Pleasing Aroma of Christ

Today’s Let’s go to second Corinthians chapter 2 verses 14- 16. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. This is a year that roses are blooming and and the roses that are planted in my yard are blooming uh quite quite a lot. So one day I went out to trim these roses. After I trimmed about two roses, for those of you from the Gulf, you know that yardly powder uh scent. That was the scent that I I smelled when I was trimming those roses. And so the Holy Spirit began speaking to me. We are people that need to be always spreading the aroma of Christ. And so there’s an older gentleman that walks in front of our home. And so I was working outside on Pastor Shal’s table. He normally doesn’t talk to me. He just waves his hand. But this time he came up to me and started to talk to me. He said, “Your rose plants are very beautiful.” And so he was showing me a pictures and I looked at the his phone and I said, “Oh, those are some beautiful roses.” I thought he had taken a picture somewhere. I said, “I’ve taken these pictures of roses in front of your home.” And so when I walk by, there is that aroma. when I pass by. We need to be people who are spreading the aroma of Christ in the land. [Music] Hallelujah. And while Paul is talking many things to the Corinthian church, all of a sudden he changes course and says, “We are the aroma of Christ.” And it is something that was enrapturing [Music] him. When we write a paper or a thesis or a long project, we write a very structured paper. When we write a message or a sermon, it becomes very structured. But Paul had a habit. But in the middle of his talking, he stops there and brings up a new thing. And it is the the urging or the uncction of the spirit. We know the background of this. When these Roman generals are coming after battle, they’re coming in the a procession down the city streets and alongside on the side of the roads, there are incense uh that is coming out. So they’re walking in this procession through this incense. And so they have these prisoners that are bound to them and they’re coming through this procession carrying their prisoners with them. And there are these people that are standing with the generals and their chests are puffed out and they’re walking victoriously in the street. For some people, the smell of this aroma is the smell of death. For those who stood against the general, this aroma of incense is a smell of death. But those who stood with the general, this smell, this aroma is a smell of life. And the the meaning interpretation of this is clear. And the victorious general is Christ. Victory. There is a victory parade that is coming along and all of us are walking together with Christ. Not only do you smell the aroma as you walk along, but you are the aroma. Verse 15 says, “We are to God the fragrance of Christ.” And who is capable of this? Who is adequate of these things? God has placed you as an aroma of him in your family. God has placed you as a fragrance in your workplace. God has placed you as a fragrance in the land. But what makes you capable of that? It is the call of God. It is the grace of God. It is that attention that you are in the presence of God. You It’s your understanding that Christ is within you. And there’s something that’s written in the word of God in Christ. In Christ. Hallelujah. In Christ. Within [Music] Christ. And there’s a specific reason why Paul wrote the letter like this. And we see Paul in the first Corinthians very strongly rebuking the church. And there are two churches in his letters that he strongly rebukes. One is the Corinthian church, one is the Galatian [Music] church. And so he writes this letter and sends Titus to them. And so then Paul goes to this area called Trrowass and starts a new ministry there. And as the ministry in Trrowass is growing, but there’s much pain and anguish in Paul’s heart. The Titus who went to Corinth has not come back yet. So Paul is worried what is happening in this church. So after placing the Troas ministry there he goes on to Macedonia. And so it’s not like me sending someone to Phoenix and expecting them to come back and me going out to chase them and see where they are. Otherwise, you need to cross over the ocean or you have to go around several hundred miles. 40 minutes or something on the highway. And so it’s a short drive from Trrowass to Macedonia these days. Seven hours. 7 hours. 7 hours. And but the equivalent is not the same back then. But when Paul has rebuked the church, he has this great anguish in his heart. many times in in some situations we rebuke. I have heard people rebuke and they rebuke as if there is no tomorrow. And when you rebuke, hold them close. Why did and Paul is writing there from Macedonia, why did I not minister to the Corinthian church? He said, “Because I fear if I come, I’m going to very strongly rebuke you.” You see that care? And so typically you know it would be men who would be servants of God but now there are women who also serve in the ministry. And so many times ministers are standing in the place of a father. And we see the strictness of a father but the care of a mother in Paul. And so where Paul was going to rebuke, he just stopped. We need to remember that as well. Especially as fathers and mothers also when you go to rebuke, just put a break right there. But also think what is happening after you rebuke someone. So he went and saw Titus in [Music] Macedonia. Se 2 Corinthians chapter 7 uh verse 6 and 7 [Music] desire. See all that things. And so we see Paul’s heart melting when he hears these words from Titus. very important. And so when Paul is hearing all these things, he somehow suddenly says, “May the fragrance of Christ spread throughout all the land through us.” Let’s take it a step further. And there’s two words that are used here for this fragrance or this aroma. And the verse 14 aroma is osme fragrance. And in verse 