The Fragrance of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:23-2:17)

2 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 23.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

I call on God as a witness on my life that it was to spare you I did not come to Corinth.

I do not mean that we lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in your faith.

In fact, I made up my mind about this, I would not come to you on another painful visit.

For if I caused you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?

I wrote this very thing, so when I came I wouldn't have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I am confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours.

For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart, not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

If anyone has caused pain, he has caused pain not so much to me, but to some degree, not to exaggerate, to all of you.

This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.

As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him.

Otherwise he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

I wrote for this purpose, to test your character to see if you're obedient in everything.

Anyone you forgive, I do too.

For what I have forgiven, if I've forgiven anything, it is for your benefit in the presence of Christ, so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan.

For we are not ignorant of his schemes.

When I came to Troaz to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me, I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus, and said I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ's triumphal procession, and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

To some we're an aroma of death leading to death, but to others an aroma of life leading to life.

Who is adequate for these things?

For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many.

On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ as from God and before God.

And Lord, I thank you for this morning.

I ask that you would be glorified as we study your word, that you would fill me with your spirit to rightly teach, and that you would fill the hearers with your spirit to rightly discern what is of you and what is not, and that we will grow together and grow in you in all things.

In your name.

Amen.

Alright, go ahead and have a seat.

Second Corinthians is a bit of an interesting book because it is not as much of what we saw when we went through Romans or what we saw when we went through 1 Corinthians, where Paul is teaching and giving a lot of doctrinal information to correct issues with that.

So it is less about what we are seeing him say and more about what we are learning about what he did for the first chunk.

And that's that's what's a bit odd at the very, very beginning.

So if you remember, all the way back in 1 Corinthians, at the beginning of 1 Corinthians, when we went through that, there was division based on their leaders.

I'm of Paul, I'm Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm of Jesus.

But there were different factions within the church in Corinth that preferred a different leader and therefore were of Team Paul, or they were of Team Apollos or Team Peter.

And so this creates all kinds of schisms.

And why am I saying that?

Because we're going to see that continue throughout this whole book, is that mentality and that issue of what's happening.

So we've been going through in the last uh few weeks, it's been really, really good and helpful to have that groundwork laid, totally stole Pastor Chris's maps for this week as well, because I'm not improving on that.

And so I'm not going to retread the same ground, so please go back and listen to that.

But ultimately understand that what we see is that Paul planted the church in Corinth, and then he wrote to them, and then we saw 1 Corinthians, and then there was a visit that went really, really bad, what we call the painful visit.

And then he was going to visit again, but decided to write again.

His letter, and then now he's writing again 2 Corinthians.

A little bit of the structure of what we have here.

And so one of the challenges that we see in this book is that it is a divided church.

It gets really confusing if we think that everyone is of the same mind.

When have you ever seen two people who are of the same mind?

It doesn't work that way.

It is a very divided church, different ideas, and there are some people who are very devoted to Paul and who are following him and are submitting to his word in this, and there are others who just don't like the guy, and who prefer these other apostles, these super apostles, which we see in a minute.

So Paul is shepherding a church that he helped plant from a distance as an apostle.

Some who are responding, and some who just don't like him.

And that's a bit of a challenge in how he navigates that.

They think he's weak.

And so there's just using just 2 Corinthians, we see a little bit of what his detractors look like.

If we pop to the first slide.

In chapter 10, verse 10, he's gotten word that these people who don't like Paul are saying, his letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking, his public speaking amounts to nothing.

It's like, yeah, he writes really well, but he's not so impressive when he's there.

We see in 11, 5, and 6.

Now I consider myself in no way inferior to these super apostles.

Even if I'm untrained in public speaking, I am certainly not entrained in knowledge.

Indeed, we have in every way made that clear to you in everything.

So there we see him having to defend himself, saying, Yeah, okay, I'm untrained in public speaking, but not in knowledge.

And so I am not inferior to these super apostles that you love so much.

And 1211, I've been a fool, you have forced it on me.

You ought to have commended me, since I am not in any way inferior to those super apostles, even though I'm nothing.

And then in 1215, I will most gladly spend and be spent for you if I love you more.

Am I to be loved less?

And your translation may even say, the more I love you, the less I am loved by you.

And so it's a very interesting situation where Paul is hurt by this.

