Please turn to 2 Corinthians. We will read the whole chapter, and hopefully, as we read, we will think about it.
Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as do some, epistles of commendation to you or from you?
Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men;
being made manifest that ye are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in tables that are hearts of flesh.
And such confidence have we through Christ to God-ward:
not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;
Who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death, written, and engraven on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look stedfastly upon the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which glory was passing away:
how shall not rather the ministration of the spirit be with glory?
For if the ministration of condemnation hath glory, much rather doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For verily that which hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasseth.
For if that which passeth away was with glory, much more that which remaineth is in glory.
Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness,
and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on the end of that which was passing away:
but their minds were hardened: for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth unlifted; which veil is done away in Christ.
But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart.
But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for Thy precious Word. Thy Word is living and operative. So, as we wait together before Thee, may Thy Holy Spirit quicken Thy Word to us—the Spirit of wisdom and revelation—and bring us into the true knowledge of God.
We commit this time into Thy hand, trusting Thy Holy Spirit to do His work, to the praise of Thy glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, we thank the Lord for bringing us together again this time. If you were with us last week, you know that the burden the Lord has put upon our hearts is this: we want to share on this matter of new covenant life and ministry.
We know that we today are living in the days of the new covenant. When our Lord Jesus had His last supper with His disciples, He took up the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
So we know that, by the grace of God, through the finished work of Christ on Calvary’s cross, the Lord has brought the new covenant to us. We are no longer living under the old covenant of law. He has already delivered us from it.
Thank God, we are living under the new covenant of grace. But, as we mentioned before, it is rather strange that we find many of God’s people today are still living under the old covenant of law.
People are trying by themselves to please God. They try by their own strength to do the will of God in order to please the Lord. But we all have this experience: as we are doing that, we find that we are really condemned in our condition. We are not able to live a joyous and victorious life.
So it is very important for us believers, since the Lord has put us in the new covenant—and it is all of grace—to ask: How should we live in the new covenant of grace?
In a sense, we all know. If it is grace, how are we going to receive grace? Can we receive grace by doing something? Can we receive grace by fulfilling some laws? Of course not. We all know that grace can only be received by faith.
Therefore, to live the New Testament life, we have to live by faith. Faith is the only power that substantiates the very substance into our very being.
We have a certainty before us, and that certainty is grace. The Lord Jesus has accomplished everything for us. He has made every provision for our living. We call it substance because this is real; it is forever real.
How can we make that substance our experience? How can what the Lord has done on Calvary’s cross two thousand years ago become our very life today? The only way is by faith, because faith is the power to substantiate that substance into our very being.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not look to a few and say, “So-and-so lives by faith.” We need to remember that we all are living by faith, and by living by faith we experience New Testament life.
“For to me to live is Christ.” So let us look off from everything and look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of faith.
Now, God willing, this time we would like to go on into this matter of new covenant ministry.
We know from the epistles written by the apostle Paul that there are two epistles concerned especially with Paul’s own experience. Through these two letters, he reveals his own life and ministry.
We have already seen that the letter to the Philippians is the letter that reveals Paul’s life. There was such a close relationship between Paul and the Philippian believers that he was able to expose himself to these believers.
He told them that the secret of his life is, “For to me to live is Christ.”
No one could live the kind of life that Paul lived by himself. Even Paul himself could not do it. How he suffered—not because of his sin, but because of his love for the Lord. How he lost his liberty because of that. Even when he was in prison, some people tried to increase his tribulation.
We find that he lived a life beyond what any human being could bear. But there was joy. There was peace. There was the shout of victory. What was the secret of this life?
He revealed that secret to the Philippian believers. They were actually in a much better situation than Paul was, yet they had some problems. There was rivalry between two leading sisters, and somehow it threw a cloud over them.
The apostle Paul tried to encourage them: if you look at yourself, if you look at your surroundings, you will be overwhelmed. But if you look off unto Jesus and let Christ live in you, then you are in the ascendancy. You can be filled with joy—joy unspeakable.
That is what we find in the letter to the Philippians. He said, “I can do all things through Him who strengtheneth me.” This refers to his life, and his life tells us what New Testament life is.
When you talk about ministry, we know, of course, how Paul served the Lord. What was the secret of his ministry? He wrote 2 Corinthians, and in 2 Corinthians he reveals to us the secret of new covenant ministry.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know that we are not only called to life. We were dead in sins and transgressions, but then the Lord called us: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Thank God, we have answered the call, and we find rest in our spirit. But immediately after that, you remember in Matthew 11, after verse 28 there is verse 29. The Lord said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
Now, brothers and sisters, what does it mean to take the yoke with Him? What is a yoke?
