Being the Aroma of Christ

Being an Influencer

Recently I saw an article reporting on a study done in the US about Gen Z and millennials. Did you know that nearly three quarters of them follow people who are referred to as influencers on social media and they trust their advice when it comes to brands and products.

But the report showed that not only did they trust them, but that they also wanted to be them. The report showed that over a half of them would become an influencer if given the opportunity.

Now I suspect that there is a relatively high proportion of you listening to this that don’t fall in the category of Gen Z or a millennial, and quite likely your thinking, wow, why would you trust someone who is being paid to sell a product.

And while the money might be nice in being an influencer, you’re probably thinking: but I just couldn’t fake it. Possibly the idea of being an influencer is just something you really wouldn’t want to do.

But still, while you might not fully identify, I think at the heart of it, these millennials are hitting on something we all desire to some degree - recognition. We want to be noticed.

Now on one level, this is because we’re made for relationship. But as sin so often does, pride, arrogance, envy and the like start to kick in, and that desire to be noticed becomes a lot more about selfishness than anything else.

Mission

Now this morning we’re starting a short series on Mission. When I use the word mission, I referring to that activity of sharing the good news of those around the world.

That mission is borne out of God’s love for the world.

You see, it goes hand in hand with the entire biblical narrative. That is, the world was stuck, but God in his mercy rescued us and gave us the opportunity for new life. And our part in it goes hand in hand with this narrative too. When we experience this amazing redemption, a redemption that we did not deserve, we too want to give others the opportunity to share in this freedom too.

The problem with mission

But then comes the problem - the problem which can sometimes make us embarrassed about mission, particular when Christian mission is brought up outside Christian circles.

The problem is that we allow this selfish attitude the take over.

If you look at the history of the mission movement over the last few hundred years, we can see some bad examples.

You see, one of the mistakes some of the early missionaries had, was that it became more about importing western culture than the love of God.

Now maybe you can give those missionaries a little leniency because they didn’t know any better, but it boils down to an assumption that they were better then the people they were trying t save and as a result this sense of superiority put the focus on things that shouldn’t have been the focus.

But I don’t want to beat up on these missionaries of the past, of whom, most, if not all, would have got done what they did with good intentions.

But unfortunately, contemporary missionary endeavours can still fall down due to inherent selfishness.

Now again, I’m not here to criticise the godly men and women who have given up so much. To leave home and country. To leave the culture that they’ve grown up in. Just to share the good news to those who wouldn’t otherwise here it.

I’m not criticizing them.

What I will criticise though, are the selfish motives that creep into our local expression of mission.

I sometimes joke - we should go and reach out to the rich. If we just bring some really rich people into the church then imagine what we could do with their generosity.

Now I am joking when I say that, but there is an underlying idea which betrays some selfish motives.

When we want to bring people in to build our little empire, or to demonstrate our superior spirituality or any other hidden selfish motive, we’ve missed the point of mission.

People will rightfully say - it stinks. Something smell wrong.

You know, most people have learnt to smell out a bad deal. Whenever anyone tries to sell you anything - we become wary. It’s that inbuilt radar that tries to protect us.

And the reality is, many non-believers have their radars set to detect the bad smell that many Christians give off. A smell that they are quite used to. A smell that says: we want your money. We want you so we can have more power.

They can put up with that smell in some areas of their life - but they have no time for it from the church.

So the big question is how do we get rid of that repugnant smell?

Because the reality is, while ever we have that smell, while we might see some growth in a local church, the growth is going to become contaminated with that smell.

We need to allow the real smell of the gospel to be out there. So what is that smell?

2 Corinthians

Well, Paul considers this smell in 2 Corinthians. He refers to it as the aroma of Christ, and it is this aroma that I’m going to explore this morning.

In fact, over the next four weeks, I’ll be exploring a number of different ideas that Paul gives us in this letter. I’ve decided to use this letter because in this letter we see Paul talking about sharing the good news in quite trying times, and so I thought it was particularly relevant for us as we think about mission in the middle of a pandemic.

