The Ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Church - Part 4 — Zac Poonen

The Aroma of Christ as a Witness

Let's turn to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 2 and verse 14. 2nd Corinthians 2 verse 14. Thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved, among those who are perishing. To one an aroma from death to death, to another an aroma from life to life. To be a witness for Christ on earth.

You know these were the last words that Jesus spoke before He went up to heaven. He said, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be my witnesses. And like I said before, there is a difference between bearing witness, which is just with words, and being a witness, which is life plus words.

And I think that's beautifully expressed in this expression, the aroma of Christ. That means when people get near me and smell me, spiritually I mean, they get the aroma of Christ. But there is something about Jesus that unconsciously comes off.

You know how when people use a perfume, they don't have to sort of talk about it or anything. You just pass by them and you get it. That's aroma. It's a beautiful expression. The aroma of Christ. I want to encourage all of you to meditate on it.

And if you are married, ask your husband or wife first of all whether they are getting that aroma. And then others around us. It's good to ask ourselves. What's the aroma people are getting when they hear us, when they meet us?

Not just with our words. You see, words can, those who are more gifted can speak more anointed words. But I've seen the aroma of Christ in humble brothers and sisters who have no gift of ministry. There is something about their bearing and the way they conduct themselves.

I mean with some I've seen it in they are being so alert to see a need somewhere and immediately step in to do the job. You know there is a lot of controversy in Christian groups about what did Jesus mean when he said you got to wash one another's feet.

And there are some churches that actually take a bucket of water and get everybody to take off their socks and again wash their clean feet which are already clean. That's not what Jesus did. Jesus was washing dirty feet.

They were wearing sandals those days. Nobody wore socks. And the point is there was a job to be done and Jesus spotted it and quickly jumped to do it. When all the others were sort of sitting around, either they didn't think about it.

I mean it was common custom among the Jews to wash people's feet. And I know living in India if you walk through the villages, your feet are really dusty by the time the roads are all full of dust. And it's very refreshing to have your feet washed before you sit down for a meal.

And that was a custom there. And that's why there was a basin of water there and a towel. But the point is to see a need and quickly jump in to do it. That's the meaning of you must wash one another's feet if you want to understand the meaning of that.

To be alert to see a need somewhere in a person or when you are visiting a home or in a church. To always be alert. Now we are very alert to see our own need. Very very alert. I mean the race of Adam doesn't need any education in that.

But to be alert to see a need there which I can meet. And it may be a dirty job I have to do like washing people's feet. Sure. To immediately do it. So that's an example of the aroma of Christ. I have seen that in some people who have no gift of the word.

And they have challenged me. They ministered to me without their knowing it. Think of that. So don't think it's only those who can preach the word who can bless people. You can bless people if you allow the Holy Spirit to so fill you with Christ.

You meditate on the life of Jesus. Every aspect of the life of Jesus. And you see your need. Acknowledge your need. And allow the Holy Spirit to transform you till you become like Him. Little by little by little.

It's not going to happen overnight. But if you work at it, you'll make a lot of progress before Christ comes back. And that's my goal. And that should be your goal as well. So keep this phrase, the aroma of Christ, as something you want to pursue.

Not just something you meditate on at the end of this message. But something you want to pursue all your life. The aroma of Christ. It's been a very challenging phrase for me for many many years. And if you pursue it, we'll get there.

If you don't pursue it, we'll be our own stinking self. Which aroma has probably already been given out a lot to many people. The wonderful message of the gospel is that can be changed to the aroma of Christ.

Christ’s Pattern: Death, Resurrection, and the Christian Life

So when we think of the aroma of Christ, you know, the Bible tells us to look at Jesus as our example. There are two passages of scripture. One is Hebrews 12. I've always said to people, whenever you read the Old Testament, remember Hebrews 11 .40.

Very important verse. When you read of the great saints in the Old Testament, remember Hebrews 11 .40, which says, God has provided something better for us. Because Hebrews 11 is called the great chapter, the heroes of faith.

All Christians know Hebrews 11 as the chapter of the heroes of faith. And imagine hearing about the heroes of faith and at the end of it reading in the last verse, that God has provided something better for us.