We know a yoke is used in farming. In the old days they did not have machines, so they used animals for plowing. They made a yoke and put it upon the neck of an animal. Then the farmer could control that animal to do the farming.
You are doing something; you are serving a master. You are not doing your own work. You are not serving yourself. You are under a yoke, under your master, and you are supposed to do his work.
But, of course, the animal has to be tamed. If it is not tame, it has its own ideas. It will not follow the master; it seeks its own benefit. As it does that, the plowing will be zigzag.
That is the reason why a farmer has another instrument. It is called a goad, a sharp instrument. When the animal tries to do its own work or go somewhere else, the farmer uses the goad to touch its side.
Of course, the farmer does not want to hurt the animal, because he wants to use it. He simply reminds the animal, “You have a master. You are not doing your work; you are doing your master’s work. You should be obedient.” After several times, the animal learns its lesson.
Brothers and sisters, once we were under the yoke of sin. We were serving Satan as our master. But thank God, He delivered us. He broke that yoke.
But are we really free? No. He puts us under His own yoke. Our Lord Jesus was never under the yoke of sin, but when you read His life, He was under a yoke.
He voluntarily put His neck under the yoke of His Father, because He came to do the Father’s will. He did not live for Himself; He did not seek His own profit. He was there to serve His Father. He was meek and lowly, and He was always glad—joy overflowing.
When our Lord set us free from the iron yoke of sin, He called us to be yoked with Him, that together we may serve God’s purpose.
That is the original will of God concerning man. He not only wants us to live by the tree of life, but He also wants us to serve His purpose—to subdue all things and bring them under the feet of Christ.
So everyone who is saved is called to serve. It is not necessary to be a preacher, but nevertheless you serve, and you serve the purpose of God. You serve what God has ordained for His church.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He challenged Pharaoh, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” Today it is the same with us. He set us free that we may serve Him.
So every believer is called to serve. But there are two different kinds of service.
Here in 2 Corinthians 3, we find that the apostle Paul shows us that, so far as ministry is concerned, there can be one of two kinds. There is a ministry he calls old covenant ministry, and there is another ministry he calls new covenant ministry.
We are all supposed to serve the Lord according to new covenant ministry, because that is the way God has ordained for us. But unfortunately, we find that even among so-called Christian service, most service is done according to old covenant ministry. Very little comes out of new covenant ministry.
What is old covenant ministry? Ministry is like writing letters to each other. When we are serving the Lord, whatever comes out of our service is supposed to write a letter. It is a letter of Christ—Christ’s epistle—so people can read that letter and read Christ.
In other words, when you serve, what is the result? The result is that people see Christ. People receive Christ through the letter of Christ. We are all writing letters, but what comes out of the letter is a matter of concern.
He said that in old covenant ministry, how do you write? What instrument are you using? You write with ink. What does that mean? When you think of ink, what picture comes to you?
It is study. You are studying, reading, and doing research. When you are doing that, you use ink. The ignorant and the illiterate have nothing to do with ink.
I remember my grandfather. He was illiterate. He could not even sign his own name. He had nothing to do with ink. But all who are supposed to be educated are related to ink. That is the way we write.
How do you write? You write out of your study and research. This is old covenant ministry.
While you are doing that, upon what are you writing? You are writing on stones. What does stone mean? You remember when the Ten Commandments were given: they were inscribed on stone.
Stones have no feeling. They are hard. Stone represents our mind. Our mind is logical—without feeling, very logical, very cold. So you find that you are writing on the mind.
To put it simply, old covenant ministry comes out of the mind and enters into people’s minds. It may be correct. It may be the Word of God, because the Ten Commandments are certainly the Word of God.
The Ten Commandments show us the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. The first four commandments are concerned with the holiness of God. God is all alone; there is only one God. You can only worship Him, and you cannot take His name in vain. You have to keep the Sabbath, because He has done everything. You do not need to do anything except accept all that He has done and enter into rest.
These are the first four commandments. They reveal the holiness of God. Then the last six commandments reveal the righteousness of God. God is right in His relationships; therefore, you must be right.
Because this is the Word of God, you find that it begins with glory. When the law was given, there was glory. But the glory gradually faded.
Because it is law, it is demand: “Thou shalt,” and, “Thou shalt not.” Even though it is God’s Word, even though it is supposed to give life—because if you keep it, you will have life—who can keep it? It results in condemnation. It results in death. That is old covenant ministry.
What is new covenant ministry? New covenant ministry is also writing a letter—the letter of Christ. But it is not written with ink; it is written by the Holy Spirit of God.
In other words, it is by the working of the Holy Spirit within you. It is through His revelation. It is through that intuitive knowledge given by God. It is something out of God and not out of your mind.
