Adequacy In Ministry

Transcript

GR 1796
01/25/2015
Adequacy in Ministry
2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Gil Rugh

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 3. We noted this letter stands out in its own way because of all Paul's letters, it reveals more of the heart and feelings of the Apostle Paul than any of his other letters. He shares something of the fears, concerns, discouragements, as well as the victories and blessings that he enjoys in the ministry. He has had to defend himself to the church at Corinth. Influences have come into the church that have weakened the church's confidence in Paul. This is not new, Paul has had trouble with the church at Corinth for some time, but it just adds to the difficulty. So he talked about that in chapter 1 and into chapter 2. He wrote a letter to them, I take it that it is 1 Corinthians. It's a letter that caused him much concern as we noted when we looked through 1 Corinthians, a variety of issues had to be dealt with. It's a rather stern letter and there is rebuke in it. There are things that need to be corrected. And as in those days there was some time that lapsed between the sending of the letter, the response and so on. And Paul was waiting for Titus, his associate, to bring him word of how the church at Corinth had received his letter. And Paul intended to move up to Troas and then from Troas over into northern Greece where Philippi is and so on, and Macedonia, then down and visit the city of Corinth in the southern province of Achaia in Greece.

So we picked up in 2 Corinthians 2:12, “Now when I came to Troas for the Gospel of Christ, when a door was open for me in the Spirit.” So he traveled up to Troas, the seaport area, and he began to present the Gospel. And there was responsiveness to the Gospel. It was an open door. The opposition did not prevent him from having an effective ministry. It was evidently fruitful. But he said in verse 13, “I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. So I took my leave of them.” That expression, I took my leave of them, indicates there were believers there. Perhaps they had been established by Paul's ministry. And even though it was a great opportunity, he was so troubled in his heart that he couldn't find any peace to stay. I have to move on into Greece. I have to find out what has happened at Corinth. So he went on over into Macedonia, perhaps to the city of Philippi.

And then the letter breaks off as we noted with verse 14. And he says, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph.” And he goes on for an extended portion in this letter to talk about the ministry that God had given to him. And then as we noted when you come over to 2 Corinthians 7:5 he tells us what happened. “When we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest.” There were problems external. There were problems internal. Paul was just troubled by everything. And then verse 6, “But God who comforts the depressed,” the discouraged, “comforted us by the coming of Titus.” And Titus brought good news, the church at Corinth was grieved over their sinful behavior. They have repented, they want a right relationship with Paul.

So that's the explanation of why back in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Paul just breaks in, “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.” That meeting brought great encouragement, great comfort to Paul, just to see the positive response. He is reminded that God is always at work. This becomes a theme through the letter, that in the trials, in the difficulties, in the times of greatest weakness, God's power accomplishes God's purposes. And that's why we noted a theme of this letter becomes “power in weakness.” Toward the end of the letter Paul will say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” That reminder to him that God is at work even when I am discouraged, even when I'm fearful, even when it seems I can't get any inner peace and calm. God has been at work. We want to keep in mind that the response of the Corinthians has been good and positive and encouraging. But certain of the problems at Corinth continue. So through this letter Paul will be dealing with those and his great encouragement comes from the reminder of God's constant work. But the problems haven't disappeared, they have just been put in perspective. “God always leads us in triumph in Christ.”

And “He is making Christ known through my ministry,” Paul says. Telling people about Christ is like a pleasing fragrance that ascends to God, it pleases Him. You say, I want to please the Lord. Well, one of the ways you can do that is to tell people about Christ. He is pleased. It's like a pleasing fragrance that arises to Him when you tell people about Christ. And he reminded us in verse 15, “We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” We get concerned about the response to the Gospel, and if people don't respond positively and worse, if they respond overtly negatively, we find it a discouraging event. But wait a minute. Paul says we are that pleasing fragrance to God among those who are perishing and among those who are being saved. What pleases God in our action is that we are telling people the truth of Christ. That's true whether they receive it or reject it. Now we do desire that they respond and believe it. But if they don't, it wasn't a failure because when God is pleased, I am, if I can use the word, successful. Isn't that what my life as a believer is about? Pleasing God?

