Well, good evening again. Open your Bible with me to the
New Testament book of Second Corinthians, chapter 2.
We'll finish all the way through and to the end of chapter 3.
The title of the message is Fragrance, the true Character of
Gospel Ministry. Paul the Apostle, as he's been
writing, has been defending himself against false
accusations that have been circulating in the Corinthian
church since he'd written the first letter.
There was a bit of a heavy tone to it.
And then there are also some plans that Paul had said that he
would institute to try and come and visit.
And because he had not, then questions were being asked,
trying to invalidate Paul's ministry and character.
And in essence, Paul was defending not himself but the
gospel. Because the idea was that, well,
if, if Paul can't be trusted, if his character is in question, if
he's not truly an apostle, then we should disregard his words.
And that's not what Paul was about.
He was about the gospel and the true message of it.
He'd been addressing accusations of being fickle and, and double
dealing in, in the way that he would speak.
And, and now we enter again. We we had it this morning, but
another parenthetical section that begins here from chapter 2,
verse 14 all the way through into Chapter 7, verse 4, where
he is describing the nature of his ministry.
And then he gets back to his point where he talks about Troas
and A and a visit from Titus that we open our our passage
with. But not to not to boast about
himself, but because, again, false teachers had crept into
the Corinthian church, especially a group known as
Judaizers, who were espousing the idea that if you really want
to be holy, if you really want to be spiritual, then you must
go back to the Mosaic law and the systems and the rituals and
the rules that were in practise there.
And so that's what the people in Corinth were being enticed by.
What Paul seeks to address seemed like a common issue that
popped up in a lot of churches. And then as is today, there was
the other end of the spectrum where people were advocating for
just licence and liberty and and do what you please because the
grace of God will cover it. And no personal holiness was
then a pursuit that people had as a consequence of that.
The true gospel as Paul will present, and the true gospel
that we need to have at work in our lives, it truly does bring
liberty. It does bring freedom.
It brings freedom not to sin anymore.
We're no longer enslaved to sin. And it also brings the freedom
to serve God with a new passion and fervour that is not because
we're trying to earn or merit or warrant favour with God.
So again, like our study in the Book of Revelation this morning,
whenever there's something genuine, there will be
counterfeits. Satan is always imitating the
work of God. And so Paul here, he paints a
picture of true gospel ministry, one that bears the fragrance of
Christ because there were those within the Church of Corinth who
were advocating for something altogether different.
And my title fragrance is because Paul uses this imagery
in his writing for us in these verses.
He takes the understanding of of scents and smells and fragrance
in particular in connection to a Roman triumph of a victorious
general entering into the city and has the people bring their
understanding of that to the power of the gospel at work.
Now you and I, we're we're very sense oriented and particularly
certain smells will trigger certain emotions, maybe
nostalgia with us as there's a a fondness for a smell that brings
us back to maybe family vacations on the beach whenever
we have the the smell of the ocean or when fresh bread is
being baked. Oh, it reminds me of my grandma
or there's certain negative feelings and emotions we connect
to particular smells as well. You know, that smell reminds me
of so and so. And boy, my interactions with so
and so were terrible. So every time I smell that, I
think of them, right? So Paul uses that.
So just like fragrances in daily life, whether it be perfume, the
ocean breeze, as I say, fresh bread or foul smells like
garbage, rotten eggs, our lives, Paul is suggesting gives off a
spiritual scent, A fragrance. And Paul says in Second
Corinthians verses 14 through to 17 of chapter 2 that Christians
are in fact to be the fragrance of Jesus Christ in the world.
And we do that by bearing the characteristics of true gospel
ministry. So we want to look at those.
And if you're again taking notes tonight, three things that we'll
focus on as we read these verses, that true gospel
ministry, in order for it to be such, to bring about the
fragrance of Jesus Christ in our lives, is to be #1 triumphant.
True gospel ministry is secondly accredited.
And thirdly, it's glorious. And we'll explain what those
mean as we go along. Let's read as we address the
first from verse 12 of chapter 2 through and to 17.
