Witness to the World

I want to start this morning with the questions that we sometimes wrestle with. The question is, why do we feel so disempowered when it comes to witnessing to the world? Why do we feel so restricted and so limited to speak about this glorious truth we have, that we enter into, that we come on a Sunday morning and rejoice with happy hearts? Why is it that we feel so stunted and so limited and so challenged in bringing this message of Christ to those so close to us? This morning we're going to look at how the Apostle saw what is called the ministry. He calls it the ministry.

And the call of God on a Christian's life, which is to bear witness to this earth-shatteringly amazing news, that Jesus Christ has come to save the world and to set her free. But what's more important, we'll see this morning, is how Paul understood this ministry in the light of immense disempowerment, immense opposition. Why is it, what is it that can motivate us to do this effectively, to do this with a joyful heart rather than guilt? Let's have a read this morning. If you have your Bibles with you, let's open to two Corinthians 3.

And we've already this morning started reading some passages. We read from two Corinthians 5. I mentioned the ideas of having a treasure in jars of clay. And we read this morning just a little bit before this in two Corinthians 3. We're going to read the entire chapter, verses one till the end, chapter 18, sorry, verse 18.

So two Corinthians 3, verse one. Paul begins by asking this question: Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? He's talking about his ministry to the Corinthian church. Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 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? For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts?

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 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. 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. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.

But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 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. And then four verse one: Therefore, since through Christ, through God's mercy, we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

So far, our reading this morning. This morning I want to ask you, how is your ministry to the world around you looking? Do you concur? Do you agree with those questions of struggling, of dealing with the people in your life, perhaps even family members, trying to explain to them this hope that you hold? In Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20, a very well-known verse, Jesus Christ, in His last words to the disciples, gave a command to go into the world, to preach to the world, to make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them all to obey what Christ had commanded.

That became for the disciples their mission statement. That is what became for the disciples their reason for existence, for being. This final word from Jesus was the mission statement of the early church, and for the last two thousand years, that is what it has been. Whenever the church has lost its way, whenever the church has fallen into disrepair, whenever the church has fallen into irrelevance, it was because it had forsaken this statement: Go make disciples, telling them everything that Jesus had told us.

And this is what Paul did. When we come to two Corinthians 3, we find that Paul was facing massive pushback on his ministry in this regard. See, he had come to faith differently to the other apostles who were the disciples of Jesus. He calls himself an apostle abnormally born. But he had a special ministry.

He had a ministry to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were these Corinthians. But there were individuals, particularly from the Jewish group, the Jewish sect, that was pushing back against the authority of the Apostle Paul. And Paul had to write two letters to the Corinthian church explaining why he had authority to talk to them about Jesus, why he had authority to preach the Gospel to these individuals. Twice he had to defend himself and his ministry. And you can read that, like, by the second letter, he is distraught.

He is frustrated with their reluctance to accept this truth. People were saying that Paul was an illegitimate apostle. And perhaps you've heard that sort of argument as well. Does this sound familiar? I don't have to listen to you.

You're not a pastor. Where's your credentials? I've seen you at your worst. Why would I listen to you? Why should I believe you?

Your words are illegitimate. Paul was experiencing severe pushback to his ministry amongst these Christians in Corinth. But here he lays out the reason why he feels confident that he is worth their listening to. Did he point out to a long list of credentials? He didn't.

Did he get some paperwork processed? Did he bring his diploma of theology and hang it on his tent or on his wall somewhere? He didn't. In fact, Paul says that he doesn't need any letters of recommendation because the recommendation is on the changed hearts of this church. It is the power of the Holy Spirit having written this on their hearts, not on tablets of stone, but tablets of flesh.

And then here in verses four to six, Paul says this: He says that we have been made ministers or servants of a new covenant, not because we are worthy of it, but because God has made us competent to do it. Not because we are that great, not because we have all the qualifications. No. It's because God has made us able.

He has made us capable. He has qualified us. Here in verse six, Paul says that he and the others with him had been called to be ministers of a new covenant, a covenant not of the letter, which refers to the Old Testament, and he unfolds that a little bit more, but of a new law, the law of the Spirit, which he says is a law that gives life. The old covenant, the law of Moses, could only go so far as pointing to the need to have God in our life. It could only go so far as saying, man, we are really not good enough to be in a continuing relationship with God. We are utterly incapable of perfectly holding on to this relationship.

But Paul says this new covenant, which Paul is trying to preach, which Paul is trying to persuade them to understand and believe, depended on the powerful working, not of Paul, but of the Holy Spirit. Not of Paul, but of the Holy Spirit. And it is centred on the life and the death of Jesus Christ. But it's important to note how Paul sees this ministry: that he had not forced himself onto this job.

He didn't see himself as having manipulated his way onto the scene. And friends, I know of preachers and individuals who force their way into ministry for very illegitimate reasons, to be heard, to be the centre of attention. Paul says that is not the reason he does this. It was God. It was God who called him to this.

It was the Holy Spirit that empowered him for this, and that is how he saw it. It was God who would make him competent. And that is a very sobering and affirming understanding for us. In your family, you are called to minister the Gospel there. Amongst your friends, you are called to minister the Gospel there.

