2 Corinthians 2:12–3:6
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turn with me to second corinthians chapter 2 verse 12. it reminds me of a rack you know i was a pastor at a rack i'll tell you about that but uh regularly regularly we had technical problems like the generator go out the power go out i preached in the dark with just my phone light once a whole sermon and I expected when the lights finally did go on that everyone would be asleep but they were all very aware and the lights went on and I could see them all I think it was because every now and then when I wanted to make a point I'd take the light like you do at a campfire and put it up on my face listen to this point hey we're going to go through chapter 3, verse 6. So on page 965 in your pew Bible, you're going to need your Bible.
We're in the middle of a series that started last week as we looked at Paul's start in ministry. That was with his conversion on the Damascus Road. And today we're going to look at Paul's matured ministry as he deals with the church in Corinth. It's a microcosm of some of his toughest his times in ministry. Next week we're going to look at the end of his ministry with his death in Rome. You know the Apostle Paul is often misunderstood. He was misunderstood in his day and he's misunderstood today. But the more I study Paul the more I love him and I want you to love him more too. So this three-week series is about three critical junctures in Paul's ministry in three stages of his life. At the start, at the middle, and at the end. And then I want to take those ministerial principles from his life and apply them to our lives and to our church.
So the main idea here is of this passage that we're looking at today is that Christ's Sufficiency allows us to be ministers, sufficient ministers of the new covenant. So take heart. Live with bold confidence that God can use you in ministry to others. I have two points to the sermon. Number one, the gospel and the triumphal procession in verses 12 through 16 of chapter 2. And then sufficient for ministry in chapters 2, 16 through chapter 3, 6.
Well, as I mentioned, I pastored a church in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq for a number of years. Erbil is a Kurdish town. It's sandwiched in between Turkey to the north and Iran to the east and Syria to the west with Iraq to the south. It's sort of a tough neighborhood. Pastoring that church was the joy of our lives. Not that it was easy, especially at the start. In realtor terms, what we had here was a fixer-upper.
We met in a rented, dirty, decrepit building. And of more concern, the church didn't have a covenant, a doctrinal statement, a constitution, or any church membership. When the church met for a service, Sometimes there was a sermon, and sometimes there wasn't. Traveling troubadours would be invited to come in and lead singing, and there was great variety in that.
I remember a Norwegian fellow who came and led us in a secular song, Stand By Me. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, stand by me. It's a pretty cool song, actually, but it's not Christian. Actually, John Lennon sang it. And it was weird in a Norwegian accent. On occasion, during church services, the leaders would have people pair up and pray together. You know, pray with the person next to you so there would be a confused Muslim praying with an even more confused atheist.
On a more serious note, a music leader was having an affair with another member of the music team, which people seemed to know about, including his wife, who was a regular attender, but nobody did anything about it. Elders became elders because the acting pastor picked them, and he chose some good guys, really good guys, but for the most part. But one of the elders that he selected was suddenly arrested and jailed as a human trafficker. You know, the most challenging thing about all of that was stepping into the leadership of that church and calling people from 20 different ethnic groups to love one another.
Ethnic groups that were often had nations, came from nations who were at war with each other. There were a couple other issues. But apart from that, everything was fine. You think I'm making this up, don't you? I am not making this up. And that was just the first two weeks. but the elders loved the Lord they just didn't know what to do they looked to me with humble hearts to help them set up a healthy church I didn't let on that I didn't know what I was doing either oh my word they don't teach that stuff in seminary I didn't even go to seminary but I started on the one thing that I knew was right I started preaching the gospel of Jesus and how it applied to life.
Well, knowing the church that I pastored can give you a glimpse of why I admire and love Paul as he ministered to the Corinthians. His job was far more difficult than mine. Pride in the Corinthian church caused fights and opposition to Paul who had planted the church. Some in the church turned the Lord's Supper into an exclusive potluck with an open bar. There was rampant sexual immoralities with issues of incest and promiscuity and prostitution.
