Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 2. This is on page 964 of your Pew Bibles. 2 Corinthians 2, verses 12 through 17. This is the Word of God. When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was open for me in the Lord, 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. 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. For we are the aroma of Christ, to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To one, a fragrance from death to death. To the other, a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many Like so many, peddlers of God's Word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. Praise God for His holy Word. Let's pray and ask Him to bless our time as we seek to explain it and apply it. Heavenly Father, we bow in Your presence, and as always, our frequent request is we would ask that Your Word would be our rule. your spirit, our teacher, and that your greater glory would always be our supreme concern, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. All right, so we do have a couple of kids here tonight, and maybe young adults. I don't know if you've ever heard this before, but maybe you can nod or something. How many of you here know what a cakewalk is? All right, we got some thumbs up and whatnot. And some of you, all of you definitely know how to eat a cake, I'm sure. But if you don't know what a cake walk is, it's an event usually at a fair or a fundraiser or maybe even an upcoming church picnic, who knows? I mean, I put in my vote for that, but we'll see. And people make cakes and they essentially donate them to the event. Tickets are sold or distributed. And if there's 20 tickets sold, then that means there's 20 numbers on the ground. And then you have something sort of like musical chairs and when the music starts, you walk around and then the music stops, you stop on a number. And then a number is picked and called out, let's say it's number seven. And the person standing on number seven then, they're the winners and they get to walk over to the cake table and they get to look at all the cakes there and they get to pick one. and it's theirs. So it's especially good if you get your number called early and then the music starts and it continues. And the beauty of this event for some of us is that all we do is buy a ticket or obtain a ticket and we don't have to spend any time making or baking a cake, you just have to walk around. And so it's easy to get a cake. So when we say something in life, oh, that's like a cakewalk, that means that it's easy. And we like easy. We all like easy. In fact, when things aren't easy in our life, we start to squawk and complain. All of us here, I would say, most of us at least, we want the easy life, we like the path of least resistance, and we even try to avoid difficult things and conflict at all costs. Well, we also want an easy spiritual life as well, that's what we desire. And that's one reason why the prosperity gospel's so popular. We want easy, we want blessings. And we think that if we have it easy, well, then God must be pleased with me and I must be doing something right. Well, in our passage this evening, Paul tells us that the authentic Christian life is not a cake walk. In fact, it's a continual death march. a death march, the opposite of a cakewalk, because the Christian life requires suffering daily. It requires denying ourselves daily and bearing our crosses daily. And Paul's already talked a lot about suffering in this letter, and he picks the theme back up here, and he's going to do this a few more times. But in this passage, he gives us another benefit. And I know, this is, we're thinking death march, difficulty, benefit. Yes, benefit to suffering. God uses our continual suffering to make Christ known to the lost. God uses our continual suffering to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're going to see this theme unfold in our passage under three points. The Christian life is a continual death march. Number two, the death march is actually a means of grace. Number three, how can we survive this death march? So Paul's pastoral and apostolic life is not only difficult because he faces continual persecution and resistance, his life is difficult even in times of prosperity and when ministry is going well. Paul would agree with this statement that we've said this evening, the Christian life is not a cakewalk but a continual death march. In verses 12 and 13, we read this, when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me and the Lord, 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. So, through this, Paul is showing his great concern for the church in Corinth, because he's somewhere else. He's in Troas preaching the gospel, which is his favorite thing to do, and the Lord was blessing his ministry there, and yet at the same time, Paul's mind was also somewhere else, and it was not at peace. He was hoping to see Titus, so he could get an update on how things are going in Corinth. But he couldn't find him anywhere, and so then he even moved on to his next location, Macedonia, trying to find