Excelling Glory

You can take your Bibles and turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 will be looking at verses 7 through 11 this morning.

2nd Corinthians 3:7 through 11.

I'll start with this idea that we often need a bigger view of who God is in our lives. We often need a bigger view of who God is in our life. It's obviously trying to turn into spring here in Wisconsin. We've kind of went reverse today a little bit with the weather change, but you probably noticed that your homes and such things are growing at the bugs are out, right? Maybe even see if maybe you swallow your first mosquitoes of 2023, you knock that you scratch that Milestone off your list for the, for the two-year. There's bugs out different things and I've noticed my son Messiah 27, he's been in full bug mode. The last few weeks, he's got his Bud keg. I told parmesan jars and things like that, and he's out fine in the pants and the spiders and the lady bugs and everything else he finds. And then, you know, he's a boy there once when he likes to pet a couple together and see who wins in the arena of death,

Right off. Okay. Wow, that is a. Look at those bags and it on the little bug. Cages, often there's like little lenses. Little magnifying lens is right, you kind of look through there and get a view of those insects, right? Or you get the magnifying glass out, you take a closer look at the bugs and you can see the features and so forth. And I, and I think about that because the IP of Glory to glorify means basically to magnify. It's the idea of kind of, wasn't we talk about God, it's like recognizing his awesomeness. His majesty. It's having a clear view of who he is. And therefore, he becomes magnified in our heart and mind. Now it's, it's not like the little Lin's because Dad is actually making, that's an illusion. It actually making something small with big but that's not how it is with God. See, our lives are meant to magnify the Lord, Jesus Christ and God, the father. So when people look at our lives, we're showing them a zoomed-in, clear picture of God is, and it's not so much like a magnifying lens though. It's, it's kind of more like a telescope. If you will telescopes, they, they magnify, but they're different than they look out into the stars. And we know the stars out there, the planet that you might see in a telescope, their massive, their massive other stars out in the universe that make our son looks small, right? There's massive bodies out there and having some from our perspective, they look kind of tiny. Not much to him, not much light. Do you think of God God's out there? He's big, he's Majestic, he's in for a bit of people's minds. He's a little He's little that's where you and I come in as his ambassadors at this people today. He come in where like the walk and talk and telescopes of God that helped bring him so they can get a full. Look at what he's really like, how awesome and Majestic in Grand. He is it's our roles. Why were well from Salvation Army would rather in this life or the next to glorify or magnify the name of Jesus Christ. And to praise God in all his glory. We come to our chapter this morning back in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and what Paul is explaining In this passage is how what God is doing today and the dispensation of Grace, what he's doing through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the transformation, he's working in people's lives. It shows how much more glorious he really is that even the things he did in the past. It's so we continue walking through this epistle and we're going to look at verses 7 through 11 this morning and pull out two main ideas and simple. We have the ministry of life and we have the ministry of righteousness. And so as we read through this passage, we want to try to show that you two were called to this glorious Ministry, but the way it takes shape in our life where are where it, where to have a Ministry characterized by being life-giving a Ministry, characterized by living out righteousness. So, that glorifies the God who is so people can know him for who he is. Let's look at verse 7 and read through verse 11, Paul writes, but if the ministry of death written and engraved on Stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadily. Or excuse me, not look steadily at the face of Moses. Because of the glory of his countenance, which Glory was passing away. How will the ministry of the spirit? Not be more glorious, we're at the ministry of condemnation had Glory the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. Her even what was made? Glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels for if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious? So we have this idyllic selling Glory. What God's doing now much more glorious. If you remember back a week or two ago, when we talked about this passage, we talked about how in the Christian church, a group of people that we called, the judaizers had come in that, where Judy eyes are comes from a passage in Galatians, when Paul talks about people who compel others, to live as Jews, that in the Greek is right at the Greek word. That means basically Judy eyes them. Their Judy eyes in them. They're trying to turn them in the Jews and that's what people were doing. At that time. They were, they were coming in to churches that have been found it on the sure Foundation of Jesus Christ and him crucified. People have been saved by grace through faith by trusting, in the death of Crisis, burial, and Resurrection for their personal salvation, and some were coming in and saying, oh, that's wonderful. But don't forget, you got to keep the law. They were bringing Moses back into the equation. They were saying, yeah, you got saved by grace but you need to live out of the wall. I thought the book of Galatians is all about. If you remember, we said that to Paul's dealing with the judaizers In this passage, but what he's trying to get them to see is how much better things are? Now it's asking the question, why would you want to go back to that? Why would you want to go back to that? So he's contrasting, the, the ministry through Moses to what God is doing today. And he begins to build a contrast In this passage that between the ministry of the spirit, in the ministry of the law, because the ministry of the spirit, this is how God works. Today, we talked about this, the Spirit come in to you. The moment of Salvation seals, you and Wells, you and then begins a Ministry in your heart. That's what this chapter is all about. He's riding on the tablets of your heart. He's conforming you to the image of Christ so that you can glorify God, you magnify glad God for your life. That's what the holy spirit's doing. He's bringing life to where there had been death. He's bringing light to where there had been Darkness. What did the old Covenant through Moses on Mount Sinai. What did that accomplish? He uses two interesting. Expressions in this very passage that if we really took these things to heart I think it would cure anybody I've ever. Wanted to go back to the law. If you took it to heart, what he says here, he says the law by the way, is the ministry of death.