It is not something that we can take up or leave. But the truth is that God makes us competent for that. That God enables us to do that. As you and I are called to be a witness to our friends who have walked away from the church, to speak with those who are unmotivated to return to a religious organisation that has failed, that is irrelevant. As you and I are called to talk to people that have absolutely no understanding of who God is and why He is directly applicable to their lives.

Why can we do this? Because this message is not contained to words or letters that simply need to be learned and studied. It is unrestrained by a powerful God working through His Spirit who writes the truth of these words, who writes the truth onto hearts and minds. It is a dynamic, living thing. So when we are faced with that frustration, when we are faced with that struggle, and we have that pushback, the question should never be on your competence, but on their understanding of the truth, on their willingness to accept the truth.

But it means that we have to go back to God in prayer. We have to go back and ask the Spirit to make us competent, to enable us, to give us the right words and the right context and the right opportunities to talk about this. The second thing that makes this work, this ministry that we are called to, that makes it available to us, is because this ministry is so much more than us. It is something that is radiant. It's something that cannot be hidden, something that cannot be controlled or suppressed.

Because the second point is we are capable to be involved in this ministry because the ministry in itself is glorious. The ministry in itself is glorious. Verses seven to eleven, Paul explains some of the attributes of this new ministry, not the old covenant, this new covenant ministry. This new ministry, he says, is living.

It's not dead like the other one. It is written on hearts of people, not on tablets of stone. This new ministry's glory lasts forever, while the old ministry faded. The old ministry condemns people to death in that people cannot continue to uphold it, cannot continue to remain in a perfect relationship with God. It leads to death, while this new ministry gives life and righteousness and salvation because it is dependent on the Holy Spirit to fulfil.

Does anyone here remember a Ben Harper song called "Diamonds on the Inside"? I think it came out in the early two thousands. Great song. In it, Ben Harper talks about a woman whose name is Truth. Her name is Truth.

But ironically, Truth is a compulsive liar. And Truth is a person who is tremendously vain and self-absorbed. But after painting the picture of her broken, very broken life, he says that Truth has diamonds on the inside. And the message is that while she is desperately searching for these diamonds, these beautiful items, this bling to adorn herself with, all the while, she doesn't realise that she has a vast treasure in her heart and soul, that she has diamonds on the inside. In some way, this is true for us as Christians.

We have a glorious, glorious truth, a glorious treasure that is stored in us because we carry the truth of the Gospel. Why do we carry the truth of the Gospel? Because if you are a Christian, you must understand the Gospel. And if you understand the Gospel, you should be able to explain that to someone else. It's that simple.

You may not understand the difficult theological terms. You may not understand the problems, or the logical fallacies, or philosophical debates, or anything like that, but you can simply be able to tell someone what God has done in your life and why Jesus is important to you. We all carry the truth of the Gospel inside of us, and Paul says that this is like a treasure that is stored in jars of clay, diamonds on the inside. These simple clay pots, broken, crumbly, very ordinary looking, contain a treasure of immense worth. In chapter four, verse seven, Paul calls this situation having treasures in jars of clay.

And now Paul asks us, well, if the old covenant, which is based on keeping the law, was glorious. He says it was. The Old Testament, the law of Moses, was glorious. God met with Moses, and Moses, after that meeting, descended to the people, and people could not look at Moses in his face because the residual glory of God was still on him. People had to turn away.

Imagine that. I cannot even imagine the fear that people had seeing the perfection of God on his face. If that encounter, that passing of the law, that passing of this covenant to God's people, was so glorious, even though it was fragile, not so much on God's side, but in the capacity for people to engage with it. If that was glorious, how much more glorious is this new truth?

That Jesus Christ has come to even restore that brokenness outside of the bargain? How much more glorious is this new truth? The old way of doing things has been surpassed by a much better way. Before, no one could see God, otherwise they would die. But now everyone can see God because they can see Jesus Christ.

This ministry isn't something you will hide because it is not a ministry you can hide. It is not a ministry you can hide. This message carries with it the glory, the majesty, the greatness of God. The Gospel is like a laser show. The old covenant was light.

It was beautiful. It was light. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is like that light being amplified into a laser. Light amplified a thousand times. And it will burn your hand if you try to put it over it. It'll burn a hole right through it.

You cannot put a lampshade over it. It will burn through it. You cannot hide a laser because it holds so much power. The ministry that we have, the truth that we have, is glorious. It will shine forth.

It will just bubble out of us in one way or another. So there is not even an opportunity to hide it. The ministry we have then is able to change lives. It is able to change lives. It is not simply a band-aid solution.

It is not simply a treatment that will go on forever. This ministry, this truth, changes lives forever. There's a story of an old man who couldn't sing if his life depended on it. And the bad side of the story is that he loved singing. So even if he was off key, he would just belt out song after song in the church very vocally.

And not only was he a very vocal singer, but he was also very chatty in the church pew. So he'd often just shout from the back of the hall, "Amen, Hallelujah." And for some time, he would do that until some very well-to-do members of the church decided that this old fellow was just too noisy for the church. His singing was just too bad. So they appointed themselves to go and talk to the old man.