He is being gauged against these super apostles in a church that he planted, and there's a lot of subtext in here, but ultimately they they think he is weak, not only in his presence, not only in his message, but also in comparison to these people.

So there is very, very interesting because uh in the very intro of this, of this book, when we went through it, that really good description of Paul and about why they might not take a good uh opinion of him.

And so it was it was described that Paul could could be pictured like Danny DeVito.

Little guy, not very impressive in that sense.

And so they're like, yeah, we don't we really don't like this guy.

And so, in that sense, Paul might not do so great in the 21st century American church either, where platform is key.

And so that's the challenge here.

He's in he is encountering an issue that is timeless in that sense, where anointing equals platform, where effectiveness in ministry equals social media followers.

I don't know what they had in court, I don't think they had social media, but chiseling it on tablets took a little bit more effort and commitment there.

But with this in mind, Paul is encountering a place where he is shepherding and loving people who are like, ah, but this guy, these people over here are really impressive.

They've got the voice, they've got the height, they've got the presence, they're marketable.

And so when speaking and navigating that, people who may equate anointing with platform or with persona, that gets very, very complicated.

And so, and we've we've seen this as well throughout all of our travels and in our ministry and such.

And so it's it's a two-sided thing.

It's not only those who are um putting themselves on a platform and having that persona, but it's there's people we we there's something inside of us that really wants to do that to our leaders, and so and there's also people who are tend to kind of be ladder climbers in ministry to where they somehow always manage to make their way into the inner circle of people and influence, and then it builds their own platform, and there's this weird, unhealthy relationship that can happen in that.

So it seems in in Corinth, they're really impressed by the really impressive people.

Paul is not a really impressive person in person, and he is navigating that he's gonna do it anyway.

That's a big thing of what we're learning through this is that Paul's ministry is not based on optics.

It's based on his care and love and shepherding of these people who are made in the image of God.

So as we continue, as we look in here, we're actually going to start the text.

And in verse 23, he says, I call and God is a witness on my life.

It was to spare you that I didn't come to Corinth.

I didn't mean that we lord it over your faith, we're workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in your faith.

So, continuing on from what we saw last week.

Last week was a lot of information of Paul explaining why he didn't show up when he said he was going to.

And why did they take that as a slight?

Did they take that as an insult?

Did they take that as further weakness?

And how he was continuing that.

We see a little spiel here that where it's it was to spare you that I didn't come to Corinth.

And when he says that, he doesn't say that because he was gonna come in and you know, like, okay, Corinth, we have some work to do, but rather he did that out of care, and we'll see that in a little moment here.

He wants to clarify in verse 24.

I don't mean that we lord it over your faith, but we're workers with you for your joy because you stand firm in your faith.

Paul's ministry here is being co-workers with them for their good, shepherding among them for their faith and their joy.

And when everything is about presence and platform, that is seen as weakness to be among, to be with, to be serving alongside.

Lording over is seen as powerful, lording over is seen as leadership.

But here Paul is saying, look, we're not lording over you, we're workers among you.

And as such, it wasn't good for us to visit.

Now, why wasn't it good to visit here?

Verse uh one of chapter two, I made up my mind about this.

I wouldn't come to you on another painful visit.

For I've caused you pain, who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?

I wrote this thing so that when it came, you wouldn't have pain.

I wouldn't have pain from those who ought to give me joy.

Because I'm confident about all of you that my joy will be yours.

So why didn't he visit?

Because the last one was rough.

The last visit was, well, painful.

That's why we call it the painful visit.

We don't know exactly what happened in that visit, but we have a little bit of info about this visit.

If we go to the next slide.

So on the painful visit, we see in this book, chapter 12, verses 20 through 21, for I fear that perhaps when I come I will not find you to be what I want, and you will not find me to be what you want.

Perhaps there will be quarreling, jealousy, angry outbursts, selfish ambitions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

I fear when I come, my God will again humiliate me in your presence, and I will grieve for many who sinned before and have not repented of the moral impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality they practice.

And 13 2, I gave a warning when I was present the second time, and now I give a warning while I am absent to those who sinned before and to all the rest.

If I come again, I will not be lenient.

Things you don't want to hear like your parents say.

And it did not go well.

Who here loves to be confronted about your sin?

Favorite thing in the world?

Please don't raise your hand.

