Scandals, porn and gossip – is there any hope?

I was out for an evening jog. After two miles, the old coastal path became an arthritic and cracked limb: loose stones, potholes and seaweed-tuft puddles covered the route. Then it happened – my scandal!

A huge stone gave way underfoot sending my lofty frame into a nosedive, my arms and legs fraying against gravity like a seagull smacked by a golf ball. Would I break my right arm, had I broken my left foot? I stumbled for eight strides, but levelled out and kept on running (until the pain was unbearable).

The New Testament word skandalon, from which English gets its word scandal, means a “stumbling block”; and while the coastal stone was granite, it was my John Cleese impersonation (Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks) that became a stumbling block of another kind.

You see, the coastal path borders a very expensive golf club. Over a wall and slightly elevated, a father and two boys were getting ready to drive off an exquisite tee box. Swing – but thwack: one of the lads duffed his shot. His mind tripped over my tumble and his ball veered out to sea. The teenager’s eyes were as cold as the dark side of the moon – where his ball landed!

The Scandal of the Cross. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1v23-24: “But we preach Christ crucified: a skandalon (stumbling block) to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Paul is referring to a mental stumbling block. Jews failed to accept the gospel because they were incredulous about God becoming incarnate and, if that wasn’t preposterous enough, dying on a cross in the place of sinners.

Why should God do such a thing? It was shocking! The timbre of the shock is heard best in the context of theology. Pharisees did not even categorise themselves as sinners, and now this! God loves sinners and dies in their place to meet and uphold justice, like a personified Passover lamb or proverbial scapegoat?!

They could not take it in; they threw it out as intellectual garbage! The substitute’s cross, however, is the story of Jesus Christ.

Sex in the City. The English word scandal relates less celestially to the shock factor of other behaviours, usually to do with sex.

In Corinth, sexual promiscuity was so prevalent the ancients coined the phrase to “corinthianise”: its prostitutes even scribbled “follow me” on the soles of their feet to lure customers down unsavoury paths. And yet, the gospel overcame.

In the UK, 75% of Christian men (according to Premier Radio) admit to viewing pornography; while 42% struggle with pornography addiction.

This is a not just a pastoral problem, this is an energy crisis like a spiritual Strait of Hormuz: the oil of anointing is blocked. Regardless of Sunday appearances, there is no possibility of anointing when ministry and sexual immorality cohabit (1 Cor. 6v15-17).

Paul writes in Galatians 6v7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Pornography is paying for sex; it is to engage in prostitution: and 75% of Christian men are paying to sleep with prostitutes in their minds. How should the church deal with this problem?

I preached on pornography using Esther Chapter 1 and King Xerxes objectifying his wife to friends with tragic results. While several females thanked me, several men were inconsolably broken: both responses made me think.

Today, a BBC article reports on ‘“swingers” websites: husbands behaving like Xerxes setting up their wives with other men to satisfy voyeuristic proclivities. How can we address these “Corinthian” issues, especially if church members gossip about “scandals”?

Gossip. Gossip is a serious sin that is not taken seriously by many evangelicals. Gossip celebrates the shock factor of other people’s mistakes rather than the shock factor of the cross: Jesus who gives His life for ordinary people.

Gossip is Pharisaic thinking at the communion rail: it says, “we people” are not the same as “you people” – sinners! Gossip in action denies the gospel in principle.

Shocking Grace tells Good News! The shocking wonder of the gospel can only find expression in gossip-free churches.

Regarding pornography, Christian men need honest and safe spaces to talk. They need to recognise pornography as a lie: porn may promise intimacy and fulfilment, but it will rob men (and woman) of intimacy and fulfilment with the Lord, their spouses and even their children. Pornography is a prison cell.

Like identifying a scam, naming something as a lie is to denounce its truth and power. That’s what Christians should do with pornography: Name the lie, denounce the lie; and let the truth set them free from this inner-life prison. Then the Spirit will come abundantly!