Paul was trying to teach the pagan converts on the one hand, while it might be a bad idea to take part of the temple meals at the famous temple of Athena where they practiced ritual prostitution, and at the same time was trying to get the Jewish converts wanted to drop the hammer of Jewish law on ex-pagans to understand gospel ministry in the new covenant. Christians were taking each other to court, grieving the Holy Spirit as a bad witness to the community. When Christians take one another or take legal action against one another, they've lost any understanding of who Jesus calls us to be.
And in the midst of all that turmoil, it was easy for false prophets and false teachers to worm their way into the church by claiming their own apostolic authority and spreading false doctrine and confusion. But apart from that, everything was fine because God is sovereign. It's to this messy group to which Paul writes and that's our text for today let's read it together starting in chapter 2 verse 12 follow along with me when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ even though a door was open for me and the Lord my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there so I took leave of them and went to Macedonia but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession
and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts to be known and read by all. 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. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. So, first point, the gospel and the triumphal procession in verses 12 through 16. It was around 55 AD that Paul traveled to Troas, from Troas to Macedonia,
and that's where he writes this letter, 2 Corinthians. Paul, at that point, had ministered the gospel for 20 years. Now, he would write, he would minister the gospel total for 30 years. He has 10 more years to go, but that's 20 years of ministry that he's relying on. And just by the way, Greg Gilbert gave a fantastic background and overview to this exact passage last year. You should listen, you should listen to that sermon to understand what's going on behind the scenes, why Paul's concerned about his travels, about where Titus is, about what's going on with the Corinthians and their opposition to Paul. I'm going to look a little more at ministry generally.
So in verse 12, Paul comes to Troas, and as he did anywhere, he preached the gospel. I love that Paul, in his years of ministry, never wavers from preaching the gospel of Christ. He did not need to innovate. He's not worried about how many clicks he gets on social media. He's doing the same thing he did when he started, presenting a clear gospel message, regardless of response or opposition or results.
Paul, unlike so many, never lost his confidence in the gospel. So in every city, Paul aims to preach the gospel. The city of Troas is no different. And Paul says when he gets there, he finds an open door to proclaim the gospel. The gospel. You know, we talk a lot about the gospel. We talk about being a gospel-centered church. We talk about being quick with the gospel, wanting to speak the gospel. what is the gospel? Well, the gospel is the good news that we can know God through faith because of Christ's work on the cross. Christ willingly died a sinner's death, though he had done no wrong as a ransom for our rebellion and our treasonous sin against God.
If we turn from disbelief to trust in Christ with our lives, we gain the right to stand before a holy God as His child and gain eternal life. It's not our works. It's not our family. It's not our ethnicity. It's not our denominational affiliation. It's faith in the work of Christ. And the work of Christ is this, That on the cross, God treated Christ as if he had committed all the sins of every sinner who ever would believe.
So that he could treat every believer as if they had lived Christ's perfect life. Furthermore, we can believe this gospel because this man, Jesus, got up from the dead. that's the gospel that's the gospel paul preached in troas every other place till his dying day but in verse 13 in troas we see he's troubled you see that in verse 13 because titus is missing his friend and brother co-worker so he travels on to macedonia later we learn that paul does reunite with Titus. And I don't think Paul's that worried about Titus as much as he's concerned about the letter that Titus is carrying to Paul from the Corinthians. Paul had given some really tough instructions in Corinth, and he was anxious to find out how they would take it. But there's an
obvious question that hangs over Paul's travels. Perhaps you've thought of it. If there's an open door to proclaim the gospel, why did he leave? Why did he leave this opportunity? In verse 14, we have an answer. Paul says, thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.
