COVENANT

2 Corinthians 3:3 (NKJV) clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

This is clearly referring to the New Covenant:

I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:33b (NLT)

This is the same “New Covenant in my blood” that Jesus referred to at the Last Supper when taking the cup (Luke 22:14-20).

The two major divisions of the Bible are the Old Testament or Covenant and the New Testament or Covenant. The Old speaks primarily of the Mosaic Covenant or the Law (10 commandments and more!) which revealed sin and the way to live. The New Testament reveals Jesus Christ as the sin-less Son of God who fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17) and is now the only way (John 14:6) to be reconciled to God the Father.

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Hebrews 8:13 (NKJV)

Christ made the first obsolete, not us. The only reason the new covenant was needed was that man could not keep the law. Still today, we cannot keep the law except for our trust in the sufficiency of Christ.

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 Corinthians 3:4 - 6 (NKJV)

If we try to hold others “to the letter” of the law, we become legalistic and drive people away from the grace that was ushered in by Christ. However, if we love them in the Spirit of Christ as He loves us, they will be more likely to receive new life by accepting Him as Savior and Lord.

Now, the New Covenant has only come to us in part because the people of Israel rejected it when they rejected Christ. The New Covenant was meant especially for the people of Israel…

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— Jeremiah 31:31 (NKJV)

There is even more that is to be fulfilled in the New Covenant…

No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:34 (NKJV)

Until that time comes, we need to remain obedient to Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6) and tell others the Good News about Him. We need to be about the business of making new disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey what Jesus has commanded, namely loving God and loving each other (Matthew 28:19-20; 22:37-39).

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

ADEQUACY

“I can do it! I can do anything that I want.”

Sounds rather like boasting, doesn’t it? It reminds me of one who boasted in the distant past and what God’s response was:

¹² “How you have fallen from heaven,

O star of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth,

You who have weakened the nations!

¹³ “But you said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

I will raise my throne above the stars of God,

And I will sit on the mount of assembly

In the recesses of the north.

¹⁴ ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

¹⁵ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol,

To the recesses of the pit. Isaiah 14:12 - 15 (NASB)

This passage is referring to Satan! Contrast that with the following passage:

⁴Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. ⁵Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, ⁶who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:4 - 6 (NASB)

I like that statement, “our adequacy is from God”! It reminds me of another familiar passage found in Philippians:

¹³I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Only when we recognize that it is God’s strength, not ours, His adequacy and not ours, will we truly be on the path to a godly life.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

LETTER

Sometimes we are separated from those we love by gulfs of time and space. They may be on a trip, off to college or simply had to move to another place for work. Before the advent of the cell phone, it was quite expensive to call and talk on the telephone to someone in a different state.

Now, we have cell phones with unlimited long distance calling, email and Instant Messaging giving us a written real time conversation with someone regardless of where they are, just as long as they have access to the internet.

In Paul’s day, the letter was about the only way you could communicate to people that were in another location. Letters were very important. In the following passage, Paul describes our lives as letters:

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 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. 2 Corinthians 3:1 - 3 (NASB)

The phrase “read by all men” ought to make us stop and think. What is being conveyed here is that the way we act toward others is perceived as a tremendously important piece of communication. Some people see how we act and may be adversely affected by it though we may never hear their response. As in writing a letter to someone in Paul’s day, they may have received the message and responded poorly, but Paul wouldn’t have immediately known it. Mail service wasn’t as fast as it is today…there was a delay.

The “letter” of our life should be carefully considered as it is lived out day by day. If we recall as Paul admonishes that we are a “letter of Christ”, an important communication to the world from Him, we will be careful to dot all the “i”s and cross all the “t”s.

Our acceptance of Christ’s sacrificial death for us on the cross caused the Holy Spirit to indwell us. As we remain yielded to His leading, the letter of our lives will be a clear testament for Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our salvation. It will lead other people to Him. We, as living letters, become the ultimate witnesses for the Master.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD