Attentive to God: Cultivating the Secret Aroma of Christ

Devotional

Day 1: When Your Left Hand Doesn’t Know

Jesus told crowds to give and pray secretly. He warned against trumpets announcing gifts or theatrical prayers on street corners. His followers were to hide their generosity, burying good deeds like treasure. The Father sees hidden things – the quiet dollar slipped into the offering box, the whispered prayer behind a locked door. [26:10]

Jesus exposed how religious performance steals joy. Real faith thrives in shadows, not spotlights. God rewards what no one else notices – not with applause, but with deeper connection to His heart.

Where does your spiritual life feel performative? Name one practice you’ve polished for others’ approval. How might you redirect it toward secret communion with God?

“When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
(Matthew 6:3-4, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve sought spiritual approval from others. Ask God to renew your desire for hidden obedience.

Challenge: Give $5 (or another amount) anonymously today – leave cash in a neighbor’s mailbox, donate online without a tax receipt, or slip money to someone in need without being seen.

Day 2: Sitting in the Secret Chair

A pastor once kept a backyard chair for early mornings with God. No agenda, no sermon prep – just showing up. Like Mary at Jesus’ feet, he chose the “unproductive” posture of presence. Over years, this secret space became his lifeline. [32:23]

Jesus prioritized solitary prayer (Mark 1:35). The Father meets us not in efficiency, but in undivided attention. Hidden hours shape public fruit – like roots sustaining a tree.

What clutter crowds your inner space? Social media scrolls? To-do lists? Guilt over stillness? Carve ten minutes today to sit quietly. Where might God be waiting beneath your noise?

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
(Matthew 6:6, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God to disrupt one “productive” habit this week, creating space for secret communion.

Challenge: Set a phone timer for 10 minutes. Sit in silence – no Bible, no music, no requests. Just breathe and be present to God.

Day 3: Fragrance of the Triumphal Procession

Paul described Christians as Christ’s aroma – not the main event, but a scent trailing His victory march. Soldiers returning from battle carried burning spices, their very presence declaring conquest. Our calling isn’t to be the spectacle, but the lingering trace of Jesus. [34:37]

God spreads knowledge of Christ through ordinary people who’ve been near Him. Like Peter’s shadow healing (Acts 5:15), our “smell” comes from proximity, not performance.

When did you last sense Christ’s aroma through someone? What ordinary interactions might God use to diffuse His presence through you today?

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.”
(2 Corinthians 2:14, ESV)

Prayer: Thank God for three people whose lives “smell like Jesus” to you. Ask to carry His scent into one difficult relationship.

Challenge: Wear a scented lotion or essential oil today. Each time you notice the fragrance, pray: “Make me an aroma of Christ here.”

Day 4: Reversing the Trumpet’s Blast

We hide brokenness and showcase spirituality. Jesus flips this: “Confess sins openly; do good deeds secretly.” The early church practiced this – selling property quietly (Acts 4:34), washing feet without cameras. [28:34]

God’s kingdom grows through inverted priorities. Vulnerability about weakness fuels community; hidden obedience fuels joy. The church thrives when our insides match our outsides.

What sin or struggle are you over-managing alone? Who could you safely confess it to this week?

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”
(James 5:16, ESV)

Prayer: Ask God for courage to share one hidden struggle with a trusted believer this week.

Challenge: Text a mature Christian friend: “I need to share something I’ve been managing alone. Can we talk this week?”

Day 5: Who Is Sufficient for These Things?

Paul asked, “Who is adequate?” as he described being Christ’s aroma. The answer: No one. Competence isn’t the goal – connection is. Like the bleeding woman touching Jesus’ cloak (Mark 5:28), our power comes from reaching Him, not mustering strength. [35:57]

God asks for abiding, not achieving. When we fixate on being “enough,” we obscure Christ’s sufficiency. Our role is to stay near the Source.

Where are you striving to be the solution instead of pointing to Christ? How might you shift from “I must fix this” to “He is here”?

“Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”
(2 Corinthians 3:5, ESV)

Prayer: Confess one area where you’ve relied on personal adequacy. Ask God to replace striving with abiding.

Challenge: Write “2 Cor 3:5” on your palm. When stressed today, read it aloud and pause for three breaths, remembering His sufficiency.

