Taking our Bibles this morning, please, and turning to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians is the autobiographical apology of the Apostle Paul as he defends his apostleship to the Corinthians who had caused his legacy to be made suspect. It's the most personal of his letters. He opens up his life. for examination in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he speaks of a treasure that we have in earthen vessels. So as we make our way through 2 Corinthians, we've been discovering those treasures. We discovered the treasure of comfort in 2 Corinthians 1 and the treasure of forgiveness. Recently we looked in 2 Corinthians and discovered the treasure of victory over depression. And as we open this morning to 2 Corinthians 3, I'd like us to consider together the treasure of living letters. 2 Corinthians 3, beginning then, in verse 1. Do we begin again to commend ourselves or need we as some other epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, 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 fleshly tables of the heart." The treasure of living letters. Let's ask the Lord to bless us as we look in His word. Father, this morning We're so thankful that we can come to the one who is the healer of hearts and know the truth sung to be so true. And Lord, we're mindful this morning to pray for the Quillen family in particular and those impacted by Drew's death. Lord, I pray that you would heal hearts, but you'd also open eyes. Help us this morning as we look in Your Word to realize that You have the power to write a new message on a heart. Power unlike any other. To transform men and women from the inside out by the power of the Spirit of God. And so, dear Savior, may the Spirit of God do a work in this place this day. And dear Father, we pray that more would be carved into the image of Christ because of what we see in His Word. And send us out from this place better letters to be read of all men. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. I've had the privilege of visiting D.L. Moody's home in Northfield, Massachusetts many times. It's always a blessing to go into the home of D.L. Moody and reminisce over the history of how God used a humble man with a third-grade education who was known to butcher the English language so badly that people actually came just to hear him talk badly. There are a couple of portraits in the house that I love to see. One is a portrait that was cut out of a frame in Moody's house when he was living in Chicago, Illinois on the night of the Great Chicago Fire. He had recently sat for an oil portrait, and his wife thought so much of it that the only thing that she carried out of the house was an oil painting of D.L. Moody, and she handed it to him. reminisced himself of running through the streets of Chicago on the night of the fire carrying under his arm an oil portrait of himself. It's been reframed and it's in D.L. Moody's home. Another favorite portrait in that home for me to see is the picture he had commissioned of his mother, a rather striking woman, not because of her beauty, but really because the artist painted her as she was. I've never seen a lady with such chin hair. It's an interesting portrait in the home of D.L. Moody, and I'm sure that she was able to inspire her son to say often, yes, ma'am, whatever she said. You can walk into a little makeshift museum that they have for him there. That museum is an amazing thing. You can actually sit at Ira Psyche's organ. You can move behind and sit at D.L. Moody's desk. I sat behind that desk many times and opened the drawers of the desk and thumbed through his correspondence to find who was writing to him in the late 1800s when he died and once held in my hand a letter from Mrs. Charles Haddon Spurgeon to D.L. Moody after the death of Charles Spurgeon in London. put the letter back in the drawer and closed the drawer and thought, I can't believe no one archives these materials and takes better care of them. But in truth, the letters of D.L. Moody have very little value to most people. I was reading that the world's most valuable letter was sold at auction April of 2013, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it's a letter written by Francis Crick, I'm sure you've all heard of him, to his 12-year-old son Michael back in 1953. It's a five-page personal letter from his father to his son describing the revolutionary function of DNA with a picture of the DNA model in the letter. The letter was sold for $6,098,500 at auction. We've opened our Bibles to 2 Corinthians 3, where the Spirit of God says, you want to talk about a valuable letter? The most valuable letter on the planet today is the letter that God is writing through the lives of believers. 2 Corinthians, the Spirit of God describes a letter of greater value than any other letter that will ever be known. For in the three verses that we've read this morning, there's a word that's repeated three times, the word epistle or letter. The fourth occurrence of that word you'll find is in italics, which means that the King James translators added it there for our better understanding. But in the original, three times this little word, letter or epistle, I've underlined in my Bible the verse that says in verse 3, for as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, big words in the King James language, simply stated, you are letters from Christ to others. You are God's love letters to the world. Christians, you understand, are God's living letters. Christians are to be incarnate epistles. Christians are God's love letters in envelopes of flesh sent to the world round about in desperate need. A bit of background is necessary to truly appreciate what we've read in 2 Corinthians 3 this morning. The Apostle Paul has just claimed in chapter 2 and the 17th verse to be a genuine minister of Christ. We are not as many, he says, who corrupt