2 Corinthians 3

PRAY!

A Correction of Identity in Christ - Letters of Christ

Intro:

Last time we spoke about Ps. 1 and the transforming power of being with God’s word to make us like a bountiful tree that is bearing fruit and firmly established.

This tree (personal) is beneficial to others and it’s beauty communicates that something is different

This week we turn to look at the transforming power from the individual to the corporate church in 2 Corinthians 3

Growing up I had a very poor view on the church and my own personal relationship with Christ

I also felt that coming to Christ didn’t necessarily mean that there had to be massive change in someones life

All of these were excuses and escapisms for seeing the truth - Paul calls this suppressing the truth

Church:

I felt that if I had a relationship with Jesus, that was enough - I didn’t feel like I fit in with “church people” or “church culture”.

I felt that I can do it on my own and I didn’t need “church” just God

Relationship:

what the relationship was was based on my own works - saying sorry and trying to do better to please God - Do better here, stop doing that, keep away form this or that

Consequently, I never felt like I pleased God with my life and that drove me further away from the idea of church as “those people would judge me”

All of that failed too because I lacked the sufficiency and the power to enact the change

All of this is framed around my incorrect identity in Christ and the Identity of the Church

somewhere along my path - my vision of my relationship with Jesus and his church was flawed and skewed by myself and others

What changed all that was when God caused my face to turn from the “letter” of the Bible to the “Spirit” of the Bible - a true turning away from myself, my way, my sin, to the face of God - the Spirit of truth

Connection:

In 2 Cor. 3 Paul is having to defend his position as an Apostle but in doing so he turns it around beautifully on the Corinthians - he teaches them his identity by showing theirs

This identity is the same as Pauls - THE CHURCH IS THE LETTER OF CHRIST

Observations/Takeaways:

Our identity in Christ is our qualification and sufficiency - personally and corporately

Our corporate identity is tied to our covenantal position in God’s redemptive plan

With unveiled faces - WE ALL (THE CHURCH) - are being transformed WHEN WE TURN TO THE LORD

A Correction of Identity: VV.1-6

READ VV 1-6

Seeking approval of men - Identity is tied up in carnal ways

The Corinthians had fallen into a trap thinking there were "super-apostles"

Paul needed to come up with some proof he was at least like them otherwise the grass is greener!

"Influencer" society

Marketing is distinctly different in our day than it was in Paul's. Today almost everywhere there is an ad - billboards, TV, Youtube, radio, emails, text messages - it's marketing 24/7.

Knowing what someone is selling, for what price, recommendations/reviews - they abound in our day and age.

Our shopping experience is drastically shaped by customer experience as seen through reviews either by the common star ranking or by Youtube reviews or something similar - either way, that review system is anecdotal or based on people's impressions and interactions of that item.

In Paul's day, they had letters of recommendation that were brought with them. Traveling teachers brought these along as personal reviews of them and they would hand them off as they went to show the previous group's experience.

But in this story, Paul runs into a bit of trouble - he's preaching without recommendation letters - he's rogue! He's an untested amazon item from China - could work, maybe or maybe not?

Paul's response flips their thinking onto its head: you are the letter of recommendation:

It’s plainly visible to all who see you - the transformation is evident

Connection

See like my earlier relationship with Christ - they were seeking performance…

Paul flips this on it's head saying you have become the influenced by the glory of God to become an influence in the world

Corinthians - my identity - your identity is in Christ which is evidence of the power of God - it’s the power of Jesus himself

This is more than a letter of recommendation to you - YOU HAVE BECOME THE LETTER - YOU HAVE BECOME THE ADVERTISEMENT AND THE INFLUENCER

This is the ministry which I brought to you - it came in power not in word or letter - the recommendation is not from man BUT FROM GOD!

And as if to answer some perceived comments on sufficiency or confidence Paul disabuses that - our sufficiency is from Christ alone - THAT HAS COME IN POWER, EVIDENCED IN YOU - IN ME - IN US ALL

Don’t forget why Paul was writing these letters in the first place:

In appropriate relationships in the church

Greed, suing, arguing

In 2 Corinthians he is telling the church that they did a decent job at removing the one at fault but now they have gone too far - they needed to reconcile

It’s Easy then to maybe feel like they are unqualified or lacking confidence in that since they are struggling:

But Paul states a very important fact for us: OUR CONFIDENCE and SUFFICIENCY IS BASED ON THE COMPLETED FINISHED WORK OF JESUS - we are actively being transformed - that includes the times where we are not necessarily “getting it right”

THIS IS EVIDENCED BY THE CHANGE IN THE CHURCH - PAUL SAYS THE INVISIBLE INK OF THE LETTER IS WRITTEN ON YOUR HEART- MANIFESTING ITSELF OUTWARDLY SO OTHERS CAN SEE

Notice!

This is new covenant language - this is Jeremiah and Ezekiel’s promises about a new covenant written on the hearts of those who love God

He then sets the stage for illustration:

Not on tablets but

On hearts

Not the letter (carnal) but

Spirit

Ministry of Death vs. Ministry of Righteousness Vv. 7-11

READ Vv 7-11

Paul has already loaded our minds with thoughts of covenants and tablets

Paul then moves on to show not only his identity but the church’s is tied up in this eschatological movement of God

If our hearts have the law written on it by God - we are the letter of recommendation - but we are also the outward sign that God has brought his New Covenant - the one prophesied in Jeremiah and Ezekiel

He then compares the Sinai (Law) “ministry” and the righteousness ministry

The Old:

Ministry of death - the law brought awareness of sin - but did not fix it

The law did not have the power to enact the change it required - was this a failure on God? NO, it was a method to give Israel guidelines to keep the presence of God near them - to guide them as being examples of a people in covenant with God - this was not God’s final plan, which included bringing Gentiles into God’s fold

