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Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? ² You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. ³ 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. NIV

Again, let us note the lovely balance in the words: ‘’You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry…’’.

We are workers together with God:

‘’ In this work, we work with God, and that means that you are a field under God’s cultivation, or, if you like, a house being built to his plan.’’ 1 Cor.3:9 J.B.Phillips

Before moving on from this paragraph, some comments from Paul Barnett are worthy of note. He says that Paul staked his claim to legitimate ministry on the existence of the Corinthian church: ‘Prior to Paul’s coming, there was no Christian community in Corinth. Through his labours there was now a congregation in that large and prosperous city, some of whose members had been criminals and immoral people. in the first letter (9:1-2) he referred to the Corinthian church as ‘the result of my work in the Lord’ and ‘the seal of my apostleship’. If the Corinthians need evidence that Paul was a true apostle let them look at themselves: You yourselves are our letter (verse 2)…The ‘letter’ written in the lives of the Corinthians was, like the letter written to them, a public document, an ‘epistle’, able to be known and read by everybody (verse 2)…It is one thing to possess the appropriate ordination documents or the framed university degree proudly displayed; but are there ‘living’ letters? The confirmation of one’s ministry lies in the effects of that ministry in human lives. This will depend upon having ministered a pure, undiluted gospel and also upon having taken people into our hearts. To do the former alone could mean inflexibility, while to do the latter alone could mean sentimentality. The proper balance lies in faithfulness to the gospel and pastoral love of the people.’

Are we beginning to praise ourselves again? Are we like others, who need to bring you letters of recommendation, or who ask you to write such letters on their behalf? Surely not! ² The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves. Your lives are a letter written in our hearts; everyone can read it and recognize our good work among you. ³ Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. NLT.

I find this deeply moving.

It seems that Paul’s troublesome critics carried ”letters of recommendation” and questioned his credentials. What ”letter” could he produce and pass round for inspection? Paul replies, ‘YOU Corinthians are our letter!’

”The only letter of recommendation we need is you yourselves.”

At one level we could say that Paul wrote this letter. But the deeper truth is they were Christ’s letter: Christ at work by His Spirit. Paul laboured at Corinth, but it was God’s work. This is a self-evident reality, and it is a commendation of Paul.

Paul was deeply conscious of this paradoxical reality that in the Christian life we have to work, but it is God who works in us and through us. Give some consideration to the following passages: 1 Cor.3:6,7; 1 Cor.15:10; Phil.2:12; Col.1:29.

God will vindicate the ministries of His authentic servants while He rightly gets the glory.

You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us.

I said, yesterday, that Paul’s preaching was marked by integrity, sincerity and authority.

But we can also add to this list accountability.

‘Thou God seest me.’ (Genesis 16:13). I think more than once, I’ve seen these words on a plaque in the homes of older Christians. In the Hagar story, there is a sense of comfort from knowing that God ‘sees’ a person. But there is another side to this truth and it comes out in today’s text. It is the idea of our responsibility to God and before God. He sees His preachers: in the pulpit, yes; but also in the study, and in every part of their lives. Ultimately they are accountable to Him.

Speaking on this passage, The Bible teacher David Pawson noted that preachers tend to be very much aware of the faces before them in the congregation. But most of all we must be conscious of God. Our priority is not to please people but to please the Lord.

Paul ”wants the Corinthians to know that he lived every day as if it was the day of judgment, hence his references to ‘before God’ and ‘in the sight of God’ used elsewhere in the letter. All that he says, does and above all, thinks is ‘plain to God’.” Paul Barnett. (See 1:23;4:2;5:11,12;12:19).

At the same, Paul knew that the day of judgment was still ahead, and he lived his life in the light of it:

”This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. ² Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ³ I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. ⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Cor.4:1-5).

 You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. NLT.

As preachers, the only authority we have is Christ’s. So I would argue that we have authority when we say what Christ said (and when we speak in line with what He said). Also, we have authority when we treat the Old Testament Scriptures as He treated them. He regarded them as the Word of God and so should we. (There is also the authority of a Christlike life, enabled by the Holy Spirit).

We are not free to ‘make it up as we go along.’ There is too much tinkering under the bonnet of truth; tampering with what has been handed down to us.

Is it not obvious that here in the west, the mainline ‘liberal’ churches are in serious decline, as they rip bits out of the Bible and teach what it expressly forbids? Even as they crave cultural credibility they are losing divine authority. They are like Esau, selling their ”inheritance” for’ ”a single meal” (Hebrews 12:16).

You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ’s authority, knowing that God is watching us. NLT.

Paul contrasts himself and his colleagues with the ”many hucksters” doing the rounds. Probably he had his critics in mind. They thought they were so great and he was of no consequence. At least, this was the impression they gave.

