CHRIST’S LIVING EPISTLE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 20, 2020 under 2020 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; September 20, 2020 from 2 Corinthians 3:1-3
Theme: We are a living epistle that commends the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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And ‘epistle’ is just another name for a letter. And in this morning’s passage, the apostle Paul wrote to his brothers and sisters in Corinth about a particular kind of letter. He wrote about a letter or epistle of commendation—or, we might put it, an endorsement of character. We’ve all probably gotten such letters. Some of us have even been called upon to write such letters for someone else. If someone is applying for a job, or is enrolling in a special college program, or is being considered for a civic position, a letter of reference or endorsement is often required. It assures the recipient of the character and qualifications of the person bearing it.
Such letters are particularly important in church ministry. Even today, whenever a traveling minister or missionary comes to a church, some sort of letter or document is required from a trustworthy party that ensures the leadership of the church that the preacher or teacher is qualified. Wise church leadership always asks for such endorsements. It gives assurance, from trusted sources, that the preaching or teaching will be doctrinally sound and biblical, and that the character of the preacher or teacher will be consistent with what they teach.
But when it came to the apostle Paul and his missionary team—in terms of their relationship with the Corinthian believers—he affirmed that he didn’t need a hand-written letter like that. He was the missionary that God had used to start that church. He had first brought the gospel to them, and had spent a long time ministering to them and among them. And he affirmed that he already had a very good epistle of commendation.
His epistle of commendation was the Corinthians themselves.
In 2 Corinthians 3:1-3, he wrote;
Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart (2 Corinthians 3:1-3).
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Now; why did the matter of an ‘epistle of commendation’ even come up?
As we read on in the later chapters of 2 Corinthians, we find that there was a group within the Corinthian church that was causing division. They were presenting themselves as ‘apostles’; but they were false apostles who were preaching false doctrine. They were religious legalists who were boasting in their Jewish qualifications. They were seeking to bring the Gentile Corinthian believers under the bondage of the Old Testament Jewish ceremonial rituals and regulations. They were preaching ‘another Jesus’ than the apostle Paul was preaching; and they were declaring themselves to be ‘more qualified’ to be doing so.
And what’s more, they were calling Paul’s ministry into question. They were saying that Paul’s letters made him sound weighty and powerful, but that his actual appearance was weak and that he was a poor speaker. They said that he was inferior to the other apostles, and that he didn’t really love the Corinthians at all. And the tension caused by all of these false accusations may have been made more intense by the fact that Paul earlier had to write some hard things to the Corinthians, and to urge them to repent of some things they were neglecting in the church.
Now; Paul was very confident in the ministry that God gave him. In fact, in the previous verses, he wrote about how he and his co-workers were being led in the triumphant victory parade of Jesus Christ; and he said,
For we are not, as so many, peddling [or marketing] the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ (2:17).
He and his ministry team were the real deal. But he didn’t really need letters of commendation or endorsement to prove that to the Corinthians. All they had to do was to look at themselves—to see how they were redeemed by the blood of Jesus through the preaching of Paul’s ministry, and to see how their lives had been transformed by Jesus’ love, and to see how they had been set free by the Savior. They themselves were a living letter of commendation of the power of the gospel that Paul preached, and of the integrity with which he had brought it to them.
And these words from Paul in this morning’s passage remind us, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that we—together—also constitute an epistle of commendation to this world. We, through lives that have been transformed by the power of Christ, endorse the message of the gospel; and we commend the integrity of those who brought it to us and ministered it to us.
And the question is, as a living epistle, are we proving to be good reading to this world?
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Notice how Paul starts off in our passage. In 2 Corinthians 3:1, he wrote and asked, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?”
I spent a little time skimming through the New Testament. And I was surprised to discover how many portions of the New Testament actually involve notes of ‘commendation’ or ‘endorsement’ of other ministers or ministry teams. Most of those notes were written by Paul himself.
Think for example of what Paul wrote in Romans 16:1 about the woman Phoebe. Phoebe was apparently a deaconess in her church. As she traveled to Rome for some kind of business, or perhaps for ministry, Paul asked this godly woman to deliver the letter to the Roman Christians. He wrote to the church in Rome and said,
I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints, and assist her in whatever business she has need of you; for indeed she has been a helper of many and of myself also (Romans 16:1).
