Paul’s Ministry Was Genuinely of the Lord | 2 Corinthians 2:16b-3:11 | 2/15/26

In 2007,

a group of young adults from our young

adult ministry went to Zambia in Africa

on a missions trip. There were about 11

of us and most of us stayed for three

weeks, but two of us, Josh Birfield and

myself, we stayed for three months in

Zambia.

We found that because we were Americans,

we had a wide open door for preaching

the gospel in any church in Lusaka, the

capital city where we were staying. And

so our days were spent kind of wandering

around the the slums of Lusaka looking

for street corners to preach on and

churches to preach in and starting up

gospel gospel conversations wherever we

could trying to take care of street kids

on the way.

But the way a Zambian church service

works is really different from the way

our church services work. They last

anywhere from three to five hours. And

that's because there is a lot more

dancing than we have here.

I don't know if you guys noticed, we're

not a dancing church,

but they are a dancing people and they

sing loud for a long a long long time.

And they have about three or four

sermons. Their pastor would preach and

then if it was a weekend or a Sunday

morning or an evening, Josh or myself

would preach and then maybe another

pastor, somebody they called a prophet,

they would come and preach.

The hardest part of being in Zambia on

this missions trip was after the pastor

preached, having to get up after him and

correct everything he said. That was the

hardest part.

In every church we visited, except for

one, the pastor preached something like

this. If you give me your money,

God will give you a nice car.

If you give me your money, you'll go

home and your sickness will be healed.

If you give me your money,

God will make sure that you are blessed.

Make sure your pastor is blessed first

and then you will see blessings trinkled

sprinkled down from him. One pastor even

said this, "If if you give me everything

that you have with you today, you will

go home and you will find two

checkbooks."

not understanding how checkbooks work

because he had never had a checkbook

before. For those of you who are really

young and don't know how to use a

checkbook, the way that it works is you

have to actually have money in your

account for a check to work.

But being an impoverished in an

impoverished country and never having

had a checkbook, this poor pastor didn't

know that. And our hearts broke for

these guys.

They probably weren't trying to be

malicious. They were mostly copying the

American preachers that they saw on TV,

the ones who preach in stadiums and have

private jets and have $10,000 suits.

They were trying to emulate our garbage.

And so that's why they were preaching

that way.

There was no true gospel in these

sermons, only Old Testament legalism

without any anticipation of a new

covenant coming to supersede and fulfill

the old. No power of the Holy Spirit to

change hearts.

no mention of Christ.

Now there are many false ministries and

false ministers in our world and not all

of them are like the prosperity

preachers of TV America or in Africa.

False ministers and ministries come in

many varieties. In fact, they can come

in so many varied forms that it's

impossible to keep track of how many

false ministries or types of false

ministers there are. So, how do we

identify a false gospel or a false

person claiming to be a servant of

Christ? Well, you've heard the old adage

saying that you don't spot a counterfeit

$100 bill by studying all the possible

ways of counterfeiting it. You spot a

counterfeit $100 bill by knowing the

true thing so well that any counterfeit

is obvious. The same can be said for

ministries and ministers of the gospel.

So today, Paul is going to show us the

marks of authentic ministry and

authentic ministers.

Again, the definition of ministry that I

gave you last week was quite simply

service to Christ and his church. That's

all we mean by ministry. It's not this

complicated thing. It's not my job. It's

not what pastors do. It's service to

Christ and his church. That's what we

mean by ministry. All Christians are

ministers of the gospel. All Christians

should be servants of Christ and his

church. You're all ministers.

Now, let me just recap where we are in

second Corinthians so that we can be

situated before I get into our text this

morning. Last week, we saw that Paul

used the metaphor of marching in a

triumphal procession to talk about

ministers of the gospel.

Paul and all Christians are

metaphorically located in this victory

prayed as liberated prisoners of war who

were rescued by a conquering Roman

general set free from barbarian

captives. That's where he located us in

this parade. And as freed prisoners of

war, Christians are the incense bearers

in Christ's victory parade. And in

Paul's metaphor, the incense of these

incense bearers is the aroma of the

knowledge of Christ. It's the gospel

that we spread.

