The Emptiness of an Inoffensive Gospel - April 3 Readings: Galatians 5:11-12, 1 Corinthians 1:23-25, John 15:18-21, An Offensive Gospel

The Story of the Bible from Creation to the Cross to Eternal Glory

In 72 daily readings, we will examine the overall story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, seeking to get the big picture of God's work through Jesus Christ in this sinful world.

Today's Reading:  Galatians 5:11-12, 1 Corinthians 1:23-25, John 15:18-21

Through the Bible Readings: Joshua 11-12, Luke 6:1–26, Psalm 42:1–3, Proverbs 10:9-10

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Context 

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
We need to stop preaching things that offend people and drive them away.
If we continue to preach ____, we will drive away young people and the church will die. 

It is a truism in many parts of the church that being inoffensive is essential to the work of the church, that we must not aggravate, offend, or push people away from the church by confronting them with sin or preaching things that turn them off. One church, in my community, sent a note home to a family in our church. Their children had attended the alternative VBS ministry at their church and they were being notified that their daughter, "had let the big JC be her best friend." Who could be offended by that? But is the gospel presented in the Bible about (I shudder even to repeat the phrase) "letting the Big JC be your best friend?" Where is sin and repentance and judgment? I remember hearing the pastor of a large church in a previous community I served say, "My people have enough problems in their lives. They do not need me beating them up with the fact that they are sinners."

The question that we need to ask is whether we can present a gospel that does not offend. Can we remove the offense of the gospel without removing the heart of the Gospel? The Scriptures answer that question clearly. The message of Jesus Christ is good news to us - the best we have ever heard - but it is also an offense to our flesh. It confronts us with sin and unworthiness and unless we face its ugly truths we can never share in its eternal blessings.

An inoffensive gospel is no gospel at all.

Devotional: The Emptiness of an Inoffensive Gospel 

Paul asked an odd question in Galatians 5:11-12, as he was chiding the Galatians for their return to Jewish law after having been set free from it.  

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

The true gospel offends. The truth of the Cross of Christ does not sit well with sinners, not until they have come to the point of repentance, and we cannot remove the offense of the gospel without emptying the gospel of its power. There is only one way to avoid offending the lost and that is to avoid sharing with them the full-orbed truth of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 

Paul made this clear in 1 Corinthians 1:23-25, when he described the crucifixion as a stumbling block to Jewish sensibilities and foolishness to Greek wisdom. It was only to those who believe that the gospel becomes wisdom and salvation. We cannot make God's eternal truth wisdom to those who reject it intellectually or less of a stumbling block to those who hold to doctrines of works or other false religions. Peter echoed this thought in 1 Peter 2:4 when he described Christ as the cornerstone rejected by men but chosen and precious to God. Verse 8 describes Jesus as a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. 

The idea that we can win the lost by seeking to make the gospel less offensive SOUNDS reasonable but is actually ridiculous. It is only when sinful souls confront the reality of their sin and see the truth of Christ that they can be redeemed and made new. There is no salvation in shielding people from the truth. We gain nothing by air-conditioning the bus to hell. 

None of this should surprise us. There is a myth that Jesus was immensely popular, but he was rejected by far more people than ever followed him. In John 15:18-21 he warned his disciples that the world would treat them as it treated him. The servants would not be greater than their master. Should we expect a world that crucified our Lord to celebrate us? 

What Is Offensive about the Gospel?

There are several truths presented in the true gospel that the unredeemed, unprepared heart does not want to hear. 

1. We are sinners and our sins deserve God's judgment. We want to believe we are good people, that we deserve the love of God and a place in heaven. The gospel offends by telling us that we do not. 
2. Nothing we ever do on our own can make up for our sins or earn the love of God. I remember a children's book that my kid's loved, "I Can Do It Myself." The gospel says you cannot!
3. Our religion is not sufficient to earn God's favor, no matter what it is. 
4. We cannot reason our way to ultimate truth. 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 make this clear. God gifted humanity with great intellect but it falls short of God's. His ways and thoughts are infinitely beyond our own. The great truths are only discerned when the Spirit of God enlightens us. 
5. The gospel is the only hope of all the world. We make the claim that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved!

No, we need not be boorish and there is a place for tact and kindness in our evangelism. But there is no way we can share the full truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ without confronting sinners with things they'd rather not hear. 

The gospel that saves is also the gospel that offends. 

Father, may I be faithful to your truth, to the life-changing story of Christ's death on the cross, no matter what the cost. 

Think and Pray:

Do you care too much about what people think of you?
Does that stop you from sharing the full truth of the gospel?
Reflect on the difference between sharing a gospel that offends and being personally offensive.