The Fragrance of Jesus

2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 12 is where we

2 Corinthians 2:12

will start. Paul had started the letter talking

about some disciplinary issues, but also some

restoration that was to come from that. Once

the discipline was dealt with, the community

needed to love the one that had sinned in whatever

way it was. We don't have a lot of details, but

Paul does emphasize the need for love and grace.

And so after kind of a harsh letter in 1 Corinthians

and a little rough start there in 2 Corinthians,

he's defending himself and trying to get the

people of Corinth to do better. He's shifting

gears a little bit here tonight in the verses

that we're going to look at. So we will pray

and then we will read through them. God, we come

to you. We thank you for giving us the freedom

to come tonight and be in your word. I thank

you for the small group that's here, dear Lord,

even though we're few in number. We thank you

for being good to us and pray that you help us

to be safe in this storm. I pray that you would

help us to... See this Word tonight and examine

our own lives to see if we're being a good example

to you in the world, if the world likes to see

us coming, dear Lord, if the world can tell that

we are yours by our actions and the way that

we live. And I pray, dear Lord, that we would

be more like Paul and those who were with him

that we see in this Scripture tonight. So I pray

that your Holy Spirit will be with us, and I

ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. All right.

2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention 2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

2. That's in the New Testament. Verse 12. 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 2:12

chapter 2 verse 12. Page 995 if you're using

the pew bottle. Alright, it says this. This is

Paul talking here, of course. When I came to

Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, the Lord

opened a door for me. I had no rest in my spirit

because I did not find my brother Titus. But

I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

Now, this little section here doesn't really

give us a lot of detail. We know that Paul went

to Troas and... preached. We know that it seems

that they were receptive. God gave him an open

door there. He gave him an opportunity to preach.

It doesn't sound as though he was there too long.

Maybe he was. We just really don't know. We do

see this interesting fact that he said he had

no rest in his spirit because he did not find

his brother Titus. Obviously, he was expecting

to find Titus there, expecting to get word from

Titus, some communication or interaction with

Titus. This would be the same Titus we see in

the book of Titus. And for whatever reason, he

did not see Titus there, and he wasn't happy

about that. That was a difficult thing for him.

So it doesn't appear as though he was there too

long. Even though it was a good stop for him,

he eventually left and went on his way. We don't

have too much information in those two verses.

We can't speculate too much, but those are the

details that he gave us. So we will move on to

the end of the chapter, which is a little more

applicable to us maybe. Verse 14. But thanks

be to God who always puts us on display in Christ

and through us spreads the aroma of the knowledge

of him in every place. For to God we are the

fragrance of Christ among those who are being

saved and among those who are perishing. To some

we are an aroma of death leading to death, but

to others an aroma of life leading to life. And

who is competent for this? For we are not like

the many who market God's message for a profit.

On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ

as from God and before God. So he starts off

with a word of thanks here in verse 14. He thanks

be to God, and he says, who always puts us on

display, or some of your translations may say

something like causes us to triumph, something

along those lines, that God is always with them,

that wherever they go, that God is blessing them,

that God is giving them the words to say, that

the Holy Spirit is working through them, that

they are doing the work of Jesus Christ. Making

a difference. But he uses an interesting way

to describe their effectiveness that God has

given them in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He says, he puts us on display or causes us to

triumph in Christ and through us spreads the

aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.

For we are the fragrance of Christ among those

who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

So he says we are the fragrance of Christ. Now

that's an interesting way to put it. That is

to say that they are something that smells good

and is pleasing. And that everyone can tell who

they belong to by their smell, so to speak. Now

I don't know what kind of smell they had. He's

obviously using symbolic language here. He's

not talking about some perfume that they wore.

But we understand what it means to have a pleasant

aroma. Everybody wants to smell something pleasant.

Nobody wants to smell anything that's not pleasant.

And so when Paul showed up onto the scene and

those who were with him, it was like a pleasant

aroma coming into the room. Now, Monday, Michelle

had us cleaning house all day, and she had this

concoction. I don't even know what it was on

the stove. It was like lemons and... probably

some kind of essential oils, and looked like

rosemary, and this whole little concoction. But

it made a pleasing aroma, and we enjoy a pleasing

aroma. Everybody enjoys a pleasing aroma. I don't

know if any of you in here have ever heard of

a durian fruit or not. They grow in Southeast

Asia. They're native to Southeast Asia. But they're

quite interesting, supposedly. Now, I've never

seen one. I've only read about them and watched

videos about them. But the unique thing about

the durian fruit is some people think it smells

really good. Other people think it smells like

rotten onions and garlic. And so it's the same

fruit. but depending on the person that's smelling

it it may be very pleasing to them or it may

make them nauseous it's a strange thing and some

people cut it open and eat it and say it's good

other people just can't hardly stand the smell

of it in fact in some places it's banned you

can't transport it on a train or you can't transport

it in closed areas around a lot of people because

of the smell it's used a lot in a lot of different

foods in asia But everybody's taste buds or smell

buds, whatever you call them, are a little different.

