It was a few years ago that I was sitting in the same kind of seat that Anna is sitting in, having just returned home from my first term of college in Eugene. I didn't realize how stupid I was when I left school, left home, rather, to go to school. I had quite an education to encounter. As I look back on it, I can't believe how dumb and naive I was in so many things. But as I approached so many things, as I do everything else, much of it can't be rocket science. It can't be too tough. Well, one of those things is I didn't know how to do laundry. So I figured, hey, it can't be rocket science, right? So I went down to the laundry room with the guys, you know, and I figured I can do this. It can't be too tough. And I learned a few things my first term in college. I learned cost efficiency. The more clothes you stuff in it, the more you get for your quarter. And I also learned that if you do that on a regular basis, you don't have to worry about sorting colors. Now, when I got home after my first term in college, I realized something. Mom, you know, the way you do laundry, my clothes smell good. Ah, the teachable moment. Would you teach me how to make my clothes smell like this? You know, there was that longing that I had. I didn't even know it. I wasn't able to put my finger on it until after I went back home. I like the way my clothes smell when my mom does laundry. And it brings back those memories of being at home. and having somebody taking care of me. Even after I went back to college, you made sure I bought the same detergent and did it the right way. A little more expensive that way. But those smells linger with you. You've had that experience where maybe it's a perfume or some kind of cologne. Maybe it's something pungent that brings a flood of memories to your mind when you smell that. Smell is very powerful. When I was in seminary, J. Oswald Sanders, former director of China Inland Mission, now oversees missionary fellowship, came to chapel and spoke. And that particular day when he was there in chapel and spoke, he told a story. Evidently, in China, there was an orientation for a number of women missionaries new to the field. And while they were sitting there in a room waiting for the person that was gonna come in and conduct the session, they were all sitting in their seats, and this lady walks in, says nothing, looks around the room, and then walks up and down all of the aisles and walks out without a word. The people sitting there looked at each other saying, rather different. And the lady walked back into the room just a few minutes later and the first question she asked was, did I say anything to you? People looked around and rather hesitantly said, no. Second question she asked, what did you notice about me? One lady rather cautiously replied, I noticed that you were wearing a rather expensive perfume. And this lady, who happened to be J. Oswald Sanders' sister, said this, While you're learning the language of the Chinese, you will not be able to speak to them. But you will leave the fragrance of Christ wherever you go. The power of smell. What do you spiritually smell like? Paul uses that image of a fragrance to communicate some very important truths to us. We're in the book of 2 Corinthians, and I invite you to turn there with me. This book, 2 Corinthians, is a wonderful book written by the Apostle Paul, describing to us the nature and the cost and the demand of ministry. Now, in recent weeks, I have defined ministry as taking the Word of God in the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of God through me in others. That's what we are all about. Ministry isn't something that seminarians talk about and pastors talk about. It is something that describes every disciple of Jesus Christ. We are all involved in the ministry. Taking the Word of God and the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of God through me to others. Paul masterfully talks about that in the book of Second Corinthians, and that's primarily why we are talking about it in the last month and the next upcoming. In chapter 1, Paul he gives us a number of principles about ministry and has already in chapter one. He tells us that God uses people to reach people. Paul says God brings suffering into your life and brings his comfort at the same time in order that through you, By means of the comfort you've received, He might comfort other people in the affliction that they're involved in. God uses people to reach people. Another thing that we have learned in our study so far, we talked about this last week, God is very interested, very concerned about our personal life of holiness. You remember last week as we talked about that, Perfection to fulfilling God's law is the standard that remains the standard, but God knows our frailty. He knows our weaknesses. He knows we are sinful people. And so, though perfection is the standard, direction is God's expectation. Which, being translated, means, when I sin, God is looking for a repentant heart. A heart that says, I am guilty, O God, and I desire to walk in