CROSS CONTAMINATION (part two)
Cross-contamination is the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect. This term has come up often since the pandemic started. Normally we would do our best to avoid cross-contamination, but when it pertains to the cross of Christ, we should encourage cross-contamination. Where typical cross-contamination is done unintentionally, we would intentionally cross-contaminate. As normal cross-contamination has harmful effects, spiritual cross-contamination has positive effects.
Last week we looked at two things that will help us to cross-contaminate. We first need to understand that contamination is a big problem. Spiritually speaking, we've all been contaminated. Rom. 3:23 says that we have all sinned. The sin virus has contaminated 100% of the population. And that causes us to be spiritually quarantined from God. And if we stay that way until we die we'll be quarantined from God forever.
So, there needed to be a remedy; that's why Jesus came. He died in my place because I couldn't cure myself. Jesus was the only sacrifice allowable by God because he is perfect. Through Jesus I can become clean and be welcomed into the presence of God. So when we understand the problem and the remedy, we'll be compelled to spread the gospel and cross-contaminate.
We have the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to share the most important message anyone could ever hear. How they respond to it is up to them; we're just responsible to share it. It's humbling to know we've been given the privilege of carrying the most powerful message of all time. God has entrusted us to carry his precious cure for sin's penalty and control to the lost world. We have been given a divine purpose.
3) Understand the purpose.
It's not just a privilege to share the message of the cross, it's a responsibility. And it helps to know the great purpose it serves.
2nd Cor. 5:13-21, "If we are out of our mind it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you." For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We're therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Paul said Christ's love compelled him because he was convinced that Jesus died for all and that would compel all who would come to faith in Christ to die to self and live for Jesus. To be compelled in the Greek means to be urged on. Paul felt a sense of urgency to get the message out.
But his passion was misconstrued by some to mean he was out of his mind. But Paul answered that by explaining that his actions were a result of his desire for God. But his listeners would know that he was in his right mind. He presented himself clearly and wisely. His teachings might seem radical, but they were true and powerful.
Like I talked about last week when Paul said he wasn't ashamed of the gospel. There were some who thought Paul had lost his mind the way he carried on about Jesus and the way he was living-being sold-out for Jesus and the gospel.
People might think we're not in our right mind, either. If we have made a transformation and living a new life some people will wonder what's gotten into us and perhaps think that we've lost it. But it's quite the contrary-we've found it! We are now totally in our right mind because we are developing in us the mind of Christ.
Paul said we were given the message and the ministry of reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is the gospel. The message that we are separated from God because of our sins but because Jesus died and rose to life he is our substitute and through him we can be reconciled to God.
The ministry of reconciliation is the behavior conducive with our transformation. Since we have been reconciled, we as a new creation are living new lives in the Spirit. Therefore, our spiritual example to others is our ministry of reconciliation. People will want to see the gospel in us as much as they will want to hear the gospel from us. This is our primary purpose in life.
Rom. 8:39 explains that God's purpose for us who have been reconciled with God is to be like Jesus. If we are like Jesus we act like him and talk like him. Jesus' purpose was to represent God and seek and save the lost. The religious leaders were supposed to be representing God but they were doing a poor job. Jesus was God in the flesh, he showed God to the people.
Today, you have a lot of people who identify as Christians but do not represent Christ very well. Not that any of us are perfect at it, but our purpose is to represent him as clearly as possible so the world can see who he really is and what he's all about. Our goal is to have people see Jesus when they see us. Our goal is to have the words that we say mimic the words Jesus would say.
In John 14:24 Jesus said the words he spoke were not his own, they belong to the Father who sent him. In John 5:19 Jesus said he could only do what the Father does. There you have the words and the deeds. That's what we need to have; that's how we need to operate. In Gal. 2:20 Paul said he no longer lived but Christ lived in him. This is how we cross-contaminate.
When we realize our purpose of having the message of reconciliation and living the ministry of reconciliation as Christ's ambassadors, we will be compelled to see people become disinfected by way of the Holy Spirit. Paul said, 'I implore you, on Christ's behalf, to be reconciled'. To implore in the Greek means to pray, ask, beg and plead. Paul prayed with earnestness for people to be saved.
