SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: Take your Bible with me for our time in God's Word this morning to the New Testament book of Second Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: We completed our study of the book of Acts last Sunday with an unfinished story.
SPEAKER_00: The imprisoned Apostle Paul had established churches across the northern Mediterranean world.
SPEAKER_00: They were churches that struggled, just like all churches do.
SPEAKER_00: They struggled to maintain the purity of the gospel, the purity of their doctrine, the purity of their holiness and order for the cause of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Those first churches had to wrestle with many new questions.
SPEAKER_00: We looked at those as we walked through the book of Acts, wondering along the way, the church did, what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with these new situations that we've never encountered before?
SPEAKER_00: Those first churches had only their Old Testament to guide them.
SPEAKER_00: But over the course of several decades, God added to those scriptures through the pens of several apostles to protect and guide those young churches.
SPEAKER_00: One of those churches was established in what we might call the sin city of the Roman world, ancient Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought that since we've concluded our study in Acts, it might be helpful to gain a glimpse of how those early churches were encouraged to engage and persevere in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: By God's grace, they weren't left to their own devices to figure out how do we do this, and neither are we.
SPEAKER_00: So for the next few weeks, I want us to look at the Apostle Paul's guidance given to the church in Corinth to see what lies at the heart of Christian ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And by Christian ministry, I don't just mean those things that take place within the context of the walls of a local church.
SPEAKER_00: That's part of it.
SPEAKER_00: But Christian ministry is not just in the local church, but it is the local church.
SPEAKER_00: That is the people of the local church.
SPEAKER_00: It's who we are, who God has called us to be, and how we live and act in everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin then in 2 Corinthians chapter 2, near the end of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at that, we need to remember that we often refer to 2 Corinthians and other portions of the Bible as books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: That's not really an inappropriate way to think about them.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to remember that this is a letter written, handwritten by the Apostle Paul to the church that began under his ministry in the city of Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: So as a letter, it's personal.
SPEAKER_00: Second Corinthians might be the most personal letter of all of the New Testament letters.
SPEAKER_00: It's personal because the apostle spends a good deal of time defending his own personal ministry as an apostle.
SPEAKER_00: He was not without criticism.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody who walks as a Christian who follows Christ is without criticism.
SPEAKER_00: We hope that there's less criticism within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's not the case.
SPEAKER_00: For the Apostle Paul, it definitely wasn't the case.
SPEAKER_00: And within these personal aspects of the letter, we find some core elements of faithful Christian ministry that rest in apostolic guidance.
SPEAKER_00: So at the end now of 2 Corinthians chapter 2, we find that the Apostle Paul's life and ministry lead us to the truth that Christian ministry is others focused.
SPEAKER_00: That is, it's not about us as individuals.
SPEAKER_00: It's about us as individuals focused on others.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me at 2 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: I'll read it if you'd like to follow along.
SPEAKER_00: If you are following along in the Bible that's in the seat back in front of you, I believe it's like page 965.
SPEAKER_00: Again, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul writes, When I came to Troaz 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.
SPEAKER_00: So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonian.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.
SPEAKER_00: To one a fragrance from death to death, and the other a fragrance from life to life.
SPEAKER_00: Who is sufficient for these things?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll stop there for this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that the Apostle Paul is speaking about his own ministry, to a church that he established, to many of the people that he himself led to trust in Christ, defending his own ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in chapter one, he wants to comfort them in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to boast in chapter 1, verse 12, of the testimony of their conscience that they behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds them of his travel plans in verse 16 of chapter 1, where he wanted to come back and see them one more time.
SPEAKER_00: That didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: So he anticipates that they might be wondering well, if you're such a godly apostle, why don't you keep your word?
SPEAKER_00: He said you'd come to see us, but you haven't come to see us.
SPEAKER_00: What's up with that?
SPEAKER_00: If you're such a godly man, why are you suffering so much?
SPEAKER_00: They're asking all kinds of questions.
SPEAKER_00: He's anticipating that, he's responding to that.
SPEAKER_00: So he describes in verse 12 the explanation of his absence from Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And the explanation entails our first reality of Christian ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And that is that Christian ministry always entails a concern for others.
SPEAKER_00: See, Paul was grieved first with the church of Corinth, letting sin continue in their presence unchecked.
SPEAKER_00: That's what 1 Corinthians is all about.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote them a letter.
SPEAKER_00: He'd established the church, he'd gone away, then he'd heard some news that there were things happening in that church that ought not to be.