That is a counseling appointment I am not prepared to do.

So with that, he is confronting them about what is happening in that, and it went really poorly.

So, what is he going to do here?

He's going to write instead, because this meeting could have been an email.

And so in verse 3, I wrote this very thing so that when I came I wouldn't have pain from those who ought to give me joy, because I'm confident about all of you that my joy will also be yours.

For I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart, not to cause you pain, but that you should know the abundant love I have for you.

So he wrote this letter to spare them more pain.

He wrote it with many tears in verse 4, out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart.

And he wrote this so that they would know the abundant love he has for them.

We see a little bit more about his letter here on the next slide.

The letter.

In verse 8 through 10 of chapter 7, for even if I grieved you with my letter, I don't regret it.

If I regretted it, since I saw the letter grieved you yet only for a while, I now rejoice.

Yet not only because you were gr not only, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance.

For you were grieved as God wilt, so that you didn't experience any loss from us.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.

But worldly grief produces death.

And then in chapter 7, verse 12, even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged, but in order that your devotion to us might be made plain to you in the sight of God.

So when he wrote this letter, it was to bring about repentance, it was to gauge their devotion in the midst of having these super apostles, false teachers that are super impressive in their area, and he wrote it with many tears out of extremely troubled and anguished heart to show the abundant love he has for them.

To an individual who sees anointing as platform and marketability, this looks like further weakness.

Paul doesn't care.

That's a nice thing.

He loves these people and he is going to serve them and he is going to minister to them and he's going to do them with do it with sensitivity.

He actually thought this through because he could have said, I'm going to show up again.

You don't think I'm impressive?

I'm going to show up again.

We're going to have it out here.

And he doesn't do that.

He hears from them that there are people in their church that go, eh, he writes well, but in person, he's not very impressive.

And then he opts not to show up.

Which on paper is not the smart thing to do.

Basically, when someone, you know, someone says you're weak, then you show how weak you're not.

But instead he's like, You want to see weakness?

Here's a letter written by tears, out of love, with care and concern, seeking repentance, seeking your devotion.

Here's the cool thing that I see in this, because again, we're looking through not just what he's teaching, but what he's doing here.

He's Paul.

He's kind of a big deal on paper, right?

Show of hands.

How many of you have had, uh have like brought people back from the dead?

This is this is a psych evaluation, by the way.

Real time.

How many of you have cast out a uh a prophetic demon from a from a girl of Philippi?

Okay.

I'm couching here to make sure that no one raises their hand.

You know, the Lord is using Paul in crazy ways throughout all of his ministry.

Paul is very clearly beloved in Ephesus, as we see in the book of Acts, when he gathers the elders together and says, You're not gonna see me anymore, and they all weep and send him on his way.

He has a following up in Macedonia and places like Berea and Philippi and Thessalonica, where he is also very, very well beloved.

It would be super easy for Paul just to ghost Corinth all together and focus on what?

Basically, to focus and double down on his on his base rather than those who are not so impressed by him.

And he doesn't do that, which is cool.

He's not building his platform, he's not building his ministry in that sense, but he is insisting on shepherding these people, even when some of them really treat him poorly.

So it's cool to see that happening in his actions beyond just his words.

And the fact that not only is that, but he's not going to play their game.

He's not going to go in in strength that first time.

He is going to write a letter with tears, in care.

What is this letter?

Let's let's just do some little crazy mind-bending here.

1 Corinthians, right?

We see in chapter 5 he wrote to them before concerning those who were committing sexual immorality.

So 1 Corinthians is 2 Corinthians, in terms of his writing.

Here we have this painful letter, which technically is 3 Corinthians, and what we're reading is 4 Corinthians, chronologically.

So we don't have all of this correspondence.

We don't have at least half of the letters he wrote to this church, and that's okay.

That's not a problem, but we're looking in terms of the canon of Scripture, in terms of the Word of God, which is inerrant and directly God-breathed and inspired, and is the basis of our faith and salvation.

We have two of these letters.

Two of these letters we, at least two of these letters we don't have.

And so, this letter, this painful letter, we almost certainly just don't have a copy of that.

And that's probably for our benefit.

That would be a little bit awkward.

So, here, continuing forward in verse 5, he has gone through his visits and his letters, why he didn't show up, why he wrote instead, and here he's going to pivot to forgiveness and love.

