"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!" (II Corinthians 2:15-16)
Last week we dealt with (as MacArthur once noted) "one of the best and most beautiful texts in all the Scriptures on the godly motivation and rationale for forgiveness"! We cited our Lord's reminder to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!" And we made reference to a range of verses in a Bible about forgiveness and concluded that the very act of forgiving is one of the most noble things we as believers can do for one another! It demonstrates the "agape love" of Jesus, and brings joy and peace, and a taste of a bit of heaven to our earthly realm!
Paul set the example as he intentionally downplayed the sorrow and hurt that a certain member of the Corinthian church had caused him personally on his last visit to Corinth, and he insisted that they too should not only forgive the man (as he had!), and especially now that he had repented of his sin, but also to comfort him and restore him to fellowship, and reaffirm their love for him, so that "he wouldn't be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow"! It was "a test (he said) of their obedience in all things" and necessary "so that no advantage would be given to Satan," who loves to divide believers in the church of God!
And that set the tone for our lesson last night, on II Corinthians 2:12-17, where we found the apostle Paul contining to express his concern and love for believers in the troubled church of Corinth, and specifically to explain why his heart was so deeply troubled as he wondered how they were responding to the "severe letter" that he had sent them by way of Titus, a letter that he wrote "out of much affliction and anguish of heart...with many tears"! And he even decided to "walk away" from his ministry in Troas in a desperate attempt to find Titus, and get his report--even though there was "an open door in the Lord" for him there!
Wow! Imagine! The great apostle Paul, the hero of our faith, in this condition, for a time, "having no rest in his spirit"! Phillips says, he was "on edge"! Troubled! Even in the doldrums! And so, we see him very human! Much like us! But not for long apparently, as we see his ultimate response in verse 14! Makes you wonder what happened to him, in between verses 12-13 and verse 14, where he bursts forth in victory and thanksgiving to God!
I wonder (although it doesn't say!) if Paul might not have somehow gone through a whole line of questions and inquiries to God and His Word, in search of answers, as I have, and maybe you have, in times of distress and anxiety! Beginning with maybe Psalm 42:11, where I often begin, where the Psalmist David cries out in despair: "David! (Lowell!) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIs presence"! And then maybe his (and our!) response (in Psalm 142:2-3), "So I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry; and He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock, and established my goings! And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord!"
He might then have gotten relief, the kind of relief John wrote about (in John 14:27): "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto you! Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid!" And then, looking back, he might have thought (as in Psalm 27:13-14): "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" And, finally, of being reminded, as the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee!" And in Isaiah 40:31: "Yet those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint!" Yea!
And I wonder too, if he might not have turned to some songs or hymns of praise of that day, along the way. Kind of like the ones we today might go to in our darker moments! Like, "All your anxieties, all your care; bring to the mercy seat; leave them there...!" Or, the one taken from Isaiah 43, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the waves will not overcome you...for I am the Lord your God!" Or, "He giveth more grace when the burdens are greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase...!" Or, "It is well with my soul..."! Take your pick!
And so, in whatever manner, Paul somehow arrived at verse 14 and was able, ultimately, to confidently declare: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place!"
Wow! Paul didn't get relief from "the power of positive thinking," but from the promises of God and, as Constable writes, "from his deep-seated conviction that God was working in and through him, regardless of the appearance of the set-backs that confronted him, as cited in this passage"!
And when we experience that victory in Christ there's a special fragrance that's manifested of Christ to God (and to a watching world!)--a "sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place"! And verses 15-16 add that "we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma of life to life!
The apostle Paul likens the victory we have in Christ to the victory procession the Romans conducted through the streets of Rome after conquering an enemy; a procession led by the victorious general who brought them the victory, followed by all the troops who participated in the glorious battle, capped off with priests swinging censors that spread a sweet aroma that all could smell and enjoy! For all those "on the victory side"!
