What a wonderful thought, that God is writing a
letter that exalts Christ and He doing this through our lives. They are epistles
of commendation. Back in the old
days (and actually some might still do this), when someone in a church moved to
another community, the church would write a letter of commendation that he
could take with him and deliver upon arrival at his new church. Or, once he arrived and sought membership,
the previous church would send the letter.
This is not the point of this passage but to me
that was a good practice. It is common
for people to leave churches for another churches, not because of re-location
but just because of being disgruntled.
They leave without properly dealing with difficult relationships and
thus lose the opportunity to grow. They
are likely to repeat the process and never mature as a Christian. I made it a point when someone new showed up
at the church where I was pastor to find out about their previous situation,
especially if they left a church in the same town.
But of course in today’s passage the epistle of commendation is one that is
written on tablets … of the heart
(v3). It is an epistle of Christ written by
the Spirit of the living God. Christians are a letter that exalts
Christ. It is not about how great and
wonderful we are; it is about how great and wonderful Christ is IN us! That’s the point of v5: the letter shows that
our sufficiency (ability) is not of ourselves as if we were anything but our
sufficiency is from God.
How
does the Holy Spirit make us a letter that exalts Christ? Note the ministry of the Spirit in this
chapter and you will have a great answer to that question.
·
Paul says they were epistles ministered by us, by Paul the apostle
(v3). This is the Spirit’s ministry,
carried out through Jesus’ chosen apostles.
Jesus promised the Spirit would do this, exalting the Son of God through
those who would write the Scriptures we know as the New Testament (Jn.
16:13-15). The Spirit’s ministry that
always depends on the word of God.
·
Then notice, the
Spirit gives life (v6). Jesus IS the
life (John 14:6); through faith in His Name we are born again by the Spirit
(John 1:12-13); and thus this work of the Spirit exalts Christ.
·
The Spirit removes the blinding veil from our
eyes so that we have the freedom/liberty to see and know Christ (v14-17). This happens when we turn to the Lord and, of
course, exalts Christ.
·
Then the Spirit transforms us into the likeness
of Christ as we continue to behold Christ in the scriptures using our unveiled
eyes (v18). Of course, having all these little Christs (so to speak) running
around exalts Christ. Likeness to Him,
including likeness to His death and resurrection (Phil. 3:8-11) is the very
reason we were brought into relationship with Him (Ro. 8:29).
Today, let us so yield ourselves to the Spirit
of God that our lives are a letter that commends Christ to others!
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