“For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Paul’s was really passionate about leading people to Jesus. He was convinced beyond measure of the truthfulness of the Gospel, of the reasonableness of the Christian worldview. He vividly remembered the other side, and intimately understood the contrast between the two. He didn’t want anyone to be stuck living forever like he once was and was willing to go through just about anything to keep them from that so far as it depended on him. But he was also honest about the fact that not everyone was going to come around. The us-and-them divide was real. In the next few verses he contrasts one with the other. Let’s take a look starting with the latter.

We should note right out of the gate here that Paul says what he does in these two verses with a heavy heart. Sometimes the truth is hard. That doesn’t make it any less true, but neither should we try to deny or downplay that fact. And the truth is “that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.”

Okay, but what does this mean? It means very simply that they reject the Gospel. They reject God’s offer of life. More than that, they work against its proclamation. The Gospel offers a message of hope and the promise that by faith in Christ alone we can find salvation according to God’s Christ. The enemies of that message don’t want it spread. They work to argue against it and otherwise squash it out of existence. They even set out to persecute those who proclaim it.

This is what breaks Paul’s heart. It breaks his heart because he’s been on the other side of the fight. He once was one of those enemies. He proclaimed against the Gospel with every rhetorical skill at his disposal. He looked to round up believers and imprison them or have them killed. He did whatever he could to stop its spread, even unleashing a campaign of terror against the church.

Then he was faced with the truth. He was enabled to see what was really real. Because of this, he knows just how lost these enemies are. He knows how miserable they really are. He knows their brokenness. He knows that they rage against the joy of those who have found the hope and freedom that are natural parts of the Gospel because they can’t access these with their current worldview tools. Rather than hating them, he grieves for them.

He also grieves for them because he knows their end. LIfe is found in Christ and Christ alone. Every other path leads to death and destruction. “Their end is destruction.” They are working to fight against the truth. They will reap what they sew. They are constructing a world of comforting lies, a pleasant delusion about their position that will eventually crash hard into the walls of reality, smashing to pieces all of their fantasies and laying bare the emptiness of their claims.

Worse still, apart from Christ, they are dead in their sins. They are bound for hell and the eternal destruction and death that awaits all those finally refusing God’s offer of salvation and righteousness in Christ. This is not something we should celebrate as an end for anyone even as we are right and proper to delight and glorify God for His just judgment of the impenitent wicked. We rejoice in that God is just and will hold accountable those who oppose Him even as we mourn now that there are those who will one day receive that end, even those we may know and love.

Yet these have chosen their path “Their god is their stomach.” This doesn’t mean they worship their stomach. Paul says this to indicate that they worship their own desires. Those desires may take the form of any number of other gods, but ultimately they are choosing the path they walk. The God or god we choose to worship is always, ultimately our choice. No one can force us to one path or the other. Oh, they can do so externally, but in our heart of hearts we choose where to give our devotion. These folks have chosen their path of destruction. They need the light of the truth to be able to see the consequences of their path.

Some reject even this and choose to remain in the dark, what a tragedy that is. Rather than turning away from this shameful path, they own it. They glory in it. “Their glory is in their shame.” This doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy about the path they are taking, but they have owned it. Think about all the ways our culture today celebrates sin in some form or fashion. Rather than calling people away from the shame of sin, our culture encourages them to live into it. Not all sin, mind you, but the currently culturally popular sin for sure.

The reason they do this is because “they are focused on earthly things.” They are focused on this world and this world only. Because of that, whatever is good for them now, is good for them period. They seek only temporary pleasure thinking that is the only kind of pleasure there is. What a tragedy to be stuck with something that won’t last when all eternity is available. No wonder Paul’s heart is broken by this. Ours should be too.

So, what does this all mean for us? Well, if you are among this group, this is the truth about the situation you are in. It’s not a pretty truth, but it is not for that reason any less true. If you are a follower of Jesus, this is the truth about the people around you who aren’t. This shouldn’t be news you react to with indifference. This is a tragedy, and it should break your heart just like it did Paul’s. It should break your heart and motivate you to action, specifically the action of proclaiming the Gospel with courage and winsomeness everywhere you go. This doesn’t have to be the end for anyone. Let’s call them to choose differently and show them by our love why Jesus is the better choice.