The Aroma of Christ

We are in Scripture today in the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians, so if you want to find that on your Bible, on your app, in your journal, or in an actual leather-bound Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 2.

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

We're going to finish up this chapter, and we've got about six verses to finish. We've been going kind of slow through this book, but let me warn you, we're going to probably start speeding up a bit, and there are some reasons for that.

But today, we're going to take verses 12 to the end of the chapter to verse 17, and so as you find that in your Bible, let me read these words from the Lord for us.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open 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, 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 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.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come now from our busy lives and eventful weeks, Lord, some of us have been through so many different things in even just a week's time.

We pray for focus now this morning. Let us hear from your word, Lord. Let us learn what you have for us and harvest, Lord, these wonderful gifts, these fruits that you've given us in the pages of your word.

Lord, we are aware that many in our family are traveling this weekend. They're away. We pray for protection, for safety. Bring us back here safely soon.

Father, we think of just even Cindy Sudlow, who a week ago today, Lord, released Rich to come and be with you. And we thank you for Rich, Lord, going quickly, coming to his eternal reward and being with you now.

We pray comfort for the Sudlow family. Father, we pray for those in our congregation that have very practical needs. We know some are looking for jobs and looking for houses.

And you are aware, Lord, of everything. You know the hairs of our head and their number. And so, Lord, we commit these things to you as a church family.

Help us to support one another and encourage one another as long as it is called today. And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, it's been a couple of weeks since we've been in 2 Corinthians.

I just want to say that I thought last week's message in Exodus from Matt about grumbling. You better like it. Don't grumble about it. It was really good.

So, if you've not had a chance to hear that from last Sunday, go look that up on our channel and listen to that. Today, we're back in 2 Corinthians.

And let me just tell you a little bit about this letter. So, what we know is that the Apostle Paul wrote it. He composed it to a church that he himself had founded on one of his missionary journeys.

Only since he's been gone, there's been trouble. There's been dissension in the church. Antagonism even toward the Apostle Paul himself to the point, as we learned, to the point that it required an emergency, painful visit.

A painful visit. This was then followed up by not another visit, but by a letter, what's called the severe letter. And now, here he is, in preparation to now come for a more substantial visit to Corinth.

And Paul is now writing them this letter as a preparation for that. At the heart of the struggle is Paul's authority and even his apostleship.

It's been challenged by the arrival of the so-called super apostles. They've come questioning everything from Paul's suffering, which in their minds makes Paul a loser, to Paul's reliability and even his word and his character.

And so, Paul has now spent the better part of these first two chapters here defending his personal integrity, right? Addressing their misunderstanding in his motives and changing his plans and explaining how he didn't want to come right away

because he didn't want to further inflame an already very painful situation. And if any of you have ever been in conflict with someone, you know that sometimes right away is not the best time to resolve it.

Although, don't wait forever. But there's been some good news, too. Some good things have been happening. A recent development has come to Paul's ears.

Probably he learned this from Titus. And he's learned that one of the main ringleaders who's been causing trouble has been dealt with and disciplined by the church.

So that he actually wrote just a few verses ago about how the church is now to take this sorrowful, repentant man and restore him and comfort him and show him the love so that Satan doesn't outwit them because he loves to do this very thing.

Now, up till now, Paul has not filled them in on any of the personal details as to why he changed his plans. He has not told them what's delayed him in coming to them, but that's about to change as we've read here in verse 12.

He's explained now. What's been happening with me, the apostle Paul? Well, we learn over in Acts chapter 20, verse 2, that Paul had left Ephesus.

Acts 20:2

We know he left the city under duress because of the riot that started there. And that he has traveled northward to the seaport city of Troas.

We usually have a map for help for you to see where we are. This is the city of Troas. I think it's marked here with a little circle around it.

And Paul says that here in Troas, in what is a very strategic seaport, he says he found an open door for the gospel, an open door. Now, actually, his purpose in coming to the city wasn't really for ministry work per se.

It was to come for a scheduled meetup with Titus. Because we'll remember that Titus had been sent by Paul to Corinth to deliver the severe letter.

And we know that Paul was very anxious to rendezvous with Titus. Why? Because he wanted to hear how it was received. He doesn't yet know. How is the church responding?

He seems very, very anxious. Because here in verse 13, he tells the Corinthians that when he arrived in Troas, he did not find Titus. He says in verse 13, My spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

For whatever reason, Titus was delayed. And Paul is telling us that it made his spirit absolutely restless. No Titus, no knowledge of what the state of things were at Corinth.