holiness. Cleanse me, make me new, put me back on the path. That's a person who has that direction of holiness. Now in the passage of scripture before us, verses 12 through 17 that we'll look at in chapter two this morning, Paul uses two images to communicate who I am in Christ. Now you'll notice as I read in just a moment, verses 12 and 13 are a transition for Paul. And beginning in verse 14, Paul begins at the very foundation of ministry. If I am going to make a difference eternally in this world, if my life is going to count, there are some very important things that I need to understand, and I need to embrace, and I need to govern my life by. And Paul says, he uses two images, and he says there are two things at the very core of ministry, at the very foundation, that are important for me to understand. We'll look at those in just a minute. Let's read the text together. 2 Corinthians 2, beginning at verse 12. Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. But making my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are 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. and who is adequate for these things. For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. Let's first look at that transition in verses 12 and 13. You remember the setting for 2 Corinthians. Paul had sent a letter by means of Titus, his letter carrier, and was waiting for a response. He was looking for Titus to return to bring him word of how the Corinthians were responding, had responded, to his letter. It was a harsh letter. It was a stern letter, and Paul was very concerned about their response. He was waiting for Titus to return, and he arrived in Troas, western portion of present-day Turkey, and it's said that there was a door of opportunity opened for him. That is, Paul had the opportunity before him to preach the gospel message. Now, I want you to notice that Paul did not go through that door. Every door that is open to you does not necessarily mean that you are to go through it. A need or an open door does not constitute God's call upon you, as was Paul's case. It says in verse 13, he had no rest of his spirit. In other words, there was something very good in front of Paul that he could become involved in. The preaching to the people there in Troas. But there was something gnawing in his gut. What was it? He was concerned about Titus. He was expecting that Titus was gonna meet him there in Troas, and Titus wasn't there. And Paul was very concerned, even more concerned, than about those unsaved people in Troas. He was more concerned about Titus. And so he had a decision to make. Was he going to choose the good or the better? And Paul chose that which was better. He left Troas, and he pursued after Titus, going on the route that Titus would be coming on, and he went into the province of Macedonia. Now keep your finger here in chapter two, and I want you to turn over to chapter seven and look at verse five. where Paul says, for even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. You see, it's the same theme as what we just read in chapter two, verse 13. Here's what I want you to see. From chapter two, verse 14, through chapter seven, verse four, this is a parenthesis. Paul is talking about his concern for the Corinthians, his concern for the people in Macedonia, there in chapter 2, verse 13. He picks that up in chapter 7, beginning in verse 5. But in between, Paul is giving us his heart. He's opening up himself, making himself very vulnerable to show us personally the demand and the cost of ministry. He's describing what it is like. So verses 12 and 13 in chapter two are a transition for us. Now in verse 14, he begins to open up that heart. Notice how chapter two, verse 13 and verse 14 are linked together. Paul is wrestling with this decision. Do I stay here in Troas to preach and take advantage of this open door of opportunity? Or do I go into Macedonia looking for Titus? He chooses the better over the good and he says, thanks be to God who leads us. Paul was no doubt wrestling with God, saying, God, what do you want me to do? I am burdened and overwhelmed that Titus is not here. I'm concerned about the report he's going to give me about the Corinthians. And he's confident that God has led him to cross into the province of Macedonia looking for Titus. Here are the two images. They're here in verse 14, describing for us who I am in Christ. He uses the image of a slave and the image of a fragrance. He says, first of all, I am a slave of Christ. That's the first thing that I must wrestle with and allow it to seep down into my being. If I'm going to make a difference in this world as a disciple of Jesus Christ, I need to affirm the truth that I am His slave. Now he uses the image of a triumphal march here where he says, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. William Barclay in his commentary on this passage paints this picture. And as I read his words, I want you to develop a picture in your mind of what a Roman triumphal procession looked like. I'll read it slowly so you are able to put all