Something better for us than Joseph or Daniel or David or anybody in the Old Testament. And that better thing is described in the next four verses. That we can run the race. Chapter 12 verse 1 and 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who endured the cross.

That's the way the aroma comes out. It says, I crucify the nature of Adam, which is called the flesh. As I crucify that, the aroma of Christ comes forth. Whenever there is a death, there will be a resurrection.

The aroma of Christ is manifested in resurrection power. And if I am willing to go down into death, there will be a resurrection. And if the aroma of Christ does not come forth in me, it's because I have not consciously put to death what the Bible calls the flesh.

And where there is no death, there is no resurrection. And the aroma is only in the resurrection. So, there is a root to this aroma. Through death to resurrection which brings the aroma. And I have a choice in that every day I am tempted.

I have the opportunity to put my flesh to death. Galatians 5 .24. Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts. That is the road to spirituality and the aroma of Christ.

And it's almost as though God is asking me, will you exchange the stink of Adam for the aroma of Christ? And do you realize that in the moment of temptation, if I yield to temptation, I am saying to God, no, I prefer the stink of Adam.

That's actually what a person is saying when he yields to any temptation, whether in his thoughts, or the way he responds to somebody who is angry, or whether he watches something filthy on the internet, or whatever it is, anything, or when you keep a bitterness, or a wrong attitude towards somebody, or when you are going around gossiping, what you are telling God, I prefer the stink of Adam to the aroma of Christ.

I know you have asked me to crucify it, but right now I don't feel like doing that, because I prefer that. And then we wonder after so many years, why in the world is the aroma of Christ not coming forth from me?

It will never come, not in the next 50 years. Because it's a moment by moment choice. And the decisions you have made in those moments of choice in past years have determined what you are today. Every one of us is as holy as we decided to be in the past few years in the decisions we made in the moments of temptation.

So if you find someone who is holier than you, you can be pretty sure that man or that woman has made certain decisions in the past concerning crucifying the flesh, which you didn't make. You preferred the stink of Adam, he preferred the aroma of Christ.

So that's the reason. And God is always putting that choice before us. Like Adam had a choice, you can go to this street or this street. And we have that choice before us every single day. And that's the meaning of taking up the cross.

Taking up the cross means putting something to death. If you saw a man walking with a cross down in Jerusalem 2 ,000 years ago, you know where he was going. He was going to be killed. So taking up the cross means putting something to death so the aroma of Christ can come forth.

That's why when it says here, we have to run the race looking at Jesus. And there could be 101 things mentioned about Jesus like He raised the dead, He fed the 5 ,000, He preached spiritual sermons. The Holy Spirit ignores all that and says one thing, He endured the cross.

That's the one thing out of all the things that Jesus did that's emphasized here as the thing that we must remember when we run this race. You think people are pursuing that? The Christian world is full of people who are trying to find out how to do miracles and how to heal the sick and how to preach like Jesus and how to do all types of things.

And that's why you find so little of the aroma of Christ that you find in even so-called great saints and great preachers. I mean among the great preachers I've met in my life, I think I can count on my fingers the number of people I've met who manifested the aroma of Christ.

That total freedom from the love of money and humility and approachability and all these things. It's so rare to find in great preachers which shows that they haven't pursued after Christ. So that's one passage.

The other is 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 21. It says Christ suffered. You've been called for this purpose. What have I been called for? I've been called for this purpose. In the previous verse it says to do what is right and suffer for it.

That's the last sentence in verse 20. When you do what is right and you suffer for it and you patiently endure it. And you didn't do anything wrong. You did what was right and yet you suffered. And you didn't make a big issue over it.

You endured it. You find favor with God. And then it says you were actually called for this purpose because Christ who never did anything wrong also suffered. And he has left an example for you to follow in his steps.

Who committed no sin. Who when he was reviled, verse 23, did not revile in return. When he suffered he did not utter any threats. He just kept committing his cause to him who judges righteously. It's a great example to follow.

So there are these two passages at least which tell us to follow in Jesus' footsteps. So therefore we must look at the earthly life of Jesus and study it and meditate on it. It's very important because that is the light which gives us direction in the world.

John chapter 1 verse 4 says, In Christ was life and that life was the light of man. So if I don't look at his earthly life I have no light. I can study the scriptures. You'll never know the scriptures better than the devil.

He knows it better than everyone else. So the study of scriptures is good if it leads you to the life of Christ. If it leads you only to the knowledge of scripture and the knowledge of theology like multitudes of bible study groups and fellowships sit down studying.

It always interests me how people spend hours studying the bible and still lose their temper and fight and quarrel at home. They don't see the disconnect between the way they are living and they study the scriptures.

So that's because they've not studied the scriptures to see the life of Jesus. They've studied the scriptures to get knowledge. In the Old Testament that's all they could do. God's word was a lamp to the feet and light to the path.

But in the New Testament the light is not just God's word, it is Christ. In Him was life and that life was the light of man. So I don't have much respect for a man who knows the scriptures. Because then I've got to respect the devil who knows the scriptures better than anybody else.

I respect a man in whom the life of Jesus is manifest. Because that's the light. The light is not just knowledge of the word. That's one of the great deceptions of our day and you find a whole lot of carnal Christians.

I've seen that in every country in the world who sit down regularly to bible study. This doctrine, that doctrine, concordances and this and that and the other. And they think they are great saints because they study the scriptures and they are lovers of money, they lose their temper, they have dirty thoughts in their mind.

These things don't seem to bother them. I'm absolutely amazed what a work the devil has done in fooling these Christians to think they are spiritual just because they come regularly for bible study. And because they study the portion of the bible that is allotted to them.

It's a great deception. I believe in the study of the bible. I've studied this bible for 53 years. But I've tried to see the life of Jesus in it. And not just some doctrines and etc, etc. So I want to encourage you to study the scriptures.

I believe that you should take a bible with you for every single meeting. I see so many people in America now, they come without a bible to a meeting. I'm amazed at that. We must have a bible whenever we go to a meeting.

And we study the bible to see the life of Jesus. When I see the life of Jesus, I see He lived on earth for 33 and a half years. And all those 33 and a half years, He lived without sin. That's what we read in 1 Peter 2, if you remember.

To follow in His steps who committed no sin. Not to follow in His steps who raised the dead. To follow in His steps who committed no sin. So that's the main thing emphasized there. The 33 and a half years, He manifested the fruit of the spirit.

That's the aroma of Christ. He manifested love for the unlovely. He manifested such joy that before He went to the cross, He said, I want to share my joy with you. Peace and long suffering and all the fruit of the spirit was manifested for 33 and a half years.

And we also see He had a ministry where He fulfilled the Father's will with mighty anointed preaching and miracles and everything else that the gifts of the spirit. So He had the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit.

So there's no need to argue which of these two should we have. And Christendom is full of people emphasizing this or that. You know, some people are always talking about the gifts of the spirit and some people say that's not important.

The fruit of the spirit is important. Actually, let's get the answer from Jesus. What did He have? Did He have the fruit of the spirit or did He have the gifts of the spirit? The answer is He had both.

But He had the fruit of the spirit for 33 and a half years and He had the gifts of the spirit for three and a half years. So you get an idea of the relative importance of one over the other. He had the fruit of the spirit for ten times as long as He had the gifts of the spirit.

And I found that, you know, I've talked to as a teacher of God's word, I tried to balance my teaching by looking at the example of Jesus. You know, emphasizing the things He emphasized in His life and in His preaching and studying the New Testament to see what are the things emphasized in the New Testament.

The Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit in Proper Proportion

I remember once, as an aside, let me say this. Somebody asked me, Brother Zach, why don't you preach a message on healing the sick? I said, if you can show me one message that Jesus preached on healing the sick, I'll preach it.

Or if you can show me one message that any of the apostles preached on healing the sick, I'll preach it. Show it to me. In some episode, somewhere. In fact, there's only one verse on healing the sick in the New Testament episode and that's in James chapter 5.

Everything else is about holiness. And I want to have the same proportion in my life as God's word. Because it's the Holy Spirit who inspired that word and the Holy Spirit, when He fills me, will give me the same proportion of truth.

