Lessons from Paul: Living Epistles
Have you thought of your personal relationship with the Lord as having an impact on your witness? I would imagine in terms of what you say, or don’t say, or do, or don’t do—yes. But what about in terms of also simply “being?”
You see, our testimony has the potential to be radiant in beauty as we reflect the Lord through the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22).
Now people may quibble about our words, but there is no denying the power of a joyful and peaceful countenance on the servant who loves Jesus. I don’t know what else to call it except the “Jesus look.” You may have your own expression.
The “Jesus look” is what someone sees in a faithful believer, one who exudes the “joy of the Lord.” That joy can only be produced by Him, not our circumstances. This is the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5.
Here’s a case in point: Many years ago while I was a tennis coach in East Tennessee, we had a gentleman named Mike who regularly played in our tennis tournaments. On other occasions I’d see Mike at the tennis courts where I was giving private lessons. Mike always had a smile on his face, and his joy was contagious. It was a powerful testimony and one that caused me to take notice.
One day while I was teaching a tennis lesson, Mike was playing on an adjacent court. This was the day I was going to “confront” him. I had to know. If my theory about Mike being a believer was wrong, then I would have to throw the whole “joy of the Lord” theory out the proverbial window.
I walked over to him and said, “Mike, I want to ask you something.”
He strolled over with that same joyful expression on his face. “Yes?”
I just blurted it out. “You love Jesus, don’t you?” He grinned even more. “Yes, Yes I do.”
“Good. I thought you did because you exude the joy of the Lord.” How’s that for a blunt, direct confrontation? The fruit of the Spirit can be quite powerful in our witness to others. Whether we realize it or not people are always watching.
For we are “living epistles, known and read by all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).
When the Apostle Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthian church, he was battling false teachers, people who were seeking to discredit his ministry. They were constantly attacking Paul and his position as a minister of the gospel.
As part of his defense against such opposition, he brilliantly pointed to the transformed lives of the Corinthians. Though people may have had personal issues with Paul, he pointed to the living testimony of the Corinthian believers as a defense of his ministry and of the veracity of his message, the gospel of Jesus!
An epistle is a letter, and as such, it is read. Paul wrote to the believers at Corinth, “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men: clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).
The twenty-first century application for you and me is that people are always watching and reading us. They’re not only watching our words and deeds, but also our countenances.
I’m a big fan of the movie Monsters Inc. Our teenage children, Elijah and Shoshanna, and I, still enjoy watching the movie from time to time with them, even though they’re now young adults. One of my favorite characters is Roz. In this animated comedy, Roz is the ever watching and listening secretary who keeps things in the Scare Factory in order. There are a few scenes in the movie when she reminds one of the factory workers, named Mike Wazowski, played by Billy Crystal, that she’s watching. In fact, she reminds him on more than one occasion. “Wazowski, I’m watching you. Always watching.”
Whether we realize it or not, people are watching you and me. They’re always watching. As people watch, we can be sure that if we’re living for the Lord, there will be a reaction. Paul notes the polarizing response to our witness using a fragrance analogy earlier in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”
Because of our polarizing nature as living epistles, we will be attractive to some, as Mike was to me, but repulsive to others, as a hometown friend was to me before I came to faith.
At the University of Florida in the mid-1980s, I ran into Mark on campus. He grew up in my neighborhood. I remembered two things about Mark: he was an awesome drummer, and he got into lots of trouble. I hadn’t seen him in a few years, but the moment I saw him I could tell something about him was different, very different.
He had a peaceful countenance, and the tone of his words was also filled with peace. Mark shared with me that he’d become a Christian. He said he was recording a Christian concert at a local TV station and wanted to know if I wanted to hang out.
I said, “No thanks,” and went on my way. In all honesty, his peaceful countenance freaked me out. It scared me, because it was powerful and unique. I didn’t understand it, and, at the time, I didn’t want to understand it.
While we should aspire to know Christ intimately and experience and express the fruit of the Spirit in abundance, the response of others to that expression will be mixed. People may be attracted to or repelled by it.
Mark’s testimony of peace impacted me. Initially, I was repelled by the power of that countenance, but looking back on the event I can now see Mark’s countenance was a seed planted in my life, a seed that indicated there was something unique about Jesus and knowing Him.
As we strive to be powerful witnesses for Jesus, remember it’s not only what we say and do, it’s also our state of being. Know that the love, joy, and peace we express is a powerful testimony to those who are watching. May each of us be a living epistle that’s a compelling read to the Rozes and others in our lives, because they’re watching, always watching.