Furthermore, he says, I'm reading from the New King James
Version. When I came to Troas to preach
Christ's gospel and the door was opened to me by the Lord, I had
no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother,
but taking my leave of them, I departed for Macedonia.
Now the beginning of verse 14, like I say, could be the opening
of this parenthesis that takes us all the way through into
Chapter 7, verse 4. Now thanks be to God, He says,
who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through US
diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.
For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are
being saved and among those who are perishing.
To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to
the other the aroma of life leading to life.
And who is sufficient for these things?
He asks the question For we are not verse 17 as so many peddling
the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God we
speak in the sight of God in Christ.
So Paul begins this parenthetical section verse 14
on with praise. Thanks be to God cannot help but
break out in worship so many times in his writing who always
leads us in triumph in Christ, even in his troubles.
Remember that Paul was suffering here we read of it in a sermon 2
weeks ago that he was suffering to the point even of death that
he feared for his very life is like I'm as good as done.
That's that's how severe this suffering and this trial is.
But he declares in praise unto God that Christ is victorious.
And to illustrate, Paul Burrows the image of the spectacle of
the Roman triumph. If you don't understand or know
what this is from history, let me explain a little bit.
It's the highest honour that a Roman general could receive in
the time of writing. It's the 1st century Roman
Empire. To earn it, the commander, the
general of the army, had to have been in the field of battle,
obviously had won a decisive victory, having killed at least
5000 of the enemy to warrant this triumph and gained new
territory for Rome. So this is all what's used in
this language here and the understanding for the audience
and for you and I, some 2000 years removed, We need to know
this. The procession as the victorious
general would enter back into the city of Rome would include
the following state officials and senators there gathered to
bring in and to celebrate the victorious general.
Trumpeters announcing the victory.
You imagine the noise celebration as the crowd
citizens are gathered, spoils of war on display.
So any treasures of the defeated king or whoever it was that they
are fighting against, whatever they had been able to to take as
a part of the victory won through battle.
Prisoners taken hostage, those not killed in the battle were
chained and ultimately LED through in the parade marching
toward their execution. Priests of the various gods and
goddesses that were worshipped in Rome would be swinging senses
with sweet smelling incense in them.
And yet you can imagine the sense that the sounds, all of
the the vibrancy in the atmosphere with this victory, of
this triumph going on. And the victorious general would
be riding in on a golden chariot, followed by the army,
the soldiers singing songs of triumph.
And so Paul, using his audience's familiarity with
this, says, I want you to see Jesus as the conquering
victorious general, leading us with him in this triumphal
procession and this victory that he now begins to unpack for them
and for you and I is far greater than any victory won by a Roman
general. For what is it that Christ
achieved? What is it that Christ
conquered? Firstly, Christ conquered the
power of sin. Through Christ, you and I, we
are no longer condemned. Romans chapter 8 verse one says
there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus, and this is because of the victory won by
Jesus Christ. Sin then contempt us, but it no
longer enslaves or defines US. Power of sin has been defeated
by Jesus Christ as He is victorious in this triumph.
Secondly, the power of death in Christ.
Death is swallowed up in victory in Christ.
We no longer fear death. We learned of that this morning.
Blessed are those who die in Christ Jesus, it said in the
text in Revelation 14. We no longer fear death because,
as the Bible says, to be absent from the body is to be present
with the Lord for those that are born again.
And in Christ Jesus the power of Satan was defeated.
Thirdly, at the cross, the Bible tells us that Christ disarmed
the powers of darkness, took off the enemy's greatest weapon,
rendered him useless. In that way, the Holy Spirit
within us now ensures also that the enemy cannot possess us.
Did you know that it's impossible for someone who is
possessed by the Holy Spirit to be possessed by an evil spirit?
The 2 cannot coincide. The Bible is clear on that and
we can resist the devil. James 4 verse 7 and it says that
he must flee from us. That's the victory that Jesus
won. That's the triumph that is he's
that we're a part of. Fourthly, Jesus victory provides
the power that was once in the world over us to be none at all.
The world's values pass away, the Bible tells us, 1 John
chapter 215 to 17. And now our faith can overcome
the world. Jesus said greater is he that is
in you than he that is in the world.
