The church in Corinth proved to be amongst the most troublesome planted by Paul, with four letters (two lost) and three visits (one painful) charting their turbulent relationship. But out of these difficulties comes one of the finest descriptions of authentic Christian ministry in the Bible. This new series in 2 Corinthians 3-6 has one simple aim: that we delight in genuine Christian ministry.
This ministry of transformation
2 Corinthians 2:12-3:3
Triumph in Christ
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
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? 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.
Ministers of the New Covenant
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.
This transcript has been automatically generated
The first reading, it’s Acts chapter 18, verses 1 to 18.
Acts 18, verse 1.
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on your own heads; I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.
And he left there and went to the house of a man named named Titius Justus, a worshipper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing Paul, believed and were baptised.
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people. And he stayed a year and 6 months teaching the word of God among them.
But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, this man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law.
But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.
And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila.
Our second reading for this morning is from 2 Corinthians chapter 2, beginning at verse 12. The Apostle Paul writes: When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession. Through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to one, a fragrance from death to death; to the other, a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 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?
You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 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.
Thanks so much for reading for us, and may I add my very warm welcome to you, especially— I think there are a number of people visiting us here today, a warm welcome to you if that’s you. And I might just encourage you, if you’ve got some sort of electronic device on you, to switch it on to silent or flight mode so that you don’t disturb anybody while we’re looking at these passages together. Now, our subject over the next 3 weeks, and then for 5 weeks in July, and for the first fortnight of the new academic year is Authentic Christian Work. And we’re going to take as our study passage 4 chapters of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. We’re going to work through it fairly slowly and we’re going to see what true Christian ministry looks like.
I’ve called the series Ministry Appraisal And with apologies for those who are enduring exam trauma or a review process at work, my aim is that we hold up the benchmark of genuine Christian ministry with the goal of ensuring that what we’re engaged with here at St Helen’s is the real McCoy.
Much more than that, that’s not simply a kind of test, an end-of-year test that we’re engaged in. If you turn, please, forward a few pages to chapter 5 and verse 12 of 2 Corinthians. Chapter 5 and verse 12. We come to what is the— that is, this is, if you like, the key verse of the whole letter that explains for us Paul’s aim in writing this second letter to Corinth. Chapter 5, verse 12.
And here Paul says, look, we are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance rather than what is on the heart. And therefore, alongside kind of checking out that we’re all on the same page, we understand what authentic Christian ministry is about, My goal, alongside with the Apostle Paul, is that we boast in authentic Christian work. Now, the language of boasting may make one or two of us feel a little squeamish. It means to delight in or to exult over, to be thrilled with and excited to talk about. And so my aim is that we be delighted in genuine Christian labour, that we’re thrilled with it, that we exult in it, we want to talk about it, we’re not ashamed of it, we boast in it.
From that verse, chapter 5, verse 12, you can see that there are other alternatives on offer in Corinth. So, look at the verse again, we’re not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who most about outward appearance and not about what is on the heart. So there is a kind of externalism, a kind of outward show that passes off as genuine Christian work but doesn’t actually penetrate to the heart. And Paul’s concern is that his Corinthian readers, and every reader thereafter who takes hold of this letter, learns to exult in the authentic ministry, that it’s not just a show on the surface, but it penetrates right into the heart of men and women. That is genuine Christian ministry.
And that’s Paul’s goal for us, as we read the letter, just as it was Paul’s goal for the Corinthians, that we take pride in the Christian Gospel, the work of the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which we’re engaged, with so many other options, if you like, in the supermarket of alternatives passing off as Christian work, that we boast in the real McCoy.
And you know how it is, the parents can’t keep quiet about their children’s exploits. You know, little Johnny might have, I don’t know, won at Tiddlywinks and everybody needs to know. And the broker, you know, where are the benefits of his product or her product, you know, will want to sell it. And the Arsenal fan, conscious of the possibility of the league final on Wednesday night, will be, you know, thrilled about talking about it. And the Apostle Paul wants the reader of this letter to boast quietly, to boast, to be confident, to be confident in authentic Christian work.
Now, before we go any further, this is, as you can see, a sort of 10-week exercise the next 3 weeks, and then 5 weeks in July and then another 2 weeks at the beginning of the year. I want us just to have, as we begin, a little bit of a thumbnail sketch of the Corinthian church. What I’ve done is to draw a rather rudimentary map on your notice sheet there, on the back of it. Being a geographer, I’ve put that it’s not to scale, but that’s self-evident to anybody. And I think Greece may have wandered a little, but let’s not worry too much about that.
