Thanks be to God

Good morning. As we go into this passage here, I'm kind of excited about the content of this passage. It has just a bunch of really neat principles that Paul kind of moves rather quickly through here, and we hope to touch on all of them. But it is a principle-packed passage just full of really great riches here. Some of the principles, we'll just touch on quickly, the kind of topical names. One is open doors. It's an idea that is presented in scripture, even in the New Testament, maybe about three dozen times.

Rest for our spirits. This is an interesting one because we talk at Holly Hills about resting in the Lord. And yet here is one where Paul says, I didn't. What's with that? Thanks to God. One certainly brought up frequently and even by Paul himself. In addition to that, he mentioned something, God leading us in triumph. And we'll want to take a close look at that, of course.

A spiritual aroma and fragrance. And I don't know, maybe that explains why most people choose to sit in the back. But I have changed my deodorant. But anyway, we'll get to that one. The saved and the perishing, a perspective that he has here. And then adequacy and motives for ministry. It's something we addressed in our opening slides here. This question of adequacy is a rather big one. And then finally, what's our vantage point for ministry? How do we look upon the ministries that the Lord has put in front of us?

So the first one that comes up there is open doors. The New Testament has, as we mentioned, about three dozen different references to doors or a door, singular. And these verses, as this one, are often pivotal. In this case, the open door appears to be an opportunity for the gospel, and that's frankly the use that's made in a number of cases where the word door is used. And about these open doors, one of the things that Revelation makes clear is the Lord is the one who places them. The Lord is the one who opens the door. I don't think we open any doors. The Lord seems to be the one who opens that. It's up to us to recognize the doors that He's opened.

Secondly, and we'll get into this in more detail a little bit later, but pray for them. Pray about them. Pray that we would have them. Pray that we would recognize the doors that are open in front of us. And finally, walk through them, or even in some instances, walk past them. And we'll touch on what that means in a little bit here. In Colossians 4, 2 through 4, we have, as you also have on your handout, A really good passage about open doors and what ought to be our approach to them. It goes like this.

Devote yourselves to prayer. And he has two little things to go along in parallel with that. Keeping alert in it. Alert in prayer. And then finally, with an attitude of thanksgiving. And one of the things that that does is it reinforces the grace motive for what we do. The grace motivation here comes from thanksgiving. The attitude of thanksgiving isn't something we paste on the surface. We don't just say thanks as something we apply to the surface. It is something that motivates us out of the grace motive.

Secondly, praying at the same time for us as well. Praying for others who have the opportunity that God will open up to us a door for the Word. It is the Lord who actually places the open doors in front of us. This is a prayer to that effect. The Revelation 3, 8 passage that we referenced earlier is a statement to that effect. It is God who does the door opening.

And finally, the so that. So that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ. Now, mystery is not something that remains shrouded in mystery. It's not continuously mysterious, but it's a truth revealed that has not been previously revealed. A truth now revealed. So it's actually an understanding of something, not a lack of understanding of something. It's used a little differently than we commonly use it in our language. And notice that I may make it clear. Clarity is something that we can pray for.

It says here in the bottom of the slide and also in your handout, see Ephesians 6, 18 through 20. We'll want to do that, although this is not in your handout, so you'll have to look at the slide. This is at the passage that's at the end of the weapons of the faith, if you will.

He says, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert. Here's that word alert again, having to do with prayer. with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Our prayers are not just to be for our own individual circumstances, but for other believers as well. And he says, and pray on my behalf that utterance may be given me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness, here it is, boldness, the mystery of the gospel.

Here's the word mystery again. Again, it is not a continuing mystery. It's something that was unknown and is now revealed. Colossians chapter 1, by the way, defines that quite well. And then finally, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. So with that, we come to this question.

What's this about Paul not resting? Is that heresy or what? No. We as believers certainly ought to rest in the Lord, that is, to rely upon who He is and to rely upon what He has done and says that He will do. We most certainly ought to rest in that. So there's no issue with that.

But there are times and circumstances when God actually will guide through the situation that we're in actually passed an opportunity. That appears to be what happens to Paul. Here's a door of opportunity, and yet he says, I can't find Titus. We've got to deal with this other issue. So the Lord appeared to lead him past the particular opportunity.