When that is the case, it will be written upon the heart. By heart, it means there is affection. People will be truly touched by the grace of God.
It is not out of yourself; it is out of God. Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. This is new covenant ministry.
What will be the result? The result is righteousness and glory. These are two different ministries, and they work in two different ways. One is unto death, and the other is unto life.
Let me illustrate it. I think it is very clear here, because the apostle Paul uses Moses as an example. The law comes through Moses, but grace and truth came through Christ.
When Moses received the Ten Commandments, there was glory there. As Moses waited upon the Lord and received the commandments, there was a reflection of the glory of God. He was so glorious that the children of Israel dared not look at him.
So he had to put a veil upon his face. Only when he came before the Lord would he take the veil away. But even so, that glory gradually faded.
That is Old Testament ministry. When you minister according to the Old Testament, it is all, “Thou shalt,” and, “Thou shalt not.” As a Christian, you should do this. As a Christian, you should not do that.
These are laws, rules, and commands. Even though there are many false things today, there are true commands too. There is nothing wrong with them. But where do they lead you?
They always say, “You should do this. You should not do this.” It is a ministry of law, not a ministry of grace. The result is death—condemnation—because you cannot do it. The more you minister, the more people feel dead.
But when you look at the ministry of our Lord Jesus, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He ministered grace to us. Even though He spoke the so-called Sermon on the Mount, if you mistake it as a higher law, you will be condemned, because you cannot do it, even if it is a superior law.
But when our Lord delivered the Sermon on the Mount, He was not publishing a higher law. He was telling us what His life can do. If you live by the life of Christ, that is the life of the kingdom of heaven. That will glorify God.
After He finished the Sermon on the Mount and came down from the mountain, you remember in Matthew 8 that immediately a leper came to Him. What did the Lord do? The Lord touched him and said, “I will; be thou clean.” That is grace.
Throughout His life, this is what He did. You remember when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration. There was a man with a child possessed by a demon. He had brought his son to the disciples, but they could not help him.
When the Lord came down, the man came to Him and asked whether He could do something for him. The Lord said, “It is not what I can do; it is whether you can believe.”
You remember that man in his desperation. He said, “I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.” Even though I believe, my belief is not sufficient. Help my unbelief. Give me Your faith.
Immediately, the Lord cast out the demon. Throughout the ministry of our Lord Jesus, it is a ministry of grace, and the result is life—life more abundant.
If you still want more illustrations, I would like to use the illustration of Paul himself. You know that Paul, before he was saved, served God.
He was a Pharisee. It is very rare for a young man to despise the world and seek spiritual things. He learned at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel, at that time, was the greatest teacher, and Paul became a Pharisee.
Today, when you talk about Pharisees, you think of false Pharisees. But Saul was a real Pharisee. He was able to keep every letter of the law, and he wanted to serve God.
How did he serve God? He served God according to the tradition of the fathers. Do not despise the tradition of the fathers, because the tradition of the Jewish fathers was the best tradition you could ever have.
But there was no revelation. It all came out of the human mind. He served with all his heart. He was so zealous that he persecuted the followers of Jesus even to the Gentile cities.
He did things that an ordinary gentleman would not do. His conscience was hardened because of his religious zeal. He did things that a gentleman should not do, yet he thought he was serving God.
What kind of ministry was that? That was old covenant ministry. But thank God, God knew his heart. Instead of rejecting him, God let him go as far as he could.
As he was almost reaching the city of Damascus to seize the believers and bring them to Jerusalem to be condemned, a light came to him. It was noonday, but that light was brighter than the noonday. He was smitten by that light to the ground.
He heard a sweet, tender, sympathetic voice: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard for thee to kick against the goad.”
There he saw the Son of God, and he capitulated and gave himself to the Lord. From Saul the Pharisee, he became Paul the apostle.
What a ministry came out of this man. He was not preaching himself. He preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is new covenant ministry.
Brothers and sisters, I think we all agree that we who are living under the new covenant should not only have new covenant life; even our ministry should be new covenant ministry.
But when you look back at your service, what do you find? I would like to be personal.
Before I was saved, at first I did not want to have anything to do with Christ. Not that mentally I could not receive Him as Savior, but in my heart I did not want Him. That was the sin problem.
As a young man, I thought I was pretty good. In school, I was good with everybody. I often said, “Let Jesus save the sinners, but I do not need Him.”
But when I was fourteen, I was very sick—sick unto death. My pulse became irregular. At that time, that kind of disease had no medicine. It all depended on whether you could pull through.
After several months, through the prayers of my father and others, and as I also prayed, thank God, I recovered.
