Thoughts on the demise of DOMA

Gather together, gather together, O shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's wrath comes upon you.  Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what He commands.  Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger. --Zephaniah 2:1-3

This week I saw a blog post by some Gen Y writer, who was trying to quell the inevitable wail from those of us on the right (politically and spiritually) after the news that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was struck down by the Supreme Court.  His premise was that, to most of us, it doesn't matter.  He said it doesn't matter if you are a heterosexual married person; it doesn't matter if you are a heterosexual single person; it doesn't even matter much if you are a gay person who does not want to get married.  He said it only matters a little to heterosexual fundamentalist bigots who have been trying for years to keep gays from marrying.  The only people that it matters to, according to this person, are the gays who want to get married. The implication was that of the whole universe of people, the folks truly affected by this decision are a very small sub-set of citizens.

That, my friend, is not true.  It is short-sighted, and shows a lack of maturity in the young blogger.  You see, every time the culture shifts in an attempt to become more "inclusive", it inevitably excludes others at the opposite edge of society.  By including gays into the joys (and sorrows) of marriage, the culture de-legitimizes  those who stand for Biblical morality and religious traditions--those referred to by the blogger as "heterosexual fundamentalist bigots."

But before you write me off as a clarion of condemnation, a believer in brimstone and hell-fire to all who disagree with me, let me clarify.  Sex is a gift of God.  It is pleasurable to most people.  Biologically, it is intended to create off-spring, so that the species will not die out.  Biblically, it is intended to be a bond that holds two people together in a traditional marriage relationship.  Homosexuality defies both these paradigms. It is not best for us biologically, nor is it best for us morally.  But people do it.  Just like people lie, and cheat, and steal, and commit adultery, and commit murder.  It is just one sin.  A person can be a Christian and gay, just like one can be a Christian and be jealous of what others have.  Both are sinful, but neither sin is so great as to cut off the unlimited grace of God.

In the movie Steel Magnolias, Shelby (played by Julia Roberts) and M'Lynn (played by Sally Field) get into a mother-daughter argument about Shelby getting pregnant with her Type I diabetes.  When Shelby announces she is pregnant, all M'Lynn's friends are all in wonder of it, because they had thought that Shelby couldn't have children.  M'Lynn clarifies to them that the doctor had said Shelby shouldn't have children, and that there is a very big difference.

In the same way, people are inclined to prove that they can get by with doing whatever they want to do.  God looks at them, and shakes His head.  His Word says that they shouldn't do those things, and there is a very big difference.

But back to the original premise.  It does matter that DOMA was struck down, and here is why:

    1.  In 1996 when the Act was signed by President Bill Clinton, the will of the majority was put into law.  Now, apparently, the will of the majority is that being gay should not prohibit people from being married.  Even Bill Clinton has come out in support of the Supreme Court decision. What changed?  "But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.  There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." (Isaiah 57:20-21)

    2.   One of the reasons given in the majority opinion by Justice Kennedy was that withholding the tax benefits, as well as all of the other benefits, of marriage from gay couples violated the 14th Amendment.  U.S. tax law has always promoted what is thought to be good.  There are tax incentives for charitable giving, for home ownership, and for providing adequate care for children.  Similarly, tax law has punished what was thought to be bad.  There are harsh taxes levied on the sale of cigarettes and gasoline, thought to be a disincentive to buying those things.  Shortly after the Court ruling, President Obama was quoted as saying he will not mandate that pastors in Evangelical churches perform gay weddings.  But there have been rumblings all year in the halls of Congress that perhaps churches should lose their tax exempt status.  One of the reasons given is that many church officials have come out against laws passed by the Congress, such as The Affordable Health Act.  It is a small step to use the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause to begin withholding tax exempt status from churches that refuse to perform gay weddings.  And not to go too much toward the "slippery slope" argument, but the business of the Church is not just what happens within the sanctuary.  How long will it be before Christian Schools lose their accreditation because they will not teach marriage equality?  Will charitable minded churches have to choose between closing their soup kitchens or accepting limitations on what they can say behind the pulpit? "He said to them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men  is detestable in God's sight." (Luke 16:15)

