Living Epistles 2 Corinthians 3:2-3
Throughout the bible we find that we as Christians have been compared to many things. We have been compared to branches. I am the true vine, ye are the “branches”. We have been compared to salt. “Ye are the salt of the earth.” We have been compared to lights, “Ye are the light of the world.” We have even been compared to sheep “My sheep know my voice and a stranger will they not here.”
Here in II Cor. 3:2-3 we are compared to epistles. An epistle is a letter. You and I are epistiles, or letters written with the spirit of the living God.
Letters carry messages. There are friendly letters, thank you letters, letters of congratulations, letters of sympathy, love letters and we even have “Dear John” letters. There are many kinds of letters, however, Christians are meant to be living letters of Jesus Christ, bearing a message of good tiding of great joy unto a dying world.
If it is at all possible, the United States Post Office sees to it that the mail is delivered. Rain does not stop the postman. Snow and ice does not stop him. Storm, floods and blizzards may slow him down, but the mail will eventually be delivered. You and I ought to be determined to deliver the message this morning that there is hope in Christ Jesus.
In our text, we find that there were attitudes in the Corinthian church which were hindering the delivery of the message of God. Just like we have attitudes today, not only in the world, but attitudes in this church that is hindering the delivery of the message of God. Attitudes of selfishness. Attitudes of non-commitment. Attitudes of Pride. Attitudes of Big I’s and Little U’s. Attitudes of I don’t like the way he spoke to me. Attitudes of I don’t like the way she looked at me. Did you not know that your altitude depends on your attitude. In other words, how high you can go in Christ depends on your attitude towards Christ. If you have a low attitude you will have a low altitude.
Paul told the Corinthian church that your attitudes are keeping you from showing progress in the Christian faith. Because of your attitudes, you are only spirital babies in the Christian life. You should have grown more than that. You should have matured in the faith. But because of your attitude you are still babies in Christ.
Throughout the pages of the bible God continually calls man to live a life of holiness. In Romans 12:1 “Present your body as a living sacrifice Holy and acceptable unto God.” Ephesians 1: 4 “We should be Holy and without Blame”. 1 Peter 2:5 “Be ye holy for I am holy”. In Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost”. In 1 Peter 2:9 “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation.” In Romans 16:16 “Salute one another with an Holy kiss”. In Exodus 2:5 “God even told Moses to take off his shoes because the ground that you are standing on is Holy Ground.”
Why is God so concerned with the concept of holiness? Many folk don’t like to talk about being Holy in this time and age. We are living in a time when we can talk about the weather and we can talk about news and we can talk about things that are not important at all. But nobody wants to talk about Holiness. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away and behold all things have become new. When we look at ourselves, we ought to look at ourselves through holy eyes. We can look at our hands….
In our text. Let’s look at 2 Cor. 3:2. I believe that the Apostle Paul makes an interesting statement that will help us understand one of the reasons that God puts such a big emphasis on holiness.
In Verse 2 it says “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men.
Paul says to the Corinthian converts and to the disciples that you are living letters.
Here we find Paul’s letter is personalized permanent and public. It is personalized- our epistle. It is permanent—written in our hearts; public – known and read of all men.
Have you ever thought of yourself as a letter? Have you ever thought of yourself as a living communication. Somebody said that the only Bible that some folk will see is you. The only way that some folk will ever hear about somebody who is able to save anybody is that you tell them. The only way that some folk will ever know a saviour that is able to pick them up and turn them around is that you and I introduce them to him.
Paul says that we are living epistles. Not only that he shows us the pen, ink and paper necessary to create this divine letter.
Paul like every pastor and teacher is the instrument which God uses to write his letter. We are instruments to be used by God. Written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God. We ought to say use me Lord in thy service draw me nearer everyday. I am willing to run all the way. I’ll go, I’ll go. If the Lord wants somebody… here am I send me, I will go.
God uses a medium that cannot be washed away, it will not fade. Isaiah 40:8 says the grass wither, the flower fades but the word of our God shall last forever.
God chooses a willing vessel, filled with his Holy Spirit to write His thoughts and feelings to his creation. That’s why every word of the bible is true. He says Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my word will stand forever.
Just for a moment I want to look at a few characteristics of a letter.
First of all a letter is written to convey a message.
God has designed every believer to be a deliverer of good news. It is the news that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We were designed to convey the mind of Christ to men. Telling them that there is a reality in serving a true and living God. Let this mind be in you that is also in Christ Jesus. Man may refuse to listen to the gospel but they cannot ignore your testimony of a concencrated Christian life. You ought to let your light so shine, that men may see your good works and glorify the father which is in heaven.” Everybody seems to be worried about the nuclear bomb, but nobody seems to be worried about the day my Lord shall come. You better set your house in order, because he may be coming soon and he’s going to hit like a nuclear bomb when he comes.
The message you and I carry is an urgent message. Telling somebody that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. The message that we carry is a message of life and death.
Secondly, a letter is written to be read. Every Christian should let his Christianity be visible before the world. Matt. 5:14 says, ye are the light of the world. Vs. 15, says let your light so shine that men may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Those who are Christians in name only are simply forged documents designed to deceive and mislead.
Our life and our conversation ought to be an epistle to make known his praises. We ought to bless the Lord at all times and let his praises continually be in our mouth. Places we used to go, we ought not to want to go there no more. Things we used to do, we ought not want to do them no more. Ways we used to act we ought not to act like that no more. Paul said, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” There are many whom we associate with everyday who will never read the written bible. Whose only hope of salvation is that they may read or hear the living epistle of your life and my life.
Not only is a letter written to be read, but it should be legible.
As Christians our message becomes illegible when we live contradictory lives. Too many times, folk cannot hear what we saying for looking at what we are doing. We live one way at church and another way at home. We can sing and shout on Sunday but on Monday and Tuesday you cuss like a sailor. We live one way around our church family and another way around our friends. When our lives or inconsistent we send mix messages to an already confused world. The bible calls us to be steadfast, unmovable always abounding in the word of God.
There are many today whose message is illegible because there are too many blots in your life. Many times when I’m correcting my students work in school they have too many erasures and smudges. I can’t see the work for the blots. I can’t get past the stains and the blemishes. You might be designed to carry a message of eternal truth, but all that the world can see is the blots. Blots of tempers, blots of worldliness, blots of unforgiveness. Blots of Envy, blots of jealousy. Blots of strife. The bible teaches us that the only cure for an illegible and contradictory message is a life of holiness.
So, I want to let you know this morning that every man, woman, girl, or boy is an open letter for Jesus Christ. Every Christian is an advertisment for the kingdom of God. We judge the shop keeper by the goods that he sells. We judge the craftsman by the articles he produces. We judge the church by the disciples it creates. Therefore men judge Christ by his followes.
The greatest handicap in the church is the unsatisfactory lvies of professing Christians. That’s why God Tells us to be Holy. That’s why he commands us to be ye holy as I am holy. He has designed us to be living letters to a dying world. I don’t know about you this morning. But I’ve made up my mind. That I’m going to go tell it on the Mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. I’m going to go tell it on the mountains. That Jesus Christ is born.
We are to be messages of hope to people in a hopeless situations. Letting the world know that there is still hope in Jesus. When you put your life in Jesus Christ, there is a new hope, a new joy, and a new existence. A saved man will not want to ruin his body, but will want to make his body a "living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1).
