101506 Its A Scandalous Life

It’s A Scandalous Life

THE ACT:

σκανδαλίζω [skandalizo /skan·dal·id·zo/] 1. cease believing (Mt 13:21); 2. fall into sin (2Co 11:29); 3. take offense, be offended by some action (Mt 15:12); 4. cause another to no longer believe (Jn 6:61); 5. cause to sin (Mt 5:29; Ro 14:21); 6. give offense, cause another anger or shock, implying sin will be involved if carried out (Mt 17:27; Jn 6:61)

THE EFFECTS:

It eats away at the soul without disturbing conscience.

It burns the conscience so as to render it ineffective in discerning good and evil.

THE RESULTS:

The end-result is hell.

That is why it would be better for anyone causing a scandal with respect to God to be weighted-down and thrown into the sea.

In other words, it would be better to be crushed and drowned.

THE PERSONAL NEED:

So, if your hand leads you into scandal—“cut it off” get rid of it

            If your foot leads you into scandal—“cut it off” get rid of it

            If your eye leads you into scandal—“gouge it out” get rid of it

            The point is this: My sin must be dealt with directly and decisively in order to enter into life

THE WAY:

Has been provided

Seeing the scandalous things we do means that our eyes are already open to God’s reality

                        It is He who provides good work for our hands to do in Christ

                        It is He who provides a lighted path for our feet to walk with Christ

                        It is He who provides sight to behold the good of Christ

And, the good is this:

                        Christ became scandalous (sin) for us (in our place).

His hands got nailed to the cross to deal with the scandals our hands have done

His feet got hammered to the cross to deal with the scandals that our feet have walked in

His eyes were closed by the agony of the cross so that our eyes may be opened to see the glory of life in Him

                        And we can see His glory because God raised Him from death and gave Him authority to give life of the world – to whomever is not scandalized (offended) by Him.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

Christ is a scandal in this world of sin.

But He’s a different kind of scandal.

He scandalizes the self-righteous by revealing their unrighteousness.

He scandalizes the unrighteous by giving them His own righteousness.

And then He says, “Live it! You have been salted by me.”