SPEAKER_00: He says, things that don't even happen among unsaved people.
SPEAKER_00: And you're letting it go on unchecked.
SPEAKER_00: And so he wrote to them a very direct and corrective letter.
SPEAKER_00: And he sent it with Titus.
SPEAKER_00: It seems that Paul had then anticipated meeting up with Titus in a coastal city called Troaz, which is on the western coast of what we now know as Turkey.
SPEAKER_00: It's north of the city of Ephesus, to which the letter to Ephesus was written.
SPEAKER_00: Then they would go across the sea to Macedonia, northern Greece today.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was prearranged with Titus when he left with that first letter that they would meet up in Troas.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Paul knew that Titus was going to go to Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: If you draw a line almost straight across to the left from Ephesus, you'll get to Corinth, southern Greece.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe Paul knew that Titus was going to go north through Greece to Macedonia and come back down across the sea and come to Troas.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he thought that they would meet up there.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know those details.
SPEAKER_00: What we know is that the Apostle Paul was concerned about Titus because he hasn't met up with him yet.
SPEAKER_00: And because he hadn't met up with him, he was concerned about the church in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And his concern for the church in Corinth was over their reaction to his tearful, corrective letter.
SPEAKER_00: Look back at chapter 2, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I wrote to you, past tense, as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: For I felt sure of all of you that my joy would be the joy of all of you.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: It's a tearful letter, written from the perspective of a parent whose children are not walking in the way of Christ, but who need to hear the way of Christ and change the way that they're functioning.
SPEAKER_00: So then we get down to verse 13 and we find that his spirit was not at rest because Titus wasn't at Troaz.
SPEAKER_00: Now if you look over at chapter 7, verses oh 5, 6, 7, we see that he eventually met up with Titus, not in Ephesus, not in Troaz, but across the sea in Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 6, he says, we came into Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, chapter 7, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: We came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest.
SPEAKER_00: We were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within.
SPEAKER_00: But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus.
SPEAKER_00: And not only by his coming, but also by filling us in on what was going on in Corinth, how they received the letter, how they responded to his corrective discipline in that letter.
SPEAKER_00: And he says in verse 8, the letter grieved you, but only for a while.
SPEAKER_00: Because it made them repent and turn around and go in a different direction.
SPEAKER_00: So as we go back to chapter 2 now, we see that his concern is present.
SPEAKER_00: And his lack of absence in Corinth wasn't because he didn't care about them.
SPEAKER_00: It actually showed the opposite.
SPEAKER_00: He was looking for Titus to discover how did my children respond to the letter that I sent with Titus.
SPEAKER_00: He was concerned about their spiritual welfare.
SPEAKER_00: He intended to go back.
SPEAKER_00: You can see 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: He intended to go, but it seems that Paul and Titus planned to meet up somewhere so that they would be able to come together, decide what to do next based off of Corinth's response to his first letter.
SPEAKER_00: So do you understand the situation now?
SPEAKER_00: Paul starts in Ephesus, no Titus.
SPEAKER_00: So he goes north to Troas.
SPEAKER_00: No Titus.
SPEAKER_00: But in Troaz, he says, there's an open door of ministry for me.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is always concerned about others, whether it's Corinth, whether it's Titus, whether it's an open door of ministry in this community.
SPEAKER_00: And we see a variation in his concern.
SPEAKER_00: He has a heart for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: That open door in Troaz means there's reception of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: There's the opportunity to preach and to teach and to lead people to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It appears that people were receptive of it.
SPEAKER_00: But in that period of time, the apostle's greater concern than the open door of ministry was how the church in Corinth responded to his letter, to his direct, tearful letter.
SPEAKER_00: And that reveals a humble approach to ministry that we don't often see today.
SPEAKER_00: Paul was more concerned about the spiritual welfare of the Corinthian Christians than he was about expanding his own ministry in Troaz.
SPEAKER_00: That's fascinating.
SPEAKER_00: Here he is in a community, an open door, meaning there's no barriers.
SPEAKER_00: He can keep on spreading the gospel, working and expanding his ministry, but he's more concerned about that church across the sea than his own particular ministry.
SPEAKER_00: So he says goodbye to the people in Troas, and he seeks out Titus to find out about the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: That leads us then to a couple of particular details of Christian ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Because 1 and 2 Corinthians are so linked together, it highlights that Christian ministry sometimes entails speaking directly and pointedly to mark out, to identify and to mark sin and to call Christians and the church to follow Christ in holiness.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking the truth directly and pointedly, to call brothers and sisters to follow Christ properly is speaking the truth in love, even if it causes them to grieve.
SPEAKER_00: But it also identifies for us that Christian ministry entails being concerned about how people respond to the call to holiness.
SPEAKER_00: That's even harder.
SPEAKER_00: We know if you call somebody out on something wrong that they're doing, they might not receive that so well.
SPEAKER_00: Paul was concerned about that.
SPEAKER_00: He was concerned about how the believers in the church in Corinth would respond to his pointedly calling out their failures.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we don't just call one another out and say, hey, grow up.
SPEAKER_00: Obey with a happy heart.
SPEAKER_00: And let the chips fall where they may.
SPEAKER_00: We don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Paul was grieved that he had to write to Corinth in 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: And he was anxious to hear how they responded to his call for holy living in the church.
SPEAKER_00: So he provides then an apostolic example of heartfelt concern for how others receive our ministry to them.
SPEAKER_00: A particular timeline point helps us to grasp what's happening here in 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: Paul wrote this letter, 2 Corinthians, after he found Titus and met up with him and learned how things had gone with his first letter.
SPEAKER_00: The concern and the uncertainty within the apostle describes how he was feeling before he heard Titus's report.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 7 then shifts the perspective because Paul left Troas, he crossed the Mediterranean Sea, somewhere over there in Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: He met up with Titus, and after hearing Titus's report, he writes this letter and sends Titus back with it again to Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: So he sent 1 Corinthians to correct sin and disorder in the church while mentioning that he would come and see them again.
SPEAKER_00: So this is the direction Titus would have gone the first time, leaving Ephesus to go across the sea to Corinth with 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: Paul met up with him north of this area in Macedonia later and sent Titus back south to Corinth with 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: And so Paul explains in verses 12 and 13 what happened.
SPEAKER_00: His absence from Corinth wasn't because he didn't care.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't because he didn't care.
SPEAKER_00: His absence was because he hadn't heard from Titus how they responded to the first letter.
SPEAKER_00: Now later, in chapter 11, chapter 7, we discover what Paul learned from Titus.
SPEAKER_00: Paul learned from Titus that while Paul was gone, some false apostles found their way into the local church.
SPEAKER_00: Those wolves in sheep's clothing were leading people to question Paul's message and Paul's authenticity and his authority as an apostle.
SPEAKER_00: They twisted Paul's words into lies.
SPEAKER_00: Those wolves had no concern for the believers in Corinth or for Paul, but only for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But faithful Christian ministry, whether it's in the walls of the church gathered together, or whether it's in individuals or couples or small groups ministering outside of the walls of the church, faithful Christian ministry has its focus on others.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why verse 14 shifts the focus now to Paul's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: First, he says, our focus, my focus, is on you, Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: But what about me?
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Christian ministry, faithful Christian ministry, exalts Christ, not self.
SPEAKER_00: These three verses, verses 14, 15, and most of 16, express a view of our present status as Christians, followers of Christ, in a way that shocks our modern sensibilities.
SPEAKER_00: It makes us a little uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we we find two metaphors for our status in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verses 15 and 16, we find the result of those metaphors that describe our status.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the first metaphor in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that sound wonderful?
SPEAKER_00: Christ is triumphing, and we get to go with him.
SPEAKER_00: Except that's not what he meant.
SPEAKER_00: It's what it sounds like.
SPEAKER_00: We have a substantial translation issue here.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope this doesn't bore you.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, I hope it shows you how it's important to know what words mean in their cultural context so that we can apply them properly.
SPEAKER_00: We have a translation issue here in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what this looks like.
SPEAKER_00: If you are using a New American Standard Bible, your translation will say that Christ always lead, who always leads us in triumph in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: We're being led by Christ in triumph.
SPEAKER_00: You're using the older NIV, says, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, not so different from the NASB.
SPEAKER_00: Just describes what kind of triumph we're talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's a triumphal procession, kind of like a parade.
SPEAKER_00: The newer NIV says, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: That's really different.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't really, that takes the exalted idea of a triumphal procession and says, we're not part of the exciting part of that.
SPEAKER_00: We are captives.
SPEAKER_00: What do we make of that?
SPEAKER_00: The newer Christian Standard Bible says, who always leads us in Christ's triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: Then if you're using the old King James, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That shifts the focus away from Christ to us.
SPEAKER_00: What do we make of that?
SPEAKER_00: This has been a sticky issue literally for centuries.