And I also tell them this. I see Jesus healed thousands of people. But He never preached a sermon on healing. Today we have thousands of sermons on healing and hardly anybody healed. I said, that's the difference.

And you see how completely topsy-turvy and upside-down Christendom is. I believe in healing, if you can heal the sick. I remember one brother came to our church and was very zealous and said, Brother Zach, we need to have more healing.

I said, go right ahead. Heal the sick. Nobody's going to stop you from healing the sick here. But don't keep complaining why somebody else is not doing it. If you have a burden, go ahead and heal the sick.

I mean, if a sick person is healed by you, you think he'll object? Certainly not. But this complaining, why don't you have the gift of healing, why don't you emphasize the gift of healing, it's a lot of rubbish.

If you have a burden, I remember reading in scripture how Nehemiah had a burden. You know what for? He said, O Lord, the walls of Jerusalem are broken down and I'm really concerned about it. Really, Nehemiah, go and build them.

So that's exactly what I told this brother. You have a burden that there's no healing, go right ahead and heal the sick. And if God's called you, He'll do it. But if you've got a question, why isn't somebody else doing it?

I said, Brother, why aren't you doing it? That's the question. So I see in the life of Jesus, if I get the life of Jesus in its correct proportion and balance in my life, I'll be truly Christ-like and I'll have the aroma of Christ in my life.

Otherwise, I can be so influenced. You know, like in the media, I'm convinced that journalists in the secular media are all trying to influence our opinion about various things that happen, particularly in the political world.

And the same way I find with a lot of Christian preachers. The way they preach is to try and influence our thinking along the line that they believe is right. So I don't allow these fellows to brainwash me.

I won't allow any preacher to brainwash me because I immediately compare what he says with Jesus Christ. And because I've read the scriptures, I know what Jesus taught, and I look at the life of Jesus and I say, is this guy preaching in the same proportion, emphasizing the same things that Christ emphasized, or is it a bit imbalanced?

Imbalance makes us ugly, even if it's a good thing. For example, an eye is a very good thing. But if I had one eye this half an inch size, another eye about six inches size, well, I'd still have two eyes, but it'd be pretty ugly.

That's what I mean by an imbalanced emphasis on something which is found in scripture. I believe in speaking in tongues, for example. I think it's a very good gift. But I've spoken to Pentecostal people and I say that the speaking in tongues is like my little finger.

You guys make it 12 foot long and you're a nuisance wherever you go with it. You're hurting everybody with it. I mean, if you imagine if you had a 12 foot long little finger, everywhere you go, you're going to be a nuisance.

It's going to stick out like anything. And then you have the brethren and Baptist people say, this is a bit of a nuisance. Let's cut it off altogether. We don't want this. I say, no, I don't cut it off altogether.

Just keep it the right size, two and a half inches if God made it and it'd be perfectly okay. This is what I mean by the proportion of truth. So, I believe that we earnestly need to seek the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I believe we earnestly need to seek the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus used illustrations often and I like to use illustrations. If I want to offer somebody water, a thirsty man water, I need two things.

I need water and I need a glass. I can't offer him water on my hands. The glass is the gift. The water is the life or the fruit of the spirit. So, it's no use having a golden glass or a huge glass, which symbolizes a fantastic gift of the Holy Spirit.

You look inside, there's nothing in it. I mean, people are impressed by the glass, but the guy doesn't get any water for his thirst. At the same time, you can have life. Maybe you're a wonderful Christian and you got water, but this thirsty guy, you don't have a glass to give it to him because you never sought for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve.

So, if I can see the balance there, the glass is important, but that's not as important as the water inside the glass. And so, I want the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Definitely, when somebody comes to my house for a glass of water, I immediately reach out for a glass and then fill it with water and give it to him.

It must be like that. That's how I need to seek for the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to serve other people. And I see that Jesus prayed for it as we saw the other day. He prayed for the anointing of the Holy Spirit when He was baptized and He received it.

There's a reason why Jesus' prayers were answered and I'll just show you that in a moment in Hebrews chapter 5. It's always been a challenge to me. It says His prayers were heard because, you know what it says?