It was someone else's opportunity. The Lord may in fact use other people to accomplish things even though the door is open in front of us. Now, I'm not saying that we ought to be shy about the opportunities in front of us. We should not. But we ought to look carefully, is this the opportunity that the Lord has for me? It is possible, and this is important to recognize, it is possible there is a need in front of you, but it is not God's intent that you fulfill it. Open door is not necessarily your call, right?

Here is a for instance, in Acts chapter 3, this is right after the day of Pentecost, where the first believers in the church there were converted. In Acts chapter 3, the very beginning of the chapter, here's Peter and John, they're going up to the temple, that's the same temple that Jesus had walked about in, as a matter of fact, maybe even as soon as a couple months before this, Jesus had walked in this very same temple. And this is about the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, and a man who had been lame from his mother's womb, so a long time, was being carried along, and look at this, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple." You know what this means? This means that it's very likely, almost certain, that Jesus walked right past this guy.

Though He could have healed him, right? He could have healed this guy. And why did He not? Because it's Peter and John's opportunity. It's for them to do. Then it goes on and tells the account of how this man, who was crippled up to this point, was then healed by the instrument of Peter and John, even though the Lord very likely walked past him often. Now, the next one is, thank God.

People will say these words at a time when a huge disaster is avoided. and being averted, or when some trauma is passed. Thank God, right? Such thanks are, however, only for relief from the circumstances, right? People will, for instance, you know, get past the thing and, whew, boy, that was close, okay? Thank God that's over, that kind of thing. And so that's frequently the way it's used.

However, The thanks to God that this passage is calling for, and in truth a great many instances are calling for, are that we recognize who he is and what he has done and what he's doing and what he will do in the future, including thanking him for the disaster and the trauma. It's not just thank God that this didn't happen. Thank God that that's over. But thanking the Lord for and in the midst of the trauma.

A real big difference. Thankfulness from the heart is our response to God's grace. That's ultimately the key thing to recognize here. It is a matter of recognizing God's amazing grace. As I've heard it said, grace isn't grace until it's amazing. See that? If we're not amazed, we don't understand grace yet. Then we can begin to be thankful.

It isn't just what we say in the right formula. I've heard somebody say, oh, the right formula for prayer is acts, you know, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication, right? That's the right formula. Well, don't just say it because it's the right formula.

Say it because you recognize what there is to be thankful for, right? Thankfulness in our hearts comes from a recognition of our Lord's attributes and accomplishments. Who the Lord is. Being thankful for what he is. Thankful that he is faithful. Thankful that he is merciful. Thankful that he is gracious. Thankful for what he has accomplished and for what he has done. Thankful for his presence through everything and his promises in grace.

I can remember a time when I was going through the early stages of what was later diagnosed as Lyme disease and it was extremely painful, among other problems. Every two weeks I was getting a new symptom and it would be things like, at first it felt like somebody was backing up over my arm and then putting it back into gear and going the other direction. And then I lost my balance. And then I couldn't feel my upper torso. And then my right thigh went numb. And then both my knees started hurting. It was really painful. And they had no diagnosis.

But I can remember lying there one time in great pain and discomfort and just thinking, man, Lord, you love me even when I'm feeling terrible. You love me even when I can't do anything. That's amazing. That's amazing love and amazing grace. Thankfulness is to motivate us in all that we say and do.

If you want to be motivated by guilt, I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm afraid if you want to be motivated by guilt, that's not what God wants. It's not God's will that you be motivated by guilt. Grace is to motivate what we do as a Christian in our Christian life. Now, he next talks about a triumph. Well, you may be asking, what kind of a triumph are we talking about here? This kind of a triumph? Is it this kind? Or, no, maybe not that one. Maybe it's this kind. Maybe not. More like this one.

This is the kind of triumph that he's talking about here. Verses 14 through 16 are a very interesting one. Paul is using the instance of a Roman military triumph parade or military procession, if you will, as a word picture. Why would he use it? It's because Corinth is a Roman military colony. They would know exactly what this meant. And so that's the background for his writing what he did in verses 14 through 16.