15, sweet fragrance is yodia. When pastor Thomas was praying, he said one word. May today’s worship be a sweet fragrance. Hallelujah. It is talking about the sacrifice of Jesus. And so that first word aroma is used in two different ways. And that word aroma also refers to that verse in 16 aroma of death leading to death. After death there is a an [Music] aroma. And after several days after death there is also an aroma. And that word that same Greek word osme is used there as well. But the Greek word for yodia is also as sweet fragrance. Ephesians chapter 5 verse two. And walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. sweet smelling [Music] aroma and it’s talking here about Christ that he is both the aroma and he is the sweet fragrance sweet smelling and Jesus is that sweet smelling aroma sweet smelling and the person the soldier walking alongside Jesus says his expectation is that you are the sweet smelling aroma. This is not your own aroma. It is the fragrance of God. How do you become the fragrance of God? If you are in Christ, you can express and diffuse the aroma of Christ. And so in chapter 2 Corinthians chapter 2:1 16 he is saying who is sufficient for these things? Who is sufficient for these things? When someone is coming to cause trouble to me, how can I be that aroma? And so many times in our anger then we’re thinking about the aroma. If you are in Christ, that aroma comes from you. If I am standing in myself, only my own aroma will spread. If you are moving from your own aroma to the aroma of Christ, you can spread that sweet fragrance of Christ. And Paul is saying, who are we? And he says in verse in that verse we are sincere. Praise the Lord. We are sincere. Verse 17. We are sincere. We are those who stand in the command of the Lord. We are people that stand in the presence of the Lord. And and also we are in Christ and all these things he is saying he will let you stand. God has given us eyes to not look inward but to look outward. And so it’s very easy when we look out to see everyone else’s faults or mistakes. It’s very hard to look [Music] inward. And that’s always our prayer. Dear God, dear God, fix them. Fix their issues. Fix their problem. Fix their mistakes. Dear God, teach my wife how to love a husband. Dear uh dear dear pray that you transform my husband. Pray that you re renew my children. Give my parents some sense. How many prayers like this do we make? Why does God put you in a situation? And don’t worry, I’m also talking about myself. Why does God put us in a situation? Be the fragrance of God in that situation. Let me ask you this. As smoke is rising, how many parts are in smoke? Have you tried to count up the parts of smoke? There’s no parts or portions in smoke. When the children of God come together and spread that aroma, it is one smoke. And there in that smoke is the fragrance of God. There’s no up and down or parts in it. There’s no hierarchy within [Music] it. In that group, everyone together equally is spreading the aroma of Christ. In verse 15 it says the fragrance of Christ. Why does Paul continue to mention this again and again? And he’s saying it is not from within us. It is belonging to Christ. Chapter 3 verse four onwards. We are all together. Paul is talking about how one person can have authority over another. Paul is an apostle. And I’ve heard this said by pastors in India before. If anything happens in this church, the man of God, the servant of God needs to know. He is not talking about church issues. He’s talking about issues in his own home. And he’s just including that in and saying it. Let’s chapter 3 verse 23. Chapter 2 verse [Music] 124. Sorry. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but our fellow workers for your joy. For by faith you stand. Hallelujah. Do you know where issues come up? It is issues of authority. It is issues that people don’t know how to handle authority. It is issues where you don’t know where the boundaries are. [Music] this morning. Let us be people that work knowing where the boundaries are. I am a man of God and there is a line of servants of God [Music] here along with you. We are also here. We can all worship at home easily. We don’t we know the word of God. Are we baptized and anointed? But in the church there’s also corrections. Don’t think that there’s no one to correct me. I’m also being corrected. And so we within the church when everyone’s being corrected, we are all moving toward holiness. [Music] And so each one of us is our own individual. [Music] And all of us need to become like Christ. We all need to be Christian. But all of us don’t not need to be like pastor [Music] Manu. If I tell you everyone needs to be like me, that is the start of a cult. But all of us need to be like [Music] Christ. We all need to spread the aroma of Christ. We need to be like Jesus and we need to move forward as a disciple of Christ. If we study Jesus, what did Jesus do? He’s the one that spread the aroma of the father. Everything was about the father for Jesus. Here on earth, many of us have responsibilities. We have ministry things as [Music] well. Hallelujah. Let me tell you something for your 40 and up people. In 50 years from now, none of us will be here. We will be in heaven at that time. those children that you see running around now, those are the ones that will be sitting here at that time. I’m not telling you to be afraid, but to be happy. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. We have a responsibility of heaven in Luke chapter 2 verse 48 and 49. Glucose. What is the worry of this mother? [Music] You are ours is what she’s saying. You cannot do this to us. Look, your father and I. And Jesus is saying, why did you go looking for me? Do you know that I must be about my father’s business? My responsibility is to my father. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. There’s a term that Mary calls Jesus. Technone. Technone. And it means son or child. What is the job of Jesus? What was the job of Joseph? Techn carpenter or handyman. There’s only one letter difference between these two Greek words. And so I was amazed and interested when I read [Music] this. And so when Mary is saying this, she is also saying, “Son, do you know what your responsibility [Music] is? There is a work there at home. We spent seven days [Music] here. Now we got to go back home and we have work there.” Hallelujah. When we read 4748, we’d see two miracles there, two wonders there, astonished amazement and two things of amazement there. And so these wise men, these scribes who are listening to Jesus are listening to young Jesus words and are amazed. And so then the parents are also amazed that Jesus is sitting among these wise men. One time me and Si went to Flagstaff for a need. And so I put Sigi in an office and I said, “I’m going to be right back.” And I think it was the Saturday after Black Friday. Home Depot. Oh, and so as I’m standing here in this other place, Home Depot is beckoning me. And so I didn’t say I was going to Home Depot. Instead, I said I’m going to go put gas in the car. Home Depot. And so instead of going to put gas in the car, I actually stopped in Home Depot and I spent some time there. And so there was another lady who was with Sigi. And so she said to this lady, “My husband is gone for a little bit. I need to call him. Can I borrow your phone?” And so her husband of this lady is sitting there and told Sigi, “Don’t worry, he’s there in Home Depot.” Home Depot. And so when I came back, Sigi told me, “Oh, he said you were in Home Depot.” And so I was amazed. I thought he was a prophet. I said, “How did you know I was in Home Depot?” He said, “I’m also a guy. I know where where I would go.” Home Depot. Jesus was not being looked for in Homes Home Depot or Lowe’s. And he knows carpentry but you didn’t see him there in those places. You are seeing him in an unpredictable place. Who is this Jesus? What have their his parents understood about [Music] him? When they were looking for him, they couldn’t find him. But when they found him, they were astonished. Here we only see Mary speaking. And we read in a passage it says Mary keeps everything in her heart. And in multiple verses it says in verse 51 it says she kept all these things in her heart. And there is a man that is standing there and she he is knowing who is there through the words of Mary. And I’m talking about Joseph. It’s not mentioned there him saying one word. And up till then he had been protecting [Music] Jesus. He is the one that up to that point whatever price it took he protected Jesus. In a time of shame he took Jesus said he is mine. [Music] He is the man in the vision. He ran to Egypt. And so at this age, what problem does he have? Hallelujah. That is what is we call a call. There’s a problem with that verse that says everything was kept in her heart. And so those who keep things in their heart will fight against it with their words. And so we see a moment of conflict. We see that Jacob rebuked Joseph but kept this dream that Joseph had in his heart. [Music] We see that Mary rebuked Jesus but kept those things that he said in his heart. But we see this Joseph being silent. And this is the Israel of that time. It is a time where the father had great authority. But he stood quietly. And so we see Jesus go up to them and submit to them. [Music] Hallelujah. And we see in verse 52, Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And it says there in the earlier verses that Jesus is growing up in in wisdom of God. But we see that the Jesus who is in the care of Joseph and Mary and we see a parents that are giving him an opportunity to grow. There’s an aroma in Christ. and we see that Jesus had parents that nurtured that aroma. Do we know how great our call is? I want to finish in one minute. Now let us stand this morning. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We see a Jesus that took the aroma of the father all the way to the cross. We see two things in this verse 14. and that that aroma that is always diffusing always diffusing and it finally says in every place all the time in every place dear God I’ll forgive here but I cannot forgive this situation dear God I will do this but I won’t do But the word tells us that in all times everywhere the aroma of Christ has to be. We always need to be aware he is looking at us. You need to understand that I am in Christ. It’s not meaning to be under dominion. And it’s not saying we not need to be like that. No, we don’t. We need to be like that. And he’s not saying we need to be like that. But but you are like that is what Paul said. It is already done. It’s already done. We are already like that. The devil says we are not like that. The situation says we’re not like that. But I believe in the word of God. Hallelujah. Always and everywhere. Always and everywhere we have the room of Christ. Let us submit ourselves. Let us submit the church. As a smoke together as a churchle, not our own works. And so the aroma of Christ. Hallelujah. Pray. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God. Let us bow our heads and pray. Father God, we thank you Lord for this word we have heard this morning time. Lord, we are the aroma of Christ in the community that you have placed us. Help us to take that responsibility seriously. Lord, in every step that we take, every person that we talk to, whether it’s our work or it’s our school, that we are spreading the sweet smelling aroma of Christ in our worship. We thank you for bringing us together as a body of Christ to worship you and hear your word. As your servant ministers from the table this morning, you we pray that you are with him. Help us to take part in this table. Lord, we thank you for your death on the cross that you took the aroma of the father all the way to Calvary. In your name we pray. Amen