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You're listening to the 10-minute Bible number podcast, it's best on the free daily deep minute Bible. And right now we're talking about Galatians.

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Hey everybody, it's Matt. This is the 10-Minute Bible Hour Podcast. And when I went on my first ever big, crazy, eye-opening overseas adventure of my whole life, I don't mean like Canada or Latin America. I mean you get on a plane, you fly over an ocean, everything is completely unfamiliar. You know, you're learning stuff left and right. You had no idea the world was so big and diverse. That kind of trip. I was lucky enough to get to do that when I was in my twenties. And I thought I knew things about the world because I didn't know as many things about the world as I believed that I did. And we went to several different countries on that trip on the continent of Africa. And I don't mean, you know, like stopped by and went to a fancy airport in Nairobi or some pleasant shopping center in Johannesburg, South Africa, you know, back before the last few years where things have been a little bit wild there. No, I mean I got into the deep, deep, deep wild backwoods jungle, the super deep bush stuff there in Africa and several different countries. It was an amazing trip. I saw incredible things. You know what? Before I get to the point, I'm going to tell you one of the incredible things I saw. I saw a guy wearing a monkey backpack. And you're probably thinking, like, oh, I got my kids one of those when they were two. It was adorable. It was like a friendly monkey. It was all free, like a stuffed animal, but it also had a zipper so you could store things in there. Do you mean that, Matt, from the internet? Is that what you're talking about? Is that what the man in the bush in the jungle was wearing out there there in the Africa? No. I mean, literally, the guy murdered a monkey, hollowed it out, broke all its limbs and deboned it, and then tied its left leg and its left arm together at the wrist and the ankle to make one backpack strap, and then did the same thing with its right arm and its right leg, and then opened it up at the neck so that you could reach down into the tanned pouch, which was the hollowed out cavity of the monkey. And then the friendly monkey head, that was just like the little flap to keep things from getting rainy in there. Maybe you're vomiting. Well, imagine seeing it and you're in your twenties, and the weirdest thing that you've ever done in your life is that you went to a Mongolian grill one time and you didn't know how to mix things together, and now you're in Africa and you're seeing a guy with a monkey backpack. Also, he was naked. It was a very unusual time in my life. Well, one of the things that happened on that trip is I made the okay and then thumbs up gesture at a dude in one of these countries who we were working with. He was a local, and he was like, hey, we need to go do this thing next. And I was like, All right, thumbs up. Okay, thumbs up. And I got pulled aside. Everybody responded really negatively to that, and I got pulled aside. I was like, hey, uh, like that doesn't work real well here. You that's not the nicest gesture. I was like, uh uh okay, I'm sorry. What does it mean?

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Come here.

