Series: Reconciled Sermon Title: God wants to be known Passage: 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 Preacher: Dan Weyerhaeuser Date: 10.1.17 2 Questions: Q1: If you have ever met anyone famous, raise your hand (Celebrity? Athlete?) Share: I once met Ken Curtis, who played Festus on the show “Gun Smoke” (which by today’s standards was remarkable because it had 24 shows per season and aired for 20 seasons!)
When you get to see in real life a person you’ve seen on a screen, it’s an odd experience. Q2: Has anyone ever had someone famous try to meet YOU? Anyone had a famous person ask for YOUR autograph? Observation about these 2 Q’s: First the MOST famous person in human history… Jesus Christ, can be known (which is what it means to be a Christian)! John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
TRUTH: Not only is the most renowned person/being in human history meet-able and knowable, but second according to the Bible, He comes looking for US so we CAN know and worship and love Him. He created us and loves us and made us to love Him! Our verses today tell us that “G od… spreads everywhere… the knowledge of Himself.” This raises Q3: How does He do that? How does He spread the knowledge of Himself? A: Over the next several chapters in 2 Corinthians, Paul will describe multiple ways God makes Himself known, but the first he describes is US… Main point: People encounter God in the lives of surrendered Christians As God spreads the knowledge of Himself into the world, His first way He does so is through Christians. Paul explains that his ministry is basically helping people who do not yet know God come to know Him, and people who do know God come to know Him better. And the first way God spreads the this knowledge of Himself is through Christians. Apparently God is more present to us than we realize! Karl Barth, the famous theologian, was on a streetcar one day in Basel, Switzerland, where he lectured. A tourist to the city climbed on and sat down next to Barth. The two men started chatting. Barth asked, “Are you new to the city?” “Yes,” said the tourist. “Is there anything you would particularly like to see while you’re here?” Barth asked. “Yes,” he said, “I’d love to meet the famous theologian, Karl Barth. Do you know Him?” Barth replied, “Well as a matter of fact, I do. I give him a shave every morning.” The tourist got off the streetcar quite delighted. He went back to his hotel saying to himself, “I met Karl Barth’s barber today.”
We can be in the presence of someone we are looking for and not realize it at all. Every time we are with another Christian, we are in a place to experience and know GOD. This is the message of our text. CONTEXT: In 2 Corinthians, Paul is writing the Christians in the church he planted in Corinth. False teachers have discredited the legitimacy of his ministry in the eyes of the Corinthians and so Paul takes the chapters to explain how God works through him (and all of us) which demonstrates that He IS God’s minister. Today is the starting point: God makes Himself known through the lives of surrendered Christians. 1) Roles in encountering God (If He makes Himself known through us, what is God’s Job and our job), 2) Impact of encountering God (in other Christians), and 3) Motive in encountering God. TRUTH: These verses show YOU how to know God better as well how you help every person you encounter know Him better too. READ People encounter God in the lives of surrendered Christians…if this is so, what does God do in this and what is our part of this. What are the… 1. Roles in encountering God (14) First, God’s job. Paul begins… 14 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.
Paul Thanks God because GOD spreads the knowledge of Himself everywhere that it goes. Paul wants us also to thank God because He has made Himself knowable. Knowledge i n the New Testament is not
2 intellectual information. Its personal information from personal experience! God spreads the knowledge of himself to people in the world. HOW? Through us. The Corinthians came to KNOW God through Paul. When Paul came to Corinth and 1) loved them as a Christian and 2) began telling these folks about Christ (He gave community as well as content), through him THEY came to k now Christ. This is how God works. He makes Himself known in the world through His people! In fact as Paul looks back, he realizes that God has always led him in this kind of ministry. Again and again, God led him to the right person in the right place and through their relationship, God spread the knowledge of Himself! This is what God does.
