2 Corinthians 4:1-6. Knowing the Glory of God

A man told me this week that he couldn’t understand why some Christians get so excited about Christianity.  Paul answers this in his letter to the troubled church at Corinth. Corinth was a very busy city with large ports and as always happens the city became renowned for debauchery. Not surprisingly the church also became tainted in many ways both with sexual immorality and the quest for exciting supernatural gifts.  It is to such a church that Paul wrote.  Paul had spent about 18 months establishing the church in Corinth during his second missionary journey, around 50–52 AD and that had not been easy.

Today there are many parts of secular England and elsewhere in the world that establishing a church is not easy and in such situations it is very tempting to try short cuts and offer promises that cannot be delivered and use different means to entertain people.  Why do so many people buy into the ‘Prosperity Gospel?  One man suggested:

“They want to worship a God who will validate their every whim no matter how small or grand.”

Paul also found ministry hard, people were not responding to the gospel in large numbers.  He faced similar temptations to try other ways to draw people into the young Christian communities but his response in our passage is clear:

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.  Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-2

Many churches use deceptive means today to draw people in, lively musical entertainment or mysterious, ornate, sacramental, high church services - all been tried.  Paul however insists that it is only the clear teaching of the word of God that will turn people’s hearts to the Lord.  It is easy for preachers to say they are using the Bible but just select verses that will suit what they want to say and that will appeal to people.

That is so dangerous - the plain sense of all the word of God must never be distorted.  It wasn’t just their personalities that built up the church, though their determination must have been inspiring, it was their careful teaching of the Word of God that convicted people and led to permanently changed lives as they submitted to God’s authority.  Paul and his team were not primarily concerned with being popular.

Any other means of building up a church is short-lasting; a falling out between people, different opinions about how best to do things, or better attractions elsewhere will cause people to drift away.  It is what God thinks that matters. When we realise that we all have to give an account of how we have lived we will be much less concerned about what man thinks.  The next chapter reminds all of us:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10

Paul stresses that his job is not to share his own opinions but to teach the Word of God.  It is the truth of God that impacts on people’s minds and souls. He says this again in our passage:

“For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

Paul sees himself not only as a minister of Christ but as Christ’s servant and because of that, he sees that he must also be a servant of others in the church.  He is the lowly schoolmaster whose job is to educate people concerning what God has taught in his Word so that we will all see the glory of God.  This knowledge matters much more than algebra or geometry or any other subject; the eternal destiny of all people depends on whether they accept of reject the message that Jesus embodies the glory of God.

The light has shone

Paul is very concerned that his listeners will see the gospel as good news.  There are now many people who just aren’t interested. Look at verse 4:

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The ‘god of this age’ could either be Satan or those gods that we put as substitutes for the real God, our family, careers, sports or hobbies.  They become all important and stop us seeing the glory of God in Jesus.  He is the embodiment of the one eternal God.  What can be better news?

We sometimes use the phrase ‘The light has dawned’ and this phrase comes from the Bible.  In the coming of the Lord Jesus the light has fully come into this world, Jesus says:

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

But too many cannot see this, even though the light is so bright.  They must be blind, and yes, there are blind.  They prefer to walk in darkness, in ignorance of the truth.  A man told me this week:

“My mind is made up. I’m not interested in evidence.”

Can’t people see the great disadvantage of living in the dark without a clear light about the purpose of life and the advantage of having the way ahead made clear and bright.

I remember taking a student conference in Denmark and in the evening we were taken on a walk through a forest.  I have never seen such blackness.  You couldn’t see anything.  We all had to hold on to the person in front of us to show us the way, otherwise we would undoubtedly have become hopelessly lost:

“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 God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

This verse describes our natural state, we are all walking in the dark until we see the light.  One senior doctor suggested to me this week that a Christian is someone who has chosen to live by the ethics of the Bible.  No. No. No. A Christian is someone who has seen that in Jesus is the glory of God and consequently submitted to his rule in their livest.

