Deo Gloria
Sermon for March 3, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Theme: Have You Seen The Light?
- Satan does his best to keep people from seeing it.
- God causes it to shine in our hearts through the gospel.
Have you seen the light? Moses saw the light on his many trips up Mt. Sinai to receive God’s laws. Peter, James and John saw the light on the Mount of Transfiguration when the appearance of Jesus’ face suddenly changed and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. But what about you? Have you seen the light? That sounds like a question you would expect to hear from a TV evangelist, doesn’t it? But what does it mean when people ask, “Have you seen the light?” Well, I can’t speak for TV evangelists, but I do know what the Apostle Paul meant when he talked about “the light” in the verses of our text. The light, according to Paul, is the life-saving truth about Jesus Christ our Savior. If you haven’t seen the light, you will be exposed to it this morning. And I pray that Satan will not be able to keep you in the dark any longer, but that God will open your eyes and cause the light of Jesus to shine brightly in your heart. If you have already seen the light, I pray that you won’t allow Satan to take your eyes off it, but that you’ll continue to allow the light of Jesus to shine brightly in your heart and in your life through the gospel.
The Apostle Paul had seen the light on a business trip to Damascus. You may remember that Paul’s “business” before he became the Apostle Paul was to persecute Christians. The funny thing is Paul thought that he was doing God’s will by rounding up Christians and threatening them with death if they did not renounce their faith in Jesus. While Paul seriously thought that he had already seen the light and his actions were good and pleasing in the sight of God, in reality he was fighting against God and his actions were anything but good.
People haven’t changed much in 2,000 years, have they? So often we’re just like Paul. We’re so good at convincing ourselves that the way we live or the things we do or the attitudes we have are right or OK as long as they “feel” right to us. So we think that living together with our boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage is O.K. We think that watching movies or shows on TV that are full of sex and violence is O.K. We think that listening to music with filthy lyrics is O.K. Or we think that talking badly about our boss or our teacher behind his back is O.K. because he’s such a jerk anyway. Paul’s example, however, should cause us to pause and ask if what we have convinced ourselves is O.K. really is O.K. in the eyes of God. And how do we know? How do we know what’s right and wrong? How do we know what God’s will is? We know what God’s will is by stepping into the light of God’s Word, the Bible.
“But Pastor, how can you say that God tells us what is right and wrong in the Bible? Every religion claims that their ‘holy book’ is God’s revelation. How do you know which one is right?” First of all, you need to recognize that while every religion may claim to have the truth, each religion is different. Therefore, you cannot say, for example, that both Christians and Muslims are right when they talk about the way a person gets into heaven. That’s like saying 4 plus 4 equals 8, or 9, depending on which math class you’re in. When it comes to mathematics, there is a right answer and a wrong answer. If you don’t think so, you’ll never make it as a NASA mission planner. You see, if you’re off on your calculations by even a millimeter, the space probe you wanted to send to Mars may end up missing Mars by thousands of miles and crashing into Jupiter instead. The same is true when it comes to religion. There is a right answer and there are wrong answers about how a person gets to heaven. Jesus himself made that clear in one of the most well-known passages of the Bible, John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Of course, some people don’t like the implications of what Jesus said, so they assert that Jesus wasn’t claiming to be the only way to heaven, just one of the ways to heaven. But then how do you explain what Jesus says two verses later, in v. 18: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”? There is no both/and. It’s either/or. Either you believe in Jesus and are not condemned, or you don’t believe in him and you are condemned.
When you compare Jesus’ words to the teachings of Islam, Buddhism or any other religion in the world, you have to admit that they don’t teach the same thing regarding salvation. While some of those religions may say that Jesus was a great man, they deny that we need Jesus in order to get to heaven. So you can’t say that it doesn’t matter whether you follow Christianity, Islam or Buddhism because all religions lead to heaven. All religions don’t lead to heaven and to insist that they do is like saying 4 plus 4 equals 8 or 9.
“O.K., Pastor, so you’re telling me that there is only one way to get to heaven. But how can I be sure that Jesus is the way?” Because Jesus is the only one who can and has dealt with the problem of our sin. You see, the Bible teaches that God is a holy and just God, a God who hates sin, a God who cannot stand sin. That means that God cannot stand it when we do things he says are wrong. He cannot stand it, for example, when we grumble and complain and take his blessings for granted. He cannot stand it when we gossip about others and talk behind their backs. He cannot stand it when we talk back to our parents or to our teachers at school. God hates it when we do things like that. At the same time, God is a gracious and loving God, a God who wants us to be part of his family and wants us to enjoy eternity with him in heaven. But our sins stand in the way. We all have done and continue to do things that make God angry and cause him to want nothing to do with us. So what’s the solution?