And so, like the incense at the triumphal parade, the Gospel's
aroma means different things to different people.
Think of it. Think of the audience, the crowd
gathered at a Roman generals triumph entering into the city
of Rome. To those being saved, to those a
part of the victory. It is the aroma, the smell, the
scent, the fragrance of life. And in the Roman procession, as
the priest's incense would be burning and it evoked victory.
You imagine citizens of the city living there who would always
associate said smells with victory.
Oh, do you smell that? It must be a victorious Roman
general coming in and, and the buzz as as they would enter in
and head and, and that smell would evoke that sensation
within them. And so for us, the Gospel should
always remind us of the victory that is in Christ Jesus.
We are citizens of heaven, and the gospel is that sweet aroma
that reminds us of that, the hope that we have for the
future, the joy and the celebration of what this means,
the triumph that's connected with the gospel.
But it tells us in those verses that we read to those who are
perishing, that the gospel and the true characteristics of
gospel smell like death because it confronts sin.
Just as in the Roman procession, yes, there were victorious
people present, There were citizens of Rome who were
celebrating in the joy and the victory, but they're also
conquered people. There were those chained, the
incense, the smell would not be a positive thing because they
knew that they were about to die as a consequence of this.
And so to the unrepentant in the world in which we live the
gospel, when we bring it in as a part of our character, when we
smell of the gospel, for want of better terminology, you know
what? It's repulsive.
Have you not found that to be true in interactions with people
who are so offended by the gospel and of the gospel at work
in your life that it like, it's like you're bringing in the
smell of death to them because you're reminding them of the
future consequences of their sin and rebellion against God?
And so to the the smell of the victory won by Jesus Christ as
the gospel is at work in our lives as a reminder to Satan and
his hordes that they're defeated.
No longer do they have dominion or rule over us, but they are
conquered and Christ is victorious.
You see true gospel ministry. The characteristic of it is that
it will be triumphant not because of us, but because of
Jesus Christ. Secondly, true gospel ministry
is accredited. You see that in chapter 3,
verses one to three, he writes and says, Do we begin again to
commend ourselves, or do we need, as some others, epistles
of commendation to you or letters of commendation from
you? You are our epistle, written in
our hearts, known and read by all men clearly.
Verse three. You are an epistle of Christ
ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of
the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of
flesh, that is, of the heart. It's Paul talking about here
when he's talking about epistles of commendation, Letters of
commendation. In Paul's day, travelling
itinerant teachers and preachers were very common and often they
would carry with them letters of commendation, almost like in
today's world where we asked for letters of references or
referees. When you're applying for a job,
is there, is there somebody that knows you that I can get in
contact with, send an email or give a phone call that can vouch
for your character, for your attributes?
That's what Paul is talking about here.
And so while others would travel around and and they would
bandish their letters of commendation, Paul says, I need
no such letter to vouch for the legitimacy of my ministry and of
my apostleship for you because you are my letter.
You know, the transformation of the gospel that has been at work
in your lives, the gospel that I preached to you, the gospel that
I affirm and continue to remind you of in First Corinthians and
now in Second Corinthians as I'm writing.
You're my letter of recommendation.
It's written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living
God that resides in you. It's far greater than anything
written on paper. You know the power of the spirit
at work in you to change your lives.
And as you read about the people in Currenth, you remember what
type of people they were and what they had been transformed
from. There were prostitutes, there
were homosexuals, there were those that were sleeping in
incestuous relationships. There was all sorts of about
rivalries and conflict going on with one another as they were
suing in court and so on. And that was many of them even
having been saved still that that work needing to be done in
their lives, that sanctification and the purifying of God.
And, and Paul says, you know what you were once like and you
know how the Spirit of God has been at work.
And if that's the letter of commentation that's going on,
they were evidence of the power of Christ to change lives and a
testament to the Verity of the gospel that Paul was preaching.
Now, the old covenant that they were being enticed and tempted
to go back to, you know, the Mosaic law, the rules and the
rituals and these sacrifices and, and these observances of
holy days and so on and so forth.
