John Fischer The Catch

Lasting glory

Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

The glory Paul is talking about here is a little hard to pin down, especially in contemporary terms. He is speaking of one type of glory exemplified by the brightness on the face of Moses that he acquired from being in the presence of God on Mt Sinai when he received the Ten Commandments directly from God, and contrasting that with another glory exemplified by the Spirit of God in our lives, and making the point that the second glory is far greater than the first.

Now, I beg to differ here. How can anything in my life exceed the glory on the face of Moses that was so bright he had to veil his face or else people would literally be blinded by him? Think of how impressive that must have been! Move over Tony Robbins! Nevertheless, Paul says the new glory outshines the old, and he says it does in two ways.

First, the glory of the Spirit of God in our lives is lasting. It will last through this life and on into eternity. The brightness on the face of Moses, though it may have outshone ours for maybe week or two, in time, faded to nothing. And where is it today? Gone. Nowhere to be found. It was a residual glory from being around the actual presence of God, but it eventually faded. Moses had to leave God on the mountain. Whatever the people got from Moses were leftovers. In contrast, you and I have the Spirit of God in our hearts all the time. He’s never going away. And what people receive of God through us, by His Spirit, is the real thing. The children of Israel got leftovers; we have the main course, all the time.

Second, the end result of these two glories is vastly different. Moses’ glory — bright as it once was — ended in condemnation. That glory came with the coming of the law, but the law can’t justify anyone, because no one can completely obey it. Go after the law’s glory and you will end up being condemned by it. But the glory of the Spirit of God is that it produces righteousness in us. It changes us because it works on the heart. It’s an inside-out type of glory. We become more like Christ through His Spirit.

Now what’s the point of this for us today? I believe that even after receiving the Holy Spirit, we still tend to chase after that old covenant glory. We can still see the glory of the face of Moses where we see famous people, beautiful people, successful people, powerful people. We see this every time we’re in the supermarket, staring at the magazine covers at the counter, waiting to buy our groceries. Where we see human effort, or human attractiveness at its finest, there we find the face of Moses. And we can spend a lifetime, and lots of money, chasing this face, and, like Moses, have nothing to show for it in the end.

What we want to spend time on is that which will grow the Spirit of God in us. Fellowship with God through prayer and through reading and studying His word, learn the ways of the Spirit, invest time in growing our inner lives, and reach out to the poor and disadvantaged around us. These are just a few ways we can invest in that lasting glory.

The primary reason for this passage is to show us the superiority of the Spirit over the law — the difference between what we produce based on some external standard, and what Christ produces in us by His Spirit. The first we control and even manipulate; the second we have by faith and God controls it. It’s a glory He wants to produce in our lives by creating a lasting legacy of the Spirit of God in us that is brighter than the face of any Moses.

Day 8 Challenge:
In verse 7, Paul is saying that Moses wore a veil over his face after meeting with God because Israel feared the light of God’s glory. Moses’ veil was designed to allow the glory of God on his face to be seen only in a shadow like much of the Old Testament ceremonial law which foreshadowed Christ.

Yet, as we will learn, in the minds of the Israelites, this veil was quickly transformed into an outward righteousness whereby if the “right” ritual is conducted, then their righteousness is established by their doing. (Even if we add, “With God’s help,” it’s still us doing it.)

Outward righteousness is another word for self-righteousness. It is this outward righteousness by our conducting of ceremonies and liturgy that is the foundation of virtually every “religion” under the sun, including popularized “Christianity.”

It was a fading glory — a symbol of something that every one of us has experienced at one time or another — as we will be reminded as we answer the questions below.

Action items:

1. When was the last time you had a chance to show how much you can do with what you have? Was it not too long ago that you might have said, “I’ve been trained for that” … or “I’ve got the skills” … or “I’ve got the gifts” … or “Let me show what I can do.” If you are an athlete, you know what I am talking about. If you are in business, you do too. If you are human, you especially know what I am talking about.
2. Who is making the impression? Who is getting all the credit? Who is being glorified?”
3. How long does this attractiveness last? Is the impression sustaining? Is it transforming? Why or why not?

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Taking wing

Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6)

…It bids me fly, and gives me wings.

This is the crux of the matter — the essence of the new covenant. This is the fulcrum upon which it pivots. It’s all about adequacy. Remember the rhetorical question from chapter two: “And who is competent (adequate, sufficient) for these things?” This is the answer. The ultimate answer is: “We are,” but only as it comes with a realization that we aren’t. I know that sounds like double talk, but it is exactly what Paul says here. He answers the question of adequacy by saying, in essence, “we aren’t adequate, but we are.” We are not adequate in and of ourselves, but in the new covenant, God has made us adequate.

