May 17, 2026 | Hope Under Pressure | 2 Corinthians 3:6-18

Is your To-Do list overwhelming? Do you feel constant pressure to perform-at home, at work, even in your downtime? Sometimes it can feel like you're barely keeping up. 

Our culture pushes us to achieve, finish, and win-but what happens when it's all too much?

In 2 Corinthians, we meet someone who knew the pressure firsthand. The Apostle Paul faced expectations, criticism, and weakness-yet he discovered something surprising: God works powerfully not through our strengths, but through our weakness.

How can we find hope when we are under pressure? Let the veil be taken away and be transformed.

In God’s Kingdom, pressure doesn’t have the final word—hope does.

Transcript

Well, good morning everybody.

My name is Sandi Asker and I'm so glad you're here.

For those of you online, good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

I don't know if I even have to do an intro after that video because it feels like that sort of says it all but I too am feeling overwhelmed. Can I get an amen?

I'm overwhelmed with May. Mayhem, May Summer. Is A Thing, Okay? May The Force Be With You. And Also With You, Okay? We At The Asker House are celebrating a lot of senior things. We have a senior in our house. We are celebrating tennis. And soccer and a pops concert and a few other things.

We are gathering photos of Calista from the last eighteen years. Talk about overwhelming. Remembering all of the haircuts, and the trips and the friends and the teachers.

And then there's the meal prep. Oh the meal prep. If people just stop eating, I think I would have a lot more free time. Amen? Because then you wouldn't have to clean up after the eating and the cooking. Yes, yes. I see someone's with me out there.

I even heard someone say recently that they needed someone to go with them to a grad party because they didn't know what they were supposed to do at the grad party. Are there rules for what you're supposed to do at a grad party? If there are, don't tell me.

All of this can be crippling, can it not? The rules, the expectations, the to do lists. Do you have an area of your life where you can identify today?

Meanwhile, this May, we've also been in second Corinthians. Chapter one, Paul claims that just because a followers of Jesus, it doesn't mean that we're losers. And if you're part of a church where the leaders seem to be losers, it's actually pointing to the fact that we all follow a suffering savior. And Jesus wasn't a loser, alright? But he did definitely suffer. And hope can come that even in the midst of the suffering, we can understand who God is in a different way. In a deeper way and then last week, Brian encouraged us to think about how we smell. How does our church smell? If you missed that, check second Corinthians chapter two.

Well, in a hard world where sometimes we struggle to find hope even as believers, even as faithful the good news today is that there is hope. Where is that hope you ask? Well, I'm glad you're here.

If you have your Bibles, you can open up to second Corinthians. We're in chapter three today.

It's really hard because second Corinthians is actually a letter. It was a letter that someone penned and sent to a group of people. And just like a letter or an email or a text, sometimes there's a line or two referencing something that is important but for the sake of our being together in this place and not me preaching for two hours, there are

Starting at verse six today in chapter three, Paul says, God has made us competent as ministers of the new covenant. Not of the letter but of the spirit. For the letter kills but the spirit gives life.

Now, verse seven says, if the ministry that brought death, meaning, which is engraved in letters on stone, maybe like the 10 commandments, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory. Transitory though it was. Will not the ministry of the spirit be even more glorious?

If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness?

So, Paul sets up a contrast here. Between the ministry of what we might call the Old Covenant or what we find in the Old Testament. And the ministry that God has given Paul to do equipping him with the spirit.

The old law is the one that the ministry was given to Moses. Moses, one of the most famous characters in the Bible of the Old Testament. Moses led hundreds of years before Jesus and was given stone tablets with the 10 commandments on it. Was given the law.

Paul was given a ministry including the the story of Jesus and who Jesus was.

So, there's this word covenant in verse six. The old covenant, the new covenant. Covenant is a promise.

And I spent a lot of time this week immersing myself in learning about the Old Covenant, thinking about the contrast between the old and new, and this could be a whole series and if you're interested, the Bible Project, did a whole series on this and it is fantastic. I highly recommend it.

But for today, suffice to say, God has always, old and new, offered a covenant, a promise to the people. Humanity.

Sometimes it's called the law. Sometimes it's called the covenant. Sometimes it's called the Torah. That can reference different things. Sometimes however it references each other and so it's a little confusing but in this case, in general, the covenant is pointing to that ministry which Moses had. God offering a way to follow the ways of God, to reveal the wisdom of God to the people.

Now, lest we pit the old with the new as if like out with the old, in with the, if, in with the new, Jesus did not cast the law aside. In in fact, Jesus quoted the Old Testament. Jesus lived by the Old Testament. Paul quotes the Old Testament. We don't throw out the baby with the bathwater as we say. Jesus said, he did not come to get rid of the law but to fulfill it.

Now, one of the things that can happen if we look at the law all of the laws, not just the 10 Commandments but the over 600 laws, we could perhaps feel like it is a long to do list. And just like eating and cleaning up from that, the next day, we just have to do it again. There aren't laws like, oh, I can check that off my list maybe like reading books. I never have to do that again. That's not how it works. There are 600 of these and it can be overwhelming.