In order for a military leader to conduct a Roman military triumph parade or military procession. A number of requirements had to be met, and I don't want to shock anybody, but we've got a supplement for that. There's a supplement on the cabinet to the right as you exit this room. We also have it on the Holly Hills website, accompanying the audio message that will be posted here this morning. And so feel free to take advantage of whichever one works for you. And it gives more detail on the requirements and what the military parade included.

Paul draws upon a few of the primary features of the parade in this word picture, which the Corinthians would well have understood being Roman, many of them either presently Roman soldiers or retired Roman soldiers. And a typical Roman triumphal procession is pictured here by an artist and it would be It would have some correlation to what we would have in a military kind of parade and also a few things that would be a bit more brutal than what we might include. But it would include of course all the political higher-ups leading the parade and of course the general and the officers and as you go through there would be musicians and there would even be priests and at the very tail end there would be those who were in chains who were captured at this conquest. So all these different participants would be involved, and there would be those whose job it was to distribute flowers along the parade route, to cast the flowers towards the crowd and even in front of the parade route or the procession. And then there would also be the priests towards the middle and towards the end, who would be carrying incense containers. And between the flowers and the incense, there would be this fragrance that would go along with this military parade. And it's the fragrance from the flowers and the incense, and I would suggest to you more particularly the incense, which was a little bit later, that Paul draws from at this passage.

The military victory parade would be led by the winners and all those adding to the fanfare, but would also include this representative number of losers, the people that had been captured from this. Oh, certainly there would be a great number lost in battle and otherwise lost in the slaughter of the wars. There would be a great number who would be sold off, and in fact, that would help pay for the war. And then there would be those who would be brought home just to be in this parade and then executed afterwards.

The aroma of the flowers and the incense, and I would say more prominently the incense along the parade would be sweet to the winners. Ah, the flowers, the smell of victory, right? It would be truly an aroma of death to the losers knowing that as soon as this whole thing is over, And this is no fun for them. As soon as this whole thing is over, they're very likely, almost certainly, to be slaughtered when it's done. To them, the smell of the incense and the flowers would be nothing but a smell of death.

So why is Paul including this? The same gospel message means life to one and death to another. To one person, they say, oh, that gospel message is so great. I am so glad that I heard it and responded. I'm so glad that I am being led by the Lord. And then there will be those who will scoff at the gospel message and will turn it down and will say it's nothing but bad news to me. Nancy and I, before our move, had a Jewish lady who was across the street from us. And at various times, we tried to talk to her about the gospel. Matter of fact, Nancy was the one who most often had the opportunity to do that.

But she said, ah, I don't believe that. Jesus being killed? Killing is wrong. All killing is wrong. That's terrible. To her, and matter of fact, she even came here a few times, to her, it was a stench. The gospel was not something that she liked to hear.

The difference between the one who views the gospel as an aroma of life and the one who views the gospel as an aroma of death depends on where you're headed. Where are you headed? And of course, we long to have those who have previously turned down the gospel come to listen and come to recognize it as an aroma of life.

Something else that this passage touches on is, it's interesting, the body has five senses, and those are widely recognized, sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. What's interesting is that each of those five senses is recognized in a spiritual way in the New Testament. And so we have these quotes here that are not directly in your handout. There is a one-page supplement called Five Senses Both Ways. In other words, what we find is that the sight, hearing, touch, all these senses are described in the spiritual sense in the New Testament.

And so there's a write-up on that that you could feel free to take or to download from the website similar to the other one we talked about. Our place, of course, is to convey the gospel of grace. and to convey it as the word gives it. God opens the doors for us for those who previously have turned down the gospel or maybe have not have heard. God opens the doors for us.

He enables and empowers and energizes us. And we are in that presenting of the gospel to be motivated by grace, not by guilt, but by grace. So God gives us the motive. and the means and the opportunity. It sounds like something that a prosecutor would like to pursue, right? But God gives us the motive, grace, the means, the empowering, enabling, and energizing, and he opens the doors. He's the one who places those doors in front of us, the opportunity. We have motive, we have means, and we have opportunity.