Verse 5.

If anyone has caused pain, he's caused pain, not so much to me, but to some degree, not to exaggerate, to all of you.

All y'all.

This punishment by the majority is sufficient for that person.

As a result, you should instead forgive and comfort him.

Otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

Therefore, I urge you to remain your love, reaffirm your love for him.

I wrote for this purpose to test your character, to see if you're obedient in everything, and anyone you forgive, I do too.

For what I've forgiven if I forgive anything, it's for your benefit in the presence of Christ, so we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Okay.

We're seeing a situation here where he is exhorting them to forgive and comfort this individual who has gone under some sort of whole church punishment.

Now, there are many who are 100% convinced that this has gotta be that guy in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 who was sleeping with his stepmother.

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

It's gotta be.

There are some that are like, there's no way that that's true.

It is most likely, rather, somebody who was uh actually resisted Paul to his face and insulted him on that painful visit.

It's gotta be that.

We don't know.

There's a lot of people in Corinth.

You know who knows?

Paul.

You know who else knows?

The Church of Corinth, because clearly they know which person they're talking about.

And they have taken whole church punishment upon that person.

That word punishment, that's the only time in scripture we see that word used there, for whatever that's worth, by the majority, all.

On this individual who has repented.

Now, is that the person in chapter five?

I don't know, it could be.

That's the Hallmark movie like answer to where it's like, oh, what it all wrapped up in that way, and they lived happily ever after, in their small town when she's actually found her truth too far.

So we don't know.

We just do not know.

But what we do know is there is an individual who went under church discipline and repented.

And isn't that worth rejoicing over no matter who it is?

No matter who that individual is, that is super cool for multiple reasons.

Number one, because they repented.

So then you have all the angels in heaven rejoicing over one sinner who repents.

On the other side, it was done by the church in a way that was sufficiently loving and measured that it brought about repentance and not reproach, which is wonderful.

So we have somebody here that repented, and what is the prescription in verse 7?

You should instead forgive and comfort him.

Why?

Because otherwise, he may be overwhelmed by excessive grief.

Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

On one side, he is urging people to repent in the Church of Corinth, who are not repenting of their sin, who are comfortable in their sin, and want that to be a part of their, they want Jesus and their sin.

And yet here, ironically, they have somebody who repented, and the Corinthians are like, do we forgive this guy or do we just continue to shun him?

What do we do?

And so he's telling them here, hey, forgive.

Comfort, reaffirm your love for them.

These are words that have come up often in this book.

Comfort we saw in chapter 1, verses 4 through 7, where it's the God of comfort who comforts us in every affliction.

We saw the excessive grief in chapter 7, verse 10, which brings about sorrow and death.

And then reaffirming the love for them, we see in this very chapter, chapter 2, verses 4, Paul's love for Corinth.

These are key words in this letter, in his example, to this church.

Forgiveness, comfort, affirmation of love.

Again, to somebody who wants a show of force, kind of sounds like weakness.

Kind of sounds like Jesus.

And that is the interesting thing that we see in this section.

More so than who this guy is, because is that important?

Sure, but we just don't know for sure.

But what we know is that what they are to do is to practice forgiveness and love and comfort to the individual who has repented.

So, something to help us on our way in 2 Corinthians, in this book as a whole.

It's what I call the Corinthians Inception.

So there's a movie, I'm not endorsing it, but basically there's all these multiple levels of this same of dreams in that sense.

We see that here as well, multiple times in this book, where he gives an example of his relationship to the church and what they should do.

So, first, on the lowest level, if we hit the next slide, forgiveness and love on the lowest level, he's telling the Corinthian church to practice forgiveness and love to the repentant person in their church.

Go up a level, as you see in the subtext, that's what Paul is doing to the church in Corinth.

That he is showing comfort, he is showing forgiveness, and he is practicing love.

In a very subtle and understated way.

Now, why would he do that?

Because there is one more level to this Corinthian inception here, and that is on the highest level, the Lord to the repentant person here.

So, he's telling them, forgive, comfort, reaffirm your love.

He's demonstrating this in his own actions by forgiving them and comforting them and demonstrating his love.

Why?

Because that's what Jesus did for us.

Forgiving, demonstrating his love by dying for us and reaffirming his love after that.