of these images in your mind. In Paul's mind is the picture of a Roman triumph and of Christ as a universal conqueror. In a triumph, the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the capital in the following order. First came the state officials and the Senate. And then came the trumpeters. Then were carried the spoils taken from the conquered land. Then came pictures of the conquered land and models of the conquered citadels and ships. Then there walked the captive princes, leaders, and generals in chains, shortly to be flung into prison, and in all probability, almost immediately to be executed. Then came the Roman lictors bearing their rods, followed by the musicians with their lyres, and then the priests swinging their sense burning in them. After that came the general himself. He stood in a chariot drawn by four horses, after him rode his family, and finally came the army, wearing all their decorations and shouting their cry of triumph. You picture that long procession, that march of triumph where the conquering general comes and presents all that he has accomplished to the authorities in Rome. Now that may have been the image in Paul's mind as he spoke of God leading us in triumph. A lot of commentators have spent a lot of ink arguing, well, in that image, are we Christ's people, His captives, or a part of His army? Don't waste your time going there. I am, the image obviously is going to break down at points. The truth of the matter is I am, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, His captive. I am His slave. I have been bought by Him. I am owned by Christ. I remember that song by by Bob Dylan, that great vocalist, who said on that album, Long Train Coming, after he was born again, he said, you gotta serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody. It's probably better than how he did it. The truth of the matter is every person on the face of the earth either serves the prince of the power of the air or they serve the prince of peace. And we have deluded ourselves into thinking that we are free beings and we could do whatever we want. Scripture teaches us that we are in slavery to one or the other. If you look over at Romans chapter six, and let your eyes glance down at verse 17, Paul says, thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I become a slave of sin, or I become a slave of the Savior. There are no other options. And so at the very core of who I am in Christ is the reality that I am His slave. He bought me. He owns me. Everything about my life is consumed and wrapped up in Jesus Christ. Now the paradox in this is that only in slavery to Christ is there freedom. I find freedom in slavery. I find triumph in captivity to Christ. I find liberty in bondage to Christ. Make me a captive, Lord, and then I shall be free. Force me to render up my sword, and I shall conquerer be. I sink in life's alarms when by myself I stand. Imprison me within thine arms and strong. shall be my hand. Who are you? When people ask that question of you, how do you respond? You say, I'm an accountant. I'm a business owner. I am my kid's mom. What do you say when people ask you, who are you? Do we think of ourselves as a disciple of Christ? Is that one of the first things that comes to my mind? Above anything else in my life, I am first and foremost God's slave. Do we think of ourselves in that way? Some of us might answer that by saying, I'm a Christian. You know, I'm getting to the point where I don't wanna even use that phrase anymore. It's a good phrase. Sound, biblical phrase. However, if you're born in America, some people think, you're a Christian. If you come and you sit in a church pew, look, you're a Christian. The word that has more bite to it The word that's a lot more biblical is saying, I am a disciple of Christ. That is, I am a learner. I am a follower. I am one who is constantly at the feet of Jesus, looking to learn, to grow, and to understand, and to mature. Do you see yourself that way? Paul says at the very core of who I am and what we are about, we need to see ourselves as God's slaves. With that comes an obligation. The second opportunity, or the second image gives us an opportunity. when Paul speaks of us as a fragrance of Christ. 2 Corinthians 3.14, again, thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. I want you to look at the next verse where it says, we are a fragrance of Christ to God. In other words, Paul is saying, I have been so clothed by Christ that through the Father I smell like Jesus. Wives, you typically have a more keen sense of smell than us guys. whenever I work out at home and I need to thereby take a shower, I am sometimes reminded that I don't smell myself and need to take care of such matters. You wives know what your husband's clothes smell like. Let's say they've not been sweating. Okay, let's not go there. You, the aroma of your spouse is enveloped in his clothing. It's as though God is saying, you are wearing the cologne of Jesus. I am a sweet-smelling fragrance of Jesus. to the Father. That's who I am. I am the