Paul wrote those words so that the believers in Rome would know that Phoebe was a reliable servant of God, and that they should support her work. And there are many other such notes of endorsement. In Philippians 2, Paul wrote about how he had wanted to come to them; but, because he was in prison at the time, he couldn’t. So he wrote;
Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me (Philippians 2:25-30).
High commendation! Very often, the endorsement was of whoever it was that was delivering Paul’s letter and ministering in his place. Sometimes, it was because that person was bringing news from Paul. Think of what Paul wrote in Colossians 4. Paul wrote to the believers near the end of his letter and said;
Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here (Colossians 4:7-9).
By the way; do you notice the name ‘Onesimus’? He was a thief who had stolen from his boss and ran away from Colossae to Paul. Paul brought him to faith in Jesus and began to put him to work as his ministry assistant; and now, Paul was sending him back to his former boss as a servant of Christ. Paul wrote a whole letter about him. That letter is in our Bible as the Book of Philemon; and the whole letter is a letter of commendation of this man Onesimus!
Sometimes, Paul had to write letters of commendation specifically to the Corinthians. Paul once had to write a very serious word of instruction to them for his ministry colleague Timothy. In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote to the Corinthians to pay attention when Timothy came to them. He told them, in 1 Corinthians 4;
Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church (1 Corinthians 4:16-17).
Timothy, it seems, was not being treated with the kind of respect by the Corinthian church that they should have been showing him; and so Paul wrote later to them and said;
And if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. Therefore let no one despise him. But send him on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I am waiting for him with the brethren (1 Corinthians 16:10-11).
Later on, when giving instructions to the Corinthians about a collection they were taking up, he wrote commendations for the men he was sending to help deliver the collection. In 2 Corinthians 8, he wrote;
If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you. Or if our brethren are inquired about, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. Therefore show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf (2 Corinthians 8:23-24).
It’s really surprising how many messages of commendation and endorsement Paul sent out to churches. It shows that such letters are necessary. They are an important part of church life. Sometimes, they are the only way we can know whether or not someone who comes to serve in a church is the real thing.
So, in writing these words to the Corinthians, Paul wasn’t suggesting that an epistle of endorsement or recommendation of his ministry wasn’t necessary. In fact, it may be that the false teachers who were troubling the Corinthians had gathered up their own versions of hand-written, human endorsements; and that made an ‘endorsement’ for Paul all the more necessary. But Paul was saying that he had an even better ‘letter’ than those false teachers could ever possess. It was the life-transforming impact that the gospel Paul preached had on the Corinthians themselves.
This reminds us that when it comes to letters of commendation—as faithful followers of Jesus—we ourselves are …
1. A SUPERIOR EPISTLE OF COMMENDATION.
Paul wrote, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?” And the answer is no. He goes on to affirm, “You are our epistle …” A much better one than could ever be written by human beings to other human beings.
I often think of this in terms of the people—the pastors, and teachers, and professors, and the many godly mentors with which God has blessed me. They built into my life; and helped me to understand the truths of God’s word. They guided me and instructed me and gave me an example to follow—helping me to grow in my knowledge of God’s word, and in the kind of character that would make me fit to be a minister of the gospel. Do I live today as a good endorsement of their ministry? Can people look at my life, and see what they built into me, and thus find them also commendable?
Paul once wrote to the Philippian believers and told them;
Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain (Philippians 2:14-16).
Let’s so faithfully live for Jesus, dear brothers and sisters, that those who built into our lives will never have any reason to fear that they ran or labored in vain. Let’s be a living letter that commends their good work in the gospel.