Depending on what Bible translation you use, the word could be either “competent,” “adequate” or “sufficient.” That’s because the Greek word being translated here is all of those things. It’s like one of our MemberPartners who signs her emails, “I wish you enough.” That’s what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about having enough for life. And, according to the new covenant, we don’t have to wish it; we already have it. We just need to act on it, and stop acting as if everything was coming from us.

We are talking primarily about empowerment. Do we have what it takes for life? This is why so many Christians live frustrated, guilt-ridden lives. They want to follow Christ, they want to do the right thing; but they’re trying to do it the wrong way. Nobody told them about the new covenant, and chances are, if they haven’t heard about the new covenant, they are not counting on it in their lives. They are trying to follow Christ under their own strength — doing everything from themselves — which is the old covenant way of doing things that only ends in failure and frustration.

The old covenant (“the letter” in the verses above) is based on a standard to be followed as best as we know how, which is never good enough. The law always breaks us because we break it. It was even given for this purpose — to show us how sinful we are — how unable we are, in our own strength, to do (and not do) the things God asks of us.

This is clearly stated in the Old Testament prophesy of the prophet Jeremiah:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

The old covenant was made to be broken. The new covenant was made to give life. One was written on stones (the Ten Commandments) the other is written on human hearts. God puts His law within our hearts and gives us the power, through His Spirit, to do the things He asks.

How can it be any better than that? God tells us what to do and then empowers us to do it!

Well then, why is this so hard to do, and why does it seem so few people are doing it? Because the old covenant is our natural way of doing things. Performance. We’ve been performing all our lives, so as soon as we become Christians, we just start trying to perform the Christian life. Do all the right things, don’t do the wrong things. And we all know what happens when we try that! We do the opposite. It’s human nature.

I believe what Paul is saying here is that we have to go through one to get to the other. You can’t find your adequacy without first experiencing your inadequacy. It’s like we all have to try and fail to some degree before we get this. Our adequacy comes through, and out of, our inadequacy. And I don’t believe we need to learn this only once, and then we’re operating fully in the new covenant. I believe we experience this process over and over and over again.

And finally, there’s that word we will be finding throughout this new covenant passage: it’s the word, “confidence.” That’s where we end up. The new covenant gives us confidence because we are not trusting in ourselves, we are trusting in God who makes us adequate. In ourselves we have our fears and insecurities, and the false impressions we use to try to cover them up. The old covenant always ends up this way. We can’t pull off the Christian life, but we have to look like we are. (Everyone else looks like they’re pulling this off, when in fact no one is — it’s just that no one’s telling.) The new covenant strips me of all of this and works in me in spite of myself. Sure, you’re going to get my inadequacies, struggles, fears, insecurities and sins; but I don’t care, because God’s Spirit is here in the midst of all that I’m going through, making sense of it, and giving me the power to move on. I can be confident because I don’t care what you see in me; I know Christ is in me, too, and you will ultimately see Him in my life. Therefore I can have confidence because I’m trusting in God, not in myself.

It’s pretty incredible when you get this. This is the life-changing part. If you don’t get it at first, stick with it. The Holy Spirit will teach you. You’ll know you are getting it when you are feeling set free in your spirit. It’s liberating. All that trying and failing … over. Done. Doesn’t matter anymore. You have Christ in you and He’s going to come through you, and that will be the power of your ministry whether you are aware of it or not.

I’m giving everybody a free song to download this morning that starts with this poem that’s been credited to so many people I just call it anonymous, but it captures this freedom in such a beautiful way. Click on the picture; enjoy the song; and let your spirit soar. And don’t forget to come back and take today’s challenge!

Do this and live the law commands,
But gives me neither feet nor hands.
A better way His grace doth bring;
It bids me fly, and gives me wings.

Day 7 Challenge:
Picture the following in your mind’s eye:
The Father is drawing you nearer, breathing in the perfumes of His Son as you come closer. He is greatly pleased and you know it.

He is whispering in your ear that you are welcome to serve Him in whatever way your heart delights in doing. “Truly,” He says, “no strings attached.”
He breathes out softly as He tells you, “I love you as my very own. You are the love of my life with all that I am as God. Come, and see what I see, and do what I do.”

Action items:
What thoughts and feelings are you experiencing as you imagine this? Take a picture that illustrates what is going on in your heart or write about it.

