The Scandal of Dying

2007

Mark: Some of the scandals eventually, at some point. That’s the nature of the Rock: you fall on the Rock, or the Rock falls on you. It’s a stumbling stone. That’s just how it has to be. For the “common people” who “heard him gladly,” a sword will pierce their heart too. They will be scandalized at some point or another. They “spring up quickly and with great joy,” but they’ve got to have root. If they don’t have root, they can’t endure the heat of the day. For others, the scandal appears on the front end, and usually that usually comes because they’re ambitious. “The stone the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone.” People who have ambition for themselves—the “pastors,” the televangelists, the “house church” leaders, the people that really want to advance themselves, to be viewed as important and viewed as spiritual—their scandal comes on the front end. It’s not any different. A scandal is a scandal. Everybody falls on the Rock, or the Rock falls on them. It may have to do with family, it might have to do with geography, housing, climate...there’s a thousand things it can be. A sword will pierce your heart too. It’s just that for those who use religion for their own advantage—for their own credibility or their own financial resources, their own security blanket because they are so insecure—when they want to use religion for themselves, their advancement or their protection, then their scandal comes on the front end. It just feels almost insurmountable. But everybody has that same virtually insurmountable obstacle. Eventually you fall on the Rock, or the Rock falls on you. There is no middle ground. “Blessed is he that’s not offended at me.” It’s going to come. “A sword will pierce your own soul too, Mary.” It’s just a matter of how or when.

It’s a testing ground. It’s what brings us to Him. I mean, how much did Job do wrong before everything wrong happened to Job? He was the most righteous man on earth according to God. The sword had to pierce his heart. “My ears heard, but wow! You’re God!” He had to learn the hard way, but that’s all right. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just part of the package. It’s a good thing. To turn from a natural man to a supernatural man or woman? That’s a big journey! That’s every bit as big a journey as Lazarus. You think you’re going to get by learning a few things? Uh-uh, baby. You’ve got to die! “Unless the seed falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone.” Being instructed will not make that seed grow. Being committed will not make that seed grow. It’s got to let go of its own meaning. “Unless it dies”—it has to let go of its own meaning, its own definitions, its own existence. Or it will abide alone. It will be one lonely little thing that bears no fruit in reality, only superficial fluff that gets burned up with the wood, hay, and stubble, escaping through the flames barely, with nothing worthwhile to show for it. Unless it dies. But if it lets go of its own meaning, its own definitions, its own opinion, its own righteousness, its “ministry,” its everything---but if it dies--then He Himself will get all the glory, and we’ll have nothing but praise for Him, because it wasn’t something we acquired or achieved, it wasn’t our commitment, it wasn’t our knowledge, it wasn’t our eloquence. There’s nothing about us left in it. How much could Lazarus really take credit for? Nothing.

And that’s God’s plan for every single man or woman that will call on His Name. Some come early, and those are the ones that have something to gain from religion for themselves. And the scandal is huge to die. For the rest that have nothing to gain from religion for themselves, that just want to be worshipers and sit at Jesus’ feet like that Mary, the sword’s still going to pierce their own heart. Because the journey from natural, even as a natural worshiper, to supernatural, is death. And there are no alternatives. There’s no other plan. That’s hard. And the prouder we are, the stronger willed we are, the more painful that death is, because God has to use a crowbar to get our attention instead of just a little ruler on the back of the knuckles! You’ve seen children like that, right? They come right out of the womb, and some take a “crowbar,” and some you just look at and they go, “Waaahhh!” They fall apart and obey when you just look at them out of the corner of your eye. Others stare you down. Well, as adults we’re like that too. Some take a little more energy to get their full attention. And God knows that. He’s the perfect Daddy. But there’s no escaping the only way for the natural man—even the religious natural man, even the committed, dedicated, worshiping natural man. Regardless, there’s no other way from natural man to spiritual man, from natural man to supernatural man or woman, except through death. Which means letting go of everything. The most righteous man on earth could not escape that destiny. If you really want God, instead of stuff about God... God’s very creative in the way He brings that about. Anybody want to amen that? It’s not the same for a single person in this room, what’s required to get our full attention. It’s just as painful for everybody. We don’t see it except in ourselves. It’s always “minor surgery” unless it’s mine, you know?