A letter from Christ

2 Corinthians 1:1-3:18

Key Verse 3:3

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Nowadays not many write letters. Rather they write emails. So had Paul lived in our days he could have said, “You are an email from Christ.” 

A letter (or an email from Christ) is a figure of speech on the kind of Christian a shepherd can produce. In the passage Paul works as a strong shepherd praying to produce strong children of God out of sheep with many weaknesses. 

Yesterday Dr. David Min and I attended an Open House Worship Service in Minneapolis. The meeting started at 11:30 a.m. The meeting started with Chuck Vaught taking the podium and sharing a testimony. He surprised me saying, “My mother is a drug addict. She is a lesbian.” Then he shared how he got screwed up, then how he met a shepherd, studied the Bible, developed a career, got married, became a father of two sons, and grew up as a shepherd: He is feeding one sheep. He wants to raise three shepherds. Four students shared their testimonies more or less along the same line: how their families went dysfunctional, how they went astray, how they came to meet shepherds, and how they found themselves at home in the Lord all through human shepherds praying for them. 

What does America need? What she needs the most is a strong shepherd, not strong economy, not strong military, but a strong shepherd. 

Where can we find an ideal image of a strong shepherd? In the passage we can meet the Apostle Paul serving the Corinthians as a strong shepherd. What made Paul to be a good, strong shepherd for them? Four things to consider: 

First, the God of all comfort (1:1-11).

A strong shepherd has on his side the God of all comfort. A shepherd’s life is not easy: it comes with many difficulties. 

Remember: babies are babies, children are children, sheep are sheep. No one sheep is easy to serve. In fact of all the tasks that are called of a Christian, feeding sheep, taking care of sheep, and serving sheep until he or she is established as a man or a woman bearing Jesus’ image is THE HARDEST thing to do. 

Think about the Corinthians.  The 1 Corinthians and other historical records indicate that they were carnal and worldly. To prove their bad reputation some of them started to challenge Paul’s integrity saying, “Oh, this guy is a fake; he is fickle.” To top it off, some of them banded together behind the scene and launched a personal attack on Paul saying, “He asks us to make offerings only to put the money in his own pocket.” 

When the one you dearly love treats you like this how would you react? Most likely you would never feel like dealing with that person any more. Indeed most people would lose all appetite to even be called a shepherd for them, and say, “Oh, I am sick and tired of him.” And then call it quits. 

Yet, Paul did not do that. Rather he kept praying for them. He kept laboring for them, so that the Corinthians would overcome their sin problems, character-weaknesses, and grow in the Lord. 

The question then is: “How was Paul able to do that?” We find an answer to this question in what Paul says in the passage. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”  

Paul had the God of all comfort on his side. Pay special attention to: “the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Then focus on: “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort!” Remember the addition: “of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Of all the difficulties any shepherds can possibly go through Jesus went through the greatest difficulties. Yet, Jesus did not teeter or falter. Why? It was because the God of all comfort stood on his side. 

I do not know what is going on with you today. But this is what I know: today and tomorrow you may be weak and insecure. You may not be always strong. But, if you have the God of all comfort on your side, you can be strong as well. With the God of all comfort on your side, you can live even as a strong shepherd or shepherdess. 

Second, the depth of my love for you (1:12-2:13).

As a shepherd what kinds of troubles did Paul encounter? And how did Paul handle (or respond to) the challenges he was faced with? As we examine the passage (1:12-2:13 in particular) we can single out three major challenges Paul had to deal with. 

Satan

The sinful nature in a man

The fragility of relationships

In 2:10 Paul directly mentions Satan saying, “in order that Satan might not outwit us.” He knew that of all the enemies he had to deal with, Satan was the first. But not all people understand Satan’s existence much less his diligent operation (inside of a church).  Since Satan goes “incognito,” one may not be one hundred percent sure of him working diligently inside of church. But there is a way to ascertain the devil working: people committing all kinds of sins, not outside but inside of a church fellowship. The Apostle John is direct on this point for he says in 1 John 3:8, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil.” In the passage the Apostle Paul talks about “another painful visit” and “punishment inflicted on him by the majority.” These are references to the sins blatantly committed inside of the church fellowship in Corinth. And Paul had to deal with Satan who is a dealer in sin. 

The second enemy a shepherd has to deal with is the sinful nature in a man. Living in a morally liberal city Corinth (where anything goes, like free sex) the Corinthians might have entertained a loose idea about “sin” and the “sinful nature” of a man. But we should never underestimate the dreadfulness of the sinful nature, for it causes a great deal of harm to humanity. 

Driven by sinful nature Adolph Hitler, Karl Marx, and Mao Tse-dong murdered millions of people. Driven by sinful nature the first son from the first family Adam and Eve murdered Abel in cold blood. And a shepherd must deal with the sinful nature of a sheep. 

