Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Some of the most powerful prayers are very short, like help.
That's a great prayer. And if you don't think that's in the Bible, I'll show it to you. So, I mean, there. I still think Nehemiah is standing before the king. He asked, what do you want? And it says. And Nehemiah prayed, and then he spoke. I wonder what he said. I think maybe one word. We're on. Or Help me. Okay, so I'm going to have us turn in our Bibles this morning to the book of Second Corinthians. We're looking at. At the series of messages. We're in chapter two. We're going to look at verse 12, and I'm going to cover basically verses to 17, but I'll read a few verses beyond that.
Years ago, when Patty and I first came to Red Deer with our newborn first daughter. This is our second daughter, Rachel, but our newborn first daughter, Andrea, the church was in its early beginnings, and that was over 41 years ago. That just seems so long ago to me now. But after witnessing the amazing growth of our church over the 10 years, we actually built the facility.
Patty and I resigned from our church. We moved to Seattle. But then about three years later, we were confronted with a very agonizing and significant decision that not only affected our lives, but also affected the lives of two church families.
And I don't know if you know, when you're making decisions that just don't just affect you, but affects many other people's lives, it can really be very agonizing. At that time, I was leading a new church plant in the greater Seattle area.
God was bringing people into his kingdom. We're seeing people saved. I think half the church were new believers. You know, that's really exciting. And also we had an ethnic ministry developing, and we had home groups going. And there was a lot of good things happening. I think we had 70 teenagers coming. There was a lot of amazing things happening in that church.
But then, you know, there was in this congregation, they had gone through difficulty, there was conflict.
[00:02:02] Speaker A: And now they were without a pastor. And I was asked to consider returning.
[00:02:08] Speaker A: To come back and pastor the church. And so I felt conflicted. You know, I was sharing with one of my mentor friends. I said, you know, I feel like I'm making a choice between my two daughters. You know, I have Andrea, I have Rachel. Andrea was born in Fort McMurray. She was like two and a half weeks old when we moved to Red Deer. And then Rachel was born in Seattle. And so I felt this I felt I was being torn.
And it was a very difficult, challenging experience. But when I came here to actually, they had asked me to come.
They had gone through, you know, just a great upheaval and emotion. And I actually flew up here with Patty and with Andrea and Rachel.
You know, we were ministering, and I had an amazing spiritual experience, one I never had before. And it literally changed the whole direction and course of my life. I came to the church, and immediately I felt the terrific burden for the church. I actually started agonizing in prayer to the point where I couldn't even say words. I've never had that experience before or since.
It was so profound. The grief that I experienced was so deep. It was amazing.
And then I went back to Seattle, and so I was talking to my friend, and he had been here as well. Very wonderful man of God. He was certainly my senior, one of my mentors. And I said, I feel conflicted. I don't know what to do.
And he shared a thought with me that I've never forgotten. And it changed and made the decision a lot clearer for me. He says, where God's burden is, that's where God's blessing is.
I said, well, you were there. Weren't you burdened? And he said, no.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: I said, you know, why aren't you burdened for the new church? I said, I am, but not to the same degree. I felt God was doing something. And I think because of that experience, as I was studying our text today, I gained a new appreciation for why Paul left Troas and this amazing open door of ministry there to discover the conflict and the challenges and the difficulty that were happening in the city and in the church at Corinth. In addressing the criticism leveled at his apostolic ministry, particularly his boldness in correcting the Corinthians, Paul explains the nature of what true ministry is all about. And I think this is really great. And I think as I'm sharing this and when I speak of ministry today, I'm not just speaking just of Christian leadership, but I'm also including each one of us who are followers of Jesus, who are communicating to others the gospel of Christ. You know, this includes people right now that are not only leaders, but who are parents. Maybe we're coaching people, mentoring people, or even possibly discipling people or encouraging people in our relationship with God. And how many say, if I'm a child of God, I'm called to doing this. That's my calling. I have to move outside of my own personal walk with God, and I have to Be concerned about the people around me to help them on their journey. And we're in this together, are we not? That we're trying to help one another so that at the end of the day, you know, just like I watch in the Olympics, especially the Special Olympics, when I see all of those guys and they're coming to the finish line, and instead of one beating out the other, I see them holding themselves arm in arm, and they all cross the line together. You know, I think sometimes we can learn from people like that because, you know, sometimes as individuals, we're just caught up in ourselves and what we want to attain. But here they are, arm in arm, making sure everyone is going to cross the line together. And folks, that's what it's all about, that you and I want to help each other cross the line together.
