

But for people to encounter God himself, they need us to talk about Jesus and for God to shine the light of revelation into their hearts.

Now we begin to see why Paul began by saying, ‘Since we have this ministry we do not lose heart…’

We don’t lose heart because we know that God uses our weak and simple words about Jesus to change people’s hearts, lives and eternal destinies.

We know that God does miracles today by shining the light of the knowledge of Jesus into the dark lives of non-Xns.

And if ever we doubt that, we just need to look around us in church. Here, we’re surrounded by people who are filled with the light of the knowledge of the glory of Jesus. (And that’s a good reason for being here in church each week!).

God worked in their lives when someone explained to them that Jesus is Lord. And he will do that same work again. And again. And again. And so we don’t lose heart.

This is a glorious ministry that you and I have – yes, you and I - don’t think for one minute that gospel ministry is for paid ministers only.

This is your ministry. This is your glorious ministry.

And it’s this ministry that can transform your life from one of mundane drudgery into one full of expectation and value.

This ministry will get you out of bed in the morning.

There are no application forms, and there’s no salary.

There will be rejection and opposition. There will be sleepless nights and heartfelt, desperate prayers.

But because, through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we will not lose heart…   …Will we?!