“Epistles of Christ”

2 Corinthians 3:2,3O“Ye are our epistle written on 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 fleshly tables of the heart.”

OThe apostle Paul gives us as a metaphor portraying the Christian’s influence… in writing!O “Ye are our epistle written on 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 fleshly tables of the heart.”

OInfluence – “a moral or spiritual force, power or capacity by which we have an effect upon a person, condition, or development.”

OOur study will consist of this moral force, power or influence under the metaphor of epistles.

I. Epistles Are Always Written On Materials

Which Have Undergone A Change

O If the epistle is written on paper, the wood pulp or rags, out of which the paper was made, underwent a change.

O In like manner, we can NOT exert a wholesome influence for Christ until we have undergone a CHANGE! (Spiritual Change - Conversion)

OThis change/conversion is vitally & eternally importantOMark 4:12 – “That seeing, they

may see, and not perceive; and hearing, they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them”

OThis change is produced by the Word of God:O Rom. 1:16 ; Rom. 10:17 ; 2 Tim.

3:16,17O The change is threefold in nature:

O Change of Heart, produced by faith – Acts 15:9

O Change of Life, produced by repentance – Matt. 12:41

O Change of State, produced by baptism – Rom. 6:3

O Change which results in New Life – Rom. 6:4

O As Christians who have had a change of heart, produced by faith; a change of life produced by repentance, a change of state from lost to saved produced by baptism, and in walking in newness of life having undergone this change/conversion, we should be EXERTING a wholesome influence for Christ!

II. Epistles Are Read, With The Reader Being

Influenced Thereby

O It is true, that just as people read letters, they will read us!

O Peter exhorts in 1 Peter 3:1…O “Likewise, ye wives, be in

subjection to your own husbands; that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.”

O Peter points out that in the marital relationship, the believer will certainly try to convert the unbeliever to Christ by verbally teaching him the truth, but if this is not effective, lest her exhortations degenerate to nagging, the believing wife is then to win her unbelieving husband by the life she lives!

OWe are epistles that are being read, and it is the reader that is being influenced!

OWhat are we influencing them to be?

OFor better or for worse?

III. It Is Epistles That Are Written For The Good

Of Others!

OA BASIC FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF CHRISTIANITY IS THE DENIAL OF SELF! LUKE 9:23

OSOMEONE HAS SAID, “WHEN SELF-DENIAL GOES OUT OF FASHION, SELF-FULFILLMENT TAKES ITS PLACE”

OIT IS THOSE WHO GRASP SELFISHLY AT LIFE THAT WILL LOSE IT… BUT THOSE WHO SURRENDER THEIR LIVES TO CHRIST WILL SAVE IT! JOHN 12:25

OILLUST: “JOHN, DAVE & THE MOUNTAIN LION”

OQuestion: Do we seek out ways to help others, or do we seek out ways to help ourselves?

O(1) CHRIST LIVED FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS:O2 COR. 8:9 – “FOR YE KNOW

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT THOUGH HE WAS RICH, YET FOR YOUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR, THAT YE THROUGH HIS POVERTY MIGHT BE RICH”

O(2) Paul Also Lived For The Good Of Others:O2 Cor. 12:15 – “And I will very

gladly spend and be spent for you: though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.”

O(3) DO NOT THE SCRIPTURES SAY:O“WE THEN THAT ARE STRONG

OUGHT TO BEAR THE INFIRMITIES OF THE WEAK” – ROM. 15:1

O“LOVE… SEEKETH NOT HER OWN” – 1 COR. 13:5

IV. Epistles Convey The Expression Of

Their Authors

OAS THE EPISTLES OF CHRIST, WE ARE TO GIVE AN EXPRESSION OF CHRIST TO THE WORLD!

OWE ARE TO HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST!OPHIL. 2:5 “LET HIS MIND BE IN

YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS”

OWE ARE TO HAVE CHRIST LIVING IN US!O Gal. 2:20 – “I am crucified with Christ;

nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

OWE ARE TO MAGNIFY CHRIST IN OUR LIVES!OPHIL. 1:20 “… BUT THAT WITH ALL

BOLDNESS, AS ALWAYS, SO NOW ALSO CHRIST SHALL BE MAGNIFIED IN MY BODY, WHETHER IT BE OF LIFE OR BY DEATH”

OTO HAVE SEEN CHRIST WAS TO HAVE SEEN THE FATHER! JOHN 14:9

OCORRESPONDINGLY, TO SEE A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS TO SEE CHRIST!