And that is something that we're going to see throughout this book.

So later in chapter 12, when Paul says, I worry that when I show up, I'm not gonna find you like I want to.

You guys all attacking each other and having outbursts and jealousy and quarreling, you can also see in the subtext Jesus saying, I'm coming back, and I'd really like to not find you like I don't want to.

Quarreling, fighting, selfish ambitions, sinning in that way.

So throughout this book, just keep track of that.

Keep track of that interesting thing that as Paul is interfacing with this church, we also see this metaphor of how Christ deals with the church as well.

Just something to tuck away.

Here the key is forgiveness and comfort and love.

Why, verse 11?

So that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Arguing from the negative here, what are his schemes here?

Unforgiveness, lack of comfort, lack of love.

These are things that the enemy thrives on and thrives on within the body of Christ.

If we are not forgiving, if we are not showing comfort, if we are not showing love to those who are repentant, that feeds right into the enemy's wheelhouse.

And so he's saying, look, we know what.

At no point do we sit there and go, hey, for the repentant individual, what you should do is not forgive them, because that's what Jesus would do.

There's a verse that I'm sure you have not heard before.

For God so loved the world, gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

That forgiveness is offered freely.

And in the same way, we should be freely forgiving.

And it's also a test, a test of their obedience.

Are you going to follow in forgiveness or are you going to follow in what these other guys are teaching?

Because again, in the eyes of the world, forgiveness equals weakness.

Comfort equals weakness.

Love equals weakness.

And they're calling him out on that, and he's doubling down on it.

Like, okay, you think that's true?

I'm gonna give you more of that.

I'm gonna give more of that to my own detriment.

So, as he continues, we hit verse 12.

We have travel plans and the triumphal procession here.

So in verse 12, when I came to Macedonia or to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me, I had no rest in my spirit because I didn't find my brother Titus.

Instead, I said goodbye to them, left for Macedonia.

So if we can put the map up there.

Suspiciously familiar map.

So he went to Troaz.

See, I can stand in front of the screen and not block it.

Went to Troas, didn't find Titus there.

So he said goodbye, went all the way back to Macedonia, which he didn't take a flight.

This is a long, long trip.

Arriving at Troas, which is interesting because he is not a one-man show here.

The Lord opened a door there, he came to preach, didn't find Titus, and he's like, I'm gonna go back to Macedonia.

Which is interesting because he could have said, I don't need Titus, I don't need that guy.

I'm Paul.

And instead, he goes there, he doesn't see, he has no rest because he doesn't find Titus, says goodbye, and leaves for Macedonia.

Here's a weird thing about 2 Corinthians.

Between right here and chapter 5, verses 7 is one long side note.

So it's right about here that Paul loses track of what he's saying to a certain extent, gives a four and a half chapter long demonstration of apostleship and strength in weakness in following Christ, and the proof of that, before in chapter 7, verse 5, he finally gets to, oh yeah, Troas, Titus.

That's what I was talking about.

So just to give you a little bit of info there here, chapter 7, verses 5 through 7.

He says, When we came into Macedonia, we had no rest.

We were troubled on every way, conflicts on the outside, fears within.

But God who comforts the downcast comforts us by the arrival of Titus, not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he received from you.

He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

And continuing forward in verse 13 in 2 Corinthians 7, for the spirit, reason, for this reason we've been comforted.

In addition to our own comfort, we rejoiced even more over the joy Titus had, because his spirit was refreshed by all of you.

For if I have made any boast to him about you, I haven't been disappointed.

As I've spoken everything to you in truth, so our boasting to Titus has also turned out to be the truth, and his affection towards you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of all of you and how you received him with fear and trembling.

So what on earth happened here?

He went to Troas, had an open door, didn't find Titus, said, Okay, we're going to head to Macedonia.

And Macedonia went back.

We see in chapter 7.

Trouble on every way, conflicts on the outside, fears within.

And then Titus shows up and he's comforted.

So it's not like he took the easy road to Macedonia rather than Corinth and all these different things.

It actually got harder there, but Titus brought comfort.

Why on earth is he bringing this up, Bo?

Because he's going to use Titus as a go-between to this church.

Some believe that Titus actually bore the letter to Corinth.

But also, funny thing about Titus, he's Greek.

We see that in Galatians, that he was a Greek and he wasn't even compelled to be circumcised.

