Sermon Tone Analysis

The Odor of an Obedient Life

Now

-The Power of Aroma

-Our sense of smell is a powerful means of recognizing places, events, and people without the use of our eyes.

-Many of us have had the experience of catching a whiff of something that reminds us of our Grandmother house, our Mother’s sweet potato pie, our Dad’s cologne, the smell of our first born baby.

-On a more serious note some have had the experience of smelling death, hospitals, and diseases which leaves an imprint on you that you never forget.

-Just like the sniffing dog used by police, our sense of smells is means by which can determine if things are real or fake.

Then

-Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians is trying to lift their spirits by telling them that he loves them even though he had to verbal rebuke them.

-Paul knew that within 1 & 2 Corinthians he had to deal with some serious issues in this immature church.

He was very hard on them, and like a loving father he is trying to lift their spirits by letting them know that his rebuke of them is due to his great love for them……Kind of like when a father says this is going to hurt me as much as it hurts you.

There is some truth to that statement.

-The church at Corinth was probably the richest of the churches Paul planted, and they also were the most sinful and decadent.

They even accused Paul of preaching for material gain and tried to start a movement against his apostolic authority.

These accusations lead Paul to write 1 & 2 Corinthians to straighten up some sinful behavior in the church and to set the record straight about his motives for teaching the Gospel.

The three major sins of the church of Corinth: 1. Division/Discord 2. Sexual Immorality 3. Lack of Love

Always

-The Obedient life of the Christian gives off a powerful aroma, that speaks to the victory of Jesus over Death, the Devil, and his Demons.

I.

Your Spiritual Odor permeates the Supernatural world

-(v.14)

Paul starts by giving thanks to God.

And why does he do this?

He is praising God for taking him in as a prisoner of war from the control of the enemy.

When the soldier was captured he was either killed or kept as a slave of the conquering nation.

Paul is thanking God that he gets to take part in the triumphant procession even though he was an enemy of God, who was taken in as a prisoner of war.

Something fundamentally changed in Paul, for he has gone from the enemy of God to servant of the triumphant God.  

-Paul starts by giving thanks to God.

And why does he do this?

He is praising God for taking him in as a prisoner of war from the control of the enemy.

When the soldier was captured he was either killed or kept as a slave of the conquering nation.

Paul is thanking God that he gets to take part in the triumphant procession even though he was an enemy of God, who was taken in as a prisoner of war.

Something fundamentally changed in Paul, for he has gone from the enemy of God to servant of the triumphant God.

Paul is drawing from his knowledge of the Roman Culture concerning a returning General who has just won a great military battle.

-Paul is drawing from his knowledge of the Roman Culture concerning a returning General who has just won a great military battle.

a.

There is a processional through the city streets to honor the General, and the returning troops, while the enemies’ officers were paraded through the streets tied up with the captured soldiers.

They were mocked and scourged; most were eventually killed in the Coliseum.

b.

There is the burning of incense and garland to Jupiter the chief God of Rome for granting the victory.

This burning (sacrifice) signified to the people that victory had been won.

-(v.

14) “and manifest through us, the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him” Paul then gets more explicit by telling us of a second benefit of being a captured servant of the Victorious General.

In our bodies we carry around the aroma of the Victory of Christ won at the resurrection over Death.

a. Manifest---means to make apparent, or show.

This carries the idea of your life & body being a surrogate for God to use to point people to himself.

In this text Paul uses the word “aroma” to drive home his point….Explain Surrogacy and contrast our role is purveyor of the Gospel.

BBQ analogy---We(BBQ Pit), Jesus(Meat being cook), The Father(The Pit Master) It is the life of Jesus that we must allow to permeate our lives.

b.

Sweet Aroma---This word means “odor” often used to describe pleasant smells.

It is used in the OT of an offering that pleased the Lord.

EX:

“20Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 The Lord smelled the soothing aroma; and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

-Also in

-Also in , and these text talk about when a sacrifice is done properly that the smell of it pleased God.

exodus 2

-these text talk about when a sacrifice is done properly that the smell of it pleased God.

-these text talk about when a sacrifice is done properly that the smell of it pleased God.

-at least two of the requirements of animals sacrifice

a.

First born or best

b.

Clean

2 Corinthians

What does the Father want to smell?

-(v.15) “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God” I want you to pay close attention to the grammatical structure of this phrase.

-A True Christian gives off an aroma.

The Fragrance is the smell of a crucified and risen Savior, and that fragrance reaches to the nostrils of God.

Our lives become a continual burning sacrifice to God.

-Sub-point: This aroma that we give off is smelled in the spiritual world by God, Angels, Satan and his Demons

.

-Summary: (v.8)

You will see that a obedient life will put you in the mix of a heavenly battle.

The smell of Job’s life had gotten to the nose of Satan.

Notice in (v.9-10) that he already tried to get at Job but he could not get around the hedge that God put around Job.

Transition Statement-Not only does your odor permeate the Supernatural world it also permeates the Natural World.

-

II.

Your Spiritual Odor affects the Natural World

2 CORINTHIANS 2:15

-Sub-points---What effect does the aroma of Christ have in the World?

-Sub-points---What effect does the aroma of Christ have in the World?

-(v.15) names two classes of people in this text that are affected by the aroma of our lifestyle.

a.

Those that are not saved, but eventually will be.

b.

Those that are not saved, and never will be.

How are they affected?

-(v.16)

Paul tells us how our life impacts these two classes of people.

-You will remeber we talked about the Fragrance that was burned when the Roman General returned from battle to signify victory was won.

The people could smell the fragrance and no that Rome had conquered another region.

-The Fragrance was also a reminder to all the prisoners of war that were tied up and detained behind the Roman army, that they would be tortured and then thrown into the coliseum to be consumed by Wild Beast.

-You can see that the Victory Fragrance meant two things to two different classes of people:

a.

Those that are not saved, but eventually will be; hear the teaching and watch the lifestyle of the Christian.

And examination by them attracts them to the Christian, which ultimately leads them to the source of the aroma that the Christian is emitting from their life.

b.

Those that are not saved, and never will be; hear the teaching and watch the lifestyle of the Christian.

And the examination by them leads them away from the Christian, and further down the path of hardness of heart, which eventually leads to the Lake of Fire.

Scriptural Example