Do I have that roll up? Bible doctrines. Is there minister of deaths in his office is in the pack? And you do well when he gets all the Bible questions and the ministry of death. Wow, that is potent. Isn't it? God, gave the law at Mount Sinai. And Paul nod to the fact that yeah there was some glory in that because it was God it was God in the thunder in the lightning, in the booming voice on Sinai and the law, all revealed the Holiness of God to the people of Israel, showed that the absolute perfection of who God is. But in the wall, it showed us our deficiency, our problem, send it showed Sanford, for its true form. Showed sent it all its ugly Glory, And said this is what keeps you separate from God. So the law gives us the knowledge of sin that every mouth baby stopped and basically what the law does, the law, prescribed death for sin. And so I think that's why Paul calls at the ministry of that, the law said with a big tax commission point die you should die for your sins. Speaks death every person that tries to live under it. That's what the law did. And so he says the ministry of death was in grave on Stones, that's clear, reference to the old, The Ten Commandments and precisely that were written on the tablets of stone. And so then he's just saying another way. What he says another place is like Romans 6, 7 8, you can make a note of Roman six, seven eight because that's sort of a even more expanded idea of what he's saying here of. How, how do you actually have True Life Giving and righteous living in your life? It's not through the law. It's only through the Holy Spirit and submitting your life for the Holy Spirit. And, you know, it's interesting, he go and he reminds Akron things of the Ten Commandments written on Stone and he's basically warn them away for thinking that you can go back and live under the law. And it was so interesting because when Moses received the law, he went up on Mount Sinai, God wrote the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets and he sent Moses back down and down the way he met with Joshua and they can they get their near and the camp and they hear all this, like, noise and party time kind of sounds and everything in there. Like, and Josh was like, what it? What's going on in Moses? Kind of knew that all there is something bad going on. And I get to camp and let the Israelites had done. In the time that Moses had went up on Mount Sinai to get the law. They had utterly and completely failed to keep the coven that they had just agreed to keep God. Said, if you will obey my voice and keep my Commandments, you'll be a special people into me. I'm going to use you and they broke it on day. One. Moses comes down the mountain with the two tablets and hands and finds them worshipping a molten calf and involved in other vile sinful things. And he slams those tablets on the ground and break something, that's what he did with the. Imagine you just got these on Mount Sinai, and you just slip them on the ground. This is what you guys just did The Loft. You just broke everything.

