“Regarding Idiocy” 8-20--23
Overview
Regarding Idiocy
There's a bumper sticker that reads, "God loves you, everybody else thinks you're an idiot." It's good for a chuckle, but underneath the humor sits a serious truth: every one of us has done and said idiotic things. Scripture doesn't shy away from naming that reality. Jesus calls foolish the person who hears His words and fails to act on them, building a life on sand rather than rock Matthew 7:24-27. He calls foolish the bridesmaids who weren't ready for the bridegroom's arrival Matthew 25:1-13. On the road to Emmaus He says to His own disciples, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe" Luke 24:25. The Bible warns us, too, against foolish speech Ephesians 5:4, senseless quarrels 2 Timothy 2:23, and the despising of wisdom Proverbs 1:7.
To people like us comes the soaring promise of Romans 8:35-39. Paul piles up the heaviest weights a human life can carry—hardship (the squeeze of pressure and emotional stress), distress (the narrow place where you feel hemmed in), persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword (the hidden dagger that wounds). None of it, he says, can separate us from the love of Christ. But there is a deeper question lurking behind Paul's list: what about our sin? Is there a greater idiocy than believing our way is better than God's way? Adam and Eve, placed in a perfect garden, rationalized that the forbidden fruit was somehow good—and "all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" Isaiah 53:6.
Paul's answer is breathtaking: neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Even the idiocy of our sin has been answered—because "in this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" 1 John 4:10. Atonement means "at-one-ment": the chasm between sinner and Creator closed by the cross. When Jesus cried "It is finished," every foolish thought, word, and deed—everything done and left undone—was paid in full.
The pastoral application flows naturally. Because grace has been extended to us at the point of our deepest foolishness, we are free to extend grace to one another in their less-than-stellar moments. We don't have to lock the doors and hide when we've broken something we can't fix. We can step out, own it, and live in the grace that has already met us. Nothing—not even our own idiocy—can separate the beloved of God from the love of God in Christ.
Transcript
Would you open up your Bibles, please, with me, for our time of study today to Romans 3s
the 8th chapter. 7s
If you're using a Pew edition, you'll find that in the New Testament on page 138, Romans 9s
the 8th chapter. 16s
As I began the process of putting various topics, various bumper stickers in association 20s
with this summer sermon series, as I began that process, I quickly learned that there 27s
are quite a few bumper stickers out there that have a message with theological implications. 34s
And so to be honest, it took me a little bit of time to be able to narrow it down to those 42s
that we would be addressing over these weeks of this summer. 49s
There was one sticker, though, that particularly caught my eye. 55s
And when I read it, I said to myself, I need to preach that one. 61s
God loves you, everybody else thinks you're an idiot. 67s
When I read that, I inked that right in on my note pad and said, I've got to preach, 74s
I've got to preach that. 82s
As we think about that bumper sticker, though, and it's the chuckles of the smiles or the 87s
laughter associated with it, there is a really serious topic that's embedded in that bumper 92s
sticker. 99s
It's the issue of our idiocy, the issue of our idiocy. 101s
We all do idiotic things. 113s
We all do idiotic things. 118s
And now we've come to the part of the sermon where you insert your own example into the sermon. 122s
I'd like you to think about something that's on your list of things where you say, it was 129s
I an idiot to do that. 134s
I'd like you to think about that. 136s
I can give you a couple seconds. 137s
Go ahead. 139s
Got it? 142s
Insert example into the sermon. 143s
Let's move on, right? 146s
The Scriptures tell us of idiotic things that are done. 148s
In Matthew 7th chapter, we read this. 153s
Jesus says, everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like 158s
a wise man who built his house on rock. 163s
The rain fell, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did 167s
not fall because it had been founded on rock. 173s
In everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish 177s
man who built his house on sand. 183s
The rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house 187s
and it fell and great was its fall. 192s
It's an eiotic, isn't it? 196s
To build your house directly upon shifting sand. 199s
Jesus, that's foolish or there's the parable of the 10 bridesmaids that are waiting 204s
for the groom. 211s
The point of the parable there is to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. 213s
Jesus tells a story about five of the bridesmaids. 218s
They had a flask of oil with them. 221s
The other five didn't. 224s
And so when the groom eventually shows up, five of them are missing it because they're 227s
off trying to buy oil. 233s
And he calls them, calls them foolish, foolish. 235s
And Luke, the 24th chapter, we studied it that rode to amazes experience, post-cross, post-resurrection, 241s
and Jesus has revealed himself to some of the disciples, but they don't know its him. 251s
And Jesus says, oh how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the 258s
prophets have declared. 266s
Bible tells us that we can have foolish words that come out of our mouth and foolish 271s
thoughts. 276s
Bible tells us in Ephesians the 5th chapter entirely out of place is obscene, silly, 278s
and vulgar talk. 285s
Instead let there be thanksgiving. 287s
Second Timothy 2, have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies. 290s
You know they breed quarrels. 296s
Proverbs 1 says, fools despise wisdom and instruction. 299s
Can we all agree this morning? 308s
Can we all agree that every single one of us does and says idiotic things? 310s
