“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; and you show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.”

(II Corinthians 3:1-3)

We welcome in this service the young men and women of our church home for the holidays from college and university. As guests of the fellowship class, some of them earlier heard Mr. Joseph Hayworth tell of his experiences last summer working with Christian youth groups in Europe.

This same college group is sitting together in the center section of the church for our New Year’s communion service, and two of their number are to lead us in Communion meditations.

Elizabeth Morrison has spoken of what Communion means to her in relation to Christ; Tommy Kellam has told you what Communion means to him in relation to other Christians; let me mention in closing what Holy Communion means to us, who are the more or less permanent fixtures of this congregation, in relation to you young men and women who have gone out from us to college and university campuses.

From time to time many of us are called upon to write letters of recommendation for friends and acquaintances who are seeking a job. How varied are our feelings when we set ourselves to comply with these requests. Sometimes the writing of such a letter is sheer joy. We can let ourselves go in words of highest praise about the attractive personality, the skill, the industry, the character and the integrity of the person needing our recommendation. We are truly happy and thankful for an occasion to tell someone else just how much we love and respect and honor that friend.

But sometimes the writing of a letter of recommendation is painful business. We want to be of assistance to the friend or acquaintance who is depending on us through our letter of recommendation to help him land the job, but we also are honor bound to tell the truth as we know it — and there are just some things, in his business ability, or disposition, or character, which are not adequately described in praise-worthy terms. We are in a pickle.

St. Paul, in discussing this perplexing business of letters of recommendation with the Corinthian church, said: “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; and you show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.” (II Corinthians 3:1-3)

St Paul’s words best describe just what our college students who go out from our congregation to various campuses all over the nation are to our Christian fellowship here and to Christ our Savior. You — are our letters of recommendation — “written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.”

What does this church have to commend it to the world? What is our true letter of recommendation for our program of Christian nurture, our religious educational facilities and efforts we try to carry on here? Why, you young people are the only letters of recommendation we have.

What is a church for? What is the reason justifying the existence of a congregation or communion of Christian people? Why, to serve as God’s agency in redemption — to receive into its midst men and women and boys and girls, and by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in that communion, to transform those lives and send them forth new men and women in Christ. Whether or not our congregation is a success in this principle business of the Christian church — whether or not we have letters of recommendation that really recommend, is to be discovered by looking to you — our living letters — opened and ready for reading.

Men and women on 24 different college and university campuses are reading, in the lives of fifty odd students from our church, the recommendation of Christian fellowship and of our Lord which is written in your life. How strong and convincing a letter of recommendation of Christ and His church are the folks on your campus reading in your life?

“The life of every Christian should be a letter of recommendation of Christ. Is Christ’s message to men legible in our lives? We are the certification to men of what He does for man; His character is in our care. The true letters of recommendation of Christ and His church are not those which are expounded in pulpits; they are not even the gospels in which Christ Himself lives and moves before us; they are living men and women, on the tablets of whose hearts the spirit of the living God has engraved the likeness of Christ Himself.” (Expositor’s Bible)

• Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 3:1-3 • Secondary Scripture References: n/a • Subject : Power of example, The • Special Topic: n/a • Series: n/a • Occasion: Communion Meditation • First Preached: 1/3/1949 • Last Preached: 8/6/1961 • Rating: 3 • Book/Author References: Expositor’s Bible