LET YOUR GLORY SHINE!
2 Corinthians 3:12-18
1. Tied up in rules
2. Acting with great boldness
3. Letting your glory shine
TIED UP IN RULES
A couple of weeks ago, I gave you a whole list of laws that early Hebrews were required by God to follow. There are listed, there in Leviticus, rules for what you can and cannot eat, rules about childbirth and leprosy, rules about bodily discharges, and offerings you could make when you broke one of these rules.
The Ten Commandments were a set of rules, too. Why do you suppose God called Moses to a mountain top, used his hot laser finger to carve ten more rules on stone, then sent Moses back down the mountain to say, “Hey, People! Listen up! Here’s some new rules for us to follow.”
If you read the 20th chapter of Exodus, you will see the original Ten Commandments there, as spoken from God to Moses. And in Chapters 21 and 22, after the Ten Commandments were presented, we have even more rules, as if the Ten Commandments weren’t enough or efficient! These rules talk about rules to follow when you buy slaves, if you hit and kill your own slave, then you must die as punishment, if you kill someone, you are to be killed also, if you curse or hit your mom or dad, you are to be killed, if you lend money to followers of God, you cannot charge them interest, you can’t curse President Bush or any other leader of ours, and so on.
I say, throw away all those silly rules. I say put aside the Ten Commandments, then we won’t have to worry about whether or not it is legal to have them posted on government property. And I believe that was Jesus’ intentions when he condensed all the rules, all the laws, into just two.
Matthew 22:34-40: When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked (Jesus) a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
When people broke those old-fashioned laws, if they weren’t put to death for their sin, they had to make all kinds of offerings, sacrificing anything from a pigeon to a bull. But you know what? Even having to kill your only bull (and not even being allowed to eat the meat after you killed it, just giving it, like wasted…) you still repeated the sins.
God saw that this system wasn’t working. He made a covenant—a promise—to his people way back then, and they were still doing whatever they wanted to. So God decided to make a NEW covenant with his people, a radical switch of God offering the sacrifice for sins instead of us offering the sacrifice. And God sent his only Son, flesh of His own flesh. And the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is far more superior to the Old Testament system of sacrifice. The Apostle Paul said that the sacrifice of Christ is “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3).
There are people who people God is the same today as He was thousands of years ago, some of you here have told me in our discussions that you believe that. But I say anyone, even God, who has lost a child will never be the same. And a God, our God, who gives that child as a sacrifice to save billions of people from hell, cannot possibly be the same after.
I think it is important to compare the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, obedience was based on fear—the fear of punishment when the people were disobedient. The New Covenant established in Christ is based on love and forgiveness. Before Christ came, God’s people had to make continual sacrifices, earn forgiveness and had limited access to God. They had to give their prayers to the priest, who passed it on for them. With Christ’s death, the sacrifice has been made once and for all for us. Forgiveness is complete, and freely given. And we can individually pray to God anytime we want to—we don’t have to wait until we go to church and we don’t have to send our prayers through a priest or minister.
I’d like to read 2 Corinthians 3:12-18: (READ)
“Since then,” since the Old Covenant was replaced by the New, “Since then we have such a hope…not like Moses……
ACTING WITH GREAT BOLDNESS
“Since then, we have such a hope, we can act with great boldness…” 2 Corinthians Chapter 3 uses the word, “glory,” a lot. In fact, in verses 7-11, “glory” is used 11 times! Listen to these words: “Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of (justice) abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; for it what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!”
WHEW! Let’s decipher that, if we can. Glory can mean brilliance, radiance, honor, magnificence, prestige, and esteem. Paul is contracting the glory of the Ten Commandments (chiseled letters on stone tablets) with the glory of the Spirit. He is saying that if the “letters on stone tablets” which disobeying resulted in death came in such brilliant light that Moses’ face was so brightly shining that he had to wear a veil over it because people were afraid of that light; if that was glorious, how much more magnificent is God’s plan to give us obedience through His own Holy Spirit!