So, you know, at times, it not only means affirming and encouraging people.
That's great. I love doing that part. I love preaching sermons that are encouraging. I love to explain to people the great things God has done for them. But, you know, every once in a while you have to preach a different kind of sermon. They're kind of warning sermons. Paul says, I wept day and night, warning you. Sometimes we have to preach messages that are corrective in nature. You know, I think correction is also an expression of love. How many know that's true? If we let people continue in their wayward way, we are not loving them. We're allowing them to continue to. To a place of destruction and not only for themselves, but for the people that love them and the people around them and the people that they're going to influence and impact in their lives.
So I think probably one of the most difficult things on our part to hear is the criticism from those that we love, particularly when we're being misjudged, when we're trying to speak into their lives. And I think, you know, if you're a parent, you understand this. If you're a leader, you know, and you're speaking into people's lives, you'll understand this.
And I mean, I had.
This week was really intense for me because I had to speak into a situation, and I spoke with a little bit more directness than I normally do, and I felt it was necessary. And I can really relate to what Paul was writing. You know, how would you like to be working on a sermon? And now you're living the sermon, you know, and I find that God does that to me a lot. You know, I'm working on a sermon. The next thing I know I'm living the sermon. God goes, you're not going to just get this from a book. You're going to experience it. I want you to know, it feels like, you know, I want you to have a little skin in the game. Right? This is not just an intellectual exercise. This is like life that's going on around us. And so emotional suffering and anguish can happen even in meaningful relationships in our lives, and especially if we're being criticized for speaking into issues.
And it was certainly true in the life of Paul as he sent this, as we can see from this letter to the Corinthians. And what we're also going to discover from Second Corinthians 2, 2 is the conflicted emotions between two significantly important situations in Paul's ministry. We see Paul's deep desire to know what's happening in the life of the church in response to the latest letter correcting their sinful behavior. So just so you understand, we have First Corinthians and Second Corinthians, but most scholars believe there's a letter in between that got lost.
And that letter was a little bit direct.
And Paul was in anguish when he wrote it, with tears.
He was very forceful, and people were not happy with what he said, and they were reacting, and he was hoping that some of them would respond in a positive way. And, you know, you're always going to get mixed results when you're dealing with people. How many know that's true? You may have the best of intention, you may say things in as loving way as possible, but some people are going to respond in a good way and they're going to take it. They're going to be adjusted, they're going to be corrected, they're going to go on and move forward in their lives and be appreciative. And there's other people going to write you off. They're going to be angry, they're going to continue in their wayward way, and they're going to just. You're going to feel alienated from them, even though you love them. It's going to happen. It's just the nature of relationships.
So he's kind of conflicted in knowing now what to do in this amazing opportunity that's now happening at Troas as the gospel is being communicated by him and people's lives are being changed.
Obviously, one situation is far more fulfilling and joy, somebody say that's true. You know, you're going, you're preaching, people are getting saved. Church is flourishing. There's unity. Great. Then you're over here with the Corinthians, and you've corrected them. People are not happy. They're criticizing you.
How many say, I want to just run right there to Corinth? You know, most of us just say, no, I think I'll just stay in Troas. I'm really enjoying Troas right now, Lord. Thank you very much. But we're going to get something about the maturity of the Apostle Paul, and we're going to learn something about the nature of ministry as we see what he obviously does. I think we've all had those experiences where we have conflicting emotions between two deep concerns in our lives. You know, some of you are probably carrying the weight of caring for elderly parents and teenagers at the same time, and you feel pulled in two directions. That's a challenge that can happen in our lives.
Some of you are probably trying to make decisions and weighing it out between two options, and you feel conflicted in that decision making process.
And that happens. Paul now, in defense of his absence, going to Corinth, he's explaining why he's addressed them from a distance in that other letter and explaining the heart behind such a strong, direct and confronting letter in which he's calling for their repentance. He's agonizing over them, but he's hoping they're going to respond properly and we're going to see.
Paul wept over it, he agonized over it, and he did something about it. And in the end, by God's grace, he got to see some positive fruit from it. David Garland, in introducing the segment of Second Corinthians, says this. On the one hand, harkening back to his aborted mission to Troas reinforces his point that his failure to visit them as planned was not because he did not care for them, but because he was overwhelmed with sorrow regarding them.
It also makes clear that he does not make changes in his plans lightly. He's weighed down by anguish. That's a very strong word. You know, we get the word agony from anguish.