We know there's still trouble with the super apostles. In fact, we learned that Paul is so troubled that he tells the Corinthians that it ruined ministry opportunity for me.

A door was opened for me in the Lord. An open door for ministry right there in Troas. And I could not walk through it. You see, Paul had formed a small church here in Troas the first time he came through.

This is something that Luke records for us in the book of Acts chapter 16. And now that he's back and expecting to meet up with Titus, it's making it difficult for him to re-engage in ministry here now.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

We can imagine Paul waiting day after day after what is most likely the end of the shipping season. It's getting cold. Winter is approaching.

Boats don't sail over the winter. And as the last ship of the season pulls into port and Paul learns that Titus is not on it, he says it's eating him up.

Here's the thing. Here's what he notes. In spite of the fact that there is gospel interest here in Troas, he can't engage it. He has an open door.

We wonder what that looked like. We really don't know. We wonder, was it just simply the lack of opposition like he had in Ephesus that drove him out of town?

Maybe. Was he getting speaking opportunities and maybe a public lecture hall as he had in other cities in the Roman Empire? We don't know. It could have just been that there was fertile soil that he could see hearts were ready.

And the Spirit was telling him, spirits around here are ready for the gospel message. We don't know. All we know is he calls it an open door.

He knows it's from the Lord. And his point is that he is not ready. He wasn't up to it. He wasn't humanly prepared to walk through any open door because his human spirit was not at rest.

It wasn't at rest because of all the Corinthian drama. And he didn't know what was happening over across the sea.

Imagine that he's had so much anguish of heart he can't even focus on preaching the word. Teaching from the scriptures. Proclaiming the gospel.

You know, this is really kind of startling to read. We don't see this very often, if anywhere else, in scripture. How many other times in other places is Paul in some incredibly adverse circumstances, like rotting in a dungeon cell or having been beaten and in the stocks overnight in Philippi,

and him and Silas or him by himself makes good use of it for ministry opportunity? But not right here. You know, when Paul says he misses a ministry opportunity, we have to ask ourselves, is this some kind of a bad move?

Is this a failure on Paul's part? Well, the fact is, most New Testament scholars are not entirely agreed on what to make of this. Some think it was an admission of weakness.

That, yeah, Paul kind of failed here. God had opened a door. Or Paul was wrong not to walk through it. But others would disagree and wouldn't go that far.

And as I spent some time this week wrestling over this passage, here's the thing, and I would urge you to look at it too. Look at the context.

What does the context tell us? What does it show us? Do you and I get the sense that Paul is confessing a wrongdoing here? That he was somehow disobedient?

And I would say no. Actually, we hear him go on to talk about God's triumphant work. There's no sense of failure in this passage. It's triumph.

He's thanking God that the fragrance of Christ is being spread everywhere. As if nothing is hindering anything. And not only that, but Paul, for his part, he never suggests to us that he's done something wrong or that he's failed.

And this is a guy who's quite adept at reflecting on his faults and failures. He does it in other places. But he doesn't do it here. Instead, the point seems to be about the Corinthians and Paul's singular heart and all-consuming love for them.

It literally made his heart restless, not knowing. He needed to know. And that's why, as he goes on to say in verse 13, I took leave of the folks here in Troas and went on to Macedonia.

That's northern Greece. Went on to Macedonia to look for my brother Titus. And that's what Titus is to Paul. He's a brother. More than just a friend, right?

More than just a great ministry co-worker. He says, he's my brother. Listen, Titus was a treasure to Paul. He was a man whom Paul had trained and mentored and really poured his life into.

And he selected this man, Titus, for the most difficult and delicate of missions. In fact, we think he swapped out Timothy for Titus because we think Timothy didn't have the stomach for it, literally.

He sent Titus to Corinth. And he needed now to hear from his brother. He needed to hear a report. And what's interesting here, what's fascinating is Paul no sooner drops this little biographical note finally.

And he doesn't finish it, does he? He actually leaves us hanging at the end of verse 13, doesn't he? He leaves his Corinthian readers hanging.

You say, yeah, he left us hanging for the rest of the chapter. I wonder if he ever found Titus. Do you realize that he leaves the Corinthians hanging for more than just three or four more verses?

He leaves them hanging for like five chapters. It's not until chapter 7, verse 5 of this letter, after he has diverged, you could say, to all manner of thoughts and topics, all theological,

he's talked about all kinds of things before he finally comes back to this quest for the missing Titus. And here's what we hear. I'll give it to you.