    3.   In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed Affirmative Action into law.  It was meant to redress decades of discrimination against minorities in employment, education, and business.  In England, the concept is known as "positive discrimination", implying that it is all right to discriminate, as long as the underclass benefits.  Many qualified white students have been denied admission into leading universities because of this program.  By ending discrimination against minorities, the law in effect discriminates against the majority.  This is what I meant when I said earlier that when the culture shifts to become more inclusive toward some, it must by definition become more exclusive of others.  Similarly, now that traditional marriage is not exclusively between a man and a woman, how long will it be before heterosexual couples begin to lose some of their rights and privileges in order that gay couples, who are now a protected class, may enjoy more rights and privileges?  I heard a story on NPR radio this morning bemoaning the fact that in adoption policy, many states and adoption agencies are reducing the price for adoption of minority children.  Families who adopt black children get a discount on adoption fees and costs because minorities are a protected class.  In essence, using a monetary incentive in this way, the state has put black children "on sale."  (Please notice I said "on sale", not "for sale"--there is a big difference).  I predict that very soon, gay couples will enjoy more monetary and tax incentives than heterosexual married couples, to redress decades of discrimination.  "Furthermore, since they do not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done....They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil..." (Romans 1:28, 30a)

Did the Congress in 1996 over-reach? Probably; the purpose of the Constitution is to limit government, and protect the rights of the minority.  Following the Law of Unintended Consequences, we probably would not have had this Court decision if we had not written the DOMA law in the first place.  But it would not have slowed the general decay of the culture.

In essence, the culture over the last 20 years has looked at gays on the left and Christians on the right.  And after careful consideration, the culture has decided that it would embrace gays and shun Christians, especially fundamentalist, moralist, Bible-believing Christians.  We are now bird-brained bigots who should be dismissed as irrelevant.  The culture, like generations before it, has chosen the road to perdition.  We who follow the Narrow Way are scorned.  If our nation was ever a Christian nation, we have now lost that distinction.

This is the carefree city that lived in safety.  She said to herself, "I am, and there is none besides me."  What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts!  All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists. --Zephaniah 2:15

Keep on going

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. --Acts 20:24

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. --2 Timothy 4:7

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  --Philippians 1:6

My family has a long history of not finishing what we started.  It is said that in the 1940s my grandfather moved to New Mexico to farm the land in a federal land grant.  All he had to do was to stay and farm the land for four years, and then after that the land would become his.  Three and a half years later, he moved to San Antonio and got a job in a factory, because farming the dry, arid land in eastern New Mexico was just too difficult.  Later, they discovered oil on property near where my grandfather's section of land was located.  If only he had stayed on the land another six months, perhaps our family fortune would have been worth much more.

My father grew up near San Antonio, and when he was 17, he left home to join the Marine Corps.  When his three-year stint was over, his CO offered to send him to Officer Training School--a very nice compliment to an enlisted man.  Daddy thought about it awhile, and then asked when the training would begin.  The next OTS class would not meet for another four and a half months.  So he would have to re-enlist, wait 135 days, and then go to OTS to become a Marine Lieutenant, with the possibility of promotions from there.  Sadly, he decided he didn't want to be an enlisted man for another four months, so he declined the opportunity.  If he had been patient, he could have retired on an officer's pension, and gone into business or ministry with a bit more money than he had otherwise.

I, myself, have a tale of regret, to follow on the theme of poor decisions by Stewart men.  When I was in college, I entered as a music major.  I loved to sing, and thought that I was pretty good at it.  But when my first vocal teacher retired, I was assigned to another who did not like my voice very well.  I failed one semester of Voice.  To make matters worse, I tried unsuccessfully for four semesters to pass the "piano barrier"--a requirement for all music majors.  So halfway through my Junior year, I had a decision to make: I could change my major, or stay with what I had and become a "fifth year Senior".  I changed my degree program, and graduated with my class in four years.  Unfortunately, the only degree plan that would allow me to do that was the General Studies program.  So my undergraduate diploma says Bachelor of General Studies--not a very prestigious degree.  If I had only changed my major to Business or Law, and had purposed in my mind to finish the degree, no matter how long it took, then I might not have struggled so much as a young husband and father.