It provides a transition for the discussions he's about to bring in this letter of his many afflictions and challenges and sorrows and difficulties in his ministry.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: And which have caused some in Corinth to question his suitability and qualifications as an apostle. Don't you love this?
You and I know Jesus chose Paul, right? And most of us, if you study his history, you realize probably one of the most brilliant theologians he studied in Gamaliel, he knew the Old Testament. God revealed to him the meaning of the Old Testament. In light of Christ, he's probably the best, what I would call the best Christological reader of the Old Testament. He gives us these amazing letters. We learn so much about the nature of God, and yet here are people that he has preached to, went to Corinth, you know, preached the gospel, brought them into the kingdom. Now they're questioning his qualifications. How many sense. That's a little ironic.
Anybody think that's a little ironic, don't you think? They're not. They're not qualified to be questioning him in his ability and what he's really doing, but he's going to explain it to them. This is what I love about Paul. He's not. He's humble. He's not, you know, hey, I don't need to answer to you guys. No, he makes a defense. He explains what's happening. So I want to look at three responses that I believe are going to impact the lives of other people. Especially when you're being criticized or you're going through a very agonizing, anguishing time in your life where. Or you're suffering something that's happening in your life. You're going through a time, a season of suffering.
How should you respond in suffering? How should you respond when you're being criticized or there's just challenges in your life? Anybody here say, I'd like to have some really good biblical responses in those moments. Isn't that great? I want to know what to do.
It's one thing to I know where I'm at, but I just don't know how to respond.
And we all have to make responses in life. You know, we're all going to be challenged in life. So let's take a look at three responses. And really, the first one is the focus of what's causing our anguish. Why am I feeling this way? You know, I'm going to say this.
You know, don't just negate your feelings.
I don't think we make decisions solely based on feeling, but I don't think we ignore our feelings. We can't just ignore our emotions. They're real and they're there. I think we need to understand, why am I going through this?
And then the question. I wrote a couple of questions down, and I say, you know, what's causing the pain in my soul? It's a great question. Or where is the focus? Is it based on myself, or is it based on our concern for others?
Is it about us and our needs, or is it about them and their needs?
How does our anguish shape our decisions and impact the lives of other people.
Okay, well.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: So while Paul has written to the Corinthians, he went to Troas. Now, why did he go to Troas? Well, Troas, it's on the Aegean. It's a seaport city. And so.
No, Troas is in Asia Minor. They're in Turkey. Okay, yeah, it's on the Aegean. And what he's doing is he's waiting for the ship to come in. He's waiting to hear from Titus. He had sent Titus with the letter. Titus is supposed to meet him in Troas. Okay. So they're supposed to meet up there, and the last ship for the season comes in, and no Titus. Now Paul is really anxious.
What's going on in Corinth? How many know that? Because we live in the modern age, you know, we get on the phone, we text. You know, there's so many ways to communicate around the world today. I mean, it's amazing.
Back in those days, you may not hear from people for months.
You write a letter. It takes forever to get there. It takes a long time to get back. And especially when you're waiting for an answer. How many know it's hard to wait? Does anybody here relate? How many say it's hard to wait?
Especially when you're in a crisis moment, you want to know the answer, but you're not getting the answer. You're finding it's difficult. He's there, and so now he's. Now he's conflicted. And so let's pick up the text of Scripture. I already got it up there. Now, when I went to Troas to preach the gospel to Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind. Okay, so he's doing ministry, but he's torn. He's got two things on his mind. He's locked in. He's preaching, but he's concerned about what's happening at Corinth, he says, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia. You know, you read a text like this, you go, oh, okay, nice. But when you get a little bit of an understanding of what's happening, you start to realize there's a lot more to it for poor Paul. He's going through a lot of anguish here, waiting, wondering, questioning. David Garland kind of gives a plausible context for what Paul had done and why he had not followed through on going to Corinth. And he left for Macedonia after he realized that Titus was not on the last boat of the season. It was now autumn and would now have to travel by land through Macedonia. Paul candidately shares his anxiety.
My spirit would not rest because he wants to convey how devastating his conflict with the Corinthians was. He sends the message to them how he deeply cares for them. Paul was burdened by worry because he did not know how they would respond to his letter.
And that worry was compounded when days passed with no word from Titus. The unexplained delay may signify that all was not well at Corinth. And so Paul's worst fears may have been realized and the situation had worsened. With no high speed communication system in the ancient world, waiting anxiously for news could be excruciating. Paul was therefore torn between Troas and Corinth, between putting out a brush fire in a church conflict as a pastor and kindling the embers of a new faith as an evangelist. Most ministers know firsthand that the demands and pressures of ministry can pull them in different directions. That's true. You know, when I think about it, it's kind of like being a housewife, you know, I know I need to do this. I know I need to do that. Anybody ever felt overwhelmed by what you were trying to get done?