So you go and share the Gospel with someone. How did they respond? They were closed, in fact they were pretty negative. It didn't go well. No, it went very well. I had an opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ. What a privilege to know God was pleased with what was done.

This is a serious matter dealing with eternal issues. You're talking about those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Those are the only two groups of people—the perishing and those being saved. This is a serious responsibility, you are dealing with eternal issues. This is the most important discussion you ever have. The most important thing is not who is going to be the next President, or what is going on in this nation or of other nations. The most important thing going on in the world is the telling of the message of Jesus Christ.

Paul says, “Who is adequate for these things?” the end of verse 16. And his answer is given with a negative statement, “For we are not like the many.” And that tells you one of the reasons he says he is adequate for. “We are not like many who corrupt the Word of God,” who peddle the Word of God, who alter it and change it to make it more appealing and more saleable, more acceptable to people. We just tell it like it is, “sincerity, from God in Christ in the sight of God.” That's our ministry. It's a ministry faithful to the Word. Not the most popular of ministries, but the one that is pleasing to God.

Now going through a setting and situation like this, 2 Corinthians 3 begins as we have it, remember there were no chapters and verses when Paul wrote this letter, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” So Paul has to be very careful. When people are looking for something to be critical of, they find it. And Paul realizes the Corinthians are in this situation of being critical of him. This was true as we see in the first letter, and it continues to be true. So first thing, “Are we beginning to commend ourselves?” What he is going to do now is develop further the ministry that God has given him. And the effectiveness that he sees in the ministry is a testimony to God's grace.

“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?” That word translated commend, it basically means bringing people together, to introduce someone, to commend them, recommend them. In other words am I reintroducing myself to you, am I trying to reestablish a relationship with you. Something is wrong here. And I want you to understand my purpose in writing what I am writing is not the feeling that I have to reestablish my relationship with you, recommend myself, re-introduce myself to you. “Or do we need as some letters of commendation to you or from you?” Now here you begin to see part of the problem. What has happened in the church at Corinth is that teachers have come in after Paul left and they have begun to teach things that are contrary to Paul. And they have sought to undermine confidence in Paul and what he taught. And they brought with them letters of commendation from people that would be respectable.

Paul said, “Do we need as some,” and remember in 2 Corinthians 2:17 he said, “We are not like many.” And that many would be connected to the some in 2 Corinthians 3:1—do we need as some. And he is connecting what is happening at Corinth, there are those who have come into the church who are peddling the Word of God. They have made alterations and changes that in effect undermine Paul's ministry and Paul's teaching. Paul says, “do we need letters to commend us to you?” These people have come in and somehow they have taken a step ahead of Paul in the sight of the Corinthians. And look, they seem to be good teachers, they have pointed out what we think are weaknesses in Paul. And you know he can't be trusted because he said he was going to come and visit us twice and he changed his plan. And godly men aren't that changeable. And besides his message wasn't a complete message. And on top of it here are some letters from some significant people recommending these new teachers. You put this all together and Paul says, “do I need to be reintroduced to you?”

I was watching a history program and it goes back to the days of George Washington. And a person was coming to a person of high standard and he brought with him a letter of recommendation from another well-known figure so he could be introduced and brought together with this person. That's what has happened here.

Back up to the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 4. Paul's unique relationship to the Corinthians comes to the fore. Now we realize he had been dealing with this, it was in the first letter he wrote. And look at 1 Corinthians 4:14, “I do not write these things to shame you but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ yet you would not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel.” You see there again he is back having to defend himself, explain himself. You pushed me out and now I'm just one of many teachers and which one do you prefer? But you know the church of Corinth wouldn't be the church of Corinth if Paul hadn't come and brought the Gospel to them. He is their spiritual father. We have a unique relationship. I should not have to work to establish my relationship with you, it has been there from the beginning because I brought you the Gospel.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 3. You know one commentator paraphrased what Paul is saying to the Corinthians like this. Has our relationship sunk to such a low that I must now call upon outside parties to vouch for me? I mean, Paul carried the Gospel there to Corinth, spent a year and a half ministering there, has sent them, this is the third letter at least because in his first letter to the Corinthians he refers to a previous letter he wrote. He has visited them on at least one other occasion in addition to the one when he established the church there. I mean, he has repeated contacts there. How discouraging it is now to be in a position where you have to defend yourself, you have to explain yourself. Somehow Paul has become untrustworthy in the eyes of some at the church at Corinth as though he needs to be reintroduced, re-recommended. Do I need to bring letters of recommendation to you?

