Change Begins (2 Corinthians 3:7-4:6) RIVERBEND BIBLE CHURCH, APRIL 22, 2018 Back to Square One Two weeks ago, we began a new series titled simply, Change. The more I think about change the more compelling and interesting it becomes. We have a love-hate relationship with change. On the one hand, we demand change. Things must be different. On the other hand, we resist change. I just want to be left alone. We hate our bad habits. But we love to keep doing them. We try desperately to change, but, when nothing seems to change, we give up. When it comes to our relationship with God, our consciences tell us that we need to change, but we convince ourselves that, in the end, God will just accept me the way I am. I can t change. In the first message of this series, my goal was to consider a different kind of change, a metamorphosis, a transformation like that which happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. It s a process that happens to you. You cannot cause it. It is change deep inside you that becomes evident to others on the outside. It is a radical transformation, but it does not destroy you. In fact, it turns you into the very person you were created to be. It is a transformation best described in one word, glory. It is the kind of change described in 2 Corinthians 3:18, the theme verse for this series. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18) Pressing into the Details Let s read the verse together (above). I hope this verse becomes chiseled into your mind as we meditate on it over the next couple of months. As we saw in the first message, the two sentences of this verse summarize the answers to many questions. Who gets transformed? How are they being transformed? What will they be like when they are transformed? How fast will they be transformed? Who transforms them? The context around v. 18 fills out the answers to these questions. We ll explore them in this series. Let s start with: Who gets transformed? The first two phrases of v. 18 provide the answer: we all, with unveiled face. We all, with unveiled face are being transformed. The purpose of today s message is first to identify the we all with unveiled face. That s a tough challenge. This is a strange word-picture. Veils are not part of our everyday experience. We may see a bride veiled at a wedding. Yet even that practice is rare. We may see women from other cultures wear a veil. Yet this seems strange to us even if it is becoming more common. Also, the veil of this verse is a word picture for a more significant spiritual reality. A second purpose is to discern, Am I part of this group? Do I belong to the society of the unveiled face who are being transformed? Are we members of that gang? To pursue both purposes, turn with me to 2 Corinthians 3 on p. 965 in the pew Bible.
Who is the Unveiled-Face Group? Our first purpose is to identify this group who is being transformed. Who is this unveiled-face group? The simple answer is found in the words we all. Paul, the writer of this letter called 2 Corinthians, uses the phrase we all to refer to all Christians. Sometimes he uses we to refer to himself and other missionaries working and writing with him or other apostles leading the church. But here we all refers to all Christians. He writes this letter to Christians. So far he has referred to them as all the saints in the church (1:1); as those who have God as Father, Christ as Lord, and each other as brothers and sisters (1:2, 8); as those who have shared in Christ s sufferings (1:5); as those who have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee of salvation (1:22); as those who stand firm in the faith (1:24). Inclusion ( We all ) Therefore, the unveiled-face group is an inclusive group. It is made up of we all. Transformation is not an experience reserved for a prominent Christian like Paul, someone in church leadership, or someone who seems overly-spiritual. This transformation is for we all. You do not qualify to be transformed by attaining a certain level of Christian maturity. That would make nonsense of the verse. It would then have to say, We who have transformed ourselves to a certain level are being transformed. The point of the verse is that we cannot transform ourselves even a little bit. We are being transformed by the Holy Spirit. Whatever this transformation involves, it is happening to all Christians, not just a few. Throughout the church s history and today, it is tempting to divide Christians into different categories or levels of spirituality. We think of pastors or other leaders as special Christians. We call some in the church clergy and others laity. We might think that the clergy (or leaders) are being transformed but not the others. The Bible makes no such distinctions. There are various gifts and offices in the church. They come with specific authority and qualifications. Yet gifting and position do not qualify one for membership in the unveiled-face group. Any pastor or leader is an ordinary Christian (if there is such a thing). I need to change as much as any other Christian. This church is proof that the pastor is not the most mature Christian in the congregation. I know it s possible for someone to hold Christian leadership and not truly be a Christian, but that s a different issue. Paul, the great apostle, includes himself with all who are in Christ and says, We all are being transformed. Others have tried to divide Christians between mere Christians and Christians who have the Holy Spirit. But Paul in Romans 8 affirms that all Christians have the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the one who effects this transformation. Others have attempted to divide Christians between those who have Jesus as Savior and those who make him Lord. But the New Testament is clear that Jesus cannot be split Jesus in two. He is both Lord and Christ. A Christian is one who confesses Jesus to be all he claims to be and denies none of it by profession or practice. Others have attempted to divide common Christians and consecrated Christians. According to this thought, you arrive in the second group suddenly through a spiritual breakthrough after a season or session of prayer. We will have more to say about this dangerous thinking when we talk about how fast change happens. For now, I note again, that, if the transformation that 2 Corinthians 3:18 describes is not the experience of all Christians, then Paul would have offered a limitation here. But he says, we all. There are not different races of Christians. There is one race of Christians, those who are in Christ. Jesus does not show partiality. He pours out salvation blessings on all his people. There are not elite Christians and average Christians. There are Christians. You can be sure that, when we create