Your list is so long, you just can't seem to do it all. And it seems like it's all got to be done yesterday. And, you know, like in the church, you're thinking, I should go see this person, I need to talk to that person. We need to go ahead on this. You know, we're working on this project. We need to start this ministry. Oh, I need to finish this lesson. Oh, I got to get ready for this sermon. It just goes endless. It's an endless thing. This is what Paul's talking about here.
[00:18:03] Speaker A: So thus they may sympathize with Paul, who could not put his distress about Titus and the Corinthians out of his mind.
The spiritual unrest so distracted then that it inhibited his work in Troest. So he was forced to make a reluctant and solemn farewell. In other words, he decided, I've got to do something. I got to put this one situation in my mind to rest. I got to go and find out what's going on.
And what I find fascinating about Paul is, you know, in chapter 11, verse 27. So we have to have the whole book in our mind when we're talking about a text here.
Paul says this about suffering because he's going to boast in his weakness. By the way, this is what this Whole message is about if you don't understand it. It's about understanding the nature of the gospel. And in society today, I think in North America, we're tempted to look for glamour, power, prestige, size, all kinds of things. When in reality, the Gospels we're going to see is really in weakness, in brokenness and difficulty and pressure. It's not that glamorous. It's more challenging than we realize.
It's causing us to depend on God. It's designed to do that. You and I can't do this. We're not sufficient for these things.
I would even argue that most of us can't live life in a healthy way without Christ helping us.
I would argue that for all of us. We just haven't figured it out yet. But you'll get to that place one day when you have enough struggle, you'll start to realize, I need to trust God like I never have before. Listen to how Paul describes his sufferings in chapter 11. I'm going to just read a few verses here, but I think one of them is very fascinating to me. And it's simply this. He says, I have labored and toiled and often gone without sleep. He's had sleepless nights. Some of you go, I relate to that, Paul, I've known hunger and thirst. I've often gone without food. This isn't choice. This is not like I'm going to fast today. This is like, I don't have the resources to have something to eat.
And there are people around our world that experience this on a daily basis. I've been cold. I've been naked. Besides everything else, I face daily, the pressures of my concern for all the churches. Paul lists that as one of his sufferings, one of his weaknesses. He goes, I am so concerned about all these people. It's weighing me down. He's saying, who is weak? And I don't feel it. In other words, if people are struggling, I feel their pain. He's saying, you know who's led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn. In other words, when I see people making a terrible decision, I just cringe inside. I agonize for them. It breaks my heart. I know what's going to happen now. Their life is going to be crushed. Because sin always leads to death. It's always going to lead to alienation. It's always going to lead to brokenness. He's agonizing over these things.
And then he says, if I must boast, I'll boast of the things that show my weakness.
So Paul is Now going to push us in a direction that we don't want to go. He's going to try to help us realize that it's in weakness, not in strength. That God's grace operates at the highest level. How many here go, I'm going to sign up for weakness now so I can experience more grace, you know. You know, I think a lot of people in the book of Romans says, I'm going to sin more so I can experience more grace. Paul goes, that's not the right attitude. That's wrong thinking. No, but really, we're going to get. You want more grace, you're going to experience more weakness. Well, let me move on to the second response, which creates an impact.
It's simply.
And this impact is on other people, by the way, is our attitude.
You know, when we're going through difficulties, we can walk around complaining, right? Isn't that. That's a human response.
I would argue that the majority of people that go through a difficulty whine and complain about it.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Most people. I'm not saying you guys, I'm just saying most people, right?
But hey, you know, we were in Book of James here not too long ago. And what does James says? Count it all joy.
And I said something, you know, and I'm locked into this position.
You may not be able to choose your circumstances, but you certainly can choose your attitude.
You know, let's be joyful. You know, let's be joyful in this.
Let's express gratitude to God. Let's remain grateful to God. How do we handle life's challenges? You know, I'm going to say something to you. I thank God every day that I get to be a pastor now. Some of you go, really? I go, yeah, I just am so grateful. Even when I have to deal with difficult things, I'm so grateful that I get to do it. I'm so grateful that I have to work and study and prepare and minister. I go, thank you. What a privilege this is to do this.
I feel so full of gratitude to do that now. There's moments I go, this is a little difficult, but you know what? I'm going to still remain grateful.
