Sermon on Minneapolis 07.02.2010

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin our services with opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, again this morning we thank you that we can assemble before your Holy Word.

Father, we ask for your service blessings. Reveal unto us the mystery of your salvation, which is through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And this gift of faith that we can own alone by grace through your Son, Jesus Christ, here in your kingdom. So we ask that you would comfort, lead us in God's grace. Guide us on this narrow way of life, and feed our hungry undying souls with your everlasting gospel word. All of this we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Today is a special holiday in the church year, which is known as Candlemas Sunday. It is 40 days after Christmas and it relates to that time when Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus into the temple to offer a sacrifice on his behalf. Today's theme is Christ radiates God's glory.

The epistle text for today is from 2 Corinthians, the last verse of chapter 3, and the first six verses of chapter 4. We will hear these words in Jesus' name:

"But we all, with open face beholding, as in a glass the glory of God, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. But having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the word of God, by the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine. And the light of the glory of God shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, in ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." Amen.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, during the winter months, we experience the long dark days of winter. This is magnified even more the farther north one goes. I spent ten years in Finland and experienced this very dramatically—the long, cold, dark days of winter.

There are many believers now living in Alaska, which is about the same latitude as Finland. My nephew, for example, works three weeks on at a time, and then three weeks off. He's on the northern slopes of Alaska, which is much farther north than Anchorage. There, during the winter months, during the day, all they see is a sliver of daylight—basically, twilight is all they experience.

For those who live this far north, some are dramatically affected by the lack of light. This causes seasonal depression in many people. In fact, this seasonal depression is so severe for many people that in the Nordic countries, they have some of the highest suicide rates in the world. So the lack of sunlight, the lack of light, is no small thing to scoff at.

Some years back, when I was still living in Finland, I read a newspaper article, which I saved, that told of a Russian invention to try to correct and alleviate this serious problem. They were planning on, and they did, send some sort of spaceship into orbit that had a huge mirror attached to it. It was their goal that the sun would reflect off the mirror on this spaceship and shine light down on the northern part of the hemisphere during the dark winter days, hoping to give bright sun therapy, light therapy, to those living in darkness.

When I was living there in Finland, there was one travel agency called Aurinkomatkat, or Sun Vacation, Sun Trips. Many people from these northern Nordic countries, during the winter months, flee down to the northern coast of Africa. Some go to Spain, some reside during the winter months in the Canary Islands, and many come even as far as Florida, hoping to escape from the dark winters there in the north.

This is only to illustrate that there is this sharp contrast in difference between dark and light. This is also a picture described here in our text in chapter 3 and chapter 4 in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

During the Old Testament time, the prophet Isaiah wrote of the people of his time that were traveling and living in darkness—those that lived in darkness suddenly saw a great light. This light which broke into the darkness was a prophecy of Christ Jesus, the coming Messiah. The prophet Isaiah goes on to say that he is the Counselor, the Prince of Peace, and Emmanuel, our Savior.

There are many people who are traveling, living in darkness—not only in natural darkness, but in the darkness of sin and in the darkness of unbelief.

Perhaps many of you have played a little game which I played as a child at times called Blind Man's Bluff, where the person who was "it" had a scarf wrapped around their head covering their eyes. In the darkness, they were to run around to grapple and try to find some other person so they could be free and the next person would continue as the person who was "it." It is very difficult to see when a person's eyes are covered—they're blinded and see nothing but darkness.

Here the apostle Paul is comparing light to darkness. He is talking about the two different offices described in the Bible: the office of the law and the office of the gospel. Most of chapter 3 is dedicated to describing the office of the law, the office of Moses. The apostle Paul describes this as an office of death, an office of wrath. It exhorts one unto wrath. One who is under the office of the law, in the darkness of unbelief, is in the darkness of this world, and their eyes are blinded.

But then, as Paul ends chapter 3 and makes a transition to chapter 4, he says in the last verse of chapter 3, verse 18: "But we all with an open face beholding as in a glass, still as a foggy glass, or in another translation it says, as in a mirror. So as in a mirror we see the glory of the Lord. And we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

God our Heavenly Father is a hidden God. The Bible says that no person has ever seen God and lived. When Moses was on Mount Sinai for those 40 days and 40 nights and was able to receive the law of the Ten Commandments, he was asked to hide momentarily in a pit. Then, when he rose out of the pit, he was able to see God as if on his backside, as God was passing by.

