Ministry of Life Change

I will never forget my first opportunity to speak in church. I was going in view of call to be a youth minister a First Baptist church in Caddo Mills, Texas. This was my first experience with the “in view of a call” process. I have never been involved in being called or participating with a church affirming a call. I did not know what to expect at all.

Therefore, when the interim pastor of the church told me that I had to get in front of the church and give my testimony, I was shocked and scared. I had never really done any public speaking at all. I told the pastor that I have never spoke in front of people, and he kindly replied, “Today is a good day to start.” Almost twenty years later, her I am.

Ever since that time, God has had to nudge and push me out of my comfort zone. Looking back to that Sunday morning push into the lake I can honestly say that it was all a part of God’s plan.

Take your Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter three. In our study of 2 Corinthians, we are coming to a section of the letter where Paul is going to speak about his ministry. Unfortunately, he has to defend his ministry to the church that he started for it was Paul who brought the gospel to Corinth. He was the spiritual father of the Corinthian church.

However, in his defense of his ministry, we get a wonderful glimpse into what ministry is all about.

Let’s read the first six verses of 2 Corinthians chapter three, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 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. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

Several times in chapters three and four, Paul mentions the ministry. Therefore, these next two chapters in our study will glean for us some great theological truths about ministry. In the verses that we just read, we will learn about the ministry of life change. First, the focus of ministry is life change in Jesus Christ.

1.The focus of ministry is life change in Jesus Christ.

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you?” These two questions reveal a common practice that took place in the early church. Whenever a visiting minister or an intenerate minister visited a local congregation he needed to be accompanied by a letter of recommendation, either from his home church, or the church he was at previously. This letter of recommendation was to prove that he was a true minister of Jesus Christ.

This letter of recommendation enabled a bond of trust to be cultivated between the minister and the church. The fact that Paul had to ask these questions of the church that he started reveals, once again, the problems that Paul was facing from a small group of false teachers.

The false teachers were insisting that Paul was an intruder and imposter because he didn’t bring letters of recommendations. Paul’s questions where rhetorical in nature because the Corinthian church should have known that the answer to both questions is no. How could the church that Paul started question his credentials? How could that entertain the thought of him being an intruder and imposter?

In light of the criticism, Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of the life change that they experienced when the gospel powerfully transformed their lives. Notice verse two, “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all.”

Paul didn’t need a piece of paper with some church officials signature on it. Paul had a letter, but it wasn’t on paper. His letter was written in the lives of the Corinthian believers. His letter was people, not paper. The evidence of changed lives in Corinth validated his credentials as a true apostle of Jesus Christ. Also, the changed lives of the Corinthians also reveal the focus of ministry. Ministry is not about programs or prospects; it is about people experiencing life change in Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to give the characteristics of life change, by continuing with the metaphor of a letter of recommendation. First, we see that the life change is only possible in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the author of the letter. Verse three, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ.” Christ is the source of change. He is the one who has written his letter on the lives of believers, and he has signed it with his signature, which is the cross. The result is that every believer is a new creation in Christ, the old has gone, and the new has come.

Second, we see that the life change was made possible through the ministry of the apostle Paul, “And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us.” Paul was the tool that God used to deliver that life-changing message of the gospel to Corinth. When we do ministry we are God’s instruments for bring life change in Jesus Christ.

Third, the life change in Christ is brought about the Spirit of God. “Written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.” Paul is contrasting the Old Covenant with the New Covenant. The Lord had prophesied in Jeremiah and Ezekiel that he would turn stony hearts into hearts of flesh in the New Covenant, that he would write his law on the hearts of his people in the New Covenant. The Spirit of the living God does this.

One of my favorite choruses is “Spirit of the Living God.” “Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, and fill me. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.”

Whatever ministry you do the focus is always life change. Every ministry here plays a part in sharing the love of God by leading people to life change.

One of the excuses that I hear from Christians when it comes to ministry is that they are not qualified. Our text teaches us that the competency for ministry comes form life change in Jesus Christ.

2.The competency for ministry comes form life change in Jesus Christ.

“Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

The Greek word “hikenos” is used three times in these verses. We translate it sufficiency and competence. Notice what Paul said back in 2:16, “who is sufficient for these things?” He now answers the question. In fact, Paul reveals that he has great confidence before God because his confidence is not found in his own competency, but God’s.