In a church funeral service attended by many non-Christians, the minister’s talk emphasised how loving that church was and people might like to come and experience this. The attraction of the church must surely be the message that Jesus, his prophets and apostles give and the attraction of seeing people who have responded to that message and are living for Jesus. Look again at what Paul says:

“God . . . made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

The light is the knowledge of God’s glory.  Anyone who has seen the glory of God will inevitably live to please God.  Consequently Paul can say:

“ For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

What a wretched situation churches get into when their message is themselves, their love, their lively music, their solemnity, their brilliant oratory.  Our message is Jesus Christ who is the Lord God.  Don’t forget that when the word ‘Jehovah’ appears in the Old Testament it is translated as ‘LORD’ using capital letters.  When these verses are quoted in the New Testament the Greek word ‘Kyrios’ is used.  So here we could read ‘Jesus Christ, Jesus God’s chosen eternal king is Jehovah, God himself’.

When Peter James and John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus they witnessed something that was life changing.  He wrote, shortly before he was executed:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eye-witnesses of his majesty.  He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ ” 2 Peter 1:16-18

The three of them literally witnessed the glory of God in Jesus.  John wrote at the beginning of his gospel:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Simeon, when baby Jesus was presented in the temple recognised the Glory of God in this child:

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” Luke 2:30-32

The message of the church is simple, this glorious God has visited his world and the tragedy is that he has not been recognised by many.

Know God’s glory?

Jesus came so we could learn about and experience the glory of God:

“God . . . made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6

What is the ultimate goal of Christianity?  It is to bring each of us to a knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’

Is this not why society is so weak and why churches are so weak - we have forgotten this.  We have become so subjective.  We start with ourselves and end with ourselves.  We focus on our problems.  God becomes an agency we turn to when we need help.

I well remember picking up a hitch-hiker who told me that he had been a soldier in the Falkland war.  He and his company were descending down Tumbledown hill towards Port Stanley when then came under intense machine gun fire.  They immediately lay down and dug in as best they could.  He then said.

‘My friend next to me was shot in the head and died immediately.’

Then he added, ‘We all prayed.’

‘What even the atheists?’ I asked

‘Yes, everyone prayed’

‘Do you still pray now?’

‘No, I don’t need to pray any more.’

If we are unhappy or have problems, then it is common turn to God for help only to forget him later.  We longed for God to help us then.  Isn’t this a major reason why we know so little about the joy of the Christian life?  We understand so little  of God’s glory.

Paul wasn’t like this.  For him the glory of God meant everything, ever since he had witnessed this on the road to Damascus, when a brilliant light from heaven flashed around him and he was temporarily blinded. He fell down and then heard the voice of the risen Jesus speak to him.  He saw the glory of the awesome God displayed in the face of Christ and it radically changed his life.  Problems not only continued but even became worse for Paul because he now longed to share this knowledge about Jesus with others.  Read the rest of chapter 4; he was hemmed in with trials and tribulations but they were now in perspective:

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” 2 Corinthians 4:17

This knowledge of the glory of God changed Paul and it is what everyone needs to understand.  This knowledge is life changing.  Of all our needs, this is the greatest.  At root all our problems, family rows, getting angry with others, job tensions and political tensions have, at root, selfishness, my desires, my lusts, my wanting what others have.

How we all need to see the glory of God, it is life changing.  Man is a creature created by God and we are utterly dependant on him.  Reject him and the result is inevitably discord and we will lose his blessing.  When we sin against God we put ourselves under the wrath of God.  Surely this explains the state of our world at the moment.

This is what we see in the news and read about in the papers.  There are great scientific advances but we still suffer because we are ignorant of the glory of God.  One of the greatest statements outside the Bible was made by Augustine who said at the beginning of his book ‘Confession’:

“You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You.” Augustine, Confessions, 1.1.1.

How can we find God’s glory?

If man’s problems are due to this ignorance of the Glory of God then a real knowledge of the Glory of God will be the solution.  If all people are living for Jesus above all else, trusting God our own lives will be utterly different.  Do you remember that famous proverb:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Reason can take us some way to realising there must be a God.  Even logic is a God-given gift. The medieval philosophers used logic to show that their must be a God.  Our instincts tell us that God’s values are in-built into all of us.  We have consciences and value truth, and recognise right over wrong.

Science shouts that there has to be a designer who set the constants of the universe precisely right so that the world can exist.  Someone wrote the precise language of DNA.  It cannot have appeared randomly out of primordial soup!

The British philosopher Professor Anthony Flew turned from atheism to a belief in an intelligent creator, largely due to the DNA argument for design. Flew had been a prominent atheist for over half a century often advocating his views before announcing his change of mind in 2004. 