The background

So let’s first get a bit of the background to the letter.

The city of Corinth is in modern day Greece and located on a narrow isthmus, which apart from being a really hard word to say, just means a narrow land mass between two larger bodies of land.

Particularly back in biblical times, this was a very important city in terms of trade owing to its convenient location to other significant cities of the world at the time.

As such the place was very cosmopolitan which made for a very interesting mix for a church setting. And the church that Paul established proved to likewise be a very interesting place with all sorts of controversies, many of which you can read about in 1 Corinthians.

But being a city where there was a lot of trade coming into and out of the city, it also was a city where there was great potential for spreading the good news.

But now here’s the thing. With such a vibrant city, they were also had their share of people who knew how to do things in a flashy way. And so, their gospel message sometimes got caught up in this flashiness.

If you look later in the letter, specifically chapter 11, Paul actually talks about some people who have dressed up the message - and he gives them the sarcastic title of ‘Super Apostles’.

Chapter 2

So that gives you some of the broader context. But as we look at the early part of this second letter, where my specific passage falls this morning, we see the letter opening with Paul really reaching out to these brothers and sisters of his in Corinth.

You see, it becomes apparent that the relationship between him and them became somewhat strained. That becomes particularly evident at the start of chapter 2 when Paul gives reflection on his decision not to make another painful visit.

But despite these reflections, which actually sound quite hard for Paul to make, in verse 14, we get a sudden change.

The feeling suddenly moves from one of anguish, to one of thanksgiving.

At first, this seems really strange, but I think as we explore this sudden change, we’ll see that it isn’t quite as strange as you might think.

As captives

Now, as we look at Paul giving thanks, the expression he introduces for us is not one we normally add in our list of thanks.

He thanks God that they are always lead… as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession.

Now this little phrase deserves an explanation because most scholars agree that the choice of words that Paul uses here is picking up on a practice that the Greeks and Romans of this time would have been well familiar with.

You see, there is quite a bit of evidence that when a big battle was won, the victor would arrange a big parade through the city. At the start of the procession were the captives of the war. They were led in a humilating way, and the victor - the one in control of the battle, would come at the rear, showing his superiority over his captives.

But here’s the strange thing. Paul is not placing himself as the victor - the one you might well want to be a part of. But as one of the captives.

Now that is just strange - but just keep that image in the back of your mind because he also adds a new dimension to the picture.

The aroma

You see, his thanks is also for the fact that they are being used to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Now, given the close proximity to the triumphal procession that he just considered, it is generally considered that he probably still has in mind another practice that was done during these processions. You see, there is also evidence that when these processions took place, on occasion, there would be incense burnt along the triumphal route, as well as spices and the like brought from the conquered regions.

And so, not only were these processions a visual representation of who is in control, it would also invoke the sense of smell as well.

Having a good smell

You see, smell is a powerful thing, something I don’t think we give enough credit for.

The power of smell

In my last year of working at Hunter Water before I moved into the ministry, I worked in the sewerage operations group, and one aspect of that job was the management of bad odours in the network. Believe me, I spoke with some rather irritated customers - and they were irritated for good reason.

Now, to help in the implementation of some of our control methods, we utilised a company who specialised in odour control. When I first started dealing with this company, they told me a little about what they did. And I was interested to learn that the company had two main section. One was the section I dealt with. The other was quite different. Their clients were big shopping centres. Their job, was to add a special perfume into the air conditioning system. But they told me that the dosage was not enough for someone to notice, but studies had been done to show that it was enough to change peoples mood. It made people happier, and happier people spend more money.

Now I know what all the men are thinking - I’m not very happy when I go to the shops. That’s because the change is only small, but enough to make it worthwhile the owners of the shopping centres to pay for it.