For the captured enemy soldiers, the

barbarians marching in chains to their

execution in this victory procession.

For them, the smell of the incense is

the stench of death.

But for the freed captives, the smell of

the incense is the smell of freedom and

life.

The gospel is like the incense and in

that it serves the great dividing line

for humanity. Therefore, to be a

minister of the gospel, an incense

bearer of God, constitutes a serious and

a daunting responsibility.

And so Paul responds, "Who is sufficient

for these things? Who can possibly do

this job?

Who's really qualified to bring the

aroma of death to some and the aroma of

life to others? What qualifies someone

for authentic ministry? And how do you

identify when a minister or a ministry

is fake? Paul's going to answer those

questions this morning. Our text this

morning is 2 Corinthians chapter 2

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

starting in the second half of 16b, the

second half of verse 16. Then we'll read

through chapter 3 11. So if you've got

your Bibles, go ahead and make your way

over to 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

We'll start in the middle of verse 16.

Paul starts, "Who is sufficient for

these things?" Namely, being an incense

bearer. For we are not like so many

peddlers of God's word, but as men of

sincerity, as commissioned by God in the

sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Chapter 3. Are we beginning to commend

ourselves again? Or do we need, as some

do, letters of recommendation to you or

from you? You yourselves are our letters

of recommendation written on our hearts

to be known and read by all.

And you show that you are a letter from

Christ delivered 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.

Such is the confidence that we have

through Christ toward God. Not that we

are sufficient in ourselves to claim

anything as coming from us, but our

sufficiency is from God, who has made us

sufficient to be ministers of a new

covenant, not of the letter, but of the

spirit. For the letter kills, but the

spirit gives life.

Now if the ministry of death carved in

letters on stone came with such a glory

such glory that the Israelites could not

gaze at Moses's face because of its

glory which was being brought to an end.

Will not the ministry of the spirit have

even more glory? For if there was glory

in the ministry of condemnation, the

ministry of righteousness must far

exceeded in glory. Indeed, in this case,

what once had glory has come to have no

glory at all because of the glory that

surpasses it. For if what was being

brought to an end came with glory,

much more will what is permanent have

glory. This is the word of our Lord.

In our text, we're going to look at four

features of ministers and ministry.

We're going to look at the

qualifications of authentic ministers,

the commenation of authentic ministers,

the confidence of authentic ministers,

and the superiority of authentic

ministers. Let me say those again for

those of you taking notes. The

qualifications of authentic ministers,

the commenation of authentic ministers,

the confidence of authentic ministers,

and the superiority of authentic

ministers. So let's start by looking at

Paul's qualifications of an authentic

minister.

Notice how he started with a question in

verse 16b. Who is sufficient for these

things?

After describing the triumphal

procession and the grave responsibility

of being a bearer of the gospel, the

knowledge of Christ, he's like, who

could possibly be qualified for this

job? It's too big. It's too serious. And

it's a rhetorical question. He's he's

expecting us to answer no one. No one is

sufficient for these things. No one is

qualified for this.

No one is worthy of such a high and holy

calling. No one in and of themselves is

good enough for this office of minister

of servant of Christ in his church.

So Paul's opening question gives us his

first qualification of an authentic

minister.

It's humility.

Authentic ministers are marked by

humility. A sense of our own

unworthiness.

A sense of our own insufficiency is a

prerequisite for authentic service to

Christ. Let me say that again.

A sense of our own insufficiency is a

prerequisite for authentic service to

Christ.

Humility says without Christ

I can't affect anything in this

conversation.

Apart from the spirit working in this

situation nothing will change no matter

how much effort I put in.

Unless God moves my gospel words will

fall on completely hard hearts.

Paul can't help but reveal that he is an

authentic minister because he's asking

the rhetorical question, who is

sufficient for this work. A false

minister would answer, I am. I can do

it. I have the competence. I have the

credentials. I have the qualifications.

