Zoe – the aroma of Christ!
How do some people get to smell so nice? Just a whiff is enough to alert us to their presence. Is it just me, or does everyone else always smell so much nicer? Do you ever wonder, what do they do, that we don't?
In the UK we spend nearly £8 billion a year on trying to make ourselves, or others, smell nice. The fragrance counter has a bewildering choice of aftershaves, perfumes, Eau de toilette, fragrances... 
All with exotic names that only work when said in a French accent:
•	In French, Eau de toilette. Or in English, Toilet Water.
•	In French – Chanel. Or - English Channel.
•	Diesel - Diesel
•	Épice ancienne - Old Spice
Just when you think you’ve made your choice, how do you want it? Spray, puffer, splash it on, industrial-quantity backpack sprayer…? Or, are you going step into your own fragrance cloud?
The fragrance industry is all about applying something to the outside, shell of your body, to mask what comes from within. It’s all about the external.
No-one has, to my knowledge, launched the Suppository Version: Shove it up yer bum and smell nice for days! Suppositoire, the new fragrance for men who try too hard.
Today the fragrance we’re talking about is Zoe, Zoe being the Greek word for the life God always intended for you. It turns out, following Christ makes you smell nice.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15: “We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ.” What did he mean?
First, Paul began in v.14 by saying, “Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
The visual concept he’s got is a victory parade – a triumphal procession.  The victorious, conquering army would parade into the city. Foot soldiers, archers, cavalry, horses and chariots, and then the final honour, the triumphant General, riding on a powerful stallion. It was the ultimate projection of power. 
Paul says its like we, as Christ-followers, are in that victory parade. We are those victorious foot soldiers and Christ is our General of Generals.  We are in ‘Christ’s triumphal procession’.
But our battles have been won, not through violence or armed struggle, but through the sacrifice of our Commanding General, Jesus Christ. Rather than see US killed, because of His love for us, His troops, He alone laid down His life for us. Jesus became the aroma of death. 
War smells. Death has a smell. If you’ve ever been with someone in their last moments as they’ve died you will probably have noticed the change in smell as the body organs stop working and release gases. 
Today, because of Covid, some of you are experiencing far too much of the aroma of death. You’re washing more, spraying more, applying more fragrance to mask the aroma of death. To you, is the fragrance f Zoe – the aroma of Christ.
So what’s the triumph?  Resurrection! Zoe life. Verse 16: Christ is the “aroma that brings life”  No wonder there’s the ultimate victory parade – triumphal procession. And you and I are in it because we are marching with Christ. 
His victory has become our victory too; His victory over sin, is now your victory over sin too; His victory over disease, even death, is your victory.
But why all the talk of aroma? Two things:
First, the parade included not just the victors, but also the defeated. Captured enemy were paraded in chains so EVERYONE could see who had won and who had lost.
Second, the victorious troops would be smothered in incense and sweet-smelling flowers. After months living out, and all the smells of battle, now, as victors, they would get to smell real nice. As they paraded in, their aroma – which they only possessed because of who’s side they were on – would be smelt by all in the city.
By contrast, the losers, in their chains and denied their dignity, would small rank. You could tell who was on which side simply by their aroma. If, like me, you are a follower of Christ, you have the aroma of Christ – and its noticeable.
But notice again, it’s the ‘aroma of CHRIST’. It’s HIS aroma, it comes from Him.  It becomes our aroma when we are with Christ. When you hug someone who has a strong aroma – an aftershave, perfume, or maybe they’ve been BBQing and have the smell of BBQ smoke and burnt flesh – you then take on something of their aroma.
Before Christ, in Old Testament times, people had a hunch that sacrifice was important to God. So they sacrificed and burnt on the alter what was precious to them. The smell/ aroma of burning flesh, their burnt offerings, rising up to the heavens. 
What they hadn’t yet fully grasped, yes, sacrifice was key to relationship with God, but it was not about THEIR sacrifice. It was all about God’s sacrifice.  Jesus Christ, God Himself, was to be the sacrifice. He was to be the burnt offering. Hence the aroma is that of Christ.
And when you and I spend time with Christ, His aroma rubs off on us. Hence why in v.15 it says, “For WE are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ.”  He has become our sacrifice. His aroma becomes our aroma. That’s why one of our values is Intimacy – intimacy with God.
Again, in verse 15: “For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”  Salvation is not an event – like birth, your 21st birthday, wedding service. It’s a lifetime. Not so much a wedding event as a lifelong marriage.  Salvation is continuous, on-going. We are continuing to be saved. That’s why Paul wrote to the Philippians to say, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Take it seriously, live it daily. Work at it.
And just as when someone with a striking fragrance enters the room and everyone notices, so when we have the aroma of Christ, it is noticeable. Paul said,
“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.”
Just as, in that victory parade, it’s evident just by their aroma who is on what side
so the aroma of Christ distinguishes those that have His Zoe and those that don’t. 
It’s not that Christ determines who has Zoe life and who doesn’t. 
It’s that when we smell it on others, we realise whether we have it or not.
In that way, those that have the aroma of Christ bring the realisation of life or death.
What aroma are you giving off?  If I eat a lot of garlic you’ll know about it the next day. And if I go on the Broccoli Diet, O’ boy! I think that’s why Daniel survived the lion’s den. No amount of Odour Pong will cover these smells. I’m still going to reek. Let’s not be those that smother the aroma of Christ with our own putrid smells
So, we end standing at the fragrance counter. I invite you to choose Zoe
                  DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk