Read 2 Corinthians 4:2-7

Question:
I have been considering how I can position myself to not “lose heart” (see 4:1, 16)by viewing life and ministry through learning what Paul did. When spiritual development happens as quickly as a snail in a 50 yard dash in a world built on high-speed transportation and microwave ovens; how do I not lose heart? How do I keep the fire burning in my life and fan the flame of God-centered living in others around me? First, I must bath regularly in the Gospel. I must every day, as George Mueller said,”make my heart happy in Jesus.” The greatest weapon in our fight to not lose heart is regularly meditating on the Gospel. But their is also a need to avoid life perspectives that set us up for discouragement and losing heart.

Understanding:
Paul says there are things that he DOES NOT do in his life and ministry. First, Paul has, along with those he ministers with, “renounced secret and shameful ways.” How are these ways expressed? In the use of “deception” and distortion of God’s Word (see 4:2). When I or you begin to do “performance living” (how others view me) vs. ministering because God is worth it we begin to deceive ourselves and ultimately, since a Biblical ministry cannot be based on “performance living”, we begin to distort the Word of God to suite our lives and views.

Second, Paul says seeks to set the “truth plainly” to every man knowing that God was watching (see v.2). Paul guarded himself from performance-living and also pleasing people over God. If the Gospel caused friction or gave him a “bad reputation” it did not determine Paul’s actions. When we live lives centered on pleasing people we tamper with God’s Word to suite how we want people to view us. We stop confronting issues of sin, we relax our standards since to live radical would mean we will “offend” some people. Unfortunately, we also begin to lose heart because the Word changes people and if we alter what the Word says we will lose hope of seeing change in our lives and the lives of those we seek to touch.

What if a person does not turn or changed after they hear the message? Does this now prove that it must be Paul’s motive or lack of using the truth of God’s Word? Maybe Paul is preaching a wrong Gospel? The enemy’s of Paul would love for people to think that. Paul quickly answers this potential question when he says, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the mind of unbelievers, so that they can not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Paul says there are more forces at work here than simply me and another person/people. There is also a force of darkness that makes the Gospel ineffective in the lives of lost people. The veil (a reference to 3:13-16), of Moses (justification via the Law) is not the only inhibitor to trusting Christ. The god of this age blinds the mind as to the identity and activity of Christ. When Paul says, “we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” he is summarizing the Gospel. The light of Christ must “shine in our hearts” and this light is the “knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”

Answer:
Paul does not leave us without hope no matter what. Regardless of the circumstances (the veil of Moses or the blinding of a mind by the god of this age) the antidote is the Gospel and that Gospel is centers on the person and work of Christ. Paul’s theology is very simple: to know Christ and preach Christ. When we see God at work in us we recharge our spiritual batteries meditating on how we have embraced the Gospel and the Gospel has changed us. The veil of Moses and the blinding of the enemy have been thwarted and we hold the treasure of knowing Christ in “jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us” (v.7). In other words, the very idea that we know Christ guards us from losing heart. We need to meditate on God’s Word as it is and allow its message, even when it stings, to drive us back to the Gospel contained in the Word of God and that will guard our heart from the frustration and confusion.