I pray that my son will not add his name to this ignominious list of inter-generational failures.

Looking back, it was impatience and a lack of perseverance that made us all miss the mark.  Today, it is much harder to develop patience and perseverance, because our grandfathers lived in a motorized, mechanized world, our fathers lived in the age of jets and rockets, and we live in an electronic age.  With each passing generation, the expectation is to receive good things faster, without having to wait for them or work for them. The old adage, "Good things come to those who wait" has been replaced with "Hurry up and wait."  That sentiment almost always leads to "I can't wait."

When wise old Solomon wrote his memoirs in the book of Ecclesiastes, he made this observation:

I have learned something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.  --Ecclesiastes 9:11

Said another way, stuff happens.  Things distract us.  Circumstances beyond our control.  We make poor decisions, and time gets away from us. Happens all the time.  Our success in life is not measured by the goals we met, or the stuff we accumulated along the way.  In the end, the only question God will ask is this:

What did you do with My Son?

We either accepted Christ as Savior or we didn't.  That determines eternal destiny.  If we didn't, we are lost.  If we did, then the next question is whether we allowed Him to be Lord?  That determines earthly success.  We all can share testimonials of some mountain-top experience with God, a super-spiritual encounter that made us stand in awe of Him.  But if you are like most of us, you came back home, went back to your routine, and slowly took up old habits.  Bingo, we are all back where we started.  

This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the church in Galatia, "You were running the race nobly.  Who has interfered (hindered and stopped you) from heeding and following the Truth?" (Galatians 5:7, Amp).  Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us further: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

My granddaddy and dad are in heaven, cheering for me to avoid the same mistakes they made.  Jesus himself is waiting at the finish line to welcome me home.  Why would I quit? Because it is a little hard?  Look at what Jesus did--he counted the joy of becoming the Way of Salvation for us as worth the little inconvenience of death on a cross.  And I am afraid of what people will think of me if I pray before a meal?  Get real!

If you look closely at the image at the top of this page, you will see what appears to be a medal for participating in the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth.  What it is actually comprised of is five separate V-shaped awards, given to those who finish each event.  When the five are pieced together, it forms the State of Texas seal.  It takes a lot of perseverance to run each race, and a ton of patience to get all five parts that can be pieced together.  My friend Mark Kent who has earned each of those pieces deserves a lot of respect for his accomplishment.  I couldn't do it; nor could I expect to be given a prize without finishing the race.

1 Corinthians 9:24 says, "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such as way as to get the prize."  This used to be such a discouraging verse to me: surely there are others who will get to glory faster than I, or who can run the race better than I.  Does that mean I will not be rewarded by my Father in heaven?  No.  I may not get the laurel and the accolades that some get, but I will get a piece of a star in my crown.  If the others who ran with me fall away, that will not deter me from running hard after God.  And if we can all reach the end, and can compare our rewards, all of them together will not surpass the glory of God and His kingdom.  That will be what compels us to cast our crowns at His feet.

 

 Give me one pure and holy passion 

  Give me one magnificent obsession

Give me one glorious ambition for my life 

To know and follow hard after You. 

 

To know and follow hard after you 

To grow as your disciple in your truth 

This world is empty, pale, and poor 

Compared to knowing you, my Lord 

Lead me on and I will run after you 

Lead me on and I will run after you

Searching for validation

When I was interviewing for my current job, I was given instructions on how to get to the office building, and where to park in the parking garage.  The parking garage was gated, and automated--that is, there was no parking attendant to let you out, or to tell you how to proceed.  Those tenants or employees who left their cars there could scan a badge, and a reader would open the gate and let them out.  Those, like me, who were visiting, needed validation of our parking.  Without validation, we could not get out of the normal exits; there was only one exit marked "Visitors", and it accepted a validated ticket, or cash.  The validated ticket confirmed that you were there for a business purpose; the tenant business would "validate" your parking, by assuring the building owner that you belonged there, and that you were not using that parking garage for any other purpose (such as shopping in the nearby stores, or stalking one of their employees).

