Savage Street Church of Christ

11092014AndGodCreatedAromasDonRuhl

And God Created Aromas 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • November 9, In the year of our Lord, 2014

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – No Suggestions

Prelude: 

1. Kelly Crisp and I smelled something wonderful last week 
   1. at a restaurant where our families had gathered to eat.
   2. I had taken my grandchildren and their cousins, Kelly and Nash Crisp,
      1. outside while we waited for our food.
      2. Shortly after we walked outside,
         1. both Kelly and I got a whiff of a strong smelling flower
         2. that I have smelled before in Grants Pass, especially this past Spring.
            1. Why we were smelling it in the Fall, I do not know.
            2. We both wanted to discover the source, and
               1. she began diligently
               2. to sniff every bush and plant at the restaurant, but
                  1. her cousins and brother were eager to play,
                  2. so we left and went to a play area.
2. However, it got me to thinking. 
   1. God created aromas.
   2. God created our noses.

Persuasion: 

1. God Created Aromas 
   1. What would the world be like without aromas?
      1. Ask someone who has lost the ability to smell.
      2. Not only would we miss the good aromas, but
         1. we would walk into danger, because
         2. some odors warn us of something very bad for us.
   2. Aromas act as signals either of something good or bad.
      1. We smell something wonderful to eat, but
      2. once it passes through us,
         1. it does not smell wonderful.
         2. It actually signals danger.
   3. Is it not interesting that
      1. what is good for us smells good, but
      2. what is bad for us smells bad?
         1. It is as though someone created this world, and
         2. wanted us to enjoy life to the fullest,
            1. by attracting us to good things and
            2. by repelling us away from bad things.
   4. I know that some smells are matters of taste, if you will, but
      1. I speak of things in general.
      2. We recognize that things put out an odor, and
         1. those odors identify the item.
         2. Why did the Creator make things that way?
2. God Created Our Noses 
   1. Remember God created Adam from the dust of the ground, but
      1. that Adam did not have life until…when?
         
         7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Gen 2.7),
         
      2. showing that our noses do more than just smell.
   2. God knew what He was doing when He created out noses.
      1. He put them right in front so that we can follow aromas to their source.
      2. Whereas if He had put one nostril on each side of our heads,
         1. that would have been very confusing, and
         2. kind of weird looking.
3. Why Did God Create Aromas and Noses? 
   1. After the Lord destroyed the world with a flood,
      1. saving only Noah and his family,
      2. Noah did something that the Lord liked,
         
         20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done (Gen 8.20–21).
         
         1. We will never experience what Noah and his family experienced.
         2. Why? Because Noah made burnt offerings to the Lord,
            1. which He smelled as a soothing aroma.
            2. Even as you like to smell a BBQ,
               1. so the Lord does.
               2. However, it was not so much the offerings, but
                  1. Noah’s heart that moved him
                  2. to show his thankfulness to the Lord for his salvation.
      3. Noah loved God.
         1. God loved Noah.
         2. Therefore, God loved the gift Noah offered.
   2. Then as you read the Law of Moses,
      1. you will read of numerous sacrifices
      2. that declare they were a sweet aroma to the Lord,
         
         18 “And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD” (Exo 29.18).
         
   3. Ephesians 5 shows that sacrifices mean something very deep to God, for
      1. the time eventually arrived
      2. when He made a sacrifice.
         1. His Son obeyed Him,
         2. making a sacrifice
            1. that appeased the wrath of God,
            2. freeing us from such an awful fate,
               
               2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Eph 5.2).
               
   4. Even as God decided not to destroy the world again with a flood
      1. after He smelled the sacrifices of Noah,
      2. so the God of heaven has promised
         1. not to destroy anyone who mingles himself
         2. with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Exhortation: 

1. You see, your sacrifices are now a sweet-smelling aroma to God. 
   1. Philippians 4 shows how the Philippian church
      1. sacrificed to help Paul preach the Gospel in other places, and
      2. how God experienced those sacrifices,
         
         18 Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God (Phi 4.18).
         
         1. God knows what it is like to sacrifice.
         2. Therefore, when you sacrifice for His sake,
            1. you touch Him.
            2. You affect Him in ways you may have never imagined.
   2. Revelation 8 shows
      1. that your prayers arise before God
      2. as a sweet-smelling incense to Him.
         1. They are so sweet-smelling to Him,
         2. that He stops heaven to smell what you offer to Him,
            1. kind of like Kelly Crisp and I
            2. stopping to smell that aroma,
               
               1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand (Rev 8.1–4).
               
   3. Second Corinthians 2 explains
      1. that what we do, not only is fragrant to the Lord, but
      2. to the people who benefit from what we do,
         
         14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? (2Co 2.14–16).
         
         1. Some people love our work as Christians, but
         2. some people are turned off.
            1. To them it is like the smell of death.
            2. They find the sacrifice of Jesus Christ highly offensive.
2. Let what God has done for you be a sweet-smelling aroma. 
   1. Glorify God for how He has created us, our olfactory system included.
   2. Offer your life as a sweet-smelling aroma to Him.
      1. How do you think that will affect your relationship with Him?
      2. How do you think that will affect your life?
3. Avoid becoming a putrid order in His nostrils. 
   1. Did you know the expression,
   2. “Holier than thou,” comes from the Bible?
      1. Isaiah 65 speaks of people who turn the Lord off.
      2. He does not like their attitude, and
         1. we want to avoid this at all costs, because
         2. you know what campfire smoke is like to your nose,
            1. so having the “Holier than thou” attitude
            2. is like campfire smoke to Him,
               
               5 “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself,
               Do not come near me,
               For I am holier than you!‘
               These are smoke in My nostrils,
               A fire that burns all the day.”
               (Isa 65.5)
               
               1. What do you think will happen to those who
               2. become like smoke in the nostrils of God?