Catching the Scent

They taught me in history class that the Native Americans were often good hunters and scouts. And they could follow tracks in the ground. They could see where people were.

They could go and find someone they were looking for. But yet, they also said, there's one group of people that makes it really easy. And that's the white people.

Because they smell worse than everybody else. Don't you feel good about that now? Since it came from Native Americans, it's OK to make fun of white people. The point of that is that scent is something that drives us.

Scent is something that is a part of our lives and has been a part of history. It made me think about the Native Americans when, for Father's Day, Holly got me this nice body wash that was like a pure mahogany scent. And then Holly and Colin and then Christopher got me this, on his own accord, two other body washes that were very scented, too.

And I didn't say, hey, thanks for the message, guys. You see, historically, and in the Bible, smell is important. Sometimes, for a lot of us, it's a scent we don't care enough about or care as much about religiously as they did back in the day.

But if you're talking about the fragrance industry, the fragrance industry has $61 to $64 billion worth of business worldwide. And that includes scents like perfume and room sprays and different things. It doesn't even include, you know, have you ever noticed how, when you go by an area where there are restaurants, somehow you can smell those restaurants so clearly on the outside to draw you in? When we look at the Bible, Paul is pulling from something in the Old Testament that is very important.

He talks about our scent and how we smell. Did you know you smell to God? It should be comforting that we all have a spiritual scent. We all have a smell.

Now, as we're going through this series talking about the good news, thinking of it more being the good contagion, that when we have something so good, we need to distribute it and pass it along and share it with other people that our spiritual scent can actually give us a way. If you stand as you are able, we will look at 2 Corinthians 14, chapter 2, 14 through 17. 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.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance of death, to another a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 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. The word of God, inspired by God, for the people of God.

Thanks be to God. Amen. You may be seated.

This is pretty clear that Paul is telling us we have a spiritual scent. We either smell like death or we smell like life. And it has nothing to do with what you sprayed on yourself this morning.

It has to do with who you are in Jesus. I just want to start with by saying in verse 14, Paul starts off with, but thanks be to God. Now when you hear but, it always makes you think of the context where he's saying all this stuff, and then there's a but.

And in here, that he can be so thankful that in the midst of anything that is going to make you contagious as a Christian with the Holy Spirit in you, that a spirit of thankfulness and of praise and of glorifying God is what comes off as something different. You see, Paul was talking about at the beginning of chapter 2 how he had a lot of sadness the last time he saw them. Sadness about his struggles and the things he had gone through.

He's telling them just recently he couldn't find his buddy Titus, and so he struggled with that and had to move on, and his soul was hurting. And then he just says, but thanks be to God. I mean, sometimes our thanks be to God have to start with a but, or however, or even though all this stuff, thanks be to God.

Because if you can see God working in the midst of pain and trouble and of hurt, then that makes you stand out from the crowd. That makes you not like the rest of the world unless we complain and mumble and everything else all the time. It's interesting because Paul says, who in Christ leads us in triumphal procession.

Now, if you think of the triumphal procession, Paul is actually pointing to Rome. When Rome would defeat an enemy or stop a rebel or an uprising or whatever it might be, they would bring them back in and they would parade them through town. And there were two parts of the group.

One part of the group was the victors, and the victors lived. They saved Rome. They came back and they're celebrating their victory.

The other part of the group are some of the people of the enemies that they would capture and drag through parading. And you could see that they were going to die. One group is life.

The other group is death. Now, Paul, by saying this, is saying we are always, no matter where we are, and it's also connected because eventually Christians were going to be the ones who were dragged through, mocked, beaten, some burned alive, some crucified, some beheaded, all these things. But Paul is saying even in that, the one we follow is the leader and the leader we follow is Jesus who leads us in this triumphal procession.

It kind of reminds me of Palm Sunday, when Jesus comes in on the colt, the foal of the donkey, and he's riding on that and he has this procession, and it's usually titled the triumphal procession. And the people were following and waving the branches and so excited, but the Pharisees tried to cut it off and they eventually would get Jesus arrested and killed. But when you follow Jesus, you're always following Victor in that.

And he says, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Okay, this is the first part in here where he mentions a fragrance. There's a fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, a fragrance of life, a fragrance that if you come into a situation, if you are among people who are going from death to death, you smell like Jesus.

If you are going in a crowd of people who are going from life to life, the whole group can smell like life in Jesus. So the thing is, it's not like we are just subject to whatever is around us. We don't have to act like the rest of the world.