the Word of God. We're in sincerity. We're in the sight of God, sincere vessels. We're the real deal, he says. With that in mind, he's expecting them to respond as everyone in his culture would respond. Oh, yeah? Well, if you're the authentic deal, if you're the real deal, so to speak, where are your letters of reference? After all, in the Corinthian culture, in the culture of the times of Paul, letters of reference were a big deal. Apollos, according to the book of Acts, the 18th chapter, carried with him letters of reference. The Apostle Paul writes a letter of reference, if you will, in Romans chapter 16, commending Phoebe. He writes another letter of reference to Onesimus, the book of Philemon. He has letters of reference that are included in the New Testament. He himself traveled at one time with a letter of reference. In fact, he speaks of it in Acts chapter 9 when he carried a letter of reference from the synagogue that allowed him to go to Damascus to butcher Christians or the people of the way as he hailed them out of Homs. Now in this passage, having claimed to be a real apostle, having said to the church, I'm the real deal, and expecting them to then inquire, okay, where are your letters of reference? The Apostle Paul answers before they ask. He says, you are my letters of reference. You are my letters of reference. Because Christians are God's love letter. Christians are God's love letters wrapped up in envelopes of flesh and sent the world over. Christians, those love letters from God that are sent the world over, are constantly communicating four truths that the Apostle Paul is sharing with us in the text that we've looked at this morning. Let's look at those truths that God's love letters just compulsively, continually share. Everywhere they go and all that they do, those love letters from the Lord to the world round about that is watching. First, I'd have you discover that these living letters affirm the authenticity of God's servants. These love letters affirm the authenticity of God's servants. Verse 1, do we begin again to commend ourselves or need we as some other's epistles or letters of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? Pastor, what's he saying? Well, as we've already indicated, in the day in which the Apostle Paul was living, it was very important when an itinerant came to town, especially an itinerant religious minister, that he carry his portfolio of reference letters with him. The ancient world was filled with letters of reference. They could not pick up a telephone, they couldn't send a telegraph, they couldn't use the internet, and so letters of reference were the common mode of sharing from one city to another the abilities and the background of the person who was now visiting. In fact, a papyri was found from the time of the Apostle Paul. It reads this way, to Julius Demetius, Military Tribune of the Legion, from Aurelius Archelaus, greetings. I've already before this recommended to you Theon, my friend, and also I ask you, sir, to have him before your eyes as you would myself, for he's a man such as to deserve to be loved by you, for he left his own people and his business and followed me, and through all things he's kept me safe. I therefore pray you that he may come and see you and have this letter before your eyes, and let it make you think that I'm speaking even right now to you on His behalf." Now, not everybody saw the tradition as something necessary or even beneficial, because after all, letters of commendation could be forged. For instance, Diogenes, the Greek philosopher and cynic, or Diogenes rather, said, That you are a man, you will know at a glance. Somebody asked him to write a reference letter. That you are a man, they will know at a glance. But whether you are a good man or a bad man, he'll discover if he has skill to distinguish between good and bad. And if he's without the skill to distinguish between good and bad, the facts that I write to him will have no bearing. Paul is saying, you Corinthians are expecting me to send out some letter of reference. And so he asks two rhetorical questions in this first verse. Did you catch them? He asked, do we commend ourselves? Do we have to have letters of reference? No. Do we need reference letters from you? Same answer, no. Why, Paul? Why are you breaking custom? Answer, because you, he says, prove that I am a minister of God. You prove that I'm a man of God. Hey, listen, a successful pupil proves the worth of a good teacher. And a healthy patient proves the worth of a good doctor. Even so, the appeal of the Spirit of God in this passage is, a healthy Christian proves the worth of a good servant of God, a good minister of God. And so he says to the Corinthians, as you look at the church that I planted and the people that are growing in Christ there, there's no need for us to have a back and forth of letters of reference, you yourselves in flesh are my letters of reference." And so today we look at this passage and we understand that when Paul came to the town of Corinth, things happened. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 6, this is what happened. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, "...know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall have any part in the kingdom of heaven." And then he says, "...and such were some of you." But now, you're washed. Paul had come and met people of a caliber of corruption unknown in the ancient world. The Corinthians were known to be wicked people, and Paul, as he preached the gospel, saw person after person after person come to Christ, and a church assembled. And so when they asked, shall we receive from you letters of reference, in his mind he's saying, are you kidding? Have you seen what God has done through our ministry there among you? A man once came to D.O. Moody, drunk as he spoke. Mr. Moody, he said, I'm one of your converts." Moody was known to have preached the gospel so effectively that over a million people were said to be converts of D.L. Moody. D.L. Moody looked back at the man and he said, surely you must be one of my converts because you're not, it seems, a convert of my Savior. But the letter of reference from those who are truly called of God ought to be God's people themselves. who examine the Scriptures as Bereans to see if the message is so, who receive the message and spiritually grow, who are impacted by it to salvation, to steadfastness in faith, to sanctification. So as we look in this passage, we come to realize that it's really in lives that are touched, in lives that are transformed, in those that are saved, in those that are serving, in those that are growing and sanctified, that we discover whether the messenger is authentic. And so living letters affirm the authenticity of God's servants. We go forward in this passage and we discover there's a second irreplaceable message, an irreplaceable truth that's always being communicated by living letters. Not only do living letters affirm the authenticity of God's servant, but living letters accost the artificiality of religious traditions. Where are your letters of reference, they were asking. Paul asked them back in verse 1, do we actually need to bring letters of reference and commendations such as others would bring. What he is doing is he is accosting the artificiality of religiosity that had spread through the ancient world and continues to spread through our day. Who are you to stand for God is a constant question. And so some hiding behind their religious robes and some hiding behind their denominational affiliations and their denominational titles stand forward. But listen, listen carefully, because the absence of spiritual power often inspires people to have an attraction towards spiritual tradition. I want to say that again. The absence of genuine spiritual power often causes many to make a premium out of religious traditions. The recognition of a denomination may be an important thing, but it can never replace the recognition of God's people and the power of God's Spirit on the minister of God. Now, I want to be careful here. We understand that there ought to be checks and balances placed upon those who enter into ministry. But there are many who, according to 2 Timothy 3 and verse 5, have a form of godliness and deny the power of it. In the time of the life of our Lord, His accusers came to Him and they made accusations saying, You are transgressing the traditions of our fathers. But He was a messenger of truth imbued with power. And as he stepped forward into his culture, he stepped forward without the need of a letter of recommendation. His very disciples were the letters of recommendation. And so he actually brought by his presence accusation against the traditions that had put people in places of great respect and cultures, but they had no power of God upon them. I'm mindful even recently of a visit of a certain religious figure who happens to have a post office box in a place called Rome. It was interesting to see that religious figure have massive crowds fawning upon him. Worldwide, complete news coverage of every step that he made here in our country. People bowing before him and, oh, just to be close enough to hear him speak. And then he went back to the Vatican and from the Vatican was heard to say, you know, on this whole question of homosexual marriage in America, hey, you know, who am I to judge? Shortly after that, he brought up in his missal sent out from the Vatican the question of maybe we really need to rethink this whole marriage thing. Can I say to you without fear of contradiction, true messengers of the New Testament would never make such stupid statements? You see, traditions can never replace truth. And while there are those who will hold up their letters and their pedigree of denominational distinction, the Apostle Paul, writing here, says, you know what, if you want to know who the real messengers of God are, they're writing on people's lives, by their conduct, by their communication, by their prayers, and by the empowerment of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God alone. D.L. Moody actually stood for ordination. There were three parts of ordination. The first part, write out his testimony. He succeeded at that. The second part, take a doctoral exam. He succeeded at that, both the oral and the written part. Then he was to preach a message. G. Campbell Morgan, I should say. G. Campbell Morgan, when he preached that message, was so poor in his preaching skills, this man who went on to have a fabulous ministry for over 40 years and write many books and impact many thousands of lives, he preached so poorly that he failed his denominational ordination. He was so discouraged. He sent a note to his father, failed my ordination, and his father sent him back a note. It's become famous. His father's note to him was, called of God, not of man. I don't want to take lightly ordination. I certainly remember standing for ordination, having people examine me regarding my doctrines, and then after my doctrinal positions were considered, there was a question asked of those who had gathered, has anyone here seen the marks of God's calling on this man? That meant more to me than the doctrinal consideration and the conversation that had gone on beforehand. When young and old stood and said, he led me to Christ or he's impacted my life and I've been called into ministry or I'm serving because of what God's done in him. Listen, the apostles themselves were taken note of in the ancient world that they were unlearned and ignorant men, Acts 4. The apostles, by the traditionalists, were seen to be unlearned and ignorant men, but they took note of them, the Bible says, that they had been with Christ. So as the apostle Paul writes in this passage, he