The Fragrance of Christ

Last week Cris gave us a great view into what it looks like to have a missional view of life, that we have been given the map, the mission, the message, and the moment all to see the gospel spread throughout the world.

Before we jump in, I want to give us a little bit more of the backstory...

This is Paul’s 3rd letter, we don’t have the 2nd one

2nd letter had lots of pain

The corinthian church was in so much darkness

Sexual misconduct, disunity, disorderly in their worship,

He sent Titus to go and see how the letter was recieved

2 cor 2

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.

Be Real

2 Corinthians 2:12–13 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.

He didn't want to preach the Gospel alone, so he shows up to Troas expecting to see Titus there, but Titus was nowhere to be found.

Paul loved Titus

But when they went to meet up in Troas, Titus was not there, so Paul went to go find his friend

His heart is in dispare that he couldn't find his friend, surely he thought the worst of the worst had happened

Do you have a Titus in your life? Someone who can be as close as a brother, to help spur you on to spread the good news all the more?

Paul loved Titus and could have stayed there, and had fruit… It says in verse 12 that there was a door open, but he listened to the anguish in his spirit.

As we encounter people, are we listening to our spirit, and the Spirit of God, to find who He wants us to talk to about Jesus? Are we being real with ourselves and the state of our hearts? There are times where we are so wounded that it feels impossible to share the gospel, i don’t think that is entirely wrong of us, I think God would rather us be honest, that way we can move forward through the pain, and become people who actually share the healing of Christ.

Paul very clearly didn’t evangelize to every single person that he met, Jesus very clearly didn’t heal everyone he met. So we can take the weight off our shoulders thinking it is our role to make sure we share with every human we encounter, our role is to ask the Spirit to show us who it is that we are appointed to talk to.

My fear is that we would take that and now have an excuse to do nothing… Doing nothing is not a choice…

In order to do this, he had to have believed that God was at work even when Paul was not around

God is the one doing the work through us, we just need to be faithful in what He is calling us to. and honest enough to be able to say, my heart is hurting, and I need to seek some healing before I can go be a force, again this is not saying that we should do nothing, it is also not saying that God isn’t made great through our weakness, i’m just trying to make the point that we can be honest with where we are at, and know that God is the one who does the work in us and through us.

Someone who encourages my heart so much with her faithfulness to

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 ESV

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

This is so encouraging, God gives us so much freedom to not need to be the point, or the one who has it all together. Paul certainly didn’t but he was still faithful with the life God was calling him to.

Someone who deeply encourages me in her faithfulness to the call is Hilda Reyes

Who knows how each of those conversations go, all I know is that she is faithful, and God uses her as she plants seeds of the gospel in peoples lives

So the pressure is off of our backs, this is the Lords work, we just need to be faithful, attentive, and honest which gives us the freedom to become as fragrant as we can be in Christ.

Our Suffering is Triumphant to a Watching World

2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

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.

Now this sounds like Christians should triumph over everything that would hinder them… Does it not?

To give some quick context, there were these other “super christians” that were making people pay them a bunch of money to “pedal God’s word”, … They said Pauls sufferings proved that He was not an Apostle

Here is a little list of What Paul says happened to him

2 Corinthians 11:23–30 ESV

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

So what could Paul possibly have meant when he said that our he was led in triumphal procession?????

what could Paul possibly mean if in the introduction he writes this...

John Mcarthur was very helpful in my research of this… He says “A Triumph was when the Roman government and all of its people honored a great general.

The honor could be bestowed on a victorious Roman general only under certain conditions. Before he could win it, he must have been the actual commander-in-chief of all the troops in the field. The campaign must have been completely finished, the region completely pacified, and the victorious troops brought home. At least 5,000 of the enemy must have fallen in one engagement. A positive extension of the territory of the kingdom must have been gained and not just a disaster retrieved or some attack repelled. A victory must have been won over a foreign foe and it could not be in a civil war. And now and then, maybe once in a life time, a general might have that kind of Triumph given to him as his honor. In the actual Triumph, there would be a procession through the streets of Rome to the capital where an offering would be made to the gods.

First there would come the state officials, and there would come the senate in this great Triumph. Then there would come the trumpeters. Then there would come those carrying the spoils from the conquering, all the wealth and the treasures. Then there would come the white bull which was to be offered in a blood sacrifice to Jupiter. Then there would come the captives, the prisoners in chains who would be headed to prison and to death.

Then there would come the priests. The priests would be swinging censers full of incense that was smoldering and smoking, and the fragrance of the incense would fill the air all along the way. And in addition, women would line the street and throw garlands of flowers to be crushed under the hooves of the men on the horses, and thus the fragrance would mount. In the homes of the people, they might light incense lamps, so that the fragrance would fill the entire city.

2 Corinthians 11:23–30 ESV

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Then there would come the general himself, and he would be riding a chariot pulled by four horses; and he would have a purple toga marked out with golden stars, and over it he would have another purple robe; it would be embroidered with golden palm leaves. In his hand he would have an ivory scepter crowned with an eagle. And all the people would shout, “Triumph, triumph, triumph, triumph.”