Here are verses 16,17 in ‘The Message’: ”This is a terrific responsibility. Is anyone competent to take it on? No—but at least we don’t take God’s Word, water it down, and then take it to the streets to sell it cheap. We stand in Christ’s presence when we speak; God looks us in the face. We get what we say straight from God and say it as honestly as we can.”

Paul highlights three marks of genuine preaching:

• Integrity: not preaching for personal profit. ‘The verb used of these ‘peddlers’ was used of wine hawkers who watered down the pure vintage to make fraudulent profits. The implication is that these persons were receiving (excessive?) payment from the Corinthians in return for a diluted, weakened message.’ Paul Barnett;
• Sincerity: ”with sincerity” is literally ‘tested by the sun’. Paul had nothing to hide;
• Authority: ‘…those who engage in ministry must speak only the ‘word of God’ and they must do so ‘before God’…While the minister needs gifts appropriate to his calling, let him come not in the strength of those gifts but in the power of the word of God.’ Paul Barnett.

 To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? NLT

Who indeed?

This is something every genuine preacher must feel, and it will – or it should – keep us on our knees. Our sense of inadequacy, incompetence and weakness throws us back on God. We are incapable, in our own strength, of speaking as we ought. We are conscious of being ‘’fragile clay jars’’ (4:7).

‘If God has called you to preach, the task, of course, is humanly impossible. Preaching is worship. And preaching aims to awaken worship. Both worshiping and awakening worship are miracles.’ John Piper.

‘’To preach, to really preach, is to die naked a little at a time, and to know each time you do it that you must do it again.’’ Bruce Thielemann

This question is applicable to every aspect of Christian life and witness. John Piper describes Christian living as ‘acting the miracle.’ We are called to do what we cannot do in our own strength. But we have to get out of the boat, and as we keep our eyes on Jesus, we find we can do it. He makes the impossible possible!

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? NLT

I regularly pray 3 things for my wife and myself:

• That we will shine for Jesus;
• That we will smell of Jesus;
• And that we will be given open doors to speak about Jesus.

Reading through 2 Corinthians 2, I have realised that all three ideas are to be found in this chapter. Obviously, the verses before us relate to the sense of smell.

David Pawson made the point, one we have previously considered, that the picture here is of a Roman General having a victory parade through the streets of Rome. He pointed out that all along the route there would be incense burning, and he said this would smell very differently to the defeated captives, than it would for the vast majority of winners on the route and in the crowd.

As I think about my prayer request that we will smell of Jesus, this passage helps me to see that not everyone will like the fragrance we are wearing. We should not expect it to be so. Our Christian life and witness will not be to everyone’s taste.

In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse. The Message

But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. NLT

Someone spoke about ‘our unconscious influence, impregnated with the fragrance of Christ.’ What a beautiful phrase, and an even more wonderful possibility.

I remember being in a cafe in Interlaken, Switzerland, one morning in April 1989. Suddenly a man walked quickly through the place, and as he did so there was a wafting of a powerful fragrance. He must have been wearing a strong cologne and the effect was unmissable! The fragrance seemed to fill the room. The impression he left behind was vividly real. if you had a sense of smell you couldn’t fail to notice him.

Christian witness in the world can be like this. Paul Barnett comments that Paul’s evangelism was ‘effective and noticeable’. He adds that although the word of God is ‘invisible, there is no doubting its effects.’

How remarkable it is that God ‘’uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere’’ (emphasis mine).

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. ¹⁵ For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶ 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? ¹⁷ 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. NIV

We are going to spend a few days in this final paragraph of chapter 2. Before we look at the details, here is a quote from Paul Barnett which will help to give it context:

‘The general picture in verse 14a is of a Roman victory procession, though Paul’s specific point is somewhat uncertain, as witnessed by the variety of suggestions as to the precise meaning. Military leaders were granted a public victory procession (triumphas) through Rome only after winning major battles. The most spectacular procession of the first century was the celebration of the conquest of the Jews when, in AD 71, the Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus rode in chariots through the streets of Rome behind their pathetic prisoners of war. Josephus, the Jewish historian, records this at length, and it is also depicted on the Titus Arch in Rome, where it may still be seen. It is not clear whether Paul sees himself as the conquering general or his captive. A case can be made for both, though the apostle as a captive slave seems more likely.’

You will see that both the ‘New Living Translation’ and the ‘New International Version’ interpret it as the latter, whereas the ‘English Standard Version’, for example, simply reads: ” But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession…” However, as we have already seen, the atmosphere of 2 Corinthians would suggest that Paul appeared more like a captive slave than a winner.

But ‘things are seldom what they seem.’ This man who could be called a loser, really was a winner This was the ‘inner reality’ of his ministry.