savor, not Savior. I am the savor. I am the sweet-smelling aroma of Christ. First of all, to the Father. And then he says, among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. Now that's a rather unusual way to say all of humanity. There are only two kinds of people, those who are being saved, those who are perishing. And Paul says, you are the aroma of Christ among all of mankind. Now, speaking of those who are perishing, he says, you are, next verse, the aroma of death. In other words, because of the cologne of Christ that you wear, when other people are in your presence, they smell judgment. they realize their doom is coming. And so to you, to them, you have the smell of death about you. Same cologne, different effect. To those who are being saved, you smell like the sweetness of life because you are the reminder of the blood of Christ that bought them too. So wherever you go, you have an effect for Christ. You are the smell of death to those who are perishing. You are the smell of life to those who are being saved. At the very core of who I am is the reality that I am the saver of Christ. I am the sweet fragrance of the Lord Jesus. Now if you think about that for any length of time, you'll start trembling in your boots. I do. Because when I realized that kind of responsibility and I look at my heart, I look at my attitudes, I look at my actions, I look at my sometimes careless tongue, and I realize, oh God, I've been putting on some other kind of cologne. I've been walking around where I've been taking on a different kind of scent and I don't smell like the sweet fragrance of Christ to other people. Do you realize that? Has that reality set into you that obligation, that opportunity, that responsibility, and yet the reality of your life? Paul says there at the end of verse 16, who is adequate for these things? He has just exposed our soul Because you are not, by your own strength and power, you are not adequate. You are not sufficient. You are not competent. I'm not either. None of us are. And I'm so grateful for the next paragraph. Verse four, such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate, competent, sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God who made us adequate. In other words, You don't smell like the fragrance of Christ because you're a nice person, you're a good upstanding Christian person. No, you smell like Christ because God has covered you with his fragrance. And because of that, you are adequate, you are sufficient, you are competent to do what God has called you to do. because He has done it. He has accomplished it. It's not of yourself. Now, don't take your responsibility to respond to what God has given to you away, because that is vitally important. Let me ask this question of you. How do I become a better slave, a sweeter fragrance of Christ? Have you ever thought about that? If at the very core of my being, I need to understand who I am in Christ, and if Paul says, I am a slave of Christ, and I am the saver of Christ, These are things that I cannot do to myself. These are things that are done to me. He makes me his slave. He has bought me. He has clothed me with his cologne. But is there anything I can do to be a better slave or a more sweeter smelling fragrance? We're going to find the answer in verse 17, but before we get there, I want to go back to a phrase that I have intentionally overlooked in verse 14. Paul says, What is that sweet-smelling aroma? bring. It brings to other people the knowledge of Christ. That means that I cannot simply rely upon the outworking of my life to be that sweet fragrance of Christ. words must come forth from my mouth, because it is from those words that people understand the knowledge of Christ." So what Paul is saying here is, both with my life and with my lips, I am a slave of Christ and I am the fragrance of Christ. Right after Paul got saved, Acts chapter 9, It says immediately Paul began preaching in the synagogues. In Colossians, the end of chapter one, Paul says, we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ for this purpose. Also, I labor striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. His focus, His purpose, His delight and drive was to make the knowledge of Christ known. You are a sweet fragrance of Christ. The aroma of Jesus flows from your mouth as you live and as you speak of the Savior. How can I be a better slave? How can I be a better, sweeter fragrance for Christ? Look at verse 17. There are two negative things that I find here and two positive things. Paul says, for we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. There were peddlers, there were hucksters, there were shysters, there were snake oil salesmen, there were turn-a-quick-buck kind of false teachers in Corinth that were infiltrating their way into the church, seeking to defame Paul, steal his authority, and gain the kind of influence that Paul had in that church. They were usurpers. They were cheap tricksters. And Paul says, we are not like they are. They compromised the Word of God. They sought greedy gain from