Sermon: The Spiritual Literacy of the Believer Primary Text: 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 Big Idea: We are not just readers of the Word; we are living letters written by the Spirit, called to be read by the world.
Introduction: The Illiteracy of the Heart
Hello, thank you for joining me. You know, I was looking at some statistics recently, and they are alarming. They say that 54% of adults in the U.S. read below a sixth-grade level, and 64% of our fourth graders are not proficient in reading. Literacy is the foundation on which we build our lives, our communities, and our future. But if that is true in the natural, how much more is it true in the spirit?
We have a crisis of spiritual literacy today.
What is spiritual literacy? It is having the ability to read what God has done in our lives and through others. It is the capacity to see the fingerprints of God on your neighbor, on your brother, on your sister. You see, every time we impact someone with the gospel, or with a deed God-ward, it becomes written in our hearts. We become a living letter of what God has done.
The Psalmist invites us to this kind of reading. In Psalm 66:5, he says:
“Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men.”
“Venid, ved las obras de Dios; portentos hizo con los hijos de los hombres.” (Salmo 66:5)
He is inviting others to observe, to read, what God has done in his life.
Movement I: We Are the Audiobooks
So we ask the question: How do we become spiritually literate? How do we learn to read the works of God?
Psalms 78:3-4 tells us:
“which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.”
“lo que oímos y conocimos, y lo que nuestros padres nos contaron. No lo ocultaremos a sus hijos, sino que contaremos a la generación venidera las alabanzas de Jehová, su poder, y sus maravillas que él ha hecho.” (Salmo 78:3-4)
You know, because illiteracy is so high in the natural world, companies have developed audiobooks to help people build those literacy skills. They listen to the story to understand the story. And hermano, hermana, we are the audiobooks for the Kingdom of God.
The Hebrew word for “telling” or “shewing” in that verse is saphar (H5608). It means to count, to recount, to narrate. We are the narrators of God’s goodness. We are the ones who speak out what He has done. When your children see you, when your coworkers see you, they should be able to hear the story of God’s faithfulness coming out of your mouth. We cannot hide these things. We have to speak them. We have to declare them.
Movement II: Written on Fleshy Tablets
But it goes deeper than just what we say. It is about who we are.
Look at what Paul writes to the church in Corinth. In 2 Corinthians 3:1-3, he says:
“Brothers, I couldn’t speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ… You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men… declared to be the 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 fleshy tables of the heart.”
“Hermanos, no nos atrevemos a recomendaros o a presentaros otra vez con otro cartel. Al contrario, somos como una carta vuestra, escrita en nuestros corazones, conocida y leída por todos los hombres; siendo manifiesto que sois una carta de Cristo, expedida por nosotros, escrita no con tinta, sino con el Espíritu del Dios viviente, no en tablas de piedra, sino en tablas de carne del corazón.” (2 Corintios 3:1-3)
Do you see that? Known and read of all men. You are an open book.
The way God dealt with the church at Corinth heavily impacted the apostle Paul. The ink of the Spirit of God writes these things in us, and they are plain and simple. The prophet Habakkuk said in Habakkuk 2:2-3:
“Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.”
“Escribe la visión y graba la tabla claramente, para que la lea el que pasa.” (Habacuc 2:2)
God is writing a vision on your life. He is making it plain. But He is not writing it on stone tablets like the Law of Moses; He is writing it on the fleshy tablet of your heart. When the Spirit writes on you, the world can read it. They can read your patience in the storm. They can read your joy in the struggle. They can read your faith when the doctor gives a bad report. Tú sabes que tu Dios abre camino. You know that your God opens the way.
Movement III: When the Book is Sealed
But we have to be careful. Because there is a danger in spiritual literacy.
When our hearts become hardened and stony, others have difficulties reading us. Neither the illiterate nor the literate can tell what is written in us. The words in the book—or the epistle—become sealed.
The prophet Isaiah spoke about this in Isaiah 29:11-13. He said:
“All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, ‘Read this, please;’ and he says, ‘I can’t, for it is sealed;’ and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, ‘Read this, please;’ and he says, ‘I can’t read.'”
“Y toda la visión será para vosotros como las palabras de un libro sellado; el cual si dieren a uno que sepa leer, dirá: ‘Léelo, te ruego;’ y él responderá: ‘No puedo, porque está sellado;’ y si lo dieren a uno que no sepa leer, dirá: ‘Léelo, te ruego;’ y él responderá: ‘No sé leer.'” (Isaías 29:11)
And then the Lord gives the diagnosis. He says:
“Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught.”
“Porque este pueblo se acerca con su boca, y con sus labios me honra, pero su corazón está lejos de mí, y mi temor no es sino un mandamiento enseñado por hombres.” (Isaías 29:13)
For illiteracy to turn into literacy, a person has to want it wholeheartedly. The people of God could not read the prophecy in the book because their hearts were not in it. They were just going through the motions. They were speaking the language of religion, but their hearts were sealed shut.
If your heart is hard, nobody can read the testimony of God in your life. You might be shouting on Sunday, but if you are bitter on Monday, the book is sealed. You might be lifting your hands in worship, but if you are unforgiving toward your brother, the vision is hidden.
Movement IV: The Enemy of the Word
Jesus warns us why spiritual literacy fails. He tells us in the parable of the sower.
Mark 4:15 says:
“The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.”
“Y aquellos que fueron sembrados junto al camino son los que, cuando oyen la palabra, luego viene Satanás y quita la palabra que fue sembrada en ellos.” (Marcos 4:15)
You know this is deep stuff. Satan is out to kill, to steal, and to destroy. And his primary objective is to steal your literacy. If he can do it by taking the Word away from you—because you know faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of God—then he wins. If Satan can stop you from hearing, from receiving, from interpreting, from assimilating the Word of God, then he can keep you illiterate.
And if he can keep you illiterate, he can keep you ineffective. If he can stop you from reading what God is doing, you can’t grow. If he can stop you from hearing the truth, you stay a baby in Christ.
Conclusion: Read the Works of God
So we have a choice this morning.
We can be a sealed book, hard-hearted and full of the commandments of men, unable to be read by anyone. Or we can be a living epistle, written by the Spirit of the living God, plain for all to see.
We need people with firm faith. We need people who are spiritually literate. We need people who can look at a trial and say, “I can read what God is doing here.” We need people who can look at a struggle and say, “I see the hand of God.”
Come and see the works of God. Let Him write on your heart. Let the world read His glory in you.
Let us pray. Señor, aquí está mi vida. Write your vision on our hearts. Make us readable. Make us audible. Let us not be a sealed book, but an open letter of your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amén.