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So oh my goodness, what have I done? I'm here to represent the Lord. This is a mission trip. I am a monster. And he had a pretty good laugh about it. And I learned, and I I just I guess I needed to know, though, why it was offensive. What in particular about the gesture was offensive? Because it's one thing to just slap my hand and say, that's naughty, don't do it anymore. But come on, even if I'm a relatively young adult, I'm an adult here, and I'm trying to get a delay of the land and feel things out so I don't make an idiot of myself and offend people needlessly in the future. Walk me through why it was bad. Then when he actually, the you know, missionary said the words of why it was bad, maybe I kind of regret it actually knowing. No, you want to know why something is offensive. I want to know why something is offensive in the Bible. I want to know why the cross is offensive, because the cross seems nice when I usually think about it. I mean, yeah, I, you know, people got crucified on it and stuff, but it's a nice symbol that means nice things, it means forgiveness, it's the symbol of Christianity. I'm a Christian. So you'd think that I would think it was nice and I would like it. But Paul says this in Galatians 5, uh, verse 11. Brothers and sisters, if I'm still preaching circumcision, why am I being persecuted? In that case, the offense of the cross has been abolished. Well, I think it is time for you and I to have the conversation where we work through why it's offensive. Okay, I got a few different possibilities here. And I don't actually I don't totally know the answer to this. Probably all of these are maybe a little bit right. Here we go. Reason number one the cross is offensive because it offends our notions of justice. People do bad things, they should be held to account for those bad things. Our notions of justice are good, by the way. We see things that are wrong and askew from the right moral order that God has baked into things, and it it bothers us, it's gross, something's off about it, and we don't want stuff to go unchecked. I mean, okay, well, hold on a minute. I do want stuff to go unchecked when it's me, because I'm different. I'm mommy's special little boy, and when I do bad things that are unjust and it goes unpunished, that's different because I'm mom's special little boy. But everybody else that does bad things that demands justice. And so we all feel this idea, and what does the cross do? Well, the cross is like a heat sink. It absorbs all of that energy, that energy of God's judgment and justice, instead of going where it ought to go toward the bad people, not me, but actual bad people, that instead just all went to Jesus like a lightning rod standing up there on that hill, that Golgotha? I mean, okay. Yeah, I it sounds nice in principle, but maybe part of the reason the cross is offensive is sometimes we want to see a little justice doled out. Not to us or people we like, but just to remind everybody to keep their business together and to be able to imagine that there is some sort of cosmic sense of order where stuff gets dealt with. And with the cross, we just don't get to see it. It's like, well, how are they gonna learn? Will they ever, you know, feel the consequences of of all of that? And maybe that's part of why the offense of the cross is there. Okay, before we talk about more options for what the offense of the cross might mean, though, I guess we gotta think about this in context. That's a pretty good rule when you read the Bible or anything, I suppose. If I still preach circumcision, then the offense of the cross has been abolished. All right, in this context, we're saying that circumcision is a sign of obeying the whole law. So circumcision, then in this conversation, it's it's a metaphor, it's a symbol of it's the epitome of you trying to do the whole thing and keeping score and being like, there, God, I did enough right things and didn't do too many bad things, therefore I have earned your favor and right standing with you per the terms and stipulations of your law, and I'm one of the few people who was able to ace it. I mastered your law, I navigated it properly. The thesis of Galatians is that doesn't work, and that brings a curse upon the person who tries to do it. So you shouldn't do that. Rather, the thesis of Galatians is you should put your faith in Jesus, like Abraham and anybody who's ever been made right with God, put your faith in God, and God is the one who does the work. So I think the idea here, or one way to read it, is that if you try to go with circumcision, which is a symbol, an outward way to say, I'm going with the whole law, I'm going this on my own, I can do it through self-discipline and exemplary behavior. If you do that and you then go on and preach that, then like the the whole shocking point of the cross, which is grace for people who don't deserve it, God taking on flesh and taking on the penalty for the sin of people he shows mercy to, that that whole offense, the whole shocking thing that kind of makes Christianity work, the greatest reversal twist, surprise in all of the Bible, all of human history, it it's neutered. It doesn't mean anything anymore. It's just jewelry, it's stupid, it doesn't make any sense. Okay, so that's one option. Okay, another reason, I alluded to it a minute ago. Maybe this idea of the cross being an offense is a nod back to the stuff that Paul was saying in chapter three when he was quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, and he's saying the stuff about cursed is everyone who doesn't obey every single thing written in the book of the law, which is a reference to dang it, I don't remember. See, this is what happens, that's why you write things down. What I think I got, is it looks like it's Deuteronomy 27, is where that one was. So it's a reference back to that, and then the idea is that then, you know, it also says that cursed is everyone who's hung on a pole. This is just back in Galatians 3, and so then further the idea is that Jesus became the curse. He didn't just suffer the consequences of it, he became the curse. Well, that's offensive. Jesus is the ultimate good guy, he didn't do anything wrong. My kid just finished lined Animal Farm by George Orwell last night. Pause it for like mute it for like 20 seconds if you haven't read this book. But he came in and he's like, I got about 20% to go. Cool. What character do you like the best? I like Boxer, the horse. He's loyal and he's faithful and he does the right thing. Who don't you like? I don't like the pigs, my son said. And he walked out of the room to go finish the book. And my wife and I looked at each other and we're like, we should probably go tell him because I don't want his heart to break, because he has a very tender little heart. So I went in and talked to him. I was like, hey dude, the pigs, they trick boxer into going to the glue factory. Why would a horse go to a glue factory, Dad? Oh, that's right. I don't think that's how they make glue anymore. Because they used to make glue out of horses, buddy. No. Yeah, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. And then I explained the point of Animal Farm, and we had a lovely conversation about it. And he finished the book, and sure enough, it moved him very deeply. Why was he offended by what Squealer and Napoleon and the pigs in Animal Farm did to noble Boxer? Because Boxer was the good guy. He didn't have it coming. He shouldn't have endured that scandalous, indignified, horrible fate. But he did. And my little boy was smart enough to know that doesn't feel right. Well, I suppose that's part of the offense of the cross as well. It doesn't feel right. The precious Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I mean, that's what John the Baptist, this is what Jesus' cousin said about him. Jesus who knew no sin, who grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and men, Jesus who was loyal to his Father's plan all the way through, Jesus who knew exactly what he was here to do and how difficult it would be, but did it anyway, Jesus who stooped, who washed the feet of his disciples, Jesus who, being in very nature God, didn't consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, this is the Jesus who made himself nothing by taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man. This is the Jesus who humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross, the scandalous kind of death. That's the Jesus we're talking about here. He's even better than Boxer from Animal Farm. He's the best. It's offensive what they did to him. It's offensive to the order of things. It's offensive to the notion of what's right that really transcends all culture, that Jesus was who he was, that Jesus is who he is, and that that's what happened to him. Now, in the offense of the cross, you know, obviously we're going to pause before I get to my next two next time around, but in the offense of the cross, there's something beautiful on the other side of it. That's why Paul is an apostle of it and an advocate for it. He preaches the message of the cross, preaches Christ crucified. But you what happens as a result of that offense, that seemingly just complete, total, upside down moral insanity of having the best character go to the cross? What happens as a result? Well, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that's above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So don't get me wrong, the offense ends up working out, but we're not really working on how does it work out. We're working on why is that offensive. And I think we have two pretty good candidates so far, and we'll look at a couple more good candidates for an explanation as to why the cross is offensive next time around. I'm sorry if I offended any of you by describing an okay symbol and a thumbs up. I don't know where you live. Maybe that's very offensive where you live. I'm super sorry. I'm not sorry about the monkey backpack story. I'm Matt. This is a 10-minute Bible hour podcast. Let's do this again soon.

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