This is what, again, those false teachers were pushing them back
into. Paul says this didn't transform
hearts, didn't have the power of the Spirit.
The new covenant by the Spirit, Paul indicates, can change
hearts. You're born again, you're given
a new nature. That means new desires, new
passions, a new drive for the things of God.
And so the gospel Paul indicates to us that we know to be true is
this. It works from the inside out,
from a change heart on out into actions and transformations in
behaviour that once weren't a part of who we are.
So the best credentials for any Christian, whether a pastor,
whether a parent, whether a teacher, whether a friend, a
transform lives, your marriage, your parenting, your work ethic,
your conduct, all of those should be a living letter, a
living epistle, A commendation that people can read of the
gospel at work in you. Someone said this.
We ought to be Christians in large type in bold font,
underlined, highlighted and exclamation mark.
I like that. So true gospel ministry is
accredited. Paul said, I don't need any
letters to prove to validate your evidence of the Spirit at
work and the transform lives that are before you.
Now we have a larger portion of texts as we look at our third
and final point. And don't get too excited when I
say final because there's a a little bit that we've got to get
onto still that I'll unpack and explain.
So thirdly, true gospel ministry is glorious.
So read and follow along with me from verse 4 through to the end
of the chapter and we'll explain a little as we go along.
In fact, I'll break it down into bite size for us.
How's that? What Paul now does is he
contrasts the old covenant, what they'll be enticed to go back to
under the Mosaic Law, and what the Judaizers were espousing
with the new covenant. And he does so in three ways.
In other words, it's like Paul is going, OK, you want to go
back to the old way. You want to go back to the old
law, the rules, the rituals, the religious system.
Let's compare verse four to six. He compares death with life.
And we have such trust through Christ toward God.
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything
as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who
verse 6 also made us sufficient as ministers of the new
Covenant. Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit. For the letter kills, but the
Spirit gives life. You see, the law that they were
being enticed to go back to with the rules and the rituals and
the regulations engraved on stone could only bring about
condemnation. But the Spirit gives life.
Why, Paul says, would you want to abandon the Spirit filled
life of the new covenant to embrace the old when the old all
that it brought was death? And he builds on this.
Let me tell you about the the fading glory of the old versus
the increasing glory of the new in verses 7 to 11.
But if the ministry of death written and engraved on stone
was glorious so that the children of Israel could not
look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of
his accountants. So what he's referring to here
is the time when Moses went up onto Mount Sinai and received
the tablets of the 10 commandments written on stone
that God had given to Moses that were then to be produced and
practised in the life of Israel. And because he had been in the
in the glory of God. Remember it tells us that Moses
face shone with the Shekinah glory of God so much so that
they they put a veil over him to protect the people.
But also what happened was that Moses face the glory began to
fade and so the covering was an attempt to kind of, you know,
Moses, the glory is fading quick cover it up so that the people
don't know the idea behind it. And so now the contrast is
given. You want to go back to a glory
that was fading when let me tell you about the glory of the new.
He says because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was
at the end of verse 7 passing away.
How will the ministry of the Spirit verse 8 not be more
glorious? It's a rhetorical question, duh.
It is for if the ministry of condemnation had glory, he's not
denying that it was something special that had gone on the
ministry. Now he says of righteousness
exceeds much more in glory. He says you're settling for
second best. You're going backwards here,
verse 10. For even what was made glorious
had no glory in this respect because of the glory that
excels. For if what is passing away was
glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
Hobbit Paul, they've been saying, remember Moses, Remember
what happened when he received the 10 commandments?
Oh how glorious, how wonderful. His face shone with the glory of
God. Paul, we need to go back to
that. We need to be like Moses.
We need we need to receive that kind of glory.
Really. Paul says, let me remind you of
what happened. Moses faced shone with the
meeting with God. Yes, I'll give you that.
But the glory faded. He reminds them it passed away.
But in Christ, he says, let me tell you, under the new covenant
we move from glory on to glory. His glory is in US and it will
never fade. In verse 10, he says the glory
of the old is nothing compared to that of the new.
