Light and Life 7: Not Hiding The Light – part 2 “Removing the Veil (Matthew 5, 2 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 4).”

Not Hiding The Light part 2 “Removing the Veil.”

 Matthew 5: 14

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

2 Corinthians 3:12-4: 7.

12 “Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 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 the Spirit.”

 1 Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.2 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 every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”a made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

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 Last time we looked finished by reading the 2 Corinthians 3 vs 12-4 vs 7 passage which clearly relates to the Matthew 5 passage above. Today I want us to expound in more detail some of the key aspects of these passages starting with Corinthians and them moving on to Matthew to finish.…

 “since we have such a hope, we are very bold (2 Corinthians 3 vs 12).”

What hope? Paul mentions identifies it a few verses earlier…it is the“confidence we have through Christ before God (3 vs 4)” It is this hope that is the source of our boldness. We are truly forgiven, truly acceptable to God because of Christ!

 “not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face (12)”

……we must not go about life veiling disguising or hiding this hope within us. Such an amazing glory has been placed within us! Our identity, that we belong to Christ, that we are Christians by name,  – yes that is part of it. We certainly must not hide that fact from those around us. But it should be so, so much more than that!

 Our lives should be lived in the light of this hope and confidence that comes from our faith. The confidence and peace that comes from the gospel should characterize our moods and our attitudes It is this hope, this confidence, this love, this peace, that should be on full display.

 Particularly poignant is forgiveness.

How many people go though life un-burdened by guilt? Knowing and living in the confidence that sins have been paid for guilt has been taken away is such an unbelievable privilege for every Christian. Unfortunately we so often forget and allow guilt to creep back in. Guilt is a ‘bowl’ hides the light quite effectively.

However regaining a firm stand of faith upon the completed work of Christ, coming back to confess our sins and recieve forgiveness (1 John 1 vs 9) standing strong in the knowledge that “It is finished (John 19 vs 30)”, that my sin is “Paid in Full”, there is “now no condemnation (Romans 8 vs 1) ”, that my sin is no more all that was against me has been taken and nailed to the cross (Colossians 2 vs 14)…. Wow! A life lived in that light is a rare and powerful thing to be on display in this dark world!

If you want effective evangelism try that on for size! You want evangelism strategy 101… OK, then re-gain an unshakable confidence in your forgiveness through Christ and then live your life publically, before men, in the light of it!

The lack of guilt that such a Christian has deep within should make a huge difference to our behavior- It should be evident to all that here is a person truly living at peace with God! That is such a powerful testimony!

 “Their…minds… dull, ….. the same veil remains …. only in Christ is it taken away(14)….whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away(16).”

…………all the while we know it is only Christ that can remove the veil – they do not need to see us – they need to see Christ IN us! We need to be reliant upon HIM to enable us to shine with His Glory. We need to display a life lived according to the Spirit not according to the flesh (Galatians 5 vs 16-26, Romans 8 vs 1-17). The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 vs 22) comes from closer walk with Christ not from trying hard to be like him (in which case it would be ‘fruit of human effort’ rather than ‘fruit of the Spirit’). 

 “we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory (18)”

Again it is HIS glory not ours! We ‘reflect’ – we are not the source! Paul begins 2 Corinthians 3 by carefully explaining that he is not commending himself or putting Himself forward (vs 1).

He goes on…

 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

He continues…

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

 It’s not the prideful “hey look at our lifestyle, look our ministry” it is the humble focus that it is the Lord who transforms us, uses us and reaches out through us, it is the the Lord’s glory that is seen in us, but we must never believe in any way that WE are the key.

We are not what they need, He is what they need. What we need to reach out is first to reach in! We need to come close to Christ in order that Christ may come close to us and then that He may come close to them! Evangelism starts with an inward not an outward focus, it starts with us focussed upon Him. The love and burning heart for the lost will be enhanced not eclipsed by such an understanding. Christ shines his life in us, and his Love reaches though us to them.

 “we… renounced secret and shameful ways;….not use deception, nor…distort the word of God….setting forth the truth plainly (4 vs 2)”

How many times supposedly ‘Christian’ ministries seem to be clearly using deception or distortion. How clearly such things can be seen in the ‘Word of Faith’ style ministries of Benny Hinn et al. Likewise the turning to secular marketing schemes (i.e.Alpha) – working out what parts of the Gospel are most palatable and how they may be presented in the most favorable light (again Alpha, Purpose Driven Life, etc)… NO! “Set forth the truth plainly”.

 My final year with Youth for Christ it was ‘the year of Strategy’ and how our focus became so twisted in the process. The focus became, Strategy, Strategy, Strategy where it should have been Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! No amount of strategy and marketing can truly reach in and change the human heart! The veil remains. Newsflash, the veil has never been primarily post modernism or other aspects of modern culture – it is as it always been…

 “4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,”

…. “only in Christ is it taken away” -.

….only in Christ can this veil, this blindness be taken away. This is the essential biblical evangelism strategy… “set forth the truth plainly”! Unadorned, no frills, no background music and moody lighting required…TRUTH!

 

And so back to Matthew 5….

 A city on a hill ….not be hidden. light a lamp … not put it under a bowl. ….“ put it on its stand, where it gives light to everyone …“ let your light shine before men, that they may see”

 1 Peter 2 states…5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house… and that house – that city, is placed on a hill- it is designed to be visible. God intends us to be that visible he places us deliberately in view. The city is placed upon a hill the light is placed on its stand –– why? In order that it, might give light to everyone.

 Such visibility is not comfortable. The problem is that people will not always see the treasure within, they are blinded to it, – they just see the Jar of clay.

Letting our light shine before men is not a comfortable, it invites ridicule, it exposes not just the light and strength and wisdom of God but the weakness and foolishness of ourselves as well. Thus exposed we can often appear weak and foolish, our lives placed on display unfortunately also allow others to see that God’s work of sanctification is not yet complete in us. We blow it, we mess up, we get angry and inevitably the response comes back “ah I though you were supposed to be a Christian”.

Yet we admit our mistakes and weakness, return to the source, obtain fresh oil for our lamp, continue living according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and by visibly persevering, taking every opportunity to explain the hope you have within you (1 Peter 3 vs 15),  people begin to “…see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.

 It’s the same principle right down to the shining of a Christian wife to her non-Christian husband in 1 Peter 3…

 1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2 when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.

 Let us take this exhortation to not hide our light. Let us draw close to Christ and let our external actions, attitudes and words be consistent with the internal presence of God’s own Holy Spirit within us. Let us pray for opportunities to set forth the truth plainly and take every opportunity to explain the hope within us, but let us make sure that that hope is already on display in our lives not just in our words!

 The key – it is all about Christ! The power is his, the light is his, the treasure is his, the glory is His, the only power to cause those blinded to the truth to finally see…. it is His! So let us drink deep of him, come close to Him, let His presence, His love, His forgiveness be the oil to your lamp, keep a close walk with him, Continually ask the Father to send and fill us with his Holy Spirit for what use is a lamp with no flame!

 “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more

will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11 vs 13)

Finally ask the Lord for strength, boldness and wisdom to live according to the truth you have received – to be who you are, and be it publicly and unashamedly!

 “Let your light Shine before men’…!

 Amen!