Hebrews 5 verse 7. Hebrews 5 verse 7. In the days of His flesh, He offered up prayers and supplications, loud crying and tears, to the one who was able to save Him from death. And He was heard because of His piety or Godly fear.

There was a reverence for His Father. I find a tremendous lack of reverence for God among Christians today. Tremendous lack of reverence. It means they don't live in God's presence. If you lived in God's presence, you would have a reverence for Him, a sense of awe.

We say He's an awesome God, but we don't have a sense of awe in His presence. We just treat Him like an old buddy whom we can put our arms around and say hi. And it's this lack of reverence in our life that ensures that our prayers are not answered.

Even Jesus, His prayers were answered because of His reverence. There was a reverence in His life. Because of that, His prayers were answered. He did not dare to think that He could serve the Father in His own ability.

He sought for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to serve. Just like I said, I would reach out for a glass when somebody's thirsty. But that's because Jesus had a compassion for people around Him. If I don't have a compassion and a desire to help people around me, I mean, this guy comes for a glass of water and says, well, sorry, I don't have a glass.

Go look for it somewhere else. That shows that I don't care for him. And I never even seek to get a glass in my house because I'm not bothered about other people. See the story that Jesus said in relation to seeking God for the Holy Spirit.

Seeking the Holy Spirit Through Persistent Prayer

Let me show that to you in Luke chapter 11. In Luke 11 where Jesus spoke about seeking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In Luke chapter 11 verse 13. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to all those who ask Him?

That's the subject, the theme, asking God for the Holy Spirit. And He's telling us here how to ask for the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 11 verse 5. Now I've got both, the glass and the water. Suppose one of you shall have a friend and another friend comes to him at midnight.

This is the story of a man with two friends. One friend comes to him at midnight, Luke 11 verse 5. In the middle of the night he comes to his house and he asks him, have you eaten? He says, no, I haven't eaten.

And he doesn't say, well, sorry, I've already eaten, let's go to bed. He doesn't say that. He's concerned. This is where it all begins. Remember, the ultimate aim of this parable is to teach you how to pray for the Holy Spirit.

Don't forget that as we read this, as we study this parable. Because it concludes with how much more will your Father give you the Holy Spirit. So if you're interested in receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, you better pay attention to this parable.

It starts with a concern for a person who is in need and not ignoring his need. I mean, your stomach is full, you're OK. But this guy is not OK. He's hungry. And of course you could send him to bed and say, well, we'll see about it tomorrow.

Or you could be concerned and say, hey, I've got to give him some food and some fresh food, not some stale old stinking stuff that'll make him sick. I want something fresh to give him. And what does he do?

He doesn't have it. He doesn't have anything in his house. That's the second thing you need to realize. First of all, a concern for people around us who are in need. And I'm not talking about physical need.

I'm talking about spiritual need. People are defeated. People are discouraged. People are unconverted. People don't know the Lord. Or people are demon possessed. Or people, whatever their problem is, the Lord can solve every problem.

And I have a burden for them. I have a concern for them. And I don't just go and pray for them and say, OK, see you later. No, I go to this other friend of mine, who's my neighbor. And it says, I knock at his door and say, hey, can you give me some three loaves of bread?

Because somebody has come, in verse 5 and 6, another friend of mine has come and I've got nothing to set before him. I, verse 6, I have nothing to set before him. It's a very important recognition of our lack before we can seek for the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have nothing. Almost every time I get up to speak, I seek to have that attitude. I have nothing to set before them except my cleverness and my knowledge of the Bible, which will just leave them thirsty and hungry still.

See, knowledge of the Bible is like showing people pictures of food. If you show a hungry man pictures of food, he's going to end up more hungry than before. Knowledge of Scripture is not food. It's the life of the Spirit as we communicate it.

And that's why I say, in all these, I've been to so many Bible study groups where people get up and share their clever thoughts. Clever thoughts, and the more clever they are, the cleverer their thoughts are.

