Spreading the aroma of Christ

Jeff Miller

Spreading the aroma of Christ

2 Cor. 2:14-17

2/13/22

Intro: Good morning. Happy Valentine’s Day, a day early. I had thought about doing a sermon regarding Valentine’s Day today––maybe revisiting the “love” chapter or one I did about The Bride of Christ. But today, I thought I’d go in a different direction. In fact, the only reference to Valentine’s Day that I think I can tie this sermon to is fragrance.

When Diana and I were first married, she worked for the Clinique counter at The Bon Ton. And I remember I worked receiving and maintenance, so I’d stop by the Clinique counter and spray myself with free samples of their men’s cologne. I still have some men’s cologne, I think, that Diana bought me. That stuff doesn’t ferment or anything does it? Cause if it does, I’m in for a doozy the next time I spray that stuff on. It’s been a while.

Anyway, we put on that nice smelling stuff for Valentine’s Day for our “significant other.” Did you know that God likes aromas? I mean, if you stop and think about it, we’re created in his image, so why not? If we enjoy it, he probably enjoyed it first, right?

In the Old Testament, we read how certain sacrifices created pleasing aromas to God. In the New Testament, we read how we are the pleasing aroma to God. And I don’t think that the two are coincidences. I think that as we sacrifice ourselves to God, we become like a pleasing aroma to God. 

If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

As you’re turning there, and since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d add in at least a little something to mark the holiday. Here’s something I can relate to. The other day when I was writing this sermon, Diana came in all happy and excited because she finally found out what kind of flower was blooming in our front yard. And I, of course, had no clue that there was any flower of this kind blooming in our front yard. So I can relate to this one:

While attending a marriage seminar on communication, Tom and his wife, Grace, listened to the instructor: “It is essential that husbands and wives know each other’s likes and dislikes.” He addressed the men: “Can you name your wife’s favorite flower?” Tom leaned over, touched Grace’s arm gently, and whispered, “It’s Pillsbury, isn’t it?”

My parents are celebrating their 63rd wedding anniversary tomorrow. And I think maybe they can relate to this one:

A married couple was celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary.

At the party everybody wanted to know how they managed to stay married so long in this day and age.

The husband responded, “When we were first married, we came to an agreement. I would make all the major decisions, and my wife would make all the minor decisions.”

At which point the wife took up the tale, “And in 60 years of marriage, we have never needed to make a major decision.”

Scripture: So let’s go to our scripture verse this morning. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.

Central Truth: Now, I understand that’s a pretty odd description that Paul uses, and we’ll get to the meaning of that later on. But what I want to focus on is that God sees us as a pleasing aroma to him and we are like a pleasing aroma to others who are saved, and to those who are receptive to the gospel. But to others, we are like the aroma of death––or when I explain the meaning of this, the proper definition is more of the anticipation of God’s judgment for those who willingly do not receive the gospel. Not all will like us or welcome us. But to God and to many others, we are like a pleasing, refreshing aroma.

Point 1: I’m going to use a few other scriptures this morning, and I’m not going to have you go to them, but I’ll read them as I go along in this sermon. 

Perfume is often contained in glass bottles. And depending on the perfume, the bottles can be fancy or plain. Some bottles are plastic. If we go a few chapters ahead to 2 Cor. 4:7, we read that, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

So what does that mean? We have what treasure in jars of clay? Nobody ever handed me any treasure? Is this something we’re supposed to get when we’re baptized or something? A certificate of Baptism and a jar made of clay with some kind of treasure in it? Maybe it’s just for the Vatican, I don’t know.

Well, like the perfume, this is a metaphor. Asbury Bible Commentary says that, “Paul concedes that despite the extraordinarily powerful message he proclaims, he does so as a vulnerable human being.” 

The IVP New Testament Commentary says something similar. It says, “The gospel minister is a vessel made of common, run-of-the-mill clay—fragile and easily broken. And yet God has entrusted the treasure of the gospel to such a vessel, just as Palestinians stored their valuables in common clay pots. Why does God do this? According to Paul, he does it to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. God uses what is fragile and yet serviceable so that there might be no mistaking the origin of the gospel minister’s power.”

So as we talk about the fragrance that we carry, let’s first look at the vessel that carries it. God does not require that his vessel is anything fancy. His vessel doesn’t have to be a Hollywood hunk, a celebrity model or a rockstar. Paul says that God’s vessels are going to be ordinary, everyday people, and they are going to be fragile.

Diana and I had a discussion just the other day about our own fragility. Everyone is fragile. Everyone puts on their best face on the outside but wrestles with feelings of inadequacy, failure, worry, stress, doubt…whatever it might be. We all go through that. And some are more fragile than others.

God does not require us to be cool, hip, in shape. He requires us to be humble. He requires us to just be ourselves.

Robert Murray McCheyne said, “In great measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be the success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”  

Isaiah 6:8 says: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, “Here am I; send me.”

D. L. Moody wrote the following words next to that verse in his Bible: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and what I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do.”

Point 2: What else does Isaiah say about being sent? I think of these words from Isaiah 52:7, which says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!””

In the Book of Romans, Paul quotes this. You’re probably familiar with the famous verse that says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Immediately following that, he says this, “14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

I wonder if a woman by the name of Mary in Jesus’ day knew this verse in Isaiah.