And so to some it's pleasing and to some it's

not pleasing. And that's exactly what Paul says

here. We come and we're doing the work of God

and he is with us and we are triumphant and we

are effective in what we are doing. And some

people come and they smell the pleasing aroma

that we are putting off. They hear the words

that we are preaching and teaching and it brings

joy to them. It is pleasing to them. And other

people hear the same words and they hate what

they hear. They don't want to hear the truth.

They don't want to hear the truth of the gospel.

They don't want to hear the truth about God.

And so some, it's an aroma of death leading to

death, Paul says. That is, some people hear the

news, and it just hardens their heart that much

more. They just hate God that much more. They

just get that much angrier, and it doesn't sound

like good news to them. For whatever reason,

they hear the gospel, and they don't accept it.

But others hear the gospel. and it's an aroma

of life leading to life. That some, boy, when

they come into the room, it's refreshing. They

hear what Paul is having to say, and they say,

wait a minute, I want to hear more about that.

And they hear about being a sinner and they hear

about the words of God and the commands of God.

And they hear about the love of Jesus Christ

and the grace of Jesus Christ. And they say,

wait a minute, I need that in my life. And they

want more and more and more of what Paul is trying

to teach them. And so as Paul and those who are

with him are making their rounds through all

these places. Paul says that we are the fragrance

of Jesus Christ. That people know who we are,

but they smell us coming. The question that we

might want to ask ourselves tonight is, when

we are around people, do they smell the fragrance

of Jesus Christ? What do people smell on us when

we get around them? We all love a good smell.

We all love a good fragrance. But as Christians,

are we putting off a good fragrance? Now, one

of the worst things that could possibly happen,

and sometimes we may be guilty of this, is you

don't want to be around somebody that's putting

off some B .O. That's a bad situation. That's

a bad kind of sin, a bad fragrance to be putting

off. We don't want to do that. In a physical

sense, what do we do? We try to make sure we

don't do that. You ever walk by somebody and

you're in a crowd and you're thinking, is that

me? And you check yourself because you're not

sure if it's you or not. You don't want it to

be you because you don't want to be putting off

that smell. So you make sure that you put on

a little deodorant. You make sure that you put

on an extra little puff of perfume or cologne

because you don't want to be one who's putting

off a bad smell. And we should be the same way

in our spiritual walk and our walk with God and

the way that we interact with people. When people

see us coming, do we have a stench about us?

I'm not talking about our physical stench. I'm

talking about our attitudes and our actions and

the way that we treat other people. Are people

glad to see us coming or do they keep their distance?

Because you get somebody that breath stinks or

got some BO, you're talking to them, you might

kind of get a little extra space there. You don't

want to be close to them. And it's the same way

for our attitudes and our actions. If we are

just people that are just miserable and negative

and angry and mean and just hateful all the time,

well, that's not a Christlike attitude. Maybe

we say we're a Christian. Maybe we are. But if

we are and we're acting that way, then we need

to check ourselves because we're not being the

fragrance, the pleasing aroma that God wants

us to be. Now that's not to say that even if

we are doing the work of God and living a life

in a way that's properly representing Jesus Christ,

that's not to say that everybody's going to be

glad to see us coming. Even when we're putting

off the most pleasing aroma by our actions and

reflecting who Jesus is through our actions and

through our love, just like it was with Paul,

there are going to be some that don't want to

hear that truth. But we can't control what other

people do. We can only control what we do. So

what about us today? How are we smelling spiritually?

Are we putting off a pleasing aroma for the kingdom

of God? Are we those that when we encounter people

that people leave from seeing us saying, man,

there's something about him or there's something

about her. There's a pleasantness to them. There's

a pleasant odor, so to speak. A pleasant... fragrance,

so to speak, to use Paul's words. And that's

what we want to strive to do, to be faithful

followers of Jesus Christ, to try to love like

he does, to have grace like he does, to have

compassion and patience like he does, so the

world will see the beauty and the beautiful fragrance

that is in Jesus Christ. Let's pray. God, we

come to you. We thank you for this simple word

that we understand, dear Lord. We understand

that... We don't like stinky stuff. We like stuff

that smells good, dear Lord. So we need to strive

in our life to be one who puts off a pleasant

fragrance of the love and the grace of Jesus

Christ in the world that we live in, dear Lord.

I pray that you would help us even when we encounter

people, dear Lord, that don't want to hear the

truth of your word. And even when we preach the

message of grace and forgiveness and compassion,

dear Lord, even still. some find that offensive.

But God, I pray that you just be with us. Give

us the courage that we need and the strength

that we need to do your work. Help us to be better

examples for you. Maybe there are some areas

in our life where we are really not people that

anybody wants to be around by our actions and

our attitude. And I pray that you would help

our hearts to change, that you would help us

to have a heart that is... more like yours, dear

Lord, that we can learn from Paul and those who

were faithful to serve alongside him, dear Lord,

that we would be so on fire for you that we would

be a pleasant presence when we enter the room

and enter into contact with those we encounter.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.