So God is a hidden God. He is a veiled God. A shrouded God. In the book of Job in the Old Testament, it asks this question: Can you find out about God by searching? Even though a person would search and study and research, a person still with their own carnal reason, mind, and understanding would not be able to fully fathom, comprehend, and understand what God is like.

We remember when the Apostle Paul was in the country of Greece, there on Mars Hill. He was conversing and debating with the wise philosophers of the time. When he was there with all of their wisdom, they were not able to comprehend what God is like. For they had erected an altar and an inscription was written on that altar which was dedicated to an unknown God. They did not understand who God is and what he is like.

The old church father Augustine says that a human soul is restless until that soul, that human being, finds rest with God.

When Moses had been on top of the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights and God gave his revelation unto Moses and inscribed the Ten Commandment Law on two tablets of stone, when Moses began to come down from the mountain and approached the people, the people were blinded by the light that was radiating from the face of Moses. They asked Moses to cover his face. He put a veil over his head so it would hide and block that brightness shining from his face. They couldn't bear to look upon the face of Moses without his head being covered.

As the Bible says, no person can naturally see God and live. Even this veiled glory of God shining from the face of Moses caused the people to be in fear, distress, and trembling, and their eyes became as if blinded by this bright light.

Moses, as a person, was depicting and illustrating the office that he was representing—the office of the Law of Moses. Paul clearly says in chapter 3 what this office of the Law is like: it's an office of condemnation, an office of death. It kindles one under wrath. It has no love at all. But it has a very important purpose: to awaken the heart and conscience of one who is in unbelief to the knowledge of their condition, to the knowledge of their sins before God the Heavenly Father. It is to be like a tutor, a schoolmaster, a guide to lead one onto the source of hope for everlasting life.

Moses on Mount Sinai received a revelation. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin there in paradise, man was afraid to face God. We remember when God came calling Adam and Eve there in the cool of the evening in the garden: "Adam, Adam, where are you?" Adam and Eve fled the voice of God, ran amidst the trees, and hid their nakedness with clothes made out of the fig leaves of the trees.

The purpose of the Ten Commandment law of God is to illustrate and show unto man how it is utterly impossible for one to fulfill these Ten Commandments. Its purpose is to magnify sin. It's like a magnifying glass or like an x-ray machine which shows potential cancer in the body but is not able to remove that cancer or cure that malignant tumor.

The office of the law gives no peace nor does it offer any salvation. That is the office of the law of Moses, which is compared sometimes to the moon. When we compare the brightness which shines from the moon to the light which shines from the sun, there is no comparison whatsoever. It's like the difference between light and darkness.

The salvation which is offered in Jesus Christ is completely a different office, a different message than that which is proclaimed through the office of the law, the law of Moses.

We remember when the shepherds were tending their sheep out in the field on that first Christmas night and they heard that revelation from the angels. The message was this: "Fear not, fear not, for I bring you great tidings of great joy."

The Psalm writer says that like a father pities or has compassion on his own natural children, so does the Heavenly Father wish to show pity upon you.

Just as that Russian invention, that satellite out in orbit with that mirror, its purpose was, and it was apparently successful, that in the midst of the darkness of the northern Nordic countries, that mirror reflected a beam of light which was clearly visible. That was not a reflection of the light that was coming from the sky.

The Bible says that the light that was coming from the sky was not a reflection of the light that was coming from the sky. It was a reflection of the light that was coming from the sky. The Bible says that that light was visible to the people in that part of the hemisphere during the darkness of the night.

The Old Testament prophet said that for those people traveling in darkness, suddenly they saw a great light.

Just as God began his work of creation and he began by saying, "Let there be light," and there was light. This light which God commanded to shine out of darkness was the light of Christ Jesus himself.

The natural astral bodies which produce light for us—the sun, the moon, the stars—were not created until the fourth day in God's order of creation. But on the first day of creation, God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

Many people today are blinded. They are blinded in the darkness of this world. As Paul writes here in the fourth verse of the fourth chapter, beginning with the third verse:

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine unto them."

They are blinded by the prince of darkness, by the God of this world, the enemy of souls. They are blinded by the darkness of unbelief.

But God, as is clearly stated in the Bible, has no pleasure in those that would perish. Many would perish but would wish that as many as possible, and all if possible, could come into the light through the door of repentance.