It was engraved on stones - this is Paul’s way of already helping us to see that this covenant was not the one to come - this was not the final installment of God’s plan

Furthermore - it was Moses who saw God face to face and when the Israelites saw Moses’s face they were terrified! They had a mediator that was man

READ V 7-10 The fading law: The Law was being brought to an end - BUT still glorious

V10 states that the old was being brought to an end - it was fading and weaker in glory

It was surpassed by the new

Illustration:

I like to think about this as a development of light in general

God brings light into the world through the stars and the sun - distant but there

Then God brought the Law - this is like a candle or small oil lamps- it’s an amazing personal light

It’s portable - it can be understood to some degree

You can handle it - it helps you understand God’s world - provides structure

But it’s dim - it’s not a great light but it is a lighrt

But then God brings his final work into light - It’s the light that changed Moses’s face into the fearful glowing state

This light is like modern lights - flashlights, lights in our homes, stadium lights!

They transform everything - they are almost too bright and they reveal everything!

Electricity was a revolution when it came to light

THIS IS THE NEW COVENANT - IT DOESN’T BLOW OUT THE OLD BUT IT’S GLORY IS GREATER

See these other apostles were coming with letters - written on paper with ink - peddling the message of death.

Paul is saying the letter, which you are, is not like the old which was engraved on stone. Those letters bring death - not that the law is wrong or bad - but it lacks the whole power

The letter you are, comes in power, mediated by Jesus himself - NOT MAN

Your transformed heart lies at the center stage in the movement of the kingdom of God

This is amazing news! The rightouesness of God has been brought forward through Jesus

His home is made with man - Emmanuel

We have the writing of God IN US! Not in carnal papers of recommendation or stone commandments

We will not find life in performance - in keeping the law

We will not find a true preacher outside of the new covenant - those are ministers of death that pedal death not life

Unveiled Faces - Seeing God as if in a mirror VV. 12-18

v12 - Therefore…Such a hope

This hope is anchored in our position in Christ - as the church of Christ with transformed hearts

BUT THE QUESTION: HOW?

There are many like me even within the Evangelical Christian world

It’s our carnal trap: we seek letters of recommendation, reviews, and performance based substance

There are millions who perform sacrifices, rituals, and works to earn something they cannot obtain - it’s all debt

Paul likens this way of thinking in the veiling of his face:

Moses had to cover his face because they could not stand to look, even at a secondary source, of God’s glory

Those people had hardened hearts - as we know from the Exodus

It continues in Paul’s day and into ours:

The veil remains - people cannot look into the face of the Lord BECAUSE Jesus is a stumbling block

The law was brought to an end in Christ - performance based was not the end of God’s plan - it’s still not

V.16 BUT WHEN WE TURN TO GOD THE VEIL IS REMOVED

Paul is saying - this transformation in you - and in all of us - is because God caused us to look upon him

We didn’t die!!! Why? Because we gained access through Jesus - not the law where the veil would hide the true glory of God

V17 This Lord - that Moses spoke to - is the Spirit - this Spirit is freedom - not death not slavery to a performance system

Freedom - Isn’t that a wonderful thing? Do you reflect on that? I

It feels counterintuitive - we had to behave for mom and dad - we have to perform at work - we have to perform in sports

But in Christ there is freedom and transformation

Freedom from trying to earn God’s love and loyalty

Freedom from the carnal ways of thinking - we can see people in a new light

Freedom from being separated from God - from being veiled from his glory and his truth

V18 - FROM THE SINGLE TO THE CORPORATE -

WE ALL - Last time we talked about the personal transformation of the word and that is true here - but Paul is saying that we are corporately something different

We are the letter of Christ as a church! We stand as an illustration of the power of God through the Spirit bought by the blood of Jesus

We no longer behold God’s glory behind a veil - No No

We see him as if in a mirror - WHAT???

We don’t just look upon God - we see him in us - we see him radiating throughout his body, his church

Do you get that? What that means for us as a church?

Do we stumble and grumble? Yes, but we are being transformed

Note that passive nature of this verb - God is transforming us - his sufficiency, his power, his call upon us

From Glory to Glory:

Paul says the glory of God was not gone in the Law - it was veiled

So he brought his plan from Glory to Glory - from one installment to the final one

Let’s look at our observations/takeaways one more time:

Our identity in Christ is our qualification and sufficiency - personally and corporately

Do you really reflect on the work of God in your life? Do you see that transformation?

If not - turn to God! Every day is a new opportunity to draw near.

The corporate will not benefit if you are not near to God - every piece plays it’s part - every person given a gift by the Spirit to be exercised within the body for the body

Our corporate identity is tied to the position of Christ’s Church within God’s redemptive plan

Covenant language should inspire us - the promises of God throughout the OT have come to fruition in his church - in your life

God is faithful and true - our trust is based on this - our HOPE is based on this

This should cause us to turn to the Word more often! The times we live in is exactly the times David, Jeremiah, Ezekiel all longed for

Other NT authors say the same - the time is short, this is the “last days” - Jesus alluded for us to “stay ready” and to “be found as faithful servants working until the end”

With unveiled faces - WE ALL (THE CHURCH) - are being transformed WHEN WE TURN TO THE LORD

What an amazing gift - to not only see God unveiled - to read his Word with the Spirit guiding us - but to see him reflected back at us in the mirror

The church then stands as the “letter of Christ” - we corporately are something very special

This naturally then should be sent out - to make disciples - the power of our transformed community authenticates our mission our call.

Are we encouraging each other daily?

Are we taking time to prepare others and ourselves for the work of ministry? The work of ministry is assumed in the gifts Christ gave us to use

Does our church reflect the “letter of Christ” nature we see here?