But such arguments will never bring us to a true knowledge of the glory of God.  God is infinite and wholly glorious, he is omniscient and omnipresent, so how can we selfish people ever come near him.  The Children of Israel could not even touch Mount Sinai where God came to give Moses the Ten Commandments.  When Isaiah had a glimpse of God he was deeply humbled,

‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Isaiah 6:5

When John had a vision of Jesus in glory, when he was a captive on Patmos, he fell down as dead!

Saul fell down blinded when he looked onto the face of Christ.  The glory of God seen in Jesus is overwhelming, he is so magnificent.

Jesus is utterly different, he created this universe and he alone is Holy. He never sinned, though tempted in every way just as we are.  He taught sublimely, he healed many people, he hated the hypocrisy of sin but most of all he was willing to take our place and die as a substitute for our sin.

The problem God had was how can he receive sinful men and still remain holy.  His answer was to send his only Son into the world to take on himself the penalty for our sin. God punishes his Son for you and me. But because he is God he rose again having born our punishment.  God has delivered a way to reconcile people like you and me to himself.  We could never save ourselves.

In this way he would become the first of a new humanity.  The old humanity were descendants of Adam but he came supernaturally, born of a virgin, to become responsible for our sin and create a new humanity, the people of God.  Look on to the next chapter,

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”. 2 Corinthians 5:17

It signifies a profound spiritual transformation where a believer's past life is replaced by a new life in Jesus, marked by forgiveness, new desires, and a renewed purpose, moving from an old sinful state to a new holy one, empowered by God. 

This knowledge of the glory of God in Christ is life changing

Doesn’t this fill you with gratefulness.  We who have seen the glory of God in Christ can never be the same.  We have to pass this message on so that others can be saved.  Read on in Chapter 4 and all of 5 and we read of the effect this knowledge will inevitably have on believers:

“It is written ‘I believed;    I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak,” 2 Corinthians 4:13

“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others.” 2 Corinthians 5:11

“For Christ’s love compels us,” 2 Corinthians 5:14

“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15

“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:19

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

It is important to stress that when we are judged what God will ask is simply whether we have lived for the glory of God.  The obvious question that Paul is asking us, ‘Do we have this same understanding?’  Can we each say:

“Yes, God has made his light shine in my heart.  The Lord has given me an understanding of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.  My life will be radically different because of this.”

It is so good to read of Christians who live for the glory of God.  I have just heard from Peter Seccombe and Margaret who came and helped us in Christchurch before Chris joined us.  Life is not easy, Margaret has Parkinson’s and needs a carer four times a day.  Peter wrote”

“A number of the carers are from Zimbabwe. They have taken to calling me ‘Pastor’. Recently Margaret asked one of them: ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ The carer responded ‘Yes, I do. Do you love Jesus?’ To which Margaret responded ‘More than ever!’ That warmed my heart and we pray that the Lord will use it. Another carer asked me if I could get her a Bible and she described it as the best gift she had ever received.”

May every one of us here be hungry to see the glory of God that is in Jesus Christ and so become like him with his ambitions.

BVP December 2025

I have just been reading a short biography of James Hervey, a Christian in the 17th century who was friends with the Wesley’s and Whitefield.  He died when just 45 years old,  The great evangelical of that day, Mr William  Romaine, said of him:

“Mr Hervey never let an opportunity slip of speaking of the love of Christ.  He would take occasion from the most common incident, and yet it would not appear forced; for he had a wonderful talent of spiritualising and improving things.  This heart-love to God appeared evidently in every part of his character. . . Mr Hervey walked close after Christ and found that the belief of Christ’s righteousness being imputed to him, was so far from being a licentious doctrine, that it inspired him with the noblest motives to a grateful obedience; his holy life was an excellent recommendation of his principles.”

2 Corinthians 2:12 - 3:18. ‘Do be do be do’

When Frank Sinatra sang his hit song ‘Strangers in the Night’ in the sixties he finished the song with what were thought to be the meaningless melodic sounds ‘Do be do be do.’  However these two words, ‘Do’ and ‘Be’ are very profound and together sum up what God wants to see in all his people.  He wants us both to ‘be’ and to ‘do.’

New Testament

When Paul wrote his second letter to the troubled church at Corinth, he explained how his own coming to faith in Christ resulted in new priorities in what he was to ‘do.’

“I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ” 2 Corinthians 2:12

“. . . and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

“ . . . we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.” 2 Corinthians 2:17

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant.” 2 Corinthians 3:6

Paul contrasts the glorious message of the forgiveness of sin and the power to live Christ-like lives with the harsh ethics of teaching the Jewish law which can only bring guilt and condemnation.

“Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory,  . . . will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?  If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!” 2 Corinthians 3:7-9

How all Christians need to wake up and recognise that we have all been called to this ministry of sharing Christ.

However living for Christ is not only achieved by what we say and do - it will also be seen in what we are.

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

This idea that Christians should be both ‘do-ers’ and ‘be-ers’ was going round in my mind when I started to read 2 Corinthians chapters 4 and 5 and realised that this is just what Paul keeps repeating here.

Do

Paul starts by reminding the Corinthian church that all Christians should be involved in sharing the gospel.

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry,” 2 Corinthians 4:1

Be

Paul then brings the ‘doing’ and ‘being’ together.  He admits spreading the message about Jesus, is at times hard and disappointing, he will not use underhand methods to achieve good results.  Integrity does matter as what we are is the essence of being spiritual.

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy, we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.  Rather 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 everyman’s conscience in the sight of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:1-2

Do

Paul now returns to the need for Christians to evangelise.

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.” 2 Corinthians 4:5

God has called all of his people to be a holy people and this will include the longing to share the gospel with those around us.

Urgent Priorities - 2 Corinthians 5

Jack is a builder who became a Christian a few years ago and is in our Bible Study Group. He has just been diagnosed as having disseminated cancer and has been told that he doesn’t have long to live. The doctors have no effective treatment to offer him. This week he has been planning his funeral and sorting his affairs out. It is very hard to say your farewells to people. Inwardly he groans at what he is suffering and is shortly to leave behind. But facing such a situation has helped him realise what really matters in life.

I went to visit him in his home and we read together from the beginning of 2 Corinthians chapter 5, the chapter in the Bible that I would like us to look at.

1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

This describes Jack’s experience. He has bone pain and is on high does opiates. He is literally groaning and knows his earthly tent is about to be destroyed. He met up with his family this week and told them straight,

“I’m not afraid of dying because I have a Saviour and know where I’m going, but I am afraid for you because you aren’t right with God and as things are at present you won’t be joining me in heaven!”

Eternal Reality

Paul goes on to remind us that the eternal is what matters, Christians can be confident about our future because the Lord Jesus has saved us by entering this world and dying for us on that cross. This should make all Christians ‘other worldly,’ if we are making issues of this world our prime concern we are very foolish indeed.

“6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:6-10

Did you notice the carrot and stick approach here, first Paul says “we would prefer to be at home with the Lord,” but then comes a salutary reminder - “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of God.” No wonder all true Christians ‘make it our aim to please him,’ for we both love the Lord Jesus and we know that what we really are will then be publicly made known by revealing the decisions we have made.

Priorities of the Church

Some years ago I was taking a church mission down in Ramsgate and one afternoon I went for a stroll along the beach. There I saw a whole crowd of ‘Sisters of Mercy’ wearing their characteristic nun’s uniform of the order founded by Mother Theresa. I wandered up and started chatting with a group of them. After a while I asked,

“Could you please tell me what the Christian gospel is?”

One of the nun’s replied,

“Isn’t it to feed the hungry, to give the thirsty something to drink and to clothe people?”

We then had a wonderful conversation with all those nun’s gathering round. We discussed what the Bible teaches and how there the real problem God has with mankind is our sin and that this is the biggest problem in the world. We talked about how the gospel is not what we do for God and his world but what Christ has done for us by enabling us to become right with God. We looked at 2 Corinthians 5:16, which is in our chapter, and is a beautiful summary of the Christian gospel,

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:16

At this point the senior nun of the group spoke up and correctly reminded her colleagues that the gospel was not their work for others but what Jesus had done for all of us when he bore our sins on the cross. She went on to emphasise that their main job as nun’s is to point people to Jesus and to focus the eternal salvation he offers.

Early Christians knew what the good news was and were willing to stake their lives on it. Look at our chapter again, verse 19 reads,

“That God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them.” 2 Corinthians 5:19

Verse 21 reads,

“God made him who has no sin to be sin for us . . .” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Churches should respond to the social needs of people around them. They should set up Drug Rehab units, Food banks, Christians against Poverty, Relief Organisations and the like but the great danger is that people forget what the gospel is, that sin separates us from God, and that sin is the eternal problem that we all are blighted with.