Psychologically, we seek validation for social acceptance.  Many times we adopt a "herd" mentality, believing that if we conform with the social group, we will not "stand out" or be a social outcast.  Our emotions are validated by words of affirmation, acceptance into a social group, or our own feelings of self worth.  It is thought that children who act out, or adults who face an existential crisis at some point in their lives or careers, are crying out for validation.  They want to know that they matter, that their life counts for something.  Figuratively, that person is standing on an elevated platform and shouting, "Hey! I matter!"

Unfortunately, we often conform to the crowd with very little information about the motives and objectives of those we emulate.  Our discomfort with what we perceive as an ambiguous social situation causes us to mimic the actions of the majority of those around us.  We "go with the flow", attempting to "go along to get along."  We receive internal validation, thinking, "I must be all right because everybody else is doing it this way."  This might cause your mother or some other authority figure to question your methodology: "If everybody jumped off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff, too?"

Scripturally, we are admonished in Romans 12:2 to hold ourselves to a higher standard:

Do not be conformed to this world--this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs.  But be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind--by its new ideals and its new attitude--so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. --Romans 12.2 Amplified Bible

Therefore we are admonished to follow God's will for us, and not blindly follow the crowd.  We are to seek our validation from Him--our Creator (the one who made us), our Redeemer (the one who made a sacrifice for us), our Helper (the one who walks alongside us, guiding us with the Still, Small Voice).  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

So how do we do that? How do we know the will of God, and how do we receive validation from Him?  Consider that we are made in the very image of God (Genesis 1:27).  Think about that.  We have been formed and fashioned with God as the pattern for our lives.  That should give us a proper sense of self-worth.  As long as I do not deviate from what God looks like, then God will be pleased with me.  In the Old Testament, this meant not forming and fashioning idols that look like us or some other created thing, and worshiping that image as a god.  In the New Testament, its meaning was expanded to doing what God does--showing love by providing food and clothing and shelter where it is needed, and sharing the gospel of Christ wherever we go.

Recently there have been great advances in the field of imaging.  At the most basic level is the mirror.  It gives us a pretty good idea of what we look like.  Then there are photographs, still images of how we appear at any given time; these can be made into small prints to be carried around with us, or into large posters that can be placed on walls or signs.  Even better are movies and video images, showing us what we look like in motion at a given time.  Medically, we have x-ray images available to see what we look like on the inside, followed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography (CT) scans.  We can even get into 3-D images, like holographs.  With the advent of 3-D copiers, we can make images of things that can be examined from all sides.  Yet with all of these advances, we cannot even come close to the workings of God.

Can I ask my image in the mirror to go to work for me, while I stay home?  Can I send a hologram of myself to take a test for me in school?  No.  But God, with His infinite imagination, has created us to be images of Himself in both appearance and in action; we can mirror our Source in both word and in deed.  And that ability cries out for validation, as well.

There are a half-dozen other definitions for the word "validation" besides social validation:  it can mean verification that a product or service meets the needs of its users.  It can mean documentation that a process or system meets its pre-determined specifications and quality attributes. It can be a test to ensure that something is suitable for the purpose for which it is being used.  And it can be confirmation that something is "well-formed" and follows a defined structure.  While most of these definitions have applications in engineering or data transfer, they can have spiritual applications, as well.  Psalm 149:13 says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Ephesians 2:10 says that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works "which God prepared in advance for us to do."

When you stand before a mirror and raise your right hand, what does your mirror image do?  If you walk in front of a video camera, what will the on-screen image show?  So if we are created in the image of God, then we should do what He does.  That is our validation.  1 John 4:1 says, "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."  Put another way, if we are in an ambiguous situation, and want to validate our feelings, we shouldn't just do as others do, or follow the social mores; we should look to the leader and see if that person mirrors God.  That is the only way to validate ourselves.  1 Thessalonians 1:6 says, "You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit."

