The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 36, 2 Corinthians 2:12 - 17, "Paul's Victory Story"

The Corinthian Correspondence, Part 36; 2 Corinthians 2.12-17 "Paul's Victory Story" Today, we get to look at one of Paul's many victory stories. We know what victory stories are--we share ours with one another nearly every week. How have we framed them? A miracle, perhaps. We have seen miracles here. Physical death and resurrection in our midst. Remember how Rusty was without oxygen for 45 minutes after his open heart surgery--while still in the hospital! It is rare indeed for a hospital staff to attempt to work this long on a patient. Though this happened several years ago, he is still with us! Spiritual resurrection has also happened at Grace United over the years. When someone becomes a Christian it takes a supernatural work of God. Non-Christians are dead--separated from God-- because of our in sins and trespasses; rebellious creatures, and as Paul told us in Ephesians every non-Christian is by nature a son or daughter of wrath, a follower of the prince of the power of the air--Satan. But when someone is born again, he or she is spiritually raised from the dead! Given new life! The process of salvation begins the moment the person opens his or her heart to the Lord--he or she repents of their sin and believes the gospel. And as the Lord tells us in John 10:27-29: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. And let's not forget--the Lord will finish what he has started: Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. And is this not one of the reasons we come together a couple of times a week? To encourage one another to keep at it--developing and deepening our fellowship with the Lord and one another, and learning how to be more effective witnesses to those who so desperately need salvation found in Christ. My brothers and sisters, express gratitude often for the salvation that the Lord has brought in your life! King David says "let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" Another kind of victory story we hear at Grace United--and that we hear the most of--can be summed up like this: "Life is hard, but God is good!" We are learning, as a small cell in the body of Christ, the truth of Romans 8:28-29: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. In other words, the Lord wastes nothing in our lives. Everything we experience, whether we label it good or bad, really is all good, because the Lord uses it to make us more like Jesus. It is God's will that we look just like Jesus when he is done with us! Now, this is not to say that many things that have happened to us are intrinsically good. Severe sickness. Death. Painful, broken relationships. And so much more really are bad experiences. But again, the Lord allows or even at times causes these things all for the purpose that he would make us like Jesus. So in our passage for today 2 Corinthians 2:12-17, we will see one of Paul's victory stories: "life is hard, but God is good." In vv.12-13 we will see Paul in essence proclaiming "life is hard", and in vv.14-17 we will hear Paul exclaiming, "God is good!" 2 Corinthians 2:12-13: When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in 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 on to Macedonia. Here we see Paul introduce a few things. Remember how he was dealing with the Corinthians' allowing false teachers to have the upper hand in the church, bringing with them a false gospel, most likely that in order for a person to become a Christian he or she had to become Jewish. After all, the Jews are God's chosen people. So it would seem to make sense that the men would become circumcised, everybody eat kosher food and keep the Sabbath--worship on Saturday. So here is Paul, upset at the false teaching of these so-called Super Apostles which infiltrated the church. He wrote this strongly worded letter from Ephesus. Impassioned. Tear-stained to set them straight. And he gave it to Titus, another son in the faith, like Timothy: a PIT, pastor in training that he might deliver it to them. So, off he went with this letter. It took a little while for the letter to arrive in Corinth--and for Titus to bring Paul back a report, whether good or bad. Meanwhile, Paul had work to do. But his uncertainty about how the church was going to receive this letter grew stronger. And stronger. And Paul began to get worried. In Christian circles we would call that concerned. Ever happen to you? You send "that text". "That email." "That video." At the time you sent it, you were certain that you communicated what you wanted to say, though it was a difficult correspondence. But after you push "send" you begin to wonder. A little time passes. Then more time. Then more. No word. Hours pass. Then a couple of days. And the more time passes that you don't get a response, the more you doubt yourself. And the concern over your relationship with this person becomes ratcheted up. Tighter and tighter. Before you realize it, this correspondence has consumed you. You value this relationship very highly. You become afraid that your relationship might be over-taken down by your own hand. Well, this was sort of like how it was with Paul. And with my attempt to paint what seems to be an accurate backdrop for this passage, let's look at what Paul gained during this time and what he lost. In v.12 we see Paul gained yet another opportunity to spiritually serve others in a town called Troas, about 100 miles north of Ephesus, the place he was when he wrote this letter--2 Corinthians. And apparently Paul and Titus agreed to meet at Troas with his report. But Paul's deep love for his Corinthians, and his uncertainty of how they would receive that letter kept Paul up at night. We might say that he lost peace of heart and mind. He went to sleep with the Corinthians on his mind, and woke up with a knot in his stomach. He was afraid that he might have won the battle but lost the war. Remember how he paid an emergency visit to set things right with the Corinthians and to blast the false teachers, and followed that visit up with that strong letter. When he got to Troas, Paul began to serve the people there while he anxiously waited on Titus. And he waited. And waited. Paul's heart grew ever more restless. For some unexplained reason, Titus did not show up in Troas. Now Paul was emotionally and spiritually at the place where he was so worked up that he just had to find Titus. In v.13, Paul says that he went to try to find in Macedonia--near modern day Greece just across the Aegean Sea from Troas. Ok, let's now interact with the apostle Paul. As careful Bible readers, let's ask some observation questions. Like, Paul, what happened? Did you find Titus? How did the Corinthians receive the letter? Your deep concern for the Corinthians even prevented you from ministry in Troas. You had to stop your ministry task that the Lord opened for you. What's going on Paul? These verses do not give us any answers. But spoiler alert! Paul does address this later in this letter and we will get to it in a few weeks. Or perhaps you can read ahead and find out for yourself--this afternoon, of course! Let me point out a couple of things here in the "life is hard" part of Paul's victory story. First, who exactly is Titus? I mean a letter bearing his name made its way into the New Testament! Knowing who he was yields a powerful lesson for us. For Paul was a Messianic Jew. And Titus was an uncircumcised gentile follower of Christ. Both were workers in the gospel. What a great example of 1st Century Christian unity! Remember how great of a distance there was between Jew and gentile in the First Century. And remember as well, the so-called super apostles sought to divide the body of Christ with their false gospel. If ever we needed more examples of true unity it is today! We hear so much talk about our need for unity, in the culture and in the church. But so often the center of unity is not what the Lord considers to be of central concern. In the Lord's prayer for us, his number 1 request to the Father is for unity in his church. But there are 2 details in his prayer that are almost always lacking when we think about and pray for unity, in John 17:16-17: They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. The Lord talks to the Father about his church being literally not of this world, to the degree that he was not of this world. In a word, holiness. We are called as individual Christians and as a church, to be holy--set apart, separate from the world. Secondly, the Lord asks the Father to sanctify us, to make his people holy in the truth: "your word is truth". Holiness and truth are the twin pillars upon which true unity is built. There is no such thing as "unity for unity's sake." Tragically for some, unity is centered around whether we treat covid seriously enough--or too seriously. For others, it is centered around social justice. Still others view the current political climate as that which God's people need to rally around. Last month, in Holland, Michigan a pastor resigned from the church he had pastored for over 4 years because his views about President Trump and those of the congregation were polar opposites. Can you imagine? Let's build unity on what the Lord would have us build unity upon: holiness and truth. The second thing I want to point out is how very human Paul was. He was truly a spiritual giant, inspired and empowered by the Holy Spirit, useful in the Master's hand to plant churches, help disciples of Christ to mature in their faith, and write Scripture among many other things. However, Paul was not super human. He suffered terribly over what in his heart was an existential threat to the Corinthian church. He was very afraid that his powerfully worded letter, coupled with his unexpected visit was tearing the church down. And this shook him to the core. Author Mark Siefrid gives what I think is some great insight into what may have been going through Paul's mind and heart regarding his crisis moment: The hindrance to ministry in this instance came through the apostle himself. Although there was "an open door" for him in the Lord, he was so taken up with worry over the Corinthians that he was paralyzed, unable to make use of the God-given opportunity that lay before him. We should not overlook this admission of weakness. Not only his strategic aims but his ability to respond to the very work of God fail him here. His life, his weaknesses, and his failures-which he is not ashamed to confess-all rest in the hand of Another, who displays his strength in the apostle's weakness. Though Paul faltered here, we can all learn from his weaknesses and deep concern for fellow Christians. We can take comfort in the fact that as much of a spiritual hero as Paul was, he learned much before he went to be with Jesus, even at this stage in his life, even as an apostle, arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived. It would be another 6 years before Paul would write these words to his friends in Philippi: "Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." In this same Philippian letter, he wrote that he learned the secret of being content. Now, if he learned contentment that means that he naturally was not a contented person. And could it be that as he searched for Titus, this was an episode in Paul's life that the Lord used to help Paul become more contented? So, in Paul's victory story, we saw his "life is hard" part in vv.12-13. Now in vv.14-17 let's take a look at the "God is good" part of Paul's victory story. In the midst of Paul's crippling anxiety over his issue with the Corinthian church, that apostle seems able to turn a corner in his emotions and spirit, seeing how powerfully the Lord is working in his life. 