And I’ve also, on the left there, tried to record for us something of the back and forth. Because there’s no doubt that the church in Corinth was the most troublesome, truculent, terse and turbulent church of all those that Paul had dealings with. Just across the water from Athens, you can see there, Down in the southernmost tip of Greece, this cutting-edge city, founded on the wealth of trade and commerce, full of new money, contained a church that caused constant headache to the great Apostle from the moment that it was started. And the work in Corinth began at the end of Paul’s second missionary journey. He was there for 18 months, as we heard in our first reading, 50 to 51 AD.
He spent his time initially working as a tentmaker from the home of Aquila and Priscilla, and large numbers of people were converted to the faith. Titius Justus and then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, possibly even Sosthenes. But from the moment that Paul departed from Corinth in the spring of AD 51, trouble started. Initially, other preachers came in. They were terrific preachers.
Apollos and Peter came in, fantastic, and they built on the work that Paul had begun. But the immature Corinthians, so used to the celebrity culture of public oratory, quickly developed a sort of celebrity fan club around the different preachers.
And in addition to this kind of, well, I back this preacher, and my favourite is so-and-so, and this kind of party spirit in this immature church, various outlandish unchristian practices were allowed to go on. So, one case of appalling sexual immorality is recorded. There was confusion about marriage and singleness and what it meant to be truly spiritual. There was uncertainty about the eating of foods and selfishness with regards to other Christians. So, as arrogance and self-importance with regards to the gifts that a person might have.
I’m more important than you. And then inappropriate displays of wealth and power in their meetings, as the rich strutted their stuff on a Sunday morning, with their Armani handbag, their Armani suit, and their Birkin handbag, or whatever it happened to be. Now, to add insult to injury, A deep dissatisfaction and disaffection with Paul took hold, together with an infatuation with flashy celebrity preachers who pumped out a fake kind of Christianity that was just on the surface, all show, but nothing that really penetrated to the heart.
Not the true gospel. Now, what I did was to chart the bare bones of the lengthy correspondence on the back of the notice sheet there. You can see the church was founded in 50 to 51. They wrote— Paul wrote to them, you can read about that back in 1 Corinthians. They then wrote a letter to him, that’s also a lost letter.
He then wrote 1 Corinthians. He then paid a visit to them that he describes as painful. He then had to cancel a visit and because he was fearful of causing more trouble. And then he wrote a 3rd letter taken by a gentleman by the name of Titus. And Paul initially sent Timothy, his number one apostolic troubleshooter, down to Corinth, but he wasn’t able to sort things out.
Eventually, he himself went, and he describes his visit as painful. And then finally, he sent Titus carrying what Paul calls the severe letter. Again, it’s a lost letter. You can just imagine, I mean, it’s described in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. You’ve got a finger there and you can turn back to chapter 2.
I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you, for I, if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I’ve pained? And I wrote as I did so that when I came, I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart, and with many tears, not to cause you pain, and so forth. So, that letter was described as a severe letter. I don’t know if you ever, kind of, posted a letter through the postbox and thought, oh my goodness, what’s going to happen when that hits the person who it’s sent to?
Or pressed the send button on an email and thought, oh, I need to call that one back. And you can, kind of, imagine Paul, can’t you, as he waved Titus off, from the, from the port side in Ephesus, thinking, how’s this severe letter gonna land when it hits Corinth?
Well, it landed really well. And later in 2 Corinthians, you’ll hear about how well it was received. And there was real change, real change.
And so then Paul wrote to Corinthians and After this kind of long back-and-forth turbulent rocky relationship, at last there seems to be some, some progress. And the result is that we have one of the finest descriptions of what true Christian ministry looks like in the whole of the New Testament. And in chapters, the end of chapter 2 through to chapter 6. Paul is kind of saying, right, now we’re on the same page. Look, let me just remind you, this is the same page that we’re on.
Now we’re on the same page, let’s get down to business. Let me say, I’m really looking forward to this set of studies, and if you’re just visiting, I hope you’ll go on the website and download them, because, as the series goes on, because here we have described for us what true Christian ministry looks like. When I first started as rector at St Helen’s, it was 1998, seems like yesterday but it was a long time ago. And I made my own personal studies and preached through 2 Corinthians because here is a letter that describes true Christian ministry. I thought, well, if I’m going to be involved here for any length of time, I ought to know what I’m supposed to be on about.
And I’ve come back to it again and again and again with our small group leaders and different occasions down through the years. Because here we have the plumb line, and it’d be a chance for us to say, right, are we into the real McCoy, or are we off-piste?
And it seems to me also, with lots of us just here for a couple of years and then moving off elsewhere, and some of us going actually all over the world, for us to go with a clear idea of authentic Christian ministry, boasting in it, delighting in it. What a wonderful thing for us to be able to do.
