The Aroma of Christ

Before we begin, I want to recognize one of our members and deacons who has been serving this congregation faithfully behind the scenes. Over the years, Gordon has saved us thousands and thousands of dollars through his dedicated work around here. Every time I’ve been up here in the last two months, he’s here working on something. He stays late into the night when nobody else is around, getting the work done. Just yesterday, when we didn’t have air conditioning, Gordon was here doing everything he could to help us figure out our options. When you see Gordon today, please take a moment to tell him thank you. He is working hard for this congregation.

The Pressure of Two Places

Have you ever found yourself so pressured by the different challenges of life that you wished there were an app on your phone that could allow you to be in two places at the same time? The physics of it doesn’t work, of course, but the pressure to be in two places is real. You’re in one place, but the other place, if it’s filled with people, may feel like they’re being neglected.

This is what Paul is dealing with when he writes 2 Corinthians. He wants to be in two places at the same time, but he cannot. He wants to be in Corinth. He had told them that he was coming back, but he couldn’t make that happen. Other things were taking place that demanded he be somewhere else. He was in Ephesus, and the gospel was taking hold there so powerfully that the economic condition of the merchants was being turned upside down. When people stop buying idols and trinkets associated with temples, the money stops flowing. According to Acts chapter 19, things get so bad that Paul is literally run out of the city.

He wants to go to Corinth, but he’s waiting on Titus, and they had an agreement to meet in Troas. Titus isn’t there. Now he’s got a third concern—it’s not just Corinth and Ephesus, but where is Titus? We believe he travels northward from Troas, away from both Corinth and Ephesus, to Philippi, and he finally finds him.

But when Paul writes this letter, he tells them something important: I never quit thinking about you. I couldn’t be there, but I never quit thinking about you, and I always wanted what was best for you. Even if I were not able to be there, I was thinking about what would be best for you.

There were those in Corinth who criticized Paul because he didn’t show up when he said he was going to show up. They accused him of being less than genuine. That kind of criticism hurt. Paul is pleading his case: I can’t be in two places at the same time. I needed to find out what happened to Titus. I was run out of Ephesus. I’m worried about what’s happening in Ephesus and what’s happening in Corinth.

What Paul does in this section is explain that in all the turmoil, God is still using him. In the same way, God is still using the Corinthians. They too are a part of the work of God if they will change their focus. Instead of being critical of Paul, they should look at what their quality of life is because they’re followers of Jesus. If they will pay attention to how their own lives have changed because of the gospel, how much better life is for them because of the gospel, then they’ll be less critical of Paul and more thankful for God.

God’s Parade and the Aroma of Christ

Let me ask you a question: Did any of you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? There are bands, balloons, and at the end comes Santa Claus in his sleigh. It marks the beginning of the Christmas season. Macy’s has been doing this for a long, long time, originally as a way to get people to come to their store for Christmas shopping.

Paul uses the image of a parade here in 2 Corinthians, though it would have been a different kind of parade than what we think of today. In those days, these were military parades—military processions. A general who had successfully completed a military campaign would come back not only victorious, but they would throw a parade in his honor. These parades didn’t happen every day or every month. It was after a military campaign that might have taken two or three years, and only if there was victory at the end.

Here’s how the parade proceeded. At the front, hundreds of people would march along carrying the spoils of war—gold, silver, jewelry, whatever they had taken. That signaled to everyone that not only had the parade started, but here’s what was coming into the coffers. Here’s all the money that was coming in. Our taxes might go down as a result of this.

Then there would be people carrying placards on which had been written all the cities that had been destroyed and the names of the significant political leaders of those cities who had been killed. You would see the spoils of war, and then perhaps hundreds of people walking along carrying placards with names of the deceased—some who were enemies and some who were fallen soldiers fighting for Rome.

After that, there would come a series of white oxen. These oxen were to be sacrificed to the gods as a way of acknowledging that the gods had provided the strength for war. Immediately behind the oxen were people who carried incense, and the incense was burning. So when you got to the incense carriers, everyone who lined the streets to see the parade would suddenly get the smell of the incense. The incense was designed to remind the people: we won.

But right behind the incense carriers were the prisoners who were going to be killed. They didn’t die on the field of battle, but when the oxen were sacrificed, so were the prisoners.

To the people who lined the street, the smell of incense was victory. To the prisoners walking behind the incense carriers, it was the smell of death. They knew what was coming.

That’s what Paul writes: We are in the parade. We are the incense carriers. The incense is the gospel. For some people, it’s life. For other people, it’s the stench of death. Some people like the smell of incense. Some people don’t. To live as a follower of Jesus, some people smell us and like us, and some people smell us and hate us. Paul says that’s the way it is when you’re marching in God’s parade.