Titus to hear how things were going in Corinth. Paul has such serious pastoral anxiety at times about the Corinthians that it seems that he can't even enjoy his success in Troas. Ministry is difficult. and his heart longs for church unity. But just when Paul feels destitute and perhaps hopeless, he reminds himself of something. And he remembers why he can praise God and at the same time be consumed and think of these difficulties and trials. In verse 14, we read this, Paul says, 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. So, Paul praises God that in the midst of his journey, a journey that's filled with trials and afflictions, that he can still give thanks to God because he sees his journey as being a part of a victory parade. Only instead of, we first would think, oh, he's marching as the victor, you know, victory in Christ. Well, that preaches, and it sounds good. And you guys know I like that theme. But that's not what Paul's getting at here. Instead of marching as the victor and in victory, he sees himself as a POW, as a captive for Christ. Now, we need a little New Testament background here to understand how this triumphant, triumphal procession is really a death march. and how this actually comforts Paul and causes him to give thanks. In his commentary on 2 Corinthians, R. Kent Hughes does a nice job helping us understand what Paul is saying here. So I'm summarizing him as we think of this triumphal procession, what this actually is. Paul has in mind the Roman victory parade. Now, you've probably seen a movie somewhere, perhaps in the original, Ben-Hur. You can visualize the victory parade after Judah Ben-Hur rescues the Roman admiral from drowning. His ship is wrecked. He's in the ocean. He thinks the battle is lost, so he's going to try and kill himself. But Judah Ben-Hur rescues him, and the battle's actually won. And so he returns to Rome with this great victory parade. Just giving you, that's like a trailer trying to get you to watch Ben Hur. But in a victory parade, the general was out front in this parade in a chariot, often led by four horses. He carried a staff that was crowned by that triumphant Roman eagle, that standard there. And his face was painted a shade of red to bring to mind images of the God of Jupiter, of war to mind as he marches in. And behind the general would be a vast procession of soldiers, the spoils of war, the treasure that they secured. And there would be prisoners, there'd be prisoners of war, POWs. It was a massive victory parade and a religious event rolled into one. There were pagan priests in tow and they were burning incense and there were musicians playing music. So this parade actually appealed to all the senses of the Roman. It'd be stunning visually to see the great wealth gained. and the people conquered. You would hear the sound of victory in the music. You'd smell the aroma of victory in the incense and well up with pride in your heart over, you know, the greatness of Rome. This is the picture Paul paints. But then to our surprise, he doesn't see himself as marching with the victors, but he sees himself as being led as a captive. as a POW. After the parade, the POWs would often be sold into slavery or be put to death in a grand and mass human sacrifice. Paul sees the Christian life at times like this, not one of pure prosperity and always good fortunes, not a cakewalk, but as a death march. In 2 Corinthians 1.5, Paul's already alluded to this saying, for as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. Paul knows that because he's united to Christ, he is united to Christ in his death and resurrection and also shares abundantly in his sufferings. To be a Christian means to walk in some ways toward your death every day. And this is what Jesus did. In Isaiah 53, we read of the suffering servant who came knowing very well that he would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted, and pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities. He came to suffer. Our Lord's earthly life was a life of suffering as he was headed to Jerusalem and the cross, and this was his whole life. But especially in his public ministry, it was a march, a march toward death. And Christ submitted to His Father in heaven as He was voluntarily led by the Spirit in this procession to His death as a lamb led to the slaughter, yet He remained silent and He praised God. And He praised God because He knew that it would be through His death and suffering then that our wounds would be healed, that our sins would be forgiven, and that we would have fellowship with God. So his death march then, it was also a march of great joy. Well, like Paul, we are united to Christ. Christ's life is our life. You've probably heard that before and it's a little hard to understand what that means. But the Christian life, we think it is a death march because the call to Christian discipleship is a call to a hard life. Oftentimes it's a call to forfeit the comforts of this life in order to gain the blessings of eternity. It's a call to deny yourself every day. It's a call to put other people's interests