Just building on his argument here and and finishes with this
of concealment versus openness in verses 12 to 18.
Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of
speech. He's not making any apologies
for what he had spoken to them, unlike Moses verse 13 who put a
veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not
look steadily at the end of what was passing away.
But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil
remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament because the
vowel is taken away in Christ. And this is the problem with
Israel today, with the Jews today, that that veil is yet to
be lifted, where they fully realise Jesus Christ is Messiah.
And so nevertheless, verse 15, sorry, but even to this day when
Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart and he's like, you
want to go back to that? Nevertheless, when one turns to
the Lord, verse 16, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit. Verse 17 And where the Spirit of
the Lord is there is liberty, but we all with unveiled face
beholding verse 18 as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord
are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
How? How awesome is that?
I don't think it needs much in the way of explanation.
I think it's pretty straightforward.
But again, Moses wore a veil, he couldn't openly encounter God.
There were restrictions on his interaction with God and and the
glory that God revealed to him was just a a glimpse.
You remember the story. But the veil functioned to hide
the fact that the glory was fading as he was removed from
the very presence of God. But he is this what Paul says in
Christ, the veil is removed altogether.
And when Jesus died on the cross, what do we know that
happened to the temple veil, the curtain that separated the Holy
of Holies and the holy place, that that veil was torn from top
to bottom in a supernatural way that only God's hand himself
could effectively achieve. And so there's an openness now
where you and I can enter, the Bible tells us in Hebrews boldly
into the very throne room of God and obtain grace and help in
time of need. That's not presumption on our
part, That's openness. That's access that's been
granted to us because of Jesus Christ.
Victory won on the cross and his defeat of death when he rose
again three days later. And so now we behold his glory,
it says, and we're transformed into his image by the Spirit
within us. No, you're not that.
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says no covering or concealment is needed to hide
any fading glory because it is going on from glory to glory.
That is our hope, that is our future.
That is the glory of the gospel. It is permanent, it's
transformative, and there is intimacy with God as a
consequence. So how do we carry the fragrance
of Christ? And Paul has used this imagery,
this language. How can we emanate the smell of
Christ in our lives, in our living?
So if the fragrance of our lives is to be Christ like, we must
firstly #1 be cleansed by Christ.
That means that we're forgiven and we're washed.
We've received His sacrifice and His gift as He died upon the
cross in our place. You see, without the cleansing
of his sacrificial death, our lives will continue to smell
like death, because there is that.
That weight of heaviness for the wages of sin is death that
hasn't been paid for unless we've received Christ's gift
given to us and so no amount of us adding certain behaviours and
qualities and attributes and things where well this will make
my life smell better will change the fact that we need to be
cleansed within and have our heart transformed by the power
of the gospel at work in US. We need to be cleansed by
Christ's salvific work upon the cross.
Allow me a juvenile illustration.
Many of you know that for a number of years I used to be a
high school teacher. And often you encounter teenage
boys fresh off the playground at lunchtime, soaking wet with
sweat. They've been running around,
they've been having fun, burning a lot of energy.
And and that's a good thing. It's a wonderful thing to do,
right? But then a lot of them because
of, you know, certain reasons won't shower after like we've
had a fizz Ed lesson. They've just been, you know,
sweating profusely. It's 30° heat outside.
And rather than showering, what do they do?
I know I'll fix it. I'll spray the fragrance of a
Lynx deodorant. You know, it's the old
proverbial shower in a can. And they spray it all on and,
and instead of it smelling good, what does that do?
Because there's been no cleansing, no washing it, It
masks the stench and it turns it into this like deodorant
combination. The Bo is still there, but the
fragrance of this deodorant that's been sprayed on makes it
even worse, I think. Anyway, they think it smells
good. Oh yeah, it smells wonderful.
You don't. However, we know it to be true
in that that trivial physical sense that when you're cleansed,
even a little fragrance can go a long way then, right?
And so that's the the second thing.
