“Images of the Church: A Transforming Community”
1. A Letter (2 Cor. 3:1-3)
 a) Background? People/leaders wrote letters of commendation/recommendation for individuals traveling
     to another group (Paul did this, 8:22f, Rom. 16:1). There were false apostles who apparently had
     letters of recommendation from unbelieving circles in Jerusalem, which they showed to the church at
     Corinth. They compared themselves with Paul claiming to be superior and having a better message.
 b) Paul countered that followers of Christ in Corinth were Paul’s letter of recommendation written on his
     (& fellow-workers) heart. People all around knew and could read this letter. There is a special bond
     formed between Christian leaders & those to whom they minister. It reads warmly & effectively
     without the need of outward credentials.
 c) The Author? “you are a letter of Christ.” Christ is the Source of the contents of the letter.
 d) Supportive Team? “cared for by us.” Paul was like a secretary recording a letter dictated by Christ or a
     courier that delivers the message. Christ is primary, while His servants are secondary.
 e) The medium/instrument? “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.” The Holy Spirit/Spirit
     of the living God carries out what Christ wants. He is continually active in the on-going project.
 f) The location? In v2 Paul referred to his heart. “not on tablets of stone”- tablets refers to the 10
     commandments (Ex. 31:18). The false apostles made much out of these commandments & the old
     covenant under Moses, but it couldn’t change the human heart. “but on tablets of human hearts”- The
     New Covenant in Christ gives people a new heart & writes God’s commandments on people’s hearts
     to want to obey (Ezek. 36:26-27, Jer. 31:33).
 g) Take a fresh look at our church as people upon whose hearts Christ is writing a letter through the
     Spirit & wants you to have a supportive role.
2. Light (Ephesians 5:8-14)
 a) Paul commands the believers at Ephesus not to get caught up with the common sins of their society.
     His rationale is that they were formerly darkness, but now they are light in the Lord. It is not just that
     they were in darkness (ignorance, error, sin, lost, evil), but that is what they were by nature.
     Remembering this will keep us humble. Now they are not just in the light, but that is what they are
     because of their relationship with the Lord. The church is to walk/conduct its lives as children who
     belong to the light of Christ.
 b) The “fruit/productive outcome” of this reality is a community of goodness (moral excellence with
     kindness in action), righteousness/uprightness and truth (verbal & character that lives in agreement
     with God’s truth) which is trying to learn, do & show what is pleasing to the Lord.
 c) The Lord does not want His people participating in the unfruitful/unproductive (contrast v9) works of
     darkness, but exposing them by their life & words. Such exposure reveals what is going on in the
     darkness, but light transforms darkness. It should be followed by an invitation for people to awaken
     out of their spiritual sleep and arise from their spiritually dead condition, for Christ to shine on them
     (Isaiah 60:1). Then they too become part of the community of light, which Christ is expanding.
 d) Let us encourage & exhort one another not to go back into any darkness of sin, but take up our role of
     exposing darkness in such a way that we are attracting people to the light of Christ where we are.