The Fish Tent

2 Corinthians 2:14-16
"In the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, He brings knowledge of Jesus Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Jesus Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life. But those on the way to destruction treat us more like the stench from a rotting corpse."

Many Point Boy Scout Reservation in the summer of 1981 became a place of legend for us. It is where a young man named Ted got his nickname "Cornbread." It is also where the Great Stone War of '81 took place. It is the sight of the Great AM Frog Migration. And it is also the origin of the Fish Tent.

We were mostly between the ages of ten and fifteen. Young, hormonally charged men, entrusted with pocket knives, tents, and far too much free time. Too much free time equals certain trouble. Shades of Stand By Me, Lord Of The Flies, and Bloodsport. Some of the things we did would most certainly frighten hardened members of both the Hell's Angels and the CIA.

We were a hodgepodge of humanity. There was Ja-hack and Dar-boy, Klingon and Bobbin-Swabbin, Venison and Cornbread, and oh yes, there was young Richard. (some nicknames just aren't reprintable) Now, Richard has a bit of an interesting history. From an early age, he believed he was the "law" around the neighborhood and in our Boy Scout Troop. Most Troops have Patrol Leaders, Chaplains, and Senior Patrol Leaders. Ah, but ours came complete with an MP: Richard. And let's just say that Richard wasn't the ripest apple on the tree.

We mostly let him have his illusion of authority. It was just too much fun to watch, I guess. Imagine going down a path in the woods, coming up to some other Boy Scouts in camp, and then Richard goes into action. "Yeah, uh, did you know that your patch violates the Sewing Codes. The stitches used aren't up to code. I'm sorry young man, but I'm going to have to report you."

No, I'm not kidding.

This was our Richard. One fine day at Many Point Scout Reservation, Richard decided to get away from the madness of camp life and go fishing for a while. And I must tell you, he was, despite all odds, rather successful in his excursion. He came back with a stringer full of sunnies and crappies. Do you remember that part about Richard not being the ripest apple? This would be foreshadowing.

Richard, very proud of course, comes swaggering back into camp with his fish. He's thinking "Hey, I've caught dinner for our camp." And I must admit, I was thinking that some fried fish would be a good deal after some of the meals we had been forced to consume. But in the midst of all this, something happened which forced Richard to have to store the fish and we all left camp. We were probably off to some cool activity like sailing or Capture the Flag. Richard looked around for a place to store the fish. The coolers were full. We were staying in tents and so we had no electrical appliances which would keep the fish. Richard figured that he should at least get the fish out of the sunlight. Not bad thinking on his part, but not genius level either. Far from it.

Richard lifted up the back corner of his tent and placed the fish there.

It's amazing how quickly an 11 year old forgets things. By the end of our activity, Richard had no recollection of having ever gone fishing that day. In fact, we all came back to camp, ate dinner, went to our evening campfire, and then headed off to bed with nary a thought of a certain stringer full of sunnies and crappies.

In fact, we didn't think of it for another three days. That's about the time the stench got so bad that people would actually gag as they walked past Richard's tent. In fact, it got so bad that our Scout Master could smell it in the next campsite and he came to investigate.

It wasn't a long investigation. All he had to do was follow the stench directly to the rotting maggot-ridden fish-corpses under the back corner of that poor Eureka tent. He lifted the corner and several young men heaved that day.

Paul, in his second letter to the church he helped start in Corinth, says that with Jesus in our lives, we give off a sweet smell. It reminds me of the angel Michael in the movie of the same name. John Travolta plays an angel and wherever he goes, he gives off the smell of cookies. With Jesus in our lives, we give off a sweet smell. But here's the thing: only others who have Jesus in their lives and God Himself recognize the scent as sweet.

For all of those who do not know God, we smell like rotting corpses. We are repulsive.

We cause heaving.

Those who are far from God's heart can not recognize the true nature of our scent. Because our scent goes through the filter of their lives. Their lives are filled with the stench of sin. And so our sweet smell is filtered through the stench and comes out smelling rotten. Our scent is so different than what they're used to, that it can only be recognized as stench, rather than the perfume it really is.

Somehow, we have to find a neutralizer. We need sort of a spiritual version of Febreeze. We spray it on ourselves as we head off to find lost people. Instead of smelling the stench, they simply smell nothing right away. Thus we get the chance to share Jesus Christ with them.

My friends, I think we do this by leaving behind self-righteousness and judgmentalism. We dismount our high horses and walk right up to these people and say: "You know what? I'm doing my best at this. I'm tryin' to live a good life like Jesus taught. But guess what? I am a hypocrite and I suck at this sometimes."

And for a brief moment, they get a waft of the sweet smell of Jesus on us. And it opens up some possibilities which didn't exist before. Suddenly they see Jesus as not being the source of judgmentalism and hypocrisy, but rather as a source of love and forgiveness. And maybe it doesn't happen then and there, but now the possibility exists that at some point they will smell the sweet scent of Jesus and desire it for themselves and they'll want to change, leaving behind sin. And as it happens more and more, they'll begin to take on the sweet scent themselves. They will embark upon the road to salvation. And those on the road to destruction will be repulsed by them. Those who once could only detect our scent as stench, have now become the stinky ones.

The beauty of this is, hopefully they remember what it was like to smell the stench of Christians and can relate to those who can only smell Christianity as a stench.

While there is a way to neutralize our stench as Christians by leaving behind our judgmentalism and admitting our hypocrisy, there was no way to eliminate the stench of the Fish Tent.

Forever after that camp, no one wanted to get stuck with the Fish Tent. The Fish Tent, if it still exists, would certainly still carry the vestiges of its stench today. Too bad we didn't have Febreeze back then.

God bless you, Richard.

Be WILD For Christ!

Pastor Shane