The fragility of relationships poses itself as another challenge. In the passage the Apostle Paul says: “I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit”;“If I grieve you who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?”; “I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you…” Once upon a time Paul visited Corinth. He met several Corinthians. He taught them the Bible for one and a half years. A love relationship was born between them.  But while Paul was away someone spread slanders against Paul; people started questioning Paul’s integrity. They tried to cut the relationship with Paul. But if Paul their shepherd for the Corinthians is removed, what will happen to the flock? The wolves will come and gobble them up. 

How did Paul overcome the difficulties? Look at 2:4, “For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.” Paul had in his heart God’s love. And he wrote to the Corinthians to let them know the depth of his love for them!

God’s love has the power to win victories over Satan, over man’s sinful nature, and over the broken relationship. Speaking of the power of love Paul says in 1Co 13:8, “Love never fails.” 

The love of God however is more easily preached than practiced. During the sports game for egg hunting and scripture memorization at the Spring Conference, one pastor received from God 1Co 13:8. At first he did not know why the Lord gave him this verse. But after the conference he went through powerful turmoil. During this turmoil he felt the sentence of death inside. He also realized that the depth of the love he thought he had in his heart towards the flock ran very low. So instead of asking others to recite the love chapter, he himself chose to recite it. He earnestly prayed that the Lord would have mercy on him that God’s love would run as deep, high, wide, and long as it should—sufficiently wide, deep, high and long enough to embrace many. 

Third, the fragrance of the knowledge of him (2:14-17).

The next point for us to consider is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. For love of God springs up and flourishes only in the heart and mind of the one who has a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Look at verses 14-17. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”

In this passage Paul talks about a triumphal procession. A few minutes ago we talked about Paul being extremely distressed and now we see Paul speaking of a triumphal procession. What is going on? Is it a “mood swing” on the part of Paul? No. Why did Paul at one time fall in depression and at another felt greatly elated? The answer is obvious. Each time he felt down, he relied on the Lord, not on himself. So he might have knelt down and prayed asking for God’s help. Then the Lord must have lifted him up. This is why he is now in an upbeat mood! 

Overall the point we need to consider then is the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the source of good courage and influence. The word “fragrance” or “aroma” goes to the influence that is wafted out of the love which comes from one’s personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. In the past Paul was a man of bad influence. Everywhere he went people were afraid of him. Because he worked like a hissing snake, people ran away from him. But in God’s mercy the Risen Jesus stopped him and spoke to him on Paul’s way to Damascus. Then Paul opened his eyes to Jesus’ love, for Jesus loved sinners even to the point of shedding his blood for them. Since then Paul became a man of great encouragement and good influence. 

Let us stop and think about the meaning of the word “influence.” According to Miriam Webster, influence means, “an emanation of spiritual or moral force; the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.” Jesus did not exert physical force. The culmination of his ministry was to die on a tree, being silent to all who falsely accused him. During these trial-some moments, Jesus remained silent; while his enemies drove nails through his body, he drew up the strength and broke silence to pray for the sinners saying, “Father, forgive them.” In this way Jesus became the source of good influence. It is through Jesus’ good influence that millions of people in all generations have come and are coming to find life in Him. 

Fourth, the Spirit of the living God (3:1-18).

The fourth and final component that is critical in writing a living letter in the living tablet of a man is the Spirit of the living God. Thus far we talked about human factors, such as the Apostle Paul doing this or doing that. But the name of the venture called shepherding is not all human. It is nothing but all that is divine. Speaking of this truth the Apostle Paul says in 3:1, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need like some people letters of recommendation to you or from you?” No. If it is not all human but all divine, in what respect is this so? 

In 3:2-18 the Apostle Paul says that it is through the Spirit of the living God who works in each person, so he or she would know God’s love, be transformed by it, and the end result will be for him to be transformed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus. Let us read verses 3-6, and then let us go to verses 17 and 18. 

(1) You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (3:3-6)

(2) Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (3:17-18)

In the above Paul uses the word “Spirit” six times. Paul uses it to describe the origin of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit, and the identity of the Spirit. The Spirit originates from God. The Spirit sets man free from the grip and effects of sin and Satan. Spirit himself is the Lord. So the Lord who is the Spirit does all we need for life. Speaking of the work of the Lord, Paul sums it up saying, “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” 

In conclusion, in the above we learned that the Apostle Paul became a good shepherd [after Jesus’ example] for the flock of God for he had: (1) faith in the God of all comfort, (2) the love of God, (3) which sprang from his personal knowledge of Jesus, who in turn worked in and through him powerfully (4) through the Spirit of the Living God, so that Paul could write living letters from Christ on the hearts of the Corinthians. 

One word: a letter from Christ

 By the word “letter” Paul means the Law of Moses that condemns. (3:8) 

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