If you took your car in for a routine oil change and instead, they changed out your radiator fluid, neglected to change the oil, and then behaved as if they had done a great thing for you, would you feel well served?

If you hired someone to cut your grass and, instead, they chopped down your favorite tree, would you feel well served?

I realize these examples seem silly, but they make a point.  Proper service is service in line with the purpose it claims to represent.  Service with integrity is more than just saying nice things that seem honest.  Integrity in serving is staying in step with the promotion of the purpose of the service.

If I say I will serve you in a specific way but instead serve you differently from what I said, I am being deceptive and dishonest with you. This is true regarding ministry to others in the Kingdom of God.

2Corinthians 3:4 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

Paul’s trust was in God because of Christ, not himself.  Paul is stating that the confidence he and those partnering with him in the ministry have is a direct result of Christ.  They do not boast of having strengths that they bring to the table that make them effective or validate them.  God is their sufficiency.

God made them something as a result of this work of Christ.  They are sufficient ministers (waiters, servers), as it were, of the New Covenant.  They know with integrity what that means; Paul offers a contrast to define it.

They are not ministers of the letter but of the Spirit.  Paul also contrasts each ministry based on what they produce by stating that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. New Covenant ministry ministers life, while the other type of ministry often exercised ministers death.  To clarify what he is saying, Paul speaks of a ministry of death written and engraved on stones.

Only one thing in the Bible was engraved on stones and given by Moses.  In its time, it was glorious, but a greater glory has now come through the Son Jesus Christ.  Jesus brought the New Covenant of the Spirit by shedding His blood at the cross to pay for the sin of the whole world, and as many as will believe in Him and put their trust in His completed work, they will be saved, made new, be born again and have a relationship with God on the merits of Christ alone.  This is so simple yet so glorious!  The promised Holy Spirit is made available through faith because Christ Jesus prepares us to receive Him by making us new creations.

New Covenant ministry points to Jesus and His completed work and the availability and help of the Holy Spirit based on faith alone. New Covenant ministry does not rely on the letter to produce disciples for Jesus.  New Covenant ministers minister the truth concerning the New Covenant with integrity while relying on the work of the Holy Spirit to produce disciples.  Anything else is a mixture cultivating a subtle deception.  I encourage you to know what you are being served and to be aware of what you are serving others.  It matters to God.  He desires that the greater glory be ministered, not a lesser one.