OQUESTION: “CAN OTHERS SEE CHRIST IN ME? O IN MY SPEECH? IN WHAT I DO? IN

MY ATTITUDE?OWHAT IMPRESSION OF CHRIST DO

OTHERS GET THROUGH MY EXPRESSION OF HIM?

V. Epistles Bear the Signature Of Their

Authors

OAS EPISTLES OF CHRIST, WE WEAR HIS NAME.O ACTS 11:26 – “FIRST CALLED

CHRISTIANS…”O ACTS 26:28 “AGRIPPA SAID TO

PAUL, ALMOST THOU PERSUADEST ME TO BE A CHRISTIAN”

O 1 PET. 4:16 “YE T IF ANY SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN, LET HIM NOT BE ASHAMED, BUT LET HIM GLORIFY GOD ON HIS BEHALF”

O ACTS 4:11,12 “SALVATION IN NO OTHER NAME!”

O JAMES 2:7 – A NOBLE NAME!O Illustr: Alexander The Great… OAccordingly, let us live to reflect the

true meaning of the name Christian!

VI. Some Epistles Do NOT Contain Very

Much!

OCONSIDER: THE NEW COLLEGE FRESHMAN WHO WROTE HOME: “DEAR DAD; NO MON, NO FUN, YOUR SON.” RECEIVING THIS SHORT NOTE, THE FATHER REPLIED: “DEAR SON; NO MON. NO FUN. TOO BAD. YOUR DAD.”

OTHE CHRISTIAN, AS AN EPISTLE OF CHRIST, IS TO LEAD A FULL & ABUNDANT LIFE, SEEKING TO EXERT AS GREAT AN INFLUENCE FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST AS POSSIBLE! JOHN 1:14OROM. 15:14; PHIL. 1:11; 2 PET.

1:5-8OARE WE LEADING A FULL &

ABUNDANT LIFE FOR CHRIST?

VII. Epistles May Become Blotted!

O It has been said that people more readily see a blot than a blessing!

OThe Christian must be extremely careful lest his life become stained & spotted.OEphesians 5:25-27 “Christians

Have Been Washed, However The World Will Blot!”

O It is when the Christian allows his life to become blemished in which his influence for good has been greatly hurt!

ORev. 1:5 - To be unconcerned about maintaining our spiritual purity is to show a fundamental lack of appreciation for what Christ has done for us!

VIII. Epistles May Be Destroyed, But Men

Remember Their Contents!

O Since birth, each individual has been putting into motion impulses that, even though we die, will never cease! Rev. 14:13 ; Heb. 11;4

O Associated Press Release – Warsaw”O “The small metal object dug up in a

polish field was intriguing for its young finders. Seconds later, they died in a blinding blast – the latest victims of what I known here as the ‘Rusty Death’. The problem with landmines hidden in Poland’s fields is enormous even though World War II ended 26 years ago. Official figures show 350,000 mines and various kinds of shells were uncovered in a years time. Of 48 persons killed in 18 months, 30 were children. Of 157 wounded, 125 were children.

O Associated Press Release – Warsaw” cont.O “Authorities have tried to combat the

problem by using special military teams to comb the country for old explosives. Poland was one gigantic battlefield in the war starting with the Nazi invasion in 1939 and intensifying in 1944-45, when the Germans retreated from Russia. Officials estimate that since the war, Polish soldiers have defused 15 million mines and 70 million other explosives.”

O Very tragic… yet it is infinitely worse to pass from this life and leave behind evil impulses & influences to blight and curse those remaining and those yet to come.

ConclusionOWhen people read my epistle: Will

It Have…O...been written for the good of

others?O…conveyed the expression of my

author, Christ… in showing apparently that I had the mind of Christ, Christ living in me, that I magnified Christ in my life?

O…conveyed the signature of the author, Christ? In bearing His Name?

O…been written so as to be read easily?

OHow much will it have contained?

Lives of great men all reminds us

We can make our lives sublime,And departing, leave behind us

Footprints, that perhaps another-

Sailing o’er life’s solemn mainA forlorn and ship-wrecked

bother-Seeing, shall take heart

again. – Henry Longfellow