before your own. It's a call to suffering and endure as you suffer for Christ, especially as you see the wicked around you who seem to prosper. The Christian life is not a call and guarantee to health and wealth in this world. What's guaranteed is difficulty and suffering. It's helpful then for us to think of ourselves as POWs in some sense on the way to a daily death. When our trials and afflictions come our way, then we're not surprised. These things aren't unexpected in this age. In fact, this is exactly what we knew was coming. The only surprise is the kind of trial that comes. It's comforting to think that in the midst of our suffering, my Savior suffered. My Savior suffered for me. And now I'm enduring suffering as well. This testifies to our heart that you belong to Jesus. Christian suffering, it's not a sign of curse. It's a sign of belonging to Jesus because you suffer because Christ suffered. So thinking of this, getting this mindset here certainly changes our perspective in the midst of great trials. They are expected. We know they will come. We suffer because we are united to Christ. So not only then can we find comfort in our trials, remembering this is reminding us we're united to Christ, we can also find comfort in our daily struggles because the Lord uses our afflictions to make Christ known wherever we walk as we march. The death march that we're on is a means of grace to the lost. And I don't mean to say a means of grace that we're going to add to the preaching of the Word and the sacraments, but the Lord does use our suffering for Christ as a way of making Christ known to others. Back to 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14 and 15, Paul says this, 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. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. So Paul's continuing to use this victory parade as an illustration. Remember incense was being burned along the parade route. So even if you couldn't even directly see the parade, you could smell it and still experience it. And to some along the route, those who were the victors, this would have been a sweet smell. It would have been the smell of victory. It would have been the smell of conquering others. But for those who were the conquered, who were in that procession, it was a smell of death. It was the same exact smell, but to some it was sweet, and others it was a stench and pointed to their impending slavery or death. was we live the Christian life. As we suffer in this world, we give off incense. We give off the aroma of Christ to all who are around us. As we are afflicted and cling to Jesus in the midst of our suffering, our family, our friends, and our coworkers can't help but see how we suffer for Christ's sake. And when they see us hurt and broken, but not crushed and hopeless. They're taking in the aroma of Christ as they see what it is to be a Christian. The knowledge of God is being made known through our death march, through our suffering. And to some, this is a sweet aroma, because to us, it is the aroma of eternal life. Some see us trusting in Christ. Some see us being comforted in our afflictions. And then they can start to see hope and life for themselves. They see us, again, hurt and crushed, but not destroyed. And they say, wow, I want that assurance. I want that hope. I want that God. I want that Savior. However, others see the exact same thing. That's not what they see. They see our reliance on Christ as a placebo, as something that's futile, that doesn't do anything, that's a trick of the mind to just get us through hard times, or they even see it as weakness, as religion is the opiate for the masses, some say. They see Christ as death. And they also see it as death because it's a threat to them. It's a threat to their way of life as they're stuck in sin. So to them, the aroma of Christ might reek of the dead, of their death. What a contrast. The same smell, the same aroma interpreted two very different ways. The gospel stays the same. The gospel is the gospel. The message doesn't change. But to some, it's a sweet aroma and the sound of rescue, and to others, it's the stench of slavery. What is it to you this evening? I pray that it's the sweet aroma to hear that God became man. and marched a march of death all the way to the cross so that your sins might be forgiven. This also gives us purpose in our suffering. Paul's already taught us that in our suffering, we suffer sometimes so that we can comfort others, and we suffer at other times so we'll learn how to rely on God. Well, here's another purpose in our suffering. God uses our continual trials and afflictions as a means of grace to make Christ known to the lost. We should each ask ourselves this evening, can the world smell me? Can the world smell Christ? Are we out in the world getting to know people and letting them know us so they can smell this aroma of Jesus? Or are we guilty of hiding here and huddling and cuddling together and essentially keeping that aroma of Christ from spreading because we don't ever go out in the world? This is encouragement to be mindful. that