ranks of Christians, we are acting on pride or prejudice or both. The hope of transformational change it is for we all. Exclusion (Blinded) But we all does not mean that all people in the world are included. The passage clearly indicates that some are excluded. Look at v. 14. It describes people in the past whose minds were hardened. These are specifically Israelites at the time of Moses. But Paul extends the description to Jews of his own day. Later in v. 14 he says that the veil that hardened the mind of a previous generation remains unlifted. That veil continues to lie over Jewish hearts according to v. 15. Then, he extends the exclusion further to all unbelievers in the world. Drop down past v. 18 to Ch. 4, v. 3. 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. (2 Corinthians 4:3 4) Unbelievers, those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, are in that condition because the god of this world (Satan) has blinded their minds, preventing them from seeing the gospel through which they could behold the glory of Christ who is the very image of God. Note that not everyone has an unveiled face. Not everyone sees the gospel with eyes of faith. Some are perishing (4:3). Not everyone is a Christian. Not everyone is being transformed. There are exclusions. Paul returns to the language of inclusion in 4:6 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. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Our hearts again refers to all Christians. The Christians in Corinth and the surrounding province include people from all backgrounds, Jewish and pagan. They were once perishing. The blindness or veiling of vv. 3-4 is not just a Jewish problem. It is a universal problem. The world is made up of two kinds of people, the veiled and the unveiled; the blind of heart and the seeing of heart; the believer and the unbeliever. At the end of the world, this will be the only distinction that truly matters. Description ( Unveiled Face ) Those who are being transformed are those who have an unveiled face. Paul takes us back to events on Mt. Sinai 3500 years ago and 1500 years before his writing. He takes us back to Moses leading the Israelite refugees out of slavery in Egypt to nationhood in the promised land. Their first stop is the mountain where God, who rescued them, makes a covenant with them and forms them into his special people. He gives them his law in a formal way, symbolized by the ten commandments which God carves onto stone tablets. He hands them personally to Moses on the mountain while the people wait in the desert at the base of the mountain. Moses up-close and personal encounter with God causes his face to shine with God s glory. When he descends to the people, the radiance of his face scares them. They draw back. But Moses reassures them, and they approach. Moses speaks to them what God has revealed to him. You can read about these events in Exodus 34:29-35. We learn there that, after Moses finishes talking, he puts a veil on his face. We would think that he would put a veil on immediately to cover the frightening light. But he waits. Why? Paul tells us here in 2 Corinthians 3. Look at v. 12
12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. (2 Corinthians 3:12 13) Moses veil keeps people from watching the glory fade. It becomes like the curtain that keeps Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion from realizing that the great Oz is just a common man. Moses brings a word from God, but he is not God like Jesus is. Moses brings a word from God but not the final Word. He brings the law, but the law can only reveal and define sin, it cannot save from sin. The law shows God s glory by revealing his wrath against sin. The law condemns the human heart it does not change it. Consider the two kinds of glory compared in this passage. Moses glory is for one man. Transformation glory is for all God s people. Moses glory is physical. Transformation glory is spiritual. Moses glory shines from his face. Transformation glory shines from the heart. Moses glory is temporary. Transformation glory is eternal. Moses glory is fading. Transformation glory is growing from one degree to another. Moses glory comes from the law. Transformation glory comes from Christ through the Holy Spirit. Moses glory must be veiled. Transformation glory is unveiled. The veil that continues to blind the human heart allows one to pretend to gain glory through the law. It blinds me to think that I can listen to God s law and obey it so that he will accept me as good enough. I can earn a passing grade. God will give me points for trying hard. This is blindness. Obeying God s law may result in temporary blessings. But any benefit is short-lived. The glory that God shows in his law ultimately leads to darkness. Satan blinds us with thoughts that we are basically good. We can change ourselves. We can reform our behavior. We can remake ourselves into something that God will approve. Satan s veil blinds human beings to God s truth about our sinfulness. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. (James 2:10) all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. (Galatians 3:10) So persistent and potent is this blindness that no one can remove the veil on his own. Return to 3:14 and note again that, for unbelievers, the veil remains unlifted. Only in Christ can it be taken away (end, v. 14). The veil must be removed according to v. 16. We cannot remove it ourselves. Scan down into chapter 4 again and remember that Satan s veil prevents unbelievers from seeing (v. 4). The implication is that the human heart is capable of sight, but blindness prevents it. It is like a ball filled with air and chained to an anchor that is dropped into the water. It sinks and stays at the bottom even though it would float if the chain were broken. V. 6 describes how God must pierce the darkness of the veil if we are to see light. Therefore, Christians are described as people of the unveiled-face. We did not lift our own veils. We are unveiled. Something has happened to us. Face here refers to our hearts, not physical faces covered with material veils. In the Bible heart refers to the core of our being. It is our mission control center, the very essence of who we are, our presence, our personhood. Heart describes that complex interaction of personal qualities that result in our thinking, feeling, deciding, and doing with our bodies. Heart is the true self that relates to God.