I think we have to have the right attitude. You know, God really likes it when we are celebrants, when we have joy in our lives, when we're grateful to God, he knows if we're grateful or not. You know, Rachel, you're one of the most grateful people I know. She grew up as a little kid, always thanking us. I go, I always want to do things for her because she's so grateful and so appreciative, you know, And I think when we have that attitude, you know, you taught me that if I can behave like my daughter, God will say, I like that attitude. And you know what? Dads like to do things for people who are grateful. Come on. Every dad in the family says, I love doing things for people when they're grateful for me to do that for them. Right. How many go, it's not so much fun doing the things when they're not grateful and they're grumpy and complaining, and I'm still pouring myself off from there, grumping and complaining the whole time. How many go, that's just really not motivating me.
So I'm just saying let's just have the right attitude. It's so important, powerful.
So how do we handle the times in our lives when we're in anguish, difficulty, and we're experiencing suffering? Well, Paul uses a metaphor of a triumphal procession to describe how he perceives himself in this Roman procession. Now, I'm going to quote from David Garland here in a bit, but there's a metaphor of taking, of being taken captive by Christ.
[00:24:15] Speaker A: So let's look at the verse.
But thanks be to God. See, that's my attitude. Thanks be to God. Now he's thanking God who always leads us.
Now, the King James version.
I love the King James Version. This verse, so great, always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. You know, it makes it sound like you and I are the victors with Christ.
Right? That's how the King James. I wrote it down here somewhere. We'll get there. Well, no, the next slide has it.
But the niv, just as the NIV translates it as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. So I just wrote the NIV translates this text with the idea that Paul describes himself as a captive, not as a conqueror. Okay, that's interesting.
When the King James translates as if Paul is a victor. However, the context in the Greek language seems to indicate that this understanding of being a captive best helps Paul's argument in this chapter and what he wants to convey in the book and what he's trying to convey to the Corinthians, and you go, what? What does that mean, Pastor? Well, let me explain it to you this way. This metaphor refers, as David Garland says, to the celebration after a major military victory in which the spoils of war.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: And.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: The rolling stages presenting battle scenes and pitches of the cities that are Sacked are paraded on chairs to the city of Rome, to the Capitoline Hill in the temple of Jupiter.
So how many know what I'm talking about? How many have ever seen an ancient Roman film where they come back to the city and they're. They're going to celebrate and they have the triumphal general or the emperor, and he comes rolling in on his chariot and they have all these soldiers marching in behind him. And then behind them is the king, usually of the conquered nation. He's in chains, you know, and then he's got all these other people, they're all slaves. Then they bring in all of the. The booty, all of the spoils of war.
The treasures of that nation are being marched in, and all the crowds of people are there are cheering, and they even have these priests because they're going to go make an offering at the temple of Jupiter. And so how many know that when you are slaying animals, even in the Old Testament, they're killing animals as sacrifices? How many know the smell of death isn't pleasant?
Anybody know that's true?
Not pleasant smell? So what do they do is they have incense and fragrances that are more pleasing to our smell.
There's an aroma, but it's a more pleasing aroma. And they're trying to overshadow the sacrificial smells, the death smell. Okay.
He goes on. Most relevant for Paul's use of the image.
[00:27:00] Speaker A: Is the train of eminent captives who were marched in chains through these streets to their execution at the end of the route. Because that's usually what happens after they bring them through.
They want to show, look who we defeated. And then they take him and they kill him. But not all of them. Many of them they sell into slavery. But, you know, usually the king and some of the people that may cause him grief, they just kill those guys. They just slaughter them there just to show their power. Right.
Wow.
So the imagery presupposes God's prior victory and fits well with Paul's theology that before becoming a follower of Christ, we're all enemies of God. How many know we're rebels? We're enemies of God. Paul himself bemoans his past as a prosecutor, a persecutor of the church who sought to destroy it. And Christ had to conquer him. And Christ did conquer him. That's why Paul says, I'm a captive. I was captured by Christ.
Every believer has been captured by Christ. You have been taken into captivity by the kingdom of God. God had to conquer you and I from our rebellion. And so the Metaphor of being understood as being under a new authority in one's life. Paul recognizes his defeat but celebrates God's grace even as many of the captives were immediately killed right after the processions.
Others were spared, as I've already said, taken into slavery. David Garland goes on to say the metaphor also fits Paul's self identification as a slave of Christ.
Interesting. Being captured makes a man a slave. According to Chrysothdom, that's one of the older.
