YOU STINK

That’s true. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthins 2.14f, “but thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we re 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.”

You stink... either sweet or gross.


In the Roman world at the time of Christ whenever a conquering general
returned in triumph they had a triumph parade. To the eyes of the world
in that day it was the most glorious spectacle which the imagination
could conceive. First came state officials and the senate. Then came the
trumpeters. They were followed by the spoils taken from the conquered
land. There would be pictures of the conquered land and models of
conquered citadels and ships. There would be a white bull for sacrifice,
then the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains. They would
shortly either be flung into prison or executed. Then came the musicians
and priests swinging censers with a sweet smelling incense that was
burning. Finally came the general himself and his army wearing
decorations and shouting in triumph. It was a tremendous day that might
only be witnessed once in a lifetime.

Imagine how the smell of the incense would be to the captives. It would
be the smell of death. They marched through the street only to be
derided by the conquering Romans and would signal that soon you’d either
be executed or sold into slavery. However, to the victorious throngs
that same smell would signal victory and triumph. Same way with the
gospel according to this passage. It’s either a smell of sweet victory
and life saving to some, but to other’s it’s a means of destruction and
condemnation because of their rejection of the gospel.

I had this point well taken today as we looked at this passage with some
of our Christian bobsledders in town for the first world cup of the
season. A visiting coach, peeked at the paper we were
looking at. He saw “You Stink” and made some silly comments. When Lyndon
Rush, Canada’s #1 bobsled pilot told him we were doing a Bible study the
visiting coach made some snide remarks about his mother and this “sh*t”.
We realized we were seeing a graphic playing out of Paul’s very
principle right before our eyes. To the God seeking athletes, the word
of God is precious, but to this godless coach.... well, it was clear how
it smelled to him.

How about you? How do you smell? We each give off an aroma. Either life
or death to those around us.