SPEAKER_00: It has become clearer in recent decades because of our clarification of the Roman world and of what these terms meant in Roman culture and Roman society.
SPEAKER_00: Cultural perceptions and sensitivities are always a significant factor in translations.
SPEAKER_00: And to put it bluntly, most of the time we don't like what Paul wrote.
SPEAKER_00: So translations tend to soften his words to make them more acceptable.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just take Paul's words at face value for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul uses a term that refers to a very particular Roman activity called a triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a triumphal entry like we would reference when we talk about Jesus coming into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what it's talking about.
SPEAKER_00: It's talking about a Roman procession, not a Jewish kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: This is the Roman world.
SPEAKER_00: Scott Heffemann describes it well.
SPEAKER_00: He says, the triumphal procession was a lavish parade conducted in Rome to celebrate great victories in significant military campaigns.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine St.
SPEAKER_00: Patrick's Day Parade in Chicago.
SPEAKER_00: These were major cultural and civic events.
SPEAKER_00: They were ostentatious over-the-top celebrations filled with valiant soldiers, the spoils of war, and the most theatrical pomp and circumstance that Rome could muster.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine the entire city of Rome and all of its surrounding areas coming together to celebrate a war victory.
SPEAKER_00: And you get close to imagining that triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: The victorious soldiers would parade the spoils of war, including captive enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Captive enemies were led or driven along, presented no longer as intimidating enemies and massive warriors, but now as conquered slaves.
SPEAKER_00: For those conquered peoples, it was a symbol of utter defeat.
SPEAKER_00: To make matters worse, if you look at verse 14, but thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us.
SPEAKER_00: That us pronoun is the direct object of the verb.
SPEAKER_00: That means that Paul and whoever is with him, Titus, Luke, many others, are the ones being led in triumphal procession.
SPEAKER_00: By implication, it includes all of the apostles, it includes all of those early Christian workers, and by extension, it includes every single Christian follower of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ leads us in his triumphal procession, which means we are the conquered ones, not the ones celebrating the victory.
SPEAKER_00: We are the rebellious enemies, conquered and subdued, led in victory by Christ the victor.
SPEAKER_00: That thought is so difficult to comprehend that some are led to soften the language in translation.
SPEAKER_00: Even the mighty John Calvin himself couldn't bring himself to recognize that, and he softened the language in his own translation.
SPEAKER_00: But it gets more difficult when we recognize what to be led in triumph meant in that Roman world.
SPEAKER_00: Historical portrayals of Roman triumphal entries reveal that the conquered peoples who were led in triumph were being led to their death.
SPEAKER_00: You see, at the end of the parade, the Roman general or the Caesar who was leading it would save some of the conquered peoples to be sold as slaves.
SPEAKER_00: But others of those conquered peoples, this was the primary part, were led to the end of the parade to then be offered as sacrifices to the Roman gods.
SPEAKER_00: Again, scholar Scott Heffemann draws us into the historical sphere.
SPEAKER_00: He says, it's a gruesome thought to us.
SPEAKER_00: But what better way to magnify a victory while at the same time offering a sacrifice of gratitude to the gods than to kill publicly the leaders of the most valiant of the vanquished warriors as a final act of triumph over them.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose, then, of the Roman triumphal parade was to elevate the honor and the glory and the strength of the conquering one, ultimately through public execution.
SPEAKER_00: Put all of that together.
SPEAKER_00: Paul and the other apostles, then, all of those early ministers of Christ were, first of all, conquered peoples who were led in triumph by Christ the King, led to their deaths.
SPEAKER_00: That's the cultural image.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I think Paul would say in his first letter to Corinth, in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 9, I think that God has exhibited, displayed us as apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death.
SPEAKER_00: Because we become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
SPEAKER_00: But by extension, brothers and sisters in Christ, it applies to everyone who takes up their cross and follows Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because what is a cross?
SPEAKER_00: But an ex uh an element for execution.
SPEAKER_00: We are crucified to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's what really messes with your head.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the beginning of verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: But thank you, Jesus, for leading me to my death.
SPEAKER_00: What he gives thanks for being conquered and led by Jesus to his death so that Christ might be glorified and magnified as the ultimate victor.
SPEAKER_00: That's worth it to him.
SPEAKER_00: This metaphor is the ultimate humility and acknowledgement that Christ is supreme.
SPEAKER_00: And our desire ought to be that our lives and our service to him are the most glorious display of our powerful and magnificent King that is possible.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this may be a way for Paul to point at those false apostles in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: Because they were all about themselves.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul is a conquered enemy.