I Corinthians 15:57-58 says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" And, I John 5:4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!" And in Romans 8:37-39, Paul writes further: "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come; nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jeeus our Lord!"
"But who's adequate for these things," the apostle Paul asks in verse 16? "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God (for personal gain!) but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God!" Constable writes that "Paul's only desire was the glory of God, the advancement of the gospel, and the progress of His people, and that the proofs of his sincerity were his divine commission, his sense of divine dependence and responsibility, and his divine authority and power. Like a spiritual physician Paul did not dilute or add other ingredients to the medicine that brings life, the Word of God! He gave it out full strength!"
Constable also notes that "the role of the heralder of Christ is a high calling, and that no one is adequate (or sufficient) in himself (or herself) for this task! It's only when we follow Him at His command! We've been given the great commission, and "we speak in Christ in the sight of God"! And, he says (in II Corinthians 3:5, "our adequacy is from God"!
Paul considered it a great privilege to carry the gospel and, at the close of his ministry, in II Timothy 4:6, he was able to write, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come! I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing!" (May this be said of us!)
Looking back, I love Paul's words in verse 14, about "giving thanks to God" and how that, when we do, it "manifests through us a sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place..."! It makes me go back in my memory some 50 years at Immanuel to remember a godly man named Dave Keltonic (now long gone!) who had a habit of constantly saying, sometimes almost under his breath, "thank you, Lord"! Over and over, at every juncture! Whether good or bad things were happening! "Thank you, Lord!" It was always a joy to be around him, whether playing tennis with him (and him winning or losing), or on visitation, or in the jungles of the Amazon basin on a missions trip, or just in passing time! "Thanks you, Lord!" He just kept repeating it! It was like a special fragrance to God with a "sweet aroma"! And something I hope to copy and carry on too!
Thanks Dave (if you can hear me up there)! And thank you, Lord (Who I know hears me)!
And speaking on behalf of all us as MOBsters! "Thanks be to God who always leads us to triumph in Christ"!
Lowell
Last week we dealt with (as MacArthur once noted) "one of the best and most beautiful texts in all the Scriptures on the godly motivation and rationale for forgiveness"! We cited our Lord's reminder to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!" And we made reference to a range of verses in a Bible about forgiveness and concluded that the very act of forgiving is one of the most noble things we as believers can do for one another! It demonstrates the "agape love" of Jesus, and brings joy and peace, and a taste of a bit of heaven to our earthly realm!
Paul set the example as he intentionally downplayed the sorrow and hurt that a certain member of the Corinthian church had caused him personally on his last visit to Corinth, and he insisted that they too should not only forgive the man (as he had!), and especially now that he had repented of his sin, but also to comfort him and restore him to fellowship, and reaffirm their love for him, so that "he wouldn't be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow"! It was "a test (he said) of their obedience in all things" and necessary "so that no advantage would be given to Satan," who loves to divide believers in the church of God!
And that set the tone for our lesson last night, on II Corinthians 2:12-17, where we found the apostle Paul contining to express his concern and love for believers in the troubled church of Corinth, and specifically to explain why his heart was so deeply troubled as he wondered how they were responding to the "severe letter" that he had sent them by way of Titus, a letter that he wrote "out of much affliction and anguish of heart...with many tears"! And he even decided to "walk away" from his ministry in Troas in a desperate attempt to find Titus, and get his report--even though there was "an open door in the Lord" for him there!
Wow! Imagine! The great apostle Paul, the hero of our faith, in this condition, for a time, "having no rest in his spirit"! Phillips says, he was "on edge"! Troubled! Even in the doldrums! And so, we see him very human! Much like us! But not for long apparently, as we see his ultimate response in verse 14! Makes you wonder what happened to him, in between verses 12-13 and verse 14, where he bursts forth in victory and thanksgiving to God!
I wonder (although it doesn't say!) if Paul might not have somehow gone through a whole line of questions and inquiries to God and His Word, in search of answers, as I have, and maybe you have, in times of distress and anxiety! Beginning with maybe Psalm 42:11, where I often begin, where the Psalmist David cries out in despair: "David! (Lowell!) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of HIs presence"! And then maybe his (and our!) response (in Psalm 142:2-3), "So I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry; and He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon the rock, and established my goings! And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord!"
He might then have gotten relief, the kind of relief John wrote about (in John 14:27): "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you; not as the world gives give I unto you! Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid!" And then, looking back, he might have thought (as in Psalm 27:13-14): "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" And, finally, of being reminded, as the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 26:3: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee!" And in Isaiah 40:31: "Yet those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint!" Yea!
And I wonder too, if he might not have turned to some songs or hymns of praise of that day, along the way. Kind of like the ones we today might go to in our darker moments! Like, "All your anxieties, all your care; bring to the mercy seat; leave them there...!" Or, the one taken from Isaiah 43, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the waves will not overcome you...for I am the Lord your God!" Or, "He giveth more grace when the burdens are greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase...!" Or, "It is well with my soul..."! Take your pick!
And so, in whatever manner, Paul somehow arrived at verse 14 and was able, ultimately, to confidently declare: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us to triumph in Christ, and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place!"
Wow! Paul didn't get relief from "the power of positive thinking," but from the promises of God and, as Constable writes, "from his deep-seated conviction that God was working in and through him, regardless of the appearance of the set-backs that confronted him, as cited in this passage"!
And when we experience that victory in Christ there's a special fragrance that's manifested of Christ to God (and to a watching world!)--a "sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place"! And verses 15-16 add that "we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma of life to life!
The apostle Paul likens the victory we have in Christ to the victory procession the Romans conducted through the streets of Rome after conquering an enemy; a procession led by the victorious general who brought them the victory, followed by all the troops who participated in the glorious battle, capped off with priests swinging censors that spread a sweet aroma that all could smell and enjoy! For all those "on the victory side"!
I Corinthians 15:57-58 says, "But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" And, I John 5:4, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith!" And in Romans 8:37-39, Paul writes further: "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come; nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jeeus our Lord!"
"But who's adequate for these things," the apostle Paul asks in verse 16? "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God (for personal gain!) but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God!" Constable writes that "Paul's only desire was the glory of God, the advancement of the gospel, and the progress of His people, and that the proofs of his sincerity were his divine commission, his sense of divine dependence and responsibility, and his divine authority and power. Like a spiritual physician Paul did not dilute or add other ingredients to the medicine that brings life, the Word of God! He gave it out full strength!"
Constable also notes that "the role of the heralder of Christ is a high calling, and that no one is adequate (or sufficient) in himself (or herself) for this task! It's only when we follow Him at His command! We've been given the great commission, and "we speak in Christ in the sight of God"! And, he says (in II Corinthians 3:5, "our adequacy is from God"!
Paul considered it a great privilege to carry the gospel and, at the close of his ministry, in II Timothy 4:6, he was able to write, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come! I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing!" (May this be said of us!)
Looking back, I love Paul's words in verse 14, about "giving thanks to God" and how that, when we do, it "manifests through us a sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place..."! It makes me go back in my memory some 50 years at Immanuel to remember a godly man named Dave Keltonic (now long gone!) who had a habit of constantly saying, sometimes almost under his breath, "thank you, Lord"! Over and over, at every juncture! Whether good or bad things were happening! "Thank you, Lord!" It was always a joy to be around him, whether playing tennis with him (and him winning or losing), or on visitation, or in the jungles of the Amazon basin on a missions trip, or just in passing time! "Thanks you, Lord!" He just kept repeating it! It was like a special fragrance to God with a "sweet aroma"! And something I hope to copy and carry on too!
Thanks Dave (if you can hear me up there)! And thank you, Lord (Who I know hears me)!
And speaking on behalf of all us as MOBsters! "Thanks be to God who always leads us to triumph in Christ"!
Lowell
RSS Feed