Listen to this in chapter 2: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

We have the gospel. Gospel means good news. What is the good news? Here’s the good news in a nutshell: I am a sinner. You are a sinner. We need salvation. We need someone to take care of our sin. Jesus is the answer to that. The good news is that God has provided a way for our sin to be forgiven so that we can be with him forever. That’s the gospel. For some people, that’s great news. For other people, it is the stench of death.

Why would it be the stench of death? Because there are people who don’t want to know the gospel. They will accuse us of dividing. They will accuse us of telling them they’re going to hell. We’re telling you how you can come out of your sin. We’re the carriers of the incense. We’re in God’s parade.

Paul uses this language so that the Corinthians will get their focus back on their purpose. Here they are criticizing Paul because he didn’t show up. Criticizing Paul and thinking that he’s not worthy of being considered an apostle any longer. Criticizing Paul because he said one thing, life happened, and he couldn’t fulfill what he said he was going to do. And he’s saying: You are so focused on what my weakness is. Why don’t you remember what God has called you to? God has called you to be the aroma of Christ.

You know, when Jesus was crucified, there were people who were really glad he was crucified. They hated him. His death seemed to them as their victory. Paul says: We walk in the procession of God, and we carry with us the gospel that can bring life or it can bring death. But that’s our purpose.

We Are the Letter of Christ

Then Paul says something else: “You are our letter of recommendation.” Paul’s critics were challenging his credentials. There were those who came into Corinth who were telling people, “Look, Paul didn’t show up when he said he would. Let me tell you who I am. Let me tell you about my credentials.” And they were taking money from people for their great oration skills. Paul calls them hucksters—people who are out front chirping away to get you to spend money, trying to sell the snake oil.

Paul says: I don’t peddle the gospel. I never came to you once and asked for a penny. He’ll talk about that in chapters eight and nine. He says: “Instead, you don’t need a recommendation from me because you are our recommendation. You’re our letter.”

We are not only in God’s parade, we are the letter of Christ. Two images that actually talk about the same thing. We may be the only representation of Jesus that people see. What a privilege it is to carry in our conduct, in our words, not only the incense of Christ, but the beauty of the gospel.

C.S. Lewis, in his book The Weight of Glory, wrote something profound: “You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations, these are mortal and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals that we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. Every conversation you have is with someone who is immortal.”

What a privilege. What an honor to be in the parade of God and to share the incense, the smell of life. Every person that you will talk to this week is immortal.

Charles Dickens, in his novel Barnaby Rudge, has a character named Gabriel who says to a stranger: “To be plain with you friend, you don’t carry in your countenance a letter of recommendation.”

Let me try to make this real and practical. If you are going out to eat in the next thirty minutes, the person who waits on you—you will be a letter of Christ to them. How will you treat them? Both of my kids worked when they were in college in restaurants. Both worked as servers. Maria eventually ran a restaurant. Both of my kids would tell you that Sundays were the worst days because the people would come in from their services and they didn’t like to wait. They didn’t like it when you got the order wrong. They would complain. We had years ago a men’s softball league here at church. I had an umpire tell me: “I hate umpiring church leagues. They’re the worst.”

What are we doing, folks? What are we doing? Start acting like you carry Jesus, that you are Jesus to people. The words that you use to complain to that server are just as much a reflection of Jesus as it is a reflection on who you are.

Maria told me this years ago. She said: “Daddy, when you get ready to leave a restaurant, make sure that you leave a really good tip.” I said: “What is a really good tip?” She said: “Something that wouldn’t embarrass me.” We’re the incense carriers in God’s parade, and every day people read us to see if they find Jesus. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect. Yes, we’re going to make mistakes and say the wrong thing at the wrong time. We’re going to be disappointed in one thing or another. But the truth is we are the only letter that many people will ever see about Jesus. If we can’t speak, we can act with kindness and with joy.

I’ve left restaurants because I didn’t want to wait. I’d rather go to McDonald’s and get something in a hurry. I say that to my shame because McDonald’s is not good for me. But let us not be upset with people who have no control, and let us represent Jesus this week. That’s what we do control.

Paul writes this letter to a group of people who are critical of him, who are uncertain about his credentials, who are wondering if maybe he’s not the man that they thought he was. What Paul does is flip it over and say: Just remember what your purpose is. You’re carrying the incense for Christ, and you are the letter that people will read about who Jesus is. Don’t forget who you are.

Follow Jesus

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