This passage reveals that, before the transformation of 3:18 can begin, one must belong to the unveiled-face group. And to belong to that group, God must do something. He must remove the veil in Christ (3:14). According to 4:6, he must speak into the darkness and call forth light as he did at the beginning of creation, described in Genesis 1:2-3. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. (Genesis 1:2 3) Membership in the unveiled face group requires a new creation. 4:6 declares that God speaks the word of the gospel into the darkness of a sinful heart and, through the Holy Spirit, God reveals his eternal glory through Jesus Christ. The veil lifts, the blindness ends. There is Light. In chapter 5 of this letter Paul will speak in these terms, 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We are going to see in this series that the transformation promised happens slowly. But it begins instantaneously. If you are a Christian, you may not know the instant when God lifted the veil, but it happened in an instant. Through the miracle of new creation, God unveiled your heart. If you are a Christian today, God did that. Am I IN the Unveiled-Face Group? Before we race too far ahead, let s address the second purpose we set for this morning. It is to discern if I am in this group. There can be no more urgent or important question to ask yourself. However, those who are still tracking with me will raise an obvious objection. If only God can place me in that group, then why ask the question? There s nothing I can do to get in. I can t lift my own veil. I m on the outside looking in. I can t bribe God to end my blindness. I m not strong enough to overpower Satan and end my blindness. I m not good enough to earn God s intervention. What s the use? To anyone in stewing in that objection, this passage offers very good news. First, God saves people like you. Paul says in 4:6 that God has shone in our hearts. He refers to all Christians. People in all ethnic backgrounds, economic conditions, education levels, social classes, and physical abilities have experienced the miraculous conversion described in 4:6. He shone in Corinthian hearts in the middle of the first century. He s shining in Atchisonian hearts at the beginning of the 21 st century. People in this room can testify that God has done a new creation work in their hearts. They are no better than you. They did not earn God s favor or force his hand. He saved them graciously and he can save you the same way. Second, grasp the truth in the short verse 16 of Ch. 3. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. (2 Corinthians 3:16) If you feel your desperate condition apart from Christ, if you know how urgently you need God to recreate you, if you see your own spiritual blindness, then turn to the Lord. You must turn to the Lord. This is a call to repentance. Repentance is turning away from sin and turning toward Christ. It is rejecting Satan and receiving Jesus as Lord. It is turning from self-trust to rely only on Jesus Christ for salvation. It is turning
from making sacrifices to try to prove your worth and turning to delight in the fully worthy sacrifice that God made for you by crucifying Jesus Christ in your place. V. 16 does not say that repentance causes the veil to be removed. If that were true we could save ourselves through repentance. V. 16 says that repentance and unveiling happen at the same time. Repentance is God s gift. And, whoever wishes to be saved must turn to the Lord. If you are repenting and trusting Christ, God promises that your veil is removed. This is somewhat awkward but true: You cannot remain unrepentant and unveiled. You cannot be repentant and remain veiled. What Will This Mean? I conclude with some implications. The first is the necessity of conversion. We are born spiritually blind. Only Christ can give us sight. We are born perishing unbelievers. God brings us to faith. You must be born again, Jesus says. That is a statement of fact not a command. Do not presume that you are a Christian. Don t take for granted that your nice neighbors must be spiritually alive. Remember, there must be a new creation. Only God can do that. Second, Christians should not expect unbelievers to act like Christians. Christians spend a lot of time complaining about how unholy the world is. Why are we surprised? The blind are leading the blind. We should expect that. Even when a non-christian conforms outwardly to biblical righteousness, he is not pleasing God from the heart. Any glory is temporary. The world needs the gospel from us, not more rules forcing their behavior. Let s live the philosophy of 4:5 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. (2 Corinthians 4:5) Proclaim Christ and serve those who need him, rather than demand that they serve our vision of God s kingdom on earth. [repeat] I don t have time to tell you what I don t mean by what I just said. But I ask you to think hard about it. Third, evangelism is not ending blindness on our own but proclaiming Christ and trusting the Holy Spirit to do what only he can do. We proclaim Christ. God produces results. Fourth, if you are a Christian and you doubt whether God has truly lifted your blindness, the message is simple: turn to the Lord. Turn to the Lord for assurance. If sin keeps you from enjoying the assurance of your new creation, turn to the Lord. Ask him to change your desires so that you can fully and finally forsake that sin. If doubts keep you from enjoying the assurance of your new creation, turn to the Lord. Admit your doubts and ask him to build your faith. The only one who can change you is the Lord. Turn to him. The beginning and end of the Christian life is turning to the Lord. The best place to start is at his table. Finally, Christians, celebrate salvation in worship, because it is, fully and finally, God s work. It is his accomplishment. The God who spoke light and life and order and beauty into nothingness so that creation appeared, speaks into blind human sinfulness and spiritual deadness so that the joy and beauty of eternal life appears. Once that happens, real change begins. Until that happens, no truly meaningful change will.