I spent a lot of years in my earlier ministry working with youth. Once, we took a trip to Appalachia and put on Vacation Bible School for kids. We were working with a youth group from another state. It was so fun working with them. We stayed in the dorms of a local college that had a lot of woods around it. At night, the critters would come out like frogs, toads, bugs, raccoons, and skunks, among other things.
A number of the teens, especially the boys, would love to mess around with these critters. Now teenage boys sometimes aren’t always the sharpest knives in the drawer. One boy got the notion that it would be fun to chase a skunk. I think you know what happened next. And yes, we could smell him down the hall and into the next day! That smell is one of the most rancid and offensive smells on earth. It will grab you and make you think about nothing else. All you want to do is get away from it!
At its most basic level true Christianity is offensive to everyone. Due directly to the influence of God’s word this great nation has had enormous blessings from him for so long that we don’t know how offensive it really is. But the apostle Paul was a stone-cold realist about it. In 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 he says, “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” Do the claims of Christ in his gospel “smell” like life or death to you?
The Bible is very clear why the gospel of Christ “smells” like death to some people and like life to others. It has to do with our nature. Though in these latest times it seems that people think they are wiser than God and “know” things that God really didn’t think to put in his word, God can promise you that you ain’t that special. And it doesn’t matter what your “lived experience” is, whether you grew up poor or wealthy, black or white, hispanic or Asian, educated or not, God literally breaks down people into only two categories: sinners who know Christ’s claims and trust him or sinners who don’t.
Here’s a test: Does it bother you that God is going to hold you accountable for every last word you speak (Matthew 12:33-36)? Or that God demands that you take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5)? Or that God is going to judge all your secrets (Romans 2:15-16)? Then the claims of Christ’s rightful authority over every single bit of your life “smell” like death to you. OR…
Do you acknowledge that God will judge you for all these things and he has the right to (Romans 2:1-5)? Moreover, do you fear him properly to cry out to him for mercy (Proverbs 1:7; Psalm 51:1)? Do you find this mercy in the grace of God where he has transferred your sin and guilt to Christ and punished him for it in your place (Ephesians 2:1-9)? Now do you want to receive Christ’s work in his life, death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins and his granting his righteousness to you (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 1:12)? Then the claims of Christ rightful authority over every single bit of your life “smell” like life to you.
Now do you understand why true Christianity, when it bumps up against our nature as fallen, sinful human beings, would and ought to be offensive to us? Do you want it to stay that way? If not, then Jesus commands you: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
