Dear Christian friends:

Often I hear someone say, "the Lutheran Church service is boring." Lutheran preachers are boring. I like better the Evangelical Church, Calvary Chapel. Their church service is more interesting, more exciting, many, many people go to their church.

People who say that are really blind, because they fail to see and understand that God is here in our Lutheran Church service speaking to us through His Word and Sacraments, (Baptism, and the Lord's Supper). They fail to see that here in our Lutheran Church service God Himself is loving us, forgiving us, comforting us, giving us faith, and eternal salvation.

Our text, which is the Epistle Lesson for this Sunday reminds us about this. We need this reminder because we may also think that our Lutheran Church Service is boring and want something more exciting that honors man and praises man and not God. Here in our text Paul shows that:

Satan tries to hide this true Gospel glory from our eyes. Paul had this problem in the Church at Corinth. Some members said Paul's preaching was weak, boring and not exciting. They said that they liked other pastors, not Paul. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

Paul answered their criticism, saying, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." (1 Corinthians 1:17)

"And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

So, we see how Satan tries to hide the true Gospel from our eyes. Satan tempts us to give praise and glory to ourselves and what we do to get saved, and not give all praise and glory to God for saving us.

In our text Paul says, "If our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those people who are perishing. The god of this world has blinded their eyes so they can't see the light of the gospel about Christ's glory. Christ is the same as God." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Satan continues blinding peoples' minds today so they accept a false preaching and not the true Gospel preaching. The false preaching praises and honors man, but the true preaching gives all praise and glory to God.

The true Gospel from the Bible not only offers forgiveness in Jesus' name, but really gives forgiveness and faith to accept that forgiveness. But the false preachers do not teach and preach that. They say the gospel is the story about salvation through Jesus and that it offers forgiveness but it does not really give forgiveness and faith to accept it. They teach that man himself can believe in Jesus by his own reason and strength.

That is why in their Church Service they never confess their sins and the pastor never announces forgiveness of sins to the people as we do in our Lutheran Church service.

That is the reason why they do not baptize babies. They teach that babies can't understand the Gospel and therefore can't believe themselves. But Jesus has commanded us to baptize babies. He by His Word and command washes away the baby's sin and by the Holy Spirit gives babies faith, new birth and new life. Their baptism is worthless. They only give a name and say a prayer, dedicating the baby and it's future life to serve God. Satan has blinded their minds so they can't see the light of the gospel about Christ's glory. They do not give all praise and glory to Jesus as Savior.

Also their Lord's Supper is worthless and mocks God. In the Bible Jesus teaches that with the bread we receive His body, which He gave on the cross and with the wine we receive His blood, which He shed on the cross to forgive sins. They teach that Jesus' body and blood are not with the bread and wine and that the eating and drinking does not give forgiveness. For them the Lord's Supper is only for remembering Jesus' death on the cross, but it gives nothing.

Therefore you see how Satan has blinded their minds as Paul says here in our text.

How about you and me? Has Satan blinded our minds, too, so that we do not see the true gospel glory? Does the Lutheran Church service bore you? Is true Gospel preaching boring to you? Do you hate to confess your sins every Sunday? Do you believe that the Lutheran Pastor can forgive your sins? Are you eager to hear the three lessons which Pastor reads or do you think that's long and boring? Are you eager to come to the Lord's Supper or do you wish not to have the Lord's Supper every Sunday?

Perhaps Satan is blinding our minds so that we do not really value Church Service where God Himself speaks to us through the Word and Sacraments and not only offers salvation to us but really gives it here and now!

We need to give attention to Paul's reminder here in our text, so Satan can't blind our minds and we do not see Christ's full glory.

God's glory shines from true Gospel preaching. Paul did not preach about himself or man, as the false preachers do.

Paul says in our text, "We preach not about ourselves." (verse 5a) Paul did not preach about himself and seek praise and glory for himself as the false preachers do. Paul by his preaching gave all praise and glory to the triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is God's doing not our own. We can do nothing to save ourselves from sin and God's wrath in hell. Therefore every Sunday in our Lutheran Church Service we confess: "O Almighty God, heavenly Father I, a humble, troubled, helpless sinner confess unto you all my sins and inequities etc."

Paul says, "We preach not ourselves, but that Jesus Christ is Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' glory. (verse 5) Jesus had done it all for saving the world. (John 3:16)

As Paul preached that Jesus Christ is Lord, same we do in our Lutheran preaching and Church Service. Jesus is Lord over the Church because He willingly obeyed His father and became our Savior. With Martin Luther we confess in the Second Article of the Creed: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true Man, is My Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the devil's power; bought me, not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I can be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, same exact as He has risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is (most very certainly) true. Paul preached that Jesus is Lord. Same as we Lutherans. He is Lord because He is our Savior and the world's Savior. All glory is His and we must give it. Also our faith is God's doing, not our own.

The false preachers teach that man himself, without God's help can believe in Jesus. They steal God's glory when they teach that. They take the Holy Spirit's glory and give it to man.

Here in our text Paul says that Jesus and the Holy Spirit give faith to us sinners. He writes: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

In our Lutheran Church we confess the same: (Luthers's Explanation of the Third Article)

In our Church Service we have true Gospel and Sacraments. God is serving us and saving us. He has all glory. Our Lutheran Church service is not boring it is really very exciting. Here God is speaking to us and serving us.

Amen.