Thursday, August 28

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2014

Job 28:1–30:31

2 Corinthians 2:12–17

Psalm 42:1–11

Proverbs 22:7

 

 

Today’s short passage from 2 Corinthians 2:12–17 provides two excellent word-pictures to understand the nature of the Gospel, the good news that, in Christ alone by grace alone by faith alone, we may find forgiveness and eternal life.

 

In v. 14, Paul writes:  “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.”  Please notice these two pictures:  a “triumphal procession” and the “fragrance of the knowledge of him.”  While Paul applies these pictures primarily to himself and his ministry associates, these word-pictures apply to us as we seek to honor and glorify God.

 

The “triumphal procession” refers to the victors’ parade that would follow a battle campaign.  Without means to broadcast messages quickly or over significant distances, the showmanship of such a procession, perhaps also involving the humiliation of enemy prisoners, bolstered the standing of local leaders in the eyes of their subjects.  The victory deserved a festive occasion.  This tradition persisted well into the modern day.  Perhaps you may recall the famous “sailor-kissing-the-nurse” picture from August 1945 or the ticker-tape parades of returning soldiers or victorious sports teams.  The media has even termed the closed-in buildings of Lower Manhattan, the sight of many such parades, “the Canyon of Heroes.”

 

While most such parades celebrate temporal victory, this “triumphal procession” to which Paul refers involves the guarantee of eternal life and the powerful forgiveness that accompanies it.  In proclaiming the truth of God’s Word and taking hold of it for our daily lives, we participate in the most significant witness for the Gospel:  transformed lives.  When we serve as a living testimony of God’s goodness, mercy, and power, we herald the joyous victory over sin and death.

 

With that in mind, with what type of attitude may we approach our walk with Christ?  With confidence!  Ours is not a vain hope in a potential victory; rather, it is a secure, grounded hope in a promised and sealed outcome.  We may trust the effective work of Christ on the Cross because of the trustworthiness of God Himself, His power over nature and history, the testimony of Scripture, and the historical facts of the Empty Tomb and the faithfulness of believers.  We see evidence for our confidence daily as we study for the Word.  May you take great joy in marching in His “triumphant procession” today!

 

The second image – that of a “fragrant aroma” – highlights the categorical response to the Gospel.  In this message, we either find life (for those who have trusted in Christ) or death (for those who recognize their deadness in sin, apart of Jesus’s work on the cross):  “To the one, we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”

 

As we seek to love God, love people, and make disciples, we present Jesus Christ and Him crucified to a hurting world.  People will react to Christ living with us by receiving Him or rejecting Him.  Dulling one’s senses to this truth through distractions or ignoring it altogether involves a (passive) rejection, too.

 

The passage concludes with two curious notes.  First, Paul questions:  “And who is equal to such a task?”  This opportunity and challenge of serving as the aroma of Christ is truly impossible in our human strength.  Only by God’s grace may we, like the moon, reflect the glory of the Son.  This seeming inadequacy draws us more closely to God.  Paul had written in 1:9:  “Indeed, in our hearts, we felt the sentence of death [due to their sufferings].  But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

 

Second, please notice how Paul declares that he does not “peddle” the Gospel.  While the historical context is not immediately apparent, perhaps he refers to offering cheap grace to bring adulation and profit.  Instead, a careful witness offers not an elixir, but a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.  This relationship will bring joy but will not allow us to avoid trouble or hardship.  As the Sons of Korah offer in Psalm 42:1,2, tasting this relationship leads us to thirst after Him.  This reality may bring hope to a hurting and hurdling world.

 

 

Lord God, thank You for the gracious provision of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Who has secured eternal victory.  Give us an attitude of confidence as we live for You, pointing others to Your truth and goodness.  Help us to share the aroma of Christ through our lives, which only happens by Your grace.  Equip us to honor You and serve as Your ambassadors.  Come, Lord Jesus, to bring hope and renewal to Stamford, Connecticut, the U.S., and our world.  We thirst for You and wish to taste and see Your goodness today.  In Jesus’s Name, amen.

 

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