Battle Tested in Ministry

Ministry ministry is a battle often accompanied by discouragement. This is especially true when you are misunderstood, misrepresented, and. The gospel that you proclaim comes under attack. I would venture to guess some of you can relate to your efforts to help, and your efforts are shunned.

Well, the apostle Paul was no stranger to this, discouragement that we are talking about, and we see this illustrated in Paul's relationship to the Corinthians. Before we focus on today's text, I want us to take time to consider the broader picture of Paul's ministry to the Corinthians. We're gonna consider the broader picture. You're gonna have to bear with me.

There's a lot of historical information that's gonna feel that way. I already know that, and so gird up the loins of your understanding and, and follow with me as best as you can. Again, the big picture of Paul's ministry to the Corinthians, I think it's gonna help us as we land in chapter two at the verses for our consideration today. The big picture, he plants the church.

There is what we call the lost letter and then comes 1 Corinthians followed by a very painful. Full visit and then a severe letter that Paul writes to the Corinthians and then finally we come to 2 Corinthians. That is the order of events, the order of letters if you will. So let's take a look at this.

Paul plants the Corinthian church on his 2nd missionary journey. He arrives in Corinth, weighed down. He describes how he arrived at Corinth with weakness, fear, and much trembling. 1 Corinthians 2:3.

His discouragement was so severe that he was tempted to throw in the towel. It was in this depressed state that Paul gets what he needed most, a word from the Lord, and in Acts 18:9-10 we read, the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you. For I have many people in this city. And the text goes on to say that Paul settled there in Corinth 1 year and 6 months teaching the word of God among them.

The Lord accomplished a mighty work. Souls were saved, and Paul would end up leaving Corinth in an encouraged state of mind. He was an encouraged man, but his encouragement regarding the Corinthians would be tempered by reports of sin. Paul responds to this negative report with a letter, known as the Lost letter.

We know some of the contents of that lost letter by Paul's reference to it in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 where Paul says, I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world or with the covetous and swindlers or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of this world. But actually I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person or covetous or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders?

Do you not judge those who are within the church, but those who are outside God judges, remove the wicked man from among yourselves. For clarity, Paul is not here referring to believers who are struggling in their sin. He refers to professing believers who are given over to sin, folks whose lifestyle and pattern of life is marked by the sins listed and show no sign of humility and repentance. Paul has stated in 1 Corinthians 5:6, just a few verses earlier, he says that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.

Paul takes sin and God's call to holiness seriously. Evidently, Paul's lost letter failed to have the desired effect. On his 3rd missionary journey while in Ephesus, Paul writes 1 Corinthians to address several problems and answer a few questions, Timothy likely delivered that letter. Throughout 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses their sin.

Fleshliness, chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, jealousy, favoritism, factions, chapter 3, verses 3 through 9, pride, arrogance, boastfulness, chapter 3, 18 to 23, judgmentalism, chapter 4, verse 5, gross sexual immorality in the church, chapter 5, verses 1 through. Taking other believers to court, Paul denounces this behavior and offers an alternative in which such matters were to be addressed within the church. Chapter 6, verses 1 through 8. He addresses sexual sin and makes it clear that those engaging in habitual sexual sin will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:8-20. Paul at this point will take time in this letter to answer some questions. He answers questions related to marriage, singleness, divorce, and remarriage, chapter 7, and he answers questions related to Christian liberty, chapters 8 through 10, and then he's gonna come back and focus his attention on sin again. Paul will address the topics of idolatry, immorality, evil cravings, and complaining.

He declares that many Israelites were laid low in the wilderness because of their sins, and he concludes that we must flee idolatry. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And regarding the Lord's table, Paul tells us that some had eaten in an unworthy manner and as a result suffered weakness, sickness, and even death. 11:30.

He tells his readers that they are to use their spiritual gifts for the building up of one another. Their focus is not for self-edification, but for the edification of the saints. Chapter 12. And perhaps one of the high points of the letter is found in chapter 13 verses 1 through 3, where Paul unpacks the most excellent way.

Listen to what he says. If I speak with the tongues of men. And of angels. But do not have love.

I have become A noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and knowledge. And if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I deliver my body to be burned.