When I came to pastor here many years ago, part of the process was to check with people who knew me. You get letters of recommendation. Sometimes I'm asked to write a letter of recommendation, or in our day you may get a phone call. And we can do it verbally on the phone. But it would be a sad thing if after years of ministering I'm in a position to have to defend myself again, bring recommendation from people you think are important. That's where Paul is. It weighs on him as it would. And it's serious enough, he wondered if it's going to bring a break. That's why the coming of Titus was such a relief to his spirit because you never know when these things go, how far is it going to develop, what is going to happen. Are they going to be closed and shut down to the letter I wrote them. Then our relationship gets broken. So in that sense Paul was relieved but now he still has to deal with issues.

So he says in verse 2, “You are our letter written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” You know the greatest testimony of Paul's life to the Corinthians? The Corinthians. You are the letter. What better recommendation could I have? You, you are in our hearts, in my heart because I love you. We are bonded together in Christ through the Gospel in my ministry to you. And this is a letter widely known. Others see the impact of the ministry of the Word as I brought it to you in your lives. Just stop and think. How easy it is, even for believers, to get swept up and all of a sudden these Corinthians have lost confidence in Paul. I don't know if we can trust him. If you can't trust him about his travel plans, can you trust him about the message he preaches and teaches? And things can unravel. You are our letter.

This is not a new problem, back up to the first letter to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 9, this need to defend himself, try to reestablish the right kind of relationship with the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 9 opens up, “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” Where did you hear the Gospel? Where were you taught the Word? “If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” Paul here in the first letter, this is his second letter but the first letter we have recorded, others may not recognize me as an authentic apostle, but I don't understand you not doing that. You have been the beneficiaries of my ministry. You are the seal of my apostleship. What more could you want.

Come back to 2 Corinthians. When he says, “You are my letter,“ 2 Corinthians 3:2, “written in our hearts, known and read by all men.” Those are two present participles, known and read. This is a permanent testimony of my ministry and validation of my ministry. It is an ongoing testimony. How does somebody coming in from the outside with a letter of recommendation from some important person someplace all of a sudden go to the head? And now Paul is on the defensive. Just stop and think, where did you learn of Christ? Who taught you the Word? Who grounded you as a new church? This is something anybody can look at. Believers in other places see this testimony. You are the letter, you are our letter. I want validation of my apostolic ministry and the work of God in my life, Paul said, look at Corinth. That's a testimony. You are our letter written in our hearts.

And this is the transition that begins and is going to be step by step because those false teachers that came into Corinth were those that plagued Paul, those we refer to as Judaizers. They are going to bring the Mosaic Law into the picture. We'll talk about that.

But here you see now he is going to talk about what needs to be written on hearts. Then he says in verse 3, “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” And there is a progression here. Verse 2 he said, “You are our letter, you are written in our hearts. It is known and read by all men.” Then verse 3 he picks up and moves through in detail. “Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ.” So he says in verse 2, “you are our letter;” in verse 3, “being manifested that you are a letter of Christ,” a letter from Christ. Paul is not the source of the message that he teaches and preaches, Christ is. So he calls it you are our letter but not because he is the author. It is being manifested, you are a letter of Christ, a letter from Christ. It's Jesus Christ and His work that is being proclaimed. That's the content of the Gospel.