Now, notice his thanksgiving is also an expression of hope. It's an expression of faith about how God works. Paul could leave a gospel opportunity because he was confident that no matter where he went, God would give him more gospel opportunities. That's true for us too. For the faithful Christian, anywhere is a gospel opportunity. and we know the outcome is secure Christ is victorious his work on the cross is defeated sin and death and so as we preach God leads us in triumph now that declaration Paul's declaration of triumph might strike some of us as a little odd because on the surface of things victory seems far from triumphant at the time especially I mean And look at all the pain and hardships and sufferings that all of us face as believers.
Is that triumph? Well, yes. A major theme of the book is how hardships are a part of the Christian life. So Paul wants the Corinthians to know, and us to know, That whatever happens to us, in our experiences, in our disappointments, in our pain, even in death, the knowledge of Christ is spread everywhere.
So, as untrue as it may seem at times, Jesus has defeated the world. And more than leading us in triumph, he's leading us home. Home. His victory is our victory because His death is my death and His life is my life. We may look weak. We certainly don't have the military might of Rome. But it's our weakness that God uses to confound the world. And you know, this makes sense when we think about the cross.
It looked like the ultimate defeat, didn't it? A weak and beaten man. an innocent victim of a rigged trial, dying the cruel death of a common criminal buried in a borrowed grave. He had no army, no university training, no money, no political power, and yet no one has changed the world like Jesus. And he continues to this day to conquer hearts and minds. So for Paul, leaving one place and going to another, was not a problem.
The same is true for you and me. If we are willing, if we are willing to follow him. I mean, put it another way, the only way you can mess up the moves that happen in your life, good or bad, is to keep your mouth shut and never speak the gospel. Which begs the question, how about you? Are you willing to share the faith as opportunity arises? Are you willing to be a fool for Christ?
For people to think you're weird and odd because of your faith? Oh, brothers and sisters, please put aside your fears of what people think. Jim Kennedy said, while most Christians in the world fear the raised fist, we in America fear the raised eyebrow. Or today be shunned on social media. just make a stab at a conversation ask a non-christian friend are you interested in spiritual things or what's your faith background people like to talk about those things it's common in conversation and if you don't have a non-christian friend make one bottom line bottom line no matter the turns in life in all weather we who follow jesus as lord are part of a triumphal procession And God, in His kindness, makes sure that our difficulties and our hardships and our suffering are used to point others to the life of Christ.
He uses our weakness to show His strength because that's the way of the cross. And remember, later in this very book, Paul says that our problems are small compared to the glory that awaits. think about what light and momentary hardships mean to Paul. You know, when he talks about light and momentary, you know what he's talking about. He's talking about beatings, being struck with rods, scourgings. People died from scourgings. Paul was scourged, stoning, shipwrecks, persecutions, Betrayals, loneliness, anxiety, jail, dealing with the Corinthians.
That's like momentary? Yes, that's like momentary compared to what awaits us, the view of eternity. Our friend Kim mentioned to Leanne on the day my father died on Wednesday that Thursday would be the best day of his life. How true. Paul wants to hammer this principle home that wherever we go, we can spread the knowledge of God in the gospel.
So he uses this illustration of the triumphal procession. Now, the illustration Paul uses here is not common for us. So let me fill it out for you a little, starting with some history. In 146 B.C., Corinth rebelled against Rome. Bad idea. Rome, in all its power, crushed Corinth and put all the men of the city to death.
Tens of thousands of men were slaughtered. The women and children were taken into slavery. And it took a hundred years before Julius Caesar re-established the city as a Roman colony, largely settled by retired soldiers, many of whom would have participated in triumphal processions. So everyone Paul wrote to in Corinth would have known about triumphal processions.
Some of the citizens and perhaps some even who were members of the church would have taken part in those parades. So they knew triumphal processions and how they celebrated a victorious Roman general after a major battle was won. There were some 300 of these over the course of the life of Rome. It was a gaudy display of power and wealth and political might and religion. Crowds would gather, the general would wave, the crowds would cheer, make the general feel good.