2 Corinthians chapter 5, chapter 7, verses 5 and 6. He says, and again to recap, for when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn, fighting without and fear within.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus. It's like chapter 7, verse 6. Found him, finally.

So Paul's going to get to that. He's going to get to that. He's going to close the little biographical note in about five chapters and show us he did find the missing Titus.

But it's almost as if his mention of passing on an open door is triggering something else in his divinely inspired apostolic brain. It's triggering something else.

That something else is God and the way that God is absolutely triumphant. Here's what he goes on to say. Verse 14, he says, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.

We wonder, what's this? What's a triumphal procession? What's Paul referring to? Well, you and I might have to wonder for a minute, maybe do a little background study.

But readers in his day would know very well what he's talking about because this is a very common phenomenon with the Romans, the Roman Empire.

You see, whenever the Romans won a victory and, you know, I'll spoil the plot. They won a lot. They conquered an empire. So whenever they won a victory, the victorious general would come back to the city of Rome and he would be allowed to have a parade.

And so what they would do, the Roman general would celebrate his triumph by marching, not only his soldiers, but all the captives in front of his chariot in this elaborate victory procession.

All through the city with the captives in front, joyful music, incense bearers walking along, burning incense. These parades were like a multi-sensory delight.

It was like your sight, your sound, your smell, all the senses are engaged. Because all along the way, not only is there shouting and singing and music, there's also the sight, of course, the chariots and the robes and the armor and the prisoners and the chains.

And then there's the smell of that incense. You see, they would designate these incense bearers to walk along with the chariot and they would burn incense from their coffers.

They believed, the Romans believed, that the smell of that incense rose not only to all the nostrils of the people, but also up to the very gods themselves.

The parade would then culminate in the sacrifice of bulls at the end. And often, maybe even usually, it would also culminate with the execution of prominent captives.

This Roman triumphal procession was a very, very big deal in ancient Rome. You know what one scholar compares it to? He says it's the Super Bowl parade of the ancient world.

I've never been to a Super Bowl parade. Maybe we'll get one in Indianapolis this year. Who knows? But Paul's saying, thanks be to God. Because God has won.

God is victorious. Thanks be to God because he's like a victorious general. He has won his great victory over the cosmos and we are all witnesses of the march of the gospel going forward.

But notice how Paul says that God always leads us. Well, fancy that. The apostles, we ourselves are actually in this parade, Paul says. We who spread the gospel are actually a part of this procession.

And it's probably right about now that you and I are wondering, I wonder what role they have. Who and what part is Paul saying that he and his fellow workers play in this parade?

Well, here's the thing. A lot of scholars have traditionally believed that Paul and his companions, and really all faithful Christians by extension, that Paul's saying we're the captives.

We're captive for Christ. We're his slaves. It's not the first time we've heard that metaphor from Paul. He actually makes this metaphor back in the first letter to the Corinthians.

Here he is in 1 Corinthians 4, verse 9. He says this, For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.

1 Corinthians 4:9

Of course, in that context, there's no triumph or comparison of God to the victorious general, just a parade of captives facing a death sentence at the end of their parade.

And so we ask ourselves, is that what Paul's doing right here? Is he depicting himself and really every fellow gospel worker by extension, is he depicting them as captives exhibited like prisoners being marched to their death?

And actually, I don't think so. Not in these particular verses. And the reason why, well, let's just keep reading and again consider the context.

Because what does Paul go on to say in verse 14? First, he says that we are being led in Christ. Not like Christ, like a lamb to the slaughter, but in Christ.

And then he goes on to say in the second half of that verse, take a look. He says that through us, God spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.

He goes right on in verse 15. To compare believers to the aroma of Christ to God. And I think that's very telling. I think that's a big clue.

Because if we're certainly not the general, the triumphant victor, that's God. And if we're not the captives, the ones being led to death in this analogy right here.

But if we are instead the ones through whom God spreads the knowledge of His fragrance. I think that leaves only one role for us to play. And that is the role of the incense burner.

The incense bearer burning the incense. Again, remember, every Roman triumph parade had incense bearers. Those designated to carry the coffers and burn that incense up to the gods.

And of course, if you're marching in this parade and you're on the side of the victor, if you're one of the ones celebrating the triumph with your general, then the smell of that incense is going to be a pleasant thing, right?

It's going to be a very pleasing aroma. A great thing. It's a smell of victory. You ever watch a close game like maybe last night at, you know, what was it, 1030, 11 o'clock?

