Shine Jesus Shine
Notes
Transcript
Graham Kendrick wrote a song with this title back in 1987. I do not know if he was thinking of this passage of scripture when he wrote it, but it fits amazing well with the words of Paul.
Give a listen and sing along if you like, the words will be here on the screen.
Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit, blaze
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth your word
Lord, and let there be light
Can I be honest with you this morning?
I hope so, I hope that I am honest every time I have the opportunity to share God’s word with you.
I have been struggling lately. I have been troubled in my spirit about the Church with a big C. Most of you know that I am a member of our District Advisory Board.
This past Sunday another of our district churches closed. The Clearfield Church of the Nazarene closed after many years of service in their community. I was the one who made the motion to close it. It was a hard thing to do. There were only just 3 or 4 older ladies who attended the church. They have tried to turn it around over the past 8 to 10 years, but it just didn’t.
That decision to vote to close a church has weighed heavily on me. What has happened? I know it is not just in our denomination, it is happening across denominations.
Maybe the question is not what happened, but why.
A lot of people attribute it to people moving away because the coal mines closed or the steel mills closed. I looked at the population of Somerset county in 1960 and in 2010 and the population is only 8 fewer in 2010 than it was in 1960.
The people are still here. Yes there is a different mix but the population of the county has stayed pretty much the same.
As I was preparing for this morning I got to thinking that maybe Paul was on to the reason why.
It seems to me that American Christianity has wrapped and intertwined itself in the government that we don’t know where the government ends and Christianity begins.
I see people make posts on social media that just leave me scratching my head. I’ve seen pictures posted of the Cross wrapped in the American flag. No, the cross is not wrapped in the flag of the United States. The cross was covered with the blood of Jesus, the head of the Church.
When the Church of the Nazarene was started it was reaching out to the forgotten, the lost, the marginalized. It was reaching out with the great message that God has called us to live holy lives. That holy life is available through the transformation power of the Holy Spirit.
Somewhere along the way we decided that we needed rules for the things we could do and the things we could not do.
Paul in the first part of the text this morning reminds us that we are ministers of the new covenant.
7 The ministry that brought death was carved in letters on stone tablets. It came with such glory that the Israelites couldn’t look for long at Moses’ face because his face was shining with glory, even though it was a fading glory. 8 Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation has glory, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness? 10 In fact, what was glorious isn’t glorious now, because of the glory that is brighter. 11 If the glory that fades away was glorious, how much more glorious is the one that lasts!
Now if you’ve never read the Old Testament and in particular the account of Moses receiving the 10 commandments you have absolutely no idea was Paul is writing about here.
Stone Tablets? What are they?
They are the tablets that the commandments were carved into.
God had come down to Moses and carved onto those stone tablets his commandments for the people. If you read those commandments they impact our relationship with God and our relationships with others.
In Exodus we read that when God got done giving the commandments and Moses comes down from the mountain that he glowed.
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. 30 Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him.
Moses had been in God’s very presence and that caused a glorious glow about him. Moses was reflecting the glory of God.
You cannot be in the presence of God and not be impacted.
The Bible goes on and tells us that Moses began wear a veil over his face every time that he came away from meeting with God.
When Moses would go into God’s presence he would take the veil off. When he came out of God’s presence he would put the veil on because he actually glowed from the glory of God!
Oh that we would experience the presence of God like that!
I was talking with a guy this past week. He’s had a troubled life and made some poor choices. He was talking about his mom and he said some words that have haunted me all week.
He said that his mom goes to church and she asks the church to pray for him and she prays for him. He said that she will come home from church and berate him and call him vile names.
How sad, she goes to church and worships and prays and comes home and acts like an entirely different person.
Moses goes into the presence of God and when he comes back to the people he is glowing from being in the presence of God!
In the Message paraphrase Phillips renders it this way:
7 The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses’ face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. 8 How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?
If the presence of God so dramatically changed Moses’ face that the people couldn’t look at him without him having a veil on, then how much more glorious should our lives be because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
8 Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious?
Isn’t that a challenging question?
If it was so glorious when Moses went into the presence of God that he actually glowed, won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious?
Do people know that we’ve been in the presence of God?
But Pastor, that was a unique time in history. Yep, you are right, it was a unique time, but we don’t live there. We live after the cross, we live after the mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Paul asks “Won’t the ministry of the Spirit be much more glorious?
I need to point you back to the word’s of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians
He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven. Ephesians 1:3
Where do those blessings come from?
They come from heaven.
Who is in heaven?
God
Those blessings come directly from God Himself in Christ.
Backing up into chapter 1 Paul wrote
20 All of God’s promises have their yes in him. That is why we say Amen through him to the glory of God.
There is an old spiritual that has these words:
The windows of heaven are open
The blessings are falling tonight
There's joy, joy, joy in my heart
For Jesus made everything right
I gave Him my old tattered garment
He gave me a robe of pure white
I'm feasting on manna from heaven
And that's why I'm happy tonight.
Do you remember that one?
All those promises of God are ours. They are Yes in Christ!
Paul doesn’t just leave us there with the anticipation of glory. He writes begining there in verse 12:
12 So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence.
We have hope. Without hope where would we be? If we didn’t have hope in the God who created all that has been created then lets just shut and lock the doors and leave.
We have a hope in the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit.
We have this so so we act with great confidence.
Why can we act with great confidence?
It is because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
We are about to enter the season of Lent. Easter is coming quickly, but before that great resurrection, there is that cross.
