Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: February 11, 2024

Bulletin February 11, 2024

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Most of you are likely familiar with this picture.  This is a rather famous painting of Jesus.  It was painted in 1940 by an American artist named Warner Sallman.  For many Christians, if you told them to picture Jesus in their minds, they would immediately think of this painting.  The truth of the matter is, we don’t know at all what Jesus looked like.  The Bible contains no physical description of Jesus.  He may not look anything like this painting!

What if I said to you, “Tell me more about the man in this portrait.”  What would you tell me?  Maybe you would say, “That is Jesus Christ, he is the Son of God.  He was born of the Virgin Mary about 2000 years ago.  He lived a perfect, sinless life.  Then, when he was about 33 years old, he was killed, crucified on a Roman cross.  His death on the cross paid the debt for sin.  Then, three days later, he rose again from the dead!”

Such an answer would tell us something very important!  It would tell us that when you look at this, you see more than just the portrait of a man history knows as Jesus of Nazareth.  Such an answer would show that when you look at this, you see The Glorious Face of Christ.  Our text for this morning tells us why you are able to see glory in this face.

Not everybody sees what you do in that portrait.  Paul says as our text begins, …our gospel is veiled. (v. 3)  Paul speaks of “our gospel.”  Gospel is good news.  Paul’s gospel is the good news that Jesus lived, died, and rose again so we can go to heaven.  But Paul acknowledges that sometimes that gospel is “veiled.”

There is a reason Paul uses the world “veiled.”  Just before our text, Paul had referred back to something that happened at the time of Moses.  There is this peculiar detail recorded in Scripture that after Moses had been in the presence of the Lord and spoken with him, Moses’ face was shining brightly.  So much so that it frightened the people of Israel!  So Moses would put a veil over his face until the reflected glory of God faded away.

Paul uses that incident to describe what happens with the gospel.  In the gospel, glorious news is revealed!  God has come in flesh!  By his death and rising, he has redeemed us from sin, death, and hell!  But for some, it is as if a thick, heavy veil has been pulled over the top of this good news so that people don’t see it.

Who would do such a horrible thing to such wonderful news?  Paul answers.  The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. (v. 4)  “The god of this age.”  That’s the devil!  He is the reason humanity stands blind before the gospel!  With the Fall into sin, humanity lost its connection with God and wandered away into darkness.

Friends, there is a great tendency today to minimize the effects of sin on man’s spiritual capabilities.  Most theologians and thoughtful people will concede that man’s nature was affected by the Fall into sin.  But the question is, just how much?   Many concede that humanity was damaged by the Fall.  We were “dinged” a little bit.  But then love to say, “But we still have free will and can turn to Jesus if we really want to.”  But listen to our text!  Unbelievers are described as “blinded.”  Paul says that as a result of this blindness, they CANNOT see the light of the gospel. (v. 4)  It is not a matter of willing or wanting.  Paul doesn’t say, “they don’t want to see the light.”  It is more!  It is a matter of ability!  They cannot.  A blind man cannot “choose” sight.

So what can be done for poor, perishing, blind humanity?  Paul tells us.  We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. (v. 5)  Paul preached Christ!   Think about that.  The very thing the people cannot see, the very thing that lies hidden under the veil, this very thing, Paul proclaimed!  It is, as Paul elsewhere refers to it, the foolishness of the cross.  It is as if the Lord were saying, “You’re not going to believe what I want you to do.  Proclaim the Gospel!  Trust me!  It will work!”

Here’s why it works.  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. (v. 6)  Let’s not lose the force of what Paul says here!  When creation was begun and darkness was over the surface of the deep (Genesis 1:2), God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)  When there was nothing but darkness in the entire cosmos, God spoke light into existence by his almighty, creative word.

Friends, the gospel is the creative word of God that speaks light into the hearts of people.  It was a miracle when God turned on the lights in the universe.  It was a miracle when God turned the lights on in your heart.  You believe in Jesus not because by an act of your will you chose or decided Jesus was for you.  You believe because in the darkness of your heart, God created light through the good news of Jesus.  It is a miracle that you can look at this picture of Jesus and think about the Savior who loved you and gave his life on the cross for you. There is a glory to God’s work of creation; there is a greater glory to God’s work of redemption in Christ Jesus.

This reminds us of our task.  Our task as Christ’s Church, our mission as a congregation, our purpose for being, is to share the gospel.  God has us here because there is blindness and darkness all around.  We exist to speak God’s creative, saving gospel to the perishing.  We exist to proclaim the Gospel, so that other people, too, can look at this picture and say, not “What a nice painting,” but rather “That’s my Savior!”  That they might see not just a picture of some “head,” but the glorious face of Christ!

Amen.