Jump Start # 692
2 Corinthians 2:15 “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?”
Paul reveals how he, and in many ways, all Christians appear to the world. Among Christians, the fragrance of Christ is the aroma of life, and to the lost, the aroma of death. At first, it seems odd that the very opposite reactions could take place, but it demonstrates the heart of the people they came into contact with. It is not that Paul and Christians change. Around Christians they are one way and around the lost they act a different way. That is not the thought at all. They were the same. They were the fragrance of Christ. Those that loved Christ and were saved, rejoiced and loved to be with Paul and more so, they loved the message and the truths Paul was teaching. Those that are lost got no benefit. It was a dreaded message to them.
These verses tell us that no everyone is going to relate the same to us; not everyone enjoys being in the company of Christians, not everyone likes what we say or what we do. Now that’s just hard for some to grasp. How can anyone not like goodness? How can anyone not like people who care and want the best for them? Jesus answered that earlier when He said, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light…” (Jn 3:19, 20a). We cannot change or compromise who we are because of this. We are not after the favor of men but rather the favor of God.
As Christians we are the fragrance of Christ. That image is of the OT priests who burned incense to God. The smoke who rise Heavenward and the area would fill with the fragrance. It is a pleasant and pleasing aroma. This is what Paul is wanting us to see. The world stinks. The world is rotten and polluted, yes physically, but more so morally and spiritually. The world laughs at the wrong things. It ridicules goodness and elevates wrongness. But to be around Christians, what a breath of fresh air, what a pleasant aroma. Our world is filled with both pleasant and unpleasant aromas. High on my list of unpleasant smells is a dirty diaper or road kill that has been in the sun a few days. UGH! But then there are the pleasant aromas, a wood fire, the smell of baked bread, the scent of a rose.
As Christians we are to be that sweet fragrance of Christ. But I have found that among Christians come some of the worst smells: the foul smell of bitterness and arrogance; the stench of indifference and apathy; the dreaded smell of lukewarmness. How can it be that when the Gospel is preached, Christians, of all people act bored, pained and longing to be elsewhere. That hurts the preacher trying His best. That hurts other Christians who notice. But above all, it hurts our Jesus. Just being a Christian doesn’t mean you are a sweet fragrance. It comes about by your attitude and actions. As the Psalmist said long ago, “I was glad when they said, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122:1), is that you. Can’t wait till Sunday. Can’t wait until we are with each other.
Fragrant smell…or putrid smell…which are you, and which do you want to be?
Roger