But do not have love. It profits me nothing. Paul's burden centers around the need for the Corinthians through the power of the gospel to lay aside sin and to love one another in attitude and action. Thus, Paul writes First Corinthians to address concerns for the Corinthians and questions that the Corinthians had for Paul and as you can tell, he had reason for concern.

But Paul's concern would intensify to the point he would visit the Corinthians in what we know as the painful visit. This is the visit Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 2:1 where he says, I determined this for my own sake that I would not come to you in sorrow again. Paul refers to his painful visit and then the larger context in this passage defends his reason for not coming to the Corinthians again. Paul was criticized for failing to follow through with his word to come again, and the sin sniffers worked overtime to dig up any dirt that they could find concerning the apostle Paul.

Rather than visit Corinth again and run the risk of complete fracture, Paul writes a letter addressing their sin. This letter is known as the severe letter. It was a very difficult letter for Paul to write. He was heartbroken.

He was crushed over the struggles, sin, and satanic attack coming against the Corinthians and the negative effect it was having on their relationships with one another as well as with Paul himself. So rather than come again, Paul sends the severe letter referred to in 2 Corinthians 2:4 where Paul says, quote, Out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

Paul has Titus deliver the severe letter to the Corinthians and then anxiously waits for the results. There was no telling which way this would go.

To Paul, there remains the possibility that his beloved Corinthians would reject his ministry and as a result, suffer significant harm. At this juncture, Paul is overwhelmed with concern for the Corinthians. He was anxious to hear from Titus, and this is the situation Paul refers to where in 2 Corinthians 2:12-13, we're getting closer to our passage now where he says, now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord. I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.

To find Titus and to hear word as to how the Corinthians were doing. Paul had left Ephesus due to a riot headed north towards Troas. Amazingly, the Lord opened doors through which Paul was able to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul likely, I think, would have led some folks to faith while their intross, but Even though Paul had tremendous opportunity in Troas to proclaim Christ to the lost, his intense concern for the Corinthians leads him across the sea to Macedonia in hopes of finding Titus to get a report of how his beloved Corinthians were doing.

We know that he finds Titus because he says so later in 2 Corinthians chapter 75 through 16. Listen to Paul's words, for even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side, conflicts without, fears within. But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of. Titus, and, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced even more.

For though I caused you sorrow by my letter referring to the severe letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, mixed emotions, right, mixed thinking, just not, should I have written it? Should I not have written it? He says, for I see that that letter caused you sorrow. Though only for a while, I now rejoice not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance.

Repentance is a beautiful thing, for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God. Thus, Paul's reunion with Titus, along with the positive report of the Corinthian response to Paul's severe letter, proved comforting. Even though there remains legitimate concern that some self-proclaimed and self-appointed super apostles were seeking to undermine Paul's ministry, part of the reason Paul writes 2 Corinthians from Philippi is to address his opposition. It is this tension between encouragement and great concern that we must keep in mind when we consider the larger picture of Paul's ministry to the Corinthians.

And with all of this in mind, we come to our passage today, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verses 14 through 17. And so listen to the words of the battle-tested Paul. I'm going to begin in verse 12. Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.

Verse 14. But thanks be to God. Who always leads us in his triumph in Christ and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place, for 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 from life to life, and who is adequate for these things for. We are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

That is the word of God. I am entitling today's message Battle tested in ministry, battle tested in ministry, and we will consider 5 positive descriptions of the battle tested Paul as he engages in ministry, 5 positive descriptions. Description number 1, Paul is thankful to God. He is thankful to God.

He says in verse 14A, but thanks be to God. I submit to you that his thankfulness is remarkable when we consider Paul has been and continues to be battle tested. This theme rings throughout 2 Corinthians, this theme of being battle tested. Consider with me, the battle-tested Paul feels the need to assert his authority as an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

Chapter one verse one. He declares that the God of all comfort comforts us in all of our affliction, referring to his own afflictions, chapter 13 through 7. He describes how in Asia he had been battle tested, quote, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even to life verses 8 through. 9.

He defends his reason for not coming to Corinth again after the painful visit. We see that in chapter 115 through 24. Paul expresses his concern for the spiritual health of the Corinthian church. He was worried about them, concerned about them.

He thought much about them. He lost sleep over them. Paul refers to a sinning brother who, according to some commentators, including John MacArthur was attacking Paul's ministry and causing great division in the Corinthian church, chapter 2, verses 5 through 11. Whatever the specifics, such a person was causing great sorrow, but he repented.

And Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to forgive him and welcome him back into the fold. It is at this point in the letter that Paul explains how he had had great concern for Titus and took off for Macedonia to check in on Titus to get the report regarding the Corinthians. And then we come to verse 14A where Paul says, But thanks be to God. Despite all of the ministry challenges, Paul now finds himself with a heart that is filled with thankfulness to God.

What we learn from this is that there is always reason to be thankful to God, even in the face of suffering, even when opposed by others, even when battle tested, we can be thankful to God. Paul communicates his thankfulness to God even though he will continue in his letter with a strong defense of his ministry. And so consider chapter 35 through 6. He says our adequacy is from God who also made us.

Us adequate as servants of the new covenant. There's a sense of defense here. He made us adequate. Chapter 4, verse 2, he says we are not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, defending his use of the word of God.

In chapter 4, verse 8, he says, we are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken. Chapter 5, Paul refers to the inward groan that he feels as he lives life in this fallen world. In 5:12 he says, we are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us that you may have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. He is addressing his opposition.

In chapter 6, Paul details his sufferings for the sake of Christ as a way of commending himself as a servant of God despite false accusations leveled against him. Listen to Paul's defense in chapter 6 beginning in verse 3. Giving no cause for offense in anything in order that the ministry be not discredited but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God in much endurance in afflictions in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger.

In purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the Word of truth, in the power of God, by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, regarded as deceivers, yet true, as unknown, yet well known, as dying, yet behold, we live, as punished, yet not put to death.

As sorrowful yet rejoicing always, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things, our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians. Our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now, in a like exchange, I speak as the children, open wide to us also.

And just a few verses later in chapter 7, verse 2, Paul says, make room for us in your hearts. We wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. Paul does acknowledge in 7:6 through 16, Titus' positive report regarding the repentance on behalf of many of the Christians, but he is not the ignorant. He knows that a person can have a feigned repentance and then perhaps later on go back on the repentance and so Paul bears the burden as to whether or not this repentance is going to continue in the lives of the Corinthians.

Well, we get to chapters 8 and 9, and Paul addresses the topic of giving. He encourages his Corinthians, to, to be true to the commitment they made to give, to, to the believers in Jerusalem. beginning in chapter 10, he responds to accusations, even more so. Along the way, we observe Paul defending himself and denouncing his opposition.

Paul Accused of being bold went away chapter 101. He's accused of walking according to the flesh. Verse 2, accused of being unimpressive, and he's not well spoken. Verse 10.

Paul asserts that those commending themselves are not approved. Rather, those who are approved are the ones the Lord commands, implied is Paul believes that he is commended by the Lord, chapter 10 verse 18. Chapter 11. Paul expresses his fear that the Corinthians were being deceived in the same way the serpent deceived Eve.

11:3. He refers to others preaching a different gospel. 11:4. He defends his apostleship verse 5.

He defends his knowledge, especially as it relates to his knowledge of the gospel, verse 6. He defends his sincere love for the. Corinthians verse 11 and he denounces those opposing him as quote false apostles and deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. Paul then compares them to Satan who disguises himself as an angel of light, chapter 1113 through 14.

In the later part of chapter 11, Paul declares he is speaking foolishly as he details. The intensity of his own sufferings for the sake of Christ. Clearly in his mind, his sufferings for Christ served to validate the legitimacy of his ministry. In chapter 12, he refers to being caught up into paradise and as a result of the things revealed to him, he needed a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to keep him from exalting himself.

He got caught up in. To the third heaven and saw things that were unspeakable to be communicated. He reminds the Corinthians that he performed the signs of a true apostle when he was with them. Chapter 12 verse 12.

He says to the Corinthians, I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. He follows this with a rhetorical question, If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less? He expresses his fear. In chapter 12 verses 20 and 21 that quote, I may find you to be not what I wish, that perhaps there may be strife.

Jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances. I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity. Immorality and sensuality which they have practiced, we come to chapter 13, the last chapter, and he challenges his readers to test themselves to see whether or not they are in the faith. Paul declares that he and his ministry companions do not fail the test.

And so with all of the concern that Paul clearly communicates in his letter to the Corinthians, his thankfulness to the Lord should be striking to us. Perhaps you are engaging in ministry and you feel battle tested. You are experiencing challenges perhaps in the ministry of your own marriage. You feel battle tested as a parent.

You are engaged in a difficult ministry situation as a deacon or deaconess or care group leader, even as an elder. May I encourage you even now to take the time to give thanks to God. Paul goes on to give reasons for his thankfulness, and this brings us to description number 2. Paul is triumphant because of God.

He is triumphant because of God. Verse 14B reads this way, who always leads us in his triumph in Christ? Paul's encouragement is no doubt connected to having found Titus and receiving, an encouraging report of how many of the Corinthians responded positively to his severe letter, but the greater reason for Paul's thankfulness is connected to what he knows about God. Paul's words are emphatic.

He says that God always leads us in triumph in Christ. From this we note the source. The guarantee, the frequency, the outcome, and the reason. Paul acknowledges that the source of his triumph is God.

God is a big God who can oversee Paul's ministry and lead it in the direction of triumph. Paul indicates the guarantee of triumph through his use of the word always. Paul says that God always leads us in triumph. He knows that God is on his throne.

He reigns and rules from on high. There is nothing outside the sovereign control of Almighty God. He causes all things, all things means all things to work together for the good of those who love God and are called. According to his purpose, God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

He is building his church. The gates of hell cannot come against it. The triumph in Paul's mind is absolutely guaranteed, and along with guarantee comes frequency. How often will God lead his people in triumph?

Always. This does not mean that God's people won't be battle tested. Despite the trials and tribulations, despite the suffering and persecution, God's people can count on the fact that God's people always triumph. Consider also that the phrase is present tense, active voice.

In other words, God is the one right now in the present acting and guaranteeing the triumph. This is the outcome. Triumph. Paul is confident of triumph, but what do we make of his use of this word triumph?

How are we to understand it? He draws from the imagery of the official and exalted Roman ceremony called the Triumph, in which a victorious general was honored with a festive ceremonial parade throughout the streets of Rome. The emperor would host a triumph for a general, the highest of honors. to host a triumph, the general must have directly overseen battle and slaughtered 5,000+ men and conquered land for Rome.

In a triumph, the procession marched through the streets of Rome all the way to the capital. State officials and senators. The parade followed by trumpeteers blowing their trumpets loudly. Next would come a display of spoils taken from the conquered land, including painted pictures and models of conquered citadels and ships that would be followed by a white bull to be offered as a sacrifice to the Roman gods.

Next would come captives in chains. Most of those captives were doomed to be. Executed, punishers would walk alongside and beat the captives with rods. Evidently some of the prisoners would be granted freedom and absorbed into the Roman Empire.

The procession would be followed by the priests, then the decorated general in a chariot drawn by four horses, followed by his family, and then the victorious army shouting triumph, triumph. Such a triumph parade served as a powerful statement of the power and might of the Roman Empire, and Paul uses this imagery to refer to the triumph of Christ. Paul sees the conquering Christ who has triumphed through the world, and Paul sees himself in the triumph parade. The reason Paul declares that God.

Always leads us in triumph is because we are in Christ. We are in Christ. There is no triumph apart from Christ. The only ones who can lay claim to God always leading them in triumph are those who are in Christ.

And so what does it mean to be in Christ? to be in Christ requires repentance and faith. The repentant person agrees with what God through His word declares. he agrees.

He is a sinner and can do nothing to save himself. He looks to Christ alone as his only hope for salvation, knowing that Christ died on a cross for the salvation of all who would come to Him. those who are in Christ have placed their trust in Christ alone for salvation and through faith in the Lord, they are born of the Spirit. God, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them, and they are born again into what the Bible.

The calls a living hope that cannot perish, spoil, or fade, and all who are in Christ can lay claim to Paul's words. God always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus. Despite the worries and concerns of ministry, despite the opposition and attack, Paul embraces the fact that in Christ he is part of the triumph parade. Paul is thankful for being led by a sovereign God at all times and the guaranteed victory in Jesus, and we see this victory further illuminated as we come to description number 3.

Description number 3, Paul is effective because of God. Paul is effective because of God. He goes on to say And manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place, for 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 from life to life. Paul's earlier use of the word always applies to this verse as well.

God always manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. The participle is present, tense, active voice. Paul would say that God is right now at work to accomplish His good purposes in our lives. God is manifesting, making visible.

Making known through those who are in Christ the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place, the battle-tested Paul knows God is at work always doing a million things at once. The battle tested Paul is on a mission to make Christ known wherever he goes. Christ is proclaimed. He is unstoppable even in the face of enemy attack.

He takes no credit for himself. He knows it is God who is at work in him. The imagery of sweet aroma comes from the strong sweet smell of incense from the censers in the triumph parade. The sweet smell would be enhanced by the burning of dried, crushed flowers that created a powerful aroma that filled the city, saints.

Of God may we be such a sweet aroma that fills our city to the glory and praise of God. When you share the gospel, you are a sweet aroma. Were I to come to your home, would I smell the aroma? Were I to come to your neighborhood, would I smell the aroma?

Were I to come to your workplace, would I smell the aroma? I believe my answer to these questions, perhaps even to your own surprise, would be yes, because God is the one who leads us in triumph and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place that we should be motivated by these truths to be that sweet aroma that God's word says we are. Our text tells us that we are a fragrance of Christ to God. This points, I believe, to positional truth.

Positionally speaking, we are in Christ dressed in His righteousness, and we are a sweet and beautiful fragrance to God. When God looks at us, he. Sees that we are clothed in the righteousness of his beloved Son. Paul makes this very point later in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where he declares, He, God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

In this wonderful exchange, God takes our rags and dresses us in the riches of Christ, and as those who are in Christ, we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God. Paul has been and continues to be battle tested. He often felt the pressure of ministry. There were times.

He felt ready to throw in the towel even as he wrote 2 Corinthians. Paul was up against self-proclaimed super apostles working overtime to discredit his ministry, and yet the apostle Paul has the boldness to declare that God always manifests the sweet aroma of Christ in every place. And you will know this from our passage that not everyone is pleased by the aroma God produces through us. Don't be surprised when folks stand in opposition to you, to the perishing you are an aroma of death to death.

Going back to the triumph parade, not everyone celebrated victory. The conquered enemies were made more aware of their defeated status by the aroma that filled the Roman city. Such an aroma served as a reminder they were headed for death. What a horrifying thought.

The gospel is an aroma of death to those who reject the gospel. Interestingly, there are accounts that suggest that not every captive being paraded about during the triumph parade were to be executed. Most were executed, but there were some who were permitted to live and be absorbed into the Roman Empire. And this may be what Paul alludes to when he refers to us as a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and an aroma from life to life.

Believers are participants in the triumph parade, and as we are being paraded about, there are. Those dead in transgression and sin heading towards eternal destruction who smell the sweet gospel aroma that permeates our lives and embrace Christ as their Lord and Savior to those being saved we become an aroma from life to life and perhaps you are here this morning and you have yet to be born again. May I ask what hinders you? From embracing Christ as your Lord and Savior.

what makes you afraid to surrender your life to the Lord Jesus Christ? What sin are you holding on to that is of greater value than Jesus? What is it that makes you think that you cannot come to him? Our text tells us that Christ is an aroma of life to life.

During his earthly ministry, Jesus declared, and I'm gonna run you through a number of verses coming right out of John's Gospel in connection to the idea that he is the aroma of life to life. John 3:36. He who believes in the sun has eternal life. 4:14.

Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. 5:24. Truly, truly I say to you, this is Jesus speaking. He who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and shall not come into condemnation.

He has crossed over, from death into life. 6:33, for the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. 6:35, Jesus said, I am the bread of life. he who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

6:40, for this is the will. Of my Father that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. 6:47. Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

651. I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever. John 10:10.

I came that they might have life and might have it abundantly. 10:28. I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. 11:25 Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me shall live even if he dies. 14:6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except. Through me, and this is eternal life.

This is Jesus as he's praying the high priestly prayer to the Father in John 17:3. he says this is eternal life that they may know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And in John 20:31, John says these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. Backtracking to chapter 7, verse 37, I want to read this verse.

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and he cried out and he said, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Perhaps you are here and you have never heard the good news. You are ignorant or unaware or just don't know fully who Christ is and what he has done for you so that you through him might be saved. Please allow me to share with you the sweet aroma of Jesus Christ in a nutshell.

There is one God eternally existing in three persons God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is a relational and loving, joyful God who made man in His own image. Adam and Eve, the first human beings, reflected God's image, beautiful. But they disobeyed God's one command not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

They ate the forbidden fruit and ushered sin and death into the world. Every single one of us have inherited their sin, and death is the punishment demanded by God for the sins that we have committed. There are two aspects of death, spiritual and physical. We are born spiritually dead, separated from God, and that is why we must be born again.

We must be born of the Spirit of God. There is also physical death. We will all die physically someday, but Jesus came to give life. He died on the cross in our place.

He was punished for our sin. It is through placing our faith in Christ alone that we can be saved. To be saved, you must repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there are three aspects of repentance intellectual, emotional, and volitional intellect, emotion, and will. Intellectually, you must agree with God's assessment of you.

You must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a. Savior, the savior Jesus Christ, and you must embrace the fact that Jesus is the savior who came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sin, was punished in your place, and then raised bodily from the dead, appeared to hundreds, and then ascended to heaven and took his seat at the right hand of the Father. Emotionally you must be sorry that you have sinned against such a good and gracious God. Your tears will not save you, but your tears reflect the sincerity of your sorrow for sinning against such a good and gracious savior, and volitionally, you must be willing to turn from your sin and self-reliance and.

Receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. You must by faith open the door of your heart to Christ. Christ will be more than happy to come and do what you cannot do for yourself. Christ will come.

He will take up residence in you. The Holy Spirit will dwell in you so that you will be transformed from the inside out. This is a work that only God can do. you cannot transform yourself, you cannot change yourself.

You need Jesus. you need to come to the end of your rope and embrace Christ alone as your only hope for salvation, and he will be more than happy to receive you. And so I ask, are you thirsty? Are you hungry?

do you see your need for Christ? will you receive Jesus by faith right now? The Bible tells us in John 1:12, but as many as received him. To them he gave the right.

To become children of God, even to those who believe. In his name. Paul clearly understands that the Lord leads His people in triumph and manifests through His people the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. This is an aroma of death to those who reject Christ.

It is an aroma of life to those who receive and embrace Jesus. And this brings us to description number 4. Paul is humble before God. Notice the question he presents and who is adequate for these things.

His question is rhetorical. They imply the answer no one. No one according to Paul in and of themselves is adequate for the gracious ways God chooses to work in and through them. We ought never to view our triumph and sweet aroma as coming from ourselves.

It is God who so graciously works in and through us. Paul is amazed. And we should be amazed as well. We should feel amazed that our gracious God uses us in the building of His kingdom.

We ought never to take credit for the work that God performs in us. We may plant seeds. We might water the seed, but it is always God who causes the growth. Have you led anyone to Christ?

Have you ministered encouragement to another believer? Has a marriage been restored through your counseling efforts? Well then, to God alone be all the glory. Paul's humility is later expressed in chapter 4, verses 6 through 7.

Where he refers to light shining out of darkness and explains that God has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. God has shown in our dark hearts that Christ might be revealed, Wonder of wonders. He chooses the dark places. To make his light known, Paul then says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.

God has placed the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. these are cheap, breakable. Replaceable clay pots that were often used for holding garbage or human excrement. Paul humbly acknowledges that our God takes what seems worthless, and He gives value to it.

He grabs hold of sinners and transforms them through the treasure of the gospel that has been deposited in them. Brothers and sisters, we should be blown away. That our God has placed the treasure of the gospel in us. Such a treasure transforms us from the inside out, and it makes us useful for the building up of the kingdom of God.

And so we see the battle tested Paul overwhelmed and humbled that God uses us to advance His kingdom through the treasure of the gospel placed in us. We do well to humbly ponder the question. Who is adequate For these things. Let us now turn our attention to the final description where we discover Paul providing a defense regarding his ministry of the word of God.

Description number 5. Paul is faithful to God's word. He is faithful to the word of God. In verse 17, he says, we are not like many peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Paul in this verse offers a defense and a critique. He is defending his ministry as compared to the ministry of false apostles and false teachers. Paul proclaims, we are not like the many. There are many, according to Paul, guilty of peddling the word of God.

The word peddling refers to making money by selling. Paul is accusing many of using God's word for the purpose of their own financial benefit. The peddlers are in it for themselves and they are not to be trusted. Paul presents himself and his ministry companions in contrast to the peddlers.

Paul's motives in ministering the truth of God's word are pure. He's not in it for selfish gain but for the glory of his savior. Paul's faithfulness is evident in his. Motives and the manner in which he ministers God's word.

Paul is battle tested as he ministers God's word. He feels the need to defend his ministry, and that is exactly what we see him doing in this verse. What this implies is the fact that we do well to embrace Paul's teaching. He does not peddle the word of God.

He teaches from sincerity as from God Himself. And one of the things that I personally so greatly appreciate about this church and about Pastor Milton and Pastor Mike and the elders of this church is that their priority is to minister the word. I have seen Pastor Milton. Study the word.

Try to understand the word and seek to be as honest as he can be with the word of God and then pour his heart out to us Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. I have been here since 1993. And I have observed in my pastor a faithfulness to the word of God and a desire to feed the sheep, to minister to the people of God, and to do so in sincerity. We know he is not a perfect man, but he is the perfect man for us that God has appointed.

At this church to be the shepherd of our souls and we have not just Milton, we've got Mike and we've got the other elders and I so greatly respect and appreciate these men for the way in which they seek to handle the word of God in an effort to build us up in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have considered 5 descriptions of the battle-tested Paul as he engages in ministry. He is thankful. Triumphant.

Effective Humble And faithful to the word of God. He ministered in a Christ-like way. Our Lord Himself, while here on Earth, though battle tested, ministered. In a thankful, triumphant, effective, humble, and faithful manner.

And we know that his righteousness, his perfection has been credited to our account and so let us be encouraged to follow Paul as he follows Christ. Let us be encouraged to follow Christ and to engage the battle with thankfulness. Let us have confidence that in Christ we are triumphant and effective. Let us live to the glory of God with humility as we seek to minister God's word in a faithful manner.

Amen. Heavenly Father. We acknowledge the wonder of your work. In the apostle Paul.

We thank you, Lord, for giving him to the church. We thank You, Lord, for the ways in which He carried Himself while here on the earth, His example. He like us had times when he struggled. He was overcome with worry and fear and concern and even depression.

And yet, Lord, at the same time, by the grace of God, he persevered. He pressed on. He did not quit. You were there with Him, Lord, every step of the way to see him through.

And in seeing him through, Lord, you have used him as an encouragement to us. He is an encouragement to us. Many of us, Lord, have been saved as a result of his ministry in our lives, as we have read the word of God and through things he has said, we have come to faith. And then beyond that, Lord, we have been sanctified.

But Lord, we do not give credit to Paul. We give credit to you and you alone. You are the one, Lord, who has made Paul as effective as he was and continues to be. And Lord, we look to you and we pray and we ask, Lord, help us as well to be effective.

We are a sweet aroma. We are a fragrance of Christ to God. Help us, Lord, to live as though we were. Lord, transform us from the inside.

Out through the treasure that you have placed inside of us through the gospel that lies within us through the spirit who indwells us Lord we pray transform us change us, make us to be what you want us to be Lord Thy will be done we pray. We thank you, Lord, above all things for Jesus. You died, buried, raised, appeared, ascended, and you took your seat at the right hand of the Father. You are the bread of life and the living water.

You are a great high priest, and we bring our hungry, thirsty selves to you, and we pray, Lord, feed us. Quench our thirst. Do your work in and through us. Advance your kingdom through Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.