When I finished my interview, I failed to get my parking validated.  I wandered the parking garage for several minutes, searching for an appropriate exit.  When I found the visitor's exit, I had to pay the price to enter into the freeway.  My friend, unless you validate your existence through the One who created you, you too will have to pay the price.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1)

I would do anything for love, but I won't do that

God doesn't call us to be comfortable. --Francis Chan, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God

I learned something today, something from the Bible--the New Testament, even.  For me, that is a huge confession.  In my heart, I know that I am not the "smartest man in the room" when it comes to the Scripture.    But in my sinful mind, I catch myself letting out a huge sigh and rolling my eyes at preachers who use the term "Seraphims" to describe the angelic creatures attending to God.  ("Seraph" is singular; it is one angelic being.  "Seraphim" is plural.  In the same way that the English language adds "-es" to nouns to make them plural, the Hebrew language adds "-im" to nouns to make them plural.  That is why it is significant that the name of God used in Genesis is "Elohim" and not the singular "El".  That construction of the Name of God supports the Doctrine of the Trinity--when He said "Let US make man in OUR image," He was not speaking to the angels.  But I digress.)

The thing that I learned was that Jesus' earthly ministry was not confined to Israel alone.  Sure, we know about Samaria, the area between Judah in the south and Galilee in the north.  But this region remains in modern-day Israel, and is located west of the Jordan river.  But in Luke 8, when Jesus commanded His disciples to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they were leaving the sacred homeland.  They were going over to the Decapolis, an area of Greek heritage under Roman rule.  Those who grew up under strict Jewish laws would not have gone over to the east side of the lake--they kept pigs there, both for food and for religious sacrifice; the Greek theaters and gymnasiums featured public nudity and pornographic images on their facades; some of the pagan temples even encouraged human sacrifice, and some may have had temple prostitutes in honor of the Greek god Dionysus and the goddess Aphrodite.  Strict Jews wanted to avoid going there as strongly as fundamentalist Christians want to avoid going to Las Vegas or Reno, Nevada.

Nevertheless, Jesus told His disciples to board a boat, and to go across to the southeast side of the lake.  While they were going, a storm rose up.  Perhaps some of the disciples thought that the devil was in the storm.  Some modern-day commentators believe that Satan tried through natural means to keep Jesus away from his territory.  And where did the disciples find Jesus? Asleep in the hull of the boat.  When they woke Him, and asked in utter terror, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" (Mark 4:38), were these seasoned fishermen (who had grown up on the water) so afraid of the squall, or were they holding on to some superstitious belief that demons were punishing them for leaving the Promised Land and entering into pagan territory?

Significantly, the first person Jesus meets is the Gadarene Demoniac--Gadara was one of the Ten Cities of the Decapolis (some translations say he was a Geraseen, as Gerasa was also among the Ten Cities--and the account in Matthew 8 says there were two demon-possessed men there, so perhaps both are correct).  If the devil couldn't scare Jesus away with a furious squall on the water, he may have wanted to confront Jesus face-to-face in a graveyard.  Again, there were manifold reasons why a strict Jew would avoid this man completely--he was living among the tombs (the Law said that coming into contact with anything associated with death made one unclean); he was naked (the Law forbade public nudity); he was probably covered with sores and abrasions from the chains that the locals had used to subdue him (the Law forbade coming into contact with open sores); AND he was possessed by many demons. Yet Jesus is not afraid; He shows compassion.  He touches the man, and delivers him from demon possession.

The demons, knowing they are about to be evicted by the Creator, the Ultimate Landlord, all ask to be cast into a herd of pigs feeding nearby. (I actually heard a preacher once say that he knew these Jews to whom Jesus had gone were sinful, because no practicing Jew would keep pigs--he was probably the same preacher who had mis-used the word "Seraphim".  The region was Greek, not Jewish.)  Jesus allowed them to go, and the large herd of pigs, numbering about 2000 (Mark 5:13) ran headlong down a steep embankment, right into the Sea of Galilee and drowned.  Now the disciples were probably afraid of going back across the lake--if the boat capsized, they might come into contact with the pigs!