We don't have to be so pessimistic and so resentful and so bitter about anything. And, you know, even just looking at the world and saying, oh man, it's just a mess. But instead looking at the world and see what God is doing and point out what God is doing and show the world what God is doing and how God has done amazing things in our lives.

That's how we can smell like life. Because I got to be honest with you, the smell of death is repelling. Smell of life, that smells pretty good.

And so we do this by faith in Jesus Christ. We are the aroma of Christ to God. Our scent stands out no matter what.

It reminds me of Colossians 3,3 where Paul says, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. What's your scent? Who do you smell like? You can answer this question. Who do you smell, who do you want to smell like? Jesus.

And this is really big as we keep going into what Paul is saying that when we smell like Jesus, it is an amazing thing. And not everybody loved Jesus because there is something the authors say that when people of death smell life, sometimes they want to get it away from them because it reminds them of what they need or what they're missing or they might say we're judgmental or whatever, whether or not you say anything. We are among the aroma of Christ in God for those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

So we smell like Jesus no matter what. And that's a big part, for me that's been a, that is still, it's a big part of spiritual growth in my life is how when I was younger, it was always when I'm with this group of friends, I want to have fun like this group of friends. And when I'm with this group of Christian friends, I want to have fun like the Christian friends.

And it's how to be the same person, no matter where we are, no matter what crowd we're in, no matter who is around us is a big part of that. And a lot of it is, if you go from day to day to day, not on Sunday morning, you know, if I say how would anybody know that you love Jesus? You'd say, well, because I go to church on Sunday. And I think most people go to church on Sunday, but it's how when you're working and you're around, especially those who are far from God, how do you stand out? Not as judgmental, but as, is there something that smells different about you? Even in a crowd.

Verse 16 goes on to say to one, a fragrance from death to death to the other a fragrance from life to life. As they're processing through, one of them is surely gonna die. One of them is going to live.

The scent of Jesus reminds others, they smell like death and they don't like it. Who is sufficient? Paul talks about this and he says, who is sufficient? Who is sufficient to carry the scent of Jesus to the world? Are you feeling sufficient? Like I was born for this? Why is everybody looking down? Well, Paul says that we aren't sufficient, and but we aren't like others who peddle the good news. The sufficiency comes in, if you look at some of the historical significance of scent, it was huge.

For an offering or a sacrifice, it talks about how when they would throw the offering, whether that would be beef or whether it would be a lamb or whatever, and put it on the big Traeger grill outside the Holy of Holies and outside the tabernacle and they burn it, that it has a scent. That scent is pleasing to God. Paul picks up on that in Philippians, where he says, we are a pleasing aroma to God.

When we trust in Jesus, when we follow Jesus, when we let the scent of Jesus lead our way in our lives today. Another way in the Old Testament where scent was important was with incense. Earl read one of the passages where it talks about how incense would be there.

Incense, the table of incense that he was reading about was set right in the holy place, right outside of the Holy of Holies. Now, the Holy of Holies was the presence of God. So cool that they had this place that there was the presence of God.

And the incense always had to be used for holy purposes. And that incense was reminding them that this is the presence of God. That the smell of God is not the smell of death.

The smell of God is sweet. The smell of God is a place where you'd wanna go. I mean, who would wanna hang out in the holy place if they just had something rotten in there? The incense reminds them of the Holy of God.

And in that passage too, it says, do not use the wrong incense. Incense that's not set aside for holy purposes. It's not just about smelling good.

It's about God being there. It's about the presence of God. It's about us being in the presence of God.

And in our lives, we will often put a lot of things on to cover the smell. You know, like if you're getting ready to go out and you don't have time to take a shower, and you just splash on some perfume or cologne or something like that, eventually that's gonna catch up with you. We, the closer we are to God, the more we smell like Jesus and the more we are in the presence of God.

Revelation 5.8 says it in a cooler way. It talks about there was the bowl of incense in Revelation 5.8. And that bowl of incense was the prayers of the saints. That those prayers smell so sweet to God.

Another scent that the Bible talks about is anointing oil. In Exodus 30.29, it talks, and at many places, it talks about anointing oil to anoint, to consecrate, for healing, for burial, for holy purposes, that anointing oil would come in. In fact, if you look at the actual definition of Messiah, it is the anointed one.

