An Uneasy but Undeterred Calling

Introduction

Entrepreneurship 101: Marketing is narrative

You’re not selling a product; you’re selling a story

(Walking into a Silicon Valley start-up without a mission statement)

Asking the CEO: “I don’t know”

Without a goal, there’s nothing to fight for in the first place

These are the expectations we have for “big business.” Yet what would happen to us if we walked into the church and didn’t know why we were there in the first place?

We all need the basics to keep us grounded at all times

“Grandma’s in the graveyard” isn’t a sufficient rallying point

Christianity ministry calls us to have our priorities straight

Paul’s life testifies to the importance of embodying the gospel to encourage others in advancing the kingdom of God (vv. 12-13) by trusting ultimately in the power of Christ to accomplish his mission of salvation in the world (vv. 14-17).

What 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 shows us is how we have to fully entrust ourselves to the will of God as pursued in discernment through the Spirit, recognizing all the while that Christ himself always remains at the helm of our lives in seeking to glorify him, no matter where we go.

A Man on Mission (vv. 12-13)

An uncertainty in ministry (v. 12)

Troas was a prime prospect for fruitful missionary work

Crucial commercial district between Macedonia and Greece

The opportunity had presented itself once again

Paul had already passed through Troas before (Acts 16:8-11), but he had been compelled to leave almost immediately after getting there to go to Macedonia, and it happened again this time as well.

The harvest was ripe, but the work was elsewhere

Paul had a prior commitment to to the Corinthians that kept him from fully throwing himself behind ministering in Troas (v.13)

His correspondence with the church in Corinth had been entrusted to Titus in its delivery (2 Cor. 2:5-11), and since he hadn’t found him yet, he was plagued with an inescapable anxiety that reached to the deepest recesses of his being.

Factions still remained, meaning sin still needed to be dealt with

The church as a whole was at stake in Paul’s mind

It wasn’t as if a Zoom meeting was an option here (direct confirmation from Titus, the emissary, was needed to bring Paul relief)

Despite there being the opportunity for fruitful outreach, Paul was still radically surrendered over caring for the flock he already dearly knew first

The Man Behind the Mission (vv. 14-17)

Transition: the basis of Paul’s comfort in pursuing uneasiness and uncertainty is a final hope in what Christ is always doing through his people wherever (or whoever) they are.

Titus, Tychicus, and Timothy were each crucial sources of encouragement in proving to him that the proclamation of the gospel wouldn’t cease in his absence

No matter how he might have been discouraged, Paul was able to see that the work given over to him by Christ was never his to begin with (v. 14)

Our King already has us marching with him, because the true battle has already been won

They had seen many earthly conquerors, but not one like this

Rather than imperial eagles, Paul saw a crown of thorns

(Senatus Populusque Romanus and the raging of the nations)

A glory not our own nor ours to show

Paul Maier, Pontius Pilate (The Roman standard against Jewish identity)

We ourselves are in his service in the war against this present age, and with him already for us, there’s nothing truly against us.

Commentator: those being led typically were the defeated going to their deaths (paradox)

Remaining militant in our mission

Lewis in The Last Battle: “Come further up, come further in!”

Eternal life is here, yet it also still awaits

Christ’s reign is already sure

1 Corinthians 15:20-26: But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The standard we bear cannot be hidden

We are chosen instruments for declaring what God has revealed in Christ, solely in his sovereign service.

Embodying the gospel matters as much as sharing it.

2 Timothy 2:20-21: Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Our sanctification does not come forward easily.

God specifically has made us in his own “scent” as his people; we can’t help but testify to his work in our lives according to who we have now become in him (v. 15-16a)

Appearances can be deceiving, but scent can’t

Our lives should be so clearly Christian that no confusion assaults anybody as to what kind of people we really are

Because God has already bought those who he going to save, it’s pointless for us to dilute our spirituality in the hopes of somehow “winning” more for him

“being saved…those who are perishing”

Lives lived according to the gospel are meant to be polarizing (v. 16a)

Charles Hodge: “The word of God is quick and powerful either to save or to destroy. It cannot be neutral. If it does not save, it destroys…If a man rejects the gospel, it had ben far better for him never to have heard it.”

There is no way to make ourselves more presentable when the message we bear within ourselves is of infinite offense to literally anyone who outside of Christ.

The gospel seems contradictory to many since it is a death sentence to those who reject it while also being the greatest guarantee of life to those who accept it. (“to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life”). Yet such is the wisdom of God.

The endurance to bear under the weightiness of our calling doesn’t come from our own self-confidence but instead from Christ alone (v. 16b-17)

Paul’s own humility continues to shine through in admitting his own inability to be a bearer of the gospel in and of himself (v. 16c)

2 Cor. 2:4: For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

The plight of the “superapostles” had to be confronted (D.A. Carson on Paul’s “tone” of self-humiliation in his commentary on 2 Cor. 10-13, A Model of Christian Maturity)

Sophistry has its benefits (v. 17a)

Many philosophers (Sophists) in ancient Greece gave pre-paid lessons in virtue to help the next generation of the upper class maintain their mobility, giving the elite exactly what they wanted to hear to maintain the status quo

Those who abuse Scripture by distorting its message in order to comfort the consciences of their hearers act as if its meaning is up to them to determine in the first place. In doing so, they prove that they want it to reflect better on their own image than upon God’s own glory.

It isn’t just for financial gain (“scratching their ears means that they’ll stay”)

It’s likely Paul was tempted to think this way about the Corinthians when writing to them, but the promises of salvation had to win out over his own insecurity.

Unfaithful proclamation of the Word takes many forms (“like so many”)

Are you preaching or serving for them, for yourself, or for Him who saved you?

We serve an audience of Three-in-One (v. 17b)

Paul acknowledges that his own ministry comes at the behest of his Lord alone, for he is the only one who can vindicate it

You can’t get a better front man than the Son of God (“we speak in Christ”)

Because God has called us to himself, we must cling to his own standards when judging ourselves in regards to our own faithfulness in ministry, not the “success metrics” of the world

Christ gives the final verdict on our proclamation of his salvation, since he himself is the one who sends and, ultimately, the one who receives in brining about salvation in others according to the will of the Father by the working of the Spirit

Union with Christ brings with it the boldness to witness in accordance with what has now been made really real in us through the resurrection

Conclusion

Remember your first love by remembering your first ministry

The family

Costi Hinn and tending to his wife before vision-casting for his ministry

The local church

Parachurch ministries are meant to equip, not overshadow, the body of Christ

(It includes seminaries too)

That greener grass you think you see (as a member or a minister) at another congregation might just be the best patch of sod they have to offer.

Stay true to what you’ve been entrusted with until God himself moves you on

Staying faithful means keeping your priorities centered around seeing the gospel come to fruition rather than your own personal flowering.

Paul himself was already a fool for Christ (1 Cor. 4:10); his only concern was seeing the wonder of the cross prevail over the self-defeating strivings of the fallen flesh in all of humanity.

Seeing where God is already working in your current service to him will empower you to persevere in what he has next in pursuing the ultimate victory of Christ that is yet to come.