II Corinthians 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
A true Spiritual leader does not try to make a name for himself. God exalts His faithful servants. He chose Moses to be the first leader of Israel. He made Moses big in the eyes of Pharaoh. He also made him big in the eye of the children of Israel. God chose his replacement in Joshua. God elevated Joshua so that the people respected him. That pattern follows through the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, Jesus chose twelve disciples. He gave them authority to go out and heal the sick and to preach the Gospel of the kingdom. One of those twelve, Judas Iscariot was a devil. Jesus chose him to show us that even lost people can pretend to be God’s children for a time. Judas eventually betrayed Jesus for money, but he found that money did not satisfy him. He eventually killed himself and is now in hell.
Jesus chose the replacement for Judas in Saul/Paul. He was the last true apostle. There are men who claim to be apostles today, but they are imposters. There are also men who claim to be prophets today but they are also imposters. There are also many men and women who claim to be pastors and evangelists, but they are false teachers. No woman is called by God to be a pastor or an evangelist.
A true pastor does not go out and advertise his greatness. He simply preaches the truth and allows God to put him in the place He wants him to be at. The glory does not belong to a man. It belongs to God.
In our text, Paul was not trying to make himself a big man. He did not need to boast about who he was. He did not need any letters of commendation to give to the Corinthian saints.
Today, too many professing Christians think that their pastor needs to have degrees and titles in order to be effective. Studying to meet God’s approval is important. The Bible shows us that those who are true servants of God are often not well received by people. Peter and John were disciples of Jesus Christ; however, the people of their time looked at them as being ignorant and unlearned men. They knew they had been with Jesus, but that was not something the people looked up to. They wanted to silence them because they had been with Jesus.
In verse 2 Paul reminded the saints that they were their epistle. The saints in Corinth were the blessing that Paul and his companions needed. They were the living witness of Biblical saints. True spiritual leaders do not need flattery. As we have noticed already, the saints in Corinth had some serious problems to deal with. However, that was not something that Paul wanted to distance himself from. He was content to work with those that God gave him to work with.
We learn from the Scriptures, that true spiritual leaders need to be longsuffering toward others. A true spiritual leader knows that he too is far from sinless. He needs to be growing in the Lord, but he also needs to understand that other saints also need to grow in the Lord. The Christian life is not a competition. It is not a class warfare. That was the problem in Corinth. The Christian life is as Paul wrote:
I Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
The apostle Paul did not make himself the mark to shoot for. He exalted Christ. In verse 2 of our text, he reminded the saints that they were known and read of all men. Christians are not saved to be secretive. In fact, those who are true Christians will soon recognize that the world is watching us. The world is looking for faults in those who profess to be saved. They want to try to knock us down and prove we are no different than they are.
The only factor that sets a true saint apart from the lost is that the saint is saved by God’s grace. Saints did nothing to earn God’s grace and salvation. It is a gift of God.
In verse 3 Paul continued to remind the saints in Corinth of who they were. Once a person is saved, they cannot lose their salvation. In fact, once a person is saved, they do not want to live in sin. The saints in Corinth were not happy in their carnality and their tolerance of fornication. They were free from condemnation now that they had dealt with the sins mentioned in I Corinthians.
Paul pointed out that he and his companions could not take credit for the godly changes taking place in the saints. It was the Spirit of the living God who was impressing upon them the things that he was directed to teach them. We can teach until we are blue in the face, but if the recipient is not willing to listen to the work of the Holy Spirit in their heart, there will be no good change. That is why it is essential that the preacher be empowered by the Holy Spirit in his work. He needs to be convinced that what he is doing is right and whether people want to listen and obey, he does not waver. He is not a people pleaser, he is a God pleaser.
The changes happening in Corinth were happening in the hearts of the saints. There were not some tables of stone like the hard copies of the Ten Commandments that God gave Moses for the people. We need God’s Word written down for us. However, just having the Word of God in your house or carrying it around with you, does not make you a child of God. There needs to be a trusting in the Word of God. As Paul stated:
Philippians 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
The Christian life is a life. It is not a Sunday three hour event. It is not a Sunday all day and Wednesday evening event. It is a twenty-four-seven life. It is all consuming. It is a blessing to those who know the Lord.
The world likes to look critically at true Christians. They love name-only Christians. The internet has many flavours of that. If you want to know the truth, you start with the Word of God and you humble yourself and turn to God in repentance and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and then you get into a true church that honours God’s Word and can actually help you to grow in the Lord.
The apostle Paul was directed by God to show the significance of truth in a true believer’s life. Can you appreciate that?
Pastor Bartel