If you're watching NBC and Notre Dame's playing. And it's two really close teams, good teams, battling back and forth. And then what happens in the fourth quarter?

There's a fumble and a recovery. And it's for our side. And, you know, if you were down on that sideline, even amongst all the rain and the wetness and everything, I can imagine someone said or at least thought, I can smell the victory, right?

As the clock ticks down. The smell of victory. That is what the odor of incense would have meant to those happy about the triumph. To those on the side of the great triumphal victor, God.

Those incense bearers and everyone on the winning side would have been pleased with that sense, that incense, that smell. It is, again, the smell of victory.

But then again, there are some others in this parade who would not be pleased by the very same smell. There are those being marched that would smell the very same odor.

But for them, it's not a sweet smell of victory, is it? It's a smell of defeat. It's a smell even of death. For those captives being marched still in their chains, who knew what was coming at the end of the triumphal procession.

It would have been a dreadful odor. This is why Paul goes on to write what he does in verse 15. He says, for we are the aroma of Christ. It's in Christ that we have this victory.

Christ has made this victory possible. We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

Verse 16. To the one, it's a fragrance from death to death. He's saying, the odor we bear is the smell of death. But to the other, a fragrance of life to life.

Paul's talking about those who surrender to Christ. Those who come to Christ and make him their Lord. Those who have become believers and who get saved.

The aroma we represent, Paul says, to us, it's life. So, I had open doors that I had to pass on in Troas. Yeah, I just wasn't in a state where I could bring myself to walk through that open door.

Because my spirit was so messed up, so restless about all of you Corinthians. I didn't find Titus. I didn't hear an update. But you know what?

God still wins. God wins anyway. And I want you to know, I want to remind you, we are in his triumphal procession. Bearing that incense, which is the aroma of Christ.

And for those of us being saved, it's a wonderful smell of life. Even if it's a dooming smell of impending death for those who are still perishing.

Why does Paul make this digression? Because he wants us to see that all of this magnificent truth about God and about his sovereign and sure victory.

It's a victory that can't be derailed by one apostle's temporary frailty and weakness. And it's humbling for Paul. It's truly humbling. That's why he goes on to make the remark that he does at the end of verse 16.

What's he say? Who is sufficient for these things? That's rhetorical. His point is, nobody is. Nobody's really capable or qualified or worthy or up to everything that we should be or could be.

As Paul says a little later from this point in the next chapter, chapter 3, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 5. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us.

2 Corinthians 3:5

But our sufficiency is from God. No, no one's capable of bringing the victory God's already won. Only God can bring it. Because God's the one who's in control.

He's in charge. God is sovereign. And having saved us through Christ, we spread the aroma of Christ everywhere we go. So that Paul can conclude in verse 17.

For we are not like so many. We refuse to be like so many others you might know. Dear Corinthians, we are not peddlers of God's word. Other translations say we don't peddle the word of God for profit.

We are not marketers, salesmen. Paul says we aren't people who try to sell you something. And the sense here is very pejorative. He's not talking about an honest and upright salesperson.

He's talking about that shady backstreet vendor who would sell you a knockoff watch or a purse. He's talking about the duplicitous salesperson who peddles diluted or defective wares and products.

Listen, we think that the super apostles in Corinth were doing exactly this. They were diluting the message of the gospel. And they were peddling it at excessive cost to the Corinthians.

They were watering down the message of the cross to make it more drinkable. More likable. They're not so much about suffering and death.

As Paul has warned these Corinthians before in his very first letter, 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 14. Sorry, verse 14. He writes, For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.

1 Corinthians 4:14

Everybody wants to be your guide and your mentor, but not everybody has fatherly care for you or fatherly responsibility for you. We are not one of your countless guides.

Rather, he says right here in verse 17, we work with you as men of sincerity. As commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

He's saying God's the source of our calling, guys. It's he who's called us, and he is now watching us to see how we do our ministry. We speak in Christ, and Christ speaks through us.

And that's why we have been nothing but sincere and transparent with all of you, knowing that our great victor and king will hold us accountable for all the ways that we do our ministry.

This morning, I think there are some takeaways for us here, even in this short section of six verses. As we listen to Paul do something very simple, lament on having to pass on an open door.

As we listen to Paul confess about his restless spirit, only to then break off and then marvel about God being victorious and the aroma of Christ being spread everywhere.

I think that Paul shows us really four simple things. So four simple truths that I quickly would like to highlight with you, and I'd like to think for a minute about how they might apply to our lives.

