Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton,
the official podcast of Cross Christian Fellowship,
Route 66, in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico,
where Burton is the lead pastor. We're glad you're
here. Hey everybody, welcome to Sanctuary. It's
great to have you with us. Last time we met,
we spoke a bit about the types of letters we
bear in life. This week, we're going to continue
from where we left off and look at the letter
of the Spirit. Let's dive right in, shall we?
So let's go ahead. Let's open our Bibles to 2
Corinthians 3 7 -11. Again, that's 2 Corinthians
3 7 -11. And Paul writes, But if the ministry
of death... written and engraved on stones, was
glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not look steadily at the face of Moses because
of the glory of his countenance, which glory
was passing away, how will the ministry of the
Spirit not be more glorious? For the ministry
of condemnation had glory. the ministry of righteousness
exceeds much more in glory. For even what was
made glorious had no glory in this respect, because
the glory that excels. For if what is passed
away was glorious, and what remains is much more
glorious. Here, Paul's talking about the stones
on which the old covenant was written. This was
written law. It was written law. And Paul, what
he's referring to here, well, he's referring
to it as the ministry of death. He wasn't referring
to a wrestling tag team here. No, no, no, no,
no. As cool of a tag team name as that would
probably be in that realm, that's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about a gift from
God. So why is he calling something that's a
gift from God, why is he calling something so
dark? Well, it's because people took something
that was meant to bring glory to all and turned
it into something legalistic. You have to do
this. You have to do that. When the moon is full
and raised 45 degrees above the nearest mountain
on the 33rd night and the coyote howls, you do
this and spin around five times, but not too
fast and not too slow. It has to be just right.
they pull out things out of context. They do
it all the time. We have this habit of doing
that on a regular basis, don't we? It seems we
can't even go to see a movie anymore without
someone having some kind of review where it's
taken apart piece by piece and looked at that
has to have some deep underlying meaning to everything
and every little piece from the costume to the
colors that are used to the... filter on the
lens and just, you know, this, that, and the
other. It's out of hand. You know, let me tell
you, not everything has to have something hidden
underneath. Some of the best things you'll find,
put it all out there for you to see front and
center. And that's what God was doing here. God's
glorious writing to people in love. Not something
to pull apart, not something to nitpick. He was
laying out what it is to love. How to live in
the spirit. You know, we've all heard, and I
probably said the phrase, in the spirit of. It
means something. It means that it is consistent
with the intention, right? We're going to do
things in the spirit of this or the spirit of
that, right? And here, God, God's speaking directly
to his people. And he's intervening in their
lives in order to show them how they needed to
actually be living. And he's still doing it today.
His love for his people is so, so great that
he's telling us just like he's telling them.
That we're messing up. And we need to make some
changes in how we live before it's too late.
That this act, the act of God, what He's doing
here, it is proof of His love for us and His
willingness to intervene on our behalf if we'll
just turn back to Him. And this is the definition
of love. Love in action, right? Love is an action.
It's not this meaningless thing. I've said it
a hundred times. I'll say it a hundred more.
Love is action. And it wasn't just spoken so
it could be passed on. No, no, no, no, no. Instead,
the time was taken to write it out for everyone
to see. For everyone to see. To put everyone
on equal footing, on the same ground, right?
So everybody can live out their lives the same
way. And to see, you know, how we're all living
our lives. You know, that in itself, it's so
incredible. It is awesome. But as amazing as
the law of Moses was, and that's what this is
referred to, is the law of Moses, and really
it still is today, pales in comparison it falls
short when we compare it to the lives of people
who live a life that is empowered by the holy
spirit the holy spirit who dwells within the
temple that is every believer the holy spirit
who has been there since the very beginning Turning
back to Genesis 1, verse 2, the word says, The
earth was without form and void, and darkness
was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The Holy Spirit, who was there at the very beginning,
and involved in the creation of life. The one
who is still directly involved in the rebirth
of every single Christian today. Now, if we go
and we flip back forward to Acts chapter 11.
So let's turn to Acts chapter 11, verse 17. So
Acts 11, 17, the word says, Therefore, all right,
remember, if there, therefore, we don't forget
about what's been talked about before. It all
falls in line here. So if therefore God gave
him the same gift as he gave us when we believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could
withstand God? The Holy Spirit, God who dwells
in us, working and molding us into better people,
transforming us into a more Christ -like people
guiding us now before it's too late so that we
can be reunited with the Father. The Holy Spirit
is the one in the Trinity who we most take for
granted, but is with us continuously 24 hours
a day. Now, before we go into our next section
here, we're going to flip back. towards the beginning
of the Bible again here, okay? We're going to
go back to Exodus. So let's turn back to Exodus
chapter 34, verses 29 through 35. So Exodus 34,
29 through 35. The word says, Now it was so when
Moses came down from Mount Sinai and the two
tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand.
When he came down from the mountain, that Moses
did not know that the skin of his face shone
while he talked with him. So when Aaron and all
the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the
skin of his face shone, they were afraid to come
near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron
and all the rulers of the congregation returned
to him, and Moses talked with them. And when
Moses had finished speaking with him, he put
a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in
before the Lord to speak with him, He would take
the veil off until he came out. And he would
come out and speak to the children of Israel
whatever he had been commanded. And whenever
the children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses
would put the veil on his face again until he
went in to speak with him. So we start off with
this. Image of Moses coming down with the slabs
with the Ten Commandments written on them. You
know, someone's in the back going, you know,
he looks an awful lot like Charlton Heston. But
seriously, Moses, he spent time in the presence
of God talking and chiseling out these tablets.