God is the one who works in the heart of the one who hears or reads the gospel. In John chapter 16, the Holy Spirit is the one who works in the heart of unbelievers. And one of the things we're aware of, of course, that as believers there is a list of ministries of the Holy Spirit. Hal put together a great one-page summary of the ministries of the Holy Spirit to us as believers. But there is in fact a ministry of the Holy Spirit to those who don't believe. And that ministry is to convict them to come to an understanding of the gospel.

We're not held responsible for the resulting belief or unbelief of those receiving the gospel. I don't get little notches in my Bible for everyone that I talk to that become saved. I don't get little military medals for everyone that gets saved. The Lord gets the credit. He's the one who has the responsibility and gets the credit for those who do come to Him. Christ, regardless, is still the victor. Just in this victory parade that the Romans would have, Christ is still the victor whether someone is saved or whether someone turns down the gospel. He still leads the victory parade. There's another issue that comes up in verse 16, which is, I think, a wonderful one and one we focused on. Have you ever wrestled with adequacy? Ever wrestled with adequacy? Wondered, am I up to this? About different things in life? Feeling inadequate for what's in front of us is really kind of overwhelming, isn't it? Kind of like raising kids, right? Oh boy, eh?

It's a task. The question of adequacy is one that we cross in a great number of different situations. Do I believe I'm adequate for the task in front of me? Whatever it is. And what he's talking to, of course, here is the adequacy for ministry. The Lord has laid in front of us a number of different ministries. How do we know we're adequate for those ministries? Paul asked that question here at the very end of verse 16. Who is adequate for these things? He's going to answer the question in the very next chapter, which we're going to get to next Sunday, Lord willing. And what it says there, and I'll summarize it briefly now and we'll explain it more, is that God is the source of our adequacy. It's not us who are adequate, but God's adequacy through us and in us.

He even brings up in the beginning of this next chapter confidence. Do we have confidence and where is it based? Do we have confidence and where is it based? That's what he's going to begin to address in this next chapter. Do we go into the situations that we find ourselves confident or do we go in there quivering and wondering? And if the difference is that we go in there confident, how are we confident?

So he'll address that in more detail. The question is a very good one, and it's a very pointed one. It's a question, and frankly, that we address every day. Am I adequate for what's in front of me? He asked the question, and notice in this next chapter, he talks about adequate and adequacy there.

He uses those words three times. in those couple of verses, so we'll get there. There's one other we'll be taking a look at in more detail, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, where scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate. There is an adequacy that comes from God. It comes from God's Word and it comes from what God is working in us and through us.

Now, ever had one of these in front of you? I am really, really thankful the optometrist doesn't take one of these things and hand it to you and say, there, there's your glasses. That would be rough. But one of the things, if you've ever had these in front of you, you've experienced, the optometrist says, which is better, this or this? And hopefully you can tell them which one is better. Sometimes it's a toss-up. But that question gets asked again and again, right, if you've ever been through that? Which is better, this or this? This or this?

He doesn't get tired of asking her, she or whatever, because they ask it again and again. Well, guess what? Paul gives a not this but this kind of answer here in verse 17. He talks about our motives for ministry. He talks about, first of all, not this.

You see, in New Testament times, there were peddlers who would go about selling goods that were in some way deficient or defective. And he uses a term, this is the bad peddler. Certainly there are some good ones and have been good ones over time. This is the guy who is always going to sell you something that's short.

It's either shoddy, or it's broken and it's been covered up temporarily, okay? Or using a false weight to sell you something that's weighed out, okay? You think you're buying a whole pound and it's not a whole pound. It's something short of that. The weights have been drilled out, okay? Or they've been drilled out and filled with something else that's lighter so that you're always getting shorted. That's the word that he uses here. Paul uses that term when he says he's not like those many peddlers who serve up deceit and corruption with every sale they make. He says that's not the way we operate.