Gwen Voss was 25 when she died unexpectedly in 2005 at Condell, 7 days before her wedding. Her family has been at Lakeland for a long time… she was in our youth group. Tim, her father, had been with her from 6-9 and Kathy had been there from 9-12… when Gwen sat up and went into cardiac arrest. It was a horrible moment. But in the midst of that terrible day, God was not only bringing Gwen to Himself (which was blessed) but also making Himself known to Kathy through another Christian. This is what Kathy told me about how God showed up for her that day. “Gwen's previous roommate had not been doing well. She was struggling emotionally as well as physically and was bitter, surly. Two days before Gwen died, an older woman from across the hall had been moved in with Gwen. She was a 90 year old, gracious, beautiful woman (Kathy said to Tim, “I hope I'm that beautiful when I'm 90.”) “Saturday when Gwen's heart stopped, Kathy and this woman were rushed out of the room so the doctors could try to save Gwen. Kathy was inconsolable… she knew immediately that Gwen was gone and couldn't get near Gwen. This older woman sitting in the waiting room said, ‘Honey, come and sit with me.’ She took Kathy’s hand, and Kathy said that with that hand came a peace. “Kathy asked, ‘Do you know the Lord? Can you pray with me?’ This woman replied, “Honey my grandfather was a minister… of course I know the Lord.” And then she prayed a prayer that ministered to Kathy soul. Fascinating thing: “Later she said, ‘Now I know why I'm here - God sent be to be with you!’ Kathy asked, ‘What do you mean?!’ She replied, ‘I was just a little dizzy and my Dr. put me in the hospital. Now I know God THIS is why I am here.’ She went on to share that she had lost 2 children of her own in her life… one to cardiac arrest - and then quoted the verses and promises God had used to help her… all this even before Kathy family could arrive. Kathy conclusion… “I don't even know this woman's name… but even then I knew God sent her to be with me in that difficult hour… I knew He took Gwen to be with Him, but He was caring for me and my family.”
Kathy didn’t just hear ABOUT God. In these moments, she encountered Christ in this woman. H e spread the knowledge of Himself through her! He is always doing things like that! Paul describes this knowledge as fragrance. A fragrance fills the air and changes the room. That’s what God can do through a Christian. I’d also suggest that fragrance is a function of presence.
I’m focused when I study and can be startled if someone shows up quickly. Sometimes Lisa approaches quietly, I become aware of her presence because I smell her perfume. You can’t smell perfume over the Phone or Skype. That He spreads through us the FRAGRANCE of the knowledge of Him is a way of saying we actually experience HIM.
Our ministry to people seems random, but it turns out that ACTUALLY we are just keeping divinely scheduled appointments). He is always leading me… waiting for me to follow. (Every day contains the opportunity to get close to someone and have God show up!) Through us He is always spreading. NOTICE the word everywhere…. Everywhere the knowledge of God spreads, it spreads through His people. He does almost nothing outside of us that he can do through us. Do you see how important you are in this? The way He makes Himself known to people (inside the faith or outside the faith)… is US. Question… If God takes responsibility to spread through us the knowledge of Himself, is it working?
One way to see this: The World Christian Almanac reports that in 100 AD there were 60,000 “unreached people groups” in the world. (UPG is a distinct people group with little or no access to the gospel). 1900 AD (after 1800 years of missionary service), the number was 40,000. From 1900 to 1989 (with the advent of planes, trains, radio, etc.) the number shrunk to 12,000. In 2017, with internet satellites, etc, the number is 6900. Jesus said, “The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to every tribe, nation, tongue, and language, and then the end will come (Matt 24:14).” That is when this line reaches this line!
POINT: He is spreading everywhere the knowledge of Himself. H e always leads, He spreads, and what He spreads through us is the knowledge of Himself. There is very little we can do to mess this up. Our job
3 What is our job in this? A1: We are in Christ… He is in us, we are in Him, He is in the Father. There is a real, dynamic presence of Christ in our lives if we are a Christian! So being i n Christ qualifies you for this! More, if He leads us then we are a part of His spreading the knowledge of Him through us when w e follow. What makes us usable to God’s work through us… is that we are following Jesus. NOTE: F ollowing is more than mindlessly traipsing behind someone. Following takes attentiveness. Have you ever been following someone in the car… you watch them… you adjust to them. If you get lost in thought and they turn… you miss it.
