MINISTRY STINKS

MINISTRY STINKS!

Bible Reading 2 Cor. 2:14-17

    

2 Cor 2:15-16

15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

           Actually, ministry doesn’t stink – it smells. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he reminds them of the familiar parade of the victorious Roman general returning from the battle. With him would be his children and family. Behind him would come the wagons of spoil and a company of the enemy in chains. Along the parade route would be the priests burning incense! That smell meant different things to different people.

           To the victors the smell of the incense meant success and peace but to the captives it meant that they would soon be thrown to the beasts in the arena. It was, as Paul said, a smell either of life unto life or death unto death. It was a matter of perspective.

           So the gospel and ministers have an aroma that causes one of two responses from listeners. To one it is an aroma of life and peace. To another it is a reminder that sin has horrible consequences. It is the smell of death.

           Often I have asked the same question that Paul asked. “Who is sufficient for these things?” Doctor Albert Barnes expands the question this way: “Who is worthy of so important a charge? Who can undertake it without trembling? Who can engage in it without feeling that he is in himself unfit for it, and that he needs constant divine grace?”

2 Cor 12:9

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Dear Lord, I am a poor choice to carry this eternally important message. At least let me be clear. AMEN