Aroma of Christ

Introduction

Good Morning, my name is Shawn Alldredge. I am the Family Pastor here at First Grace. Thank you for coming. If you have a Bible, and I hope you do, please turn it to 2 Corinthians 2.

While you are turning there, we have been working through 2 Corinthians for the past several weeks. This book is a letter Paul wrote to the church in Corinth with whom he was in conflict and now was working to reconcile. There was sin, misunderstanding, plans of the evil one, there was hurts, shames, and great sorrow and anguish. Yet in the middle of it all, there was reason to be thankful to God.

Today, we are going to be looking at how some of the difficulty Paul was experiencing in his sorrow, we will see his thankfulness and the hope he has in the victory Jesus himself has and will bring to those who are the aroma of Christ to God and to everywhere.

2 Corinthians 2:12–17 (ESV)

12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 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.

14 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. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 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.

Dependent on Jesus, we are the aroma of Christ to God and everywhere

Christ is strong, we are weak

12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 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.

Something common in Paul’s writing are digressions of thought. He likes to chase rabbits that matter. As we’ve previously observed, Paul had begun speaking of why he didn’t come visit, but instead continued onto Macedonia; from there he digressed into a section encouraging the corinthians to forgive the man who had pained them. Now in verse 12, Paul picks up the threads of his explanation about why he didn’t come to visit and when he continued on toward Macedonia. He will again digress in verse 14, but we will get to that a little later.

Paul begins in verse 12 speaking about why he went to Troas, which is a city on the eastern edge of the Aegean Sea, the opposite side from Greece. He went to preach the gospel of Christ. When he arrived, he found that the Lord had opened a door for him. I can only assume this is an open door for the spread of the gospel to the gentiles in Troas. However, even while he labored he found that his spirit was not at rest because he couldn’t find Titus there, so he moved on to Macedonia.

It took some time for me to make sense of this short passage, to be honest. The words “even though” confused me first. It makes it seem like Paul went to Troas in spite of a door being opened elsewhere. If you read it further it reads as “even though a door was opened in the Lord, [his] sprit was not at rest.” This makes more sense. The greek is a little confusing in this section. I chalk it up to the difficulty of moving from one language to another. While there are some similarities, the languages are still very different.

The next difficulty I found was in Titus. Why was not finding Titus causing Paul so much distress? This is because Titus was the one who went to Corinth with Paul’s difficult letter. Paul was distressed because he was concerned for the Corinthians. Remember, in verse 4, Paul told them he wrote that letter out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears. He was worried about his relationship to them. This distress caused him so much sorrow, he couldn’t take advantage of the open door the Lord had provided for the furtherance of the gospel in Troas.

I think we all can understand what Paul must have been going through. When we are in distress it can be difficult to do even things we enjoy, much less something that could be difficult and potentially dangerous, such as spreading the gospel in a hostile environment. Was it right for Paul to move on from there, when there was an open door? I don’t know. Paul, himself, tells us he is far from perfect, I think the phrases he uses are “chief of sinners,” and “the very least of all the saints.” Regardless, when the time was right he picked up and moved forward, he went onto Macedonia and Titus eventually caught up with him.

So what can we make of this? I would say, if the Apostle Paul was so distressed he couldn’t take advantage of a clear open door of ministry in Troas, perhaps we can have grace for ourselves when we go through the same thing. There will be times when we have trouble motivating ourselves to do the work of ministry as we have all been called to by Jesus Christ. I have to say, I find it a little encouraging to know even the Apostle Paul, himself, struggled.

Now, you might wonder about Troas. Even though Paul was working under distress, it is where he performed one of his most spectacular miracles. In Acts 20 we read that while Paul was there for only a brief time, he spoke to the believers there. His sermon stretched into the early morning hours and the house had grown very warm. Eutychus, who being a very wise youth, was sitting in the third story window to get as much of the cool air as possible. He fell asleep during the message and fell out of the window. When they reached him it was determined that he was dead. Paul came, took the young man in his arms and said he was alive, then went in and ate and conversed with them and when Paul left the young man left alive as well. This has long been regarded as a resurrection.

So, let me say this. God does not need us to be in our best place in order to work through us. In fact, one of the major themes of this book is stated clearly in 12:9 where Paul quotes the Lord as telling him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Sometimes, I think we forget where our strength surely lies. It is not in our bodies, our muscles and bones. It isn’t in our wills our zeal, fervency, or tenacity. It isn’t in our Spirit, our convictions, our minds, our desires. Our strength comes from our utter dependance on God. Everything we are, every blessing we expect, our hope, our joy, our faith, our life, our comfort, our strength finds their home in Jesus Christ.

I remember talking to a friend who is an agnostic. He argued to me that Christians are just weak and Jesus and Christianity is just a crutch. You know, the temptation is to respond with, “Nuh uh!” Because it isn’t true, but not in the way my prideful flesh would like to answer. No, Jesus is not a crutch, he is a wheel-chair. More than that, he is life-support. We are utterly dependent on Christ for everything. Does this make us weak? Yes! However, if I can use a bad comparison, if we took a quadriplegic, and put him into a wheelchair equivalent of an M1 Abrams Tank, he would still be weak, but in his reliance upon the tank he is strong.

Here is my point, I fear, as Christians, we try to rely on our own strength thinking we can accomplish the work of God better in our own strength than in his. We think we can force our souls into holiness by sheer force of will instead of in the power of the Spirit who sanctifies us. We look on our salvation, our election, predestination, our righteousness, our blessings as Christians as things to be expected because of our faith instead of the graces they are. We deserve nothing but judgment, but by the grace of God we have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Let us not forget our weakness and our utter reliance on his strength, because he can do far more abundantly than we can ask or imagine, and to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through out all generations forever and ever

Lets Pray, then we will pick it up in verse 14.

Our Father in Heaven, forgive us for thinking we can stand in our own strength and power. Recent events have reminded me of my dependence on you. I am a Child of God, not because I am good, but because you adopted me by faith in Jesus Christ. Thank you for this grace, thank you for this mercy. It is in the holy name of Jesus I pray this, Amen

Dependent on Jesus, we are the aroma of Christ to God and everywhere

He Leads us in Triumphal Procession

14 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. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 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.

Having reflected on his distress, Paul digresses again in verse 14. He moves into thanksgiving, giving thanks to God who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

In a short amount of space, Paul draws our attention to four truths I think we should take a moment to reflect upon.

First Truth, thanksgiving.

Ephesians 5:20 says, “20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Always and everything are absolutes. They mean everything as in there is nothing we shouldn’t thank God for, and always meaning there is never a time when we shouldn’t be giving thanks to God for everything.

To state it differently, Paul mentions a lack of thankfulness as something leading to a decent into sin and judgment in Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened”

Paul shows us what this is like to be thankful in everything, by thanking God in Jesus Christ, because he will lead us in triumphal procession. Even in the midst of his own concern for the Corinthians and their current conflict, even when it led to him stepping away from a door the Lord had opened for him. This shows us an example of living with a Spirit of Thanksgiving even in the midst of trial. Even when the moment challenges you to find a reason to be thankful. We can always stop and remember the completed work of Christ, and what he continues to accomplish in our weakness.

This again speaks to Pauls, and our dependence on Christ our savior who leads us in Triumphal Procession.

Second Truth, the triumphal procession of Christ.

A triumphal procession is a like a parade of a victorious army. So imagine, the ticker-tape parades after world war I and II. This sort of parade is led by the conquering general or king. Those who came after were either the conquering army, the ones who did the fighting; or the captives, those who surrendered and are now being paraded as a trophy.

Paul gives thanks to God because he, Christ, always leads us in this sort of triumphal procession. Obviously, Christ is leading the procession as the conquering King. Yet, what is the procession? Is it his army, or the captives? This is one of those situations where it makes most sense to say it is both. The New Testament speaks of the church as conquerers, as fighting a war (not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities of this present darkness). In fact, in Jesus’ letters to the churches in Asia Minor found in the book of Revelation, he promises rewards to those of his churches who conquer. At the same time, we are also his captives. Rather, we were captives, who, when captured by Christ, gaining liberty.

What do I mean? We all live with sinful desires. These are things we want to do and things we do that offend God, who is perfectly good and just. It isn’t just that it offends God, though, we also grow more and more enslaved to it, captured by it. At the same time, the world in which we live, has been captured by a truly malevolent being, the serpent, the devil. He is a liar, a tempter; he is the accuser. It is his desire that we all live in bondage to our sin and follow him to the pit of torment when we die. It is a place made for him and his followers. We need liberation, we need a liberator.

So, Jesus showed up and he conquered sin, death, and the grave. He came and crushed the head of the serpent. By his death, Jesus sealed the fate of the evil one. At the same time, he payed the price of your sin and mine. After 3 days, he rose from the dead in victory. He then would send the Holy Spirit who would bring us more and more fully into the freedom granted to us in Jesus Christ. So, with one bold stroke, his death and resurrection, he gains victory, he takes many captive and sets them free at the same time. Those he frees becomes an army of sorts, but we are not like the armies of nations, we do not wage war with men, but for them. We are conquerers with Christ, helping him to set even more captives free to know the taste of liberty from their sin and a chance to know the one who saved them.

Third Truth, Christ “through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere”

This is a shift in metaphor because the idea of Christians being an army toward our fellow man is not a biblical idea. We were never meant to bear the sword in our attempts to lead people to faith in him. Paul uses a different metaphor. Through us he spreads the fragrance, the aroma, of the knowledge of him. This means, the first whiff of Christ people will get is us. Is Paul saying that we Christians smell like Jesus?

Paul says it is the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ. This is not informational knowledge, it is the deep kind of knowing we only ever do in relationships with other people. We grow in our knowledge of him as we learn more about Jesus, as we grow in our experience with him and his people, as his Spirit shapes us, as we come to grow in our love for him and one another. As we grow, we begin to look like him; or as Paul seems to indicate, we begin to smell like him.