Sermon Summary

Joel’s promise of the Spirit sets the frame: when the Spirit shows up, sons and daughters prophesy, vision sharpens, and speech changes. Out of that promise, the call to attentiveness lands in three directions: to who God is, to what God is stirring within, and to what God is doing around. That attentiveness then gets grounded in Jesus’ words in Matthew 6. Jesus reframes the oldest religious practices, giving and prayer, away from public performance and into secrecy with the Father. The image of trumpets before the offering box is ridiculous on purpose. The point is simple and sharp: let the spiritual life move inward, and let the hidden life move into the light with God and trusted people.

A reversal gets exposed. People tend to hide the secret self filled with fears, lust, greed, and anxiety, while making prayer, giving, and Bible talk visible. Jesus flips that. Confession and honest processing belong in real relationships, while prayer and giving belong in the secret place with the Father who sees in secret and rewards. The American habit of scheduling spirituality from the outside gets challenged by a daily, unscheduled, quiet room where nobody asks, nobody notices, and desire alone leads a person to God. The promise stands steady: the Father is there, ready to reward.

Paul’s picture in 2 Corinthians 2 carries the second half. God, in Christ, leads a triumphal procession and spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. Christ is the substance, and the church is only the aroma before God and among people. The pressure to be sufficient, to be the one who holds everything together, gets released. Just smell like Jesus. That scent only transfers by being with him, not by peddling the word, hyping, or forcing results. The strength is not spectacle. It is presence.

Pulled together, the direction is slow and simple. Cultivate the secret place. Waste time on God. Let Scripture and quiet prayer reshape the inner life so the aroma of Christ quietly goes out into neighborhoods, homes, and this church family. Budgets, elders, and structures are simply how a family stewards a shared mission: to glorify God by finding life in Jesus together and inviting others to do the same. The hunger is not for more polish, but for more Jesus.

Key Takeaways

1. Cultivate the secret place with God The Father sees in secret and meets the hidden life with reward. Real formation grows in rooms with shut doors where nobody keeps score and nobody needs to notice. When the inner conversation gets honest before God, desire matures and the soul steadies. This is the core Jesus blesses, not the performance others can applaud. [30:03]
2. Trade performance for honest confession The common reversal hides fears and lust in the dark while making prayer and giving loud and public. Jesus invites the opposite pattern, where sin is named in safe community and before God, and spiritual practices move inward and quiet. Bringing the real self into light robs shame of power and restores integrity. Secrecy belongs to prayer, not to bondage. [27:42]
3. Smell like Jesus, not be the substance Paul frees exhausted souls from trying to be enough. Christ is the substance, the presence, the One who must be encountered, and the church is just the aroma. The task is not to hold life together but to carry his scent by staying near him. Proximity to Jesus, not pressure, changes the air. [35:57]
4. Waste time on God to grow aroma Unproductive hours with God are the most productive for the soul. Quiet, distraction, even a prayer nap is not failure but friendship maturing in stillness. Over time, that hidden nearness bleeds into speech, decisions, and presence. The aroma people notice comes from time no one sees. [33:04]
5. Slow the church to nurture presence Strategy cannot replace the lost aroma of Christ. Simpler rhythms, more silence, guided prayer, and Scripture in community retrain attention toward Jesus himself. The goal is not hype but holiness with God that actually helps in ordinary pressure and pain. Less noise, more nearness. [42:59]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[22:40] - Who we are and why today
[23:22] - Joel 2 and the Spirit’s outpouring
[23:55] - Noticing God’s work among people
[24:34] - Three-fold attentiveness for the year
[25:43] - Rechallenged to pay attention
[26:10] - Matthew 6 on secrecy in giving and prayer
[27:42] - Reversing secrecy and performance
[29:30] - Scheduled religion vs secret desire
[30:03] - The Father who sees and rewards
[30:50] - The danger of performative spirituality
[31:47] - A quiet chair and daily presence
[33:04] - Wasting time on God
[33:24] - A tease about Revelation and what’s next
[34:02] - 2 Corinthians 2 and the aroma
[35:31] - Substance vs aroma reversal
[37:35] - Peddlers of the word or presence people
[38:58] - Recovering the lost aroma of Christ
[40:11] - Staff and community practices of prayer
[41:05] - A guided prayer retreat invitation
[42:04] - The slow, simple direction forward
[43:48] - Budget, elders, and mission as family work
[45:02] - Prayer and transition to meeting
[53:52] - Youth, retreats, and the Spirit’s work
[79:59] - Gratitude, elders, and next steps for members

