An Aroma is Either Sweet or Stinging

Recap to Err is Human

We continue in our series on the early church. We are looking through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In this letter, Paul spends a lot of his time explaining his behavior. It could almost be considered an apology letter. He explains why he has been unable to come out to visit with the Corinthians. God had sent him on several other divine tasks as he sought to teach the world about Jesus and present the Gospel. It was also beneficial because it gave them time to fix the error there in the church and give everyone time to heal from the last less nice letter that Paul had sent to them.

Last week we looked at the idea that sin does not just affect us. Instead, it affects the people around us. That should give us pause when we are bent on willingly sinning. Our sin doesn’t just affect others in our lives, but it also affects Jesus and our relationship with Him. We know that Jesus came and lived a sinless life. He was then taken to the cross and brutally executed. A great miracle happened on the cross. Our sins were nailed to it and Christ put them to death. He took those sins and he buried them. They are gone. Jesus took all the sins of the world upon Himself. He took the sins of everyone who had lived before Him and everyone who would come after Him. There is no sin that Jesus cannot forgive. However, just because we are forgiven that does not mean that we should just continue being sinful. Every single sin we commit is a sin that Jesus felt. When we come to know Him, why would we willingly want to hurt Him? As believers, we should strive for perfection. We should strive to be blameless rather than continuing in our sinfulness. 1 Peter 1:15–16 “But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.” Jesus Christ is holy and blameless. Though we will never achieve that on this side of heaven, we should at least keep striving for it.

We also looked at the idea of what it means to forgive. God has forgiven us tremendously. He has taken away all our sin. Since God is quick to forgive us, we should be quick to forgive as well. When we forgive someone, we should truly forgive them rather than just saying we forgive them, but holding on to bitterness. Could you imagine the trouble we would be in if God didn’t forgive us of our sins? We think back to the woman caught in adultery. The men bring this woman who was caught in the act and demand that Jesus give an answer. Jesus tells them that whoever is without sin can cast the first stone. Eventually everyone leaves. Then Jesus asks the lady where here accusers are. She says she doesn’t see any and He says, “Neither do I condemn you.” He does not condemn the woman. She is spared the death penalty. Jesus means what He says. As His people, we should mean what we say as well. We can practice extreme forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift to us. It keeps us from becoming bitter.

Today we are going to look at death and what it means for people. Before we get started, I want us to ask ourselves this question.

Are we afraid of death?

If you have your Bibles, please turn them to 2 Corinthians 2:12-17

2 Corinthians 2:12–17 CSB

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord opened a door for me, I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. Instead, I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in Christ’s triumphal procession and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For to God we are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To some we are an aroma of death leading to death, but to others, an aroma of life leading to life. Who is adequate for these things? For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many. On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.

Paul gives some autobiographical detail to his journey. He heads to Troas to preach the gospel. Troas was a city in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. Paul was there on his second missionary journey. From there he goes on to Macedonia where he establishes churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and probably Athens. The LORD had opened a door for him to present the Gospel.

In the modern context, when we talk about opening a door, we define it as an open opportunity. Another one would be the whole “window of opportunity” thing. We look for these open doors to go and do what we can. However, what Paul is meaning here is different than how we view an open door today. What Paul means is that God blessed Paul’s efforts. God had prepared the hearts of these believers to hear and receive the message that Paul was going to bring them about Christ and His atoning work on the cross. That is the true open door. God had made it so that these people would come to saving faith.

When it comes to building God’s kingdom, we can figure out where He is working and join Him there.

I think too often we can get wrapped up in the idea that we can concoct a plan and then execute it and afterwards ask God for His blessing on the plan. That’s not how we should go about planning.

If we want success in our plans, start with God first.

Paul goes through his ministry with his hands open, asking God where to go next. God always gives him good direction. As believers, we can trust that God is going to do the same for us. We can pray and seek His guidance and He will show us the way.