The solution is Jesus Christ. Jesus is God, the almighty Son of God. Paul refers to him in v. 4 as “the image of God.” The word Paul uses is the Greek word eikone. Our English word ikon comes from that word. The word means “image” or “likeness.” It was used of the image or likeness of the emperor’s head which was stamped on Roman coins. We have something similar, don’t we? None of us has ever seen George Washington. And yet, we know what he looks like because his image is stamped on the quarter. None of us has ever seen Abraham Lincoln either. And yet, we know what he looks like because his image is stamped on the penny. Do you get the picture? None of us has ever seen God. And yet, that doesn’t mean we have no clue what he is like. In fact, we have a very detailed picture in Jesus. Jesus is the image of God. Jesus is the likeness of God. He is God in human flesh.
The reason Jesus took on human flesh and became one of us is so that he might deal with the problem of sin. Sinful people cannot live with a holy God. If we are going to live with God, then we need to be holy, but we’re not. We’re sinful. We have fallen short. We don’t have what it takes to get into heaven. And there isn’t anything we can do to fix that problem. Trying to live a good life will not make us holy. Fasting and praying will not make us holy. Giving money to the poor will not make us holy. Sure, doing things like that may make us look good in the eyes of others, but they don’t make us look good in the eyes of God because they do nothing to get rid of our sins.
But Jesus did. In fact, Jesus did both. He made us look good in the eyes of God and he got rid of our sins. He got rid of our sins by his suffering and death. On the cross he suffered the punishment you and I deserved. And as a result, our sins are all forgiven, completely taken away. On the other hand, Jesus also lived a holy, sinless life. He always obeyed his parents and his teachers. He was always kind and loving and helpful to others. He never said bad things about others or talked behind their backs. And he did that for you and me. Jesus gives his holiness, his perfection, to us so that we look good in the eyes of God and can live with him in his heavenly home.
That is the good news of the gospel. That is the light of the gospel. It’s the glorious and wonderful news about our Savior Jesus, the one who did for us what we could never do. In love he lived for us, and in love he died for us, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Do you see the light? If not, it’s because Satan is working hard to keep you in the dark. Paul talks about that in these verses, doesn’t he? In v. 3 he talks about the gospel being veiled to those who are perishing. And then in v. 4 he writes: “The god of this age [a reference to Satan]—the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
It’s sort of like the game “Pin the Tail on the Donkey.” It would be such an easy game without the blindfold. You could just walk right over and pin the tail on the donkey’s behind—no problem. But then they put that blindfold on you so you can’t see where the donkey is and you end up pinning the tail in the silliest places, like on his nose or his ear or his foot. That’s what Satan has done with unbelievers. He has blinded their minds, not so that they can’t see the donkey, but so that they can’t see the lamb. They can’t see Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. They can see all kinds of other things. They can see the snow on the ground. They can see the clouds in the sky. They can see a beautiful sunset and our marvelous human bodies; but they just can’t see Jesus. They don’t believe in him, because Satan has blinded their minds. You and I need to pray for people like that, that God would have mercy on them and that by the power of his Word he would remove the blinders and open their eyes so they too can see Jesus, so they too might believe in him and confess him as their Lord and Savior.
On the other hand, you and I have seen the light. We have come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior. How did that happen? Paul tells us how in the last verse of our text. It wasn’t anything we did. “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.” Back in the beginning when God created the world, God simply spoke, “Let there be light,” and it happened. In the midst of the darkness all of a sudden light began to shine. Paul uses that as a picture of what God has done with us. By nature our hearts are filled with darkness. There is no light there, no faith, no hope, no peace—just sin and death and darkness. But then at some point—for many of us it was when we were baptized as tiny babies, for others perhaps when we were older—at some point by the power of his Word, God created light in our hearts. He created faith where there was no faith. He created hope where there was no hope. He created peace and joy where there was no peace and joy. By the power of the gospel he opened our eyes and filled our hearts with faith so that we might see and believe in Jesus. How thankful we can be that God has been so good to us, so gracious to us that he has caused his light to shine in our hearts!
Do you think it would be very smart of us to put the blinders back on? Do you think it would be very smart to put a veil back over our hearts so we can’t see Jesus anymore? That’s what Satan would like to make happen. But it’s something you and I can easily prevent, because we have the power to keep that light shining brightly. It’s called the gospel. Take time each day to sit down with your Bible, read a chapter or two from Luke’s gospel or John’s gospel, and keep the light of Jesus shining brightly in your heart. Likewise take time to come to God’s house each week, to listen to his Word and study his Word with others, and keep the light of Jesus shining brightly in your heart. And starting this Wednesday and throughout the season of Lent, join us in meditating on our Savior’s passion. Review once again how our Savior Jesus suffered and died for you, for the forgiveness of your sins, and keep the light of Jesus shining brightly in your heart.
Have you seen the light? By the grace of God you and I can say, “Yes.” Through the gospel you and I have seen what Peter, James and John saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. We have seen the light. We have seen the glory of God shining in the face of Christ. Like Paul let’s make it our goal to share that message, to share the glorious gospel of Jesus our Savior with others—our friends, our neighbors, our relatives—so they too might see the light. Amen.