says, it's not about stained glass windows. It's not about denominational acumen and prowess and position. It's really about the work of the Spirit of God for living letters, affirm the authenticity of God's servants. and living letters accost the artificiality of religious traditions. There's a third constantly considered truth that living letters bring into our community, that you and I together as living letters bring into the community. For every Christian is a message from God in an envelope of flesh. So follow with me as we look in this text and discover that living letters advertise the availability of the good news. Living letters advertise the availability of the good news. Verse 2, you are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. When a person is truly born again, when a person is truly a child of God, Old things pass away and all things become new. What, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you? And you're not your own, you're bought with a price. And you're commissioned of God to glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. In our country, the average home has something over three Bibles. We are a Bible-saturated country, but reality is, few people read those Bibles. George Whitefield, who preached in America in the 1700s, actually said, God has condescended to become an author, and yet people will not read his writings. There are very few who ever gave the book of God, the grand charter of our salvation, a fair reading. And because they don't read the book that God has given to us, God sends us out to be sandwich board saints. You remember what a sandwich board is, right? person who has a message on the front and the back, who's walking around so people can see that message. God sends you and me out as sandwich boards, as saints to share a message in the world round about us. I remember when our eldest son, Chad, came home all excited. He'd landed a job at an ice cream parlor. I said, well, that's going to build your forearm, bud, scooping out that ice cream. You know, you can have a really good forearm, hard ice cream. And the owner of the ice cream parlor said, Chad, I've got a job I'd like you to do just to get some attention to our workplace. Can you go out there in a clown suit? I said, perfect cast for the person to wear. He was excited. He said, Dad, I get to go out. They're going to pay me to kind of hang out on the curb in a clown suit and point to the ice cream parlor that's open. I said, great. Let me know I want to drive by. I remember when he came home from his first day on the job, absolutely exhausted. Dad, I don't think I can do that again. That was brutal. Standing there for eight hours trying to point that place out and act like you're excited. It was awful. You know, there's some who think about the concept of being sandwiched for the Savior and they say, I just don't think I can do it. I've got good news for you this morning. It's not about what you can do, it's what God wants to do through you. You see, the Apostle Paul's already asked the question in chapter two, who is sufficient for these things? And the answer to that question, of course, is none of us are sufficient for it. So let's look at what verse two is actually saying. In verse two, you are our epistles written in our hearts. And he's speaking in the passive tense. So if you know about the passive tense, that means you can't write it yourself and you can't resist when it's being written. It's been written. It's been done by the work of the Spirit of God. Now, he says, continuing in that passive tense, the end of verse 2, you're known and read of all men. They may not know that they're actively watching your life. They might not know and consider that they're actually being changed by considering the gospel as it pours through you. That's what the passive tense of verse 2 means. It's about God did it. He wrote in your heart, and God's sending the message, whether you're thinking about it or not and whether the person who's considering you is thinking about it or not, it's a work of God. None of us are sufficient for this. So it's not my responsibility this morning to look at this passage and put another burden on you. It's rather a responsibility to say as one who would read God's word, isn't this wonderful? God makes us living letters, wraps us up in envelopes of flesh, and sends us out. And the work glorifies Him because it's all about Him. So every member of this church this morning is a syllable, a word, a sentence, a paragraph. Every individual, part of that composite message that God wants to send into this community. Some theologians stood arguing about the best of the Gospels. One said, I love Matthew. Another said, I love Luke. Another, of course, argued for Mark. And yet the fourth argued for John. And someone broke into the conversation and said, you know, I don't know about all that stuff, but I know this, the best Gospel I ever read was the Gospel of my mother. The best Gospel often people will ever read is the Gospel of your life. And this passage is saying your life is an open letter. You are a letter for Christ. You are a letter for Christ. There is, of course, responsibility that comes with that. The ink of that letter can be smudged. The clarity of it can be confused. But you are a letter for Christ, and as the poet has said, you are writing a gospel each day with the deeds that you do and the things that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithful or true. Say, what then is the gospel according to you? There's a final truth that stands forward in this passage. Living letters. Living letters attest to the authorship of God's Spirit. Living letters attest to the authorship of God's Spirit. Verse 3, for as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ. Who commissioned this letter be written? Christ did. And this writing has been ministered, the