Can we all agree to that? 322s
And to the likes of us come these powerful words. 328s
Look at verse 35, please, of Romans 8, who will separate us from the love of Christ? 336s
Will hardship or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? 348s
Hard ship there? 360s
Hard ship is a word that can't be squeezed or feeling under pressure. 362s
It's a word that means difficulties, including emotional stress. 369s
Paul says, can hardship separate you from God's love? 375s
He goes on and mentions distress. 385s
That's a compound word actually of two words in the Greek. 387s
It's narrow and space. 390s
So it's times where you just feel himden. 393s
You feel pressure pushing in on you. 396s
And Paul says, can distress separate you? 399s
No. 405s
Persecution here is suffering for the name of Christ. 407s
And oftentimes as we see historically in the life of the church, oftentimes associated 411s
with persecution is the very next word famine. 416s
He then says nakedness, the inability to clothe oneself, feeling vulnerable and unprotected. 421s
He then says, peril, that's being exposed to danger. 428s
He then mentions the sword in the Greek. 432s
It's actually dagger. 435s
It's the little thing that has been concealed that then is pulled out can kill or hurt. 437s
Paul says, can hardship or distress or persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword? 446s
None of that can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. 454s
None of it can separate you. 461s
But can sin, can sin separate you? 469s
Or to put it another way, what about the idiocy of our sin? 478s
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, placed in the perfect place. 492s
It was perfect in the garden of Eden. 498s
They were to serve God in a way to serve God as they were to serve one another. 505s
God said, you can eat of any tree of the garden, including the tree of life. 509s
You can eat of any tree of the garden as one tree that you don't eat of. 515s
That's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 519s
God said, the day that you eat of that, the day that you determine for yourself, that which is right 521s
and wrong, that's the death penalty. 527s
You will die. 532s
But we see that Scripture tells us that our first parents, they rationalized, that 534s
plucking of the forbidden tree was somehow good. 541s
And they pluck from the tree and they sink their teeth into the forbidden fruit and sin 548s
enters into creation. 554s
There is no greater example of idiocy than believing that our ways are better than God's 557s
ways. 575s
There is no greater example of idiocy than the idiocy of our sin. 578s
Isaiah writes in the 53rd chapter, all we like sheep have gone astray. 592s
We've all turned to our own way. 599s
It's the all encompassing, the all enveloping idiocy of sin. 604s
Heart ship distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword. 617s
None of that separates us from the love of God. 621s
But does the idiocy of our sin, does the idiocy of our sin separate us? 625s
Good verse 38. 642s
For I'm convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present 647s
nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else. 653s
In all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus or Lord. 661s
Nothing. 673s
John writes in 1 John 4, he says, in this is love not that we loved God but that he 676s
loved us and sent his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 683s
Atonement means to bring at one meant sin separating us from the Creator, the great 690s
chasm, the great golf and when Jesus goes to the cross, all of the idiocy of our sin, all 698s
of the idiocy of our sinful thought and word indeed and what we've done and what we've 706s
left undone, all of that was placed upon Jesus and Jesus cries from the cross to tell 711s
the story, paid in full the forgiveness one, the atonement affected. 719s
Nothing. 728s
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. 730s
Nothing. 738s
Even our sin, because all of it, all of it has been atoned for through the blood of Jesus 740s
Christ. 754s
All of it. 759s
I must have been 12, maybe 13, part of the youth group that our church in California 764s
and we were washing cars. 774s
So many of the congregants that brought their vehicles there and the community there and 779s
there was a nice line there and the parking lot. 784s
And it was decided that the car that we had been working on needed to be put into 789s
neutral so it could be pushed out of the way to get to more cars. 795s
And so the youth director turned to me and said they would go in there, put it neutral, 800s
we're going to push the car. 805s
Well, I'd never done anything like that. 809s
I didn't know how to do it. 812s
I didn't want to like stoop it. 814s
All of my friends were there so I get behind the wheel in the car. 816s
It's just me and there. 821s
And I went to shift the car. 826s
And I shifted it with the directional signal. 831s
And tour it right off. 836s
There was that moment of panic when I was all alone that I just wanted to lock all 844s
the doors and stay there. 852s
But I stepped out of the vehicle with the directional signal in my hand. 855s
God loves you. 867s
Everybody else thinks you're an idiot. 871s
That was not one of my more stellar moments. 879s
You might even say idiotic. 886s
But I was met with grace. 893s
I was met with grace as the owner of the vehicle saw me standing there. 897s
And I explained what happened and I said, I guess you don't shift with this studio. 906s
And I could live in that grace. 919s
We would do well to extend grace to one another. 928s
When we see in others, less than stellar moments in their lives, we would do well 939s
Because grace has been extended to us. 956s
To the supreme example of idiocy are sin. 963s
Grace has been extended through us through the Lord Jesus Christ. 973s
And nothing can separate us from His love. 982s
Nothing. 989s
Including the idiocy of our sin, because every sin and the condition of us being a sinner 992s
has been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. 1010s