2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (Part 14) The Great Privilege of Serving the Lord

• The minority servant—vv. 14-16: Fragrance bearers.

• The majority servant—v. 17: 1) They adopted the world’s standards of success (numbers); 2) They adopted the world’s methods for success (gimmicks)

True servant of the Lord—2:17

• He teaches from pure motives

• He teaches in response to divine calling

• He teaches with a sense of responsibility

The results of true service—3:1-3

• The quality—v. 1—(The quality of a ministry is what authenticates it)

• The converts—vv. 2-3

3:1-3

• The metaphor of a letter—(v. 2) “you are my letter”: 1) The writer—Paul; 2) The message—Jesus Christ; 3) The stationery—the heart; 4) The ink—Holy Spirit.

• The incontrovertibility (can’t deny it) of the letter—(v. 2)—“known and read of all men”

• The content of the letter—(v. 3) “the letter of Christ” (Christ is the message of the letter)

• The instrument of writing the letter—(v. 3) “ministered by us”

• The medium of the letter—(v. 3) “not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God”

• The nature of the letter (v. 3) “not in tablets of stone but in fleshly tablets of the heart”