Luke wrote:
44 It was now about noon, and darkness covered the whole earth until about three o’clock, 45 while the sun stopped shining. Then the curtain in the sanctuary tore down the middle.
Just as Jesus was about to breath his last earthly breathe, darkness covered the earth for about 3 hours.
Is it a stretch to go back to the very beginning and compare it to that time?
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
In the beginning there was darkness. At his death there was darkness. The darkness at the beginning and God was about to do something awesome.
The darkness at Jesus death and God was about to do something awesome.
Who was it dark for?
Was it dark for God? Was it because God could not look on Jesus and see what he was doing for his creation?
I’m not so sure. In the beginning the Spirit of God was there in that dark world.
In that moment just before he died in the darkness the veil of the Temple was ripped in half from top to bottom. The veil, the current that separated the people from the Ark of the Covenant, the earthly dwelling place of God was torn open.
That tearing open, opened the way in to the very presence of God.
It was Moses who went into the presence of God and came out with the glorious radiance of God shining on his face.
God caused that veil to be torn, the curtain was ripped open. I can picture a couple of angels there in the Temple grabbing onto that curtain at the top and just ripping it in half like you could do with a piece of paper.
God did that for us!
The way was opened. It was once the way was opened that Jesus breathed his last time!
46 Crying out in a loud voice, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I entrust my life.” After he said this, he breathed for the last time.
In that moment between life and death that way was opened for us to enter into the glorious presence of God.
The challenge for us today is the challenge that those who first heard the words of the Ten Commandments. The challenge is that we become so enamored with the words that we forget all about the word giver.
In other words, we focus more on the words rather than what God is wanting us to know about himself.
We become legalistic, we want to know all the things to do and the things not to do.
Ken Chafin wrote
The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 30: 1, 2 Corinthians Based on a Superior Covenant
There is always the danger of legalism for each of us. We are tempted to love the Bible and not the God to whom it witnesses. We can join the church, whatever the process, without entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Often an individual will conform to what is called a “Christian lifestyle” and never have his or her heart changed. Consequently, there is always the danger that one would have all the trappings of religion and not know the love and joy and freedom that is in Christ.
God opening the way to Himself was not so that we would have a religion. God opened that way so that we can have a relationship.
When we enter the way that was opened we are set free from religion and we enter that relationship.
17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom.
There is freedom in that we are set free from sin and the bondage that has held us.
We enter into the glorious presence of the living God.
If that doesn’t get you a little excited, then I don’t know what will!
When you walk through that opened veil, that torn curtain into the very presence of God, then you are living in the presence of God.
The Spirit, the Holy Spirit and where the Holy Spirit is, there is freedom!
Amen?
There is freedom.
Our freedom is not predicated on who is or who isn’t president. It is not based on which political party is in the majority. Our freedom is not based on living in the United States or in Cuba, or in Yemen.
Our freedom is based on where the Holy Spirit is, because that is the freedom that matters.
Pay attention to Paul’s next works there in verse 18
18 All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror.
It's as if were looking in a mirror because in fact we are mirroring the glory of God. When Moses talked with God and came back to the people his face glowed because of the glory of God. We are like Moses, and that we enter into his presence with unveiled faces and we are changed.
Paul says right there he says we are being transformed into that same image. What image is he talking about? The image is the image of the Lord.
When we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ and we acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of our lives in the Holy Spirit moves within us, we are being transformed into the very image of Jesus Christ.
Paul goes on to say that that transformation is from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory.
Folks it is ours through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This transformation, this glory doesn't originate from us. Paul says there in the last sentence of verse 18 "this comes from the Lord, who is spirit."
All this talk about transformation Paul is saying comes from the Lord through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now Paul doesn't just stop there. We have these artificial things called chapters, but Paul didn't write his letter and break it into chapters. look at what he has to say next.
1 This is why we don’t get discouraged, given that we received this ministry in the same way that we received God’s mercy.
We don't get discouraged because God is given us everything that we need. We know that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with all spiritual blessings. There is not one thing that we lack.
Paul says we don't get discouraged because we received this ministry, this ministry of the gospel the same way that we receive God's mercy.
How did we receive God’s mercy? Through Jesus Christ.
He wrote in Romans 8 these words
29 We know this because God knew them in advance, and he decided in advance that they would be conformed to the image of his Son. That way his Son would be the first of many brothers and sisters. 30 Those who God decided in advance would be conformed to his Son, he also called. Those whom he called, he also made righteous. Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified.
God’s desire is that personal relationship with us just as it was in the beginning. Sin damaged all of it. God was determined to right the wrong of sin. He decided that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved and that we will be conformed into the image of Jesus.
He through the power of the Holy Spirit has called us into that relationship.
He didn’t just call us into a relationship, he made us righteous.
Our righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags compared to the the glorious righteousness of Jesus Christ.
But wait, it does not stop there. Just as Moses entered into the presence of God and his appearance was transformed and he glowed with the glory of God we do to.
Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified.
Why, because when we are made righteous, we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ
18 All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We are changed, we are transformed.
So what do we do with this? Look at the last 2 verses of our text, verses 5 & 6.
5 We don’t preach about ourselves. Instead, we preach about Jesus Christ as Lord, and we describe ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6 God said that light should shine out of the darkness. He is the same one who shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
We don’t preach about ourselves. We don’t brag about ourselves and what we’ve done.
Rather, we preach about Jesus Christ as Lord.
Is Jesus your Lord? Is Jesus shining in your life?