It's Better to Be Right Than Look Right

We didn’t quite finish up with Philippians 1:10 last post. The verse says:

“That you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.”

We need to develop the ability to “approve the things that are excellent,” because so many people will try to push on us things that are much less than excellent. We spent time last post talking about how the word “sincere.” The English word, “sincere,” comes from the Latin, sincerus, which literally means without wax. An unscrupulous potter would fill in the cracks in his wares with wax, then paint over them. They looked good from the outside, but were actually pretty useless if you tried to use them. The pottery would easily crack, and if heated, the wax would melt and run. If you were a smart shopper, you could detect the wax by holding up the article to the sunlight and see the darker color of the wax. The sun light revealed the defect

Likewise, the Word of God is the revealer of our defects, of our phoniness. Hebrews 4:12–13 states:

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Do you want to see the impurities in your life? Spend time in the Word daily. How does your life appear in the light of scripture? Be real, be genuine, be sincere - don’t be a phony. People ought to be able to trust you, to trust your word. People ought to be able to turn their back on you without worrying about getting a knife stuck in it. Do you see? We need to spend our time becoming the genuine article. It’s not how we look on the outside, but what is inside us that matters.

Now, one other aspect of this word for sincere: It also bears the meaning of cohesiveness, of oneness and unity. Fine porcelain with cracks didn’t have much cohesiveness, but tended to fall apart. They wouldn’t hold together under normal use.

In our lives, it would have the idea of everything fitting together and holding together. We wouldn’t fall apart under the normal pressures of life, but we would be useful to God under all conditions. We could give God glory when the world disintegrated around us as much as if everything were grand.

Then verse 10 ends like this: “Without offense till the day of Christ.” “Without offense” isn’t the best translation. Living the Christian life and proclaiming the Word of God, especially the Gospel, is guaranteed to be offensive to people. Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Then in verse 23, it says, “But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” “Don’t offend anyone,” some Christians tell us, but to do that, we’d have to stop preaching the Gospel. Have they never read about Jesus? He offended the religious leaders of his day so much they crucified Him.

The better translation would be blameless. We are supposed to be blameless. But the real idea here is that we should not be a stumbling block for other people. The best way to look at this is found in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

We don’t try to be deliberately offensive. We use our manners and we are polite to everyone. But we don’t compromise the truth. Rather, this teaches us that our lives should be lived in such a way that we won’t cause others to stumble. Do you see the difference?

A good verse to show this would be Romans 14:13:

“Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way.”

Some of you may not know what this is talking about. You really should read that verse in context of the whole chapter, but the argument had been whether or not to eat meat offered to idols. Paul’s whole point was that since the idol is really nothing but an inanimate hunk of wood or metal carved into an image of something, meat offered to it isn’t changed in any way. So if you can get a good deal at the meat market, go for it. But don’t flaunt that liberty in front of a weaker brother who might be offended to see you eat it because he thinks it is a sin to eat anything offered to an idol. So, out of your concern for your brother, you would eat only vegetables if necessary so as not to offend him. This is what the verse means.

Paul elaborates in Romans 14:14-15:

14 I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.

It won’t hurt you to eat food offered to idols. But, if it offends your brother’s conscience to eat it, to him it really is unclean. It is unloving to demand your way even if you are right if it hurts your brother.

The same argument is made in 1st Corinthians 10, with the same conclusion. 1st Corinthians 10:32-32:

Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, 33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

There are a lot more important things in this life than getting our own way. Avoiding being a stumbling block is one of them. We should always be willing to defer to the other person’s desires if it isn’t a scriptural matter. But we must never compromise on the truth. We stand for the truth no matter how offensive it might be to others. No man is an island. Everything we do affects other people. We must live consistent lives in front of them so as not to cause them to stumble

This is especially true in our families. If we do not consistently live out our faith, we can never expect our children to consistently live out their faith. They will nearly always follow your example, not your words. If you say, “Church is important, son, you need to be in church,” but allow things to come up and get in the way on a regular basis, don’t expect your kids to be consistent in their attendance as adults.

If you tell your kids, “Be careful with alcohol. I don’t you want you drinking. It’s dangerous,” but, if they watch you have an occasional beer on a hot day, they know you don’t mean what you say. And they will see nothing wrong with drinking. To be a stumbling block to our kids should scare the living daylights out of us.

Matthew 18:6-7 teaches:

6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

Certainly, God will forgive you, and you won’t lose your salvation, But you might lose your kids. We should never want to be a stumbling block to our kids, nor our neighbors and friends, nor our fellow church members. Nor anyone for that matter. We need to be “without offense till the day of Christ.” We keep on doing it until the Lord returns to catch us away.