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 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. In Paul's "God is good" part of his victory story, it begins by Paul himself being defeated. The triumphal procession is a vivid picture that was frequent in the First Century. It was one of soliders utterly defeated by a vastly superior army, paraded through town. The military general basically was telling those who saw this sight, "look at my power, taking these soldiers captive." Paul was captivated, captured by Christ. Once again, Paul's personal experience with Truth himself is at the heart of Paul's heart. Paul was proud to be defeated by the ultimate General of the universe. Paul understood and lived out what Jesus said was the tell-tale sign of his disciples as we read in Luke 9:23: And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. In that day, crucifixion of course was very common. When people saw the condemned carrying their crosses, everybody knew where they were going. And they also knew they were not coming back. See, Paul was, as it were, captured by God. He was dead to the world. Hear his testimony in Galatians 6:14: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Literally, Paul is saying here, "the world has been and continues to be crucified to me, and I have been and continue to be crucified to the world." In our way of saying it, this world has nothing for me. There is nothing to wake up for except for Jesus. I have shared this story before but it bears repeating. My wife Kitty and daughter Becca went to Paris on her 16th birthday. They went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. They went all over town and took in the sights. Then they climbed the Eiffel Tower. While they were there, both of them came to the same conclusion almost at the same time: "Where is the magic?" I mean, every girl's dream of spending time in such an incredible city. And all they could say was, "Where is the magic"? Indeed. The Lord gave them a gift, I believe. Truly, this world has nothing for the Christian. Certainly we can enjoy things. But a person who has come to the conclusion that this world has nothing for him, for her, has ultimate freedom. Even the freedom to be humiliated by the world. Even the freedom to choose to serve Christ when true servants are indeed few and far between. But back to Paul's victory story. The imagery, again is Paul's glad defeat by Deity. God, through Christ has captured him. Completely. So much so that he is describing a second part of the ritual of the triumphant procession, "and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere". See, the other part of that picture is the burning of incense along the parade route and even the execution of the captives, according to one scholar. In other words, Paul's good news story is that God has put him to death and raised him to life again. Look again at vv.15-16: 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. Because God has so changed Paul, and all true believers, there is a smell coming from our being. Of course we are talking in a figure of speech. But what happens to a body that is dead? It gives off an odor. Those who have been around decaying bodies can never forget the smell. Right after 9/11, I had the privilege to going to the Pentagon to spiritually serve those there for about 3 weeks as a chaplain. There was a room on site where the authorities had the gruesome, but necessary task of handling the remains. Needless to say, entering the room was overwhelming. A Christian, says Paul spiritually speaking gives off an odor - fragrance -- but it affects different people in different ways. Those who are being saved, Paul says it is a smell of life. How so? As Christians, what is the one act that saves us, gives us true, eternal life? Christ's death and resurrection. To the Christian, that is a most pleasing "smell". Jesus rose from the grave. And because he lives, we will live also! But to those who are non-Christians our spiritual odor is repulsive. How so? Simply because they see Jesus as a dead man, not one raised to life as King of kings and Lord of lords. How many times has this happened to you? You meet someone and sense there is something . . . different about him or her. In your spirit you "know" this person is a Christian. And then you find you that you are right. This is sort of what I'm talking about. But now notice how overwhelming Paul sees this truth. In v.16, Paul asks, "who is sufficient for these things?" The Lord has entrusted him and his fellow workers with eternal truth. The gospel of Christ literally has eternal life-giving or eternal condemning power. Again, the fragrance of life to those who are being saved--is an eternal fragrance--unto an eternal salvation. The repulsive odor of death to those who are perishing--is an eternal stench--unto eternal destruction. My brothers and sisters. We hold in our hearts and speak from our lips an eternal message. The very core of our being oozes a "spiritual odor". Why is it that we as Christians sometimes just by walking into a room are hated? Non-Christians and spiritual forces "smell" our spiritual odor.. But in our day, I fear that typically Christians are giving off an odor that doesn't seem to pass the smell test. Paul here made it clear. The smell we give off will be detected as pleasing to one group of people--ones being saved and repulsive to the other--ones who are perishing. A very common description of the church is that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. Especially when we feed the hungry, clothe naked, visit the sick, etc. All good things to do. We do these things to everybody, as Paul tells us in Galatians 6:9-10 and especially to those who are of the household of faith. But there is an entirely unexplored area when we talk about being the hands and feet of Jesus. When Jesus was in the days of his ministry, he went around doing good. No denying that. He ate with tax collectors and sinners. He touched lepers. He healed the sick with a word. He raised the dead. He forgave sins. All marvelous stuff! Full of love for people, caring for their needs. Now for the other area of Jesus' hands and feet. Jesus declared himself to be who he was--the Son of