You are a letter from Christ. 2 Corinthians 3.1-6
7/13/2010 2:13:52 AM
2 Corinthians #11 in series


 

You are a letter from Christ.  2  Corinthians 3.1-6

Company sales numbers had just come across her Blackberry; sure enough, Amy had moved to number 37 in the country.  Thirty-seven?  Is that good or bad?  It meant 37th place out of 500 pharmaceutical sales representatives in a large company.  The results were quite measurable and they were good.

 Meanwhile, Dylan (15), got a progress report for his second quarter academics—all A’s except for a ‘C’ in Geometry.  The grades said it all; he was doing great as a high school freshman, but was struggling to succeed in Geometry. 

 While on the baseball field, Danny (12), moved from number 4 in the batting lineup to number 7.  Why?  His on-base percentage had dropped; he was in a slump.  His batting average proved it; the numbers just didn’t lie.

 All three of these instances are real-life scenarios from my children's lives, where results are quantifiable and an individual’s success is immediately clear . . . or not.

 In Paul’s day, church growth experts were not plotting the average Sunday attendance on a bar graph, nor were commendations quickly e-mailed from one Mediterranean town to another.  Instead, letters of recommendation were sent along to vouch for a worker’s qualifications, character, and performance, to which Paul writes, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?”

 Paul then describes the standard of commendation for the spiritual leader—the lives of those he leads, and his point is a powerful one:   You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.  You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

 So while the Judaizers were strutting around with letters of recommendation from big name people in the Jerusalem church, Paul counters with real evidence.  The test of ministry is changed lives.  And Paul states with such beautiful symbolism, ‘you yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts. . . you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry.’  I love that.  What seals that letter?  The Holy Spirit. 

 We must look back and remember just how depraved the Corinthians had been when Paul first got there.  (recorded in his first letter to the Corinthians)  The young Christian church had issues of immorality, infighting, and factions over which leader to follow.  Pagan practices had slopped over into church practices until Paul corrected the folks; there were abuses in the serving of communion, favoritism, and so on.  But by the grace of God, and the working of the Holy Spirit, the Christians had grown and matured.

 Paul says to you and to me, ‘you are a letter from Christ—people are reading you . . . they are reading your faith and your practices . . . you are a reflection of Christ to the world.’  How are you doing?  I am afraid I fall woefully short, but at least some of these Corinthians were representing the gospel well.  But, lest anyone think Paul was boasting of his superior leadership and pastoral skills, he writes, “We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.   It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.   He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.”

 And so Paul gives any glory to be had to God, including his own qualifications.  He cites the great work of the Holy Spirit in giving new life to those who follow God by trusting in the work of Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God who always leads us in our triumph. 

 You are a letter from Christ to others—how are you doing?

Christine