And because he spent time with the Lord when
he came down the mountain, his face was absolutely
radiant. It was like something, it's like when
something really good happens to someone and
they're absolutely glowing. They talk about pregnant
women glowing. Or when someone gets engaged.
Or certain really good things. Oh, they're absolutely
glowing. Take all these little images that we
have. Crank that up to its max settings. And
then multiply it. And that's how radiant Moses
was. See, when we spend time in the Word. When
we spend time in prayer. When we spend time...
meditating, and thinking about the things God
is teaching us, we glow. Let's turn to Colossians
chapter 3 now. So Colossians chapter 3, verses
23 through 24. So Colossians 3, 23 through 24,
the word says, that from the Lord you will receive
the reward of the inheritance, for you serve
the Lord Christ. The Word is telling us that
when we spend time working on the things the
Lord has handed us and are focused on doing these
things to His glory, seeing it as a blessing,
as the blessing he's intended that work to be,
like Moses working on the tablets. It has a profound
impact on us. People will see the light of the
Lord, the Holy Spirit shining through us, right?
You know, I know it's not easy. Sometimes we
go to work and we get just downright frustrated.
You know, we ask, what am I doing here? Or can
I just win the lottery and retire? When instead,
really, we should be asking, what do I need to
learn here? And what is your will for me? Right?
We need to ask these things. Let me repeat those.
What do I need to learn here? And what is your
will for me? I recently had something like this
happen to me at my day job. I was in a position
that was increasingly frustrating. And for months
and months and months, I was looking. For change.
I wanted change. And the Lord reminded me, I
wasn't there for me. I was there for someone
else. So I asked, who God? Who? I didn't hear
anything. Radio silence. And then one day, I
didn't have to hear anything. The Holy Spirit
took the blinders off of me. And I saw right
there in front of me. I realized right away the
answer was in front of me the whole time. It
was somebody I was spending a lot of time with,
having deep conversations with, a fellow veteran
who needed a brother to help get them through
until they could get to that next phase in their
life. It really was that aha moment, that epiphany,
that little light bulb went on. And things changed
very quickly for me. Since then, we've both moved
on to different positions. And we're both much,
much happier. It's hard. And that stems from
our own humanness, just like this incident stems
from my own humanness. It's our desire to find
understanding of everything that surrounds us.
Yet, when we do the things we need to do in order
to put God first, first in our lives, to put
God as the most important one in our lives, and
to point the way to him in all that we do. People
see it. When we do all these things, and we do
all the things that we need to, it puts God first,
and people see that. It reflects. His light shines.
People see it, and it has an effect on them one
way or the other. It absolutely impacts them.
Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians 3. So 2 Corinthians
3, we're going into verses 12 through 18 now.
So 2 Corinthians 3, 12 through 18, Paul writes,
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great
boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil
over his face so that the children of Israel
could not look steadily at the end of what was
passing away. But their minds were blinded. For
until this day, the same veil remains unlifted
in the reading of the Old Testament because the
veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this
day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their
heart. Nevertheless, when one 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
liberty. But we all, with our unveiled face,
beholding as a mirror in the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the
Lord. When Moses came down, He covered the radiance
that was just absolutely beaming off of him.
He wore a veil. And he did this for a couple
of reasons. One, so that when people saw him,
they wouldn't be scared. He didn't want people
running off. Secondly, so that people wouldn't
see this radiance fade away. Now, what do I mean
when I say fade away? Well, the veil, it's an
illustration, okay? It's an illustration of the
old system, an illustration of people's minds
being veiled by things like pride, allowing their
hearts to harden, becoming selfish and refusing
to truly repent. This veil, it's the same thing
that prevented the people and even the Pharisees
and the Sadducees from recognizing Jesus. They
were more caught up in plays for political power,
image, and prestige. And really, because of this,
they couldn't see the forest for the trees. They
couldn't recognize who was standing in front
of them, let alone fully understand the scriptures.
Yet when people start to believe and become a
Christian, that veil is taken away. Just like
when the veil in the temple was torn away by
God when Jesus died for our sins, the veil we
wear is torn away from us. Jesus takes the burden
of the bondage of sin and condemnation off of
us. He removes the burden of trying to please
Him and the guilt that follows when we fail.
When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior
and allow Him to lead our lives, we are freed
from shame, addictions, self -hate, and are given
love, acceptance, and forgiveness in their place.
The Holy Spirit, when this happens, is then able
to work within us. giving us a radiance that
shines out over our lives, and it's more brilliant
than the radiance that came off of Moses. It's
a radiance that reflects the light and love of
God while pointing the way to Him and His kingdom.
The Spirit guides us and empowers us to effect
real change in the world around us, a change
that happens in His time, not ours, and reflects
His Glory, not ours. As Philippians 1 .6 tells
us, God has provided for our salvation and will
continue to work in us throughout our lives.
Plant growing, right? Just like a plant growing
from its seed into its fullness. It doesn't happen
overnight, right? The seed, his work, which began
in us when we first believed, and it continues
to grow and grow and grow each and every single
day, helping us to become more like Christ each
and every single day. And this is a work that
will continue until the very day that we are
reunited with him in eternity. My friends, are
you looking to live a life in the letter of the
ministry of death or in the love letter that
is the spirit of the word of God? Remember, you
are loved and you are blessed. Now go and be
the church. Until next time, take care and God
bless.