He wanted people to come to Christ so badly he would have begged and pleaded for them to do so. Typically when we beg and plead it's for our own benefit. Paul's begging and pleading was for their benefit. He didn't want them to put it off. He knew what they were missing out on. That's why he said a few verses later that now was the time of God's favor; now is the day of salvation.
Paul knew the magnitude of what Jesus did for him. He became sin for Paul so that Paul could have the righteousness of Jesus transferred to him. That love compelled Paul. He wanted Jesus' unimaginable sacrifice to not be in vain for anyone else. He wanted to fulfill his purpose to cross-contaminate.
What about us? Do we understand the enormity of what Jesus did for us in becoming our sin? Are we compelled by his great love to implore people to be reconciled to God? Do we understand our purpose as Jesus' representatives?
4) Understand the persecution.
One thing we need to realize is if we are going to be about cross-contamination we are going to face opposition. Okay, but how can understanding that cause me to want to cross-contaminate? Wouldn't it cause me to not want to bother with it? It could, but there are two factors here-in understanding that there will be opposition, I can be better prepared to face it.
Jesus warned his disciples in John 15-'if they persecuted me they will persecute you also'. Jesus was preparing them. It's like he was saying, "pay attention to how they treat me. After I'm gone you'll be carrying on my message and they will treat you the way they have treated me".
And, the opposition can serve as a motivator for me to want to cross-contaminate even more. When I realize how much opposition there is I'll realize how much of a threat the gospel is to Satan. And that reality fuels me to want more people to hear the gospel.
Plus, if I have a desire for lost souls to be saved, when someone opposes the gospel I'll see a lost soul who's been blinded by Satan and needs to be set free. So I'm compelled to share the gospel; I'm eager to go out and cross contaminate.
But that doesn't mean I won't be bothered by persecution. I may get nervous or even afraid when I'm faced with it. But I'll be frustrated and sad that people aren't able to see the truth. I'll be upset that people are antagonistic toward the truth. Remember, Paul she tears over people being enemies of the cross of Christ. Persecution should sadden me, I should be indignant toward it, but I can be brave in facing it and I can even be motivated by it.
That's what happened at the onset of the church. Stephen was the first Christian to be killed for his faith. Acts 8 says on the day this happened a great persecution broke out against the church and everyone except the Apostles were driven out and scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.
You would think such a tragic thing happening as the church was just starting out would cause it to fall apart. Acts 8:4, "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." The persecution didn't stop them; it motivated them! The opposition merely served as a catalyst for the spread of the gospel.
Why weren't they intimidated? Didn't they know if they continued to preach the message of Christ they too might end up like Stephen? I'm sure they did know. But they were on fire for Jesus. They were sold-out for the cause of Christ. Their mission was cross-contamination.
There are certain people who will try to silence us. They don't want to hear the message themselves and they will strive to eradicate the gospel so no one else will ever hear it either. But we won't let that stop us. If you read a copy of Voice of the Martyrs, you'll see what the persecuted church is doing. They don't allow the opposition to stop them from spreading the gospel, even though their lives are at risk. They are compelled to share the message of reconciliation.
When Paul wrote to the Galatian church, there were those who tried to convince the gentile believers that in order to truly be right with God they needed to implement certain Jewish traditions; one being circumcision. Paul started out Gal. 5 by saying that Christ has set us free, therefore don't be burdened again by a yolk of slavery-meaning trying to live by the law.
He went on to say that if they allowed themselves to be circumcised Christ would be of no value to them. It made sense. If I could be justified by the law then what did Jesus die for?
There were certain Judaizers who were throwing the Galatians into confusion. And part of that confusion was regarding what Paul was doing. But he said something interesting in Galatians 5:11, "Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished."
Paul's like, what do I stand to gain by preaching something that's going to invite trouble on myself? The fact that I am being persecuted for what I'm preaching, shouldn't that tell you that what I'm doing is for Christ? And if I was trying to appease people and go with the flow then the cross would cease to be offensive.