So he didn't feel like he needed to become Jewish in order to follow Jesus.

And so an interesting thing about this is where's Corinth?

Greece.

So Paul's sending not super Jew himself, but rather Gentile Greek Titus on their way, and they seemed to like him.

So it worked well.

But we see that information here that he went to Troaz, didn't find Titus, went to Macedonia.

We're going to see later in chapter 7 that it was rough in Macedonia, but Titus brought comfort, and then Titus interfaces really well with Corinth.

So, verse 14.

Thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ's triumphal procession, and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

For to God we're the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing.

To some we're an aroma of death leading to death, to others, an aroma of life leading to life.

Who is adequate for these things?

Pause there.

Triumphal procession.

Paul did not make this up.

In fact, if you can hit the next slide, please.

There's something called the Fasti Triumphalis.

If you say it quick enough, people think it's confidence and they buy it.

Fasti triumphalis, which is over here.

It is a carved marble catalog of Roman triumphal processions from like legend all the way down to 19 BC.

So this is an official thing in Rome.

It's not like he's saying Christ's triumphal procession, and people will be like, I don't know what that really means.

They're like, oh, that.

It would be like being on the central coast and somebody mentions 4th of July in Cayucus.

You don't go, gosh, I wonder what that happens.

You go, I'm not gonna find a parking spot.

So it is an official thing that they understand.

In fact, we see from ancient historian H.

S.

Verstnell in his work Triumphius, an inquiry into the origin, development, and meaning of the Roman Triumph.

He gives a layout of what this looked like.

The part of the procession which entered the city ahead of the triumphator's chariot gave the spectators an idea of the victory.

Not only were the spoils of war carried along, weapons, gold, silver, and jewelry, but also pictures of battle scenes of towns conquered, and boards with the names of the peoples subjugated.

And here we find the famous Veni Vidivisi.

I came, I saw, I conquered.

The gifts of honor presented by the conquered peoples, originally laurel wreaths, later on gold wreaths were shown.

White oxen to be sacrificed to Jupiter were brought along.

The procession marched to a flourish of trumpets.

Aromatic substances were also carried.

The chained prisoners, the most prominent of whom were, as a rule, killed in the dungeon before the sacrifice was made to Jupiter, walked right in front of the triumphal chariot.

So there is an order that these things would go in that was expected.

You have the gifts and the spoils of war, the recollection of what went down.

You have these white oxen to be sacrificed to Jupiter, who gave them victory in war, supposedly.

You have aromatic substances carried throughout, and right before the conqueror rolls in, you have chained prisoners of prominence on their way to being executed before this sacrifice takes place, and then rolls in the chariot with the conqueror on it.

So when he says, thanks be to God who always leads us in Christ's triumphal procession, and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

To God, we are the fragrance of Christ.

Pause there for a moment.

Who are they in this triumphal procession?

Fragrance.

They are that aromatic substance that carries throughout this procession.

They are not the conqueror.

They're not the one in the chariot.

Who's the one in the chariot?

Verse 14.

It is Christ's triumphal procession.

They are simply the aromatic substance caring about the victory that has been won.

Sounds like weakness.

But with that, it is what they are as messengers of Christ, wafting around the scent of his victory, not their triumph.

And that's the beautiful thing here.

He says, To some we're the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those perishing, or to God, for some, to some, we are an aroma of death leading to death.

When those prisoners walking in front of the chariot are smelling that aromatic substance that does not portent good things to come.

The sacrifice that is happening, they do not get to participate in.

They will meet their fate in darkness.

And so that smell is not a good smell to those who are perishing.

But to others, an aroma of life leading to life.

To the Romans, that is a great smell.

That is victory, that is prosperity, that's less taxes that they have to pay, because here comes the loot.

That is the expansion of their kingdom, and that is their ruler rolling in in victory, showing a force of strength.

It all depends on if you are of the kingdom of the conqueror, or if you are the one who is along the side of those who are being conquered.

What did Jesus secure victory over?

Sin and death.

We saw that we went through 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

He is a conqueror over sin and death.

How did he do that?

Did he do that by overthrowing the Roman Empire?

No.

Did he do that by establishing his kingdom on earth?

No.

Did he do that by creating his own sense of primacy within Jerusalem?

No.