He uses us every day when we consciously follow Him! We walk through our day like investigators, looking for what Jesus is doing because we believe and know He IS. I have a friend who says when he is with people he is constantly asking, “Lord, am I here to bring Your presence (just be with this person in their experience) Your l ove (am I here to meet a need), Your truth (is there something You want me to say), Your power (am I to pray for You to work)?” MORE: He works through us when we are living surrendered lives. Where does this come from? The word translated, triumphal procession. He leads us in triumphal procession. What is that? People in Corinth would certainly know what that means. In Roman military history, the greatest honor given to a general was a “triumph procession.” The entire population of the city would line the streets, and incense would be burning all along the way as the general rode through the crowds in a 4-horse chariot, followed not only by his army, but also the last of the enemy and their spoils, who were brought back to Rome to be killed there as the final battle of the war. God always leads us in triumphal procession, Paul says. In this picture, we aren’t in the army… we are those who’ve been captured! The word means “triumphed over.” He leads us into the world as people who have been captivated by Christ. Paul would know… Jesus confronted him in person. After Paul saw Christ in glory, after he experienced the conviction of His holiness and the grace of His forgiveness, after he discovered this Jesus was full of grace and love for him, Paul became a captive of Christ. The viewpoint to maintain is that we are here for one reason only, to demonstrate the absolute captivity of our hearts to Jesus Christ. Oswald Chambers
Have you ever been with a Christian who had a complete availability to the will of God and been incredibly encouraged through them… in a way that is difficult to explain? THIS is what Paul describes. He makes Himself known through us when we are captive to Him! How does God USE surrendered Christians?
Impact of encountering God Qualification: This is really “spiritual” language that is vague. What does that mean? A 1: Paul will give some concrete answers in the next verses (mostly 1) the content of the gospel and 2) the community of the gospel), but A2: I want us to see in these verses that there is something mysterious God does through us. People experience “the aroma of Christ’s sacrifice” in us when we are surrendered and through that can know Him! Paul says… 2.
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
What is the aroma of Christ to God? This is temple, sacrifice language. In the Old Testament, offerings on the altar that were burned were “a pleasing aroma” to God. It wasn’t that He likes the smell of a great steak grilling (though who DOESN’T?). An offering is an expression of worship and love and trust in Him. He asks us (like He has always His people) to bring some of what He has given to us back to Him as an offering because we want to be a part of His work and because we love and trust Him more than what He has given us. In the Old Testament, it was an animal… I bring an animal and offer it to God (which then fed the priests). KEY: The smell of that offering pleased Him (like parents are pleased by acts of love and sacrifice by their children). The ultimate sacrifice in human history… was Christ. He didn’t want to die on the cross. “Father, let this cup pass from me.” But then He said, “Father, not my will, but Yours be done” and to the cross He went, not just to die at the hands of men, but to be a sin offering before God. He endured hell for the redeemed.
4 Here… the aroma of Christ’s sacrifice going up to God is what WE smell like when we live as surrendered Christians. Vague language, but something of Christ’s holy sacrifice is what people experience. What is the impact? For one, CONVICTION: 16 to one a fragrance from death to death,
To a person who doesn’t WANT God, experiencing God in us is not a pleasant experience.
I was like that… I was repulsed by serious Christians… not that I met many, but the few I did gave me the creeps…. I was darkness experiencing light.
Have you ever wondered by there is so much rage aimed at Christians? (See John 3:20-21 and 1 Peter 4:3-4). This is Paul’s explanation! Point: We shouldn’t be surprised that some people in the world react badly to our faith! This will continue. RC Sproul, in The Holiness of God, shares this story:
A well-known professional golfer was playing in a tournament with President Gerald Ford, fellow pro Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Graham. After the round was over, one of the other pros on the tour asked, "Hey, what was it like playing with the President and Billy Graham?" The pro said with disgust, "I don't need Billy Graham stuffing religion down my throat!" With that he headed for the practice tee. His friend followed, and after the golfer had pounded out his fury on a bucket of golf balls, he asked, "Was Billy a little rough on you out there?" The pro sighed and said with embarrassment, "No, he didn't even mention religion." Astonishingly, Billy Graham had said nothing about God, Jesus, or religion, yet the pro stomped away after the game accusing Billy of trying to ram religion down his throat.
To someone who doesn’t WANT Christ, experiencing our surrender evokes a really bad reaction.
A close friend of mine became a Christian a few years ago, but before that, he and I spent years loving each other, but really disagreeing about Christ. When Lisa and I were engaged, he was in Chicago and we went to hear her at a concert. It was a really powerful evening… with simplicity and sincerity, Lisa talked and sang about Jesus. Later, when Rob and I were talking about it, I asked what he thought and he described a swirling reaction he sat in the entire evening. He said, “I wanted to get up and throw chairs around.”
Conviction IS one reaction people have to Christ in us. There is another reaction, though, which is ENCOURAGEMENT. to the other a fragrance from life to life.
Getting with Christians who, with simplicity and Godly sincerity, love Christ… we are encouraged!