Think about this the day the law was instituted. The immediate response was complete failure. And death. Because what happened is that? Well, he confronts Aaron, by the way, it's like what's going on? An errand. So well, that he told me to take their gold and I threw it in the fire. In this calf, come out, like it happened on its own would like he's he's like when you talk to your kids, that what happened all the cookies? Well you know the cookies were there and they jumped in my mouth no one else to do and no silly, right? But But then today he kicked tomorrow to take the mountain Kathy Grimes it up, put it in water, makes him drink, it is interesting way to deal with it but it's like if you like this so much you can drink it. But but he also called for some some people who were faithful and they actually went out and they they killed the people who had most grievously sinned about. I think it is, I think three thousand people died at 3,000 were killed and then it says in the text that also plagues followed. So right away, is there starting under the law immediate failure? And you know, that sets the tone for what the laws going to Compass all through the rest of Israel's history, even into the day, anybody has tried to live under the law and try to produce righteousness in and of themselves has utterly and completely failed and they experienced death and they'll experience will talk about the moment condemnation, as well. This is what the law does. It was made to condense in and prescribed S4 SIM, but what does the spirit do instead? Well, he tells us in this passage, it would have been back in 46. At the end of her, 60 said, the spirit gives life. So that's what the spirit does. The spirit brings life to the dead, you know, we come in this world, we're dead already, because we're born, Sinners were separated from God. We're already dead. For the wall that can only prescribe dad isn't going to help, you're only going to get better if such a thing can only get better under the law. How do you get life? How do you get transformation? How do you move forward? That's the Holy Spirit, you come to Christ by faith is death row on resurrection and the spirit of God comes in quickens makes a live your spirit and you become part of God's new creation and he begins this transformative work in and through you to manifest the glory of God to the world. He brings life. And one of the things I love about this passage, we went back and read Exodus. He says in verse 7 that the people of Israel cannot look at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his countenance and in the text and it, Exodus 34, we read a little bit ago, you got the input, you got the idea that when he came down from the mountain after spending time with God, they were kind of afraid of him. His face was glowing. It was radiating. The glory of God, when he went up on the mountain and actually, it was the second time he went up, he he broke the first two stones. He went back up the mountain, to get another copy off, the off the cosmic Xerox, get another copy, bring me two more stones and I'll write him again and God writes him again. Maybe that $80,000 printer machine you know that God's finger you. All right. Come on back up a new copy. He writes another set of the stones. Hey, Moses is up there, any any kind of experiencing what we call the Shekinah, Glory of God. The physical manifestation of his glory, that sometimes appears in times in the Old Testament that was like, light or cloud and things like that. And Moses was in the presence of God in that sense. And when he came off, his face was reflecting That. Glory was literally glowing, which is just so interesting. And it tells us a little bit later In this passage Paul actually gives us some insight. It's not real clear and exodus 34. Quite the reason why he put the veil over his face. It sounds like maybe he was trying to hide The Shining so they wouldn't be afraid but when you look a little bit further in our passage and we'll read will go, it will jump just a little bit of head here.