Once we're washed by the precious blood of the Lamb, we
get the fragrance of the Lord in our lives by secondly being
worshippers. Let me give you an illustration
from the Scriptures. You remember the example of Mary
in John chapter 12. And Mary comes to Jesus, and
Jesus is being invited to a Pharisee's house to eat, and
there's been no provision for the washing of his feet.
And Mary observes this and spots this and and she comes and she
pours out Spike Night, a very costly perfume, as an open act
of worship unto Jesus that Jesus receives.
And and the fragrance was on Jesus.
This was very expensive, no doubt her dowry, many speculate,
and it was on her and and the fragrance filled the room and
the fragrance probably flowed on out of the house and on into the
street. And and what was common practise
was when a prominent individual in the community would invite
someone over to to eat. It was kind of the practise
where in the days of no TV or other forms of entertainment
that the the village would come and sticky beak and gather and
they would look in from the windows outside to see what was
happening in. And it was a great pompous
display for those on on the inside.
And so there would have been many in the city, in the in the
town, in the village, watching and observing, who would have
also smelt the fragrance of worship as was poured out by
Mary unto Jesus. And Jesus promised in that
moment when criticism was levelled against Mary and her
ACT here, that that wherever this Gospel would be be
promoted, would be preached, that this story would go with
it. Jesus loved it, He received it,
he enjoyed it, But the fragrance of worship was there and it
filled that place and it flowed on out and impacted others, even
impacting you. And I 2000 years removed from
that story, Paul was a worshipper.
It's hard to read Paul's letters and not see a man that was
awestruck with the Lord, his heart filled with worship.
This this whole section that we're reading commenced with
worship. He's constantly describing the
Lord God with terms like exceedingly great, unsearchable,
incomprehensible, abounding. So Paul was stricken by grace.
He knew what he once was, how Christ had saved him.
His heart was captured by love now for Jesus and he was
enthralled with the Lord that he constantly at every and any
opportunity looked for ways to worship and his life was a
fragrance as such, just like Mary's and just like ours is to
be. Thirdly, for our lives are to be
fragrant with the gospel. We're to be in God's word to be
doing what we're doing tonight, opening and searching through
the Scriptures. Bathing in Scripture leaves us
carrying the scent of God into the world.
Jesus said this. You are clean because of the
word that I have spoken to you. And so you know the life of the
Lord is transfused to us through his word.
If you want the fragrance of Christ, if you want people when
they encounter you to have an encounter with Jesus, then you
need to be diligent as a student of God's Word.
And not only knowing it for the sake of espousing facts and
Bible trivia, but having it change your life.
Again, a poor illustration, but I hope that would help in
understanding this. You ever smelt a baby's head
after a bath? Sounds strange, but bear with me
a moment. But baby shampoo, man, I love
the stuff. The baby comes out and they
already smell pretty good anyway, but you know, there's
something special about bath time.
And they come out and they smell fresh and clean having been
washed. But then that shampoo just has
it. Oh, you breathe it in.
And so when we bathe in the Word of God, we come forth from that
time smelling like the Lord, not just reading it, but but
meditating on it, allowing the words that we read to be
pondered to, to chew on to, to think through and go, all right,
What does that mean? And how does that flow on into
my life and living? It's the type of thing that
causes us to smell like Jesus. As a consequence, you know the
disciples had been with Jesus. Where have you been?
The Bible tells us that this was often said about the followers
of Jesus. I perceive that you have been
with Jesus. Remember they said that about
the disciples. I don't know where you were
educated. I don't know why you talk the
way that you talk, but here's what we do know.
You guys sound a lot like Jesus. So for you and I, if people were
to make comment on our lives, I perceive that you have been with
Joe Rogan. I perceive that you have been
listening to Jordan Peterson. I perceive that you are like
Oprah or a doctor this and a doctor that.
You get my point, right? A disciple of any one of these
sort of so called gurus that exist out there in the world.
But you know what would be the greatest thing that would be
said of us? Now I don't know where you were
educated. I don't know where you learned
that. But Gee, you, you sound a whole
lot like the Bible. Thank you.
You sound like Jesus. And lastly, walk in obedience
and the Bible tells us Ephesians chapter 5 verse 2 that Jesus
obedience to God the Father was a sweet smelling aroma to God.