Without God’s intervention we have no hope as we are all inherently selfish and do things that God hates. There are several ways to explain ‘sin’ to people. It is spelt ’S I N’ where I is in the centre, ‘I’ in the centre instead of God is the essence of sin. We teach our Sunday School groups that the letters of ‘SIN’ stand for,

‘Shove off God. I’m in charge. No to what you want.’

It is because God is not in charge that we say spiteful things, get angry with our loved ones at home, watch pornography which is really ‘virtual prostitution’, tell lies and live lives that are hypocritical and so on. But we mustn’t forget that God sees all we are and do and however hard we try no one has a hope of ever being acceptable to God by themselves.

The illustration of the two hands is very helpful. The open left hand represents me and a book is placed on this to show that my sin has separated me from God. Some try to minimise their sin by good works or becoming religious and to demonstrate this the left hand actively moves under the book - but the sin remains. My good activities, however good they are cannot put me right with God. Then Jesus enters the scene and the open right hand is brought up. He has no sin and enjoys a close relationship with his heavenly father. The reason he entered this world was for you and me and for everyone who recognises who he is. He came to die on that cross to take the responsibility for our sin. This is why, when he died he cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ It was because he was experiencing the consequences of my sin, separating him from God in my place. He took our sin to the grave and then rose from the dead. This was to confirm that God had accepted his sacrifice but also so that we could experience the risen life by being given God’s Holy Spirit.

How do you know that you have the Holy Spirit? It is a vital question as if you don’t have the Holy Spirit you are not yet saved. So much twaddle is taught in some churches on this. The evidence for the Holy Spirit’s presence is seen in how you think.

“Those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. . . You however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:5-9

This is so important, however important you are in the world’s eyes; if you are not winning the battle with temptations and becoming more like Christ, beware. This message about sin and the victory Christ gives is the message of Christ’s church. We must warn people of the eternal consequences of leaving God out of the picture - that means leaving Christ out of the picture.

During World War 1 a severely injured soldier knew he was dying he lay in a muddy trench talking to his close friend,

“Listen Dominic, I’m dying. You’ve lived a very bad life. Everywhere people are looking for you, you are wanted by the police. But there are no convictions against me. My name is clear, so, take my wallet, take my papers, take my good name, my life, and quickly hand me your papers, that I may carry all your crimes away with me in death.”

That is a picture of the good news that God offers to every person in the world. We can start again. In God’s eyes we can take on the identity of the Lord Jesus and he takes away our sin. That is what baptism indications - it models my involvement with Christ who has taken away my sin and who rose to give me the power of his Spirit help me become like Jesus.

What a disaster it is for Christians not to emphasise this. Did you notice that the previous Archbishop of Canterbury virtually never talked about the Lord Jesus in his media interviews. I never heard him explain that the Lord died for our sin and that without him there is no salvation. What a disaster because Jesus is the churches message. Jesus himself said,

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Jesus’ apostles were equally clear. When Peter and John were arraigned before the Sanhedrin, that just a few weeks before had had Jesus executed, they boldly pronounced that they could not stop talking about Jesus as he was God’s Messiah who, in spite of being rejected by many had actually come to save us,

“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

No other religion teaches this. Religions largely say, join our group and then do your best to follow the groups rules and hopefully God with then be pleased with you. The eighteenth of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England addresses this false belief.

Obtaining salvation only through Christ

Those who presume to say that every person shall be saved by the rule of life, religion or sect that he professes, provided he makes diligent efforts to live by that rule and the light of nature, must be regarded by God as accursed. Scripture declares to us that it is only in the name of Jesus Christ that men must be saved.”

The message of Jesus and his apostles was that Christ alone can reconcile us, put us right with God, as he alone can pay the price for our sin. Look at our passage again, verse 18,

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ . . .” 2 Corinthians 5:18

That is the churches message, and in case any reader failed to notice this Paul repeats it in the next verse,

“God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” 2 Corinthians 5:19

How our world needs to hear this message of reconciliation. Nearly one in 5 marriages in the United Kingdom are in trouble with regular arguments and thoughts of breaking up. There is so much loneliness around. On the international scene political frictions are serious. Look at Ukraine, North Korea, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, ISIS and now Britain and the EEC. How much reconciliation is needed in these places. In heaven there won’t be these frictions because there everyone wants to please the one true God. When people reject God everyone does what seems right in their own eyes and this results in alienations.