It would sort of remind us of a parade celebrating a sports victory, say after a World Series or a Super Bowl championship. And Rome even had a good idea that might help some of our sports teams today. A man sat behind the general and whispered in his ear, all glory is fleeting, and you are just a man. There were many in the parade, dancers, musicians, soldiers, but directly behind the general came the captured enemies of Rome, often stripped naked and disgraced.
They've been powerful people in their own place, but now defeated and humiliated and on their way to death in the Colosseum. A little different than our parades. That's the parade. Now, the illustration has double meanings, which can be confusing. And commentators and interpreters land on different ideas about who is who in the parade and what it means and where they're going. Again, you can listen to Greg's sermon on that. But it's not the point.
We don't really need to understand who's who in the parade to get the main point of what Paul's trying to get across. The main point is the aroma of Christ. Paul mentions fragrance or aroma four times in three verses. One of the primary functions of the triumphal procession was religious, to thank the gods for the glorious victory of Rome. Incense was deeply ingrained in Roman religious practices.
It would have been burned liberally throughout the procession. And the smell, that smell, the aroma went everywhere. It was the smell of victory. Paul says that for us, the smell, the aroma, is the knowledge of God. So Paul relates our smell in the knowledge of God as we proclaim the gospel that we spread everywhere to that incense.
Now, it is shocking that Paul would even use this image of a triumphal procession. Do you know that right now, there are 50,000 people, probably more, that's a conservative estimate, 50,000 people in North Korean jails simply because they are Christians. The North Korean government views religious activity as political crimes.
They lead to severe persecutions of Christians. That means that if you took what we are doing right now, here at 3rd, and put it in downtown Ponyang, You would be arrested, separated from your children who would become wards of the state and you would be put in a North Korean gulag. That's what it means. This image Paul uses for the people in Corinth was shocking.
It would be like me preaching maybe to a group of Koreans in Pongyang. Hey, I have this illustration for you. Jesus is leading us to the gulags in North Korea. The reason Paul is emboldened, to use a shocking illustration, is that it's not that different than the cross. Did you know that for 300 years, 300 years, the cross was not the symbol for Christians?
It was too bloody, too horrible. It was an instrument of torture. Those who had seen crucifixion shuddered to think about it. But Paul doesn't shy away from the cross or the triumphal procession to remind us what Christ has done. And we shouldn't shy away from it either. That's both for Christians and for non-Christians. But Christian, when Jesus says, pick up your cross and follow me, it should cause some deep reflections on your part.
It's a conscious decision to suffer for Jesus. I'm not talking about suffering that happens because the world is broken and everybody goes through that. I'm talking about the suffering that happens because you follow Jesus. us, suffering that happens to you for your faith. You know, Jesus doesn't normally tell us what our sufferings will be, but he does say suffering will come, like he did to Paul on the Damascus Road, like we saw last week. He also tells us that in the end, it's worth it. So understand, get what's clear about this image. Jesus is leading a victorious movement. It doesn't look the same as the Roman parade. It's made of people who turn the other cheek, who are called to be servants, who are commanded to go into the world and preach the gospel, to spread the knowledge of
God everywhere. Now, notice there are two responses to the fragrance of Christ in verses 15 and 16. Paul says, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. So, Paul extends this image of fragrance, this aroma. Some love it, some don't. It's like the bakery smell below our apartment in Erbil. Oh man, did I love that fresh bread baking every day.
The Corinthians would readily understand how the smell of incense would be the smell of life for those citizens of Rome. Rome was strong. Rome was victorious. Rome rules. But not everyone liked the smell. To others, it was the smell of impending death. Those who were being led into the Colosseum to be executed by lions or gladiators in the arena. For those who smell the knowledge of God and believe, it's life to life. That is, life now leading to life, eternal life. For those who reject the gospel, it's the smell of death, to death, Paul says. That is, we are dead in our sins now, as Paul says in Ephesians 2. A lot of people are upright, but dead, leading ultimately
to eternal death. There's only two responses to the gospel. You might want to think about that. Which one are you? And here's the litmus test. If you hear the gospel and like it, you're being drawn in. You don't even have to be a Christian. I wasn't a Christian when I heard the gospel. I was a wayward fool. I was pursuing the pleasures of life and I loved my sin.