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Postal Clerks

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

Real results. Tangible evidence. Proof of authenticity you can touch. Real people. Real relationships. Changed lives. Hearts that were closed, now open to God. Today’s passage is all about evidence you can touch.

A little background is necessary today to understand where the writer, Paul, is coming from.

As an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul was instrumental in starting many churches. He had the mantle of spiritual authority on him to establish his leadership. Paul himself went through a metamorphosis from being “Saul,” persecutor of the church, to “Paul,” founder of churches. His very life was daily evidence of the power of Christ to change a life.

Paul went on three missionary journeys all over Asia Minor to establish churches and then return to strengthen them. The church in Corinth, Greece, was particularly troublesome in that it had many issues in its early stages (see 1 Corinthians) including a conflict of leadership. In 1 Corinthians 1:11-13 we find out that some were following Paul, some were following Apollos, some were following Cephas, and some were better than all of these: they were following Christ (which is fine, but not to the exclusion of everyone else). Thus, a good portion of this second letter to the Corinthian church was all about re-establishing Paul’s authority. Indeed, this is partly why this New Covenant passage is so important — because it reveals the basis upon which true ministry is founded. It’s as if Paul pulls back the curtain on his life and ministry and says, “This is how we operate as servants of Christ. Look and see how everything we are and do is from God and nothing is from us.”

And so it is that Paul finds it necessary to provide the church he founded with a “letter of recommendation,” though he is reluctant to do so. No wonder: he founded this church and now they are requesting a reference on his job application!

That’s why he says: So you need a letter of recommendation from us (meaning himself and other apostles)? Not necessary. You already have that letter. You. You are our letter. Your changed lives are proof that our ministry is of God and from God. We didn’t make those changes in your life. You didn’t even make them yourself. God did. And that is all the credentials we need.

It’s a powerful statement of the reality of the gospel to change lives. To have a heart that wants to turn from sin and do what is right. To suddenly have a desire to please God when there was nothing like that before. These are evidence of the Holy Spirit coming into a person and changing his or her heart.

Have you ever been around a person whose pride and arrogance has been stripped away by God; there’s no other way you can explain the changes in that person’s life? Then you know what Paul is talking about here. They are proof that Paul and his co-workers are from God.

How about you? Do you have any letters? Do you have anyone about whom you can say: God changed that person’s life through my relationship with him or her?

Are you beginning to see how the New Covenant is all about what God does? Our  thoughts and questions today will be all around that reality about the New Covenant; that it’s all about what God does, not what were do. Like Paul, we are merely postal clerks delivering the letters already written by God. That’s the New Covenant at work.

One last thing. Paul says, “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts…” I would have thought he might say it was written on their hearts, but he says, instead, “written on our hearts.” That would indicate intimacy, personal involvement, a sense of ownership and responsibility. That’s because all ministry comes through relationships, and Paul wants the Corinthians to know how much he loves them and feels they are a part of him. They are on his heart. That’s beautiful, don’t you think? Are the people you minister to on your heart? If you’re a minister of the New Covenant, they are.

Day 6 Challenge:
The good citizens of Corinth are requesting from Paul letters of recommendation. Paul’s response is basically, “You have got to be kidding! You do not need letters of recommendation. You are the letters of recommendation from Christ — the visible evidence of lives changed. I am just the postman.”

The Catch Ministry’s Prayer Ministry is all about changing lives, healing hurting hearts, touching a lonely spirit, and restoring what we once thought could never be made right. It is the changed lives that are the visible evidence of Christ. While our Prayer Warriors pray constantly, not one would say that he or she is equal to such tasks, or sufficient for these things. Rather, they are likely to say that everything comes from Christ and nothing from themselves. Like Paul, they are merely postal clerks.

If we want to change lives as Paul did — to really upset whole communities and start people in new directions, to give them liberty and freedom in the midst of guilt and oppression — aren’t we going to have to learn what Paul learned: that there is nothing coming from us, but everything comes from God? God alone can do God’s work. If there is no dependence on Him for that purpose, it is a wasted, useless effort on our part.

Action items:

1. Take a few seconds to recognize that the Lord of all Lords, the Christ, the Holy Messiah, is working through you. It is not up to you anymore. It is all up to Christ working through you. This is the New Covenant.
2. Isn’t it far better than anything you have done on your own with God’s ‘help,’ which is the Old Covenant?
3. Tell us what you think. Are you getting closer to being set free to be all that God intended you to be, which is not working really hard for God, but serving as visible evidence of Christ working through you?
4. Tell us what is it like to be a postal clerk. Do you have any letters?

