The Incense Bearer

2/12/1993

“The Incense Bearer,” by T. A. Sparks

“And by me sends forth the knowledge of Him, a stream of fragrant incense, throughout the world. For Christ’s is the fragrance which I offer up to God, whether among those in the way of salvation or among those in the way of perdition; but to these it is an odor of death, to those of life.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-16)

The Apostle Paul is setting forth one of his conceptions of what the minister of Christ is and then what the effect of the ministry is. He is thinking here of the minister of Christ as an incense-bearer. The picture at the background of these verses is one with which we are well acquainted. Verse 14 of 2 Corinthians 2 brings into view the triumphal procession of the victorious war-lord as he moves from place to place with his captives behind him, celebrating at many points his victory and using them for the purpose of evidence as to his victory. But also in the procession there are those who carry vessels of incense. And the incense being diffused everywhere speaks in two ways to two different classes of people.

There are some who are going to celebrate this day of victory by being slain. It was a custom to hold certain notorious or distinguished captives in bondage until the day of the great celebration of the victory, and then that day was marked by their being slain. On the other hand, there were those who were appointed to be released as a distinguishing mark of the day. To the one the incense brought death near and made them know that their hour had come. To the other the same incense made known that the hour of emancipation, of liberation, was drawing near. The same incense proclaimed death and life, life and death.

In the second part of the picture the Apostle himself passes from the first, where he has been viewing himself as one of those prisoners, led in the triumphal procession, as an object of public exhibition as to the triumph of the great Warrior. He has been himself as in the train of the triumph of the Lord, being on full view as a demonstration of the greatness of that victory. Now he passes himself into the second part and takes the place of an incense bearer in the procession, and says that he passes on through the world bearing incense and that incense is saying two things, having two effects, speaking to two different classes of people. It relates to life and death.

But the Apostle carries that thing inward, and he does not regard himself as simply carrying a censor of incense. He regards himself as that vessel and as— in a strange, deep, inward way, so as to become a very part of his own being — the incense itself. He thinks of himself as being, not only the giver forth of the sweet savour but that sweet savour itself; that he is the means by which this effect is registered upon these two different classes of people.

In that presentation of the servant of the Lord there is a deep, strong and solemn word for all of us who stand in that position as the Lord’s servants. The thing which is going forth from us, the thing which is the effect of our lives, according to these words, is the knowledge of Christ. Everywhere, not just as by us, but because of us, men are coming to a knowledge of Christ. The very object of our being is that Christ should be known because of us. The Divinely appointed way of men coming to know Christ is by our being here, moving amongst men.

The Vital Element in Ministry

That is simple and perhaps we recognize and accept it. But the extra point which has to be noticed is this, that it is something more than our giving out knowledge concerning Christ; it is that we are to men the knowledge of Christ. There is a very big difference between giving out the truth concerning the Lord Jesus—even in large measure, in a great fullness, truth which cannot be denied because it is the truth – and that strange, deep, indispensable element that we are that truth, that that truth itself takes its power, its strength from the fact that here are those who are the living expression of it; who have gone through the depths, been tested, been tried, been taken from place to place, been subjected to experiences of intense severity, and in the fires have learned Christ and are therefore themselves the embodiment of the knowledge of Christ. Wherever they go it is not that they have truth to give, but it is that men and women learn Christ because of them and of them it can be said: It is not what they say only. There is something coming from them. There is an indescribable “something” which is an extra element to what they say. That thing has its reality in their being. You feel that it is not only the words but the very virtue that comes out when they speak or by reason of their presence. It is that of which the Apostle is speaking.

That is the real value of any knowledge of Christ which we can give, which others may come to possess by us. It is not that they come through us to know more about Christ, but that there is a ministration of Christ. That is the thing for which we should seek the Lord very earnestly.

The Costliness of True Ministry

We should recognize that this represents the costliness of ministry. Ministry of this kind is an intensely costly thing. It is so different from being a preacher as a preacher. There may be glamour about preaching, a fascination about gripping the congregation, and all that sort of thing, which is not costly but gratifying to the flesh: the snare of the limelight, the snare of publicity, the snare of that satisfaction, feeling power over other people, which has robbed preaching of that essential blood and passion and anguish.

Paul was not a preacher of that kind. It is all very well to talk about Paul as the great preacher and orator, and to try to be another Paul along that line. But to be a Paul is a desperately costly thing. And to minister Christ is a thing into which our very blood will be poured.

This kind of ministry can bring no satisfaction to the flesh. This kind of ministry is not something for which to reach out for ourselves. This kind of ministry is something we should plead to be delivered from unless our life and heart passion is that Christ Himself – not ourselves, but Christ Himself should be known. Suffer that word thus to you who minister in the Name of the Lord.

That is the true value of ministry. It is indeed a costly thing. It is a thing of suffering, but it is the thing which goes beyond words, far beyond clever thinking and clever expressing, far beyond that acute needle-like brain that grasps truth and then begins to give it out. It is something which is an extra factor, without which the very best equipment in nature will fail to reach the divine end. It is, in a word, Christ ministered, not Christ ministered about, but Christ ministered.

Paul saw that there was no doubt about it, that this ministry was effective, although effective in two directions. Not always did it result in people leaping into life, but it always resulted in something. If it plunged some people more deeply into death, it was a proof that it was effective. If it brought death home to some consciences, that proved its power. To have real spiritual effect demands that this shall be the kind of ministers that we are.

The living knowledge of Christ brought near to us in vessels which have been shaped and wrought through the fires will, in the first place discover our state and then intensify our state. It is bound to do those two things. The two states are here presented as: In the way of life— and in the way of death.