Well, I was going to have 2 points this week, but we got 10 weeks, so I thought I’d only take one. And we’re going to look at that first point, what I’ve called the triumphal procession of life. It’s a triumphal procession of gospel advance, the ministry of life. What Paul does in verses 14 through 17, under this first point, is provide us with 3 images of authentic Christian work. And I hope this will be of great encouragement to us this morning.
The overriding one, the first one, is of a triumphal procession. But I’m persuaded that Paul sees himself as a slave in it.
The second is of a sacrifice, the language of fragrance and aroma, of life and death. And the third, Paul sees himself as a spokesman, speaking with real integrity.
Well, the triumphal procession with himself as a slave. Let’s take it from verse 12. When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.
Now, I’m persuaded here that Paul is picturing himself as a slave at the back of a first-century victory parade, but he sees himself as a slave and on his way to death.
Remember, at this stage, Paul is now on his 3rd missionary journey.
To date, he has seen churches started in Syria, in Antioch, in Cyprus, in Pisidian Antioch, in Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Ephesus, Troas, Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, Athens, and Corinth, not to mention many other places that are not included in the records. And in that sense, the advance of the good news of the Lord Jesus has proceeded triumphantly across the Mediterranean. I mean, Paul can even report, in a letter he writes very shortly after this one, that he has preached the Gospel all the way from Jerusalem right round to Illyricum, which is not a place in Essex, it’s a place in modern-day Croatia. In that sense, it has been a triumphal procession. He’s been heralding the good news about Jesus Christ.
The victory of Jesus over death, his enthronement, Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But this image of the triumphal procession is brilliantly selected because the way things worked, things worked in the 1st century was when a victorious general returned to his home city, there was a triumphal procession A processional way was created, and the general paraded his army through his home city with captives and slaves, trophies, behind him. Frequently, the general of the opposing army was right at the back, and when the triumphal procession finished, he was slaughtered, beheaded. Yeah, there’s no Geneva Convention, no prisoners’ rights. And major cities have major processional routes, like the Mall from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace, or the National Mall leading up to the White House.
But no Geneva Convention. And so here was the triumphant general, with all the slaves and trophies behind him, in this great procession. Now Paul’s point is that just as generals led captives in their sway, So the Apostle, as a captive of the Lord Jesus in his ministry of gospel proclamation, was part of a great triumphal procession. Yes, it’s a triumphal procession. He is heralding Jesus Christ as Lord, but he is a slave in that procession, a slave to the Lord Jesus, and he is being used to proclaim the glorious gospel as he makes his way all the way around the Mediterranean, declaring the Lordship of Jesus.
It’s an image that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians chapter 4. God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we’ve become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
Christ triumphant, Marching at the head of the procession, Christ victorious, having conquered death and sin, Christ over all, the name that is above every name, before which every knee shall bow. The Lord Jesus Christ, in fulfilment of all of the promises of God in the Old Testament, now being heralded across the world, but with his servants, as slaves in the procession, speaking Jesus under his rule.
And what our Corinthian friends have not yet realised is that on this side of the return of Jesus Christ, in this life, Christian ministry will be that of a slave. And so Paul’s ministry experience is of a slave in chains to Christ, gladly doing the will of Jesus. Now, can you see how clever this is? When, when you think of all these false ministries that boast on the surface and promise all sorts of surface things, whether it’s health or wealth or whether it’s good feelings and tingly this and all the rest of it, can you see, and we’ll come to that in later weeks, can you see how clever this is as Paul talks about the triumphal procession with himself in this position of a slave, it cuts right across it. Here is authentic Christian ministry, as I’m part of this procession.
And I hope at this stage of the year, at St Helen’s, anybody who’s been engaged in any sort of Christian ministry, whether it’s in your school seeking to make the Lord Jesus known, or in your hospital, or in your office, or whether it’s in northern Nigeria, or wherever it happens to be, you begin to be encouraged about the nature of authentic Christian ministry. We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, it’s advancing across the whole world, but even as it advances across the whole world, the experience is that of a slave in service of the Lord Jesus.
The second image Paul deploys is there in verses 15 and 16, and it’s the picture of a sacrifice.
So halfway through verse 14, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God, among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance of life. To life. Now, this is tightly tied to the triumphal procession. You can see why I say Paul sees himself as a slave in chains to Christ, potentially on his way to a sacrificial death.
Yes, his ministry involves heartache and hard work, hassle, hardship, hostility, and hatred. But as the Apostle presents himself to God, in sacrificial service, so his ministry, his thankful service of the Lord Jesus, rises like a pleasing aroma or a fragrance to God.