SPEAKER_00: And a conquered and subdued enemy is in no place to make it about himself.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he was conquered on a desert road in Syrian Damascus and brought to his own death so that he might live for Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Genuine, faithful Christian ministry diminishes people and elevates the conquering king.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, but there's a second metaphor.
SPEAKER_00: And through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: So our second metaphor is not triumphal entry, but smells, odors, fragrances.
SPEAKER_00: This image could refer to the incense that was often carried in those triumphal processions.
SPEAKER_00: But it seems more likely that it continues the sacrificial theme.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in the Jewish world, sacrifices were sweet-smelling offerings to God.
SPEAKER_00: So it seems as though Paul is reaching out here both to Gentiles, non-Jews, in their culture, and Jews, believing Jews in their culture.
SPEAKER_00: It's the essence of cross-cultural ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Using elements from both cultures to say the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The conquered ones, those who have been crucified with Christ, who yet live not for themselves, but for the one who conquered them and brought them to the death of themselves, now live for him.
SPEAKER_00: And through their life for him, they smell like Jesus everywhere they go.
SPEAKER_00: Or when you forget to put deodorant on.
SPEAKER_00: But you know how some things smell good to some people and bad to other people.
SPEAKER_00: We follow Christ in his triumphal procession to our deaths so that he might be a fragrance smelled by everyone.
SPEAKER_00: But not everyone smells that fragrance and identifies it in the right and same way.
SPEAKER_00: He says that fragrance smells wonderful to those who are being saved.
SPEAKER_00: That means you love to stand next to another believer in Christ and sing praises that honor and lift up Christ the King, no matter if they took a shower that morning or not.
SPEAKER_00: Because they smell like Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a joy to you.
SPEAKER_00: But there are some, and maybe this is one of you, says, I don't like the way this sounds.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure I like the way these people smell.
SPEAKER_00: Because they're still dead in their sins, walking on their way to their own death without Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes that doesn't smell good to them.
SPEAKER_00: It's repugnant to those who are perishing.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord Jesus called Paul to suffer, to give himself for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And it was through that suffering that God made himself known.
SPEAKER_00: Similarly, it's through our dying to Christ and giving of ourselves to him in various ways, maybe even through our suffering for him, persecution, that the fragrance of Christ is spread around us.
SPEAKER_00: And at this point, your head ought to be about to explode.
SPEAKER_00: Who's sufficient for these things?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is, well, no one.
SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, hopefully, you how can anyone be conquered by a victorious king and be led to their death so that others might see, hear, and smell the glory and the strength and the honor of this conquering king?
SPEAKER_00: Even more, who can be led like that and be thankful for it?
SPEAKER_00: The implicit answer is the ones whom Christ strengthens to do so.
SPEAKER_00: Which hopefully your mind goes to Philippians 4 13.
SPEAKER_00: That even there, I can do it because Christ is the one who's doing it.
SPEAKER_00: This notion moves us to the underlying motivation for Christian ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Christian ministry is driven by sincerity, not personal benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Paul mentions in verse 17 these people called peddlers.
SPEAKER_00: He's describing a an open market salesman.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine the farmer's market in downtown Grand Forks, and you're going down there, and there's one of those guys trying to sell you the best ever vacuum that you've ever seen.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, he's just trying to make a buck off of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of guy that Paul's talking about here.
SPEAKER_00: This is a salesman trying to get as much profit as he can, whether it's by selling an inferior product or by charging higher prices.
SPEAKER_00: His sole purpose is to get more for himself.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to benefit himself.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul would say later in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 2, we have renounced.
SPEAKER_00: We've done away with, we've said we're not going to do these disgraceful, underhanded things.
SPEAKER_00: He says we refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, by the open statement of the truth, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are not like so many peddlers of God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't describe those who get their living from serving Christ vocationally in sincerity and honor.
SPEAKER_00: It's describing the false apostles in Corinth and the false ministers even today, who are in it for the money, who are in it for the fame, who are in it for the glory and the recognition, making a name for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Peddlers of Scripture reveal their true character through their lack of concern for others and for the body as a whole, by their failure to always exalt Christ, and by their pursuit of personal benefit.
SPEAKER_00: Run from them.
SPEAKER_00: Go to a different webpage, change the channel.
SPEAKER_00: Don't go to those churches.
SPEAKER_00: You see, peddlers of God's word profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
SPEAKER_00: They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's strong language.