Let's see here. It's verse 13. It says, unlike Moses who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. So what he seems to indicate is that the reason Moses put the veil over his face is not so they couldn't see the glory, but they couldn't see when the glory wore off. Because after a, while it would fade back to normal, his normal complexion would return. His face didn't glow and he just looked like, like his normal Mosaic self. And he would go back and back into the presence of God and it just went on through his life cuz he's also going to the Tabernacle structure and encounter that the Shekinah Glory got it, he would come out and its face would be glowing again. What Paul says, what that was showing is yes, there's glory in the law because it reveals who God is it reveals who we are, but it's a fading Glory. It just like Moses his face were off. So the glory of the old Covenant was going to wear off. It could not accomplish God's ultimate ends and plans for Humanity. It's a, it's a prescription of death. It's a indicator of condemnation. It cannot give life. You cannot give life and that's what we see here. But he says, the ministry of the spirit is much more glorious because the spirit of God gives life. And I think the takeaway for me and that is, yes. I know I should live under the law, but I wonder, how is life radiating through my life? Because that's the implication. It doesn't just stop with you. This is how God's going to move forward in each of Our Lives, the ministry of Life taking shape in our lives. Us speaking Life, Giving words us acting with life-giving actions that's how we glorify God. Today we let the spirit of God fill us up in here to our faith so that then we can come alongside others and Speak Life and be involved in their life and come alongside You know, I've shared some of my testimony when I grew up, I was saved when I was fourteen and I was part of a group of people for my grandparents just a little Grace Bible study and you know I was learning a lot but you don't what what I really feel really stood out to me is that those people accepted me where I was at. They got me involved in what they were doing. I wasn't just an outsider, I wasn't just a bystander. I remember it when I was about Fourteen and they work the group of them, they all they wanted to do more, they wanted the fellowship together, they want to do life together, and they were just going to go down to Tennessee. They were going to go to Opryland if you knew that he had ever been there, I don't think it's it's quite that there was the Music Park Opryland ride as it was called, was it. But anyway, but they were going to eat world. That's what it was called. I don't think it's open anymore but there's other things down in that area, but they were going down there and I was able to go along. And so we had this long car ride together and talk in and just it was just it was just exchange of life, just like just living life. It's just that simple. But speaking truth speaking Life acting in life giving ways. It's just those little simple things that can just speak volumes for who Jesus Christ is and each of Our Lives is. So that's that's what it took for me is. People got involved in my life and spoke the words of life and lived it out and it drew me right to Christ. And it drew me to want to know him more. That's what I think. When I think if we have the ministry of life, it's the words, it's the truth. But it's also what it does in and through Us and how we come alongside others. That's so powerful. That's how the spirit is so much more glorious. The law says, you sent you die. Next. And the spirit comes into you and brings you alongside somebody and says, how are you doing? What do you need? What can I pray for? You need help with that. It transforms us into. if you will walking talking tablets of God, You know what he wrote on the stone? The spirit writes on a heart but then our whole lives become his epistle. As we mentioned a couple weeks ago Let's read on inner passage where he says, first 94 at the ministry of condemnation had Glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. Here. He says, we also have the ministry of righteousness, we have the ministry of Life, instead of the ministry of death, which was the law. Here we have the, the ministry of righteousness, instead of the ministry of condemnation. This is another way to term the law. It's the ministry of death, that sounds exciting, and it's also the ministry of condemnation, by the way. So if you're looking for death and condemnation, I know where to take you, but if you're looking for life and true righteousness and transformation, you got to come to the spirit, To the law declared condemnation. You know what the word, the nation means that basically means to be a judge down. Remember you ever hear about the Colosseum in ancient Rome and the Gladiators would come out and battle and Racine movies and things depict it and it kind of captures our imagination, a little bit until you realize how brutal and, you know, Dee Dee humanizing. It was to these people cuz I do more slaves thrown in there and made to battle to the death. But we we know that there were times when Gladiator would best another and then they would look up to the emperor. They will look up the Caesar right and Caesar hold his thumb out. I think this may be where we get our Thumbs Up, by the way, I don't know, but if he could do this, and that person who'd been beat would be allowed to live, and he wouldn't slam be given life, but if the emperor did this, Your dad. He would they would be slaughtered and I think about that like an condemnation condemnation is, like this is you and this is what you deserve and this is what What the law has said to you, it's it looks at you and it goes like this, thumbs down your to Unholy forgot. You don't have any righteousness. You fall short of the glory of God. All the time in. This is what you deserve. Judd, down, condemnation, condemn. There's no hope in and of ourselves, that's what the law does. You can't go to the law of condemnation and find life. That's what Paul was telling these people. You can't find another find like they're your only going to find more death, more condonation more defeat and failure in your Christian Life. That's what you'll find trying to live under the law. And it makes us see that the law again, it was this the standard. It's like when if you been out working in the dirt and the Heat and you come in the house and you're sweaty and you're dirty and you're just nasty looking and you look in a mirror, In the lights are turned on by the way. You see how bad you really look in that mirror, right? You see the dirt? You see that the grind, you see all that makes me think back when we tell the story of going and working on Dean rinehimers roof years ago and eating Indiana. And we had to take off Cedar Shakes and other layers of shingles and it was it was so dirty that we went to the hotel, those nights and it probably looked like we were from another country cuz we were so dark, nothing but mean nothing by that. But outside the humor, we we look the guy at the hotel is like, what do you do? We were just covered with Grime from head to toe. We were so dirty and I and I didn't realize how bad it was. I going to bathroom. Turn them in turn the lights on there. I am in the mirror and I'm like, wow, I made that face just covered with soot and everything else. The mirror shows you how dirty your face is that's what the law. Did it shows you how bad you are taking mirror that God's Cosmic me or look how look how dirty are your sin is But when I was in that hotel I didn't like start wiping my face on the mirror, trying to clean my face off. Right. What do you think I did instead? Take a shower, take a shower, took a while to get it all off to by the way, and do some serious crap and get all that off. But you can't clean yourself up with the mirror and that's kind of like what the law is. It shows what's bad? But it doesn't have any solution to how to clean it off. Only the blood of Christ can take away sin. That's the thread through scripture that God was trying to establish through all this. Only the blood of Christ can wash away sin and that's have today, Christ provides righteousness and relationship. Your next point he gives us righteousness, we had the Exorcist when you trust Christ, your declared righteous, you know what that means? Thumbs up forever. When God looks at. You, it's always thumbs up. There's no condemnation anymore, there's no prescription of death because you died with Christ. You've been risen with Christ, you have new life, you have this position, nothing can touch you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God and nothing can take away. The righteousness of Christ has gifted you when you trust him. So you have always justification, that's the opposite of condemnation to be declared righteous. That's what Justified means. So you're always Justified you're always declared righteous in his sight. Jesus gave us his own righteousness. And I think about what that does to the human heart, when you really rest in that, it sets you free, you don't have to strive to try to make God like you to pleat to be pleased with you. You don't have to try to clean up your walk. So he'll he'll look at you. He'll smile upon, you know you just come to Christ and it's all right there. He's already shown that he loves you and that Jesus went to the cross for you. He demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet. Sinners Christ died for us. All he wants to do is bless you. All he wants to do is Usher you into his family forever and share eternal life with you.

