What's That Smell???

“What’s that smell???”  This question can be said with two different intonations and have two totally different interpretations.  If I walked into the kitchen where my wife is cooking, I might ask, “What’s that smell?” with great anticipation.  Or, I could walk in and ask, “What’s that smell?” with great disgust (and sleep on the couch).   

 

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. 

 

 

Things to think about:

·      So I guess you could say that as Christians we all have body odor – the Body of Christ 

·      But seriously, God is parading us around the world, having infused us with His Spirit, and as such we are spreading an aroma that reflects on Him, everywhere we go

·      The preceding verse in 2 Corinthians says, “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.”

o   The word picture here is of a triumphant king and His army, marching through the streets of a conquered city with His prisoners in tow.

o   Ephesians 4:1-2  “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

 

·      Our aroma is like a perfume or a cologne.  The appreciation of the smell is in the nose of the beholder.

o   Do you know anyone who might overdo it a bit with the perfume or cologne?

§  That might have been me in high school – Old Spice and Brut J

·      To some, we are an aroma that brings death

o   One could suppose that God, since He is good, by definition would smell good to all people.  But our verse says it is putrid to some people.  

o   Why is that?  

·      To others, we are an aroma that brings life

o   Who in your life wafted God’s life-giving aroma that drew you to Him?

·      Do churches or believers sometimes try and cover up God’s aroma so as to not offend?

o   If so, what does that look like?

·      But to God, we are the pleasing aroma of Christ

o   Jesus has washed us in His blood and we are cleansed from the stench of our sins

o   Ephesians 5:1-2, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

·      It seems that Love and Sacrifice are the key ingredients to this fragrance that are in a bottle called The Knowledge of Him.

·      Where is God leading you to spread the aroma?