I wonder if it was this region that Jesus spoke about in the parable of the prodigal son.  Although He describes it as "a far-off country", the prodigal winds up tending swine, and having lost his fortune, would have had to walk back to where his father was waiting.  A trip from the Decapolis to Galilee might have taken a day or two by foot.  And the Decapolis would have been a fine place for profligate living.  The implication was that the Prodigal not only rejected his father, but his country and their religion as well.

Well, when word got back to the town, where the locals lived and the owners of the pigs were, they all came out to see what had happened.  They might have had a positive reaction: "Wow, this man who'd had to be subdued with chains is now calm; the one who was naked is now dressed; the one who had been bat-crap crazy is now in his right mind.  The Man who did this must be like the gods."  But instead, they were angry and afraid--angry that they had lost 2000 head of swine, and afraid that they, too, might be ordered to go drown themselves in the lake.  So they asked Jesus to leave.  The man who had been freed from the demons asked to go with Jesus; but Jesus asked him to go back home and tell everyone what had happened to him.

When Jesus had cast out the demons, he commanded the man to return home to tell others what God had done for him. The territory to which Jesus sent the man was certainly one of the most challenging mission fields to which he ever called anyone. Later, crowds from the Decapolis followed Jesus. This crowd of followers was a testimony to the effectiveness of the healed man's witness. (Mark 7:31-36 and Matt. 15:30 record the same event. Matthew referred to crowds of people, but he did not mention the place.) --http://followtherabbi.com/guide/detail/a-far-country-decapolis

So what do we take from this lesson?  First, no matter how long I study the Bible, I can always find something in it that I did not know before.  Second,  if I want to be like Jesus, I will need to set aside some of the bigotry and intolerance I have for other cultures; if I want to follow Him, I will need to repent of some superstitions I still hold in avoiding certain people or places.  Third, even if my mission field is full of hard-hearted pagans, bent on fulfillment of their sensual appetites, if Jesus asks me to witness to them, I can be successful in bringing other people to Him.  As Sri Lankan evangelist D.T. Niles once said, "evangelism is merely one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread."

I love a parade!

The truth is hate speech for those who hate the truth.

One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture has always been 2 Corinthians 2:14, "But thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere."  But today in my daily devotions I was struck by the context of it.  Paul was describing a situation where things were not working out according to his plan.  He admitted in the preceding verse that he had no peace of mind about where he was, even though it had seemed that God had opened a door for him.  Yet even in his disappointment, Paul praised God for the way in which he had been used by God there.

Let me delve a little bit deeper into the history, so that you can see the context that I saw when I read this passage earlier today.  Paul had written his first letter to the Corinthian church, which dealt with some pretty serious issues.  His criticism of what went on in their congregation was pretty harsh:

• There was division in the church (1 Corinthians 3:3, "You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are  you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?"); 
• There was sexual immorality in the church (1 Corinthians 5:1, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife!"); 
• Church members were suing one another in courts of law (1 Corinthians 6:7, "The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means that you have been completely defeated already.");
• Church members were wrestling with decisions about marriage, when one was a believer and the other wasn't--some said they should separate, so that the believer had nothing to do with the unbeliever, and some said they should stay together (1 Corinthians 7:12-13, "If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she should not divorce him.");
• And the church members were struggling with the concept of grace (1 Corinthians 8:9, "Be careful, therefore, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.")

As a result of this harsh criticism in the first letter, Paul takes great pains in the second letter to make amends.    "For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you." (2 Corinthians 2:4)  And apparently the man who had been confronted by the church for sexual immorality had repented, and asked for forgiveness, because Paul encouraged them to accept him back.  "The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him.  Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." (2 Corinthians 2:6-7)  Paul exhorted them to reaffirm their love for this brother, even though he had sinned.  In that way, they were to be like Christ--the man would not lose his salvation for this grievous sin, and since he had confessed and repented, they should not excommunicate him from the Church.