[00:28:34] Speaker A: 3Rd century or 4th century Christian writer in 5:14, this is 2nd Corinthians, 5:14 Paul says, It's the love of Christ that constrains me. It's the love of Christ that's making me do what I'm doing now. I am, I've been captured by love.
How many think it's great, we've been captured by God's love.
So it's a little, it's an interesting. He's using an imagery of this defeat, but then he's going, but I was captured not by being, you know, beat up in a battle. I was captured by the love of God and now I'm constrained to be God's slave because of this love. That's what Paul's talking about.
And that word seneco could also mean to take hold or hold captive. But the striking combination of words makes clear Paul is not led in triumph by a vengeful deity. He, he's been captured by love and that love is revealed to him. That deliverance can only come from the defeat of the old life.
That's the big thing that's happening right now in all our lives. God's trying to defeat the old life in us. How many say that's true? He's really trying to defeat the things in us that are selfish and diminish us as human beings and cause alienation with God and with other people. He's trying to destroy that in our lives. Okay. God rescues us by shattering the fortified walls of our own strength, wisdom and resuscitude and make us slaves to Christ. Paul's image therefore accords with what those captured by Christ have recognized throughout the ages. I love this. Martin Luther says God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.
What does that mean?
It means simply that God has to remake us.
God has to break us in order to remake us. And so what happens in our lives as we're moving along through life? You know, we're born, we're taught to be self reliant. We go out there, we try to Succeed in life and we get full of ourselves. We have pride, we have self sufficiency, we're our own person. You know, it's really hard to win people like that.
So God goes, I'll help them out, I will break them.
And so God allows the effects of our own sin, the consequence of our own sin, to break us down. How many of you? I can relate to all this, Pastor. I was doing my own thing. And then sin comes along. He's breaking us down, breaking us down, breaking us down. Now we're in a state of desperation.
And eventually God reveals in his love, his grace to us. We come into his kingdom and God now goes, we're going to do things differently now.
You see, I don't think a lot of people don't understand what real repentance is really coming into God's kingdom, God has to change us folks, from the inside out. He's got to rebuild and undo things. There's a lot of things in their life, bad habits, got to go. You know, God's got to create new good habits in our lives. You know, the biggest one I think that has to happen in our lives is we got to stop playing God in our own lives. It's just like, I'll do what I want, thank you very much. I'll make my own decisions.
Look what it got you. Brokenness. Want to keep doing that trick?
And I see people fighting with God, wrestling with God, doing their own thing, wrestling with God. God goes, no, stop that.
I've got something better for you.
I was reading this morning, it was so beautiful. In Psalm 139, God says, you know, before I actually fashioned you in your mother's womb, I put you together there and I decided right then and there how many days you would live. And I actually have a purpose for you. And let me tell you something, it's not your purpose. It's my purpose for you and what I designed you to be and what I designed you to do. It's going to bring the greatest level of meaning and purpose than you can ever imagine. And when you and I walk in obedience to God, it brings the greatest level of satisfaction and joy you can ever imagine.
You know, the very things that human beings long for, purpose, meaning, love, being understood, accepted, they all come from God. And he wants to bring that into our lives. It's so powerful.
So we've been marred by sin and it's often unseen to us in the midst of our self confidence, success. And then God allows brokenness and the consequences of our independence and rebellion towards Him. He now begins to remake us after his image and the metaphor explaining the irony of weakness and death itself in the spiritual life, true victory and strength are manifested in human weakness.
God himself modeled it for us. He became a baby.
[00:33:06] Speaker A: That's what's happened at Christmas time. God becomes a baby. How more dependent can you get than being a baby, right?
You're totally dependent on everybody else to survive.
And not only that, the ultimate expression is that Jesus himself willingly gave himself up to a shameful and humiliating death as he was falsely accused and he was crucified as a criminal on a cross.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: And you know, I'm going to tell you how shameful that really was. You and I, we can't even get the picture of it because we're not ashamed on our culture.
[00:33:45] Speaker A: But Jesus knew what the Bible said. He's God in the flesh.
He said, cursed is everyone who hangs on a pole. And that's why Jewish people stumbled as Jesus as a Messiah, because they see him as a crucified Messiah when in their minds they want to see a Messiah who is triumphant, riding in on a white horse, conquering their enemies. By the way, that's a picture that will happen.
It will happen. Jesus is going to come back again. That's how he'll come. But the first time he came, he came in order to save us from our sins, because he became sin for us and substituted himself so that you and I could experience his relationship with His Father.
And he took on our sin for us.
So beautiful.
Yes. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. That's weakness, folks.
As Christ triumphed by a dying and humiliating death on a cross, Paul triumphs with God as one who's been defeated. With this metaphor, Paul subtly refutes any criticisms of his ministry by turning it into a cause of thanks to God.
Paul's critics regard him as inferior and weak. He concedes his weakness, but will not concede that he's inferior. He's saying, no, this is the way, guys. This is the narrow way that Jesus talked about. And most people don't want to walk the narrow way.
Another metaphor describing the influence of the Gospel upon a person's life is that sacrificial fragrance. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma that brings death. To the other, the aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
The same. You know, I love this quote by David Garland. Paul is not the source of the aroma. It comes from his message about the cross of Christ.
That's the message of death.
And you know what? For you and I as believers, we're going, that's the aroma of life to a non believer. They're going, this stinks. I don't want that.
You know, I don't want to embrace, you know, a crucified Savior and I don't want to live a crucified life. Come on, let's be honest. That's where people are at. You know, sometimes as Christians, we even wrestle with that.
Isn't that true?
Okay, wow. I could say so much more, but I'm going to jump a little bit because I see what time it is.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: Here. I thought, you know, the problem when you don't feel totally 100% ready is you tend to wander.
I don't know. Final response that creates an impact on others is our sincerity and confidence. It begins with genuineness and integrity.
When we are authentic, it's compelling.
Do you know what I think people are tired of? They're tired of being faked out. They're tired of the lies. They're tired of the, you know, all of the come ons and all of the marketing and, you know, all of the smooth talk. They're just, people are just getting tired of it. You know what people want? I want reality. I want authenticity. I want sincerity. You know, he says, unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity as those sent from God.
Okay.
Then he goes on to say, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need to, you know, because these people were saying, you don't even have any letters or recommendation. Paul goes, why? You are our letters of recommendation. Let me jump over that. And to say this.
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Paul understands.
[00:37:13] Speaker A: Okay, let me go back. Yeah, here.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: Okay, there we are.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: I'm going backwards and I'm not getting to where I want to go. Oh, yeah, I need to go here.
Therefore, Paul affirms his sufficiency negatively and positively negatively. He says, for we are not like so many peddlers of the word of God.
This denial was pointed in his detractors who actually did trade in the word. Because the word peddle actually refers to trading.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Refers to traders who would dilute their wine with water or use false weights, all suggesting tampering with the word of God, watering it down for personal.
Paul says, I've never watered down the word to make it more palatable. He never looked to see which way the wind was blowing. He Never practiced the homiletics of consensus. He never held back. What's he talking about here?
The temptation for a preacher is to tell people what they want to hear, okay? Not what they need to hear.
How many are following what I'm saying?
You see, here's the problem with telling people what they want to hear. It may not be the truth, but if you tell people what they need to be, need to hear, and you tell them the truth, even though it's painful at times, that's what's going to bring about transformation.
See, we're all going to stand one day before God. This is how I look at it. It's very, very simple to me. We're all accountable to God. I'm going to argue that's not just me that's accountable to God. You're accountable to God. Every word you say, you're accountable to God.
We got to be careful that we're communicating exactly what God's communicating.
No more, no less.
Just say it the way God says it. You say, why do we do that? Pastor, do you know the word of God is so powerful that God says, when I send my word out, it always accomplishes the reason for which I've sent it. It's going to accomplish my purpose, not your purpose. And, you know, a lot of times people manipulate people using the word of God to get what they want.
Can I just say something? That's a big sin.
We're misrepresenting God.
And, you know, it's not just preachers that do that. Husbands and wives do it to each other.
Parents do it to kids.
We got to stop that.
We need to be more honest and authentic. So this isn't just, you know, say it the way we should be saying it. But let me close with at least one more quote.
I'm going to go down and jump a lot of spots. Here's the good news. You can always get this on my blog. Okay, let me close this, and then I'm going to quote Scott Hathelman. He says, in an age of materialism, we find it almost impossible to fathom that God would not only use suffering as the vehicle for manifesting the presence and power of his spirit.
[00:40:04] Speaker A: But would also actually lead someone to death for the sake of revealing his glory and spreading the gospel. Instead, we strive hard to give the impression that Christians overcome suffering and want rather than finding Christ strong in their very evident weakness.
What's he saying?
He's saying, guys, you know what? We want to look good.
The reality is sometimes God lets us look Bad.
[00:40:29] Speaker A: How's that?