That is the purpose of God and his kingdom here upon this earth. That is the reason that he has his messengers, his followers, his ambassadors.

In the beginning of this chapter, Paul writes of this ministry that God's children, the believers, the children of God, have. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, we have this office. Every child of God has this office.

How do we do this? If one wishes to be some high official in the army or receive some other title in this society, often they have to get a high degree from a university, years and years of experience, and they receive these honorary titles. They are earned titles and degrees which open up doors in this life and in this society.

But now the apostle is writing about this office which does not need a certain degree, does not need to be received through any excellence, nothing of our own merit or works that we have done that we are able to prove and thereby receive this honorary title.

Paul says, therefore, we have received this ministry after we have experienced mercy—in other words, received the forgiveness of sins through the hearing and the believing of the gospel of God's kingdom.

This is the purpose of God's kingdom here upon this earth. This is the mission of God's children, his ambassadors who are here upon this earth to reveal this glad tidings of Jesus Christ and offer this salvation through his Son, our Lord Jesus.

So we preach not of ourselves but of Jesus Christ who is the Lord.

Many times, artists, poets, and writers have tried to depict what God is like and what Christ is like. When reading, examining, and studying these works of art, we can see that there are often two different faces of God, two different faces of Christ.

For example, God is sometimes depicted as a fiery-eyed judge. There may be some in the audience today who have literally experienced how God has been for them as a fiery-eyed judge when they have been in the world for an eternity and they want to be a man. I have been in the world for a long time, and now I will say one thing: If I have to leave this life in this state, I will have to step before my Creator who is like a fiery-eyed judge.

But all of us today as God's children have experienced time and time again how God is a merciful Father. As the psalm writer says, as we mentioned already, as a father has compassion or pities his own children, so does God our Heavenly Father pity us and have compassion on us.

As there are two faces of God our Heavenly Father, so there are two faces of Christ Jesus, God's only Son as well.

In the Bible, it speaks of Jesus who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and yet at other times it depicts Jesus who is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world.

We remember when Christ Jesus came into Jerusalem the last time. He came into the temple area and took a whip into his hands and turned over the tables of those exchanging money and chased those out who were selling doves. I'm sure at that moment he had fire in his eyes.

How about a couple of days later when Peter had denied Christ three times? After the rooster crowed, the gaze of Jesus met the gaze of Peter. Peter realized his condition. He turned around, began to weep.

When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus that same night in the Garden of Gethsemane, it says that when the hands of the soldiers were laid upon Jesus and arrested him, the mob, the group of people that were around, fell down to the ground as if dead. The world was shattering.

We can see at times that the image of Christ is a frightful one and a fearful one. But at times, for us, it is like a merciful Father, a forgiving Savior.

Just like it was for the thief on the cross who was there experiencing the eleventh hour of his life and turned to that one hanging on the middle cross of Golgotha and said, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Christ, with his last waning strength, turned to that thief on the cross and said, "Today you shall be with me in paradise."

At that moment he was translated from darkness into light, from the kingdom of the enemy of souls into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

Have we sometimes been like the brothers or the sisters of Thomas, where our mind and our carnal reason at times may get the best of us?

When Jesus' Easter day appeared behind locked doors and showed himself to the disciples, Thomas was not there. When Thomas heard greetings of Jesus' appearance to them behind the locked doors, Thomas began to doubt and said, "I don't believe it unless I can actually touch him with my hands, put my fingers into the print of the nails in his hands, and thrust my fist into the wound in his side. I will not believe."

Jesus appeared to the disciples a second time, just for Thomas' sake. When Jesus appeared, Jesus spoke directly to Thomas and said, "Thomas, come here. Take your fingers, put them into the print of the nails in my hands. Take your fist and thrust it into that wound in my side. Do not doubt, but believe."

Then, doubting, Thomas broke down and cried out, "My Lord and my God."

Isn't this the way that Christ Jesus has been for you and for me? Doubting, tempted, many times failing, and even stumbling along the way.

"Come, my wounds are open—wounds in my hands, my feet, and my side. I ask you, do you not believe? Do you not open but take away the mountains from my likeness? Do you not doubt but believe?"

The throne of grace is open night and day. Even now, at this moment, you can believe just as you are. Sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood, the power of the gospel lifts, carries, and will bring us one day to our heavenly home.

In Jesus' name, Amen.