We don't give you gospel light. Ever heard that? A gospel light? It's like we don't give you the full gospel, it's too filling. So we give you the gospel light that's got a little bit carved out so it's a little easier to take. Jesus died. No, we don't want Jesus died for your sins. Just join his team. Just join his team. Or make a commitment. How about if you just love Jesus? Sound good? Guess what? It's gospel light. It's got something carved out.

He says, we don't do that. Paul was not like these false teachers, these guys who have something deceptive, something corrupted, something a little bit short. every time they come around. He says, we don't do that. Unlike those peddlers of his day, his motive was sincere.

He says, we intend to give you the full gospel and the true gospel every time. We've got no reason and no intent to short you. Matter of fact, we quoted last week, he determined to preach Christ and Christ crucified, nothing less. His motive was sincere as to character, from God as the ultimate source.

And that was the other key thing. This isn't something we cooked up. It is God who is the source of this. His ministry was also seen as being carried out with God viewing his every move. And by the way, that's something he already touched on, but he's going to touch on again and again and again through this letter. He viewed things with God as his audience. And I think that's a big question, if you kind of ponder that.

How do we view ourselves going through life? Who is our audience, if you will? And first and foremost, he says, God's sitting there. In a way, God's bought out all the tickets to see my life. That's one way that we can look at it in the way Paul saw it. He says, hey, regardless of who else is there, God's sitting front and center. He's the one who is really watching all that we do. And he says, I am quite aware of that. And in fact, he underscores that. This is the first time he brings up that in the sight of God or in the sight of the Lord and one that he will continue to bring up throughout the letter.

We saw in last week's passage, 2 Corinthians 2.10, in the presence of Christ. But here's the other pattern.

2 Corinthians 2.17, in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 4.2, in the sight of God. 7.12, in the sight of God. 8.21, in the sight of the Lord. And finally at 12.19, in the sight of God.

He continues to spell out in a pattern More so here than in any other book that he wrote. Everything that he did was before God. This isn't hiding from God. This isn't pretending like Jonah did that you could run away from the Lord. This is living life out first and foremost before God himself.

And finally, one of the things that he brought out here in this passage is that they speak from an eternal position. Paul wrote, we speak in Christ. What we say comes from the position that we have. What we say comes from being in Christ. What we say are things that are in Christ. Even the words that we speak are consistent with that position.

The peddlers said and did everything from the viewpoint, I'm for me, to bless me, even though it cost them to bless me. Right? That was the peddlers. That was their motto and their philosophy. Paul did and said everything from this viewpoint. I'm in Christ who most graciously blessed me, even though it cost him to do it. He paid the price. He's the one who has blessed me. Everything that I do and say is in him. Paul spoke from that place that he had in Christ.

We're going to be encountering, starting next week, and then we're going to have a little hiatus, a gap in there, because we're going to take a topical diversion for Palm Sunday and Resurrection or Easter Sunday. But we're going to be starting next week and then into the middle of April in 2 Corinthians. We'll be heading into 2 Corinthians chapter 3 for three Sundays then, and we'll be addressing these things. How are we adequate for the ministries the Lord has placed before us? That, as we saw, be described and told to us this very next Sunday.

And then when we get in the middle of April, what is the new covenant? How does it relate to us in the church? And then what's the character of the ministry of the law? And how are we changed into the image of Christ? These will be some topics that are going to be addressed here as we proceed in three Sundays through 2 Corinthians chapter 3.

Something I'd like to ask you, though. Is there anyone you love and care about who does not know the Lord? Maybe even once seemed like they believed, but they don't claim to walk with Him now? Know anybody? I would venture to say there's probably almost everybody in this room can answer a yes to that, and maybe more than one yes. Somebody you love and care about, and it seems like either They never knew the Lord, or they once did, but aren't now.

I came across this, I've told this account before, so I apologize for repetition for some, but of my dad's mother, so my grandmother on my dad's side. She lived into her middle to late 80s, but she was dying of cancer. The family, many of them were Christians and so very concerned about her spiritual destiny here and her standing with the Lord. So a great many of us were praying and took opportunities, myself included, to talk to her about the Lord.