It's all pictures of food, people holding up before others, and everybody goes home just as hungry as ever. That's not the way a New Testament church should be. It should be a place where people share under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Where people go and say, hey, I met with the Lord there. He met a need of mine. He didn't just awe me with this beautifully painted picture of food. So, I have need. I have nothing to set before him. And that guy from inside says, don't disturb me.

My children are in bed. Get away. I don't think any of us would continue knocking at a neighbor's house if he heard that answer. But this man is shameless. It's shameless persistence. And of course, Jesus is not telling us to go to a neighbor like that.

He's telling us to go to God like that. He says, I tell you, verse 8, even though he won't get up and give him because he's his friend, because of his persistence. That's the point. Because of his persistence, he will give him as much as he needs.

I like that expression. There are two expressions here that we got to keep in mind. One, verse 6, I have nothing to set before him. And second, because of his persistence, he will get as much as he needs.

This is in relation to the Holy Spirit. I like that. A concern for others. And then the Lord says in verse 9, I say to you, ask like this and you will be given it. Why haven't you got it so far? You never asked like this.

You didn't have a concern for others. You never recognized that you have nothing to set before them. You were so clever. You thought you had plenty to set before them. And the Lord saw that. Of course, you prayed a nominal prayer.

Lord, please give me the word. But the Lord saw the hollowness of all that. And third, you didn't have that persistence to wait on God until you got what he had to give you. But if you ask like this, you will get.

If you seek like this, you will find. And if you knock like this, it will be open to you. It's a promise. Because every single one, no exception here, everyone who asks like this will receive. Everyone who seeks like this will find.

And everyone who knocks like this, it will be opened. Just like a father would give only what is good. And if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, verse 13, how much more shall the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit?

This, my brothers and sisters, is the way to seek God for the power of His Holy Spirit to serve others. Every gift of the Spirit is to serve others. So if I keep that in mind, it all begins with a concern for others.

Ministry That Leads People to Christ

Lord, I want to be a witness to others, not so that they can see what a wonderful Christ-like person I am. That would be seeking my own honor. And that would be a sin in itself. But so that I can draw them to Christ.

You know, one of my favorite verses is John chapter 1 in terms of ministry. And I've got many favorite verses. But that in relation to the ministry, it is this. I've longed that this will be true of my ministry.

John chapter 1 and verse 37. They heard him speak and they followed Jesus. Wouldn't you like that to be true of your life? They heard him speak and they didn't follow him. They heard him speak and they followed Jesus.

Boy, what a ministry you can have if that's your goal. Lord, give me a ministry like that where people will look at my life and long for Christ and be thirsty and hungry for a life which they don't have.

And where they get sick and tired of empty Bible knowledge and empty meetings where they discuss the Bible instead of being gathered around the person of Jesus. So many churches, they don't gather around Jesus Christ.

They gather around the Bible. And they worship the Bible. Do you know that God gave us His word so that we can see Jesus here? Not for us to worship this and study this like some chemistry book or science book.

I remember I used to be in my younger days in a church where the leader, he was a very godly man. He taught all of us to never to get out of bed without kneeling down. And we had to read our Bible on our knees before getting out of bed.

First thing in the morning, kneel down, read your Bible on your knees and pray and get up. And last thing before you go to bed, kneel down, read your Bible on your knees before God, pray and go to bed.

Very good instruction. I mean, you don't have to do it, but the thing, what I was coming to was I'm not saying that you should follow that. But I used to be these other workers in this church and we'd see all of us, you know, we were in a dormitory, we'd all be kneeling down on our, we'd sleep on the floor on our mattresses and kneel down and read the Bible.

And then during the day, I would see them losing their temper and behaving in many un-Christlike ways. And I was very young and these guys were all much older than me and I said, Lord, this puzzles me.

I mean, I have sometimes spent five minutes with a man of God and that's gripped me and changed the direction of my life. Five minutes. How is it these people spend a half an hour with Almighty God and it doesn't seem to change their life?

That puzzles me. Five minutes with a man of God has challenged me and half an hour with Almighty God doesn't challenge someone? And then the Lord showed me that these folks weren't spending time with Him.

They were just spending time with a book. It could be a chemistry book or a science book or the Bible. It's all the same. You get information on what is in that book. It doesn't mean that you're spending time with God.