Sermon Synopsis
This sermon explores Paul’s teaching that believers are progressively transformed into the image of Christ by beholding His glory with unveiled hearts. It challenges superficial appearances and religious performance, urging honest self-examination and inner transformation rather than outward masks. True Christlikeness, the message argues, is revealed not in dramatic acts but in quiet, compassionate faithfulness. The sermon calls believers to focus on Christ Himself so that His image is formed deeply within them.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
Transformed Into His Image
2 Corinthians 3:18
Introduction and Scripture Reading
Good morning. It is very nice to be here, and I want to thank the elders for the invitation to my wife and me to have broken bread with you, remembering the Lord Jesus Christ, and to minister the Word.
Let us read together from 2 Corinthians 3:18:
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
This is not a particularly familiar verse. Paul is writing this toward the close of his ministry.
The King James Version says, “looking as in a glass.” That expression is important, because glass in Roman and Greek times was not clear like what we have today. It was cloudy and imperfect. The Amplified Version puts it this way: “We continually look in the glass at the glory of the Lord and are progressively being transformed into His image.”
May the Lord give us understanding of His Word.
Paul Near the End of His Ministry
Paul is nearing the end of his ministry when he writes this. In 2 Corinthians 11, he speaks in the past tense about his sufferings for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel:
He speaks of these things as past events. There is not much future left for him.
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul speaks of the earthly tent—our body—being torn down. “In this tent we groan,” he says, and that is something many of us can identify with.
In 2 Corinthians 4, he tells us that the outer man is decaying, while the inner man is being renewed and strengthened. Many of us can see the outer man decaying very clearly. Some of us have known each other for fifty years. The decay is there, even if the weight has not gone down. But the inner man, he says, should be renewed as we grow older.
The Process of Transformation
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul explains how this renewal happens.
We all—if we are children of the Lord—are to look with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord. We do not yet see Him face to face. We see Him as through imperfect glass. But as we look, we are being transformed into the same image.
That raises an important question.
What Does the Lord Jesus Christ Look Like?
What do you think the Lord Jesus Christ looked like?
Most films and television series portray Him as a handsome, bearded white man. Could He have been Chinese? Indian? Middle Eastern? Did He look like His parents—Semitic, darker-skinned?
When you pray to the Lord Jesus, what image comes to your mind?
This is Matteo Ricci, one of the earliest missionaries to China. Like Hudson Taylor later, he wanted to avoid presenting Jesus as a European white man. He dressed like a Chinese scholar and encouraged Chinese depictions of Christ.
Some of the earliest images of Jesus were quite dark—very different from what we are used to seeing.
So if we are to be transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, these physical pictures are not very helpful. The Bible gives us very little physical description.
In Revelation, we see symbolic images—swords coming out of His mouth, blazing fire—clearly metaphorical and not literal.
Christ: The Image of the Invisible God
Scripture tells us something far more important.
The Lord Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God,” the express image of God’s person.
In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul again says that Christ is the image of God.
John records the Lord Jesus saying:
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
No one has seen God at any time, but Christ reveals Him perfectly.
Children resemble their parents more and more as they grow. At birth it may not be obvious, but over time it becomes clear. Grandmothers can see it immediately. Doctors sometimes cannot—but family can.
As we grow, if there is a real relationship, we should resemble our father or mother more and more.
Children Reflect What They Truly See
I was told a story by a doctor friend. His child was called up by the kindergarten teacher for using very bad language. The teacher said the child did not even understand what the words meant.
This doctor was extremely polite with patients. But in the staff tea room, when frustrated, bad language flowed freely. At home, the child unconsciously absorbed it.
The child reflected the real image of the father—not the public image, but the private one.
Unveiled Faces, Not Masks
Paul says we must look with unveiled faces.
A veil—or a mask—hides the true face. Moses wore a veil at times, and Paul explains why in this chapter. But when a mask is worn, you cannot truly see what a person is like.
We are all very polite here. We give way in the car park. We insist others go first for coffee.
But thirty minutes later, when the mask is off, it can be very different.
It is dangerous to wear a mask:
If the mask comes off at home, the children see the real image—and they follow that.
Before the Lord, do not wear a mask. Do not be like the Pharisee who prayed, “I thank You that I am not like other men.”
If we wear a mask before the Lord—in private prayer, in family worship—we will not be transformed.
Have We Changed?
A friend told me of a pastor who, in his farewell sermon after nearly twenty years, said:
“Some of the people here are among the nastiest I have ever met—and you have not changed.”
That says something.
What do I look like to people who have known me for ten or twenty years?
Have I changed?
Has the inner man changed?
There is even a condition called impostor syndrome—where people slowly become what they are pretending to be. That is very dangerous.
God sees the inner man—the deepest part of us.
A Sobering Warning from Scripture
In Matthew 7, many people thought they were doing great things for God:
“Lord, did we not prophesy… cast out demons… perform miracles?”
They were mistaken. They had not been transformed.
In Matthew 25, others did not even realise they were serving Christ:
They did small, unnoticed things—and these reflected the true image of Christ.
Paul never boasted of miracles. He spoke of sufferings and quiet service.
It is not the great acts.
It is the small acts of love.
The Shattered Image Restored
Adam was created in the image of God, but that image was shattered by sin. Violence came quickly. Cain killed his brother.
Athanasius explained it like this:
A beautiful painting was ruined. Instead of throwing it away, the original model came and allowed the image to be restored. Christ is that perfect image—the image Adam was meant to reflect.
The Inner Image That God Sees
When you pass through Changi Airport, your face is scanned. Heaven will not scan the outer face—but the inner man.
If the image is Christ, you enter.
If we are not born again, we cannot begin this transformation. If we are still of Adam and not of Christ, the image cannot change.
Like the ugly duckling:
If you are born a duck, you remain a duck.
If you are born a swan, you grow into what you truly are.
What We Look At Shapes Us
We must learn of Him. Take His yoke. Hide His Word in our hearts—not just in our phones.
Phones and screens often reveal unmasked hearts:
pornography, endless games, distorted images.
How can we be transformed into Christ’s image if we stare at other images?
We become what we behold.
Conclusion
The entire law, Paul says in Galatians, is fulfilled in love.
Not in what we think we are doing for the Lord—but in quiet compassion, kindness, and faithfulness.
May we, with unveiled faces, look into the glory of the Lord and be transformed into His image.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that we have remembered Him in song, prayer, and the breaking of bread. We ask that in our lives we may come before You with unveiled, unmasked faces, that we may be transformed from glory to glory into His image. Help us to reflect that image to those who know us best—especially our families. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.