Who are you offending?
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Who are you offending? Why are you offending them?
Who are you offending? Why are you offending them?
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
BIG IDEA: Jesus Offended People
#1 Are you offending anyone?
“How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” Penn Jillette (famous atheist from Penn and Teller)
Here is the reality, whether people like it or agree with it, the truth is Jesus offended people, he was offensive to many. Sometimes I am known as being offensive, but let us first understand that being offensive and offending someone are two different things. When someone is calling me offensive the reality most of the time is that I just value the truth and people are offended by truth. There is a fine line there but for me it is in the intent.
One of the often misquoted or misunderstood scriptures on offense comes from the NKJV or KJV in
We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.
However the Greek there for offense, that word is proskope, actually means to cause a misstep. So literally it is a stumbling or an occasion of sin. So in that term it is true as Christians we should not create opportunities for people to sin, but that does not mean WE DO NOT KEEP THEM FROM SIN.
Jesus offends many times, Matthew 15:12
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
The reality is Jesus spent a good part of His ministry in peoples faces, minds, and in their lives when He saw they were doing it wrong.
Jesus tells you how to live. He tells you what to say. How to live. What to do. He wants to control every single aspect of your life. He wants you to do things you don’t agree with. He wants you to change everything about you. He wants you to stop living for yourself and start living for him
• He spent lots of time going around offending people. Religious people. Civic people. Government people. Normal people. Random people.
• I believe that Christians should be offending periodically- if they are not- what are we saying and doing?
Charles Spurgeon “You are the salt not the sugar candy; something the world will spit out, not swallow.”
• What offended people about Jesus? He told the truth. That is it.
So let us be clear, Jesus offended people with the truth, so did Peter, John, Stephen, Phillip, and Paul.
So let us take a look at what people were offended by in Mark 6
#2 They were offended by what He knew—They were astonished
Mark 6:2a “…and many who heard him were amazed.”
One of those fascinating points here to me is that Jesus chose this point in His ministry to go back to the country from where He came to do ministry. So He returns, His disciples follow him and He goes into the synagogue to go and do some preaching. Now His reception was entirely negative, they did not hate Him or what He had to say, it was all in His level of knowledge and the power in which He spoke.
I think if you read this passage carefully and correctly you see that what is happening here is something that can still tear the church apart today, they were envious of Him and angry with Him because He is preaching the truth better than they did—and here is the real grinder for them, Jesus did not have to go through the same processes and educational endeavors that they had to go through.
Why does that matter to us today?
First, if you are a Christian and you stand firm, People are going to be offended by what you know.
We see this with Peter and John, just a couple of guys speaking before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
The Sanhedrin was upset about the power they had as speakers and they did not expect this from them.
If you know the truth of the Gospel, you are smarter than people that do not. SPEAK IT
So what was the response from the Pharisees? Acts 4:18
Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
#3 Offended by what He had—Where did He get these things?
Mark 6:2b “Where did this man get these things?” they asked.
When Jesus was speaking they could not fathom the level of knowledge that Jesus had, it was like it just locked their brains right up because they had this prescribed path of what it would take to become a master teacher.
Think about that, let us say someone comes into your job tomorrow as a brand new hire and they are already 200 percent better at your job than you. What would you think? It is really part of human nature, it is of the flesh, when someone has something better than we have or something we wished we had and we perceive it was achieved without due credit it often creates envy. The old “must be nice” comment people make so often.
All to often we like to sit in our little judgment throne and decide do people deserve praise, punishment, provision, blessing, or whatever. We like to put ourselves into a position of decision maker about who gets what and how—Thankfully for all of us that is not how God works. He is sovereign, He can give what He wants to who He wants when He wants.
Receive whatever Jesus has for you! Followers of Jesus will be taught by Jesus, walking in the truth allows us to become the truth.
On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
God can and will speak through you—it is like the Holy Spirit can download information right into your brain, even past your fleshly thinking. God can give you knowledge and words, God will provide.
Who, then, are those who fear the Lord?
He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
#4 Offended by what He did—What wisdom that was given Him
Mark 6:2C What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing?
These men became frustrated with what Jesus was able to do, he was doing great things in their midst and they could not fathom where He got this ability. Again, we see envy at work here, they believed that somehow they should have what He has also.
Often times when we walk in the truth with God the Father you will be able to do things that other people do not understand, you will receive blessings that other people do not, you will have knowledge and wisdom that people envy. God will give wisdom to anyone who asks.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
The blessings you receive and the wisdom the Father gives will OFFEND people. Why should the unlearned have wisdom? Why should the unlearned have power? Because God the Father GIVES YOU WISDOM TO CONFOUND THE WISE
For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.
Be a person that God can use to show His power in this world.
#5 Offended by who He was—Isn’t this the carpenter?
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
The greatest offense possibly to these people was the belief that Jesus was not worthy to be doing what He was doing because after all, He was just a carpenters son from Nazareth.
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
They just did not believe he had the right to be who He was based on where He came from.
That speaks to someone here today, you are holding back because you believe the world would reject you but God has bigger plans for you.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
I know some of what I am saying may be offensive to some of you, but Jesus was offensive.
#6 If you are not offending anyone with the Gospel (in a loving fashion) you are offending God.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
So many people have used this to say “I am just like Paul” I am struggling to do good but that is okay. God clearly knows that my sin is just part of my flesh, see here Paul was the same way. There are countless men’s ministries and responsibility groups that fall back on this short portion of scripture and justify their fleshly way. But they are not reading far enough in.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
The only person Jesus cared about not offending was not you or me, pharisees, lay people, common folk, Jews, Samarians, Romans, or anyone else earthly. THE ONLY PERSON JESUS DID NOT WANT TO OFFEND WAS GOD THE FATHER
When we ignore the gospel in any part, when we fail to hold ourselves to a standard, when decide to accept sinful behavior as the norm, when we tolerate sin without lovingly speaking up we are OFFENDING GOD
Question: Do you know of the truth or do you know and are walking in the truth?
There is a difference between knowing of the truth and knowing the truth while walking in truth. You can know of the truth and still sin, you can know of the truth and still walk in ignorance, you can know of the truth and still perish in hell. If you know the truth then you do the truth, when we walk in truth we are changed to be truth.
So the question is how do I know the truth. Well first, everyone knows of the truth. The Bible is often referred to as the good book, or one of my favorites is the idea that the Bible contains Basic Information Before Leaving Earth. I hear all the time people say things like “I didn’t get a manual for raising my kids, parenting is hard that way.” Yes you did, here is the manual [HOLD UP BIBLE]. I hear people say “There are no manuals when you get married, you just have to figure it out”, no you did get a manual, here it is [HOLD UP BIBLE]. It is our manual for everything in life, the truth is contained in it and so we must be in it daily.
Today your action is to seek opportunities to stand apart and do not conform to the world.