The point that this proves though, is having the right smell makes a big difference. There is power in smell. The power is not in the smell itself but in the connections that we make with it.

In verse 15, Paul then continues this idea of an aroma - saying clearly that we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ.

And interestingly, that aroma has an effect both on the believers and non-believers alike. But the effect on both groups is not the same.

In fact, Paul states it quite bluntly, to one the aroma brings death, to the other it brings life.

Now that’s a big call, and I want to come back to that, but I still haven’t answered the question: what is this aroma actually smell like.

The stink!

Well, in verse 17, he helps us by giving us a clue as to what it is not.

He says: “unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit”.

Now this is actually a big clue here. You see, these people who are peddling the word of God for profit are actually very characteristic of the bad smell.

Unfortunately, this bad smell is so easy to get. It’s a bit like B.O. It just seems to come even without realising.

For those in ministry like myself, it can be a real trap. You start out all for God, but in the daily routine it becomes, all for me.

Sacrifice

Paul then tells us the opposite. He says: “On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God”.

But what does that mean to be in Christ and speaking before God with sincerity, because it is the type of thing that is easy to say, but much harder to do when we dig beneath the surface and see what is happening here.

You see, to be in Christ means in part to identify with him.

Now we know that it is in contrast to those who have profit as there top goal, and if you look at Jesus, gaining a profit was never the focus.

Look at what he taught. He told one rich man to sell all he had and give it to the poor. He taught about using money for others not yourself.

But look at his life. He gave up everything. He wandered from place to place for others. When he was exhausted, he would still help others.

And ultimately, he sacrificed his own life to give life to others.

In many ways, that word ‘sacrifice’, sums up what it means to be in Christ.

And I want to suggest that it is in sacrificial living that we will gain the aroma of Christ.

The aroma in the procession

And this is why it makes so much sense that Paul starts with that image of being captives in Christ’s triumphal procession.

You see, it is so counter-intuitive in many ways. Why would you give thanks for being a captive?

It’s because it is in being a captive that we identify with Christ, and in being sacrificial, it means that we give off the aroma of Christ.

This aroma is so different it captures people off guard.

You know sometimes there can be a smell that when you first smell it can be a little off-putting.

Cheese

Cheese can be like that. I remember once going to the Big Banana, and right next to the Candy shop near the car park, there is also a cheese shop. And you can smell it as soon as you go in.

Now the smell of cheese can sometimes be off-putting if you’re not expecting it. But once you get used to it, and you realise how yummy that cheese is, that smell can be really appealing.

Well a self-sacrificial life can be like that. When someone sees you they can wonder why you make the choices you do. But then they can see that you are not about ripping others off, but actually about helping others.

Life and death

Now let me just quickly come back to verse 16. Why does this aroma bring life to some and death to others?

Well, there are perhaps a few different aspects to this, but let me just suggest one. This self-sacrificial aroma will bring life to others because it will draw people to Christ. The aroma itself won’t do it, but it will attract people to Christ. But for others, they will just see heart-ache in this aroma. They won’t give it a chance and they won’t come to Christ. Unfortunately they choose not to take life.

How to get the aroma

So let me encourage you this morning to really cultivate this aroma of Christ in your life.

Because without it, our mission and ministry will really stink.

This means that we have to actively be aware when they self-focus takes over. To do this will need self-reflection. Ask yourself questions like - is it really necessary to give myself that luxury?

Am I being selfish with my time?

What capacity do I have to help others? And am I using that capacity as I should?

The reality is, the stink of self-focus takes over very quickly. And it runs counter to what Christ was all about.

Conclusion

When Paul boasts - and he does a bit in this letter, his boasts are not about his strengths, but actually about his weaknesses.

Are we able to be like Paul and boast about our weaknesses?

And so, in this first part of this short series in the book of 2 Corinthians, I want to challenge you to think of your sharing of the good news being completely grounded in self-sacrifice. We don’t share for our benefit, we share for the benefit of others.

So let me pray...