Now when they arrived at the man's house, he was just a very humble farmer. He was there working in the field. In fact, he was ploughing in the field with an old mule. Now after a while, they contemplated getting their shoes dirty, having to walk across the mud, but they decided it's best that they go and have this conversation now. So they walked over to the old man.

"Brother Jones," one guy began, "we want to talk to you about your singing. We don't mean any offence, but you just cannot sing. We wish you would try not to sing so loudly because quite frankly, your singing ruins our services." "I'm sorry," the old farmer replied, "but it's just that when I look at these old clothes that I wear and I think of those robes that God has for me, I just can't help but sing. And when I see that old shack that I live in and I realise that there is a place that God has prepared for me that is far more beautiful than that, I just can't help but sing.

And you gentlemen, see this old hat that I have on. Well, when I see that in that future time, God will give me a crown, and what God has in store for me then, I just have to yell at the top of my voice that Jesus is my King. As a matter of fact," said, "would one of you fellows mind holding my mule? I just wanna sing right now." And so they left him there singing away in the field, and as these four men left one by one and they got to the car, one of the guys said to the other, "Well, you know, his singing really isn't that bad, is it?"

Another said, "Yeah, I've actually never realised how sweet his voice really is. We'll let him sing." The ministry that God has is understanding the amazing rewards and promises that God has given us in Jesus Christ. The ministry simply is to talk to others about this beautiful blessing we have. It is so glorious, Paul says.

It is so magnificent. It is so beautiful that it will shine forth no matter what. If we understand it, we will not be able to hide it. The third thing that Paul mentions here, and this is how he concludes in verse 12, he says, "Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold."

Because we have this hope in Christ, we are very bold. We don't have to make up a cool message, Paul says. We don't have to be on the next philosophical, psychological fad. We can be courageous with what we have been given. Why?

Because it's not our message. It is not our truth contained up in our ability to hold onto it or not, our ability to consistently believe it or not. It is simply telling others what God has done and is busy with. And this morning, we hear that the message of Jesus will affect people. It will affect people.

Just before this in two Corinthians 2:16, Paul says it will affect people. Some will hear this message and it will be the fragrance of life. And others will smell it and it will be the smell of death in their nostrils. It will affect them. It will affect them.

And so that is why Paul, again, he goes on to verses 13 and 16, and he refers to the old order of things and how fragile it was and how incompetent it was. It was unable to save. But then in verse 17, he says in chapter four, "Now, the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 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."

And then he sums it up in verse four again: "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart." It is so easy to lose heart in this. It is so easy to want to give up. It is so easy to think it's too hard.

These people are too difficult. They will never ever believe this. Paul says it's because we have a living God who is a Spirit that works in this world mysteriously and powerfully. This Spirit gives freedom. And so we can be bold because God is active, and we can be a witness in places where God is working because God, like Darnie prayed, is working in us to transform us more and more.

And so these diamonds on the inside will become diamonds on the outside as well. It means that you don't have to feel disempowered ever because God is the one who is at work. And God is the one who will empower. And the way He does this is by transforming us more and more into the likeness of His Son, Jesus. So like the lady in Ben Harper's song, we have diamonds on the inside, or as Paul calls it, treasures in jars of clay.

And we have a ministry and we have a duty, but we have, more than that, a joy that is worth sharing. If we understand it, it will be a joy to share. Because since we have such a hope, Paul says, since we have such a glorious treasure, supported and fanned into flame by such a gracious God, we say with Paul, we can be very bold. We can be very courageous. Let's pray.

Lord, when I think of our church, and when I think of our situations represented here, Lord, there are some of us who come from families where there's a parent or a brother or a sister or a son or a daughter who don't know You. So many of us here are like that. And Lord, we live in a world that is post-Christendom, that is over Christianity, that sees it as a weird, funny thing to point at and to be cynical over, to smirk about something that is irrelevant and unuseful. In some cases, Lord, is the bane of our existence. Lord, we live in a world inundated, permeated with a disregard of the Gospel.

And so, Father, we do feel this burden, and we do feel so many eyes on us. And it may become so hard sometimes and so overwhelming that we simply just wanna give up. But we know, Lord, that this truth is too good to keep. This truth is truth, Lord, and if it is truth, and if we hold onto it, it needs to be explained.

It needs to be shared. It needs to be lived out. People need to hear this. So it is good for us to every now and then come to this point again, Lord, and to be challenged by this, to be challenged by the mission of this church, Your church. But thank you, Lord, that this does not rely on our competence.

It does not rely on our capabilities. It does not rely on our eloquence, our strength of mind, our character, our integrity, or lack thereof. Father, we pray that You will do the work inside of us. Holy Spirit, we give You permission to do this. Transform us, Lord, as we have read again this morning.

Transform us into the likeness of Your Son so that we may, with ever increasing glory, proclaim and declare the praises of the one who has called us from darkness into His wonderful light. Father, help us to realise the joy of this great treasure in our jars of clay. Father, don't forsake us on this journey. Don't leave us to our own devices. Help us.

Transform us. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.