Apostle Paul says, by us, but it was written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. And it wasn't written on tables of stone like the Ten Commandments that fade, but in fleshly tables of your heart. Living letters attest to the authorship of God's Spirit. You know, the Bible is filled with similes and metaphors and beautiful pictures for us to consider our position in Christ. What a blessing it is for us to consider that we are lights. set upon a hill from the Sermon on the Mount. What a joy it is for us to consider that we are sheep of His pasture in John chapter 10. What a blessing it is to know, according to Malachi chapter 3, we're jewels that make up His crown. What a note it is in the book of Daniel that we are as stars that will shine in the firmament forever. Beautiful metaphors. Is there any more powerful or more beautiful than this? Here is a metaphor that ought to change the way we conduct ourselves the way we communicate, the way we think about our impact in our community, because he's saying, you right now are a testimony of the work of the Spirit of God. What a compelling metaphor. That Jesus Christ commissioned this work be done. And as Jesus Christ commissioned this work be done, it's very personal. He's writing upon hearts. It's a very personal work. And I love the fact that verse 3 says it's permanent. You see, unlike the message of the Ten Commandments that was on stone that could fade, the message that the Spirit of God wants to do on flesh is unfading. And so as He brings you through those tragedies and those traumas, It builds even within your brow those furrows. Somehow in His divine plan there is a message that He wants to declare to family members and friends, to people in the community that are asking the question, what is the hope that lies within you? When you stand on unparalleled pinnacles of joy and you find your heart swollen up in joy, With an absence of pride and all glory is going to God and that smile on your face and that twinkle in your eye tell the community around about you there's something different about that guy. All praise and glory goes to him because upon our hearts he is always writing. And from the time of our conversion when we trust in Christ as our true Savior and turn from our sin to Him, to the time of our glorification when we leave the robes of this flesh and ascend up into heaven. Moment by moment, every day, God is continuing to write. Remember verse 2, it's passive. He's doing the writing. He's writing upon your heart. He's not writing it like the Old Testament upon a stone that faded and was confusing to the community. It was barely found to those who did not live in that region. He sends us out, dear Christian. He sends us out as love letters into the world, not to be replaced, inestimable in value, doing a work in the lives of others. Oh, this is our position in Christ. What a beautiful picture. What a wonderful privilege the Lord has given to us. Years ago, my wife and I were in the home of, at that time, the only person who was an assessor in Steel County, Minnesota. He was a fairly wealthy man. His hobby? Collecting autographs. He walked us through his house and showed us all of the famous autographs that he had. And then we stood in front of a little autograph and a little framed letter. And I thought, that's an interesting one. It wasn't big like some of the other framings and letters in his house. And he said, hey, let me show you my most valuable autograph. I was interested. He said, this is an autograph of Florence Nightingale. He said, there are very few of Florence Nightingale's autographs available. because after that which made her famous, involving herself in the care of soldiers, she became a recluse. And she was seldom seen in the community, let alone any autographs or signatures of hers that could be found for collectible purposes. He told me the value of that. I've forgotten it, but I stood there thinking, wow, that's pretty impressive, the autograph of Florence Nightingale. It became more valuable because She was more and more of a recluse. Dear Christian, here's our reality. As we go out in the community as letters for the Lord, the more available we are, the more we're willing to spend and be spent, the more visible we are, the more overt we are, the more testimonial we are, the more we share of the glory of what God has done in our heart, the more that letter gets to be read. The more people get to see that Christ is real in us. And so I ask you the question this morning because it has to be asked. Are you doing that love letter work that God would have you to do? Are you demonstrating and affirming the authenticity of those who teach you the way? Are you accosting the artificiality of traditions round about who would hold up for man's applause? formalities and traditions that have no eternal value? Are you saying, no, what's really eternal and valuable God's doing in my heart? Are you advertising the availability of the gospel to those round about? And are you a testimony daily that the Spirit of God works in me by the power of the Word of God? And so this morning we thank the Lord for this treasure, but we challenge our hearts through this treasure to be the people of God, known and read. in every location. May God help us to be those people. Will you stand with me as we pray? Now, Father, this morning, having looked into the beautiful mirror of Your Word, we who have recently been challenged do pray that You would help us not to only be hearers, but doers of it. Lord, make a difference, because we've met together around Your Word this morning. draw us nearer to You. May our thoughts be focused heavenward. May we revel in the position that we have been given, not by our might nor by our power, but by Your grace. And may we go out with a humble confidence that God desires to send a message into this community by my life.