Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God, / Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. / Moreover if the ministry of death, engraved in stone in letters, came about in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to gaze at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, a glory which was being done away with, / How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory? (2 Cor. 3:5-8)
For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. / Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:5-6)
Today, there are many people who can read the Bible. There are also many ways to read the Bible. Scholars may study the Bible, and good Christians may look to the Bible for guidance. But when we touch the word, how often do we truly receive nutrients from the Lord’s words? When we spend time reading the Bible, do we find ourselves being saturated, being constituted? Are we changed, transformed? We may spend a lot of time in the word, but when the crucial moments come — when we need to use our “muscle” — we may find that we are lacking in spiritual nutrients. When we really need it most, we may find that we cannot exercise and apply the Bible — that our constitution is lacking. And so we go back to consider: how can we gain nutrients from the word?
Reading the Bible is like making tea. When a true tea master makes tea, he pours hot water over the tea in a teapot, but doesn’t drink it. Instead, he lets it rinse over the tea, softening it, rejuvenating it, reviving it. Then, he pours the water out to warm the cups; as soon as the cup gets warm, the water is emptied and the cup is ready. The second time he pours water into the tea, the tea steeps for a few minutes and releases its cleanest flavor into the water. When the tea master apportions it into the cups, there is just enough for each person to smell and drink, to enjoy, to absorb. There is no hurry; sip by sip, they let their mouths and noses interpret the tea. It is a multidimensional experience — something that involves all the senses. And these masters enjoy and discern the tea they drink, knowing its origins, farming methods, and process. Even more than the tea itself, the appreciation from the understanding of the tea becomes the deepest kind of enjoyment, edifying the tea drinker through the nuances of each cup.
Reading the Bible is the same way. Just as the first water poured through the tea is then discarded, our first reading is only the preparation for the word. Then, we read the word again, slowly. This time, we let it steep, letting the word go into our being, so that the essence of the tea leaves can be released into the water. This time, the “tea” is ready, for we are ready. Reading the Bible only for reading is just like the first round of water that goes through the tea and is poured out. But this first-round type of reading is just the preparation of our vessels. We should read the Bible again in a way that our “cup” is ready, that the essence of the tea is perfectly released into the water and becomes drinkable riches. Just as the water is a medium that is infused by the tea to be absorbed by our bodies, spiritually speaking, the spirit is the organ through which we can receive this essence of the word and thus enjoy and experience it. By drinking the “tea” that has gone through this steeping process, we are able to absorb and interpret all of its nutrients.
Whenever we come to the Bible, we need the Spirit — the water — as the medium for the riches so the essence of the word can be transmitted and absorbed through our being. Reading the Bible is all about this essence, and it is also all about our being. It doesn’t matter how we try to interpret the Bible. It has nothing to do with our way or our wisdom, or with our being humble or prideful. We are simply a vessel that should be prepared to receive and contain the word in our spirit: “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord…” (2 Cor. 4:5). In 2 Corinthians chapters three and four, Paul says that we have received this ministry, and that our gospel should not be veiled. There is “One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (v. 6b). Whosoever wants to serve the Lord cannot have a veil; rather, they must be a vessel prepared to receive the essential nutrients from the word through the Spirit. Today, not just to be believers, but to be ministers of the New Testament ministry, we are receiving a glory that will never be done away with. We have indeed received this ministry, which is a “new covenant…not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (3:6). To be a minister of the New Testament ministry is to have this “never done away with” glory. Nothing else. We need to take in the Lord’s word in this way of life: coming into us as a fine cup of His imparting essence. If we truly are serving the Bible in this way, we will come out from the old covenant to receive the nutrients from the New Testament word in a transformative way, not as doctrine but as life to be illuminated, to be filled, and thereby to minister this same life to others. When we have this essence, applying or exercising the word is simple! We can use boldness — and not boldness from our pride or self-righteousness, but boldness because we know that the glory seen on Moses’ face — “that which was being done away with” — is nothing in comparison to the glory of Christ to come (3:11-13).
If today we find that our spiritual “muscles” are weak, we need this very essence — the nutrients — to feed, sustain, strengthen, and constitute us. We cannot afford for the glory to be veiled in us any longer. Reciting or teaching the word may give us “glory” in the short-term, but only the real experience and constituting of the word can empower us as ministers. We need to slow down and let the water of the Spirit saturate in us, releasing the essence of the word until we can fully taste, absorb, appreciate, and apply it. In this way, the word can be a letter inscribed “not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh,” living and operative in us (2 Cor. 3:3; Heb. 4:12). Then, when we are challenged, we can be fully ready. We can be confident (2 Cor. 3:4). We can be bold (2 Cor. 3:12, Heb. 4:16). We can be ministers of a new covenant (2 Cor. 3:6).
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from a gathering on 5/22/2022, not reviewed by the speaker.)