So, sometimes, as we feel overwhelmed, sometimes coming to church doesn't help. Right? Because it just feels like, oh, there's another thing for me to do. There's another thing I'm not doing well. There's another thing.

Paul continues to say in verse 10, for what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory.

Again, Paul's not saying, the old is like nothing. He's saying, if what what was glorious, like, it was glorious. But now, it's even more glorious.

If what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of which lasts?

Therefore, Paul says in verse 12, we have such a hope. Say hope with me. Hope. We have such a hope. We are very bold, Paul says. We are not like Moses who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away.

Moses's face would literally shine while he communicated with God. And there was a veil over it because the Israelites actually couldn't even look at the reflection of what Moses had. Like, that's how glorious it was. So, he put a veil over it.

Verse 14 says, but their minds were made dull. For to this day, the same veil remains when the old cabinet is red. It has not been removed because because only in Christ can it be taken away.

Now, I was an English major. I love metaphors and idioms and all the things, okay? Paul, however, breaks a lot of literary rules right here, okay? When you set up an image like a veil, in good writing, you keep that same image. Paul goes, he uses it in all sorts of different ways, okay?

Even to this day, Paul says, 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 all who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory. Are being transformed into God's image with ever increasing glory. Which comes from the lord who is the spirit. Amen. Oh man.

This is like this chapter.

In the Old Testament, Moses, the people of Israel, all the way to Jesus's day, They would look at those 10 commandments. And in an ideal world, God would be revealed.

However, when they started to look at the 10 commandments to understand the to do list, or what was right and wrong that was the veil. Do you see the difference?

So, Paul is making a distinction between looking to the law or looking at God.

Now, the law can help us understand God, right? This isn't the law is nothing but what is the point of the law? What is the point of the scriptures? It is to reveal who Jesus is.

Sometimes we can read scripture. I do this. What does this mean? What was the context? What is it in Greek? And sometimes I get really like kind of high on that. Sometimes it can lead me to understand God and other times, it can just make me feel like, I think I understand Greek now. I don't but I for a minute can have that feeling.

Jeremiah thirty one thirty one in the Old Testament actually pointed to one day, there would be a new not just a dull non understanding old covenant but a new covenant.

The days are coming, declares the lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. And with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. Because they broke my covenant. They broke the promise. Though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.

This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.

The veil which has been lifted and scripture talks about this when Jesus died on the cross the curtain was torn in the temple There was no longer a a divide of sorts.

In Jesus, it's not we're looking at the law. It's literally in us. God alive in us.

Jesus promises in John 14 that the Holy Spirit will come and remind you of Jesus's words and where does the Holy Spirit reside? No longer in a temple, no longer in the law, it does still exist in the law but you know what I'm saying? We we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. And so the spirit lives in us.

When you have that gut check, whoo. Maybe I shouldn't do that. That is the Holy Spirit. Listen, What the spirit probably will tell you is, hey, don't be hating on that person. Do you remember how Jesus said, you've heard it written? Don't murder anyone. Well, good for you. You haven't murdered anyone. So, is a lot of other people. But that law was written so that you wouldn't even get to the point of despising someone to get to the point of murdering them. That's what God was trying to teach us. Not some sort of like, oh good. Check, I haven't killed anyone.

Do you see the difference?

God wanted to fully reveal and therefore, Jesus came. The law is written on our hearts It becomes intrinsic.

Do we have a slide of famous Heidi Klum next?

I love when culture follows what I've been learning Is that a no?

Heidi Klum Dressed like a statue. Did anyone see this? I got a couple of yeses. You can Google it later.

There's a famous statue by Raphael Montique It's an amazing work of art. Yep, you can even take your phone right now. I'm on board with that. Okay?

With marble, this statue and this sculptor made marble look like a veil. There is a parable somewhere there that I can't get into time is of the essence. Okay?

Heidi Klum somehow this like makeup artist made her look like a statue. Kinda it kind of also looks a little creepy, right? The veiled woman is what this statue is called.

Now, the veil is intrinsic to women in history. Okay? Brides, nuns, We still see it, right? Muslims. Veils, right? What is the purpose of a veil? Modesty is often what it is. But there is also a hiding. It's literally a covering.

Now, Paul there are just a few verses about this actually in first Corinthians. This is also interesting to me that all this comes together. Are few verses in first Corinthians that have created at least in the western Christian world has created this whole veiled female thing.

Talk about taking the law and understanding the law and then saying, okay, 50% of the population you're going to wear veils. Because that's what true modesty looks like. And if you don't fascinating. It's just a few verses you all. It is not all over the scripture. And we decided you want to be modest? You better wear a veil especially on your wedding day.

Well, Paul promises that in Christ, that covering, that, like, when you're on the inside of a veil y'all, I didn't wear what? But it's hard to see through a veil. Anybody wear a mosquito net? Right? It's like that. It's harder to see through.

Paul promises. That in Christ, that veil is removed. We can be fully known. And fully know.

