The Tablet of the Heart!

Reflection: Since obviously the internet was not invented yet, one of the key means for communication in Paul’s day was letters.  As we can see this is the primary way he was able to communicate to all the churches he had planted in Asia Minor and in Greece.  It also appears that one of the ways that leaders were accepted was through letters of recommendation, probably not too dissimilar from letters we write on behalf of others to recommend them.  Paul was dealing with questions of whether he was a true apostle, because of the “abnormal” way he was born (i.e. his road to Damascus experience). 

And his appeal to those who would want validation for his ministry is the people themselves.  And he uses the metaphor of letters to say that they are now his “living letters”, for what God has done in and through them in Christ has been transcribed on their hearts. He argues that their behavior, their testimony, and their deeds will communicate more than anything the validity of his ministry.  To the extent that their lives bear witness to the movement Jesus started, they would be the true results and fruit of his ministry.

Notice too, the means of this transformation is God’s Spirit, which is active inscribing God’s Word on their hearts.  Whereas the people of Moses had the Ten Commandments chiseled on tablets of stone by the power of the Spirit, the Spirit had now inscribed all that God wanted them to know on their hearts.  Today we use the word “tablet” for powerful mini-computers that can store tons of info, and also open up all kinds of powerful apps.  Paul argues the most powerful app in the world is the work of the Spirit in the hearts and lives of believers.  They are in a new covenant with God through Christ, and therefore the ministry is characterized by freedom and joy and unlimited potential, much like these new super mini computers open us up to all kinds of new avenues of information. 

In all of this Paul is careful not to be prideful because he states this new “competency” is from God, and from His Spirit so there is no room for boasting!  It is all from God and it is all free!  May we be the living letters of Christ so that the world will know who Jesus is and how they can become a living letter for Him too!

Psalm 69:1-12

For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” Of David.

¹ Save me, O God,
    for the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in the miry depths,
    where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
    the floods engulf me.
³ I am worn out calling for help;
    my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
    looking for my God.
⁴ Those who hate me without reason
    outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
    those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
    what I did not steal.

⁵ You, God, know my folly;
    my guilt is not hidden from you.

⁶ Lord, the Lord Almighty,
    may those who hope in you
    not be disgraced because of me;
God of Israel,
    may those who seek you
    not be put to shame because of me.
⁷ For I endure scorn for your sake,
    and shame covers my face.
⁸ I am a foreigner to my own family,
    a stranger to my own mother’s children;
⁹ for zeal for your house consumes me,
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
¹⁰ When I weep and fast,
    I must endure scorn;
¹¹ when I put on sackcloth,
    people make sport of me.
¹² Those who sit at the gate mock me,
    and I am the song of the drunkards.

Proverbs 19

Better the poor whose walk is blameless
    than a fool whose lips are perverse.

² Desire without knowledge is not good—
    how much more will hasty feet miss the way!

³ A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
    yet their heart rages against the Lord.

⁴ Wealth attracts many friends,
    but even the closest friend of the poor person deserts them.

⁵ A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and whoever pours out lies will not go free.

⁶ Many curry favor with a ruler,
    and everyone is the friend of one who gives gifts.

⁷ The poor are shunned by all their relatives—
    how much more do their friends avoid them!
Though the poor pursue them with pleading,
    they are nowhere to be found.

⁸ The one who gets wisdom loves life;
    the one who cherishes understanding will soon prosper.

⁹ A false witness will not go unpunished,
    and whoever pours out lies will perish.

¹⁰ It is not fitting for a fool to live in luxury—
    how much worse for a slave to rule over princes!

¹¹ A person’s wisdom yields patience;
    it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

¹² A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion,
    but his favor is like dew on the grass.

¹³ A foolish child is a father’s ruin,
    and a quarrelsome wife is like
    the constant dripping of a leaky roof.

¹⁴ Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
    but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

¹⁵ Laziness brings on deep sleep,
    and the shiftless go hungry.

¹⁶ Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life,
    but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

¹⁷ Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
    and he will reward them for what they have done.

¹⁸ Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;
    do not be a willing party to their death.

¹⁹ A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;
    rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

²⁰ Listen to advice and accept discipline,
    and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

²¹ Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

²² What a person desires is unfailing love;
    better to be poor than a liar.

²³ The fear of the Lord leads to life;
    then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

²⁴ A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    he will not even bring it back to his mouth!

²⁵ Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;
    rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.

²⁶ Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother
    is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

²⁷ Stop listening to instruction, my son,
    and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

²⁸ A corrupt witness mocks at justice,
    and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.

²⁹ Penalties are prepared for mockers,
    and beatings for the backs of fools.

2 Corinthians 2:14-3:11

¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? ¹⁷ Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. ⁴ Such confidence we have through Christ before God. ⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant

⁷ Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, ⁸ will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹ If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰ For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹ And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. Isaiah 51:4

Paul said, “I stand here, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” Acts 26:22-23

Lord Jesus, as poor sinners, we love darkness rather than the light. Help us to walk in your light and to witness to its power. You commissioned us to tell all people the good news of God’s love. Give us strength to fulfill that charge! Amen.