But when I heard the gospel, It was like, oh, I want to know God. And whatever it is for you, oh, I want to be forgiven. I want to stand before God. I want to know how to get out of this darkness, this despair I'm in. I was like, I was drawn to it. We're drawn to it. Or do you hear it and you shrink away?
It causes you to feel like, I want to get out of here. I don't know about this. I'm fond of my lifestyle. I don't want to change. I don't like my sin. You might want to think about that. This leads us to our second point, sufficient for ministry, starting in the last part of verse 16 and on. When Paul says we are the aroma of Christ, he means the gospel, and he means that this gospel is committed to us for the world's benefit. So, no wonder Paul asked the question at the end of verse 16, who is equal to such a task? Who's sufficient? Who could do this? We're talking life and death for the world. So, understand, anytime you sit down and minister the word of God to someone. And I don't care if it's with a neighbor over coffee or your child before bedtime or a
pulpit in a church or the unreached of Kurdistan. You're dealing with life and death. And how in the world can anyone be sufficient for that? Well, Paul, of course, is asking a rhetorical question, not a genuine one, and the answer is nobody. Nobody is sufficient in and of themselves. Paul will make that clear at the end of the chapter 3. We'll get there in a minute, but first Paul wants to root out false ministers of the gospel. So in verse 17, he gives three marks for sincere gospel ministry.
This gives the Corinthians something they really need. They miss this when the gifts were given out by the Holy Spirit. It's called discernment. They need discernment. They need it bad. And so do we, church. So number one, true sincerity is commissioned by God. In 2015, I knew in my heart that if I didn't go to Erbil when they asked me to be their pastor, I was being disobedient. I knew that was true in my heart. But it was just as important to have the church here at Third commission us as you did. We were sincere, and it was coupled with the commissioning by God through the church. The best example of that, of course, is Paul being commissioned in Antioch in chapter 13 of the book of Acts.
His own commissioning. And perhaps that's what's on Paul's mind. Sincere people commissioned by a church for God guards us against being peddlers of God's word. That's what Paul means when he says we're not peddlers. We don't drag a cart around and we have a big enough crowd. We pull out little religious trinkets for sale. You know, unfortunately, there are ministers who are like that, ministers for hire.
Secondly, there's godly integrity. We speak as if God is listening in the sight of God, Paul says. This is critical because of our human nature. Our human nature seeks people's approval, but not God's. So, church, church, do I want you to like me? Yes. Do I tend to shy away from saying hard things, either individually or corporately?
You bet. Do I look for worldly endorsements? Yep. is it right oh no not at all not at all our calling remember is that when we speak to others we ensure that our speech earns Jesus' approval especially when we speak the gospel thirdly we speak with authority Paul says we speak as those in Christ.
The simple way to do that is not to speak your own ideas or own innovations, but stick to the Word of God. That's how we speak in Christ. So at the start of chapter 3, verse 1, it's a very unfortunate chapter break. King James, King Jimmy didn't always get it right because Paul is speaking on the same issues, but Paul knows what they're thinking. Paul you're just proud Paul you're just commending yourself Paul you didn't bring us certificates and honors from men like the other ministerial candidates where's your letter of endorsement now Paul had some of those things and he could have gotten some of those things but he points to another image an image of the heart and it's heartbreaking he points to them the Corinthians in verse 2 he says
you are written on our hearts here's the letter he opens his chest read it remember how I labored among you remember how I planted the church how I suffered with you there how I wept for you how I cared for you how I loved you the true endorsement of the ministry of Paul was how God used Paul in the life of the Corinthian church in verse 3. He started the church. You were written on my heart.