So Paul compares our triumph to that of the roman general, but he cant be talking like many of the prosperity movement, because Paul just quoted all of his trials…

I think he means that our suffering never wins the day

11:23-

Paul calls his suffering a “Light and momentary affliction” that is ‘Preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison”

So as the world is looking at us… they should see the work of Jesus even while we suffer

This is how we resemble the garlands of flowers crushed under the feet of the soldiers, that crushing produces a sweet aroma

We truly are the jars of ordinary clay, holding a treasure that is glorious beyond all of the riches in the whole world… we have the message of Jesus

This is the fragrance of Jesus being spread even though the Christian goes through hardship…

but we still have a responsibility here…

This is the fragrance of Jesus being spread even though the Christian goes through hardship… but we still have a responsibility here…

We Have a Responsibility to be Fragrant

2 Corinthians 2:15–16 ESV

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?

For me… I love bonfires

when I go hiking, at the end of a day sitting by a fire is one of the best feelings in the world

During a cold night at home, we have a fire pit and it is the most relaxing thing in the world

Afterward though… Everyone knows you’ve been to a bon fire

Story of cameron

that night… cameron suffered, but the next morning he woke up, and his clothes still smelled of the stale smoke

Are we spending enough time around the fire of the presence of Christ, warming our affections in His word that the surrounding world would actually smell the fragrance of Jesus on us?

Do we have the fragrance of Christ or the world?

Now look a little deeper at this verse, it says that we are the aroma of Christ to God…

When God looks on our lives and sees the burning embers of a heart that delights its ways in God, glowing white hot with love for God and for others,

When we live lives that are obedient, self sacrificing, even suffering for the sake of Christ, God smells the aroma that lifts from the embers and is deeply pleased by it.

This should spur us on all the more to enjoy God and love others, knowing that it delights the heart of our Father!

Word of warning:

Just because we have the fragrance of Christ, doesn’t mean we will be enjoyed by all people…

2 Corinthians 2:16 ESV

16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

2 cor

Paul is clear here, that it is not up to us how we are recieved. There are some, when they hear the gospel, it is the sweetest of aroma… something that cheers the soul, like a warm blanket on a bitterly cold night

The funny thing, is this most often is the “wretched sinner”

The one who most often finds it offensive is the one that thinks they have it all together on their own

To this other person the gospel is a repugnant rotting festering stench that only proves their heart is not the rich soil that could receive the beauty of the gospel.

So should we be discouraged when others don’t receive the gospel? No, but it should drive us to our knees praying for God to break their stony heart

Then Paul asks a piercing question.... Who is sufficient for these things????? Are we sufficient in ourselves to be a pleasing aroma? Do we have what it takes to be ambassadors of Christ to a watching world? The answer Paul gives is a resounding NO!

2 Corinthians 3:4–6 ESV

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 cor 3:4

You don’t have to be sufficient to share the gospel, you don’t have to have all the answers, you don’t need moral perfection, what you need is humility, speaking from your own place of weakness...

The only thing that gives us the right to speak into other peoples lives is our brokenness, because were just as broken, if not more broken than they are, and God is doing beautiful things in us, so He could do beautiful things in them!

So you want to share the gospel? You’ve got to be fragrant, you’ve got to be real, you must....

Share with Sincerity

2 Corinthians 2:17 ESV

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.

Were not peddling out the word of God like the super apostles

Were not in it to make people projects

We go speak the gospel as a beggar who found bread telling other beggars where to go to never hunger again!

When we go and speak this gospel with sincerity, it pushes back the darkness, the kingdom of hell trembles at the sight of God’s people emboldened by the good news, taking action to bring light where there was no light, hope where there was no hope, joy where there was only suffering, and love for those who swore they were utterly unlovable.

C.S. Lewis speaks on this war for the hearts of mankind when he says...

“Enemy- occupied territory— that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”-C.S. Lewis

Do you want to take part in the great campaign of sabotage against the enemy? Push back the darkness by sharing your story with sincerity, not holding back your own weakness but showing how Christ’s glory shines brighter against the backdrop of our own limitation.

Application: Do you want to be effective in your evangelism?

Warm your soul at the fire of God’s greatness in His word… You will have a fragrance… A transformed life bursts with the fragrance of God’s glory

Pray that God would bring you divine appointments

Sincerely share God’s work in your life from a place of weakness (People don’t respond to the man on a high horse)

Be faithful to God’s call to spread the gospel, and trust in the Spirit’s work of salvation. (The Spirit regenerates hearts, not my clever words, quick whit or my knowing all the answers)

If we have encountered the grace of God there is no choice but for us to go and speak of all we’ve experienced in the kindness of God. THE GRACE OF GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST IS THE GREATEST NEWS THE WORD COULD EVER HEAR, PARDON FROM SIN, FULL RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ACCEPTANCE, ETERNAL LIFE IN THE ALL SATISFYING PRESENCE OF A GOD WHO LOVES US, LETS SPREAD THIS MESSAGE WITH FEROCITY! THERE IS URGENCY TO THE GOSPEL AND HE MAKES US SUFFICIENT TO BE THE AROMA OF CHRIST TO A DYING WORLD.

Benediction: All Stand(This is the Local Mission Team)

If were not being attentive to our neighborhood as the fragrance of Christ, sharing the gospel from a Sincere heart… No one will.

We have a role to play in the spread of the gospel, invite others to warm themselves at the fire, and watch the aroma of Christ spread everywhere.