FYI, the man I mentioned last week that I’d let a wall come between… I wrote him Tuesday and said, “I am saddened to say that I let our last interactions break our fellowship but never told you. Could we meet to talk about that?” His reply was immediate and positive, and we met Thursday for breakfast and COMPLETELY resolved what happened! I asked his forgiveness for not having told him how I was hurt so he could respond and he asked forgiveness for what had happened.
MORE: in our relationship, God encouraged and blessed my spirit. He wrote me Thursday afternoon,
Dear Dan, It was such a blessing to be with you this morning… I basked in the glow of the Spirit's work in you, for which I'm so grateful. And I appreciated your honesty, and your desire to make things right between us. Thank you for initiating our time together.
This was more than a “nice” interaction. In a mysterious way, God’s Spirit strengthened us both. NOTE: If God makes Himself known through Christians, it makes sense why satan is so bent on outwitting us with his designs to cause, exacerbate, and keep Christians in a bad place with each other. POINT: You are genuinely surrendered to Christ and you carry Christ into every situation. One last thing Paul speaks to… 3. Motive for sharing God What motivates Christians in wanting Christ to be known? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word,
The heretics who had come to Corinth WERE peddlers of God’s Word. They did their ministry for money. They did spiritual work for monetary gain. The money was their treasure. But people captivated by Christ LOVE Him and desperately want others to know Him. We are… …men of sincerity,
That’s the whole story for why we share. We realize we are… …commissioned by God,
5 More than that…
in the sight of God (so we know He is watching as we do) we speak in Christ.
Knowing God is watching and we are speaking in Christ and through us HE makes Himself known… these things make us bold (4:1)! A Methodist circuit riding preacher named Peter Cartwright illustrated this. He was called “The Backwoods Preacher” because he ministered, not in the cities, but on the old west frontier during the mid 1800’s. One day Andrew Jackson came to Cartwright’s church, the elders warned Peter not to offend the President. In those days, the President had great power to influence a denomination for
good or bad. When Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: "Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn't repent of his sin!" The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness. How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public?! After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright. When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!"
When we believe God makes Himself known through us, we have a confidence about ourselves as we meet other people.
Response: My friend, God wants to make Himself known to every person you will meet today. 1) Thank God that He wants to be known. Thank Him for those through whom you experience Him (not just in your becoming a Christian, but continuing.) I’d suggest you write them this week. 2) Repair relationships that are broken, because those are bridges across which He makes Himself known. 3) This week… can you be of a mind to trust that He is leading you to people by divine appointment who need Him. Question: Do I bring 1) His presence, 2) His love, 3) His truth, 4) His power (prayer)? What would it look like for you to live like that this week? Trust He is using you! Trust He is working, even when you don’t see Him! Nicky Gumbel in Alpha, tells the story of one soldier who is with another as he dies. The one soldier who asked another dying soldier, “Is there any message I can bring to people back home?” He replied, “Yes, tell this person (____________) that what he told me is helping me in my final hour.” Then he died. The second soldier survived the war, and indeed found the person and shared the message. It had been a Sunday School teacher who had shared the gospel. The former teacher wept and said, “I quit teaching years ago because I didn’t think what I was teaching made a difference!” He regretted having quit.
God will use you to help others know Him. 4) He has gone to great lengths to make it possible to know Him on the cross. On the night Jesus was betrayed He took bread and broke it and said, “This is my body which is broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of Me.” His body was broken as He confronted and defeated evil in the world… including OUR sin. Then after supper He took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, drink this in remembrance of Me.” Jesus shed His blood as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins and His life in us. As the ushers distribute the elements, hold them and thank Him. Consider how our Father was pleased by His Son’s obedience.
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Small Group Leader Notes October 1, 2017
From Pastor Dan… Hello Small Group Leaders and anyone else using these notes, We turn a corner in 2 Corinthians now to begin hearing how God has used Paul in ministry (and uses us today). He explains this to the Corinthians because heretics had come to Corinth and discredited him in their eyes as a trustworthy minister of the gospel. Therefore Paul takes 6 chapters to explain how God used him and uses us. Today is the first installment of that message, in which he describes something mysterious… somehow people actually know experientially God through Christians who are surrendered to Him. Note: The language of this text is very “spiritual” and not tremendously concrete. He will get concrete quickly in describing what this looks like. But for now it is good to know that in ways we cannot fully understand, God works through us to make Himself known to others. I pray God uses your time to bring good change. Warmly, Dan Our Scripture Study… Series: Message #: Sermon Title: Passage: Preacher: Date:
Reconciled 5 God wants to be known 2 Corinthians 2:12-17 Dan Weyerhaeuser 2017-10-1
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS
Getting to know each other: Who is someone who has impacted your life for the better? Share the story. The rationale for this “icebreaker”, in addition to getting to know each other, it gets your folks talking about how God has used people for good in our lives.