I can make people do what I want. I can

affect change. I've got this.

In fact, that is exactly what Paul's

opponents were doing in Corinth.

which is why he's writing about this.

They were pointing to their own

sufficiency as the basis of their

ministry authenticity. Paul points to

his insufficiency

as the mark of his authenticity.

Humility marks the true minister of the

gospel. But here's the next

qualification. Look at verse 17. Paul

says, "For we are not like so many

peddlers of the word of God, but as men

of sincerity." Paul says, "The next

qualification for authentic ministry is

sincerity." Sincerity means integrity,

honesty, truthfulness, trustworthiness.

He contrasts his sincerity with so many

others who are peddlers of the word of

God. What does that mean, peddlers?

Well, in Greek, the word peddler is a

pjorative term. It's a it's an insult.

It's a reference to people who sold

products in a market, but they were

deliberately cheating people. They were

either using fake weights to underell

their products to people for more money

or they were just selling bad products,

faulty products altogether. Paul is

saying that there are people who are

peddlers of Christ using his name.

They're not real servants of Christ, but

they pose as servants of Christ in order

to use the name of Christ to get others

to serve them.

These fake ministers and fake ministries

are so harmful. The common goals of

these peddlers of the gospel is to get

money, fame, power, or sex. The same

things that corrupt people in every

industry are after.

Yes, fake ministers are motivated by all

the same things that corrupt every other

industry.

To quote Creed Bratton, "I've been a

part of a great number of cults, both as

a leader and as a follower. You have

more fun as a follower, but you make

more money as a leader."

West Hills, you have to have a high

level of discernment in this world. A

high level of discernment. Not everyone

who says they are a Christian is a

Christian. And not everyone who says

they're a minister of Christ is a

minister of Christ.

Not everyone who preaches the gospel is

seeking your good and the glory of

Christ. Not every minister is looking

out for your soul. You need to surround

yourself with ministers like Paul, men

of sincerity. We need to be women and

men of sincerity. People who are not in

it for our own glory, not in it for the

money, but who are in it for the glory

of Christ and the good of his people.

About 10 years ago, there was a family

that came to the West Hill San Jose

campus. They got really close to Pastor

Josh,

and they would shower him and his family

with gifts,

financial gifts,

all kinds of gifts. They'd loan him

their brand new Jaguar when they were

out of the country traveling. They would

just continuously try to bless him. But

one day, the bill arrived.

This couple met with Pastor Josh and

they told him, "West Hills is on a

really dangerous path. Your elders are

crazy.

We want you to join us and start a new

church and we will bankroll your salary

and more.

Start a new church with our little group

of friends." They wanted their own

personal pastor, someone they could

control with money.

But Josh being a man of sincerity

refused the offer.

He refused the raise, the perks to be

faithful to Christ in his church.

Ministers of Christ in his church must

not be motivated by money. They must not

be willing to trade convictions for

riches.

Qualifications of authentic ministers,

humility, sincerity, and look at verse

17 again. Commissioned by God.

That's the next qualification. What does

it mean to be commissioned by God? Well,

it's like a military commission. If you

have friends in the military, if you've

been in the military, you get a

commission. It's your assignment, your

post. God told you what to do.

It's your your assignment from him. You

don't receive it audibly, but he puts

his spirit in his people to guide us, to

prompt us to give, to promp prompt us to

participate, to nudge us, to share a

verse with that person, to open our

mouths and share our story or testimony

with that person. Sometimes God calls

people to a specific type of ministry

for a specific season. And sometimes God

calls someone to a specific ministry for

their lifetime.

But the point is, God gives the

assignments.

We don't just go wherever we want.

We go where he leads.

And this commissioning is from God

himself. And because it's from God

himself, that's why Paul can stand

against anybody.

He can stand against anybody

because he was called by God into this

ministry. Yes, he was confirmed by the

apostles in Jerusalem. But after

receiving his commission by God and his

confirmation from the apostles, Paul was

unstoppable in his ministry.

So the qualifications so far are

humility, sincerity, and commissioning.