After I recovered, a natural thought came to me: God has healed me. I must repay His grace. What can I do for Him to show my gratitude?
It so happened that I was able to be with a few others to have meetings in our high school. I cannot say they were brothers and sisters, because there were two of them, sons of pastors like I was, but none of us were saved.
We tried to serve God. How did I do it? It was very easy. I went to my father’s study and found a book on prayer. I translated it into Chinese, then went and told people how God answers prayer.
I asked my fellow students and even some teachers to kneel down and pray. Nobody prayed, and people began to laugh. So I scolded them. I said, “How should this be before God? You cannot do that.” That was the way I led.
I preached too. I went to my father’s study and found a sermon book by a famous American preacher. I chose a sermon, translated it into Chinese, memorized it, and delivered it.
After I did it, I said, “Good.” Nobody praised me. That was the way I served God, even before I was saved.
Was that New Testament ministry or Old Testament ministry? It was correct. I was not speaking heresy. But because I had no experience, it was not out of the working of the Lord. It came out of my own mind.
After a year, I was saved. Thank God, I was so grateful to God, and I was very zealous.
We organized bands to go to the villages to preach the gospel and pray for the sick. Actually, we prayed for the dead. There was a man already dead through banditry. We went in, put our hands all over his body, and prayed that he would be raised.
Of course, nothing happened. I was very zealous, but by whom? By myself. I thought this was what God would like. I thought this was the way Christians should act. So I was doing all these things, but it was all out of me. It did not work.
Not until the Lord showed me: if it is out of myself, it does not work. This is not serving the Lord. Serving the Lord has to come from the Lord.
If it comes from the Lord and is out of the Lord, that is real. Brothers and sisters, all these years I have been learning—not that I know it all.
I know in my mind that unless it is new covenant ministry, it gives death instead of life. I want to have new covenant ministry. I am learning.
There is a maxim written by Watchman Nee on ministry or service. He said, “God pays more attention to what we are than what we do.”
Real service is the overflowing of the life of Christ. A service that is acceptable to God comes from the outflowing of life.
When we consecrate ourselves to the Lord, it is not to do something for the Lord. It is to allow God to work in us. Unless we allow the Lord to work in us, we are unqualified to work for God.
Brothers and sisters, the burden of my heart is very simple. We should have a sense of what ministry really is. God wants you to serve Him, but what kind of ministry is it?
Is it Old Testament ministry—correct, but condemning? Or is it new covenant ministry—new, living, and giving life? This is something we must learn.
There is a word of caution. When you first see the difference between old covenant ministry and new covenant ministry, of course the right attitude is: “From now on, I do not want to do old covenant ministry. I want to serve according to new covenant ministry.”
I think that is important. But when you have that attitude, what do you do? Do you stop serving until you can serve only according to new covenant ministry?
If you do that, you will be dried up. Or perhaps you say, “I am not complete. There is so much that comes from me and not from the Lord, so much that I know but have not really experienced. What should I do?”
As far as our pride is concerned, we may say, “Everything that comes out of me must be new covenant ministry. I will stop everything and wait until the Lord gives me that new covenant ministry.”
If you take that attitude, what should you do? On the one hand, we realize the difference. On the other hand, we realize our weakness. The only way is that we need to carry on in spite of our weaknesses, and in the process we continue to learn.
If you take that lowly attitude, I believe the Lord will bring us more and more into new covenant ministry.
John Wesley knew a lot about Christ. He went to America to convert the Indians. But after he was in that country, he realized that he himself was not saved. It was all in his mind. His ministry was a failure.
So he went back to England and consulted a Moravian brother. If I remember rightly, it was Peter Böhler. He asked, “What should I do? Should I stop preaching until I receive faith?”
The advice that the brother gave Wesley was, “No. Keep on preaching faith until faith is given.”
Thank God, Wesley followed that advice. One day, while he was in a meeting in Aldersgate, they were reading the preface written by Martin Luther to the book of Romans.
At that time, unless you were licensed, you were not allowed even to preach. So they read—simply read—the preface written by Martin Luther to the book of Romans.
While they were reading it, he said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I realized I do believe. I do have faith.”
From then on, how the Lord used him.
So, brothers and sisters, I would like to use this to encourage you and to encourage myself. If we know the difference, realize our weakness, and press on, God will use all kinds of environments to bring us there.
God willing, tomorrow we will try to see how God leads us into this new covenant.
Dear Lord, into Thy hand we commit these scattered words. We trust Thy Holy Spirit to give light and enlightenment.
Bring us to zero, that Thou mayest start with us, until it is all of Christ and none of ourselves. We pray in Thy name. Amen.