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And let’s do this knowing also that we are letters of commendation …
2. WRITTEN TO BE READ BY THE WORLD.
In verse 2 of our passage, Paul wrote, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men …”
Don’t you love how Paul expresses his deep love for the Corinthians in those words? Those believers were an epistle written in his heart and in the hearts of his ministry team (indeed, ‘inscribed’ on their hearts, as the word in the original language has it). One of the ways that Paul demonstrated the sincerity of his ministry to them was by the fact that it wasn’t just a job for him to minister to them. He wasn’t motivated by the same kind of things that motivated the false teachers. He wasn’t motivated by what he might be able to get out of the Corinthians. He truly loved them and gave himself sacrificially to serving them. They were his letter of commendation; and he didn’t just carry that letter around in his hand. He had them written deeply within himself. He bore a copy of the letter everywhere he went within himself.
But though they were a letter written in his heart, they also were an open and public letter. They were known and read by all in the world. Paul affirmed that even though they had many troubles, the Corinthian church was nevertheless a testimony to the world of the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus that Paul preached. Everyone in the world around them looked at how they heard the gospel, and of how they believed, and of how they struggled at times with sin, and of how they repented, and even of how they were being led in the triumph of Christ and of how the fragrance of Christ was being spread by them everywhere.
Paul wrote something similar about another church once. It was the church in Thessalonica. The gospel had a powerfully transforming effect upon them; and in his first letter to them—in 1 Thessalonians 1:7-10—he wrote;
you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:7-10).
Let’s remember that we too need to be a good letter of endorsement; because not only are other believers watching us, but so also is the unbelieving world. They can know the truth of the gospel by watching our lives. May it be that we make it clear—everywhere we go—that Jesus Christ truly transforms anyone who trusts in Him!
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Now; you may notice that Paul doesn’t say that we are—each one individually—living epistles. It’s not that we are a bunch of individual letters all put together in a binder. Rather, we—as Jesus’ church—constitute one epistle. And this is because of who it is that is the true Author of the letter. Paul went on in verse 3 to say; “clearly [or we can translate that, 'manifestly'] you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”
Consider those words carefully. It was not Paul who wrote them as a letter. And it is not any human writer who wrote us as a letter. Paul said that they were “ministered” by him and his co-workers; or we might say “cared-for” by them. But it was Jesus Himself that wrote them. They are an epistle of Christ—written not with ink but with the Holy Spirit, and not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh—“of the heart”.
This is important to remember, because they are a living epistle …
3. BEARING A MARVELOUS ENDORSEMENT.
That endorsement concerns something truly wonderful. It is the ‘new covenant’ in Christ.
You’ll notice that Paul says that—as a living epistle—this spiritual endorsement is written “not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart”. And when Paul says this, he is drawing upon the language of the Old Testament’s promise of a new covenant. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God made this promise to the people of Israel;
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The people of Israel were not able to keep the old covenant—the one that was given to them through tablets of stone on Mount Sinai by Moses. They broke God’s law. We are also fallen in Adam; and none of us can keep it. When we read it, it condemns our sin. When we try to keep it, we fail and become guilty before God. And even then, false teachers were trying to bring the Corinthian believers under those old covenant rules and regulations.
But God promised that—one day—He would establish a new covenant. It wouldn’t be a covenant in which the law would be simply written on stone—so that we struggle and fail to keep the ‘letter of the law’; but rather, by a work of the Holy Spirit—through grace—it would be written upon our hearts in a transforming way.
That’s what Jesus has accomplished for us through His atoning death on the cross and through His resurrection from the dead. And it just so happens that the new covenant was what Paul goes on to talk about in the verses immediately after our passage. In verses 4-6, he went on to say;
And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (vv. 4-6).
And so; we together are a living letter—known and read in this world; given by Christ; ministered by the apostles; written with the Holy Spirit; inscribed upon hearts of flesh for the world to see and understand—that declares a new and better covenant with God through faith in Jesus Christ—a letter that invites others to also enter into that covenant by faith in Jesus.
No wonder it’s so important that we be careful to bear that witness truthfully!
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So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s remember that we together—as the church in this world—are a living letter of endorsement. We testify to the truth and transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we have believed, and to the integrity of those who proclaimed it to us, and to the good work of those who helped us to grow in it. We are being watched by the people around us who desperately need to hear about the saving grace of God through Jesus. And we are the means by which God invites them to enter into the New Covenant by grace through faith in Jesus.
Let’s be sure that we are very good reading!
EA