At my office, just round the corner there, in our office buildings attached to St Helen’s, is on the first floor, just under my office, there’s a seat where a lot of city workers sit, and there they vape. And when the window’s open, if the window is blowing in the wrong direction, you know, my office is full with Sunset Mojito or Ice Beam Red Astaire or whatever the vape happens to be. And so I suppose I enjoy it, actually. I don’t particularly, but there we are. But the picture here is of an Old Testament sacrifice, like the sacrifice of Noah when he came out of the ark, a thank offering, or like the sacrifice of Hannah at the shrine following the gift of Samuel.
Paul is saying, you know, by way of thanksgiving to the Lord Jesus, having benefited from his death and resurrection, now having given my life over to him in service, then my procession, if you like, as a slave in this triumphal work, my sacrificial service rises to God in thanksgiving. Nothing transactional about this, as if he’s going to make God happy with him through what he does, or earn brownie points with God through what he does, or get air miles to heaven through what he does. But he’s so full of thanks, But he’s now surrendered to the Lord Jesus and his whole life is part of this triumphal procession in thanksgiving to Christ. And his service rises to God in thanksgiving, like a sacrifice of thanksgiving. That’s a beautiful image, isn’t it?
You know, you take one small step in selfless service to the Lord Jesus Christ, Putting somebody else before yourself as you seek to share the Good News of Jesus with them, and God is pleased. It’s a lovely picture. You know, were you involved in any way this week? Maybe praying, maybe bringing people, maybe speaking to somebody of the Lord Jesus? One small step as part of this triumphal procession.
However it might feel, whether you feel as a slave or a sacrificial offering, however you may feel, rising as a pleasing aroma to God.
But did you notice from verses 15 that this sacrificial aroma spreads 2 ways? It goes vertically to God and horizontally to others. Just look again closely at the verse, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. So the aroma rises to God in pleasing thanksgiving as we seek to serve him in whatever small way it may be. But at the same time, the aroma passes horizontally to others.
And look at the way it’s described. We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death; to another, a fragrance from life to life. To one, a person who is spiritually dead, in rebellion against God, refuses to accept the good news of the Christian gospel, already dead, the judgement of God comes as they reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so it’s an aroma from death to death. But to another, this message that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, is risen, is now enthroned in heaven, is a message of life.
And as it comes to this person, it’s from life, that is the life of God, to life, that is resurrection life for this individual. Now, all of us are used to the ideas of smells and aromas. I remember a midwife at St Helen’s telling me that she loved the smell of newborn babies. I mean, I couldn’t really get that at all. I remember a helicopter pilot telling me once they loved the smell of aviation fuel.
Now I can understand that. I went back to a part of Northern Ireland just recently. The smell of turf burning, hugely evocative. Now whether it’s manure or Marmite, or goat’s cheese or Givenchy, or photocopier fluid or formalin, you know, you smell something, there’s a kind of immediate association, isn’t there? But some smells produce a kind of dividing line right down the middle.
My comfort drink at around 3:30 in the afternoon, if life is going particularly badly, is 1 teaspoon of Marmite in a cup filled with boiling water. Now, I often drink it when I’m sitting with people I’m reading the Bible with, and I have begun to notice that it produces a little bit of a dividing line as the aroma spreads. Well, I suppose pleasingly to me, I love the stuff and it, you know, I don’t know what drug they put in Marmite but it’s very good for you at 3:30 in the afternoon. But, you know, there’s a kind of horizontal spread. Well, here comes the Christian gospel.
It’s coming towards you like a freight train. You can’t stop it. Jesus Christ is Lord. It’s advancing across the world. You hear it as somebody who is, like me, at heart a rebel against the living God.
I hear this gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord. I reject it, death to death.
I accept it, this gospel, it’s a message of life. And as I receive the Christian gospel, life, to life. I come alive to the living God.
Again, if you were involved at all this week, you know, you’ll see examples of that, won’t you? I heard this week from somebody who brought a couple of friends to one of the evenings. They got as far as a pub on Bishopsgate and then over a drink said, nah, nah, not really interested. The offer of the Gospel, like a freight train, Come close, don’t want anything to do with it. Death to death.
Others will have come, message of life.
I mean, you could say this morning, there’ll be people here who’ve not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, however inadequately and weakly we’re talking about the reign of King Jesus, it’s coming towards you, you can’t stop it. Here is the freight train, it’s advancing across the world. Nothing’s going to prevent the rule of King Jesus for eternity. It’s already begun.
