FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 2:5-16

Eternity – Continued

From Last Lesson: Some [victorious soldiers] would carry flasks of burning incense and the fragrance would fill the air. To the soldiers of victory the fragrance was a sweet aroma. To the soldiers of defeat who were led into captivity, however, it was the stench of death.

Paul borrowed this familiar scene and applied it spiritually to our triumph in Christ. Jesus defeated death in His resurrection and now the fragrance of victory fills the air for every believer. It is impossible to march through life with a sense of victory without faith in the Christ who has defeated death in the arena of eternity. When, however, you have settled the issue of your eternal destiny, you will be like the fellow who stayed up late one evening to watch the replay of a football game on television. Having heard earlier in the day that his favored team won the game, he sat through the replay with little emotion in spite of the fact that his team trailed by seven points through most of the game. How could he be so calm? Because he knew the final outcome of the game.

Christians may experience defeat in many arenas of life. However, for the Christian, there’s the scent of victory filling the air due to the fact that Christ has won the final battle for us. His victory assures our victory. His triumph ensures our triumph over sin, death, and eternity.

Not long ago, I read an article from a newspaper that was reposted on social media entitled, “Hawkings’ Race Against Time.” It is the story of Stephen Hawkings, author of the best-selling book A Brief History of Time. Hawkings holds a doctorate in theoretical astronomy from Cambridge University and is regarded by many as the greatest thinker of our time. His mind has been compared to that of Albert Einstein. However, at the age of seventy-six at the time of his death, Hawkings was confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed by Lou Gehrig’s disease. Unable to speak, he communicated with the assistance of a computer attached to his wheelchair.

Like Einstein who came before him, Hawkings did not believe in God who interacted with His human creation. Knowing his life expectancy was short at best, he had often said, “I always feel I’m in a race against time . . . I’ve been successful in my work. I have a beautiful family and I’ve written a best-seller. One can’t hope for much more!”

With all due respect, I must disagree with Hawkings’s conclusions about what any of us may hope for in life and death. Like him, I believe we should cram as much of life as we can in the time we have on this earth. Jesus did promise an abundant life in Him (John 10.10). But, to hope for little more than a good job, family, and best-seller is pretty depressing. Someone once said, “He who has no hope in the future has no hold on today!” This is why the Christian gospel is so exhilarating. With the apostle Paul, we may boldly declare, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ” in the arena of eternity. In Christ, abundant life, everlasting life, is an eternal reality.

God is a God of triumph and victory. More than anything else, He wants each of us to experience His victory in the arena of our relationships in life, choices through life, and destiny at the end of life. Celebrate life’s arenas of victory. The battle has already been won in Christ!

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 2:5-16

Choices – Continued

All of life is made up of choices. I become a little uneasy around people who seem to make choices so effortlessly. It has never been easy for me and I suspect, if the truth were known, we all struggle with the alternatives life lays before us.

In deciding upon which college to attend, what career to pursue, and whom to marry (to mention a few of the choices we must make in life), I think it helps to ask both investigative and intuitive questions. What impact will this choice have upon my life? my family? What are the pros and cons of both choices? And, how do I feel about choosing this or that path?

For the Christian, of course, there is always the consideration of God’s will. Which path does He want me to take? Rather than simplifying the decisions we must make, I think that seeking the will of God can be a complex process. I hear people testify that God spoke to them telling them both what to say and do in various situations of life. That has never been my experience. I often struggle to know God’s will in the choices of life. There have even been times I’ve had to make decisions when, after much prayer and reflection, I was still a little uncertain as to the will of God for my life. However, a note of relief is that, at least for me, God has always confirmed His will. He is pleased with our faith (Hebrews 11:6).

There are two things I have come to believe. One is that God truly leads us in triumph in the choices we make in life. Sometimes, however, the triumph is experienced as we look back on life and see how the hand of God has guided us. The other is that, when we make wrong choices, and all of us have at times, God is still able to use us wherever and in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

The one-time White House “hatchet” man Charles Colson, who was convicted in the Watergate scandal and sent to prison, was used by God in spite of the foolish choices he had made early in his life. While serving time in prison, he was dramatically converted, and God gave him a vision of a path down which he could travel to a life of usefulness and productivity. Today, Colson operates the most successful and far-reaching prison ministry in the United States. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ” in the choices we make through life. He will lead you, and you must believe that. Don’t expect it to be an easy or simple process.

Eternity

The most compelling triumph we experience in Christ is in the arena of eternity. The apostle wrote in verses 14-16:

Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

Paul employed the image of the Roman army to illustrate the victory that is ours in eternity. Whenever a commander of the Roman army marched into the city after experiencing victory at battle, all of his soldiers and subjects would march in a victory parade. Some would carry flasks of burning incense and the fragrance would fill the air. To the soldiers of victory the fragrance was a sweet aroma. To the soldiers of defeat who were led into captivity, however, it was the stench of death.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 2:5-16

Relationships – Continued

Dealing with people in general is tough enough. Dealing with problem people is next to impossible. Whenever I think about getting along with people, I recall something I read in the early 80’s from a little girl who was asked to write an essay:

People are composed of girls and boys, also men and women. Boys are no good at all until they grow up and get married. Men who don’t get married are no good either. Boys are an awful bother. My mother is a woman, and my father is a man. A woman is a grown up girl with children. My father is such a nice man, that I think he must have been a girl when he was a boy!

