In these six verses, Paul shows us four important realities about Jesus. Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, a city that is morally autonomous and morally unmoored. The notion of the exclusivity of Christ was difficult for the culture to swallow, much as it is today. And there was a great deal of Corinth still in the Corinthian church. (Much as it is today.)
If Jesus is worthy, risk in relationships is unavoidable. Paul took a risk in his relationship with the Corinthians, and that relationship broke. They rejected his teaching and the wisdom of God in him.
In the American church, Jesus has become very ordinary, developing apathy, demanding nothing and enabling assimilation. We do not look much like the New Testament church, but rather look like the culture around us.
If Jesus is worthy, then life will be a paradox. Jesus is continually leading Paul as a captive to his death. Paul is providing a high definition picture of this paradox of life and death. Paul’s opponents would have called out how feeble, weak and pathetic Paul is – and Paul himself would boast in it, because it is in his weakness that Jesus is glorified and His strength is demonstrated.
If Jesus is worthy, then our words have weight in the world. God the Father delights in the worthiness and sacrifice of Christ, and does the same when Paul imitates Christ by giving up his life. But be because that fragrance is the fragrance of death, of giving up our lives as Christ did, those words frightens many off – those who are perishing. But for those who are being saved, those words are a path to salvation.
If Jesus is worthy, then we will be gripped by the gravity of the Gospel. Paul here calls out the false teachers who are gaining wealth by peddling the word of God in order to earn money. They did not feel the weight of the gospel.
Likewise, we must ask if the wealth and comfort that we live in is making the gospel seem less weighty. Jesus says that it is very difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God, which means the vast majority of us in America are at a severe disadvantage.
God finds supreme satisfaction in His Son, and invites us to do the same.
– Sermon Notes, Brian Bailey, Seed Church, Lynnwood, WA, February 4, 2017
2 Corinthians 2:1-17
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