Now, there's a promise here at the end which I think is where the true hope comes from.

Paul says, we all, now, this is again a difference between those of us who are in Christ and those of us who are still on the journey, figuring out who Jesus is and God bless you if you're here listening. Okay? That's great. This is what you have to look forward to.

In Christ, we with unveiled faces contemplate, which means look so hard at I reflect what I'm looking at. I become that which I am gazing at. Our being transformed.

We are being transformed just like that school in Congo. Those little people in Congo did nothing except show up to go to school. They went when the roof was thatched and now they're grateful that it is renewed as a full on roof and they have access to clean water. That is the kind of transformation that happens to us. As we gaze at Jesus. Which comes from the Lord who is the spirit, and just a reminder, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

We will be transformed as we gaze. At Jesus.

Now, friends, What hard and fast? This is apparently the 10 commandments today, okay? What hard and fast rules have you put on yourself or have you heard just had a conversation with someone She heard something as a child which was meant as like, hey, let me teach you about scripture but for whatever reason, the context with in which he heard that it became like, this is what mean, it means to be a good Christian girl. And instead of it bringing freedom, it brought bondage to her.

Do you have a thing like that Where it's just like this is what I have led myself to believe. And it has only led to bondage.

Or is there something that you have created that you sort of put on other people? Unfairly. Maybe like the veil thing. Maybe it's just a series of rules or beliefs Maybe it's something else.

Paul says, the Paul says that the law leads to death. None of us can keep the law. That's why Jesus had to fulfill it.

I was reminded of this the other night as one of the million times I was driving into Saint Peter I've done it. How many times? And there's that section where you slow down because it's going to become 45. I know it's coming and all of a sudden, I was in the 45 mile an hour zone and let's just say, I was little over the speed limit. Thank goodness there wasn't police officer there because I would have been pulled over. I just didn't slow down.

I know that it's the law I know that it's important. I've done it, 100, zero times. And yet I still fail. Anybody else? Sometimes break the most simple driving rules?

The law, anybody? Yeah, okay. If your hand isn't up, you're either lying or you don't drive yet.

Sometimes that veil is just, I'm going to keep trying to do the right thing because Sandy, I can do the right thing I feel safer this way.

There is a vulnerability that comes when we say I can't keep the law. I'm not good enough.

And And for some of you, you've come into this church saying, I'm not really good enough. Will you let me in? Can I just come?

And I hope and I pray that there's hope for us because we point each other here not to some right Jesus is a high standard. This isn't a sermon about like do whatever you want. And be free, okay? That's one, that's not what this one is about. This one is about where do you get saved? What saves your butt?

The other day, I told Brian, I had a little like, whoo, minute. And I said, I think I have the close of my sermon. Cue, she's almost done.

I was having one of those mornings where I was just doing all the things because I had all that anxiety and I thought, oops, I can just get a few more things done. And guess what happened?

Do you think it made me feel better? Do you think I got all the things done?

No, my kid is graduating on Wednesday and we have a party on Saturday. I'm not going to be done with the things until I don't know when. After the party, bet I won't have done.

I didn't feel any better.

So, I did something which I don't often do is I stopped and I literally got on my knees and I was like, lord, I can't do all this.

I did feel some better after that but I still feel like a hot mess Okay?

I'm going to have the worship team come back up.

There is a way to get out from under that pressure feeling like you have to do the things, okay? There is a way and Paul says it. It's very simple. Do you know what it is? Repent.

Now, I think he is talking to people who don't yet know Jesus he's also talking to those of us who do know Jesus. Because even after we are in Christ, we still need to repent and turn away from the things where we have been looking for salvation. Okay?

So, Paul says, turn away from something and turn to the Lord.

Know what that something is. Paul doesn't say it. He just says, turn to the lord.

So, the first thing I'm going to say to you is, what is the thing that you need to turn away from, not Andrew, Bless your heart. Okay? I'll go this way. What do you need to turn away from To turn to Jesus.

I don't know what that thing is, okay? Ask the lord.

Then allow God to remove the veil.

Again, I'm I'm just reminded of these children in Congo going to school. Their school was transformed. Just transformed. Can you imagine the joy that they have? Just going to school and looking up and realizing like there's a roof over our heads.

One of the pictures, you can literally see the holes.

They didn't do anything to deserve it. They just went to school.

Let Jesus take off the veil.

And maybe for some of you, you know someone like this. Would you pray that they would let the veil be removed?

Everything else you think is shiny and glorious will pass away. That scholarship you're working hard for, you're going to graduate. That relationship, one day, one of you is going to die. Oh, that was exciting.

That yard project you're working hard on, winter's going to come and all the plants are going to die.

There's a lot of death apparently in this.

That career you're fighting really hard for, someday, guess what? Going to retire.

That new habit or diet or raise or project.

All the ways that we go to to manage that pressure that we're feeling it will fade.

Jesus is the ever eternal glory which will never

And somehow the promises as we look upon Jesus. We carry that glory as image bearers of Jesus and God promises transformation.

Amen?

Amen.