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Be sincere

Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. (2 Corinthians 2:17)

Today we’re going to talk about sincerity and honesty — values that are of utmost importance to the new covenant ministry because the means by which the message of the gospel reaches anyone is through how we live our lives. We are the proving ground of the new covenant, so that if we are anything less than sincere, the message will be either hindered or misunderstood.

This issue is actually the cause of much unintentional false teaching in Christian circles. Many among those who lead, as well as those who are being led, have bought into the idea that the Christian leader, in order to be successful, must be better — more spiritual, happier, more successful, etc. — than anyone else. But perpetuating this myth requires a certain level of dishonesty. If Christian leaders told the whole truth about themselves, people might discover someone just as anxious, fearful and sinful as they are.

So?

This, of course, is the whole point. Discovering this is not the end of one’s ministry, as many suppose, it is just the beginning. By being honest and sincere about one’s life, struggles, doubts and beliefs, leaders become more human, more vulnerable, more accessible, and more capable of conveying the message that the hope is not them, the hope is Christ.

Were you disappointed over discovering that Paul got so anxious over not finding Titus in Troas that he walked right by a door of ministry that the Lord had opened for him, or were you relieved and encouraged that God just might be able to use you, too, since you probably would have done the same thing?

This point is central to the new covenant, as we will see later through the example of Moses, but if we convey anything other than the truth about ourselves, we are operating under the old covenant, not the new. The new covenant ministry never requires a perfect example, but it always requires an honest one. That is why Paul writes that when he speaks before anyone, he speaks as though he were standing before God. He might be able to fool the people, but he knows he cannot fool God. He can’t stand before God and lie to the people. That would be what he calls “peddling” the word.

This should be a huge encouragement to us by showing that the only way we can make a difference in someone else’s life is when we are honest about ours. This is one of the most freeing things about the new covenant, and why we keep coming back to it again and again, because it’s so easy to forget: God’s most effective message and ministry to others comes through you, as you are, not as you think you should be. The truth, by way of the new covenant, requires an honest, transparent person.

One more thing. The word translated “sincerity” comes from a Greek word that had its origin in Paul’s day in the making and selling of pottery, and the parallel was not wasted, I’m sure. The word literally means “before” or “tested by” the sun.

As you may know, when pottery is fired, even the tiniest air bubbles in the clay can cause a crack in the final product. If it’s a large crack, the whole piece must be discarded, but hairline fractures were often filled with wax before the glaze went on so as to hide them from the buyer in the marketplace. The only way you could tell, if you were purchasing pottery, was to hold the piece up to the sun, as its bright light would reveal any hidden cracks.

In like manner, we stand before the bright light of God, where all our hidden cracks are revealed, and far from being a hindrance, this is actually a huge asset to the ministry because the light of God’s power actually shines only through our cracks, not our pretty, glazed-over surfaces.

Day 5 Challenge:
What does peddling the word of God mean to you? Does it refer to Christian Bookstores who sell more peripheral trinkets than Bibles, or the hawkers at the airport who hand out their tracts and ask for money. Or does it mean something else?

Perhaps a peddler is someone who preaches but never touches the poor; or perhaps judges the behavior of others without ever first looking in the mirror; or someone who uses a superficial, shallow approach to the Word of God that makes our human condition into something impressive in return for a hefty offering.

Have you ever peddled the word of God?

What does it mean to you to speak before God with sincerity? What is sincerity? We often speak of someone as “A man of integrity.” What do we mean when we say that?

Action items:
As you walk and talk with those you meet today, discover a man or woman who speaks with sincerity. What is it about this person that tells you she or he is some of integrity? Enter into a conversation with this person and probe his or her heart. Is he/she trustworthy? Why or why not?

Have a look in the closest reflection near you or find a mirror in the bathroom. Look deeply into the reflection and probe your own heart as you ask yourself, are you someone who speaks before God with sincerity, or are you just a peddler? Take a selfie and send it in with any comments you care to share.

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‘Yes, we can!’ – ‘No, we can’t!’

To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? (2 Corinthians 2:16)

This is the central question of the new covenant — the fulcrum on which it engages or disengages. It is, indeed, the basic question of life. Whether we are operating under the new covenant or the old covenant can be found in the answer to this question.

“Who is equal to such a task?” Or as the New American Standard Bible has it: “And who is adequate for these things?”