Secondly, “you are cared for by us.” So here is the sense in which Paul can say in verse 2, “you are our letter.” You are cared for by us. Many of you have in the margin, you have a #1 in front of the word cared and in the margin you have the word served. And this is just one of the variations of the word we bring into English as deacon, a word for serve or serving. Often translated ministered because here is one ministering, serving on behalf of another. So you are being ministered to by us. So the letter comes from Christ, Paul is the carrier of the letter. He is ministering the truth concerning Christ to the Corinthians, ministered by us. So there is the part he has. The letter comes from Christ and it's the truth concerning Him, but it was carried to the Corinthians by Paul.

The next thing he says. “It was not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.” So Paul doesn't even take credit for the one who inscribed the letter. It's the Holy Spirit and it's inscribed by the Spirit, not with ink. This is a supernatural work, a supernatural letter, if you will. So the next point is it's not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. So it's a letter from Christ, ministered by Paul, inscribed by the Spirit on the hearts of believers. And you'll note the contrast he draws here—“not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” You might have thought he would say it was written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on parchment, for example. But he is making the transition. He talked about, verse 2, “you are our letter written in our hearts.” Now he is elaborating and going further into detail. What has been written in the heart has been written there by the Holy Spirit and this stands in contrast to the commendation in the letter written on tablets of stone. Tablets of stone reminds you of what? Reminds you of the Old Testament Law.

So in this Paul has moved along to talk about basically the substance of his ministry—carrying the message from Christ, which is about Christ, to those who need to hear it so the Spirit of God can take it and do a work in the heart that only He can do. So you see Paul is not making himself out as being some great person. He has a key role to play, but he is a mediator, a go-between to bring that from Christ to the people that the Spirit will use to change a heart.

Back up to 1 Corinthians 3, Paul dealt with this in his first letter to the Corinthians. Look at verse 6, because the Corinthians are drawn to personality. I agree with this person, I like this person. They even tried to divide Peter and Paul and Apollos and so on. Paul makes a point in 1 Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.” And we will be rewarded for our faithfulness. So you see you are in the middle. You take the truth and you pass it on. Remember that fragrance that pleases God? That's our role, that's why Paul said we are a fragrance of Christ to God in every place. That's like every place I go to fulfill my role. It's not to originate the message or decide its content, that's Christ. It's not to accomplish the work in the heart, that's the Spirit. It's just to be sure that I am faithful with the message. When I decide that I am not satisfied with what Christ has authored as the message in His work, or I'm not satisfied with what the Spirit is getting done in a heart, then you become like many who are peddling the Word of God. People aren't interested in the Word, just simple clarity of the Word. It needs to be adjusted to our culture and thinking and ideas to make it more palatable. Or we don't see the results in lives we like so we'll make an adjustment and I think we'll get better results, more people. But you understand then I misunderstand my role. I've been entrusted with the message, not to try to edit it or change it, just to pass it on. I can't change a heart, only the Spirit of God can do that.

So we see our role and each of us has a little different role tied to gifts that God has given us and responsibilities He has entrusted to us. Some plant, some water, some reap, in the analogy in 1 Corinthians 3. But all will be rewarded according to the faithfulness of their labor. So if we keep our perspective. You know the question I was saying—What is my responsibility? Paul is sharing here the role he has and the Corinthians need to stop and think. Yes, Paul was used by God's grace in our lives.

You come back to 2 Corinthians 3, now he is moving into the contrast between those who would want to use the Mosaic Law. When the Judaizers came, they could bring great confusion because they did not deny. Judaizers are Jews who have professed faith in Christ. This is where the confusion comes. They evidently don't deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel; they don't deny that He died on the cross; they don't deny that He was raised from the dead; they don't say that faith in Christ is not necessary. They just say all of that is not enough. And that's where it becomes confusing because then the church at Corinth says, those are all good, sound things; that's what we believe. And these teachers come and they say, yes, but Paul hasn't taught you everything you need to know. That's why he's not a dependable teacher. That was manifested when he didn't keep his promise to come on schedule.