But it's not that we're looking bad in the sense that we don't have it all together. We're falling apart. We're weak, fragile. We're clay pots. What God is trying to show people in the society is simply this. It's not you and me.
It's the presence of the living God dwelling within us. That's what people want to see. That's what they need to see. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. And for some people, they're going to respond to that. And for others, they're going to say, I want nothing to do with it.
And you're going to be persecuted. You're going to be bringing an aroma of death to them.
But for other people, you're bringing an aroma of life. Let's stand.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: So you say, what difference does this make, Pastor? You know, it's real simple.
[00:41:19] Speaker A: Most of the times when we're going through a hard time, what do we pray for? God, rescue me. God, deliver me. Isn't that true?
[00:41:29] Speaker A: I'm not saying it's wrong to pray that way. I pray that way. But what happens when God says, I'm not going to rescue you now, and I'm not going to deliver you now.
I'm going to let you experience something.
I'm bringing you into a transformative moment in your life.
And he will do this to all of us and more than once.
You know, I love that image of a caterpillar. And finally he gets to that place where he's cocooning. That's a place of death and a place of struggle.
And maybe you're there today. You're in a cocooned moment.
You're in a transformational moment. There's a weakness in your life. There's something. They've been praying and God's not answering. He's not doing what you want him to do. And you're struggling. Let's just be honest. That's where we're at.
I want to encourage you right now. God is with you in that suffering.
God's identifying with us in our pain.
He's in the cocoon with us. And even though we're struggling right there, God is working about a transformative work of grace in your soul.
He's going to bring you out of that.
I can guarantee. I've been a Christian for over five decades, he's going to bring you out of that. And when you come out, you're not going to look like what you went in.
You're not going to be the Same person, you're going to be a different person. Your attitude is going to be different, your thinking is going to be different.
You're going to have matured, you're going to have grown up.
It's very powerful.
Wish I could say to people, oh, listen, you give your life to Jesus and everything works out and there's never going to be a problem again. That's not true.
You're getting a whole new set of problems. God's going, you know what? We are so broken in our lives. I got to do a lot of work in changing you and changing the pastor.
Believe me, you know, being a pastor, some people think, well, this is easy. I go, no, he has to put all of these lessons in the my life. So you're going to experience stuff.
It's good for you.
Believe me, at the time, you'll go, that's the worst thing that ever happened to me. And later on, when you look back, you go, that was the best thing that ever happened to me.
At the time, it was terrible and painful and disconcerting. And you wondered and you were an emotional mess.
But as you get out of it, you go, wow, help me next time when I go on the cocoon, have a better attitude about it.
Amen. Help me to be joyful and grateful and thankful and say, I know what's going on. I'm in the cocoon again.
What are we working on? Lord, I want to cooperate this time, and I want to learn as much as I can as fast as I can. You know, how long do we got to stay in here?
I've had moments where God's put me in there and he goes, I'm going to leave in here for a few years.
[00:44:18] Speaker A: If you didn't know it, I just mouthed, really?
[00:44:23] Speaker A: With every head bowed, you say, pastor, God's speaking to me this morning. I'm right where you're talking about. I feel like I'm in the cocoon right now. I feel like I'm in this pressure place. God's squeezing me right now.
[00:44:41] Speaker A: I want you to know God wants to do something in you right now.
[00:44:45] Speaker A: I want to pray for you right now that you're going to come through that refining fire.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: You're going to come through that stronger.
You're going to come through that with more love, more patience, more compassion, more empathy, more generosity. Oh, you're going to look a lot more like Jesus. How many go, that's pretty good.
I would not mind to look a little bit more like Jesus.
[00:45:14] Speaker A: To act a little bit more like Jesus.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: So that's you. Just raise your hand. I'm going to pray for you right now. Just lift both hands up. Just say, that's me, Lord. I'm in there.
But I know you're in there with me.
Good news, you're in there with me, Lord, and I'm just praying right now. Feed my brothers and sisters. How many are agonizing? They're suffering.
They're under the weight and pressure. You're allowing this pressure in their lives. But Lord, today we're now going to celebrate this. We're not rejecting it. We're not saying this is the worst thing in the possible because we now understand.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: We'Re in a crucible of refinement.
You're bringing about change in our life even though we feel so weak. Lord, your strength is being manifested in our weakness. Your grace is sufficient for us in our weakness. Lord, we're going to celebrate today.
You love us and you are changing us and you are transforming us. And this is a transformative moment and we're going to celebrate even in the midst of our pain.
We thank you for it.
We thank you for it. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
