May 1, 2000
Lesson for May 14
FAMILY BIBLE SERIES:
The God of creation still
shines in our hearts
___2 Corinthians 4:1-18
___By Stacy Conner
___First Baptist Church, Muleshoe
___Probably the greatest contribution of extremely late-night television to the American lifestyle during the last 10 years has been the infomercial.
___These are 30-minute commercials for every product you can imagine. Cookware, food processors, spray on hair that covers your bald spot, exercise equipment. The list goes onand on.
___Clearly, the winners are those commercials that promise instant wealth. You can buy real estate with no investment capital, buy luxury cars at auctions of confiscated government property for almost nothing or, by simply placing want ads in newspapers, you can make millions.
___All these commercials show a spokesman who has made this scheme or technique work for himself or herself. The infomercial spends most of its time touting the success of the founder and the benefits of his lifestyle--yachts, cars, homes and on and on. Seldom does the scheme really work for other people. In time, news magazines explore the corruption and reveal the hypocrisy.
___People who are selling themselves seldom have a product that will stand the test of time. That is what makes Paul's preaching in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians so credible. He did not come to the Corinthians preaching himself (v. 5). Instead, he preached Jesus Christ. This is the Jesus Christ who is also the Son of God.
___Paul reached back to the incomprehensible ideal that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who with a spoken word called light out of darkness (v. 6).
___Can you imagine the experience of floating in space as God spoke light into being and watching as suns began to produce light, moons began to reflect it, and stars began to burn? I do not know how you would count such a statistic, but scientists tell us that space is filled with as many stars as grains of sands in the Sahara Desert. The God of marvelous creation is also shining in our hearts.
___In Christ, God has caused light to shine in our hearts. The gospel is not a self-help program. It is not personality improvement therapy. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a life-transforming encounter with Jesus Christ that not only promises salvation for our souls, but also enables us to face life with power. The very God of creation has caused light to shine in our hearts.
___This light from Christ has amazing effects upon us. This light enables us to face overwhelming circumstances and face them in a way that is not typical of our own power.
___Using battle language, Paul describes a soldier facing an attack from every direction. Because of the power of God in our lives, the attack is rebuffed. We are not crushed, driven to despair, forsaken or destroyed (vs. 8-9). Instead, the power of God gives us the ability to face life's challenges and overcome them.
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