Another area is he teaches an incomplete Gospel. Tablets of stone refer and connect back to the Mosaic Law. We'll just go to one passage, come back to Exodus 31, one passage on tablets of stone, reference to the Mosaic Law. It is used several times. Exodus 31:18, Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai and he is given the Law. It includes 613 commandments, but 10 are inscribed on tablets of stone which really give a summary of what is required. And in verse 18, “When He had finished speaking with him,” when God had finished speaking with Moses, “upon Mt. Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.” So tablets of stone come to be a reference to the Mosaic Law as represented in the Ten Commandments. It becomes a summary way of speaking of the Law. So that's the contrast.

Come to Jeremiah 31 and in verse 31 God says, “Behold days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” New Covenant. And what will be involved? Verse 33, “This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My law within them,” note this, “on their heart I will write it.” The very thing that Paul is drawing on. Our ministry, not dealing with tablets of stone, the Mosaic Law, but with that which is inscribed, “written on the heart.” We are at the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant.

Now these Judaizers didn't deny the reality of the work of Christ, they just denied that the Old Covenant was no longer operative. Come to Acts 15. You know it is true for the church, it has been down through church history, and it's true to today. The real confusion and trouble within the church is not caused by those overtly pagan religions. We see the distinction clearly. The problem comes and the confusion comes in the church when people come and claim to believe much of the same thing we do. But they add to that truth or take away from it. Acts 15, there is a conference being held, the Jerusalem Council as we sometimes refer to it, over this very issue. Verse 1, “Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren.” And Judea is the region where Jerusalem is located, it's the center of Judaism. “They began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved.” Down in verse 5, “Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.” So that's a major step, they claimed to have believed in Jesus as the Messiah. That's a major move to put them at odds with mainline Judaism. So you see these are part of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed. “They stood up saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Law of Moses.” So they didn't say they deny that Jesus is the Messiah, they deny He died on the cross, they deny His resurrection. No. They just said all of that is not enough.

So you can see how it becomes confusing. We have people say, we agree on the basics. Sort of like people today with Roman Catholicism, we talk about. A book was written several years ago, Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Why? Because we have so much in agreement. But that doesn't mean we are in agreement. That's the way with the Judaizers.

Come over to Galatians, Paul in the churches he established in the region of Galatia, these Judaizing teachers would come in after Paul and say, “Paul taught you, but he doesn't teach a complete Gospel.” So you have Galatians 1, look at verse 6. “I am amazed,” I'm dumbfounded, “that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different Gospel.” You see how Paul saw it. “Which is not really another,” and there is a play on the word another here, two different Greek words—a different Gospel, another Gospel. But then he makes clear in verse 7, “which is really not another.” It's a different Gospel, the end of verse 6, different, another of a totally different kind. Then in verse 7, it's really not another like mine at all. So they come in and they talk about what they agree on, but it's not enough. So they end up distorting the Gospel, and it was disturbing the believers in the church because they got confused. And Paul makes clear how important this matter is. It doesn't matter if an angel from heaven comes and preaches a Gospel that has been altered and changed, he's condemned to hell. That's it. And he makes clear in verse 10, I'm not trying to curry the favor of men, I'm not trying to be a man-pleaser because then I couldn't be a faithful slave of Christ.

You come over to Galatians 3 and it's the same approach he is using with the Corinthians. Verse 1, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” Somebody has put a spell on you, “before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly displayed as crucified.” I taught the Gospel to you clearly and you professed to believe it. Did somebody come in and do a magical spell on you? “This is the only thing I want to find out from you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit are you now perfected by the flesh?” The same kind of issue Paul is dealing with in the church at Corinth. What is wrong? Were you not taught the truth by me? Weren't you saved by that truth? Didn't you grow by that truth? What kind of spell has come over you that now you are wandering around in a fog, thinking maybe that truth wasn't the truth at all? And I can't be trusted. Same problem at Galatia because you undermine trust and confidence in the messenger, you undermine confidence in the message. And the battle goes on.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 3. Paul's ministry has to do with the New Covenant, we'll talk more about that and its connection to Israel and its connection to us today. We're familiar with the New Covenant, Paul is going to talk about it in verse 6 and then he's going to elaborate on that ministry. We'll say more about that in a moment.