And then in the end of verse 17, we see

the last qualification in our text.

In the sight of God, we speak Christ.

We speak Christ. Authentic ministers

proclaim Christ. Not themselves. Christ.

Not prosperity. Christ. Not politics.

Christ. Not self-help. Christ.

That is what an authentic minister

proclaims.

This is how some people can seem to have

all the courage in the world.

If you have the qualifications of an

authentic minister, you will have

courage like Paul's courage. cou courage

to stand up to emperors or presidents to

cannibals or executioners.

Like the proverb says, the righteous are

as bold as a lion.

When you're humble, you will risk your

reputation or even your job, even your

life because it means nothing because

you are insufficient for these things.

He is sufficient though. When you're

sincere, no peddler, no one will be able

to buy you or your message. When you're

commissioned by God, no one will be able

to stop you because you know that God

has sent you.

And when you proclaim Christ, you will

see lives transformed because the gospel

is the power of God to salvation.

That is what Paul says the

qualifications are for an authentic

minister. humble, sincere, commissioned

by God, proclaiming Christ. So those are

the qualifications. Let's look at the

commenation of an authentic minister. We

see this in chapter 3 verse one. Paul

says, "Do we need to commend ourselves

to you again? Have you forgotten our

relationship? I will commend myself even

though it should not be necessary."

What Paul is saying here is that the

Corinthians are treating him and his

ministry partners as if there's some

unknown commodity. There's some new

thing in their city. When in fact, they

planted the church in Corinth. They were

the first ones to bring the gospel to

the Corinthians. They started the

church. And now that Paul has left to

plant other churches, they're acting

like they don't even know him. A new

leadership has infiltrated the church in

Corinth. A group that opposed Paul. They

told the Corinthians, "He's not

qualified. That guy that planted your

No, he's not qualified. He's not a real

apostle. He has no letters of

recommendation. We have impressive

letters of recommendation,

but Paul has none.

Letters of recommendation were an

important part of the ancient Roman

world.

This is back in the day when one of the

more respectable vocations,

one of the more respectable careers was

to be an orator or a rhetoric, a

professional speaker. This was a highly

coveted skill. And rhetoricians were

highly influential, highly praised, and

highly esteemed back then. In Paul's

days, a traveling orator would bring

with him letters of recommendation,

letters signed by politicians or leaders

of great influence.

And the more letters they had and the

more respectable the the people who

signed these letters were, if a if an

ortor had these letters with him, he

could attract a massive crowd of

important people.

It seems like m Paul is mocking the fact

that some of the leaders of the

opposition party in the Corinthian

church brought letters of recommendation

with them. Like this is what was going

to prove that they were authentic, that

they were skilled. Paul's like, "Do I

really need letters?

Do I need letters like these guys?

Because you seem to have forgotten who I

am and how close we were last time I was

here in Corinth. I guess I have to

commend myself to you again. Do you hear

the sarcasm in his voice?

This would be like if my predecessor,

Mike Birfield, walked up the hill, the

pastor who was here for 36 years. It'd

be like if he came up the hill and was

like, "Hey, I'd like to preach a

sermon." And we were like, "Where'd you

go to school?

Uh, do you have any references?"

That would be crazy. He'd be like, "How

about these references? I baptized half

of you

and I mentored your current pastor and I

discipled dozens of you and many of you

came to faith under my ministry. Do you

want me to keep going?" We'd be like,

"Okay, that's enough."

That's exactly what Paul does in verse

two and three. You yourselves are are

our letter of recommendation written on

hearts to be known and read by all. And

you show that you are a letter from

Christ delivered 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.

He's like, you want a letter of

recommendation?

Look around. Look at the church that

exists. Look at the people that are

growing in Christ. That is my letter of

recommendation. You Corinth, you church

are my letter of recommendation. You are

walking proof that Christ is using me in

your midst.

It's proof that my ministry is authentic

is what Paul is saying. And it sounds

like a self-commendation, but it's

actually not. He's saying it's the work

of God through me. It's the work of God

through me. It's a God commenation. It's

a spirit commenation.

