Mar 25, 2018
by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: NT books | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 2:12–13
- Introduction
A. 2Cor.2:12–14 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. 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.
B. Map
1. Paul evangelizing Asia Minor, his associate Titus in Corinth
2. Titus comes with a report of problems in Corinth
3. They go together to Corinth but it doesn’t go well, with one man in particular opposing Paul, and the rest of the congregation failing to back the apostle.
4. They leave, Paul pens a severe letter to the church at Corinth (a letter which has been lost), telling them that they must oppose this man.
5. They part ways: Titus takes the letter back to Corinth, Paul returns to Asia Minor
6. Paul gets impatient waiting for Titus to return with a report about how his letter was received
7. Paul heads to Troas, the port city where Titus will arrive on his way back from Corinth.
8. Titus is not there yet. So, Paul begins proclaiming the good news of Christ. And people are interested and eager to hear more.
9. After a while, though, Paul can’t stand it any longer and he sets sail for Macedonia.
10. In Macedonia he finally finds Titus having just arrived from Corinth by land.
11. Titus gives him the good news that his severe letter has generally been well received, and that the church did discipline the man, and the man had in fact repented.
12. Gushing with love, Paul pens 2Corinthians and sends it to Corinth with Titus.
II. This little episode is full of gems. I’d like to begin with two minor applications.
A. Open doors: “When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord...”
1. What is an open door?
a. People who are interested in hearing what you have to say about Christ.
2. God is the great door opener, of course.
a. Augustine said that this verse shows us that even the very beginning of salvation is under the control of God.
3. So we need to look for doors God opens or us to share the gospel. And we need to pray for them.
B. A lesson in decision-making – When Paul came to Troas a door was opened for him to preach the gospel of Christ there, but he had no rest in his spirit – not finding Titus there – so he departed and sailed to Macedonia.
1. A door was opened, but Paul didn’t see that as a call from God. In fact, he concluded it was not God’s call.
a. This shows us that an opportunity is not necessarily a call from God.
b. There is a world of opportunity before each of us. It doesn’t mean that God is called us to do it all.
2. God did not command Paul to go to Macedonia. He went because it seemed the best thing to do. He was compelled by his concern for the Corinthians.
a. At other times God did instruct him to do something or go . For the most part even the apostle Paul – arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived – made his decisions based not on special divine guidance but based on what seemed best and wisest to him at the time.
b. God works through our thoughts and efforts to figure out what is the best thing to do.
c. Now if God had told Paul not to go, or told him to do something else, Paul would certainly not have traveled to Macedonia. But in the absence of some clear direction from God, he did what he thought was best to do. Was Paul thereby doing his own will instead of God’s? Not at all.
d. Here’s the point: Paul presumed his restlessness in Troas was born of the love Christ had put in his heart for the Corinthians.
e. A person who is striving to die to himself and pursue God’s will should not assume that his impulses or her sense of what’s best to do are contrary to the way of the Lord.
III. One major application: Paul’s burden
A. In life, there are emergencies which make you drop everything and go deal with a crisis.
B. And when something happens, you’ve got to decide whether the thing is so important you need to jump, because a lot of times what you were doing is important too.
C. Well, what Paul had been doing was very important: he was preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel which God uses to rescue people from eternal penalty and provides them eternal life.
D. This is what God had called Paul to do with his life. And Paul writes that he felt compelled to do it.
E. And yet something came up which drove Paul to drop what he was doing.
F. His burden for the Corinthian church was so strong that he walked away from people eager to hear about Christ in order to find out sooner how the Corinthians were doing.
G. Why would Paul feel this way? I would suggest that it was because he is like Christ, because he is filled with the Spirit of Christ, because he has the mind of Christ. Paul carried the burden of Christ for His people around in his heart.
H. Later in this letter (2Cor.11:2-3) he tells them about this zeal he has for them to maintain their allegiance to Christ: "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."
I. And this zeal Paul had wasn’t just a zeal for the church at Corinth.
1. He describes this concern for all the churches later in this letter: “Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2Cor.11:28-29)
2. And there’s a very similar situation to this one which we read about in 1Thes.3:5-8. Soon after planting the church in Thessalonica, and then leaving in the face of persecution, Paul had heard that the persecution had been turned against the new converts in Thessalonica. Even though the ministry where Paul was was prospering mightily, Paul was so anxious about his brethren in Thessalonica that his concern finally drove him to take Timothy off of his ministry assignment and send him to find out how their faith was holding out:
3. “When I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. 6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.”