we are a pleasing aroma to those being saved. This should encourage us at times to seek out some relationships with non-Christians and try to deepen some of those relationships. We need some of these relationships with non-believers so we can let them in just enough, they get close enough to smell the aroma of Christ in our lives. By living for Jesus in times of affliction, we can't help but make the gospel known to others around us. Now, Paul also knows that giving thanks in the midst of suffering, this is no small task. This is a big ask. It seems impossible. And so this leads us to our third point. How can we survive this suffering, this death march? Paul in verse 16 says, who is sufficient for these things? Who can survive it? And he answers the question. For we are not like so many peddlers of God's Word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. We can make four quick observations about Paul's answer here, how he answers this question, who is sufficient for these things? This is how he answers. First, Paul points out that he can continue on this road because he's not looking for personal gain like so many peddlers of God's Word. He does not preach Christ to get rich. He does not preach Christ to make friends. He does not preach Christ to have an easy life. And we are called Christians, little Christs. That means we're little anointed ones. That means we share in Christ's anointing and in His suffering. And Paul knows this. He knows to live as Christ and to die as Cain. Second, as Paul mentioned in chapter 1, verse 12, He has behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity. He's a man of sincerity. He does not have ulterior motives. He has one motive, one motive to preach Christ and Christ crucified no matter what the earthly cost and to preach this as publicly as possible everywhere he can for all to hear. Third, he's confident that this is his calling from God and he has been commissioned and set aside and appointed for this very task. God's will is for him to suffer and through his suffering then show others the beauty of Christ's life of suffering. Suffering because through his suffering he came to save the lost. And then fourth, and we've addressed this already, Paul's suffering, he remembers, is in union with Christ. This in Christ, this union is mentioned three times in our passage. Verse 12, Paul says, the door was opened for me in the Lord. Verse 14, it's in Christ that Paul is led in this parade. Now in verse 17, Paul speaks again and says, in Christ, Paul can endure the path. He can endure because he's united to his beloved Savior. So with Paul then, May we also draw strength from the knowledge that we are united to Christ. May the Lord help us to think God's thoughts after Him and to think of our suffering as the Lord sees it. In the midst of our suffering, instead of thinking, woe is me, I don't deserve this, is it over yet? Instead, may we seek to serve Christ and glorify Him by learning to suffer well. May we find encouragement and comfort knowing that in our suffering, God uses it to make Christ known. So we can picture ourselves in the midst of victory parade. And yes, sometimes we picture ourselves as the victors, but here we picture ourselves as prisoners of war being led on a death march, just meaning a life of suffering so that we can make Christ known as we march. This is a hard calling. Who is sufficient for these things? None of us are sufficient for these things. But by the grace of God, we will make it through. We can make it as we're reminded that Christ has already gone to war and won. He's already gone to war against sin, against death, against Satan himself, and he's already been victorious. And you know what the spoils of Christ's victory are? The spoils of His victory, the treasure that He gets is you. Those are the spoils of victory. It's you. You are Christ's reward. We can get through each and every day because we know also where the parade route ends. We know there's a lot of stops. We know that we're going to suffer and be called to die daily. But this parade route does end, and it ends with us in glory, with our blessed Savior. Our suffering is proof to us, proof to me, proof to you, that you suffer now for Christ because you belong to Him, because you're united to Him. And just as Christ's suffering ended with victory and glory, so will ours. Because first comes the cross, and then comes the crown. Let's pray. Our God and Father, we ask this morning for something specific. We ask for a greater measure of Your Holy Spirit so that we might better embrace our daily afflictions and that we might suffer well along the way. And as we suffer, we ask that You would remind us, remind us that we belong to Jesus, that I am my Beloved's and He is mine. And as we remember where the march of Jesus led, to suffering on the cross to die for our sins so that we might forgive and we might enjoy glory together, Lord, let this be a great motivator and encouragement along the way. In the name of our suffering Savior, whose work is now finished and complete and reigns in glory, we pray, amen.