That's all he wants to do. That's what the righteousness of Christ gives you it. Grants you that, because you're always here now, And not just that standing but it's the relationship that comes with it. You are made a son or a daughter of God almighty.

So, you can cease. From all the anxiety and worry. If I'm going to be good enough for God, am I going to measure up. It's all going away. No. Instead he says you are my son. And you're giving access to him anytime, so you can cry out, Abba, Father, all through the righteousness of Christ. That's what we're giving the law doesn't bring that the law condemned but Jesus provides righteousness and relationship for us today.

Mac goes on verses 10 and 11, he says for even. What was made? Glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels, for, if what is passing away was was glorious. What remains is much more? Glorious. The Abiding and remaining Ministry of today, what God is doing in the dispensation of Grace, what God is doing to the Holy Spirit, much more glorious than what the law could do. And so, the point here is simple. The spirit brings greater glory to God in and through you.

Aren't we sing a song a little bit ago about his majesty and it talked about the moon and the stars, right? And how did it word it? Like his majesty is greater than the moon and the stars is that correct or close to the lyrics. His majesty is greater than the moon and the stars and I think of that idea is when when you go out at night and you look up at the Heavens to go, wow, that's pretty cool. And you see the stars and the planets and the starlink satellites. I'm just kidding these days but you see the glory of the stars and it is it's it's I catching and you can look at them. Hit me up on that telescope. I talked about earlier and you want me to culture? Look at him. But what happens as soon as the the dawn comes and the sun begins to come up. What happens to those stars? Do they cease to exist? Know, they're still there and they're doing exactly the same thing they were when the sun was down but you cannot see them anymore. So the glory of the stars look like something at night but as soon as the sun comes up, it's so much more glorious at the stars, can't even compare. And you can't even see him anymore. And that's what he's saying is happening today and the spirits Ministry. It's so much more serious. That the ministry of the law, like he says a tent. It's like, it doesn't have any Glory at all. It's, it's so faded away. It's still there. But there's like no light from because the sun has risen and the Sun is Jesus Christ. He's risen in our lives and he's given us the spirit. So, we have this Glory, we have this ministry of the spirit and so we shouldn't want to go back to the law or create some other kind of performance-based, Christianity or some other version of a rule-based Christianity because that will take us right back to death and condemnation in our lives. No, you come to the scriptures, you come by faith, so you can know who Jesus Christ is and you submit to him, his Spirit Works in you, and you take those Steps of Faith everyday in the Christian Life, and the spirit can work in your life and bring Victory and bring this Glory outward from you.

And I just think of another ID here. Is when I think of the glory of God and where is the visible glory of God today? Because then you go back in the Old Testament. And you go back to Mount Sinai in there with some visible Glory made most of his face glow and then later they built the Tabernacle and Moses could go in there. And he could find the visible glory of God and it would make his face glow and then later they built the temple under Solomon and Solomon prays and go back and read it. I think First Chronicles, and he builds the temple and he prays. And it talks about how the glory of God filled the temple and nobody can even go in the temple for a while. Because the glory of the visible manifestation, the glory god was there that Shekinah Cloud of Glory and it was there and everybody was like, whoa, wow.

And you think about that and then you stopped and you think where is God's glory today? Where is God's presence today, where does he choose to dwell? before the temple, the Tabernacle before that today, You are the Temple of the almighty. God, write his presence has filled you. He dwells in you, that's where his glory is. That's where he's at as what. He's residing on the Earth today is in you. Walkin. Talkin temples meant to radiate the glory of God to the world around us. That's what he's doing today to the spirit. So, when people encounter us, is it life-giving? Is it lived out righteousness because of our relationship with God, because I believe if that's what they see, that's what's going to drawn to Christ, that's what's going to complement. The words, we speak when we talked about the gospels going to draw people in, I think that's the kind of ministry. Paul has in mind, transformative Ministry, that speaks to others. But it shines out the glory of God through his temples today, which are you? And I, let's pray. Father, we would just pray, we can be filled with the spirit today, Lord. We know that that's an act of our faith in you. It's not about a visible Cloud. It's not about super abilities or anything like that. It's simply about trusting you right now so that your spirit can have control of Our Lives, it will submit to you, that will allow you to do your work through us that we can be conformed to the image of Christ that we can be Ministers of life and of righteousness. Father, As you called us too. So we just Lift us up Lord, encourage our hearts. We pray this in Christ name, amen.