You Must Face the Scandal

1987

There’s another level. This is a fearful thing. But there’s a level of believing something and even enjoying something -- to enjoy the commitment and enjoy a lot of people are committed and confessing sins one to another daily and living in the fellowship of having lives totally in common. There’s a certain power in having a night where everybody is confessing sin even. And you feel God’s presence, and you know it’s good and it’s right. There’s a cleansing and a freedom there and there’s strength. That’s good! And to see growth, that’s good too if that’s there. There’s a certain aspect of something that really can be powerful.

You can believe in all of that stuff. Be willing to confess sin and love the power of the word of God. And to love the going out into the highways and byways and hedgerows to bring in the lame and the halt and the blind. You can love all of that stuff and be right smack in the middle of it. But...the next level, you’ve not found yet.

And by that, what I mean is, you’re willing to believe in that stuff, and if somebody asked you if you believed in the power of the word of God, and the power of the nature of the church as it says in the Bible, you’d say yes, and you’d want to even be a part of that. But, there’s the issue of walking in that even at a price, which seems to be a place where somebody might back down.

I don’t know how to express this exactly, but I think the word Skandalon is a good one. The Skandalon, the stumbling stone, the offense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the reality of the Kingdom of God and of who Jesus Christ is, has got to be a stumbling stone. It has to be an offense or it’s the wrong Jesus. It’s an offense to those that you speak to, and that becomes an unpopular thing. Because it’s wonderful when people are saying, “Hallelujah! I want to come see this.” And people do which has happened here several times of people bursting into tears and saying, “God is really among you” and confessing their sins openly. Y’all have seen that. Not everybody has ever seen that before. But y’all have seen that happen a number of times, and that’s a neat thing. That’s the way it ought to be, and the Bible says so. Way to go!

But what if...the people that you talk to stick their tongue out at you? And they write letters back to you and they call you names? And they’re upset and they’re angry and they’re frustrated, and they begin to put accusation on you and begin to question your motives? What do you do then? Are you willing to push through even though it’s a skandalon, even though it’s a scandal? What you’re doing, if it’s truly the Life and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in His Kingdom, I guarantee you it’s a scandal. It has to be a scandal or it’s the wrong kingdom. So the excitement of the thing really, though it’s there and it can be there, what’s it worth to you? How far?

Is it that you believe in those things, or you’re willing to die for those things because they’re true? Do you search the Scriptures to find out what you believe? Or do you search the Scriptures to find out what you’re willing to die for, whether it’s successful or whether it’s failure, or whether you’re mocked and laughed at and excluded, and your name is called evil? Or it’s successful and it’s a movement. Where do you stand on those things? That’s heavy duty. When we’re alone, and we’re in a situation where we are surrounded by a situation that’s not in our favor, what do we do? Are we milk toast and begin to kind of blend in with that? What are we going to do? Are we willing to die for what’s true? Or is it just something we’ve chosen to believe because it seems like a lot of fun?

It seems like commitment to be in the middle of something like that. But, not necessarily so. You’re not going to ride in on anybody’s coat tails. You have got to be willing to face the scandal. Because what you’re saying is a scandal, you’ve got to know it’s going to cost you. Thereby it becomes a scandal to you, because now you are faced with the scandal of whether or not you’re going to keep pressing into it or whether you’re going to make peace with it.

We’ve got our levels here. We’ve got a level in this second to highest category that looks really, really hot. You’ve got levels. There are certain things that are totally unacceptable, like for instance, external compromise and those kinds of things. Blatant sin and wishy-washy-ness. Unacceptable. But in this category that’s not truth, not the highest category of reality, there becomes a middle ground where we say, “Well, it’s probably not right but that’s okay. I’m willing to make peace with that, even though I know it’s not God’s best. I’m willing to make peace with that.” And if that’s in your heart, then you’ve got a big problem, because you will never face the real skandalon in your own heart and life.

There becomes a middle ground where we say, “Well, it’s probably not right but that’s okay. I’m willing to make peace with that, even though I know it’s not God’s best. I’m willing to make peace with that.” And if that’s in your heart then you’ve got a big problem, because you will never face the real skandalon in your own heart and life.

Jesus said, “No man is above his teacher. If they’ll persecute me, rest assured, they’ll persecute you.” That’s only true in as far as it’s a scandal, a stumbling block that we’re truly representing Jesus’ kingdom. Then there will be a scandal. There will be big problems because it will be a scandal for them, and it will be a scandal for us as we face the scandal that we’ve brought about. You’ve just got to decide. Are you willing to die for it, in spite of what everybody says, what everybody does? Even though there’s no flowers and blossoms and no trumpet blasts, and the angels aren’t singing the Hallelujah chorus every time you open your mouth. No visible success -- what are you going to do?

And I wouldn’t give you a nickel for somebody who believes all kinds of commitment-oriented things but isn’t willing to die for it. We’re not talking about a higher doctrine of commitment, a higher doctrine of church, a higher doctrine of who Jesus is. We’re talking about what you’re willing to live for and die for. And I tell you the truth, I would not give you a nickel for somebody that has sorted out what they believe, and they’ve come to believe that Jesus did in fact say, “Unless you forsake all you cannot be my disciple.” You know He said it, and now that’s your heavy-duty doctrine. Aren’t you something? But when you’re faced with somebody who has not forsaken all to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it doesn’t mean enough to you to press on into it. You say, “Well, here’s my doctrine. Mine’s a doctrine of commitment. What’s your doctrine? Oh really? Well, I guess there’s nothing I can do about that. You may be right.”

That’s no good. It’s going to be a scandal in your life as well as theirs if you’re willing and going to go into what is truth. I’m not trying to tell you in this gathering what truth is. But I’m saying when you’ve found truth, you press into truth and don’t be lazy. Don’t be a lazy hearer. James talks about just hearing the word and so deceiving yourself because you don’t put it into practice. You can be a lazy hearer and have a general belief system, even a high, real spiritual belief system, but so what? Now you come to the place where you see all these things, and you know all of these verses, but you see something less than that, and you’re willing to just leave it alone. Then you’re making a big mistake.

So, there is that scandal and the difference between deciding what you’ll believe or not believe, versus propagating it at all costs: at the cost of your money, your job, your family, your friends, your sleep, your popularity. To choose what to believe, versus choosing to propagate it because it’s true and it’s God’s heart. If you choose to propagate it, it’s going to cost you, I guarantee it. If you choose to believe it, only, and not propagate it, you’re deceiving yourself, because you don’t really believe it. If you’re not willing to live for it and die for it and propagate it because it’s truth and go after it! If you’re not willing to propagate it, you don’t really believe it.

Some would pursue the excitement of a movement and relationships and travel and a powerful message but wouldn’t pay much of a price for the sake of truth, for truth’s sake. You must be willing to stand for what the word of God says about Christ, the church, commitment to Jesus, even to the point of death, all alone, a failure. I think maybe you’re catching the drift of what I’m saying. If you’re a fair-weather disciple -- this is fair weather here folks -- if you’re a fair-weather disciple, then you’re walking in unbelief, and you just didn’t even know it. It just seems like you believe in this environment. If you really believe, you’ll press into the scandal of the thing without backing down.