That's why he said the Corinthians were

his letters written not with ink but on

the but by the spirit of the living God.

This is a commenation of authentic

ministry that the spirit of God is

working in that ministry. You're looking

for an authentic ministry. Look for the

spirit's work.

Now you can fake this.

You can fake the spirit's work.

But the real work of the spirit will be

permanent.

Manufactured, manipulated work of the

spirit, it will fade. It will not last.

A real work of the spirit is permanent.

Now I want to draw your attention to the

final phrase of verse three. Paul says,

"Written not with ink but with the

spirit, not on tablets of stone, but on

on tablets of human hearts." What is he

talking about there? What does he mean

by that? Here Paul is taking us back to

the Old Testament, an Old Testament

story. He's going to compare the Old

Covenant law of God which was carved in

stone tablets with the new covenant

spirit of God which is written on our

hearts. But I'm actually going to punt

that to Paul's last point because he's

going to unpack that a lot more in

verses 7- 11.

So for Paul, the commenation of

authenticity of his ministry is in fact

that the permanent work of the spirit

has worked through him and his ministry.

That's his commenation. The permanent

work of the spirit is in your midst,

Corinthians.

It's all the commenation he needs.

So we see the qualifications and the

commenation of authentic ministry. Let's

look at Paul's third point, the

confidence of an authentic minister.

We see this in verses four and five.

Such is the confidence that we have

through Christ toward God. Not that we

are sufficient in ourselves to claim

anything as coming from us, but our

sufficiency is from God.

Authentic ministers like Paul can have

all the confidence in the world. They

can even stand up to fake ministers.

They can take on massive criticism about

themselves or their ministries because

their confidence is not a

self-confidence.

It's a confidence in God. Their

sufficiency is not a self-sufficiency.

It's a sufficiency in Christ from God.

I've felt this insufficiency before and

you have too.

God called me into vocational ministry

when I was in high school.

All of us are called to the work of the

ministry in some way, the work of

serving Christ in his church. But

sometimes some of us are called to it as

a vocation. And I remember being on El

Toro, my hill where I struggle with God.

And I had this overwhelming sense that I

was supposed to give my life to serving

Christ and serving his church. And I

knew God was calling me to become a

preacher of the gospel. But there was

one major problem.

I was that student that would throw up

before speeches. I couldn't speak in

public at all. Like my voice would shake

so bad that I was incomprehensible. I

would get so nervous.

I was just not equipped for that work.

I remember praying on that hill, God, if

you want me to serve in this way, if you

want to become a preacher of the gospel,

you have to fix this.

all of me. You have to fix it.

A few months later, I was giving my

graduation speech in this very spot. And

I spoke from from Philippians 3:8. I

Philippians 3:8

count all things as rubbish

compared to the greatness of knowing

Christ Jesus our Lord.

And for the first time in my life, I

spoke in front of a crowd with zero

fear. I was full of confidence not in

myself but in the Christ I was

proclaiming

in the Lord that I loved.

I was confident in the content of my

speech because he was the only content

that I had.

I can honestly say that as long as I am

preaching Christ I feel no fear.

And it's not because I have confidence

in myself. It's because I have

confidence in Christ.

I have confidence in his story. I have

confidence in his salvation. I know I'm

not sufficient.

But I know how beautiful he is. I know

how glorious he is. I know how he can

stand up to any scrutiny or criticism. I

mean, he rose from the dead. He can do

anything he wants.

Christ is the content of all true

preaching. And I depend on that when I'm

preaching because my jokes are terrible

and my stories are lame. But if Christ

is what I speak, then I can speak on on

him every single time. If I speak on

anything else, I will probably throw up.

But I have no confidence, no

sufficiency, no competency outside of

Christ.

I can say honestly with Hudson Taylor,

God chose me because I was weak enough.

And God chose you because you're weak

enough too. And Christ can be the

content of your stories.

He can be the sufficiency that you lack.