SPEAKER_00: It's from the Apostle Paul in Titus chapter 1, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not Paul.
SPEAKER_00: It's not any genuine apostle.
SPEAKER_00: It's not any genuine servant of Christ or any everyday Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Friends, genuineness is marked by sincerity.
SPEAKER_00: Genuineness is marked by a divine commissioning.
SPEAKER_00: That is, I have been conquered by Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I now serve him.
SPEAKER_00: I have died to myself and I live for him.
SPEAKER_00: I have concern now for others, not for what happens to me.
SPEAKER_00: I lift up and exalt my conquering king, and everything I do is all because of him and for him.
SPEAKER_00: And genuineness is marked by an awareness of his divine presence that recognizes whatever I'm doing, wherever I am, he's there.
SPEAKER_00: He knows.
SPEAKER_00: He says, we are commissioned by God, and in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God's watching.
SPEAKER_00: God knows.
SPEAKER_00: And so we do this out of sincerity.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the young missionary Robert Murray Machane said that we cannot be faithful ministers until we preach Christ for Christ's sake.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what Paul commanded Titus.
SPEAKER_00: In Titus chapter 2, he says, Show yourself, Titus, in every way, in every respect, in every aspect, to be a model of good works.
SPEAKER_00: And in your teaching, show integrity, show dignity, show sound speech that cannot be condemned.
SPEAKER_00: Who then is sufficient for this kind of service to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Who can serve Christ in this way?
SPEAKER_00: What kind of church can be described in these ways?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is really very simple.
SPEAKER_00: Who can it be?
SPEAKER_00: It's the person, it's the ministry, it's the local church that is genuine in their care for others, who is sincere in exalting Christ and his word alone, and is driven in everything they do by their genuineness and sincerity of heart.
SPEAKER_00: They become sufficient for these things because God makes them sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: Through suffering and death.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul demonstrated his love for the Corinthian believers, his care for the church, his concern for all of them, by leaving behind an open door of ministry in Troaz to find Titus so that he might learn how they responded to his letter.
SPEAKER_00: He demonstrated love, care, and concern for them by suffering for them and not peddling God's word to gain a profit.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he says, God sent me.
SPEAKER_00: That's why we read in chapter 1, verse 12, this is our honest boast.
SPEAKER_00: This is the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom, but by the grace of God and supremely so toward you.
SPEAKER_00: So in the Apostle Paul's own ministry, we find what amounts to the heart of ministry for the local church.
SPEAKER_00: If you flip over towards the end in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, we find the Apostle Paul's description of the suffering that he endured.
SPEAKER_00: And it's quite the list.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11, verse 24, he says, Five times I received at the hands of the Jews 40 lashes less one.
SPEAKER_00: He was whipped five times with thirty-nine lashes.
SPEAKER_00: Three times I was beaten with rods.
SPEAKER_00: Once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked.
SPEAKER_00: A night and a day I was adrift at sea.
SPEAKER_00: On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from the Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and in hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
SPEAKER_00: That's quite the list.
SPEAKER_00: But then he adds, verse 28, and apart from all other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for the church.
SPEAKER_00: The pressure that drove the apostles' concern for believers in Corinth and for that church and for their faithfulness to Christ was concern for others because of what Christ had done in him.
SPEAKER_00: The apostolic example for the heart of Christian ministry is driven by concern for others and the Lord's church, compulsion to exalt Christ in every situation, and a genuine faith and a sincere representation of Jesus Christ, the conquering King.
SPEAKER_00: This was the guidance given to those early churches at the end of the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: And it remains the apostolic guidance for the church today.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord guide us to be faithful in it too.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, we come and we bow before you seeking your grace and your mercy and your strength.
SPEAKER_00: For these are hard things to think about.
SPEAKER_00: These are hard things to consider practicing.
SPEAKER_00: For one, Lord, we are proud people.
SPEAKER_00: We exalt in our freedom and our ability to be ourselves, but you call us to be your slaves, conquered people who give of themselves for others.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, may that be us.
SPEAKER_00: May that be faith evangelical free church, even as we seek to exalt you and to display you as the one worth following.
SPEAKER_00: The glorious one who set aside his glory to take on the form of a slave, crucified on a cross, to die and to rise again, who calls us to take up our cross.
SPEAKER_00: Always lifting you up.
SPEAKER_00: And our prayer then, Lord Jesus, is that you would fill us with your spirit and accomplish your purpose just like you did in the book of Acts by empowering us to be your people and to fulfill your commission for your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.