According to the Gospel of John, “Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

Isn’t it interesting, as we are talking about the feet of those who bring good news, that the perfume was placed on the feet of Jesus. Now, it was common in those days for the servant––technically the servant of the servant––to wash the feet of the guests. Of course feet would get dirty, people walked everywhere in the dirty, dusty roads of Israel. And it’s likely that Jesus’ feet were already washed. But Mary washed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.

There was a second woman who did the same thing. Maybe she heard the story of Mary and wanted to do the same thing. Luke recorded it in his gospel. He said, “36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”

And we read that the perfume was in an alabaster jar. What does that mean?

The alabaster box was made of a hard marble stone which was very difficult to break open. It was designed to be opened only once, by breaking the box itself. It required intentionality.

The alabaster box was filled with a precious, perfumed ointment called nard … a sweet-smelling ointment from a plant in India, carried over land to the Middle East. Scripture says it cost more than a year’s wages…that would be tens of thousands of dollars to us. It was costly!

And she poured it on Jesus’ feet. 

A devotional on Westgate Chapel’s website said:

I believe Mary’s story is an example to us that true worship… in response to all Jesus has done for us…is costly, it may go against our traditions, it will cause us to lay down our pride. It’s intentional!

It is NOT…a waste (as Judas called it)

As Mary wiped the feet of Jesus with her hair, the fragrance, blessing and sweetness were transferred back onto her own head. In other words, Jesus responds to our worship. He meets us there!

It doesn’t matter who you are. The second woman was of ill repute. The Pharisee said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” And Jesus, knowing the thoughts of the pharisee, told him the story of the moneylender who forgave the debts owed to him. And I won’t get sidetracked because that’s a whole other sermon in itself. But you can be a jar of clay carrying God’s precious perfume. You don’t have to be an alabaster box.

Like either woman, we receive the fragrance of God back on us as we pour our worship upon him. Our feet are covered in God’s pleasing aroma as we carry the Word of God with us. 

Point 3: I want to go back to our scripture verse this morning and look once again at verses 14-16, which says, “14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. ”

Like I said earlier, the beginning of that is pretty odd. God leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession, and as he does we are a pleasing aroma to God, and to those who accept the word of God. To others, we are like the aroma of death? What does that mean? 

During Roman military parades––remember this is Roman, not Jewish or Christian––prisoners of war would be marched through the streets as garlands of flowers were carried and incense was burned to the gods. At the parade’s finale, many prisoners would be put to death. And so, the aromas of the incense and garlands were pleasing and life-giving to the victors, but they were the smell of death to those who had been defeated.

And it is unfortunately the same in the spiritual battle that we are in. 

Gotquestions.org said: 

Believers are like the aroma or fragrance spread during the victory processions. Both the victors and those perishing smell the aroma; however, it has a different meaning for the two groups. For the victorious army and its peoples, the aroma would relate to the joy of triumph. But for the prisoners of war, the fragrance would be associated with defeat, slavery, and death.

This brilliant metaphor contrasts Christian and non-Christian responses to hearing the gospel. To non-Christians, those on the road to destruction, believers who preach the gospel spread the smell of death, as it were. To Christians, those on the path to salvation, they produce the fragrance of life.

If only people understood what I read a few moments ago: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Who wouldn’t want that? I could never understand that. I could never understand someone who heard the story of salvation––the good news of the gospel, and was given the chance to know God or to spend eternity without him, and would willingly choose to spend eternity without him.

Some people would rather choose eternity without God than eternity with him. And to them, we are like an aroma reminding them of their fate.

If we go back to the Gospel of John again, in Chapter 15, Jesus says this to his disciples:

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

And if they hate us, remember, they really hate Jesus. The true Jesus. The Jesus of the Bible. Not the Jesus of their own wishful thinking. Why? They hate Him for no reason. They hate us for no reason. What have we done, but be God’s jar of clay, carrying his good news? Of course we carry bad news, too. And I suppose it’s that bad news that they hate. They’d rather not listen than repent. 

As our scripture this morning concludes, “17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.”

We speak with sincerity. We speak out of obedience. We speak out of care. We speak in fear and trembling. Yes, there have been charlatans. Yes, there have been people who have peddled the word of God for profit. But that’s not us. That’s not the average Christian.

Conclusion: As God calls this church to move forward in the days ahead––which I believe to be the last days––we as a church body, and as individuals, need to understand that we carry within us a treasure. That is the Holy Spirit of Christ, his word, his knowledge and his power through prayer. We are beautiful in the sight of the Lord and to those that we minister to. 

We might be looked down on by some. But we shouldn’t let that distract us or cause us to fear. It’s easy to get distracted by bullies. But if we know that God is for us, then who can be against us? We are called, as Jesus’ disciples, to shake the dust off our feet and move on. The goal is not to have everyone accept us, but to scatter the seeds. Some seeds will go to fertile ground, other seeds won’t. It’s not up to us what ground is what, it’s up to us to do the planting, and God will do the watering.

In the meantime, know that as we scatter the seeds, we are a pleasing aroma to the Lord and to those in the fertile soil that we are planting to.