Meaning he was anointed for a purpose. And his purpose was to teach and to live and to die and to rise again, so we could rise again. Who is sufficient? Paul says we are not like so many peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity and commissioned by God in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

There's so much in this verse. The smell of life says that it comes from the heart. It says, but men of sincerity, that is the first thing he says, men of sincerity.

How does the world know that we really love Jesus if we say we love Jesus? That we really wanna follow Jesus if we say we wanna follow Jesus? Does the world look at us and say, who is sufficient for these things? They probably look at us and go, I don't see you as being sufficient for such things. But in today's world, it started with a lot of the millennials would tell me this is what was important to them, and now it goes on to the Zs. The Zs and the millennials say they can smell a rat a mile away.

They can smell, they can just smell it if we are not faithful, if we are not walking the talk, talking the walk. Now, it's tricky because in this, we know that God does not call the qualified. God qualifies the, does anybody know the called? God qualifies the called, meaning we are not sufficient.

We are not worthy. We are not qualified, but we are only qualified because when we repent and receive the good news, then Jesus comes into our lives and we start smelling like Jesus, even in difficult situations, even when it is embarrassing or tough or threatening, whether it's at work, whether it's at home, whether it's in our entertainment, that we choose Jesus in all of those things. Kenneth Schneck, who is a Wesleyan theologian, says these itinerant evangelists that Paul is talking about here might vary from those of Paul who had integrity to many who were getting rich off the gospel.

Have you ever known someone to get rich off the gospel? Well, if you send in 29.95, you can be blessed. They're still there. It still happens.

It still gives a bad name for Jesus, but we have to be people of integrity. How often do you hear the word integrity these days? How important is the word integrity to the life and the faith of a Christian, not just by talking about it, but by doing it, by standing up for, by understanding if we're gonna be the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the world today, then we have to know Jesus, then we really have to develop a great relationship with Jesus. That fragrance comes only when we are in the presence of Jesus.

It even reminds me of a look at these evangelists as being like tax collectors who profited off of their own people and for Rome's good, and they were despised in the society. Paul says we are commissioned by God. The commissioning by God, the anointing by God comes on every single believer, every single person who is in Christ.

Every single one of us has been commissioned for a purpose, commissioned to share the gospel in our lives, commissioned to empower the church to share the gospel. And then he says this last phrase that I don't wanna leave just hanging, it said, commissioned by God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. Now I looked at several different versions of this, and every single one of them says in Christ, we speak in Christ.

Normally we think of we speak of Christ or we speak about Christ, but this says we speak in Christ. If we walk into a room, this wasn't noticed so much when I was a kid, but now, if you walk into a room where everybody is smoking, what do you walk out smelling like? Who loves that? Who loves that these days? Mm. But if we spend our time in the presence of Jesus, and we think of, we think of often, okay, we have Jesus in our heart, but Paul is not saying Christ in us, he's saying us in Christ.

If we think of Jesus bigger than us, and we are in Christ constantly, who are we gonna smell like? Don't say smoke, like Jesus. And if we smell like Jesus, that spiritual sense says that if we smell like Jesus, we've been in the presence of Jesus, that we know the King, and that is something that people will pay attention to more than our words, more than how we say it. If we just look at the whole context of Colossians 3, if we start with verse one, it says, if you then have been raised with Christ, then you smell like life, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Seek to be in the presence of God. Seek to be in the presence of Jesus Christ. Seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things of the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.

Jesus is bigger than us. Heaven is bigger than us. That if we think of always, if we always just think of Jesus being right here in my heart, sometimes it may feel like, well, I can control Jesus, or I can take Jesus where I wanna go.

But if we think of us being in Jesus, that when we speak of God, we speak in Jesus, that we are surrounded by him. We are hidden by Christ from God. But God looks at us, and he only smells Jesus.

He smells a sweet, fragrant sacrifice in us when we give our hearts and our lives to Christ. And the world can sense that too, that if it's a true relationship, if we spend time in the presence of Jesus, then they can get a scent of that too. And I pray that that spreads.

Let's pray. Almighty God, thank you that we have a spiritual scent. Thank you that in Jesus we have life.

Help us to spend time with you, to be in the same room with you. We thank you for being present here today. Our prayer today, God, is that we just leave from this place and we smell like life.

We smell like a sweet, fragrant sacrifice of Jesus, and that through you, we would be anointed, we would be concentrated, and that we would love you with all that we have and all that we are. In Jesus' name, amen.