The Sweet Smell of Sacrifice

“I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18).

Men have a strange and wonderful relationship with cologne. It all started back when they were teenagers. Sometime around middle school, they actually want to be around girls and not keep them out of the treehouse. That’s also when they start using cologne for the first time. It usually starts with a quick splash of Dad’s Old Spice. But things escalate quickly. Before you know it, we buy our first bottle of Brut. That’s also when we guys buy into the lie that if a little smells good then a lot oughta be GREAT! (Hopefully, you’re not a middle age man and just hearing this for the first time!) The result is their aroma arrives about five minutes before we do. We also have a radioactive afterlife of almost an hour. Our aroma may be fragrant. But it is neither acceptable or pleasing.

In chapter four of his letter to his friends back in Philippi, Paul lets them know exactly what sort of fragrance God loves. “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (v18). No, the Philippians didn’t send him a bottle of Drakkar Noir or Axe Body Spray. They’ve dug deep in order to provide their founding pastor some practical help during his time behind bars. The result is a beautiful aroma that rises all the way to God’s nostrils in heaven. And He absolutely loves it. You see, there’s no sweeter smell to Jesus than when we sacrifice for others. What's that cologne you're wearing? Is that "Acceptable Offering"?

In many ways, this book is actually Paul’s thank you note to a little church he started a few years back. When he and his crew first rolled into this Macedonian seaport and began telling everyone about Jesus, things got crazy very quickly. His personal physician Dr. Luke writes all about it (Acts 16:12-40). The story includes a fashionista named Lydia, a demon-possessed girl who’s a victim of human trafficking, and a brutal prison guard. Throw in a citywide riot, a little torture, a dungeon, some midnight worship in the cellblock, an violent earthquake, a prison break, and a suicide attempt. I’m telling you, you REALLY need to read your Bible! There’s some whacky stuff in there!! When you Google “how to start a church,” this probably wouldn’t be the model you’d follow. But God uses the apostle to plant the first fellowship in Europe. 

When these Philippian believers get wind that Paul’s doing time in Caesar’s Supermax, they send their man Epaphroditus to Rome with a care package. He writes and thanks them, “I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus fate gifts you sent” (v18). Earlier in this letter, the apostle expresses his sincere appreciation for sending the Big E to his side. Now it’s time for him to go home. “I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need” (Phil 2:25). The Philippians didn’t just sacrifice to send this man to Paul, it almost cost him his life! “He nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me” (Phil 2:29). Now that Epaphroditus’ has recovered, the apostle stuffs this note of thanks into his pocket and sends him home.

A quick read of verse 18 might lead you to believe the Philippians gave Paul a bottle of Polo. He talks about how they’ve sent him “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (v18). The original Greek language here centers on the sense of smell. “Fragrant” is osme, which means odor, fragrance, and a sweet-smelling scent. Remember Mary’s extravagant act of worship for Jesus? She took a bottle of designer fragrance she had been saving and dumped it all over Christ. She “anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance (Gr. osme) of the perfume” (Jn 12:3). Imagine the beautiful bouquet in that house! 

Next the ESV translators use “offering,” but it’s actually another word (Gr. euodia) that makes you want to take a whiff of a sweet aroma. Interestingly, the other times we see this term in the NT, it’s always associated with a sacrificial act of worship. In his note to the Ephesian church, Paul says that Jesus’ love for us by offering Himself in our place is “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph 5:2). And we see how God spreads the scent of our Savior everywhere we go. “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance (Gr. osme) of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma (Gr. euodia) of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance (Gr. osme) from death to death, to the other a fragrance (Gr. osme) from life to life” (2Cor 2:14-16). The next time someone asks you what cologne you’re wearing, just say “Jesus.”

Unlike a teenage boy headed to a date, this particular aroma won’t choke a mule. It’s “a sacrifice acceptable to God” (v18). He actually LOVES the smell of the Philippians’ gift to Paul. When we give a present to someone, we always hope that it’s appropriate. We go out of our way to make sure it’s the right size and right color. Well, when we give sacrificially to help others, it’s always an appropriate gift to God. Giving to others is actually an act of worship. By giving to others, we actually are giving to God. Don’t believe me? Jesus told His posse that when we reach out and do something for those on the fringes of society, we’re actually doing it for Him even when we don’t realize it (Mt 25:35-40).

The Old Testament is full of sacrifices that smell great to God (Gen 8:20-21; Ex 29:18; Lev 1:9, 13, 17). The prophet Micah makes it clear that the Lord’s not looking for a barbecue grill full of steaks and burnt offerings (Mic 6:6-7). “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8). Doing justice and loving kindness means doing for those who need help. On this side of the cross, we’re able to offer spiritual sacrifices that please God because of who Jesus is and what He’s done (1Pet 2:5). As a matter of fact, the writer of Hebrews directly connects many of the big ideas in the OT with Jesus and His followers. He says NT believers offer sacrifices similar to those at the temple. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Heb 13:16). He just loves the sweet smell of sacrifice.

Grown men learn to go easy on the cologne (hopefully). Paul says we don’t have to worry about putting on too much when it comes to a pleasing aroma to God. We can splash on all the sacrifice or giving we’ve got. Our Savior offered Himself for you and me. His Dad absolutely LOVED it! Feel free to splash on as much as you want. Go crazy. Our Heavenly Father can’t get enough of the sweet smell of sacrifice. What's that cologne you're wearing? Is that "Acceptable Offering"?

Love on the Move

And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2).