At this stage in Paul’s rendering of the new covenant, he is not interested in answering the question, only in asking it. It is therefore a rhetorical question — “a question asked in order to produce an effect or to make a statement rather than to elicit information.” The information will come later, but the effect Paul wants to produce by asking this question is to hit us all in the gut. This is the question that at any time can drop us to our knees whether we know the answer to it or not. And yet, it is the question we all face every day. There is nothing more central to life than this.

“Who is adequate for life?” “Who is equal to the task?” “Who can divide a room — attracting some people and repelling others?” This is the question being asked and he leaves us hanging with the answer on purpose. Why? I believe because he wants us to feel the tension over what life asks of us, and what we can and cannot deliver. He wants to cut to the chase. He wants us to live a while with this question. He wants us to feel its vulnerability — the way it can strip us from all pretense, and lay us bare before the Lord and others.

Actually, I believe we live with this question all the time. The new covenant thrives in its wake — in the inadequacy the question forces us all to feel if we truly face it. Do you walk into your job every day feeling like you are the man or woman for it? Do you approach your role as husband/wife, father/mother, with the confidence that you have what it takes to fulfill that role today? Do you ever feel like you talked your way into something and once you got it, you fall back and wonder how you are going to do what you said you could do?

That’s what I want us all to feel today, and I am purposely not going to try and resolve it. Paul doesn’t resolve it until the next chapter. He must want us to get comfortable with being aware of our inadequacy for life. The secret to the power comes from knowing the need for it.

“Who is equal to such a task?”  Good question.

Day 4 Challenge:
“Who is equal for this task? Who is equal to set people free?” In our naiveté we often find ourselves quick to raise our hands for this. After all, aren’t we supposed to be living the victorious, triumphant life? Until, at the first onset of a disturbance of any kind, we find ourselves flying under our desks shivering.  

This is because we can find ourselves caught in our inner doubts over the slightest obstacles.  We know great fear and experience paralyzing pain in our hearts.

Where is this life of triumph? Is there something wrong with those of us who wobble along?

No. The triumphant life includes human anguish, fear, and doubt. Our life is set up to be side-by-side with the fragrance of Jesus. On one side are our fears, frustrations, and failures. On the other side is God who is within us and able to work His work and do His will through us. The result? “Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”!

Action item:
Bring a journal with you today and jot down that times when you really believe your life rests upon your feeble efforts to do something for God. Describe the intensity of the experience, when it is all up to you — when you try so hard to be equal to the task — when it is important to do something good for God. Are you in company with many or are you alone? Are you ready to do more or are you pretty tired?

Step out of the story and try reliving the experience with the expectation that God is doing something through you, that you can be led in triumph by Jesus Christ at the very moment of your frustration: “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” Paul could say that in the midst of his admitted anxiety.

What is the difference? Is the outcome any different? Probably not – because God does work through us – with or without us. So what is the difference? Tell us what you jotted down in your journal — your thoughts, insights, experience, and what your heart is saying.

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The Fragrance

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?  (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

We are a fragrance.

This is quite the thought — rarely thought about, hardly believed: Our lives give off a fragrance. Once again, this is something we are not aware of. This is something going on all the time without our knowledge, mainly because it is not for us.

The fragrance, or aroma, that our lives give off is primarily for God. We are told here exactly what the fragrance is and who it’s for. The fragrance is Christ, and the fragrance is first of all for God, and only secondly for those around us.

Did you know that right now, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, your life is a sweet aroma to God? God looks “down” from heaven and smells you, and that is because Christ is in you.

When we believe and are baptized, Christ is born in us through the Holy Spirit. From that moment on, God is pleased with us, because Christ is in us. In this sense, Christ never left. When He was here in the flesh, He told His disciples He would have to leave, but only so He could send His Spirit to live in us and God will forever be pleased with that.

Stop everything you are doing, lean back, put your hands in your lap and say to yourself: “I am pleasing to God. As I sit here doing nothing but meditating on this, I am pleasing to God.” No truer thing was ever spoken. This is not because you are such a good person. This is not because you are being so obedient and living the life He wants you to live. The fragrance doesn’t get stronger when you are good and weaker when you are bad. The fragrance is there simply because Christ is in you, and God smells Christ in you, and smiles. He is pleased to still have Christ on this earth in the hearts and lives of those who believe in Him. We’re not talking about discipleship here, we’re not talking about winning people for Christ, we’re not talking about living a life that is pleasing to God; we’re talking about something that is true as you sit there today, whether you are blowing it or not, this is going on. And this is a big enough thing to make Paul full of thanks to God regardless of his situation.