The essay captures the complexity of human relationships. We all become a little tongue-tied and confused when it comes to understanding and getting along with people. Yet, Scripture holds out the promise that each of us may triumph in Christ in the arena of our human relationships. The key to experiencing this victory is in modeling the way Christ dealt with people.

Jesus treated all people with dignity. He believed everyone was of equal worth, Jesus truly was impartial. While people are hardly equal in gifts as the parable of the talents makes clear (Matthew 25:14-30), they are of equal significance as the story of the Samaritan woman illustrates (John 4). We make the complexity of our own relationships all the more complex when we attach degrees of significance to people based on color, class, or condition.

In addition to this, humility is an attitude Jesus cultivated in all His relationships. In learning to triumph in this arena, it might help to humbly remember that, while we talk about the difficult people with whom we live and work, sometimes we are those difficult people ourselves. Think about how offensive Jesus was to many of the people of His day (Mark 6:1-6). It may help you to humbly accept your own offensiveness to others and keep you from being on the defensive.

In all of Jesus’ actions with people and reactions to people, His aim was always conciliatory. Even in His stern rebukes of the religious establishment, He held out hope of redeeming people and even prayed for that to happen. Read the “Woes” passage in Matthew 23. Notice, however, how the chapter ends with Jesus praying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. . . . How often I wanted to gather your children together . . .” (Matthew 23:37). Sometimes, the pain of confrontation is preferred over the ease of silence. In any event, since Christ has led the way toward our own reconciliation to God, can we attempt anything less in our relationship with others? Keep the promise before you, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ” in the arena of human relationships.

Choices

Paul wrote in his letter, “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit . . .” The apostle is letting us in on his struggles. Troas was the north westernmost city in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Paul had traveled all the way from Ephesus to this coastal city when God opened a door of opportunity for him. Yet, he could find no peace in his heart at the thought of stepping through that door. Why? Because he could not find his Christian brother Titus. So, he chose another door of opportunity and departed for Macedonia.

Here is a man struggling between two alternatives. I know about this struggle. I suspect you do, too. Sometimes, I think we look at the apostle Paul as if he were a super-Christian for whom life always worked out perfectly with little effort. I have news for you, however. Life was not effortless for Paul. He struggled between choices in life just as you and I do.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 2:5-16

Someone once said: “Most people admire a good loser . . . as long as it’s somebody else.” It’s true, isn’t it? We savor victory. From the Little League baseball game to the corporate takeover on Wall Street, the name of the game is to win. The apostle Paul expressed our sentiments when he said, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.” With our bent toward winning, we enjoy promises like that. But, the declaration of Paul asks the question, “Into what arenas of life does God lead us in triumph?” It is important to know since there’s a great deal of confusion about it. The preaching that’s popular today is the kind that promises people “outrageous fortune.” However, it would serve us well to reexamine those arenas wherein we may truly experience victory.

Several years back, I passed along a joke in one of my message groups (when they were popular) about two big city coaches who went north to ice fish. Having purchased all the required paraphernalia at a sporting goods store, lines, poles, lures, bait, and a small power saw to cut through the ice, they found their location, pitched a tent, and proceeded to cut a hole in the ice.

Just as they got started, however, they heard a voice call out, “There’s no fish under the ice.” They looked at each other startled and wondered where the voice was coming from. Then, they proceeded with their work. Again, the voice called out, “There’s no fish under the ice.” Both looked up thinking the voice was coming from above and returned to their work pretending they didn’t hear it. The voice thundered a third time.

Finally, one coach could stand it no longer. He stood up and cried out, “Is that you, Lord?”

“No,” returned the voice. “This is the manager of the ice skating arena!”

God may lead us in triumph, but it is important to identify the arenas of life where victory may honestly be experienced. Fortunately, the apostle Paul does not leave us guessing. He clearly identifies those arenas in the passage before us. Observe them and then begin to experience victory for yourself.

Relationships

It is impossible to read 2 Corinthians 2:1-11 without receiving the distinct impression there was a serious relational flaw among the Corinthian Christians. Nobody knows for certain what the exact nature of the problem was. However, in 1 Corinthians 5, we learn of a member of the congregation who was guilty of incest. Perhaps that is the problem to which Paul alludes in the passage before us. In any case, it is noteworthy that the early church took seriously the matter of disciplining errant members. Apparently, the Corinthians had exercised some sort of discipling action against the person or persons responsible for infecting the church’s spirit of internal harmony and external witness in the world. Therefore, Paul said, in essence, “Enough is enough!” In verses 6-8 we see that He instructed,

This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.