Look at verse 4. “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.” So he makes clear, this confidence I have is not a self-confidence. We're not talking about having good self-esteem. I have confidence through Christ, my relationship to Him, what He has done in my life, the truth He has given to me, the reliability of the message about Him, my confidence is through Christ toward God. I have full confidence because I am being faithful to the truth of Christ, and that gives me confidence before God. So while Paul is discouraged by some of the opposition going on, his confidence before God is not shaken. But it is discouraging, it's disappointing. You know how it is when you've been involved in someone's life and you ministered in that life, and then for some reason they lose confidence in you. Here Paul has the church at Corinth, he's poured so much of his life into, but he says my confidence toward God is not shaken because my confidence is centered in Christ and it's through Him that I have confidence before God.

Back up to 1 Corinthians 15:10, this context Paul goes on again having to talk about his apostleship. Verse 10, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Paul's testimony to God's grace, in Christ God's grace was showered upon me, not only to save me but then to put me into the ministry. And you remember when Ananias was sent to Paul after he had been struck blind on the Damascus Road, I'm going to send him to be My testimony before kings and rulers and authorities. And I'll show him what he has to suffer for me. And Paul said “His grace toward me,” verse 10, “did not prove vain. I labored more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” I worked as hard as I could, I worked harder than others, but I don't even deserve credit for that. All the credit goes to God's grace. It was His enabling grace in my life that enabled me to have a ministry of effectiveness. That's Paul's testimony.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” He had asked the question in 2 Corinthians 2:16, “Who is adequate for these things?” He had given a negative answer which showed his adequacy by saying we're not like many who peddle the Word of God. Now he flat out states it. Our adequacy is not in ourselves and we are not so foolish to think that we are adequate in and of ourselves. Our adequacy is from God. There is no room for self-confidence, self-esteem. Self itself is a problem. That's not what Paul is talking about. Would never think that I was adequate in any way of myself. That's Paul's education. Paul is just an extra special person. Paul says that doesn't explain anything. I have no adequacy in myself. The effectiveness of my life and ministry is a testimony of God's grace.

Come back to Romans 12. Not to be true just of Paul. We're talking about Paul and his apostleship but it's recorded here for our benefit, a reminder. And he's going to tell the Romans, the church at Rome about the grace of God in their lives and how it works. God's grace not only saved him, but it gifted him to be an apostle. When God's grace saved you, He also gifted you by grace to serve Him in a special way. So he is telling them, Romans 12:3, “Through the grace given to me,” which was to serve as an apostle. “I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think.” You see God's grace works in your life, pretty soon you can begin to think pretty highly of yourself because you are special. You need to stop and think, I am nothing. It's His grace at work in me. All the credit, all the glory goes to Him. You are not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. “Think as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” verse 6, “since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.” That's how we are to function. So it's not humble to say, I just don't have much to contribute. Are you denying God's grace in your life? Nor is it true to say, I am more important to this body than anybody and I just am an exceptional person. No, you are a nothing, I am a nothing. But God's grace, think about it, God's grace enables you as it did Paul, to serve Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. But he realizes the danger, even in being used of God we can develop a self-focus and forget it's God's grace that is accomplishing anything. Can you touch a heart? I can't, you can't, Paul couldn't. The Spirit of God can. The amazing thing is the God of glory uses us as the mediators of His truth so His Spirit will work in the hearts of those that we minister to. Remarkable.

Come back to 2 Corinthians3:5, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves. Our adequacy is from God who also made us adequate as servants,” those who minister God's truth, “of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.” Now he is contrasting himself. Those in whom God's grace is working are enabled by His grace, Paul being the example here. But the application obviously as we saw in Romans 12 is for us, too. He's saying He made us adequate as servants of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. The contrast is the letters written in stone in contrast to the new covenant which is a ministry of the Spirit, inscribing God's work on the heart. And then the contrast, “the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.”