Paul says, “Our sufficiency is from God.” Therefore he could say “God…has made us competent or sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant.” It is God who qualifies us to be competent for the ministry. We say it all the time, but it is true, “God doesn’t need your ability, but your availability.” To qualify for the ministry you have to be incompetent and unqualified. God makes us competent for ministry through the life change we experience in Jesus Christ.

When the Spirit of the living God brings life change to your life through Jesus is when you become competent for the ministry. The moment you believe the gospel of Christ you are indwelt with the Spirit of the living God. You receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gifts you for the ministry. The Spirit of God empowers you to do the work of the ministry.

In my study, I discovered that that the Greek word “hikenos” is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament,” for Moses when he tells the Lord that “I am not sufficient” to lead your people out of Egypt. How true, we are not sufficient in our own strength. But the Spirit of the living God makes us sufficient for the work of ministry. That is why we don’t have to be fearful of ministry. God can use anyone to influence people to life change in Jesus Christ.

The effectiveness of you ministry is dependent upon God, not you. It’s not how eloquent you are that makes you competent. It is not how well you plan and strategize that makes you sufficient. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that qualifies you for the ministry. The competency for ministry comes from life change and Jesus Christ. And Paul reminds us that the nature of life change is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

3.The nature of life change is a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paul says in verse six, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Paul has in mind her the difference between the old and new covenant. Covenant is an agreement or contract between two or more people in a relationship. The greatest example of this is the marriage covenant. When a couple marries that take vows. These vows are the stipulations of their relationship.

The covenants in the bible are between God and people. In the new covenant, initiated by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we enter into a covenant relationship with God by faith. The new covenant is real simple: Jesus died for us so that he can live in us.

When we come to Christ by faith, we come alive in Christ. We have a relationship with God forever. Paul says, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Life change happens when we enter into a relationship with Christ, a relationship that gives us life in the Spirit. And with the relationship comes purpose and responsibility. God wants to uses his people as the instruments that bring the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to people.

I came across a great story about a man who learned the importance of ministry. His name was Daryl. Daryl has spent most of his Christian life sitting on the pew. One Sunday, the Lord really convicted him about his need to do ministry. So he volunteered to drive the church van when the youth group went to the nursing home once a month to minister to residents. But he did so with one condition. He would stand at the door of the nursing home until the youth group was finished because he didn’t like nursing homes.

The first visit he stood at the door waiting. While he was waiting, a man in a wheelchair came alongside of him and grabbed his hand and held it. The man’s eyes didn’t open that far so Daryl didn’t know if he could see or hear. When it was time to go, he told the man he had to go, and the man, whose name was Oliver, squeezed his hand and then let go.

The next month he stood at the door, and once again Oliver grabbed his hand and held it. Daryl decided that he would hold his hand, and when it was time to go, Daryl said, “It’s time to go. I love you, Oliver.” This went on for months, and every time Daryl left, he said, “I love you, Oliver.”

One month, Daryl waited for Oliver but he did not show. He found out that Oliver was not doing well and was in bed, not expected to live much longer. Daryl, though he didn’t like to go into Nursing homes, went to his room and held his hand. The youth director came and told him it was time to go. Daryl said, “I love you, Oliver.” Oliver, at this time was in a comma.

On his way out of the room, Daryl ran into Oliver’s granddaughter. She had wanted to meet Daryl. She had stayed the night with her grandpa. Oliver was not suppose to be able to speak, but he did for a short time the nigh before. He told his granddaughter, “Tell Jesus goodbye for me, for I am about to leave.” His granddaughter responded, “Grandpa, you are about to go see Jesus, you why don’t you tell him hello.” He said, “I know. But every month Jesus has been showing up and holding my hand, and when he leaves, he always tells me that he loves me. Let Jesus know I am going home.”

Ministry enables you to be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus. It enables you to touch lives with the love of Jesus for the purpose of life change. You can be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus through the children’s ministry, missions, at school, work, in the neighborhood. You can be Jesus to someone who needs life change when you allow God to use you in ministry. Are you involved with the ministry of life change?