But she responded as she had for decades, and that is she just closed her mouth and it was as if you didn't say anything. She wasn't belligerent. She didn't tell you not to say that. She didn't come back at you. She just closed her mouth and pretended, well, it seemed like she hadn't even heard what you said. She would just hush up.

And even as the days of her life began to be very close to what we knew was the end, we were quite concerned. Everybody was praying, and a number of us had talked to her personally and directly. giving her the gospel, and she continued to have no response whatsoever. What we were quite unaware of was there was a neighbor couple. We had no idea. The neighbor couple came and helped her. And as they had opportunity, they told her about the Lord.

So about three weeks before she died, she became a believer. And, you know, we saw her after that. And, you know, you could tell she had become a believer. You could see it. She had a look on her face that she had never had, even though she was dying of cancer, even though it was painful and her days were few. There was no question she had become a believer.

I'd like to give you, touching on things from this passage and other passages we looked at, three things that I would suggest that scripture would say we can pray about for those who are in this position. One, and this is not in your handout, so if you want to take notes, that's fine.

Pray for the Lord to open the door for you and or perhaps for another, as happened with my grandmother. another believer to share the gospel with the unsaved person on your heart. And do feel free to share this burden with other believers who can pray along with you. Paul made that very kind of appeal as he wrote to the church at Colossae and to the church at Ephesus. Feel free to do that. And by the way, I don't think you can overdo it.

Additionally, pray for your or another's boldness and clarity. Notice that's what Paul asked for. He said, pray that I would be bold. Pray that I would be clear in my presentation of the gospel. And nothing would be muddled. Nothing would be conflicted. Pray for that, whether it's for you or whether it's another person's opportunity.

And finally, pray for the unsaved person's response to the Holy Spirit's convicting ministry. We pointed out earlier in John chapter 16, the Holy Spirit has a ministry with those who don't believe. And I don't have any evidence that that's only limited to a few. As far as I can tell from the passage, it is to everyone who is an unbeliever this ministry is going on. Pray for that ministry.

So these are three ways that you can pray for someone who is either pretty sure they're an unbeliever or maybe they at one time seem to be a believer but don't seem to lay claim to that now. You can pray in these ways and this isn't the full answer perhaps, but I think it's some significant insight from Scripture on how you can pray for people in that position.

I'm pretty sure all of us have somebody, when I bring this up, at least one name and face comes up, maybe more. People you're concerned about. These are things we can pray about and it's good to know how we can pray and how we can pray effectively, because all these things I brought up to you, I'm not inventing anything. These are all things that are there in the New Testament. Paul himself asked that the believers pray for these things, so they're quite clearly there in Scripture. Let's take a moment to pray, and as we do so, pray even about this, because I think, you know, as I mentioned, all of us, I think, have people that we love and care about, that we really wish would respond to the Gospel. maybe even receive it.

And so I think we have an opportunity, each one of us, and we also have an opportunity with each other to support one another in this. I don't know about you, but when I think of people in this place, you know, who don't know the Lord, or maybe you thought they once did, but now don't put a claim to it, it's hard to carry that around sometimes. And it's a burden we can share with one another. And I would encourage you to feel free to share it with other brothers and sisters whom you fellowship with closely, that they would pray along with you for these things. And perhaps you can testify just like with my grandmother's case where, heaven sakes, who knew that there were these neighbors who were ministering to her?

We all did everything we could. And we all prayed for, the Lord answered in a way that we never expected. And hallelujah, he did. Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage and certainly an abundance of truth and principles for us to live by, we do think particularly of this subject of Those that we love and care about who either it's pretty clear don't know the Lord or perhaps even those who at one point in time seem to lay claim to the gospel but have since turned away from it. And probably a good many if not all of us can think of faces and names that fit that description. And we pray for these, Lord, now. We pray for you to open doors, to provide opportunities for ourselves or others, maybe even unknown to us.

We pray, Lord, for boldness and clarity for those who do have an open door to share the gospel. And finally, we pray, Lord, for the work of your Holy Spirit in the hearts of those we love and care about. And we thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit in the hearts of those we love and care about. And Lord, we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts and lives that brought us to the place of believing. We thank you for your most amazing grace. In Jesus' name, amen.