Here is the message, it’s coming towards you, it’s coming towards you. You say to yourself, well, it’s all right for my child, but it’s not for me. It’s just a passing fad for James, but really, you know, I’m beyond all that. Death to death.
You say, well, actually, no, there’s something in this. I’m going to explore this. Life to life if you receive the forgiveness Jesus Christ offers.
So here is a second image. We’ve had that of the slave, we’ve had that now of the sacrifice as Paul pours himself out and encourages his Corinthian readers to pour themselves out in selfless service. Here we have the slave. Here we are in service of King Jesus, in the great procession. It’s a triumphal procession, but you and I, we’re slaves.
And here we are pouring out our lives to the Lord Jesus and rising as a pleasing sacrifice to him. Isn’t that beautiful? But at the same time, horizontally, death to death, life to life.
Well, here’s the last image. It’s there in verse 17.
The end of verse 16: Who is sufficient for these things? We’re 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. Now, here is the spokesman. Notice, we speak in Christ.
And Paul’s point is that he feels totally unfitted for this ministry. Who doesn’t? Any person who’s been involved in any sort of Christian work work, whether it’s teaching in the Sunday school, speaking to a friend of the Lord Jesus, preaching, leading a Bible study, who here, like the speaker today, doesn’t find themselves saying, I’m not up to it? And that’s exactly what Paul says. Who is adequate for this kind of work?
None of us.
But we’re not like so many peddlers of God’s Word Rather, as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, in Christ we speak.
And Paul’s point is this, look, inadequate he may feel, ill-equipped he may consider himself, but he’s not a false salesman. He’s not going to change the message. And in fact, the fact that he won’t change the message makes him feel all the more inadequate. Because the message is of a crucified Messiah. And he himself feels that, you know, there’s no kind of on-the-face glamour and glitz.
He hasn’t got a private jet, and he doesn’t swan around, you know, promoting some false message. He’s teaching Jesus Christ crucified. Who’s adequate for that? He feels insufficient. He won’t engage in dodgy dealing.
He won’t tinker with the tune to titillate and tantalise the audience. To make it sound better.
The word pedlar is the word for a petty retailer. The word sincerity is the word for unmixed. And in a world where there was no trading standards and so many market stalls would hawk a particular product which was actually mixed, Paul says, I’m a sincere spokesman.
And literally, verse 17, if you just glance at it, reads like this, as from sincerity, as from God, in the sight of God, in Christ we speak. Now, isn’t that striking? He is a spokesman. He can’t possibly change the message. It’s God’s message, as from God.
He can’t possibly change the message. God is watching, in the sight of God. It’s the message of Jesus Christ, from Christ we speak. And so he’s a true spokesman. The slave, the sacrifice, the spokesman.
And in every single one of those images, sense the kind of inadequacy. Who is up to such a thing? Who is able for such a task? But because it’s the gospel ministry of straight talking, as a servant of the Lord Jesus, God is doing his work. It’s a work that’s on the heart.
People are being changed from the inside out. And so he continues to speak.
Well, there is the trailer, if you like, for our next few weeks. I hope you will going to be here every week. I mean, it’s going to be terrific as we look at authentic Christian ministry. But, you know, have you ever been part of a triumphal procession? I know one or two of you are really hoping on Thursday morning you will be when Arsenal— well, whichever side you’re on, you know, you will be with all 4 at the head of the European competitions.
But have you ever been part of a triumphal procession? Think of Manchester City bringing the cups back into Manchester last weekend, or Think of the Olympics after 2012 with the British team parading through the streets, or, well, some of you will remember Portsmouth Harbour after the Falklands, and others were part of the VE Day parade, some of you here, I suspect. Triumph. Well, every single one of us, says Paul, is part of a triumphal procession. Jesus Christ is Lord.
But our experience, What’s our experience? Slaves. Sacrifice. Spokesman. But the sacrifice, oh yeah, rising to God, pleasing him.
It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I’m really pleased with you.
And the spokesman, don’t change the message. God’s watching.
You’re commissioned by him. Well, let’s pray together.
We thank you for the remarkable privilege, our Father in heaven, for being, of being part of this great ministry. We thank you, gracious Lord, for everything that went to producing this wonderful letter for us. We thank you for this description of a ministry in which we can really boast, that we can exult in, delight in. We pray that that will be the case in the coming weeks, that there will be a fresh confidence and joy and sense of privilege at being involved in this great ministry that you’ve entrusted to us. We ask, our Father, that you would make us humble enough to be corrected where we’re off track, to be brought back in line.
And where perhaps we’ve lost confidence or courage, that you would refresh our courage and that we— you would use these weeks mightily for the benefit of Gospel advance here in London and much further afield. For your great name’s sake. Amen.
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