When it comes to telling people about the Gospel, there will be plenty of opportunities. Notice that Paul does not give himself credit for the spread of the gospel. He sees himself as just a conduit. He shows up and plants the seed and then God does the rest from there. In the Gospel, Jesus gives an analogy of what the kingdom of God is like. Mark 4:26–28 ““The kingdom of God is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head.”

God is the one who gives the growth. Before His ascension into heaven, Jesus gave the disciples the Great Commission to go into the world and make disciples. We are called to go and plant the seed. However, not every seed that we plant is going to grow. God is the one that makes the growth happen, not us. We merely plant the seed. Now, we can make things favorable for growing conditions. Whenever the spring hits, I will walk outside and see Charlie and Harry tilling up the garden getting ready to plant. They go and plant their various seeds at the right time. However, it is God that makes the growth. Sometimes, it does not go the way we want it to. Dania and I have planters in the front of our house. Typically, we have a lot of sunflowers in these planters throughout the summer. We sew the seed, we water, and then boom, big sunflowers to look at. This year, even though we did the same thing we do every year, we only got one sunflower. The thing is massive and the head must be full of seeds because it is sagging now. We did everything right, but they just didn’t grow this year.

So what’s the point? The point is that our job is to sew the seed. God does the work of growing. Even when we teach the gospel in the most favorable of environments, unless God is going to open up hearts and minds, it won’t grow.

Paul had great success in his trip to Troas, but there is something nagging at him. He cannot focus on all the good stuff that is happening. He is distracted because Titus had not met him there. Paul was very close to Titus, they were about as close as brothers are, depending on how your relationship with your brother is. Titus is the one that delivered this letter to the Corinthians. The reason Paul is concerned because of Titus is not because of the man, but the mission the man was on. Titus had not joined Paul there in Troas. Titus had been sent to the Corinthians to take up a contribution for the poverty stricken believers in Jerusalem. Not only that, Titus was supposed to come and report to Paul how the Corinthians are feeling about Paul. Even though Paul was seeing great success, he was uneasy because of one problem.

How often do we do that in our lives? How often do we forget all the good things because of one bad thing? I don’t know about you, but I find great comfort in the fact that Paul struggles with the same issue. Things are going great, but he cannot have ease in his soul because he has no idea what is going on in Corinth. This lack of peace sends Paul to Macedonia instead of Corinth.

Do we get restless like that? Do we worry about things that are out of our control? We have no need to. I know that is easier said than done, especially in these days where everything is automated and based on an algorithm. I will try to forget something that is stressing me out, but you know what happens? I get on facebook and the algorithm pulls up all the various posts that seek to fuel that worry again. Matthew 6:27–30 “Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?”

When we have concerns and worries, we can give those to God. He will take care of it. Like I said, though, I know that it is a lot easier said than done. Even Paul struggled with worry.

Paul quickly changes his tune. He was uneasy in Troas, but now he reflects on how God has been working in the whole situation. He gives thanks to God because God is always leading in triumphal procession. Everywhere they go, they take His aroma with them. Now this might seem a little odd to us from our perspective. Typically, when we think of people smelling a certain way, it is not good. Dania comes home every once in a while talking about how some of her classes smell.

However, this aroma that Paul is referring to is the aroma that was often present during the triumphal parades that were known throughout the Roman world. During these parades prisoners of war were marched through the streets as fragrant perfumes filled the air. It’s an odd juxtaposition. I have not known prisoners of war to ever smell all that great. One of my duties in my previous career was to keep watch over prisoners that were in a temporary cell on the back of the ship. These folks were known terrorists, they had been in hiding, and they refused any level of hygiene. I will not tell you what they smelled like, but it was not victory.

Anyway, at the end of these parades where the Romans were marking their victory, many of the prisoners of war were executed. The perfume that was pumped into the air smelled like victory to the people observing the parade, but it smelled like death to the prisoners marching along.

Paul sees several similarities between the two. He and the believers with him are members of a victorious army that is led by Christ. The gospel spread everywhere, Christ is the victor. The apostles are like that same aroma that filled the streets. To some, it was the sweet aroma of life, but to others it was the stench of death. In their context, the preaching of Jesus did not necessarily mean the people hearing it were concerned about their own death. Instead, they focused on Christ’s death.