Personal Study: As you study (read, reread, consider, ponder, reread) the passage, list observations you make from the text. What is the main point of this passage? How is the theme developed? What “Aha’s” come to you as you read? What questions come to mind? How do you respond to the God seen in these verses? Bring your observations and questions to your Small Group this week! —————————
2 Corinthians 2:12-17
1. What were the circumstances of Paul’s coming to Macedonia (Greece) and eventually Corinth? These verses describe Paul’s crossing over the Macedonia after his starting the church, on the way for his “painful visit” (2:1). Paul was in Troas (north of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey) but felt a “restless of spirit.”
7 He was waiting for Titus to return from Corinth with news about how things were going there… the last reports has not been good. So much did he want to know that he leaves even while things are going well in order to find Titus and learn of the state of the Corinthians.
2. Read v. 14 carefully. What do we learn from this verse about how God works in the world? God is active in the world, spreading the knowledge of Himself through His people. 3. What is God’s responsibility in our ministry? What are ways Paul sees God involved? Paul thanks Him because He is actively at work spreading the knowledge of Himself. He always leads Christians out in this work of making Him known. He is the one who does the spreading through us of the knowledge of Himself. What is spread through us is the knowledge of Himself. 4. What do you think about how He uses us? This is a personal reflection question. 5. What is our responsibility? How does this “division of labor” strike you? If He leads us, it is our job to “follow.” Following God is a work of active watching and adjusting to His leading. Practically speaking, it is entering my day trusting that Jesus is placing people in my path for me to love and pray for and be with or share truth with. The spirit of “following” is based on the confidence that He is already at work in people’s lives. We are also led in “triumphal procession.” This is counterintuitive. It is easy to read this line and assume that we are a part of the triumphal parade of Christ’s Victory, that “we’re in the Lord’s army” marching forward in triumph. Actually, though, the word means not to triumph but to be triumphed over. We go into the world as people who have been “taken captive” by Christ, who are gladly submitted to His Kingship and Lordship, who have an attitude of glad “surrender” to Christ. It is when we do THAT, that we “smell like the sacrifice of Christ to God among those being saved and those perishing.” 6. Read v. 15-16 What impact does God have through us in Kingdom ministry? How does He do it? “The aroma of Christ to God” seems to be talking about the “smell” to God of the sacrifice of Christ. In the Old Testament, God’s people brought their offerings which were burned on the altar which was “a pleasing aroma” to God. What pleased him was not the smell of cooking steak, but the joy of his child’s offering. He gives us more than we need so that we will bring some back to Him because we want to be a part of the mission of the church and because we trust Him to provide for us. This act of both devotion and faith, which is manifest in the “aroma” of the sacrifice, pleases God. There was never a greater sacrifice than that of Christ on the cross. He praying, “Father, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” His sacrifice was the ultimate sacrifice in love and faith in Christ which pleased His father. POINT: When we have a spirit of surrender we “smell like the sacrifice of Christ going up to God among those being saved and those perishing.” Chambers says, “We are here for one purpose only, to demonstrate the absolute captivity of our hearts to Jesus Christ.” NOTE: This is pretty “spiritualized” language that is not very concrete. Paul will get concrete in the verses that follow. But for now, he is addressing something mysterious… that someone God’s Spirit uses us to be a way that He spreads in the world the knowledge of Himself. 7. Does it change how you feel about helping others when you remember that it is an experience of God in you that is the primary thing that changes people? Group reflection question. 8. While these verses use “spiritual” language that is not necessarily concrete, they describe how people encounter “the aroma” of the sacrifice of Christ going up to God. Put another way, something of the
8 crucified Christ is “encountered” in “surrendered” Christians. Can any of us share an experience we have had with an “absolutely surrendered” Christian had a powerful impact on our lives? 9. Read v. 17. What does NOT motivate us as Christians? What does? My guess is that many of us feel uncertain that God would use us to help others, or confused about how. But these verses say that God uses willing Christians to make Himself known. There is something emboldening about this. 10. What is one way this text directs you? What is your response?