Let me read it for you. It says therefore be imitators
of God verse one Ephesians 5 as dear children and verse 2 and
walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
aroma. Jesus lived a life of obedience
to the Heavenly Father and God the Father received it as a
sweet smelling aroma. His life was an offering.
Obedience to God was a wonderful fragrance and so too in our
lives. Paul walked in these three in
these things. Rather, he knew he was cleaned
by Christ's blood. He was a worshipper of Jesus.
He was into the Word, His life was marked by obedience unto
God, which allowed his life to send forth the fragrance of
Christ, the sweet smelling aroma, even in his time of
suffering as he's experiencing here.
So how's your scent tonight? Is it the aroma of life leading
to life, or of death leading to death?
Is your life a living letter? A sweet fragrance, like a public
procession of Christ's triumph? And there's really no excuse for
you and I for keeping that fragrance to ourselves.
You ever had a nice smell? Maybe you're into essential oils
or you like perfume or aftershave or whatever and you
want to share it with others. You go smell that.
All right, You smell that Christianity in our lives is to
be a thing where, I mean, it would be a bit weird if we
walked around saying that. Do you smell that?
But our lives should be ones. Where did you hear about Jesus?
Do you know Jesus? Do you know the power of the
gospel? Let me give you an example of
how a small act of sharing Christ, living the fragrant life
can lead to amazing results starts with one man, a fellow
called Edward Kimball. He was a shoe seller in Boston
in American Unknown Fellow, and when Kimball came to Christ, he
longed to share the gospel. He happened to be also a Sunday
school teacher. God gave him a heart to reach a
particular young teenage boy in his class who happened to work
with him as well. While working, Kimball took a
moment to share the gospel with him and this boy responded and
received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
His name was DL Moody, you may know DL Moody.
If not, then he became a pastor, an evangelist and and God gave
DL Moody a wonderful ministry and platform to preach to
1,000,000 people in his lifetime.
A pastor who did not have a heart for witnessing to the lost
like Moody. He went along out of curiosity
to one of the evangelistic events that Moody was holding
and as a consequence it stirred up a zeal, a passion, a fervour
within him to go, I've got to preach the gospel and in a way
that DL Moody did. This fellow's name was FB Meyer.
Maybe you've read some of his commentaries in pastoral work.
It was a pastor in England. He became a travelling preacher
as a consequence of that encounter through DL Moody's
ministry. And after gaining this zealf of
evangelism, he was preaching on a college campus in America when
a particular student present got saved.
His name was Wilbur Chapman. So there's like these dominoes
just dropping and falling, right?
And the impact now Wilbur Chapman directed AYMCA in his
area back when the acronym for Young Men's Christian
Association still applied. Chapman desiring to be used by
God within the the YMCA, they hired an evangelist to preach to
the young people gathered. And this man was a former
baseball player by the name of Billy Sunday in America.
And Billy Sunday would preach these revival services around
the country. Now we're into the 1900s, in
case you're wondering, you know, era, what, what's all of this
and all these names? So Billy Sunday LED thousands to
Jesus Christ, especially in Charlotte, in North Carolina.
And the men of Charlotte was so inspired by this revival that
they wanted more and more of it. So they invited another
evangelist by by the name of Mordecai Ham to come and to
speak. He did.
And he led these tent revivals in Charlotte, in North Carolina.
And during the very last revival service, a dairy farmer, a
worker on this farm by the name of Billy Graham was saved.
You all know the name Billy Graham.
Billy Graham still, by the way, holds the the the greatest
record for the largest crowd at the MCG in attendance, far out
blowing any grand final, out blowing any, you know, musical
artists or celebrity that is that is gathered.
Graham preached the gospel to over 250 million people and over
2 billion through TV. One of whom to come to Christ
through his preaching was my own grandmother, my dad's mum.
Now again, all of that, I think it's just a wonderful
illustration of of the simple impact of of lives being
desirous to be used by God to allow the fragrance, the aroma
of Christ to flow on through. Anyone willing to be used by God
can make an impact for His Kingdom.