Paul has just told all of Jesus followers to work on their God imitation (Eph 5:1).  One of the key ways to impersonate someone is to mimic their walk.  Some folks are so good at impressions that they don’t even need to talk.  They just walk.  The apostle lets us know that walking like Jesus is a key to imitating Him.  “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (v2).  Walking like Jesus means loving like Jesus.  His love is SO much more than a warm, fuzzy feeling for others.  It’s love with legs.  It’s love in action.  It’s love that does.

It’s love on the move.

If we’re going to imitate God, the apostle tells us to “walk in love, as Christ loved us” (v2).  He uses one of his favorite verbs: peripateo.  It literally means “to walk” (-pateo) “around” (peri-) or move about.  Matt describes how Jesus walked around (Gr. peripateo) the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Mt 4:18).  It’s also a way to describe how to live and behave.  The term hints at a how you consistently conduct your life.  Walking like Jesus and imitating Him as one of His followers shouldn’t be a rare occurrence.  There’s a consistency.  That doesn’t mean you won’t stumble as you walk.  That doesn’t mean you won’t walk faster or slower at certain times.  That doesn’t mean that you might not walk in the wrong direction occasionally.  But there’s a consistency over the course of our lives of moving about like Jesus.

As I said before, this word is one of Paul’s faves.  Here in this letter, he’s talked about how we were the original Walking Dead, stumbling and bumbling around in our own sin, before God pumped life into our veins (Eph 2:1).  Once Jesus brought us to life, we must stop staggering around like unbelievers (Eph 4:17) and get moving or “walk (Gr. peripateo),” doing the stuff God has set the table for us to do (Eph 2:10).  We’re to “walk (Gr. peripateo) in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph 4:1).  We’re to “walk (Gr. peripateo)” around shining Jesus’ light (Eph 5:8).  We’re to be smart about how we go through life, “walk (Gr. peripateo), not as unwise but as wise” (Eph 5:15).

It’s love on the move.  

That’s what it means to walk around like Jesus.  Remember, the Son of God didn’t sit still.  He was consistently on the move.  The Second Member of the Trinity left the palatial comforts of heaven to come to this sinful sewer and clean up what we trashed with our sin.  He moved.  He came.  And once He hit the scene, He didn’t stop moving.  He was always on the move.  That’s because Christ “came to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10).  You don’t seek by sitting around.  You don’t save from the Barcalounger.  You get moving.  To imitate Jesus is to get on your feet and start walking.

It’s love on the move. 

Jesus’ motivation for His mission is His descending, one-way love for us.  Three times in these two verses, Paul wants to get it through our thick little skulls just how much God loves us.  We’re His “beloved children” (Eph 5:1).  We’re to “walk in love as Christ loved us” (v2).  While one (“beloved”) is an adjective, another is a noun (“love”) and the last one is a verb (“loved”), they are all variations of agape.  In general terms, they describe a sincere love, an interest or appreciation for something or someone.  It’s not a passive, let-the-game-come-to-you kind of love.  This is self-sacrificial love in action.  That’s why some translations use the term “charity.”  Agape does.  Agape moves.  Agape has legs.

It’s love on the move.

Let’s make sure we know what love is NOT.  Again, it’s not a fluttery feeling of affection in our stomach.  That’s not to say there’s not an emotional component to it.  But we don’t love God so that He’ll love us.  There’s absolutely nothing we can muster up that makes us good enough to be loved.  As a matter of fact, Paul says exactly the opposite in a letter to his buddies in Rome.  “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).  Not when we got our act together and loved God up in an extra special way.  Nope.  “While we were still sinners.”  While we were still rebels.  While we were the most unlovable.  That’s when He loved you.  That’s when He loved me.  And He loved us by doing something.  Jesus came and died on a cross for our sins.  That’s love with legs.  That’s love in action.

It’s love on the move. 

But love on the move doesn’t just stop when it comes my way.  The night before He expressed that love on a bloody Roman cross, Jesus told His boys that He had something new for them to do.  “Love one another; just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35).  The new part of the command is a self-sacrificial love in action.  He’s telling us that our love for each other must not be a transactional, I’ll-do-for-you-if-you’ll-do-for-me love.  It’s love with no strings attached.  It’s love in action.  It’s love with legs.  

It’s love on the move.

Jesus’ best friend can’t write enough about His Savior’s love and its implications on our lives.  The Apostle John is a non-stop fire hose when it comes to God’s love.  “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1Jn 4:10).  And it doesn’t stop there.  We let the love flow because Jesus drenched us in His love first (1Jn 4:19).  “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1Jn 3:16).  If I REALLY love Jesus, I can’t help but love others (1Jn 4:21).  Johnny wrote even more about this love in his Gospel (Jn 15:12-13, 17).  Jesus loves us.  And the best way we can express our love and gratitude in return is by loving others.   

Meanwhile back in Ephesians, Paul writes that Jesus expressed His love for us by being “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (v2).  The apostle is pointing back to the various sacrifices Yahweh commanded to Moses in Leviticus.  As the priest would burn the offering, the smoke would rise and be “a pleasing aroma to the LORD” (Lev 4:31).  Rather than be bored with the book of Leviticus, we should be in awe of it.  This complicated list of rules and laws points to Jesus, the Ultimate Sacrifice for Sin.  Christ is the Hero of the entire Bible.  Jesus said so Himself (Jn 5:39; Lk 24:27).  Scripture is the story of love in action.  Love with legs.

It’s love on the move.

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul uses this same phrase, “a fragrant offering,” over in Philippians.  Here he’s talking about something these folks back in Macedonia have done for him.  The Philippians were expressing their love in action by sending Paul money and practical help while he was sitting in a Roman slammer.  Their love in action floated up to the heavenly throne room like a beautiful perfume to the Lord. 

That’s love on the move.

So what do you think?  Agree?  Disagree?  Would love to hear from you.  Post a comment below.