Half Teaching is Whole Terrorism

It was an agonizing morning when a pastor spent his 45 minutes of fame preaching...or should I say, trying to preach on the passage in 2 Corinthians about how we Christians are the fragrance of life.  Man, this passage gets abused.  And that morning was no different.  I would have rather pulled each of my fingernails out with a rusty pliers than to listen to this passage preached half way - the way this pastor was teaching it. 

To be clear, the passage I am talking about is 2 Corinthians 2:15-16:

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

The pastor taught, "We are the fragrance of Christ to God; and the fragrance of life to people."  It's a sweet teaching but it just drives me crazy when scripture is unpacked so superficially and incompletely.  

How can we Christian's be prepared for our inevitable rejections when we are only taught that we are 'the fragrance of life' to everybody?  This passage talks about a division that our presence will cause.  It just will.  

Some will drink us in, while others will do everything they can to stay away from us.  Wherever we walk, the waters will part: for and against.  It is just the way it is.  Our presence identifies those who are perishing AND those who are not.  And to those who are perishing; we will stink.  That's what this passage says.  It isn't about being a good influence in your neighborhood as much as it is about being prepared for your influence to separate; and for you to be rejected without an apparent reason.

I think the sermons that solely focus on the better half of scripture passages are just as bad as any prosperity gospel out there.  It's a type of terrorism that lulls marginal Christians into a dormancy. Is dormancy even a word?  All the people who bought into what that guy said from the pulpit probably went home content that they were 'good Christian's' because everywhere they go, they are the fragrance of life and the light of the world.  Which is a good thing, right? So why am I so antagonized by this half teaching terrorism infecting the local church?  It seems like an infection to me that someone who is supposed to be responsible for my spiritual learning isn't teaching me the whole story.