2 Cor 3:3 you show that you are a letter from Christ

TEXT: 2 Cor 2:14-3:5

Written by – Christ (you are a letter from Christ)

When I pick a book I always look at the writer. Usually most the books write something about the writer at the back page of the book. Sometimes the topic of the book could be catchy and interesting but if I don’t know much about the writer I usually drop the book. If the writer is a world renowned author and you personally know him it makes a whole lot of difference as you read the book.

Have we wondered how we can be a ‘Letter of Christ’? Paul says that it is the result of his ministry. He is not boasting himself for in vs. 4-5 he says “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.”

My wife and I have been here for the last 7yrs now and we don’t know how long God will keep us here but the greatest joy that we could ever have is to know that every one who belongs to BTM Church is a letter of Christ.

Perishable Vs Imperishable

• » Ink and Spirit
• » Stone and Heart

Written with – Spirit (written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God)

Written in ink…lifeless substance, and in lines that easily fade, or that may become easily illegible, or that can be read only by a few, or that may be soon destroyed. (Barnes)

On the other hand, written with Spirit…brings life and His work is progressive, flourishing with no signs of fading away. It will be legible, easy to read and can be read by all men. The impact last forever and ever.

Christ is the writer…every time I hear the Word; the Spirit of God moves in my heart bringing conviction and as I put my hands to work on the conviction, God puts His hand and my life begins to change. I know God hates lies (Prov 6:16-19) but I have been pushed in a situations were everybody else are lying and it is just one lie I think my life will be saved from trouble and if I tell the truth I will get into trouble. What will I do? I will choose to tell the truth coz I know God wants me to truthful; Christ’s writing begins to take place.

Written on – Heart (not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts)

When Paul speaks of ‘tablets of stone’ he is definitely got the two stone tablets that God gave Moses at Mt. Sinai (Vs. 7). God never intended His Laws to remain on that stone tablets. For through His prophet Jeremiah (31:33) God says "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

What is written on heart will be known and read by everybody (Vs 2). We may think what is written on our heart is something within me, nobody will know, nobody will see but in contrary it is the other way round it will be known, read and seen by all men and thus it makes it much more powerful and influential. We may forget what we read but it is hard to forget what we see. Visual aid is much more powerful. What is inside will always comes out.

Heart is the best and the right place for the Word of God. The psalmist says 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Matt 13:14-15 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "'You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Our hearts without God’s Word will become calloused (hardened skin, what comes to my mind is a leper. I have seen a leper smoking and the fire in his cigar has almost reached the bud of the cigar burning the skin on his finger but leper will not know or realize because he has no feeling or sensation on his fingers. As in the ‘parable of sower’ it will be filled with rocks and thorns and in the words of Isaiah (6:9-10) “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Stones, even where laws were engraved by the finger of God, would moulder and decay, and the inscription made there would be destroyed. But not so with that which was made on the heart. It would live forever. It would abide in other worlds. It would send its influence into all the relations of life; into all future scenes in this world; and that influence would be seen and felt in the world that shall never end. (Barnes)