The whole Gospel narrative does not make sense from a worldly standpoint. When it comes to victory, the victor seldom dies. This was a hard thing for many people in the Mediterranean to grasp. It was foolishness to them that some people would believe that God Almighty would come here as a human and die to save people. Recently there has been a discovery of some graffiti in Rome dating to 85 ADhad ascended into heaven. The graffiti is not flattering of the LORD at all. It is essentially a donkey being crucified with a man named Alexemos bowing before the donkey on the cross. Above is an inscription that says, “Alexemos worships his God”. In those days, the cross was not a symbol of victory the way we view it these days. Back in those days, you would be hard pressed to find anyone that would wear a cross as a decoration. Many could not fathom the idea that the most high God would come here and die. As far as they were concerned, it indicated He was weak. However, they just didn’t know that is what true strength looked like.

So these people would see the Apostles and others come in and they would get the stench of death, not because they were concerned about their own mortality, but because the apostles reminded them of Christ’s death. However, the apostles knew something that these other folks could not figure out, it is through Christ’s death that we have victory.

Every single person that is alive has one thing in common. Every single one of us is going to die unless the LORD comes back prior to. Throughout the Bible, we see that every one of the heroes in the Bible dies except for one. Well, two if we include Jesus in that count. The one I am referring to is Enoch. Enoch is one of those enigmatic characters. We don’t know much about him other than the fact that he was a righteous guy and he was so righteous that God just took him instead of taking him through the process of death. Genesis 5:23–24 “So Enoch’s life lasted 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was not there because God took him.”

Other than him, everyone else will one day pass on from this earth. Now, we know in our heart of hearts that we are eternal beings. I say regularly that the only things of eternal value in this world is your soul, my soul, and the eternal word of God. Everything else is going to fade. David, when he is sent news that Uriah has died, sends word back to Joab not to worry about it so much because death comes to everyone. Later, when his first son with Bathsheba dies after only seven days of living, David responds that he will go to the baby, but the baby will never return to him.

Death comes to us all. However, as believers, our victory is in death. One reason that Christianity spread the way that it did is because during the issues of plague and pandemic, Christians were not worried about dying. Instead, they continued to serve. Death was not something they feared, they just saw it as going home. 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?”

Philippians 1:21 “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Death is not the end for us. Instead, it is the beginning of eternity. Praise God for that. We have no need to worry about what will happen to us when we are done here because Christ has purchased us.

As Paul is reflecting on this he stops and asks who is equal to such a task? That’s a great question. The answer is that no one is equal to such a task. No one is worthy of playing this important role in the kingdom of God. Yet, God appointed humans to this role. God pulled us out of the pit of despair and sin. God saved us from our sin. In all our fallacies, worries, concerns, and failures, God called us to this incredible task of building His kingdom. Does anyone else every once in a while just sit back and marvel at the fact that God has called us to do His work. I mean, it’s an amazing thing.

Paul goes on to say that his ministry is not an ordinary job. All of us are called into ministry, but it is not an ordinary job. We don’t clock in when we get here to the church on Sunday morning and then clock out when we leave. We don’t peddle the word of God for profit. Instead, we tell God’s word so that others can know the greatness of God. Our job is not contained to the church building, but it goes beyond these four walls. Jesus gave us this example. He did not just contain His ministry to the Temple or a synagogue. He was on mission 24 hours a day seven days a week. Even if the building disappears, the church remains.

In Europe, there is a new trend that is rather sad. Long standing and ancient churches that once thrived in the European communities are no longer thriving. The few people that continue to attend are unable to keep up with the bills, so the building becomes vacant. Now these buildings are being converted to become dance clubs or other social hubs. What happened? Well I think that too much focus was put into the building than it was on the kingdom. The church does not exist to serve itself. The church exists to serve God and the community. The church knows the best news ever. Our job is to go and tell people about Jesus with all sincerity.

Add smell story, coffee, flowers, etc.