Paul had not made it back to Corinth, but he was anxious to get news from them, to see how they were doing.  He started looking for Titus.  Titus was a man Paul trusted: Paul had sent his first letter to the Corinthian Church with Titus (you will recall that there was no Postal Service in ancient Greece).  Later, Paul had sent Titus to Corinth so that the Church there could gather contributions for the Christians in Jerusalem.  "Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia." (2 Corinthians 2:12-13).  Perhaps if Titus was not in Troas, Paul could find him elsewhere in Macedonia, maybe in the city of Philippi.

Okay.  Enough of the background.  Let's get to the meat of it.  Paul was a missionary.  His job was to go from place to place and preach the gospel.  Even though Paul may have had an ulterior motive, or a secondary reason for going the places he went, his primary objective there was to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.  Because Paul was engaged in preaching the gospel, and focused on doing that everywhere he went, God blessed his efforts.  "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph."  Even though Paul didn't get to find Titus and hear news from the Church in Corinth, God gave him success in his primary mission, which was to preach the gospel.  Isn't that what he wanted the Church in Corinth to be busy doing as well?  Yes, they'd had problems.  But even in the midst of their various crises, God was making the Church grow.  More and more people were coming to know the Savior there.  His message was that God's grace is adequate for every situation.

Paul used an image common in Roman cities.  A victorious Roman general would lead his soldiers and their captives in a festive procession, while the people watched and applauded, and the air was filled with the sweet smell of fresh flower garlands the women would put around the soldiers' necks, and of the sweet spices that they would burn in the streets.  Just as the smell of victory was sweet, Paul said that the "fragrance of the knowledge of Him" was being spread everywhere by the Christians who shared their faith.  The smell was permeating the culture because of their faithfulness to God.  "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2 Corinthians 2:15)

The captives in this parade would not have appreciated the smell in the same way as the victorious soldiers would.  That fragrance might have been a stench in the nostrils of those being taken away into captivity.
"To the one, we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life." (2 Corinthians 2:16)  In our fellowship of the forgiven, we cannot help but say good things about what Christ has done and is doing in our lives.  In the same way, those who do not accept the message of the Gospel of Christ may make disparaging remarks about Christians, both in public and in private.  We should not listen to their voices, because they are vanquished by sin, not victorious by the grace of God afforded to them through Jesus Christ.  In other words, they are the losers; we are the winners.  

Do not listen to their criticism, my friends.  It will only bring you down.  It will succeed in making you take your eyes off Christ.  Like Peter walking on the water, when our eyes are on Christ, we can do miracles; but when we take our eyes off Him and look at the wind and the waves, we sink into despair.  2 Corinthians 10:5 says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  We are in the world to be salt and light; we are not of the world, bowing to their logic and reasoning.  We cannot let the world set up the argument of salvation on their terms--it's as if we speak a different language than they do when we know Christ.  If they do not understand, it is their loss.

And speaking of pretension, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:17, "Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God."  The world responds to authenticity.  Hypocrisy is one of the most damning criticisms made by the world against Christians.  When they see a televangelist say that private jets are wonderful, and everyone should get one, they are rightfully put off by that message.  But if we who are not in full-time Christian ministry will engage our culture, and speak of what we know, the world will sit up and listen.

It is not God's will that any should perish.  And even if we do not feel called to be full time evangelists for Him, we can make a difference in our circle of influence.  Christians talk a lot about "giving a testimony."  That is a legal term borrowed from the courts.  A "witness" is called to give his or her "testimony" about what he or she has seen or heard.  So when Christians talk about "witnessing" to their friends, it only means that we share with them what we know to be true based on our own experiences.  If a friend asks us how to become a Christian, we do not need to lie or make up stories; we only need to tell them what we know, about our own experience of grace and forgiveness at the hand of God through Jesus Christ, His Son.  The Holy Spirit, who led that person to ask you about it, will use whatever you say for their good and His glory.

You might be called to be a missionary, and that's great.  But for most of us, we don't quit our jobs and go off to far-away lands to preach before large crowds.  But we can permeate our culture; we can share the sweet fragrance of the knowledge of Him wherever we go.  And because of that, God will be praised, even if our own lives are not going the way we might want them to.