Here's the first one. Number one, there are factors, divine and human, that affect the work of our ministry.

There are factors, both divine and human, that affect the work of our ministry.

Now, when I say the work of our ministry, I don't want you to think only of like a professional ministry, like an apostle or even a missionary or a pastor.

I want you to think of wherever it is God has providentially placed you in your life to be a minister, to do the work of ministry. Maybe you're married, and you have a spouse.

There is ministry to do with your spouse. Maybe you're here as a parent right now, and you know that your primary ministry right now is to the family that you're raising.

Or maybe your kids are all grown up, and it's a ministry now to adult-aged children, and maybe even grandchildren. It could be a ministry to a friend, or a sibling, or even a parent.

Whatever it is, a ministry opportunity where someone needs your encouragement, or needs your counsel, or maybe a Bible study you're in, or a care group you're in, or some other kind of ministry maybe that you're serving in right here at our church, for instance.

What we're saying is, and what I think Paul is clearly showing us, or really reminding us, is that there can be factors, both divine and human, that affect the work of our ministry.

Let me list these factors. There's only two, divine and human. The first one is God, the divine factor. Yes, God himself may affect the ministry you're able to have.

What we mean is, God may need to open a door for it first. And only God can open doors. You can't open doors. I can't open doors. We can knock on them.

We can't open them. Only God can. Paul saw an open door here in Troas, but he doesn't say that he had opened it or kicked it in. He says God opened it.

God must open doors to ministry. Now, having said that, let me qualify it just a bit. If God has put you in a marriage, or if God has put you in a family, I would say that those spheres, your family, your spouse, are standing open doors, okay?

So I don't want you to go home here today and say, Well, you know, my children seem preoccupied with their favorite television show. It doesn't seem like it's an open door to train them up.

No, you don't get that out. They are a standing open door. Your spouse, that's a standing open door. What I mean is, you don't have to wait for a signal from God to start doing ministry there.

But I'd also remind us that in many other kinds of situations and relationships where you would maybe like to minister to someone, God may need to open a door.

So that's the first factor, the divine factor. But there's another factor, too. The second factor is us. It's the human factor. What I mean is that our humanness can limit us.

It did for Paul. The great apostle Paul himself was, what's he say? Too restless in spirit to walk through an open door. Literally, it's like I was too tied up in knots to be able to walk through an open door.

He says he wasn't up for it. It wasn't the right time for him. Paul's humanness limited his ability to do ministry. He was impeded by his crisis state.

Too stressed, too anxious about the Corinthians. And I just think it's worth pausing on that because that can be true for us as well. It might be that sometimes we are too limited, too overwhelmed, and not ready for a ministry opportunity.

Now, hopefully, you don't stay there indefinitely. In fact, I don't think that that's the will of God for us to go through life and say, I'm always too overwhelmed to do ministry.

But I think the point of Paul's vulnerable testimony is to show us that sometimes our humanness, for various reasons, can limit us.

But here's what's encouraging. What's encouraging? It's not listed right here. But what's encouraging is that God is not limited. And when we are too weak and not capable of walking through an open door, you know what God can do?

He can keep a door open. Or if the door shuts, you know what else God can do? He can reopen it. As a matter of fact, if you've read the book of Acts, chapter 16, Luke says this little church at Troas gets established.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

Paul makes a quick pass-through here. Doesn't stay. He's got to go look for Titus. Can't do ministry. But you know, several months later, he's going to come back to Troas.

We read about this in Acts 20, verse 6. He actually comes back to Troas and invests himself in ministry here again. And this really sets us up for the second thing Paul wants us to know.

Acts 20:6

The second thing, number two, as he moves into his big digression. Number two, God leads his people in triumphal procession toward their ultimate salvation.

God leads his people in triumphal procession, like a victor, like a general, toward their ultimate salvation. Some of you have read the great fantasy writer C.S. Lewis.

If you've read those novels, the Narnia novels, you'll remember the phrase, Aslan is on the move. Aslan is on the move. God is on the move. And his kingdom, Paul wants us to know, is marching forward and advancing.

Because of the sacrifice of Christ on his cross and the pleasing aroma that it was to God, his atoning death, God's triumphal procession is already kicked off.

It's already underway. And Paul reminds us that even in our weakness, even in his own weakness, God still leads his people in triumph. And we spread his fragrance everywhere.

We are the bearers of his fragrance. I know that at times in this world of ours, it might not seem like it. It might seem like evil advances and God is not on the move.

But he very much is. So I want you to trust God's word when it tells you that he is leading in triumph. You should know that the parade is on.