We wrote on your hearts. That's the letter God writes. The endorsement of a faithful life. A record of a faithful, godly life is far more important than any endorsement that mimics the world. hey do you know the real locus of paul's problem with the corinthians it wasn't that they needed to stop fighting or live a more holy life or get their theology in order or stop being so enamored with the world those things would have been helpful of course very helpful but no the big problem the real problem was that paul loved them he loved them you know paul hadn't loved them he would have given up on them like a peddler
but like a parent who loves their children and longs for them to do well paul wanted good things for the Corinthians. And he knew if they would follow his apostolic instructions, they would live a godly life in Christ and be a beacon to the world. He wanted good things for them in Christ. He loved them, and they were written on his heart. You probably know that for any of you that have ministered the gospel to another. So, in chapter, excuse me, verse 5 and verse 6, Paul comes to the answer of his original question, who is sufficient? This is very important. Brothers and sisters, listen to this. It's very important. Our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter
kills, but the Spirit gives life. So Paul says, you and I in the Corinthians aren't sufficient to claim any things for ourselves. He says that about himself. He says our sufficiency comes from God in verse 5. Now this, of course, is in sharp contrast to the ways the false teachers would have seen things. It was all about their skill, or their law, or their endorsements, or their training. But the Corinthians, and you and me, and Paul, are part of the new covenant.
We have the power of the Spirit who gives life. You know, the new covenant is only mentioned a number of times in the New Testament, not a lot. But one of them, one of those mentions, is right here in verse 6. But do you know that the new covenant was anticipated and longed for in the Old Testament as well? The prophets spoke of it. So Paul in verse 6 combines two prophecies, one from Jeremiah and one from Ezekiel.
We read the one from Jeremiah. So in Jeremiah 31, we read, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. and I will put my law within them, in verse 33, and write it on their hearts. It was also known in the Old Testament that God's ministry would no longer come from the law, but from the Spirit. The law can only point out our sins. It's glorious because it showed us who God was, but it's deadly because the law itself had no power to change our lives.
So the glory came, and Moses' face glowed, but it was only skin deep, and it was fading. That's what Paul means when he says, the letter kills, the law kills. It's not written on stone. We see that in the second prophecy of Ezekiel 36, 26, and I will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. So it's the spirit that gives us life, new life. It's the spirit that gives us the power to walk in the ways of the Lord. It's the spirit that allows us to be sufficient ministers of the gospel because the Corinthians and you and I and Paul himself are in the new covenant. And this should give all believers confidence. Whenever you come to that place
where you preach the gospel, whenever you share the faith with others, because it's not about you. It's about the work of the Lord, and He will make you sufficient. Seminary degree not required. Or if you're one of those who are on the 25-year track in seminary, Take your time. But everyone, be bold and confident as you share the gospel.
I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon that when I started as the pastor of the church in Erbil, I was out to sea without a sail. And I've only given you some hints of things that I faced. But as I preach the word of God, walking through the scriptures week by week, book by book, and explaining how the message of Jesus shows us the way to live our lives before God. And as we loved that sweet congregation, we saw that church on its way to becoming a healthy, vibrant, Bible-drenched, gospel-preaching church filled with people that loved one another and many who have come to faith from the unreached.
The members are being discipled in that church to this day. It's doubled in size. It's in the hand of a godly pastor and godly elders. Today, that small church is punching above its weight as it spreads the aroma of Christ to the unreached. When I went there, I found God had opened a door for me in Erbil. But four years ago, Leanne and I returned to Louisville to help with my aging parents.
That ended on Wednesday. It was hard to leave that church. Like Paul, I love them. I love them still. But that transition from Iraq to Louisville, this passage was a great comfort to me. Though I left an open door of ministry, I could say with confidence along with Paul, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of Christ everywhere.
Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Oh God, we give thanks to you for your leadership of our lives in triumph and ultimately home, home with you. Lord, we pray that we would open our mouths so that we might spread the aroma of Christ. Oh God, when we stand before your throne to give you praise, we pray that many will be there because we did and because we saw it.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen.