Christopher Rich – February 7, 2021

ENDURE | Courage in Weakness 

PART V | Sweet Smell of Victory | 2 Corinthians 2:14-3:6

Introduction | How do we smell?   

Good Morning! Welcome to Mercy Fellowship where we are Saved by Jesus Work, Changed by Jesus’ Grace, and Living on Jesus’s Mission. Today we are continuing our series ENDURE: Courage in Weakness.  

How do you smell? Few things are more able to change our experience in a room, a home, even a community like an aroma. Nearly nothing can contain an aroma from spreading beyond its original source to impact the environment around it. Our lives, actions, and attitudes contribute to the aroma of all we are involved with. So what aroma is your life putting off? None of us wants to stink, we all want to smell good. How can we enjoy the sweat smell of victory and put of the stench of defeat? Today we are going to look at how we endure when defeat seems more real than victory, when we consume ideas and put-on identities which make us weaker rather than provide us with power, and when we realize we are not ever going to be enough.  

PART I |Smell of Victory | 2 Corinthians 2:14-2:16

2 Cor 2:14-2:16 | 14 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. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 

Triumphal Procession – What type of journey are you on? What is our destination? How does our destination impact our disposition while on the journey? Paul transitions from talking about the hardships, the division, the sin and need for forgiveness to giving “thanks” to God, in Christ. What is there to be thankful for? This church is a mess, the people’s lives are in discord, and Paul has faced great resistance and challenges in ministry. When you do any counseling training you tell people to avoid using hyperbolic language like “never” and “always”, but you could make a case that things are “always” difficult for Paul. But yet here he says we can be thankful to God in all circumstances because “in Christ” we are “ALWAYS” being led, led in “triumphal procession”. Yet, it doesn’t always “feel” triumphant. Sometimes life seems less like a triumphal procession we’re marching in with heads held high and our chests puffed out. Instead, especially when difficulty or affliction strike, or our own sin inflicts harm on us or others, it can seem seems like a Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of the Cherokee, Seminoles, etc in the 1830’s from the deep south to Oklahoma. It’s march we don’t want to be on, seemingly forced upon us, taking us away from where we want to be to a place we never wanted to go. We’re brought low, head down, limping along. Endurance is hindered when the purpose and destination in unclear or worse seems to be headed in downward direction. 

Where are we headed and who is leading? Our destination determines our disposition in our journey. When we are in Christ, we need to be reminded of the spiritual realties in the face of our earthly circumstances. Always means Always, so in our relationship issues, in our job loss, in our parenting challenges, in societal upheaval, in financial pressure, in our cancer diagnosis we are not left alone morosely marching aimlessly in a wilderness waiting for the end or being driven by oppressive task masters herding us towards destruction. When we are “in Christ”, we will suffer but we are not alone. We aren’t driven to a destination of defeat. We are lovingly led, by God towards an victory which has already been achieved where death has been defeated, sin has been atoned, for shame is despised, life is secured, flourishing is secured, and eternity is assured. 

What parade to you want to march in? This is a victory parade of triumph which leads to greater life with God now and into eternity. So how we march, carry ourselves, and even responded to suffering and setbacks is different than a world with no hope their journey leads to greater freedom and life. So being led by Christ in triumphal procession should absolutely give us encouragement in our circumstances, BUT the purpose of this procession is not to be personal for us alone. But is to be a life-giving presence permeating the world impacted by the stain and stench of sin and death with the knowledge the God who brings life and freedom. This means we are marching in a parade where we’re not waving at spectators not “in” because we were crowned Darrington Dairy Princess, but rather as we spread the fragrance of the knowledge of God we are calling others to get out of the stands, get off the curb, or worse stop marching in the Trail of Tears leading to destruction and join the Victory parade for a triumph they didn’t even accomplish. This is a parade of mercy and grace. A few years ago on the 4th we went to a friend’s house and he said “do you want to come with us to the Arlington Parade and ride on some hay bales? SURE!  It was so cool to ride through town on these big tractors on massive hay bales with everyone cheering. It’s grace because it was undeserved and unearned. I didn’t buy on a float or gather the hay I was just along for the ride of someone else who had done all the work, as I (and others) enjoyed the benefits. So I smiled, waved, and savored the experience. 

What does this mean for us? What something is will determine what it “smells” like. When I grew up the next town over was Camas as nice small town on the Columbia river near the gorge in the sight of mountains, that had a huge paper mill with giant smokestacks of uncapped exhaust just belching out the most vile stench imaginable. Regardless of how great the town looked or enjoyable the location the ever present and oppressive odor was a constant reminder this isn’t a place I want to live. Like a pile of burning garbage (or a paper mill), sin has caused a stench of death and decay that hangs over all the world and reminds us this cannot be our forever home. I think if you take a deep breath get a whiff of what the world is putting out it, at times it might even look really good, but it doesn’t pass the smell test. It would be easy to call out what is happening in the world, but you only need to look at the fruit. Is something leading to greater and more flourishing life or is it leading to greater division, despair, and eventually death. Is it the truth or a lie? 

Psalm 23:4 | Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. This describes this procession in greater detail. We are in the shadow of death, no doubt. But we do not need to trudge along in fear. God is with us, so we have comfort because He is leading and protecting us (rod and staff). God has given us (individually and collectively as the church) sweet smelling “life”. He is leading us in a victory march through the world as the “aroma of Christ”. This aroma both contrasts and conquers the odor of death. We can blame things on society, but we also have to look in the mirror and realize we live in a town with papermills, and we ARE a paper mill. Famously told that over a hundred years ago when asked by the Times of London “What’s wrong with the world today?” and British author and theologian responded simply, “Dear Sir, I am. Yours, G.K. Chesterton.” The great mercy we’ve received should lead us to greater humility. Who is sufficient? 

PART II |Letters of Recommendation | 2 Cor 2:17-3:3

2 Cor 2:17-3:3 |17 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. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Pure Potent Gospel – While we’re reminded of the truth of who leads us we need to recognizes what is false. Paul has asked this question “who is sufficient? Who has earned this? Or who is worthy?” He hits them with who is NOT. The Corinthian church has entertained teachers, preachers, who are claiming prophecy for the purpose of personal profit He is contrasting himself and his crew with “peddlers” of God’s word. The word for “peddler” is the word commonly used at the time to describe merchants who would take pure wine, dilute it with water and sell it at full price. So these teachers have come in and were receiving excessive payments from the Corinthians but are serving up a watered down, weak sauce gospel. One that went down smoothly but doesn’t get the job done. This “gospel” was diluted with either hyper spiritual sounding language that minimized sin and maximized experience OR they mixed in legalism focusing primarily on the outward appearance and actions rather than true transformation. It’s not ‘good news’ at all because both rely on either self-righteous performance or self-indulgent permissiveness. The Gospel being “good news” is more than simply teaching more precise doctrine. It is rejecting the weak sauce ides that you are enough and returning to (or receiving) a full cup of the pure and potent mercy and grace of God in Jesus Christ alone.  

Paul is reminding them he serves up good profitable gospel because of the following qualifications, he is: 

“In Christ” – This is both his identity, and it is his communion with Jesus. “In the sight of God” – This is his position of presence and his accountability, so he is “sincere” his motives and methods are marked with integrity because his live and ministry are transparent before God and people. Finally, he is “Commissioned” - Who he is, where he rests, how he lives, determines what he does. He has been sent by God for a purpose. 

Letters of Recommendation – What is theologically and spiritually true isn’t always enough for us. We are obsessed with what we can see and how WE evaluate. Outward indicators and official declarations of the effectiveness of our lives and ministry are fine. However, we so easily seek to elevate the “experts” and the “educated” above the those who are simply enduring by the grace of God. Government has “blue ribbon commissions” and “taskforces” News Media has their experts, Social Media their “Influencers”. The church has podcasters, authors, and celebrity pastors. We are too easily impressed by those who already think they’re impressive. So we look at impression and In Corinth, guys were coming in with their unverifiable “Letters of Recommendation” showing them as official spiritual leaders, but they were as authentic as the diner in the movie “Elf” with the “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” It’s like false reviews on amazon written by bots or the company that is selling the product. Don’t have the social media presence, or highly respected credentials, but what he does have is evidence of the Power of God at work to move people from death to life in Corinth and beyond. Remember in Acts God told Paul not to be afraid because “His People” were in the city. Paul is saying what proves He’s been commissioned is not his sufficiency, not his credentials, or even his competencies, but rather is what God has done in and through the Corinthians. Their changed lives, how God has worked, is a witness to themselves AND the world. This means our lives are living “letters of recommendation”. All of our lives are recommendation of something the only question is what or who. What are our lives “recommending?” Who are our lives “commending?” Are we the heros? Are we peddling the idea that we are enough on our own and are writing our own story? Our lives are meant to be “letters of recommendation” of what a life looks like who has been drinking that pure and potent Gospel of Grace. But we cannot write that letter ourselves and pass it on as genuine. We need a different author and new heart. 

Ezekiel 36:24-27 | 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 

We need to be made new, if we’re going to produce something new. For there to be a true giving aroma evident to all it must emanate from a changed heart. We think of transformation from outside- in so we focus on changing what can be seen thinking it will change what or whoe we are. We’re consumed with our behavior and appearance trying to chisel out authentic letters of recommendation on tables of stone. It is as effective and real as painting a nice smelling cherry tree on the outside of one of the papermill smokestacks. What stinks in us will still come out. The Gospel is transformation from the inside out.  We cannot change our hard hearts through our will, but our hearts can be softened by the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It’s an actual heart transplant where what is hard, dead, and decaying, producing nothing but stench is replaced with a living heart, tender, beathing for God and by God to produce a sweet aroma of the knowledge of God and is actively writing a new letter of recommendation to be read by all. So we ask again “Who is sufficient?” 

PART III | Air of Confidence | 2 Cor 3:4-6

2 Cor 3:4-6 | 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Air of Confidence – Pride stinks and sin repels. We enjoy and air of humble confidence when we remember how insufficient we are to overcome our own stench of sin. God’s work in us and through us in Christ is MORE than enough to give us the courageous confidence to enjoy life with God. Who is sufficient? NONE OF US! 

Our confidence is never in our competence, but is always found in our Christ. God loves and leads and changes the insufficient AND He commissions them to tell other insufficient people about His sufficiency and sovereignty. All that we have and are that is commendable is from God. So let’s stop claiming we are the triumphal victors of our story but recognize where we have failed and He has been faithful for us.  It is the Holy Spirit and work of Christ give us comfort and confidence in our weakness and insufficiency. 

Where do you need your Trail of Tears to be replaced with the truth of the triumphal procession? Remember in our ALL our circumstances, in Christ, we are ALWAYS being led enjoying and embodying HIS victory. 

How can you spread the life-giving aroma of the Knowledge of God to the world of death around you? Are you spewing the stench of condemnation or compromise or permeating your spaces with a peaceful presence.? 

Where do you need to stop drinking weak “gospel-less” sauce and start drinking pure and potent grace? May I recommend starting your day by opening your Bible before opening your social media accounts.  

How does your life need to reflect the letter of recommendation God is writing in you and through you? Remember while your position In Christ is secure, life growing and changing with Christ, like Christ is a process Where you are discouraged, remember you are clean now and He has already written your name in the book of life. 

Is this all just deflecting off of you? Are you cold and callous? Do you need God to do heart surgery on you to take out your cold stone heart and put one warm and tender to His truth and life? IF you want that, know the surgery has already started, pray and praise God with great confidence that He can and will bring you life!  

We are not enough, I am not enough, you are not enough, that is more than ok because Christ is ALWAYS enough. We are being led and loved by Christ Marching in the Victory God has achieved with new hearts of flesh He has given us as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to love God and love people, in part by calling them to the God who loves them in Christ. We all enjoy the sweet smell of victory when we Trust Jesus.