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Good morning friends, today is Thursday June 27 and we’re reading together 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
May I begin this morning with a few questions?
What is your primary motivation in life?
When you wake up in the morning, what do you anticipate will be the best use of your day?
When you come to the end of your day, as you reflect, how do you measure the value of how you spent that day?
Let’s begin our reading today in 2 Corinthians 2:17, because it seems Paul was wrestling with those very questions. He writes “Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ, we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”
As we continue into the early verses of chapter 3 it seems clear, that to which Paul has dedicated his recent years is his consuming passion. . .to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ, every day, to as many people as will hear him, in any place his feet can reach. As we have seen, he pursues this passion fearlessly and at great personal peril, for he has been beaten, stoned, starved, imprisoned and run out of town many times in many places. Yet, Paul’s resolve remains steadfast.
Question. . . What keeps Paul going? What stokes his fire? What motivates his driving passion?
Evidently other men were following in his footsteps, but they were doing so for profit. Word had come to Paul that other traveling preachers were requesting finances from the people to whom they preached, and they were often preaching variations of Paul’s Gospel, thus stirring up confusion in many of the places Paul had brought the Gospel originally. Corinth was one of those places, and that’s why Paul wrote the verses we just read… “we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”
Do you sense Paul was holding himself accountable to God for every aspect of his life? Do you see Paul’s driving passion was, that he believed he was sent by God Himself, to bring the Gospel he had received from Jesus, to places it was unknown?
The “we” in 2:17 is Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Aquilla, Priscilla, Apollos and others who have been taught the true Gospel by Paul himself. Remember… there were no New Testament’s yet. The Gospels were just beginning to be written, and Paul hadn’t yet written Romans.
Look closely at vs. 2-6. Evidently some of those ‘preachers for profit’ were carrying letters of recommendation as they went from town to town. We don’t know who wrote the letters, but do you see Paul’s response? He claims that the Corinthian Christians are “living letters” of recommendation for him, and his true Gospel. Lives, authentically changed by the power of Jesus, are far more believable, than any hand written letter with flowery words. Do you agree?
Look at vs 2…“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.” Oh my! What a powerful statement. You and me, my friends, people who have been transformed by the power of the Gospel, God’s people, followers of Jesus Christ, are the living advertisement for the authenticity of the Gospel in our day, where-ever we live. Now think about that a moment.
You’ve heard the phrase “I can read you like a book”. Go ahead and apply that here. As people watch your life and mine, and read us like a book…what do they see, what do they learn about Jesus?
Notice the phrase in vs 5 “…our competence comes from God.” Wow! Can you and I say that? I’m not talking about your golf or tennis game, or your investments, or how you care for the landscaping around your house. I’m talking about the important stuff of life. How we treat our spouse, how we keep mentoring our kids and grand-kids from a distance. How you live as a single adult, a widow or widower finding your healing and contentment in Jesus. I’m talking about the reputations we each have on our street. What ‘competence’ is God giving you and me which is needed, and making a real difference in our world these days?
Paul writes “God has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter [law] but of the Spirit…” Paul’s entire life purpose, every day, was helping people find freedom in Jesus Christ. Freedom from their bondage…freedom from the Old Testament law, from self-gratification, from pride, from deceitful manipulation of others, from self-destructive behavior. Shouldn’t that be our purpose too? Everyday… looking for ways we can make a difference right where we live, with the people our lives touch…helping them find freedom and new life in Jesus.
Now you notice in vs. 7-11 Paul draws some comparisons between the work of the Holy Spirit in the modern day Christian, with the work of God in Moses in Exodus 34, and Moses’ final trip up Mount Sinai to meet with God. We’re going to study Exodus after we finish 2 Corinthians, because it is so important as a foundation to the Gospel. If you have time today, you might want to read Exodus 34 to gain a fresh perspective on this. Moses had said to God “show me Your glory”, and God had responded, “come up on the mountain in the morning and bring two stone tablets with you and I’ll replace the ones you broke, and I’ll meet with you on the mountain.“
That Moses-God encounter my friends, is one of the most amazing encounters a person has ever had with God. So amazing, that when Moses came down the mountain after 40 days, with newly engraved stone tablets under his arms, his face shown so brightly the people asked him to put a veil over his face so they could look at him! He was radiating the powerful glory of God.
But Paul writes “will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious”. He is saying your life and mine, filled with the Holy Spirit of God, should radiate the presence of Jesus where we live, work, play, shop. . . everywhere we go, and especially in our homes, with those who know us best! Now think about that my friends.
Finally, may I point out one more thing in 2 Corinthians 3? Look at vs. 12-18. Do you see Paul’s reference to veiled minds in vs. 14, and how “only in Christ is it taken away . Even to this day when Moses (the first five books of the Bible) is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” Remember what we read in 1 Corinthians 2 about the role of the Holy Spirit in helping us understand the Bible? There is a ‘veil’ which naturally covers the human mind when it comes to understanding the Bible and spiritual truth. That veil is removed only by the Holy Spirit of God, giving us the ability to discern spiritual truth.
And finally, don’t you love verse 17,18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into HIS likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Now that is Paul’s daily, driving passion, my friends, and it is my hope it would be ours. That each day, we long to KNOW God more, and by the powerful work of His Spirit in us, become more like Jesus Himself, and radiate the presence of Jesus through our lives, where-ever we are. Now that is living on purpose and making a difference! Imagine if we all lived each day like that!
Now read 2 Corinthians 3 very carefully. Ask the Holy Spirit to remove the veil from your mind so you really understand the spiritual truths in this chapter. Stop often, as you read, to thank God for the powerful truths you’ll find, which we have discussed today. Look for some nuggets the Spirit will show you, that I have not mentioned this morning. Oh my friends, God’s Word is like a gold mine… dig carefully but expecting to find precious nuggets as you read.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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