T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
458
SMELLING GOOD TO GOD
t L
A timely message for the believer
B y W illiam L. P ettingill
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, Photographed by George R. King.
I N THE fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the second chapter o f his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul makes an astonishing statement. He says: “ Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. I "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: “To thè one we are the savour of death unto death: and to the other the savour of life unto life.” Let us study this amazing passage together, and, : by God’s help, see somewhat of its indescribable sweet ness. The Victorious Paul “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ." From the viewpoint of natural wisdom, this man was anything but triumphant. In the flush of his young manhood as Saul, the proud, freeborn Roman citizen of Tarsus, “ no mean city,” he gave promise of great things. Long he had sat at the feet of the renowned Gamaliel. He afterward described those days: “I . . . profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more ex ceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:14). Had he continued in the direction in which he was going, he might have been the greatest rabbi in Jewry. But Saul gave up all of it. By obedience to a vision of Israel’s Messiah, whom he had hated, he became that Messiah’s slave in the bondage of love. Like Moses of old, this man, now become Paul the Apostle, “ es teemed the reproach of Christ greater riches” than any thing the world offered. Again, like Moses, he was willing to be accursed from Christ for his brethren according to the flesh (Ex. 32:32; Rom. 9:3). How could this be called "triumph” ? The world would not so designate it. Look at the record of Paul’s sufferings in 2 Corin
thians 11:23-33; read of his “labours more abundant,” of “stripes above measure,” of his frequent imprison ments. Said he: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, onee was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.” Consider the perils he endured; think of his weariness and painfulness, of his hunger and thirst and nakedness,, of his daily care of all the churches. How could Paul speak of himself as one always triumphant? “And maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." Savour is odor; it is fragrance; it is smell. Paul refers to the fragrance—the smell— which he brought to souls “ in every place.” He was a messenger of God to take the knowledge of Christ to men everywhere. “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ." This means that Paul himself had about him the fra grance of Christ. He "smelled good” to God . . . think o f it! “In them that are saved." Yes, of course, whenever through oUr efforts men are saved, this is pleasing to God.- In this we may Waft Heavenward a delightful scent. It surpasses all human imagination that we can thus bring pleasure to God. “And in them that perish." This is the strangest part of this passage. Even when our testimony is rejected, and by this rejection people perish; even in this We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ; even in this we "smell good” to God. It is not the attitude of the one who receives the message which determines God’s pleas ure; it is the faithfulness of the witness. Noah's Incense It is written in Hebrews 11:7 that “by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Noah did two
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