The aroma of Christ is clearly related to the gospel, the good news about what Jesus has done for us. Yet, there seems to be a little more to it.

It is tempting to think what makes us have the aroma of Christ is the holiness with which we begin to walk. We are called to walk as imitators of God as beloved Children. We are called to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel, worthy of the calling to which we have been called. Yet, this is not what we are told will be aroma, the things the world will look to as what makes us different. Instead it is our love for one another.

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Don’t hear me say we shouldn’t work to walk in holiness, but if we think that is what will be the aroma of Christ to a world in captivity, we are mistaken. No, it is the love of God expressed in grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, which brings us together. It is what shapes us into a community who love one another even when things are hard, even when we disagree, when we go through hard times together. It is the love for the Lord our God and our love for one another which pours out in love for our community, our neighbors. It is this love that welcomes them into a true community built on genuine love.

I must say, no church is truly good at this. It is probably one of the hardest commands to obey in the Bible. Love one another as he loved us. Jesus loved us by humbling himself to the point of death on a cross for us. Would you be willing to do that for the person in this room you struggle with the most? Would I? Are we willing, in humility, to count others as more important than ourselves? This command is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the weak, But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession.

Yet, if we are loving without communicating the gospel, we cannot be the aroma of Christ, who is the source of our love. It is both. There is nothing more loving than to share the gospel with someone who has not heard it. We all have people around us who do not know Jesus, or have heard him, but need to be introduced. Christian, this is your ministry. As you go, make disciples. This is the sharing of the gospel with your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers, it is in loving and serving them. It is in befriending new people and welcoming them into your sphere of friendship.

If you are interested in beginning to be the aroma of Christ, start with prayer. We are dependent upon him. Ask him to change your desires, you heart toward your neighbors. Then begin praying for one particular person. Pray for him or her, pray for opportunities to deepen your friendship. Pray God would work in his life and that you would get many chances to hear and speak of the hope that you have. Pray for the Spirit to move through you.

Fourth Truth, We are the Aroma of Christ TO God

Sometimes when we read our Bibles we see things we’ve never noticed before. I noticed this today and had to make major adjustments to this sermon. We are the aroma of Christ not only to this world, everywhere we go with the gospel, walking in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, we are also the aroma of Christ to God.

This makes me think of the burnt offering we read about in the Old Testament. They were a fragrant offering, a pleasing aroma to God.

As we take the gospel to our neighbors, we are the aroma not only in the world, but to God. As we walk as he walked, we are a fragrant offering. As we surrender our lives more fully to the one who saved us, when we more fully understand and believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain, we are a pleasant aroma to our God.

Who can do this, truly? Only those who are dependent upon Christ. He is the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. He is the one in whom we all live and move and find our being.

Paul finishes this section speaking about their credibility as those who speak on these things. They aren’t peddlers of God’s word who speak for a fee. Paul came, as he said previously in the book, with sincerity, as commissioned by God, and speaking in the sight of God in Christ Jesus.

Dependent on Jesus, we are the aroma of Christ to God and everywhere

Conclusion

As we consider all of these things, we do not put our hope in our own abilities. It isn’t in our ability to speak, our knowledge, our good behavior. It isn’t about our programs, our website, our facilities. It is Jesus. We are utterly dependent upon him for the victory. It is his aroma we are spreading, not ours. If it were the aroma of Shawn, that would be a terrible fragrance. We follow our kind in his triumphal procession, he has the victory, he is has won. Our enemy might knock us down, he may distract us, but Jesus said the gates of Hades could not stand against us. He has made us more than conquerors through him who saved us. For us, who are called by his name and are utterly dependent upon him, we will win! This light and momentary affliction will make way to an even greater eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, so let us not look to what is seen, but what is unseen.

It is time to stand up on the rock of our salvation and begin to take the battle to the gates of our enemy. It is time to be for the harvest, that is we plant the seed we have been given, spreading the gospel of Jesus far and wide, we spread the aroma of Christ, displaying his love sacrificially. We plant seeds, and we tend to those which sprout, we help them grow, we till and water the soil. We disciple those who come to faith and built them up and send them out. All the while, we pray to the Lord of the harvest. The harvest is white with harvest, we pray to the lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest, pleading he equip us, dependent on him, to be those workers he sends into his harvest for his glory, honor, and praise.

Dependent on Jesus, we are the aroma of Christ to God and everywhere

Lets Pray: Our Father, forgive us for where we have failed to be the aroma of Christ. Too often we forget our utter dependence on you. I ask that you work in our hearts and lives. Remind us all of our dependence on you and how we all walk in the victorious procession led by Jesus Christ our savior. Shape us and grow us all to be the aroma of Christ everywhere to the glory of God and the praise of his name.

Communion

At this point we will observe communion together. I will read from 1 corinthians 11 in a second. As we approach communion together, let us remember the love we have been shown in Jesus Christ and the love we have for one another. I will read, then I will pray.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This is the body and blood of Jesus, come and partake when you are ready.

…as you go out from here dependent on Christ and being the aroma of Christ everywhere you go to the glory of God.