2 Cor 3:1-6 Ministers of the New Covenant

Ministers of the New Covenant

2 Corinthians 3:1-6

Prayer

Grateful for gathering together today. We do not take this moment lightly.

Grateful for being free to gather.

Grateful for those we remember today on this Memorial Day who paid the ultimate price to secure out freedoms.

Most of all we are grateful for the One who gave his life in our place to set us free from sin and death.

Lead us today to worship you in Spirit and in Truth.

Teach us to worship you in the freedom that you provide in Christ alone.

Teach us how to live as your ambassadors in this community and beyond.

Read 2 Cor. 3:1-6

Pray

If I were to approach you and ask if you are a Christian…many of you would agree?

If I were to approach you and ask if you were a minister…would you still agree?

Important to define our terms and what I mean when I use those terms.

Minister= culturally means someone who serves in an official capacity in a church, normally paid.

Minister= Biblically - diakonos= servant.

Main Idea: Ministers of the new covenant receive their commendation and competency from God.

Gospel ministry is service to others according to the dictates of Scripture in the name of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

Gospel minister (minister of the new covenant) serves others according to the dictates of Scripture in the name of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.

Ministers of the new covenant receive their commendation from God.

Two questions reveal likely accusations being made toward Paul by “teachers” who have come to Corinth…Paul is arrogant and Paul is unqualified.

First question...

1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? No…what is to follow is a commendation not of Paul directly but of the Lord. Paul understood and stated in

2 Corinthians 10:18 ESV

18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

Illus: Asked why talked about himself…nobody else will. For the believer that is not true. We do not need to commend ourselves…the Lord commends.

Second question...

Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?

Paul is not against letters of recommendation entirely…Acts 18:27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. …describing a letter to Corinth about Apollos...

the issue at hand is does Paul need such a letter…no…Why?

2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.

How did the gospel come to Corinth? Paul. He proclaimed the gospel to them and they believed…by the power of the gospel

Paul is saying that they are the letter of recommendation. In other words, the evidence of the gospel changing their lives is evidence enough that Paul is legit.

Evidence of gospel ministry is changed lives. Changed lives are the letter of recommendation.

v. 3 explains the nature of the “letter”

3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Christ is the author.

Paul and his team are the mail carriers and heralds

Not of human origin....

Written by the Spirit of the living God...

not on tablets of stone…allusion to the law

tablets of human hearts…allusion to the promised new covenant..

Ezekiel 11:19–20 ESV

19 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Jeremiah 31:33 ...I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.

Has your heart of stone been removed and by the power of the gospel been replaced with a heart of flesh?

Has the the law of God been written on your heart? Has you life been changed?

If he can change the heart of stone and write his law on our hearts, can he make us competent to be serve him as ministers of the new covenant?

Ministers of the new covenant receive their competency from God.

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

We are not talking about some form of self-confidence with Jesus tagged on to it. Where does this confidence come from?

Confidence through Christ(by the means of) through the finished work of Christ

Where is this confidence is being derected? “toward God” not cowering or afraid to measure up…confident=hopeful, trusting. Just as we are to confidently come into his presence in prayer, we confidently serve Him for the sake of the gospel...

How?

5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant,

(ESV)sufficient= adequate(NASB), enough

(CSB) competent= capable, having necessary skill or ability.

nothing coming from us Egocentric

from God, Theocentric

who has made us adequate and capable to be ministers of the new covenant.

not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Is the letter bad?

No, the letter(the law) is necessary for us to see our sin and need for Christ.

Yes, if the letter(the law) is seen as a means to achieve salvation or to keep salvation.

Even the Word of God, in human hands, can become an instrument of manipulation. Paul has seen this take place at Corinth, so he is urgent in his declaration that the letter kills; it is the Spirit, with total freedom, who gives life. (Owens 31)

Jeremiah 31:31–33 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Proclamation of the gospel according to the Word of God by the Spirit of God results in changed lives…

work of the Spirit…the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Justification= old is gone, new has come…new life in Christ.

Sanctification= new has come…new life in Christ becoming like Christ…Christ is in us and we are in Him. becoming like him.

Christ makes us new, he makes us like Him in so doing makes us competent=capable

To deny that we are competent or sufficient, is deny the sufficient work of Christ.

So What?

As a Christian, do I realize that I am a minister of the new covenant?

2 Corinthians 5:18 ESV

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

“all this(new creation) is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself...” commendation

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; competency...

Christ reconciled us and gave us the ministry of reconciliation...

Return to where we began, understanding minister and ministry...

Sacred/Secular

Vocation: vocatio—calling

As Christians, we are all ministers of the new covenant.

Prayer

song

Offering/Prayer

Pray 1 Peter 2:9-10

Exit by row from the rear. Goal is to prevent creating jams in the aisles.

please keep moving until you reach the parking lot.

Restroom please use kids building if exiting to the east.

END