This is the confidence of Paul. Someone

who can say, "I put zero confidence in

myself, but I have full certainty that

God is powerful to work through me."

Yes, even me.

Oswell Chambers once said, "God can

achieve his purpose either through the

absence of human power and resources or

the abandonment of reliance on them."

All throughout history, God has chosen

and used nobodies because their unusual

dependence on him made possible the

unique display of his power and grace.

He chose and used somebody's only when

they denounced dependence on their own

natural abilities and resources.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "Not many

were wise.

Not many were powerful." Talking about

the Christians that God saved in

Corenth.

Church, don't use your insufficiency as

an excuse not to serve. Don't use your

insufficiency as an excuse not to serve

Christ. Let your insufficiency be the

grounds of your service to Christ.

Maybe God is calling you to become a

missionary overseas.

Don't think, "Oh, I could never do

that." No, you can't. You can't. The

castles can't. I can't. Nobody can do

that. But God can use you and can send

you if you depend on him. Is God calling

you to teach Sunday school? Don't think,

"Oh, that's too intimidating. Those

5-year-olds might know more than I do."

It's true, they might,

but trust him.

Trust him. You would learn so much. You

would be such a blessing.

Maybe he's calling you to serve the body

by taking a meal to someone who's

suffering. But maybe in that moment, you

don't feel like being generous. You're

like, "I can't afford another meal. I I

don't have time to take this over there.

So, you're not sufficient. Great. You're

qualified.

You're the perfect person to make that

meal.

Join the club of unqualified,

insufficient servants, depending on God.

Rely on him to give you his heart and

say yes to impossible things if that's

what he's calling you to do. I don't

know what he's calling you to do. I

don't know what it is, but you al have

that still small voice,

the Holy Spirit that nudges you, that

prompts you, that commands you what to

do and where to go.

When you feel insufficient for it,

you're in the exact right place. Obey.

Follow his leading.

This is the opposite attitude of Paul's

opponents who were boasting in their

strengths and their self-competence,

their rhetorical skills, their their

intelligence.

The Corinthians were really fond of

their gifts. You get this impression

from first Corinthians. They really

liked their spiritual gifts and their

natural abilities. They really liked it.

They put a lot of confidence in their

rhetoric, in their ortorial skills as

validation for their ministries.

But Paul boasts in his weakness. Not the

last time he's going to do this in

second Corinthians. He boasts in his

weakness. Why? because they force him to

find his confidence in someone stronger

and more sufficient than himself.

And why do we have such confidence in

Christ? Verse six, because Christ has

made us sufficient to be ministers of a

new covenant, not of the letter, but of

the spirit. For the letter kills, but

the spirit gives life.

Here again, Paul is making a reference

to the old covenant, the letter, and

comparing it to the new covenant, the

spirit. And again, Paul is going to

cover this more in his last point. But

let me just point out one reason why we

should have confidence as ministers, as

servants of Christ in his church, as

incense bearers of the gospel, in the

triumphal procession of Christ. Your

reason for confidence, Christians, is

the message you carry. Your reason for

confidence is the message you carry, the

knowledge that you keep, the incense

that you spread.

The Holy Spirit empowers that message.

It empowers the content of Christ when

you proclaim him.

The Holy Spirit awakens people to

believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. And

so you, like Paul, can walk around

proclaiming Christ with 100% confidence

that the Holy Spirit will take that

fragrance. And for some people, it will

be a fragrance of death. But for others,

it will be the fragrance of life and

they will believe the words that you're

saying and they will put their faith in

Jesus and they will join the family of

God and their sins will be forgiven and

they will be set free. You hold that

power

in your heart, in your mind, in your

mouth,

empowered by the Holy Spirit. He can

make it a fragrance of life.

That is where the confidence of an

authentic minister comes from. knowing

your content is Christ and your power is

the Holy Spirit and that he will

accomplish exactly what he means to

accomplish with every person you come in

contact with.

So, we've looked at the qualifications,

the commenation, and the confidence of

authentic ministers. Let's look at

Paul's last point quickly, the

superiority of authentic ministers. Paul

wraps up this section on authentic

ministry by comparing the old and the

new covenants.