Now, because this is going on, people around you are effected, but that is only secondary to the point. This thing is going on in you between Christ and God, and because of that, others can sense something about you, and they will be either drawn to it or repelled by it. You are a spiritual magnet, and depending on the polarity of those around you, some will be attracted to you and others will be pushed away. And what can you do about this? Nothing.

The point of this truth is not to have you do anything about it. The point is awareness. Paul wants us to be aware of this. He wants us to know that we are having an effect in the world wherever we go, whatever we are doing — even when we are blowing it. Remember that was the context of this — Paul’s missed an opportunity for the gospel — and yet, he is still having an effect anyway. Most of it is for God; some of it is for the people around him, but all of it is triggered by the Spirit of God in him, and nothing he can start, stop or enhance.

Remember, the new covenant is nothing from us and everything from God. Here God is carrying out this incredible drama in you, with or without your knowledge, and it’s big enough to know that this is why you were put here on this earth: so Christ can continue to be on earth in you and through you. That is the new covenant.

21 Day Challenge:

In the Roman triumphal parade we talked about yesterday, to the prisoners in chains following the conquering general’s chariot, the fragrance of the incense was an odor of death.  But to those who were part of the army, and to the citizens of Rome who had been spared the threat to the city, that fragrance was a fragrance of life.

Action Item:

1. Ever find yourself frustrated, trying through your feeble efforts to do something for God, only to find out God was doing something in you all along? We all do. Tell us a story where you can laugh at yourself, trying to do something for God – when all along it was God doing something through you, that He led in triumph by Jesus Christ at the very moment of your frustration.
2. Tell a story when you were aware someone was either being attracted or repelled by the aroma of Christ in you.

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Everybody loves a parade

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.                                      (2 Corinthians 2:14)

This is one of the most abrupt turnarounds in all of scripture. One minute, Paul is telling us how he blew a God-given opportunity for the gospel, and the next minute, he is thanking God for always leading him in a victory celebration. “Always” would mean that this moment was no exception. It’s almost as if one thing has nothing to do with the other. Well, for all practical purposes, it doesn’t.

Three things he says are always happening with us, regardless.

1. We are being led.
2. Our lives are constantly on display.
3. We have an impact wherever we go.

None of these things appear to take any effort on our part. They are things that God is using us for. He even calls us “captives,” which would indicate there’s nothing we can do about this; it’s going to happen whether we like it or not.

We are being led. There are no accidents in our life with God. He is using everything — and I mean everything — because in this context, he uses a mistake. Call it what you will — a failure, a missed opportunity, a blown save — it wasn’t good, but God is turning it into something good. This is the first really good news of the new covenant: God is making sense of our lives whether we see it or not.

Our lives are constantly on display. Ever been in a parade? I used to be in the high school band. In my senior year, I was the drum major. During football season, we were focused on the games, then we had concert season, and in the spring was parade season. We would march in three or four local parades every year. I am well aware of the feeling of being the center of attention. You are marching down the center of the street, which has been relieved of its normal function of carrying traffic, and there are crowds of people on either side of the street cheering you on. People love a parade, from the little neighborhood walk-alongs to the big televised events, size and scope just don’t seem to matter.

The one Paul is referring to here is a victory celebration common during the time of the Roman Empire when the troops would come home after conquering another province with the captives in chains, bringing up the rear. That’s where Paul puts us: captives in a victory celebration. Like it or not, we clatter along at the back of the parade. Of course, who wouldn’t want to be chained to the purposes of God? The point is: we are on display, and what we display is the fragrance associated with knowing God.

We have an impact wherever we go. And the fragrance has an impact. It’s not something we put on, it’s not an impression we are trying to make, it’s the unconscious result in our lives of simply knowing and loving God. We wear the fragrance of Christ whoever we are, wherever we go, whatever is happening to us.

Remember, all three of these things are going on whether we know it or not — whether we blow it or not. So we might as well get with the program. That’s what Paul did. He gave thanks for what looked like a setback, but what turned out to be a big step forward for his life and ministry — a step we are all benefitting from today, I might add, as we still are learning from his example.

Day 2 Challenge:                                                                                                                             How can Paul reverse his position so quickly? Nothing is going well for Paul, yet at the same time he is throwing a New York ticker tape parade as if the war had just been won.

Action Item:

1. Tell us today about something that caused you to rejoice in the middle of everything going wrong.
2. How is He doing this today through your life? Can you describe how you are being used to “spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere”?

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