A Christian is someone who has a close daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and nothing less. pleasing Jesus is their priority. There is a lovely verse I found this week that summarises this,

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.” Psalm 89:15

So the church must warn people of the consequences of leaving God out of their personal lives - and that means leaving Christ out. And we must warn each other not to let pride in any good works we do or any secret sin come between us and our walk with the Lord Jesus.

Listen to how Paul summarises this priority of the church in our chapter,

“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. . . . For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.  And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:11-15

Your Priority

The Lifeway Research Institute undertook a study amongst protestant church goers in the United States and found that over a six month period only 20% had even just once shared their faith with an unbeliever. They hadn’t even invited friends or family to come and hear the gospel. This is a disaster and demonstrates how little the Lord Jesus means to many professing Christians. Remember Psalm 89:15?

“Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.” Psalm 89:15

The Bible’s message is not just for the holy few who attend churches, it is meant for the world. Our passagedescribes what God’s concern is,

“God was reconciling the world to himself . . .” 2 Corinthians 5:19

This is similar to verse 15,

“He died for all . . .”

What a disaster it is when churches are so concerned to keep their traditions going that they have lost sight of the mission Christ has given to each of their members. Do we no longer believe the Bible when it talks about the fate of those who reject Jesus:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:36

This is why Samaritan’s Purse stands out amongst many Aid organisations. You still recognise that the greatest need of everyone you try to help is that they hear and respond to the gospel about Jesus Christ. As you know many Aid organisations started out as Christian organisations but because of the pressures from financial supporters and governments many have succumbed to becoming very reticent about about mentioning the gospel of Christ. Some years ago Christian Aid trustees appointed a atheist to run their organisation. Oxfam started as a Christian organisation but sorrowfully they also are now leaving Christ’s message out. We must all be able to say with Paul,

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16

So Christians view others from an eternal perspective. I used to work as a cancer surgeon and loved the work but 100% of my patients have died or will die. My work was only able to gain them a few more years of ease. In contrast God wants his church to help people find eternal life through commitment to Jesus Christ. The apostle’s conclusion is that all people throughout the world need to be renewed through finding Christ.

“16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

This is a remarkable passage. We so often grade people into shades of grey. The really good people are very light grey and the really bad are a very dark grey. It is interesting to see where we put ourselves on that scale. Wherever it is, the people you work with are probably placed just below you! However God sees people not as shades of grey but as either black or white. Those who are not covered by Christ’s righteousness are black and those who are protected because they belong to Christ are seen as white. That is the Bibles teaching, thus,

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8

So if we belong to Christ we are Christ’s ambassadors. All we do should point people to Christ, the Saviour of the world. Your message to those you meet must be that we are all guilty before God but God entered this world as Christ to take responsibility for our sin. If we belong to him we will be forgiven our sin and given the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable us to act like Christ. The reason God has chosen you and me, if we belong to Christ, is to take on his godly character, both in our private lives that no-one else sees and in our relationships as well as sharing the gospel with others. It doesn’t matter what job you have, whether a Christian doctor in the health service, a worker with Samaritan’s Purse or a housewife looking after the children at home. We have all been called to be Christ’s ambassadors.

To be effective in this we must train ourselves as we all have to for any walk in life. Have we all been trained to lead people to Christ? I have a friend who is being trained as a future ambassador for this country. His constant training is meticulous. He learns how to talk with people in a winsome way, how to steer conversations gently round to what he wants them to hear. What a tragedy it is that today there is so little training of us Christians to be Christ’s ambassadors. We need to teach people how to steer conversations onto spiritual matters by mentioning church or some religious topic, such as your work with Samaritan’s Purse. A key step is then to ask them if they have a faith or aren’t sure about these things - always give them an escape. I would often ask my patients when taking a history, ‘Do you have a faith that helps you at a time like this, or aren’t you sure about these things?’ So often people will say, ‘I used to have’ or ‘I wish I had’ and the very least you can then do is share your testimony, or invite them to a suitable meeting at your church, lend them some literature or just invite them for a meal to continue the conversation. I fear it is true in the United Kingdom, as in the United States that the large majority of Christians are not acting as Christ’s ambassadors. I wrote the book ‘Cure for Life’ because I didn’t have the time to follow up many patients but I could say to those who seemed interested whether they would like to read my book which goes over what I teach in a home group for those who are seeking answers.

