REMADE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR CHRIST
The Father’s Legacy Is Reflected By His Children’s Loveliness Not Ugliness
Corinthians 3:1-12
The flip of a coin will decide who gets the ball first in the Super Bowl game. Will it be heads or tails? As for me, it matters not, simply because there is nothing at stake for me personally nor will the outcome affect me in any way.
In the game of life, however, the outcome of my never-ending journey does depend, not on a coin flip, but on whether or not I “take the ball and run with it” as I am instructed to do by my Coach.
What I have learned in life is that, just as there are two sides to every coin, there are two sides to every life story . . . two ways to go in life (the high and the low, or “the broad and the narrow”) . . . two masters we may serve for the rest of our lives (Lord God or false gods) . . . and, the fact of the matter is that each of us must choose whose story we believe, which way we will go, and whom we shall serve.
Choosing to serve the Lord God, as did Joshua, there enters into the equation yet another choice: Whose endorsement is more important to you? Would it be the endorsement of the Father, or, the endorsement of highly visible personalities whose faces and voices are paraded before us in various ways?
Obviously, a child of God cares a lot more about the Father’s endorsement than anyone else’s. Yes, we certainly hope that others respect our convictions and testimonies, and benefit from them, but our chief aim is to glorify God - by making a difference for Christ.
God our Father made us, then remade us, to be adopted into the Family of God, to have fellowship with Him and with one another, to be ministers of God’s grace . . . the Gospel . . . the New Covenant - 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 . . . 3:4-12 . . .
The situation in Corinth was like that which existed in Galatia . Paul found himself constantly having to defend himself and his ministry against false charges hurled at him – that: he was not a legitimate apostle . . . he was nothing more than a boaster (2 Corinthians 3:1), even though they who accused him were the ones at fault - “making personal gain by corrupting the word of God” (2 Corinthians 2:17).
Paul’s enemies hated him because he was not one of them! Paul would not do as they had done – pervert the gospel to fit their own ideological agendas. His enemies treated him disrespectfully, and dismissively: “Who do you think you are?”
The old apostle turned their taunt on its head: “The results of my ministry suffice as my letters of recommendation”! Ouch!
Would you agree that the authentication of any ministry lies in its obvious positive impact on the lives of people?
There were Corinthians whose lives had been transformed by the gospel of Christ because their hearts had been “inscribed” not with ink but with the Spirit of God (You can’t get a more indelible inscription than that of the Spirit of God) - all because of Paul’s testimony and preaching, in spite of the odds!
Recipients of, and responders to, the Gospel preached by Paul were indeed “living letters” of recommendation (They were living proof that God was working through Paul’s ministry to bring about good)!
Professing Christians are the only Bibles some folks will ever read. Someone once asked: “What if the type is crooked? What if the print blurred?” A poem by Paul Gilbert encourages believers to “write” a persuasive Christian testimony with their lives:
“You’re writing a ‘gospel’, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say. Folks read what you write, whether faithless or true; say, what is the ‘gospel’ according to you?” But, someone might ask:
“How can I be expected to write a gospel according to me”? Here’s how: We are not called to write for God, but to let God write through us - thereby making an indelible impression on minds and hearts of folks searching for answers to dilemmas they find themselves in! We may not know “what” the answer is, but we know Who!
Truth be told: No one is personally adequate to carry on the ministry of the Spirit. Adequacy comes from God. Perhaps you feel less competent than others . . . lack confidence . . . feel ill equipped to serve the Lord? Remember this: God not only sent himself to us, He sent himself into us!
As believers, we have the Spirit of the living God residing in our hearts! He empowers you and me with competence and confidence.
Some well-meaning Christians get bogged down by rules and regulations found in the Old Covenant – insisting on total compliance with the “letter of the law” as a means of “earning” righteousness – while other well-meaning Christians subscribe to the New Covenant doctrine of grace that extends an “olive branch” to those who “miss the mark” and, in the spirit of Christ, “lift up the fallen, care for the dying.”
A legalistic, unforgiving spirit keeps brothers and sisters under a dark cloud of guilt from whence they feel there is no escape. Condemned to “spiritual death” is the way some sinners are made to feel by “Old Testament Baptists”!
On the other hand, ministers of the New Covenant take God at His Word: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” No sinner is beyond the reach of God’s love and mercy!
The Spirit of God, not the “letter of the law”, transforms sinners into living epistles that glorify Jesus Christ! This is not to say that the law serves no purpose.
By the Law we know we are sinners … the wages of sin is death … perfect sacrifice was required to atone for sins … no one but the One was or could be capable of perfect obedience to the Law … God sent His Son to die for our sins … whosoever “believes in” Him shall not perish … hence, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ … provided we repent of our sin and accept Christ as Lord and Savior … our Lord imparts His righteousness . . . thus, we are made fit for living and serving in God’s kingdom … we serve as ministers of this New Covenant under the influence and by inspiration of the Spirit.
It is to say that the key to knowing that our faith is real and that, therefore, the “epistle” we are writing glorifies Jesus Christ is that we are seeking to make a difference in the lives of others because we “want to” not because we “have to”.
Folks, we don’t need a check list of good deeds, or what all we have done, to measure up to our calling in Christ Jesus. (“Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.)
If we serve God because we feel like we “must”: How boring, tiresome and burdensome! Ministry on the part of anyone will never be effective if we minister because we feel like we “have to”.
If we love God and serve Him because He first loved us and gave Himself for us, and for that reason, we truly “want to” make a difference in others’ lives: How marvelous, how glorious it is to be involved in the New Testament ministry of the Spirit that gives new life in Christ Jesus!
If we, like those Corinthian Christians who served as Paul’s letters of recommendation, want to be New Testament ministers of God’s grace – even so, respecting God’s Law – let us enter into a new commitment to “be about our Father’s business” - loving, forgiving, sharing, caring in the Spirit of Christ, in the name of Jesus, to the glory of God! Amen.