Now, we need some context here. If you

weren't here for our series in Exodus

last year, you may have missed this.

This Paul is referring to a story of

Moses's encounter with God in Exodus 32

through34.

Moses went up on Mount Si to receive the

law of God, the Ten Commandments, but

then also the civil and social and

ceremonial laws for the nation of

Israel. And as he went up to Mount Si

and received the law, he saw the the

tail end of the fringes of God's glory,

just the edges of it with God's back

turned.

And it was enough to make his face glow.

And when he came down from the mountain,

the the Israelites, the people of God,

were terrified at the shining face of

Moses. And so Moses to protect them put

a veil over his face to hide the glory

of God from the people of God.

So with that context in mind, let's read

verses seven and 8.

Now if the ministry of death carved in

letters on stone came with such glory

that the Israelites could not gaze at

Moses's face because of its glory which

was being brought to an end, will not

the ministry of the spirit have even

more glory?

Paul's first point in this section is

that the new covenant is superior to the

old covenant

in longevity and in glory. He's like,

look, the old covenant did have a glory

associated with it. It did actually make

Moses's face shine. No, none of us have

seen that in the new covenant. We've

never seen a shining face.

It actually had a glory associated with

it. The angel of the Lord was meeting

with Moses on Si. There was real thunder

and real lightning, smoke in a booming

voice that shook the mountain. It was

really glorious.

But that covenant had an expiration

date.

That law was only given to show us that

we are sinners in need of a savior. It

did not offer a savior. It did not offer

a savior. There was no real power in

that covenant to actually save us. The

old covenant was designed to come to an

end and to make way to a new covenant.

The nature of the old covenant was that

it was used to condemn us under the law.

It was used to condemn us under the law.

This is why Paul calls it a ministry of

death in verse 7 and a ministry of

condemnation in verse 9. Look with me

there. For if there was glory in the

ministry of condemnation, the ministry

of righteousness must far exceed it in

glory.

Paul is saying that there was a kind of

glory associated with the old covenant

just like there is glory associated with

God's judgment and his wrath. We stand

in awe of it. We stand in fear of it.

There is a kind of glory.

But the new covenant, the ministry of

righteousness far exceeds the old in

glory.

Paul is alluding to the new covenant as

described in Ezekiel 36:es 26- 27 where

the prophet wrote on God's behalf. and I

will give you a new heart and a new

spirit I will put within you. And I will

remove the heart of stone from your

flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And

I will put my spirit within you and

cause you to walk in my statutes and be

careful to obey my rules.

The new covenant is superior to the old

covenant because the new covenant is

what God was getting at all along. The

old covenant was a temporary

placeholder.

It was preparation for the new covenant.

Paul is saying that the old covenant was

deliberately a Christless covenant

meant to show everyone that without

Christ, we're all condemned under God's

law. That was its purpose. That was its

design. But that was never supposed to

last.

Under the old covenant, if you did the

wrong thing, you would be killed.

Under the new covenant, if you did the

wrong thing, you can be forgiven.

Do you see the difference? Death and

life,

condemnation and the spirit.

But more than that, more than being

forgiven, you will be given the Holy

Spirit who changes you so that you don't

want to do the wrong thing anymore.

That's the real power of the covenant is

not just forgiveness but transformation

that comes by the power of the Holy

Spirit. This new covenant started when

Jesus died on the cross and he signed it

in his blood. There are no obligations

on your part except to receive this free

gift of mercy and grace that is offered

to you in the new covenant out of God's

infinite love for you.

And then you allow it to change you for

the rest of your life. if you allow it

to change you. It's the power of the new

covenant.

And Paul ends our text by showing the

temporary nature of the old covenant

and that makes it inferior to the new.

Look at verses 10 and 11. Indeed, in

this case, what once had come what what

once had glory has come to have no glory

at all because of the glory that

surpasses it. For if what was being

brought to an end came with glory, much

more will what is permanent have glory.