the Word of God. And so Paul says, I want you to live and I want you to speak without compromise and without greed. You see, these hucksters, these cheap salesmen sold half of the goods. And we see it in our day, sadly. In Christian stores all around this country, we see all of this drivel that proclaims, God loves you, God loves you, God loves you. I saw that on a marquee of a sign just yesterday. God loves you, God loves you, God loves you. My friends, we need to wake up to the fact that that is true for Christians. But for those who are perishing, those who are sinners, those who are enemies of God, God hates them. God's judgment is coming upon them. And we have sold half of the gospel by saying, God loves you. Well, we need to put the whole gospel package together. We need to tell people that God has a law. God has established his standard by which we must live. And that law reveals that by my own strength, I am unable to do it. And that law drives me to say, God, have mercy. That's the person that we preach. God loves you. God has a plan for you. That's the person who is ready to receive the mercy and the grace of God. Oh, it is abundant. It is free flowing. But it doesn't just come to everybody. These people, these false teachers, compromised the Word of God. They sold part of it to make a buck. They sold it with greed, with their own desires in mind. If you're involved in a business, you already realize that if you do not have the needs and the concerns of your customers, your clients in mind, if you have only your pocketbook that you're looking out for, well, you're not in business any longer. Paul said, we came to you with sincerity. We came to you honestly. with open hearts, not after greedy gain. Paul didn't take anything financially from these people that he had a right to, quote unquote, because he was more concerned about their souls than he was about how much money was in his bank account. So we learn from this that We are called to live and speak without compromise and without greed and with sincerity. That is, with honesty, with a genuine concern for other people. How do we become a better slave, a sweeter fragrance? Fourth, live and speak with faithfulness. Look at the end of verse 17. Paul says, as from sincerity, as from God, we speak in Christ, in the sight of God. Let me look at those last two prepositional phrases. In Christ speaks of my communion with Christ. When Paul says, I speak in Christ, he says, I am speaking in communion with Christ. I have a right relationship with Christ. I am speaking on his behalf. And then he says, he speaks in the sight of God. That is, before God's face. That is, He speaks as though God were looking over his shoulder, marking down every word he said, every comment he made. You've had the experience of being a second-hand recipient of information. Put yourself in the place of relaying that as second-hand information giver to someone else while the person who gave you that information initially is standing right beside you. If that first-hand information giver that gave it to you is standing right beside it as you were now giving that information to someone else, you're going to be very careful with the words you choose to make sure that you well represent what that first-person informer gave you. That's what Paul says. He says, we stand in the sight of God. It is as though God stands right beside me and I am proclaiming to you that which I understand to be true. Paul says, we spoke to you with men of sincere hearts, burdened for people, faithfully proclaiming that which is true. If I want to be a faithful, a better slave, and in a sweeter fragrance of Christ, don't compromise God's message. Don't speak of it or live it for simply greedy gain. You know, sometimes we see that when people have that attitude, I've had it myself, God forgive me. when, because of being a Christian, I expect a financial break from somebody else, looking for, what can I get out of this? No, Paul says, you want to be a better slave for Christ, a sweeter fragrance, then live your life, speak the truth of the gospel, without compromise, without greed, without concern for getting anything for yourself, Instead, live it and speak it with sincerity, honestly, and faithfully, completely. Archbishop Trent wrote, and I put this in your notes, like perfume betrays itself, so he whose name is perfume poured out cannot be hid. Oh, may the fragrance of Christ not be hidden in your life and in my life. May it be obvious, evident. You know what that requires? It requires that I get close enough to people that they smell Jesus. Let's pray. Dear Father, you are a good and gracious God to have redeemed us, to have brought us into this relationship with you. We don't deserve it. We realize that it is of your grace and your goodness. We thank you for it. Father, would you so stir us, so move in our hearts, that we understand very clearly who we are in Christ. And God, would you be gracious to help us respond to you as is only appropriate? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.