Spreading the Aroma of Jesus
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay
A Pastor was driving through the countryside with his family. The windows were open to take in the fresh air. As they passed through an area where there was an aroma of barbeque, the Pastor asked his family what that smell was. Immediately, the children shouted: "It's not me!" The children obviously thought that their father was referring to the smell of fart.
Our theme for this year is “Spreading the Aroma of Jesus.” In 2 Corinthians 2:14, God, through us, spreads in every place the fragrance or the aroma that comes from knowing Him. It is the fragrance of knowing God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have come to know God. Our Lord Jesus Christ said that knowing God is eternal life. The Holy Spirit gives us the knowledge of God. Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. Through the Word of God, the Holy Spirit reveals the Father and Son to us. What knowledge of God is fragrant? The message of God’s forgiveness of all our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross for us is a sweet, sweet fragrance and aroma for all people.
God’s forgiveness, mercy and grace is indeed the most important message to us all. That God forgives our sins and does not condemn us to eternal hell is the most fragrant message. Our Lord Jesus is the sacrifice for our sins. That sacrifice - that giving of Himself for our sins on the cross - is also a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God, according to Ephesians 5:2.
Paul saw believers as incense, giving forth the fragrance of Jesus Christ and His forgiveness in their lives and labours. To God, believers are the very fragrance of Jesus Christ. To other believers, we are the fragrance of life.
The more we know God, the more fragrance there is in our lives. Let us know God through His Word, which God has given to us. Let us read the Word of God regularly and hear the Word of God on Sundays in church. Through our Baptism, we have been given the Holy Spirit who enables us to spread the aroma of Christ where God has placed us. God has placed us in families, work, society and the nation to spread the aroma of Jesus.
Martin Luther said that God allows us to live in order that we may lead other people to believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation. That is our mission on earth. We are to live fragrant, aromatic lives of love and kindness so that people may be attracted to Jesus Christ when we speak of Jesus’ love for them. It is indeed the noblest and the greatest work and the most important service that we can perform for God on earth, by bringing people to the knowledge of God by the Holy Gospel.
May the aroma of Jesus be spread by God through us everywhere! That will be pleasing to God as the sacrifices in the Old Testament were pleasing aromas to God. May our homes, our working places, our neighbourhoods, and our nation of Singapore be filled with the sweet fragrance of the Good News of God’s forgiveness! And the people will say, that's Christ's fragrance!
Amen.
~ Rev. Nick Singh