Because the victory that this parade celebrates has already been won. The battle is already done. That curtain was torn in two. Our Savior conquered his grave.

And in so doing, he conquered death itself. So that the aroma that he is, that Jesus is. Well, this brings us to our next point. Number three.

It's the third thing Paul teaches us. The aroma of Christ in us will create polarizing responses. It will have polarizing responses.

What we're saying is that if you're a believer here this morning and you do ministry, you bear the aroma of Christ. You know, this world can temporarily delude us sometimes.

It can delude you and I into thinking that, you know, this mortal life, air, wind, fire, what else is it? Earth. That that's all that there is.

That the elements on the elemental table, that's all that there is. It's a material world. It seems like that sometimes. But the Bible is very clear that there is a realm of existence beyond this world and this life.

It's clear that there are two realms of existence. One is life after life. Or as Paul says here, life to life. We go from life, as Rich Sudlow did last Sunday afternoon, to life again.

Life eternal. And the other realm is death after life. Or as he says here, Paul says death to death. What Paul means is spiritually lifeless in this world to now passing on to an eternal death.

This is why to those who are being saved, the aroma in a believer's life is a beautiful and pleasing thing. And this is also why for those still lost, who are still perishing, it's the exact opposite.

You do understand that the gospel is a fragrance of death to some people, to many people.

The message of Christ crucified in our place, resurrected, is a message that a lot of people choke on, disbelieve, and even mock. What does this mean for you if you're a Christian?

It means you should remember that authentic ministry isn't always successful. Because we proclaim a message that does divide. We emit a fragrance of Christ that divides.

And the gospel demarcates and separates people into these two different destinies. Life and death. Responding or not responding. Rejecting the gospel.

It really is a life and death issue.

People need Jesus. Or they end up in spiritual death and hell. Because we're all in that parade. We're all marching through life in it. And you are either in covenant with the triumphal one.

Or you're on a spiritual death march. Now on to our fourth and last point from Paul. And this one comes from the very last verse. Verse 17. Fourth point is this.

It's to know that sincere, accountable ministry is much preferred to peddling for profit.

We don't peddle, my friends. We don't tamper with the gospel. We don't tamper with the gospel.

You and I don't get to tinker with it and sell a knockoff version of it on the street. We don't get to dilute the gospel message where someone might choke on it.

We don't get to polish up the truth of the gospel to artificially make it shinier. We don't peddle or market our church by shining up things and glossing over things like our sin.

And the need for repentance. And God's judgment. And even suffering in the Christian life. We don't tell everybody, hey, Jesus makes everything all better.

He fixes everything. It's all good. It is good. But sometimes there's still suffering. And hardship. And heartache. And disappointment. We are sincere about these things.

The way of the cross. Carrying the cross. Is suffering. We are transparent about the truth. Even the harder side. We are faithful in these ways because we know that we, like Paul and the apostles, are all accountable to God.

And that we're all doing our ministry, wherever it is that we have opportunity, under his watchful eye. Paul says, in the sight of God. So we may be fallible.

And sometimes weak and restless. But we know that our God is triumphant and strong and sovereign. And the aroma of our crucified, risen Savior is on us.

Those of us who believe. And these are things we don't tamper with or downplay or neglect. So I would say this morning, resist the temptation to think that we should make our church or even our message always seem perfect and shiny.

Resist the temptation to think that raising your family in godliness is going to be easy.

Resist the temptation to think that you're going to be completely invulnerable. And you'll never have limitation or weakness. We are friends.

We are parents. We are brothers and sisters and neighbors and coworkers. Who must be known for our sincerity. Because we're commissioned by God.

In God's sight. And we speak in Christ. Let me ask you if you would bow your heads with me. We're going to close in prayer.

Heavenly Father, today we are just sobered by the truth. But also, Lord, so reassured. So thankful that the kind of God we serve is in that parade already as the victor.

To know that the march is on, Lord. And the most beautiful part of it, as we sit here and think about those that we say, I wish they weren't captives.

I wish they were on the side of the victor. They were on God's side. The most beautiful thing is to know that there is time. And so, Lord, we pray for those who are still in their chains.

We pray for those whom we love. That we want to see turn around and give their heart completely to you. To come to you in repentance for their sin.

To receive from you what you've made available in Christ. We need Jesus. We thank you for Jesus. And we pray for all those who are still far off from him.

We pray these things in the name of our Savior. And Jesus, we thank you for being just that, our Savior. Amen. Amen.