God. In other words, whether it was meeting physical needs, forgiving sin, or speaking truth, Jesus the Messiah said and did things Messiahs do! He was simply being who he was. His own personal hands, his own personal feet, his own personal mouth produced things that with some were desirable, but with others, very undesirable. For example, in John 7, he told the world that it was evil. Other places in Scripture record that Jesus' caused division. He never designed his ministry as a rallying cry for human unity--though so many, even in the church embrace this idea. His purpose was not to make the world a better place, though many even in the church are sold out to this. One of the big buzzpharases about what church is supposed to contribute to the world is "human flourishing." But they seem to forget that human flourishing will take place when he returns. Jesus is the hope of the world, not the church. So, why did Jesus come to earth? His primary mission was not to alleviate human suffering. When Jesus stood before Pilate, he told him the purpose for which he came in John 18:37. Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world-to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." Bearing witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to Jesus. What truth? In a nutshell, reality. Truth about who God is. About who we are. About how we are to live in the world that God owns. So what was Jesus doing and being? Again, being who he was. And this caused division. Some loved him--when they got their healing or a meal ticket. Some followed him because he was the truth, even as Peter told him, "Lord we will not stop following you--you have the words of eternal life." Others hated him. He told some, "You are evil." He told others, "I am God in human flesh." The Lord Jesus bore witness to the truth. And he told those who hated him in so many words, "you can't handle the truth." And that was why they crucified him. But he will return one day. And the rest of the story will be told. The bottom line here is simply but profoundly, the other side of Jesus' hands and feet was, and is not what most people want. Many people want Jesus to provide for them, but will reject him when he attempts to provide for them what they really need. Even as he said in John 6:63: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. And as Paul tells us, what the eternally dying need is the eternal life-giving gospel. They don't merely need food or clothing, though they are good to have. If someone is spiritually dead, and we give them clothing and think that this is somehow enough what are we doing? We are clothing a corpse. And in v.17, Paul is drawing a line in the sand. The true gospel does not result in fame, or fortune, or even primarily meeting material needs. In this verse, Paul basically called out false teachers, identifying them as peddlers of God's word. They were attempting to make money off of Jesus. They were hypocrites--playing the part of a spiritual preacher and all the while desiring money. They claimed to be commissioned by God when they were not--they were commissioned by Satan. And they were not living in the sight of God as in seeking his approval but they were receiving his condemnation and will receive it full force when they stand before the Lord. So, what an unexpected "God is good" part of Paul's victory story! See, Paul was not in it for the money or fame, or power or any such thing. Paul was an apostle because he was sent by Christ. Paul suffered the loss of all things but gained everything, precisely because he sought to gain Christ. Paul saw the crucified Christ as one who gave him eternal life. And for this man, Christ was indeed the pearl of great price. It cost him everything, but look at what Paul had--as it were, the pearl of heaven--the Lord Jesus. Paul realized that Jesus was not for sale. The true gospel, in the words of one learned man, was not to be unwittingly substituted for a cheap and false promise of earthly power and pleasure. And theologian Richard Niebuhr described false gospel a number of years ago when he said, "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." Indeed, it is in Niebuhr's description of Christianity which many have bought into which makes any kind of victory story, a self-help story. A victory story cannot be "life is hard, but God has given me prosperity." It cannot be "life is hard, but I can somehow tough it out." No! The only victory story worth telling is this: "life is hard, but God is good." Period. Paul, sitting in a rented jail cell in Rome had time to think. At any time, he would stand before Nero and give his defense as to why he should keep his head. Every day, Paul woke up thinking, "this could be the day I stand before him." Paul was innocent. He had done nothing worthy of death. Reading the book of Acts tells us that he appealed to Caesar Nero because the Jews were ready to kill him if the authorities would set him free. Paul knew he would get there eventually. The Lord himself appeared to him as we read in Acts 23:11: The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome." And for 2 full years, Paul waited. And waited. Church tradition tells us that Paul was released because his accusers never showed up, but was rearrested and eventually was beheaded, dying as a martyr for Christ. But as Paul waited to stand in front of Nero, Paul had opportunity to think about his life. Here is what he said in Philippians 3:7-14: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. My brothers and sisters, the only story worth telling is a victory story. And a victory story is "life is hard, but God is good." What is your story? Do you count your life as not dear to yourself? Do you count even your achievements as nothing but dung in order that you may gain Christ? May the Lord help us to be able to live our lives in true victory and say with Paul, "This one thing I do: I forget what lies behind and I strain forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."