by Dr. Jacob Prabhu
A message delivered at the 10th anniversary of Bible Believer's Fellowship, Dallas, Texas, USA - 11 June 2006
2 Corinthians 3:3 says "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistles of Christ ... written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of
stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart."
Every believer is an epistle of Christ. This is manifestly declared with the
spirit of the living in fleshly tables of the heart. Therefore each one is
empowered with the power of Christ's resurrection. What was that power which
made Christ rise from the dead?
Christ's resurrected power is associated with our blessing: "unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you..." Acts 3:26.
His resurrection power is associated with --
As an epistle of Christ, Paul was empowered to do wonders through his faith in Christ.
I. Paul's Empowerment
A. Paul's Encounter with Christ
Saul Paulus was a leading persecutor of Christians. He hated Christ, tortured
Christians and destroyed churches. His idea was that Jesus Christ could not
be the Christ for he was hanged - "cursed is he who is hanged on the tree."
But he became a believer in Christ. He became the most influencial voice in the history of the church. His transformation had convinced him that Jesus, who was crucified, was the Messiah and the Son of God. After his conversion, Paul began to proclaim his new faith in Jesus Christ.
Throughout the history of Christianity, Paul's powerful formulation of the Gospel was his emphasis on salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus, his focus on love as the central value of Christian life. And this formulation of the Gospel has served as a beacon for the church's greatest theologians. Paul was a man who truly kept the faith.
B. Paul's knowledge of Jesus Christ
Paul knew Jesus as his Savior. But he wanted to know more about him intimately as LORD. His goal was to experience the power of Christ's resurrection. What was that power? It was the power which brought Christ forth from the dead, now operates in believers' lives since they have been raised with Christ. This means the power which raised Christ from the dead is in the lives of believers in Christ. This fact needs to be really understood, to be believed and to be acted upon. Colossians 3:1 says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." As Christ died FOR sin, so a believer in him has died TO sin. Rom. 6:2, 6; Col. 3:3 say, "... How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."
One should exhibit that cutting off from his former sinful ways by daily being set apart from sin and living a new life by means of Christ's resurrection power (Rom. 6:11-14). The knowledge of Christ as Savior and Lord is higher than all secular and religious knowledge Paul had learned in his scholastic training. By pointing to his own life, Paul once more sketches the true Gospel. Earlier he had trusted in physical and ceremonial works. But now he regards all that as "rubbish" and seeks righteousness through Christ alone. For Christ's sake, he wishes to bear a cross because he knew that with Christ he will rise one day from the dead.
C. Paul's Prize
This prize refers to the resurrection from the dead. Paul was eager to lay hold of Christ who had grasped him, a sinner, on the road to Damascus. He wanted to get that prize. Paul switched from confidence in the flesh to confidence in Christ alone. He gained the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ personally. Christ was now his Lord. He considered his former gains as rubbish, so that he might gain Christ. His gain is the excellency of knowing Jesus Christ as the Lord. His gain is winning Christ as the ultimate prize or treasure. His gain was being found in him. This is the position of perfect acceptance in the righteousness of God gained by faith. His object is Christ. His purpose is to know him in broad life experience in a three-fold way: victory over sin and death, which is the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings which is the cross, and it is not separable, and being continually molded into the form of Christ's death. Thus he possessed the experience of Christ.
II. Epistles of Christ's Empowerment
Epistles of Christ are empowered by the risen Lord.
A. The Commission
The universal church including every local congregation and every Christian in it, is sent into the world to fulfil a definite task. This appointed task has two parts:
1. It is the work of worldwide winess such as making disciples and planting churches. The church proclaims Jesus Christ everywhere as God Incarnate and as Lord and Savior. It announces God's invitation to enter life through turning to Christ in repentance and faith.
2. All Christians who are now called epistles of Christ are called to do works of mercy and compassion. Relying on God's commandment to love their neighbors, they should respond with generosity and compassion to all forms of human need. "So I send you" is the first outline of Christ's Great Commission to evangelize the world.
B. The Discipline
Epistles of Christ are required to be holy, unspotted by the morals of the world, with this tact the entire church itself is separated from the world. It became a necessity to define the boundary between the world and the church. Jesus instituted church discipline by authorizing his disciples who were themselves the epistles of Christ, to prohibit or permit certain kinds of behavior. This is the power of binding and loosing. The keys of the Kingdom were first given to Peter and it was defined as power to bind and loose. These keys have usually been understood as authority to oversee doctrine, and impose discipline. This authority was given by Christ to the church in general and to its ordained leadership in particular.
C. The Instruction
Do the work of an evangelist. Be faithful unto death. Repent. Keep the faith. Be zealous. Have zeal. The local church is a manifestation of the universal Church, and will embody the nature of that church as the Father's regenerate family, as Christ's ministering body, and as a fellowship sustained by the Holy Spirit. The marks of the true church are:
In this empowerment they should exhibit their cutting off from their former sinful ways by daily being set apart from sin and live a new life by means of Christ's resurrection power. Our mark of spiritual maturity is a desire to go on with Christ. It is living up to what was attained, i.e. a righteous position in Christ. This righteousness can be achieved through faith alone. Care should be taken that none would listen to any false gospel. Clinging to the true Gospel means suffering and affliction in the present.
Our stand today shuold be that of Paul:
It is the power of Christ's resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings that matters. This gives us righteousness. This gives us confidence to switch from the flesh to Jesus alone. When we are empowered by the power of Christ's resurrection, as his epistles we present Christ as the Son of God and Lord. We emphasize salvation aspects of Christian life. We demonstrate that we are dead to sin. Our object is Christ alone. We do the works of mercy and compassion to all forms of human need. We are disciplined in faith in Him. We are separated from the world. We become evangelists. We will be faithful until our deaths. We become Christ's ministering body. Our fellowship sustains by the Holy Spirit. We preach God's Word. We are empowered by the risen Christ just as Paul was. We are called EPISTLES OF CHRIST.
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© Dr. Jacob Prabhu |