We're familiar with the new covenant even though we may not have studied a lot of it, every time we take communion we repeat the words of Christ. “This cup is the new covenant in My blood,” establishing of the new covenant. Hebrews 9:15 says Christ is the mediator of a new covenant. And at the end of Hebrews 8 he said, by establishing a new covenant He has rendered the old covenant obsolete. We sometimes say later revelation does not change or alter previous revelation. So we're not saying there is a change in the plan of God, the Mosaic Covenant served a purpose. The purpose was realized and fulfilled with the coming of Christ.

Come over to Galatians as we wrap up, we'll have more to say about the new covenant in our future studies. In Galatians 3:11 he tells them that no one is justified by the Law before God, it is evident. So the Law could condemn but the Law could not save. That's why the letter kills, it is powerless to save. No one was ever saved by keeping the Law or attempting to keep the Law. Some poor, deluded, rebellious sinners today say, I think I'm going to be all right, I try to keep the Ten Commandments. What do you say? You understand that's an exercise in futility. It's like you're going to drink the ocean, there's no hope. There is no salvation in the Law.

You come over to Galatians 3:24, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith is come we are no longer under a tutor.” You see the purpose of the Law was to be an overseer of Israel, to keep them on the track and prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. When the Messiah came, the work of the Law had been fulfilled, it's work was done. Now some in reformed theology take this verse to mean the Law has become our tutor to Christ, that you have to preach the Law to people before you can preach grace to them before they can be saved. They are in the camp more of the Judaizers, trying to mingle the Law and grace. I read one of the commentaries on 2 Corinthians, the man was saying we shouldn't say that the Law is finished and over. Well, in the sense that it was given, yes it is. It served its purpose. You don't preach the Law so people can hear the Gospel and get saved. The point here when Paul is writing to the Galatians is that the Law served its purpose. With the coming of Christ it had brought them to that point. That was the whole purpose of the Law. God never intended the Mosaic Law to be operating today. There will be things in the Law that will have a future purpose but they are clarified.

So to be clear on what we are about and what the Gospel is. We have a Gospel of grace. Now understand here, the devil doesn't change his work. If you lose confidence in me, you lose confidence in the elders, you lose confidence in the men teaching you the Word of God in your classes, in your home, you will begin to lose confidence in their message. Then confusion sets in. The devil always works the same way. We have to be sure. Are we being faithful to the Word. We ought to be able to evaluate that. We have been a church for 50 years or more, these are churches a lot younger and yet they are expected to be able to sort this stuff out. Paul tells the Galatian churches, are you so foolish? What stupidity. You come under someone's magical spell? God expects us to be discerning, to look clearly and sort things out biblically. And there is no acceptable excuse as a believer for not doing it. So Paul has to belabor this. It doesn't mean we give up on each other, but you read this and think, why did the Spirit of God put it here? Because we have to keep battling the same thing. We're going to talk more about the Mosaic Law, reform theology falls into this. They want to mix the Law in, put it as a necessary part, and if you don't you are anti-nomian. We want to be careful to be able to sort these things out. We say, it gets too complicated. It's not complicated at all. Just stay focused on the truth and reject anything that isn't consistent with the truth.

Let's pray together. Thank You, Lord, for Your truth. Thank You for the reliability of Your Word. Thank You for Your faithfulness, even when we are unfaithful, You are faithful. You can't deny Yourself. Lord, we are in awe. We have been reminded of what the Spirit directed Paul to write 2,000 years ago. Your same grace has brought salvation to our hearts and lives. Your same grace has gifted us to be instruments to convey your truth, to minister on your behalf in the lives of others. Lord, may we be careful, each of us for ourselves to carry out our responsibility faithfully to You, then be instruments that encourage others to be faithful. May our testimony as a church be one that is a testimony of Your grace, your power that continues to accomplish your purposes in these days of the darkness of sin that envelops the world. The light of the Gospel continues to shine, the power of the Spirit continues to change hearts and we are instruments to bring this message to the lost. We give You praise in Christ's name, amen.