Now, why did Paul launch into this kind

of theological treatment of covenants in

the middle of trying to describe

authentic and inauthentic ministry? Why

this covenant theology that he started

introducing here? What does this have to

do with authentic ministry in Paul's day

or our day?

Paul is saying that authentic ministry

is new covenant ministry.

Did you catch that? Paul is saying that

authentic ministry, authentic service to

Christ, your service to Christ must be

new covenant ministry

as opposed to old covenant ministry.

There is no place for ministers who are

administering the new covenant to

minister the old covenant to refer to it

as giving life when it gives no life.

So if you see people

trying to give you an old covenant,

run.

That's not authentic ministry.

If you're tempted to give people the old

covenant, repent. That is not authentic

ministry.

trying to impose the law of God or even

trying to impose your own opinions about

the law of God, your standards of

morality on other people. That is not

new covenant ministry.

The whole goal of an old covenant is to

get people to try to act in a certain

way, to get them to behave.

That's passed away.

It's a ministry that leaves people

feeling condemned. Not convicted.

Convicted is a good thing, but

condemned.

A ministry that leaves people with no

hope. That's an old covenant ministry.

No hope because you've sinned too badly

or because you don't conform to this

kind of

standard, arbitrary standard that I

think you should live up to.

That's not a new covenant ministry. That

is a Christless ministry.

So, how do you identify a faith ministry

versus a new covenant ministry? Let me

give you a couple of points. Look at a

ministry and ask yourself, is there

death in the wake of this minister or

ministry? Is there death in the wake of

it? Where's the body count?

There will be destruction in the wake of

a fake ministry or a fake minister.

Is there a culture of condemnation in

that ministry or in that minister?

Are they always condemning without

Christ as a hope for the way out?

Is there law minus grace? Remember the

law is good. Jesus said, "I have not

come to abolish the law, but to fulfill

it." He fulfills it by giving you the

spirit which who writes the law on your

heart and causes you to walk in his

statutes. The law is good. But is the

law being preached without grace?

That's not an authentic ministry.

Another one, are the ministers motivated

by money, power, fame, or sex?

And the last one, are ministers trying

to find their sufficiency in their

confidence in themselves

or in Christ?

In 1955,

Billy Graham was scheduled to preach at

the at Cambridge University.

The Times published a piece dreading the

visit from Billy Graham, saying Billy

Graham's approach would be unthinkable

before such a prestigious university

audience, and he will be laughed out of

court.

That's what the world was thinking about

Billy Graham. His biographer even wrote,

"Graham, ever insecure about his lack of

advanced theological education, dreaded

the meeting and feared that a poor

showing might do serious harm to his

ministry. Had he been able to do so

without complete loss of face, he would

have cancelled the meetings or persuaded

some better qualified man to replace

him."

Graham wrote in a letter about this

dreaded Cambridge University visit.

I do not know that I have ever felt more

inadequate and totally unprepared for a

mission. As I think over the possibility

for messages, I realize how shallow and

weak my presentations are.

That was his mindset going to Cambridge.

Graham did fulfill his commitments. He

preached for three nights at Cambridge

and the results were unimpressive.

He admitted later that his sermons were

way too academic. He was trying way too

hard to impress these people. He knew he

wasn't touching hearts. He knew he was

preaching to please and impress his

audience. But then on the fourth night,

he had his breakthrough.

Billy set aside his academic sermons and

just preached the plain simple gospel.

Christ was his content. Christ was his

glory.

He preached to human souls instead of to

brilliant minds. And because Graham

preached in his own weakness and he

preached the allsufficient gospel and

the c and that Christ was his content,

the spirit began a great movement at

Cambridge University that day. Many were

saved, even some who would become great

evangelists themselves.

True ministry is not in the number of

people you have or the dollars you have,

the number of followers you have online,

but it's evidenced by the work of God in

people's lives around you. Are people

growing in Christ?

Are people knowing God more and more as

a result of your work, as a result of

your words? And as we'll see next week,

are people being transformed from one

degree of glory to another? Let's pray.