Proclaimers, not Peddlers

 

Read 2 Corinthians 2

We looked at the first part of this chapter during First Light. Let’s consider the last part here.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

 

I read this some years ago.  Some of you might have even stayed awake for it.  It’s called simply, A Manifesto and it’s by Dr. Morris Pepper.  Yes, the sermon this morning has a message from Dr. Pepper.

 

Morris Pepper was a Cumberland Presbyterian—a CP. I will preface this by asking you to consider that we are all ministers, so when you hear minister in this reading, put that in the first person.

 

I have nothing to sell. Many people think the minister is a peddler whose commodity is religion. Preaching is making a sales talk. Visiting means cultivating prospects. Evangelism is doing a “hard sell.”

 

I have nothing to sell.  Religion is not a commodity.  God is not on the counter or in a catalog.  God’s love and mercy are not Wall Street items.  God’s blessings will not be found in bargain basements.

 

I have nothing to sell.  I have a witness to make.  There are some things which I believe, convictions arising from my thought and life, which I know from within.  Of these I witness.  They are not mere blessings of tradition.  They are real to me because God is real.  But they cannot be bought or sold.  They can only be witnessed.

 

I have nothing to sell.  I have a message to communicate.  It is a story of Jesus Christ, a story of redemption.  It is a promise, a promise of what can happen here and now.  It is the gospel, the good news of God’s love told by one who knows it firsthand.  I am a storyteller, a proclaimer, an announcer—not a cocky salesman with a hot line.

 

I have nothing to sell.  I have a friendship to offer.  Some are like Job who would like to recapture the days when “the friendship of God was upon my tent.”  Others have never known such a relationship.  Many are afraid of God.  Still others are rebellious.  To these and others I say, “God loves you.  Won’t you let God be your friend?”

 

I have nothing to sell.  You can’t buy salvation.  You can’t buy faith.  You can’t buy heaven.  You can’t buy God.  Nor can you sell them.  My job is to offer you an adventure, not to sell you a bill of goods—to invite you to join a mission, not a Cosmos Club.

 

I am not doing hard sell, soft sell, or using psychology.  I don’t have any tricks to pull out of the bag.  So don’t raise your sales resistance.  I am an educator, a teacher, a pastor, a counselor—but please, not a huckster!  I am a witness, a communicator, an announcer, a reporter, but never a peddler.

 

For we are not like so many, peddlers of God’s word; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence

 

Witnessing is a mindset. What I have in my relationship with God is too good to keep to myself. If I don’t believe that, I should question whether or not I believe in the one true God. If I say that I believe in God and his forgiveness, but am not compelled to share that with others, do I believe at all?

When I consider the mercy of God poured out in the blood of Jesus for my sins, I must testify to love.

As I consider the grace of God applied to my life, I cannot be so selfish as not to tell others whenever I can.

When I think that God himself, speaking as the person of Jesus Christ his Son, said be known by your love, how can I grow deaf to his command?

We have nothing to sell. We have good news to deliver. We have an example to make. We have believers to disciple.

We are not a country club.

We are not entertainment.

We are people who have repented.

We are people who carry the Spirit of God inside of us.

We were sinners.

We have come out of our disobedience to believe in the Son of God.

We were saved by grace.

We are a new creature—a new creation. And that new creature can’t keep its mouth shut about the goodness and glory of God that we know firsthand in Christ Jesus and the Spirit that lives within us.

We are people who walk by faith, not by sight.

We have nothing to sell. We have a witness to make.

But will we? Is this starting to sound familiar?

The curse of modern Christianity is to acknowledge God, acknowledge Jesus died for our sins, and acknowledge that the Spirit lives within us, and then live unchanged lives because we hold our own understanding in such high esteem.

If we have been changed, then we have stories to tell, witnesses to make, and a message that we cannot contain within us.

Amen.