An Example

I was on a teaching ward round with my unit when we came to a very pleasant lady in her 50’s who had been admitted for terminal care. She had liver secondaries and was feeling very weak. She asked if she could have a private talk with me later. When I returned she said,

“I am finding this business of dying very difficult. Could you speed it up for me?

She clearly wanted ‘euthanasia’. I replied, “We don’t do that,” but we went on to have a discussion about what she was finding difficult and the things we could do to help her. I wondered if there was some spiritual problem underlying all this so I continued,

“I wonder if there is a reason that God is keeping you going like this. Do you think you have got everything ready?”

“I think so,” she replied, “I have cleared all my cupboards at home.”

“Yes, but on a deeper level, are you sure you are ready to meet God or aren’t you sure about these things?”

“Oh! I think I’m ready, I’ve never done anyone any harm.”

Here was this lady about to meet her maker and she wasn’t ready. Fortunately our hospital has Gideon Bibles in the bedside lockers so I asked if I could show her a few things.

“I would like that,” she replied.

The first thing she needed to be clear about was that when we die we will face judgement. I wondered about using the passage in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 but decided that the wording was too aggressive for this lady so we looked up Hebrews 9:27.

“. . . man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement.”

The great attraction of using this verse is that the adjoining verses both talk about Jesus died to “take away the sins of many people.”

I illustrated this by placing a book on my open hand, and explained that this represented my sin, which acts as a barrier between God and myself. My religion, which was illustrated by my fingers actively moving under the book cannot help get rid of the barrier. She seemed to understand this so we went on to talk about sin and to show that no-one is naturally good enough for God. Her claim about ‘not doing anybody any harm’ was both untrue and certainly inadequate. So we looked up Romans 3:11.

“There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God.”

She then agreed that being right with God was something she had never bothered about at all. We also looked up Isaiah 59:2,

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden your face from you, so that he will not hear.”

As we talked she began to understand her problem.

“How can I get right with God?” she asked.

Sitting on her bed we talked about the Lord Jesus. We talked about his death on that cross and how he died to take away the consequences of our sin and to enable us to be right with God. We then turned to 1 Peter 2:24.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

As we talked it all seemed so clear to her, the Holy Spirit was convicting her of sin and righteousness and judgement in a non-aggressive way. She then said,

“I need to be forgiven by Jesus. Will you pray for me now?”

At this point the nurses sitting at the adjacent nurses station jumped up and pulled the screens round even though they give hardly any privacy. They must have been listening. I prayed thanking God for what he had done for us on the cross, and asking that, just as he had promised, he would put her name in the ‘Book of Life’, forgive her sin and give her his Spirit. She was very grateful. I left her with a list of the verses we had looked up as well as two more on assurance,

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has passed over from death to life.” John 5:24

The Lord gave her great joy that continued. Her husband phoned me up the next morning.

“Are you the doctor who spoke to my wife yesterday?”

“Yes,” I replied rather hesitantly as I didn’t know what was coming.

“We are not a religious family in any way, but I would like to thank you for spending the time with her. She has such peace. Would you mind explaining to me what you said to her?”

He phoned me at home a few days later at the weekend and came for tea. I was interested to see that somehow he had obtained a large unused Gideon Bible, Authorised Version, which had the words, ‘Headmistress’ printed in bold type on the outside. We went over the gospel in a very similar way. He wasn’t ready to commit himself but I gave him a copy of ‘Cure for Life’ and said he could phone at any time.

His wife moved to the local hospice where I visited her on one occasion. She was holding firmly onto her Saviour even though she was sleepier from the drugs. We looked at Romans 8:1 which is another great verse on assurance.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because . . . ”

To make this simpler to understand, I wrote her name on a piece of paper and placed it inside the Bible.

“Let this Bible represent the Lord Jesus and this piece of paper represent you. Because you are now ‘in Christ’ when you meet God he will not see your sins at all, he will see that you are in Christ and have ‘his righteousness’. Furthermore Jesus is now in heaven and because you are in Christ he will take you to be with him there.”

The nurses told me that she later asked them to read her the whole chapter of Romans 8. About two weeks later I had a phone call from her husband to say that she had just died. Apparently one of the last things she said to her husband was to ask him to become a Christian and made him promise to “go to the doctor’s church” and get things sorted out. He did faithfully come and he later attended a Christian Basics course when he also committed himself to Christ.

What better way can we finish by reading again by reading together verses 2 Corinthians 5:20 and 21:

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

BVP Sept 2017