A Sermon by Adam Parker
Delivered in February of 2003 at the Zenith Community Church
“And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.”
These are the words of Paul, a man who is enduring persecution because of his stance against the Judaisers’ belief in the necessity of physical circumcision in addition to faith in Christ. Paul, in this passage is saying many things, but mainly that it is impossible that he is preaching such a doctrine that is opposed to his assertion of salvation through “faith alone.” His major argument against the assertion that he is teaching circumcision is that he is being persecuted, and thus, could not be teaching such a “people-pleasing” theology. Right after this, Paul refers to the “offense of the gospel.”
Before beginning, I want to define the word “offense,” which in a Greek dictionary is the word “skandalon,” meaning “scandal.” Following from that, “scandal” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as:
Cause for stumbling, temptation; unseemly conduct of a religious person that discredits religion or causes moral lapse in another; any person or thing that shocks or offends moral feelings of the community and leads to disgrace; a reaction of shame, outrage, disgrace; defamatory or slanderous talk; to shock or outrage.
I believe, by virtue of what we read in this two places (Galatians, and its elaboration in Websters), we can make an extension of what he is saying here. Namely, that if he stops preaching the Gospel, then the scandal associated with it also stops. I want, for the remainder of this discussion, to focus on the scandal that is associated with the preaching of it: why is the Gospel offensive, and what can we learn from it about ourselves?
There are many reasons for the offense of the Gospel, but I will focus on four which I believe are most expressive of the Truth:
The scriptures convey many messages about the evil nature and composition of mankind and its actions. “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21); “We were by nature children of wrath” (Eph.2:3); “The Lord saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5); “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5); “The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies”(Psalm 58:3).
There is no one righteous, not even one;
There is no one who understands,
No one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
They have together become worthless;
There is no one who does good,
Not even one.
Their throats are open graces;
Their tongues are open graves;
Their tongues practice deceit
The poison of vipers is on their lips.
Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are quick to shed blood;
Ruin and misery mark their ways,
And the way of peace they do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
(Romans 3:10-18)
Now, lest we, upon listening to Paul’s words, think that he is speaking of a ridiculously evil class of humanity, to which we do not belong, he says six verses later, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (v. 24). (Luther once said that Paul “wrote Romans to magnify sin.”)
In this modern world, we often hear that it is quite necessary that we have “high self-esteem,” that we regard ourselves as worth something, or as good people. In fact, it is an oft-heard statement that people are “basically good.” Even in the church, this can be heard quoted, if not from the pulpit, from the laity. The common man has flattered himself into thinking that he is basically good. The scriptures, however, oppose this human philosophy, and tell us, that man is continually evil, that his thoughts are always offensive to God. Furthermore, our idea of the innocent baby is shattered by David’s bold statement that all children are “brought forth in iniquity and sin; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”
“God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). Paul in this verse, has stripped himself down, he has declared his utter need and humility before God, because the Gospel gives Paul no reason to claim praise from men. He has no reason to be proud. If, however, such reasons could exist within a fallen man, certainly Paul had the greatest reasons:
If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (Phil. 3:4-6)
Now, Paul lived in a day and age when the Pharisees were considered the upper-class, the Benjamites were thought to be of the purest (“most-jewish”) blood, the strict obedience of the Law was considered to be deserving highest respect, and a persecution of church was looked upon as a true zeal for God in the eyes of the law-obeying Jewish people. Indeed, it can be argued that in recorded history, Paul may have been one of the most obedient men, so far as strict scriptural interpretation goes, however, Paul actually says that all of those years of legalism were flushed down the drain when he was blinded by Christ. He says:
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (v. 7-9)
We seem to have a way of thinking that we can figure out the Christian life, reducing it to a series of 8 easy steps. There appears to be safety in defining and fencing in the behaviors which we should engage in. It seems safe, because we can be black and white and say, “Today I made it, or today I messed up.” In the same way, it seems safe because in doing this we are defining our own boundaries, and our own activities which we should or should not take part in, thus diluting the Biblical mandate for perfect obedience.
In this passage, Paul gives us his 7 easy steps, and in the end, he discards them as dirty rags, because he realizes that even if he does manage to fulfill every letter of the law, he always fails to fulfill the spirit of the law, and even if he did that, he still has a past that is full of sin and separation from God. His neediness cannot be erased or dismissed; and neither can ours.
The Gospel, as you can see from Paul’s statement, tells us that the Gospel is offensive even to us as Christians because it brings us no glory! This Gospel tells us that even the most pious man who has spent his life fleeing sin, when he does a good deed, that his good deeds are nothing more than “splendid vices.”
In addition to all of this, we have even less to boast of, because those of us who are saved cannot even say, “Well, I exercised faith and so-and-so did not,” because it is only by the decision of God long ago, and His initiative to decided to stoop to regenerate us, that we are even saved in the first place. We do not even have the right to boast in our faith in Christ, because it is “through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, so that no one can boast.”
Hell is our justice, suffering our deserts, separation from God something that we crave by our very depraved nature. These things are all bad news, and because of them, they are offensive to the ears of unregenerate man. However, I do say that, should the Spirit move within us and illumine our eyes, we will come to a real understanding of our desperate situation, and this understanding will be imparted by God through the very bad news I am communicating. Should that happen, the desperation of this situation will become quite real. Without this sense of desperation, one cannot repent, for what will they repent of if they cannot conceive of their own evil which burdens and binds them? You, sinners in this audience this beautiful day, may be receiving this knowledge right now, and therefore you have a grand opportunity to repent of your sins and enter the kingdom of God. This bad news compels us to receive the love and forgiveness that God offers to all of us.
The closer we grow to God, the more we want to please Him completely. However, knowing that we cannot please Him, and confronting our failure, we will be driven to despair unless we constantly remind ourselves of why it is that Christ had to die. He had to die because we can’t live the “victorious Christian life.” Without Christ’s atonement which, if we are saved, we can know that He made on our behalf, we will live the rest of our life and all eternity, either denying our need, or attempting to atone on our own behalf.
If there is a favorite story of mine in scripture, truly I must say that it would have to be the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus tells the story of a man who has squandered everything and who has had his life reduced to himself, probably a Jewish man, eating with the pigs: animals which the Jewish people abhorred and were quite careful to not even go near. Upon realizing his desperate situation and his incredible need, he puts aside his pride and his desire to make it on his own, and he runs home to his father, who welcomes him with open arms. (My favorite image of this moment is portrayed in Rembrandt’s “The Prodigal Son Returns.” In this picture, the son is kneeling in front of his father, weeping, while his father, with hair grey from many years, placing his hand on the back of his son’s head and lifting his face (eyes closed) in intense thankfulness. To me, this is the greatest image of God’s own willingness to forgive those who will repent of their sins.
Despite our failures and our evil, God will still give us eternal life. In fact, I daresay, God is completely excited to do so. Not only that, but He will send our old life “as far as the east is from the west.” The bad news is always followed by good news, and that, my friends, is indeed the Good News.