AN UNPREACHED SERMON (218)
It used to be common practice in some Christian fellowships that if you were a visitor, the elders would ask for what was known as “a letter of commendation” before they could allow you to come to the Lord’s Table. The practice is not so well adhered to now, but is based on an interpretation and application of 2 Corinthians 3:1-3. These days it still lingers on in the invitation to come to the Table by the person leading. Usually, the wording is along the lines “if you love the Lord Jesus and are in fellowship with other believers then you are welcome”.
In the earliest days of the faith when Christians were scattered over a wide area, it acted as a kind of built-in safeguard against strangers turning up and claiming to be Christians who were actually infiltrators intent on spreading false doctrines about Christ’s person and work (1 John 4:1-6). We would see such letters as testimonials or cv’s. From this scriptural reference John Calvin originated the idea of communion tokens. The same thing is found among Presbyterians talking about “their lines” and Methodists using “class tickets”. In the NT the practice is seen with Apollos (Acts 18:27) and Phoebe (Romans 16:1).
Ironically, the key passage on which the practice was based is the exact opposite of what Paul was emphasising in regard to his own ministry. Apparently, there were some in Corinth who called Paul’s spiritual credentials into question. His counter-argument is that the quality of his converts was the only recommendation he needed. The evidence that he was the real deal is to be found in the lives of those who had come to faith in Christ under his preaching. “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read of all” (2 Cor 3:2). This was the work of the Spirit of the living God. It had nothing to do with ink or written tablets for “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (v6).
It is a warm and imaginative idea. Every Christian is a letter written by Christ through the Spirit of the living God. Long before we started using laptops and phones to send out emails, we used pens and pencils. In fact, we all initially learned to write using a pencil and, by extension of the illustration, it’s not a bad way to think of ourselves as being part of Christ’s correspondence. Think of it in terms of an ordinary lead pencil.
THE PENCIL MUST MAKE A MARK.
A blunt or broken pencil is no use to anyone. Paul’s lifestyle, preaching and authority had left a mark on these Corinthians. They were forever changed as they responded to his message. They were marked men and women. Like Paul himself, each could say, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). The Gospel had left its mark on them because Paul’s preaching was effective and authoritative. They were conspicuous converts. Whether we like it or not, are aware of it or not, people judge Christ and the church by us. We are making a legible mark or an indecipherable scrawl.
THE MARK IS MADE BY WHAT IS INSIDE.
The lead in the pencil is more useful than the wood that encases it. George Duncan reckoned that “Every Christian and every church is a reference for Christ”. As the Living Bible translation has it: You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody”. God’s love is best seen in the hearts, lives, words and actions of His followers. The Christian faith is judged not by what we are on the outside, but what is revealed in our lives from the inside.
“You are writing each day a letter to men, take care that the writing is true;
For the only Gospel that some will read, is the gospel according to you”.
THE INSIDE MUST BE KEPT SHARPENED.
The words of Mother Teresa, who did so much for the destitute and the dying in Calcutta, comes to mind. “I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little”.
It is the specific work of the Holy Spirit to sharpen our testimony and keep us ready for use. “Written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God” (v3), but don’t overlook the strong Trinitarian emphasis in the whole section (vv3-6). God’s Spirit uses people for His purposes, we must never use Him for ours. The fact that God works on the letter of our lives by His own Spirit is an indication that His working in us is important and permanent. Only the Spirit can make our lives and testimonies credible, intelligible
and visible to others.
THE BEST PENCILS SHOW THE MAKER’S NAME.
Before he fell out of favour and was removed from our TV screens, Greg Wallace hosted an informative series of programmes called “Inside the Factory”. One of the most fascinating was his experience exploring a pencil factory in Cumbria (remember Lakeland and Derwent Pencils?). For me, you can’t go far wrong when you choose Staedtler as a trusted brand. As in so much in the advertising world, the name speaks volumes and it ought to be the same with our lives for we bear the Name above all other names.
Unlike other religious teachers, Jesus never wrote a book. His teaching is best seen in the lives of His followers. In that sense Christ writes for publication. Wherever we go, whatever we say or do reflects the One whose Name we are proud to bear. Christians are “Christ’s ones”, but remarkably the actual word is only found three times in the Bible. But each reference tells us where and how we make our mark.
Acts 11:26 is where the name was first used by the citizens of Antioch. They had a reputation for labelling people to show them in a poor light. The followers of Jesus took the insult and wore it as a badge of honour.
Acts 26:28 is where Paul is on trial before King Agrippa and speaks so convincingly that Agrippa thinks Paul is trying to make him a Christian.
1 Peter 4:16 is where Peter gives encouragement to believers facing suffering and persecution for no valid reason.
Taken as a whole these three references teach us that when we are mocked for who we are, or defending what we believe, or undergoing suffering, the one thing God is doing by His Spirit in each situation is making His mark through our lives. We should never be ashamed to own our Lord or defend His cause, for what we are is bound up with who He is.
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