Ten reasons why I never wash...

To highlight the illogicality of some of the reasons people give for rejecting the Christian gospel, someone wrote the following thought-provoking lines that some friends of ours have displayed on the wall of their bathroom:

'Ten reasons why I never wash'

• I was made to wash as a child
• People who wash are hypocrites - they reckon they are cleaner than other people
• There are so many different kinds of soap I could never decide which one was right.
• I used to wash but it got boring so I stopped
• I still wash on special occasions like Christmas and  Easter
• None of my friends wash
• I'm still young. When I'm older and have got a bit dirtier I might start washing.
• I really don't have time.
• The bathroom's never warm enough
• People who make soap are only after your money

Attractive conversation

Fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice will recall how Lizzy remarks to Darcy that ‘We are each of us…unwilling to speak unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room and be handed down to posterity with all the éclat of a proverb.”  (If you’re not an Austen aficionado bear with me!) I have to admit that that statement fits me rather aptly at times. I am far too keen on ventilating my own opinions and airing my knowledge. (That’s probably why I’m writing a blog! )I suspect I am not alone, however, and if you struggle with this tendency too then read on!

 
The  Apostle Paul, reflecting on his approach when he reached the city of Corinth, wrote the following: ‘For I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’ 1 Corinthians 2:2

Think for a moment about who Paul was. One greatest intellects of all time. One of God’s specially chosen messengers. A great evangelist who had seen vast numbers come to faith through his work across the Mediterranean. Yet what Paul is saying is that, in effect, he resolved to speak in Corinth as if he knew about one thing and one thing only – the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He would not be telling them about his Jewish background and or his rabbinical credentials. He would not try to impress them  with his great theological knowledge. He would not regale them with stories of thousands  turning to Christ. Only one topic of conversation would be on his lips – the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He knew this was the only thing the Corinthians needed to hear about, and as God’s messenger, it was the only message he had been commissioned to deliver. It was a subject that Paul was completely taken up with it. No wonder people thought he was obsessed or even a little mad.

 
I realised that this is the corrective to conversation that is too preoccupied with self. If you want to boast about something, Paul says, boast away  - but not about yourself but about Jesus Christ! Take a step back and look at what dominates your conversation on religious matters. Is full of your great understanding of theological matters, your encylopaedic Bible knowledge, your ability to critique every heresy known to man or to quote scripture in all three original languages (ok, I am exaggerating now!) – or is full of Jesus Christ? We can’t look two ways at once. If our attention is focussed on Jesus Christ and on glorifying him, it will not be fixed on ourselves and vice versa. Frustrated by finding yourself so self-absorbed? Look to Jesus Christ! Read about him, meditate on him, delight your soul in him and it will spill over into your conversation.

It is often true in the Christian life that if we simply try to stop doing something we get nowhere unless we put something else in its place. Hence I suspect that if we simply try to stop thinking and speaking so much about ourselves we will fail. Often such endeavours only serve to focus our attention all the more on ourselves. We need to fill our conversation more with Jesus Christ and the other things will be squeezed out. Do we want our conversation to be attractive, helpful and winsome? (Let’s face it, there’s nothing more unattractive than people who talk about themselves all the time) Fill it with Jesus Christ! Make Paul’s practice your own – to ‘know nothing’ in the communities we live in ‘except Jesus Christ and him crucified.’  

That hateful grace

A sudden encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus resulted in a dramatic change of direction for the Pharisee, Saul. All his vehemence, hatred and great abilities were concentrated into his one objective of wiping out the fledgling Church. But what exactly was it that Saul so hated about this ‘Jesus movement’? As he confronts Saul, our Lord makes clear that it is him personally, and not Christian believers, whom Saul is persecuting. No doubt there were many factors in Saul's hatred of Jesus Christ, including a perceived threat to the Pharisees’ power and prestige in Jewish society, Jesus’ humble Galilean background and his lack of formal education. But I have come to the conclusion that at the bottom of it all, Saul was offended by grace. He hated the idea of it with every fibre of his being.

Think of what Saul was – a Pharisee, whose most fundamental principle was that salvation was to be achieved by keeping rules. Ostensibly it was by keeping God’s Law as found in the first five books of the Bible, but in fact it was about keeping a whole host of rules that had accumulated around the Law until the Law itself was all but obscured. They had rules for everything – every minute detail of day to day life.  By keeping all of these petty laws, the voice of conscience and fear of the wrath of God could be supressed, and pride could swell as it totted up their achievements. And Saul had kept these rules more carefully than all of his peers. Not only that but he was a Jew of good birth with a huge intellect, an influential Rabbi of great learning with a substantial following. He was revered and respected wherever he went as a man of great righteousness and piety. He was righteous – he had made himself righteous through all his efforts. What then did he need in a gospel of grace?

Yet in that single encounter with Jesus Christ, Saul’s view of himself was stood on his head. For ever after Paul (as he became known) referred to himself as ‘The chief of sinners’. All that he had relied upon was empty and worthless – he stood bankrupt and empty-handed before God. Now he saw why salvation must be all of grace. God must do all for us because we have nothing to bring to the table. Paul’s tears must have flowed like a river as he now welcomed the grace he had so hated with open arms. Forever after he could speak of nothing but the Gospel of Grace. It bubbled up out of him like a joyous, unstoppable spring.

Are you offended by grace? We all began from there. Satan has been whispering into our ears from the dawn of time that we do not need God, we can go it alone. Pay no attention to his lies. He is not the Lover of your soul – that belongs to God alone. He has done all that is necessary for you himself. All you have to do is give up on your own pathetic efforts and lay hold of Jesus Christ.