God Smells Series

Lance Armstrong won an unprecedented seven consecutive Tour de Frances. During his fifth consecutive victory in the 2003 Tour de France, in the fifteenth stage of the competition, he took a severe tumble off his bike.

It occurred when a race fan was leaning over the course barrier to get a better view, and a plastic bag in that person’s hand snagged Armstrong’s handlebars. He went sprawling onto the street.

His closest competitor at the time was Jan Ullrich – only 15 seconds behind. This was Ullrich’s perfect chance to take the lead. But Ullrich did something non-cyclists would have trouble understanding. He stopped and halted the competition while Armstrong got to his feet, checked his bike, and began peddling. At the end of that stage, Armstrong had extended his lead to 67 seconds.

What you need to know is that waiting for a fallen competitor is not a rule in bicycle racing. It is, however, part of an unwritten code of etiquette that cyclists observe.

Perhaps one thing that caused Ullrich to honor that code is the fact that two years earlier in the 2001 Tour de France, it was he who had suffered a bad crash on the thirteenth stage of the race. At that time, it was Lance Armstrong who stopped the race, and waited while Ullrich recovered and remounted his bike.

We should extend sacrificial love to others, because Jesus has already extended it to us.

It is when we imitate Jesus through this kind of sacrificial love that the essence of love wafts through the halls of heaven.

The Sweet Incense of Salvation

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

The Sweet Incense of Salvation

15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

2 Corinthians 2:14-16

The greatest gift is not our offering nor is it even our love.

The greatest gift we can give is the gift of God’s love. We carry in us this gift – it is the gift of salvation.

We are the sweet incense of salvation. You and I are what God is most proud of for in us God smells the aroma of his son. The more we follow Jesus the more like him we are. But this is a two sided coin. To some we are the smell of death. To others we are the fragrance of life.

On April 28, 1999, just eight days after the Columbine shooting, shock rock singer Marilyn Manson was scheduled to perform a concert in Iowa City, Iowa.

And since Manson’s music was prominent in the lives of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, there was a lot of emotion surrounding his concert. Mark Forstrom, a local Youth Minister in the area wrote about what happened. He wrote, "The police, the media, and the community began to prepare for angry protests and ugly brawling between Christians and Marilyn Manson supporters."

Suddenly, something totally unexpected happened. Emerging thru the vehicle of e-mail, another local movement suddenly sprang to life— that the only way to truly change our moral climate is to soften hard hearts. (The hearts of Manson fans have been hardened by their perception that Christians are mean-spirited, hateful, and judgmental.) Thus, the idea was birthed to unravel that stereotype by encouraging Christians to show the pure LOVE of Christ to these fans in tangible ways.