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Matthew 6:1-6 (ESV)
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (ESV)
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”

Observation Questions

In Matthew 6:1-6, what two spiritual practices does Jesus reframe, and what specific imagery does He use to critique performative spirituality?
According to 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, what metaphor does Paul use to describe the church’s role in relation to Christ? How does he contrast this with “peddlers of God’s word”?
The sermon mentions a “reversal” where people hide their inner struggles but perform spirituality publicly. How does Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6 challenge this pattern? [27:42]

Interpretation Questions

Why might Jesus emphasize secrecy in prayer and giving? What does this reveal about God’s priorities versus human approval?
Paul says believers are the “aroma of Christ” but not the substance. How does this distinction relieve the pressure to “hold everything together” in ministry or daily life? [35:57]
The sermon describes “wasting time on God” as essential for spiritual growth. How does this idea connect to Jesus’ teaching about the “secret place” in Matthew 6? [33:04]

Application Questions

What practical step could you take this week to create or deepen a “secret place” for unhurried time with God (e.g., a specific time, location, or habit)? How might this help you focus on desire for God rather than performance?
Are there areas of your life (fears, insecurities, sins) you’ve kept hidden but need to bring into the light through honest conversation with God or a trusted friend? What makes this difficult?
The sermon says, “The aroma of Christ transfers by being with Him.” What daily rhythms or choices could help you “smell like Jesus” in your relationships or workplace?
How can your small group or church community prioritize “slower, simpler” practices (like prayer, silence, or Scripture meditation) to nurture Christ’s presence over hype or busyness? [42:59]
Reflect on a time when striving to “be the substance” (e.g., fixing others, proving your worth) left you exhausted. How might embracing your role as the “aroma” shift your approach?

Sermon Clips

31s

“and nobody would know about it, and he's saying that's it. That's the thing. That's the secret core to be cultivating inside of yourself. What goes on in the part of you that no one sees? Is it the stuff that you're trying to hide desperately because you're afraid you'll be found out, or are you cultivating the sense of connection to God? I there's a promise in these verses. It's so beautiful. Your father who sees in secret will reward you. There's a beautiful promise that when you go to that secret place to spend time with the Lord, that he's there.”

36s

“you take these two things and we have reversed the order. Jesus will talk elsewhere about the health of repentance. James talks about like confessing our sins to each other, so it's not like, hey open mic, we're gonna line up here and everyone just share your deepest sins from the inside of yourself, but it is saying there's healthy places for me to talk about my anxieties, my fears, my insecurities, my lust, my greed. Instead of letting that fester and cultivating that on an inward hidden spot, finding the right places to bring that out and and address it and think about it, even just talking to the Lord about what's going on.”

30s

“I think that we live our lives thinking that we are the substance, and we think I'm not I'm not sufficient enough to be a man of God or a good husband or or a leader in the church or just a member, like, with there's so many pressures on us and we're like, I I need to be stronger so that I can be the substance in this thing. Everyone expects us to be good enough, to hold our families together, to hold our jobs together, to to be a good member of society, to be a good member of the church. Everyone expects us. We expect it of us.”

33s

“So I have I've I've told you guys about this couple times, but I have in my backyard a chair that I love to sit in, and I get up early. It's the only time that works for me to do it. I get up early, and it's uninterrupted, and I just sit there, and I, just bring my attention around to the fact that the Lord is there. And I wonder about my day and my schedule and my anxieties and the inward stuff in the presence of the Lord, and it is, rarely overwhelming in the moment. It's rarely it rarely feels like anything other than me sitting there thinking in the moment,”

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Attentive to God: Cultivating the Secret Aroma of Christ

Devotional

Day 1: When Your Left Hand Doesn’t Know

Day 2: Sitting in the Secret Chair

Day 3: Fragrance of the Triumphal Procession

Day 4: Reversing the Trumpet’s Blast

Day 5: Who Is Sufficient for These Things?

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Attentive to God: Cultivating the Secret Aroma of Christ

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