4. The burden Paul and his companions had for God’s people was so deep that he could say, “If you stand fast in the Lord, then we can live.”
J. You see, when Jesus commanded us to love one another, He didn’t mean just to be nice to each other. He didn’t mean just to put up with each other.
1. This is extraordinary love here! “We couldn’t live until we knew you were knew you were OK!”
2. This is caring about the ones God cares about!
K. Generally we think of having peace as a godly thing. But there is a wicked peace.
1. When your Christian friends are wavering in their faith, or when your church is in turmoil, it is a wicked thing to be at peace, and not be deeply concerned.
2. The apostle Paul had no rest for his spirit in Troas because of his concern for the Corinthians.
3. And God has commanded us to be disturbed on behalf of our brothers and sisters when they suffer or when they weep or when their faith falters.
4. Sometimes the most godly thing to do is to be disturbed.
5. If it did not bother Paul when the faith of the Corinthians was hanging in the balance, he would not have been reflecting the love of Christ. His unrest was born of love.
L. But so often you and I, we get it backwards, don’t we?
1. Often we are at peace when God wants us disturbed.
a. I was counseling a mother once whose son was not doing well with the Lord. She said something like this to me: "I’m not going to let it bother me. I know it’s all in God’s hands. I just figure if he wants to live his own life apart from the Lord, there’s nothing I can do about it."
b. I said to her, “Actually it is our duty to be bothered when our children aren’t walking with the Lord. I know it’s easy to want to avoid the pain and grief of the scary thought of him not going to heaven, but we must not let ourselves do so. Jesus cried over Jerusalem because of its lack of faith, and we must cry over our children’s lack of faith. That’s part of loving them. And we must shed tears in our prayers for them.”
2. And yet we are often disturbed at those times when God calls us to peace, like when we get insulted or persecuted. That’s when God says, "Rejoice and be glad" (Matt.5:12).
M. Is this burden for God’s people and God’s church something for pastors and church leaders? Of course. But it’s also for all of us. Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers to say, Imitate me as I imitate Christ! (1Cor.4:16; 11:1)
N. As a church, we had some difficulties in 2004, and again in 2016. And on both occasions, the presbytery sent men out to help us. They spent a lot of hours helping people they didn’t even know. They left their own families and their own ministries. They didn’t get paid for it. They received no earthly benefit. Why would they do it?
1. I would suggest that it’s because the Holy Spirit has given them a love for Christ’s people and for His church.
2. Folks, this is not a hobby. This is not a club. This is not a business. This is Christ’s church, the church Jesus is building.
3. And Paul, compelled by the love of Christ, was willing to do whatever he had to do to make it work, to keep it going in the Lord.
O. Why is someone’s faith such a big deal? Why is the state of a church such a big deal?
1. It’s because Christ is such a big deal! It’s because knowing Christ and being a part of his family — that’s the only thing which matters!
2. I know that physical pain is very difficult. I know that relationships can break your heart. I know that finding a career you really like is important. I know there are many problems in the world which need to be addressed. I know there are sad losses and joyful gains.
3. But, my dear friends, all this kind of stuff which we deal with constantly in our lives, all of this is as nothing compared to the magnitude of knowing the Christ sent from God. And all of this is nothing compared to the magnitude of God’s kingdom being built.
4. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear... 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:25, 33
5. So, seek a good career. Seek a good spouse. Seek to be a healthy person. Seek to be a contributing member of society. But seek FIRST God’s kingdom.
P. A number of people here today carry burdens of worry and zeal for someone they deeply love. And just mentioning that, some people got a lump in their throat. This is the love of God.
1. Children, you especially need to realize this. “A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the mother who bore him.” – Proverbs 17:25
a. And the most foolish thing a person can do is not follow Jesus.
2. And, you know, those of us who carry that type of burden will count it as nothing if the story only has a happy ending, if our loved ones come to Christ. The burden, the tears, the prayers will be nothing at all!