Pleasing fragrance or awful Stench? 2 Corinthians 2.12-17

Has it occurred to you that you represent God to others?  Whether or not you like it or you applied for the job, your words and actions reflect God to others.  Hmm  . . . how do you feel about that? 

Take a look at the end of the second chapter of 2 Corinthians, in which Paul first gives an explanation, and then a celebratory offering of who we are in the Lord:

“Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia.” < Paul went to Troas, where he was given the opportunity to preach, but he did not because his spirit was so heavy--Titus wasn't there as he was supposed to be to bring him news of the church in Corinth, and so he went on over to Macedonia.>

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.  For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?   Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.”

 Whoa----! So, God is counting on you and me to spread the Gospel . . . And…. in doing so, we recognize that to some, the message of Jesus Christ will be a pleasing aroma, while to others, it will be the stench of death, and they will have no interest in it…period.

When I recently officiated at the funeral of my friend, I prepared the message I thought she would want those gathered to hear--a message of hope and Heaven.  I drew my material from Revelation chapters 21 and 22. Then her teen-aged daughter did a retrospective of her life in pictures, and it gave me a minute to think.

I realized that my quoting of Revelation to unbelievers in the crowd would mean little or nothing to t--so, when I regained the floor, just before the benediction, I commented on the authority of Scripture.  "You know, I realize that quoting Scripture to some of you might mean nothing...but perhaps that is because it only seems like foolishness to you.  Perhaps you do not know the historical and scientific evidence that supports the claims of Scripture. . . Perhaps you do not know of the 60 specific prophecies that were made about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before he was born . . . and that, when he was born, he fulfilled all of them, to a 't'.’  (Yes, I was on a roll!)

"The claims of Scripture are reliable, as is the description of Heaven, our true home."  With that, an old craggy guy in the back said, "Oh, don't preach to me!" Why?  Because he doesn't like me?  No, he has been my neighbor for 10 years, and his not liking me is not the case.  He didn’t want to be ‘preached to’ because he had no interest in Christian truth--it was anathema to him.   For those in attendance who believed in the gospel, my message was pleasant, full of hope, and comforting even.  To the disinterested, it was a stench in their nostrils.

Several times, Paul uses the expression, 'in Christ', as he does in his other letters to the churches.  Everything about life for Paul was living IN Christ…

In Christ, we have authority, direction, and purpose.  And when we live for God, in Christ, we walk in the will of the Father.  To be sure, it is the will of the Father that we present Christ to others, though it is not our choice whether or not our gospel message is a pleasing aroma or the stench of death.  Ours is to live ‘in Christ’, and to share him in doing so!

Christine