The sacrifice of Jesus is far superior to the Old Testament system of sacrifice. If the old covenant had its glory—and it certainly did—just imagine how much more glorious the new covenant is. The laws were wonderful because, although they condemned, they also pointed the way to Christ. But in the new covenant, the law as well as God’s promise is fulfilled. Christ has come. Not by ox or sheep or even pigeons is justice served, but now by faith we can be made right with God.
So, “since, then, we have such a hope, we can act with great boldness” (2 Cor 3:12).
Hope stimulates our boldness to speak what God has called us to say. Matthew Henry wrote, "When we are sent on an errand by God to speak then we go in boldness and deliver the message boldly. We have the liberty of speech not reluctant to speak the whole counsel of God. It doesn’t matter if the message causes offence and we shouldn’t be shy of speaking even if we know that offence may be taken. We go in the authority of God not doubting what we say nor feeling the burden of saying it."
After Jesus’ death, no one could shut Peter and John up. God had called them to talk about what they had seen and done with Jesus. Acts 4:13 says that “when (the Sanhedrin Council) saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed…” And when Peter and John were ordered not to speak or teach any more about Jesus, they said, “We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)
It was the Holy Spirit that enabled these men to speak with boldness and Jesus says that the same Holy Spirit is freely available to any one who asks (Luke 11:13) I’m sure you all know how I feel about war and violence because I cannot keep from speaking what The Holy Spirit whispers in my ear through the words of the Bible. I cannot apologize if I offend you, I can only be obedient to God’s word and His call on my life to share His word.
We can not afford to walk away from a challenge because of fear. Walking away is like being ashamed of Jesus. In Romans 1:16 Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith…”
Where do you need to act with great boldness?
LETTING YOUR GLORY SHINE
Since Jesus came and sacrificed His life for our sins, we have such a hope and we must act with great boldness. There are plenty of God’s people available to do God’s work. So why is there so much work that yet needs to be done?
God’s people are not responding to God’s call. I ask you again, where do you need to act with great boldness?
• Are the unbelievers in your life given a reason to believe?
• Are the homeless given shelter?
• Are the homebound and invalids given meals and clean homes?
• Are the prisoners being visited in their prison?
• Are our neighbors being comforted in their sorrow?
• Are the hungry given food to eat?
• Are the disobedient being called to accountability?
• Are the people being taught the word of God?
If the answer is “No” to any of these questions, the fault lies not with God. It’s not as though God has turned a blind eye or a deaf ear to the conditions of his children. Someone is not responding to God’s call. And perhaps we’re not responding because we’re not listening.
No one can predict how the call will come to you. But throughout Scripture one thing appears certain: The call from God comes with a purpose that serves others. For Moses it was the giving of the Ten Commandments that shaped a community; for John the Baptist it was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ, for Peter and John and the Woman at the Well, it was literally to tell others about what they had seen and experienced.
In the passage from 2 Corinthians, something else happens here as well: Moses’ appearance was changed when he met God After his encounter, Moses’ skin was shining so brightly that he had to wear a veil to keep from blinding and scaring the people (Exodus 34:33-35).
Seeing God up close and personal may change your appearance as well. At the least, it will certainly change your outlook on life in such a way that others will notice the difference. The apostle Paul says that believers in Jesus Christ are being changed day by day by the Holy Spirit until they reflect unveiled the very image of Christ.
When God calls, be prepared to act with great boldness. Remember that we stand in God’s presence, he hears every word we say, whether it be yes, no, I can’t do that, I won’t do that, or God help me, I’ll try. When God calls, be prepared to answer with great boldness.
PLEASE PRAY WITH ME: "Father, grant to us your servants great boldness that we may speak your word, help the lost and sick and reach the unbelievers. Fill us with Your Spirit in Jesus’ name, for your glory and honor. Amen.
BENEDICTION: From 2 Corinthians 4:1-2: “Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.” Let it be so. Amen.