He did that by suffering and giving up his life and dying.

And as a result, God has exalted him above every name.

Now we see in Philippians chapter 2, verses 4.

Philippians 2:4

As such, Paul is not saying, well, we're going to roll in as conquerors because look, I planted this church, man.

I have half of this church is loyal to me.

And you guys, we're gonna we're gonna clean house here, guys.

He says, we are simply the aroma of the victory Christ has won.

And it is that attitude that allows him to say in Philippians 1, some people try to add to my chains by preaching the gospel.

And I say, great, that's awesome, because the gospel's going forth.

It's with that kind of mentality.

If he was building his own kingdom, if he was building his own platform, that's crazy.

And it does not work.

But instead, he is there as a messenger of Jesus, proclaiming the victory of the Lord.

But he's also asking the Corinthians, how are you guys reacting to my smell?

Please bring that up to a stranger today, sometime out at lunch or something.

How do I smell?

He's asking the Corinthian church, do I smell to you like the fragrance of Christ and his victory?

Or perhaps are you reacting to me poorly because you have chosen sin.

You have chosen the kingdom of darkness that the Lord has already emerged victorious over by his sin and by his victory over sin and death.

And then he ends here in verse 17.

We don't market the word of God for prophet like so many.

On the contrary, we speak with sincerity.

That word sincerity is three times in the New Testament, all to the church in Corinth.

That's a big thing to them.

Sincerity.

No mask, no hypocrisy, no pretense.

From God, before God in Christ.

That he's not marketing this like the super apostles.

It's interesting in this passage because it is an odd passage.

We get his travel plans, we get why he wrote a letter instead of showing up, we get his doubling down on his weakness and his care to this church, where some of them accuse him of being weak by caring.

And he says that he is simply the aroma of Christ's victory.

And how they react to that is not his problem in that sense.

And not in a pugilistic sense, but rather that it's all it's a heart check in them.

Paul has every right and ability and opportunity here to build his own kingdom, to build his platform, and yet he instead continues to show Christ as the victor, and Christ as the victory, because his victory came through his death, through his resurrection, and through our his forgiveness of us, which is beautiful.

And so therefore, Paul calls his church to forgive, just as he forgave them, and just as Christ forgives the church.

Just as he is loving someone who doesn't like him very much and caring for them to his own harm, just as Jesus gave up his life to sacrifice to bring about forgiveness.

And just a beautiful reminder in this, as followers of Jesus, we are simply the fragrance of Christ's victory.

He did it.

He did it all.

He did all of the impressive stuff.

It is not our job to be impressive.

It is not our job to by this sign conquer.

It is our job to waft that fragrance of the victory of Christ.

To demonstrate not our victory, not our platform, but rather the forgiveness he offers in weakness.

He, as God, put on flesh to live, to die for our sin when he was sinless.

And that is what we are responsible to carry out.

And how people react to that, we don't need to impress in that way.

And we certainly need to do so in a way of weakness and love and comfort and forgiveness.

Just as he forgave us.

We see in Matthew 18, 21 through 35, the parable of the unforgiving servant.

I recommend checking that out to see.

But the goal with that is not forgiven, therefore we forgive others.

For those who don't have this relationship with Jesus, who haven't accepted that, what on earth are we talking about?

We're talking about a king who offered himself his life.

Jesus offered his sinless life on our behalf so that in our sin he might pay for it on the cross and impute his innocence upon us through faith in him and faith in him alone.

And as a result, we just carry about that fragrance of Christ.

Let's pray.

Lord, you are good.

You are victorious, Jesus, over sin and death and the grave.

You have emerged triumphant, and we can rejoice in that.

We can rest in that.

We can find hope in that.

I ask that we would be aromatic vessels carrying about your scent.

That as we see later, that we would be earthen vessels carrying about priceless treasure, that the more we are cracked and broken, the more the beauty shows through.

That we would be simply an earthen tent that brings about the promise of glory better, as we see later in this book.

Lord, you came in humility and you came in love, you came in care.

Not to build a kingdom in Rome or in Jerusalem, but to rather secure victory over sin and death.

I ask that we would follow you in that.

That we would be quick to forgive, quick to love, quick to comfort, all without compromising on what you clearly call sin.

But it would all be done, faith in grace and love.

Be glorified as we follow you.

In your name.

Amen.