Paul makes a striking point here. As long as people are going to preach the correct gospel then there will be certain people who will be offended by it. Not that Paul wants that. If there were no more persecution that means the gospel would no longer be offensive. That would be great!
However, to look at this another way it could actually be sad if no one was offended by the gospel! To clarify, ideally, we would want everyone to come to Christ and if that happened no one would be offended by the gospel anymore. But if we preached a gospel that pleased everyone then we would have a watered-down gospel that sought to establish a salvation based on personal preferences, not on the word of God.
Jesus said no one comes to the Father but through him. That's offensive to most. Peter said repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy spirit. That's offensive to most. The gospel will offend people. People want to be told that all they have to do is be a good person and they will go to heaven. People don't want to be told to die to self, take up their cross and follow Jesus. They want to be able to live their lives as they please and have God give them a free pass when their time comes. So, to preach otherwise will undoubtedly rub them the wrong way.
But, what are we going to do with that reality? Water it down or fire it up? Granted, the truth always needs to be spoken in love. However, we need to preach it with compassion, not compromise. We speak the truth with conviction, not confliction. Not that we should hope for and go looking for persecution, but we shouldn't shy away from it or allow it to get us to back down.
In the next chapter of Galatians, Paul said Gal. 6:12-15, "Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."
Here Paul discloses the real reason the Jewish Christians wanted the gentile converts to be circumcised. It was so they wouldn't get flack from their fellow Jews who were opposed to Christianity. Instead of fighting back and standing up for what was right, they cowered and then turned and accosted the gentiles.
They caused the Galatians, who were doing well in their newfound faith, to be disobedient (5:7). They didn't care about the Galatians, they didn't care about God, they cared about themselves. They compromised to avoid persecution and please their fellow Jews.
Yet the irony was, as Paul put it, the ones who were pushing for circumcision were hypocrites, they weren't obedient to the law themselves. They may have been circumcised but they no doubt neglected the more important matters of the law, like justice, mercy and faithfulness, as Jesus mentioned in Matt. 23:23. So, at the heart of it what difference did circumcision make-none.
Paul highlights that the deeds of the flesh don't matter; what matters is what's done in the spirit-the new creation. The only thing Paul wanted to boast about was Jesus and the gospel. He would boast of spiritual things; accomplishments that served the kingdom of God-not men. He was sold out for God and so he was sold out on loving people. His desire for God's will and people's souls overrode any concern about persecution. Paul went through countless perilous situations to do the will of God.
When Paul was on his way to Jerusalem the Holy Spirit had revealed that trials and hardships awaited him when he got there. So the disciples urged him not to go. But Paul was compelled by the Spirit to continue the journey. When they arrived in Caesarea, a prophet came to him and bound his hands and feet and declared that's what was waiting for him in Jerusalem.
Again, the disciples urged him not to go. It was understandable, they didn't want to see the one they loved mistreated and possibly killed. And not that Paul didn't care about them or their legitimate concerns, but he cared about something else even more.
Acts 21:13-14, "Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
This is how we need to be. We will not be dissuaded from doing the Lord's will despite the opposition. We might not ever be in a situation like what Paul is facing, but we still need to have his spirit of devotion and determination. Paul lived for Jesus and he understood his mission of cross-contamination. He wasn't going to allow persecution to deter him from reaching the goal and receiving the prize.
Being about cross-contamination involves the awareness that persecution will come and we need to be determined not to allow it to stop us. It's not about us, it's about the Lord's will being done. It's about playing a role in a person being decontaminated.
There's a virus that has swept through the world for thousands of years called sin. Jesus provided the cure and now we as his representatives are fulfilling the purpose of bringing that powerful antidote to those who want it.
Those who are against it will try to stop us at all costs. But the gospel cannot be stopped. God's word will not return to him empty, it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent (Isa. 55:11). We need to accomplish the purpose for which we have been sent. Let's be about cross-contamination.
