I just finished up an interesting conversation about sharing the Gospel. The individual that I was speaking with was bound and determined to say that you could share the Gospel in a way that it was non offensive.
I - of course - disagree.
Romans 9:33, "I lay in Zion a Stumbling Stone & Rock of Offense and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
The premise of my side of the discussion is simple: We can do everything possible to learn the culture of a particular people group, we can learn the best methods in sharing the Gospel, we can smile, be polite - but we can in no way make share the Gospel without IT being offensive.
The verse mentioned above tells us plainly that Jesus is a stumbling block and a rock of offense. It's in Jesus that we realize we are sinners. It's in Jesus that we understand that we cannot be right with God on our own merit. It's in Jesus that we understand God's view of sin. Jesus Christ took God's wrath upon Himself to pay the penalty for our sin. Does that offend? The fact is: Yes!
Regardless of how you say it, people don't want to hear that they are a sinner. They don't want to hear that if they die without Christ that they will go to hell. They don't want to hear that in and of themselves they can never earn/merit salvation. We like to believe that we can fix things ourselves. We like to believe that heaven is only a few good works away. But the truth of the matter is unless we humble ourselves (as a child) and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior we will never be saved. The people of this world not only stumble over this message but they are offended.
Paul placed a great emphasis on reaching people where they lived and keeping his ministry blameless. However, there is no way you can convey the Gospel without someone being offended with the concept. How can we preach about the stumbling block and rock of offense (as God calls Christ) without ruffling a few feathers?
So what do we do? Just keep preaching the message! Find someone today that you can share this offensive message with. See if you can't get someones attention by sharing the Gospel. And if they get upset with you just remember that Jesus told His disciples that the world would reject them because it rejected Him.
Go ahead and throw the stumbling block of Christ in front of someone. Hopefully while they are on their knees they will humble themselves and accept Him. It may seem offensive but the Word also states that "whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
1 comment:
In the class, Share Jesus Without Fear, Bill Fay teaches us that the Gospel WILL be offensive to some, we do not have to be. We can share the Gospel with all of the Love of Christ that is in us and some will still be offended. Some people, unfortunately, have this over inflated self view, and can not accept hearing the fact that they are less than perfect. They can't accept hearing that they must humble themselves. They can't accept hearing that there is punishment and not reward for all their self indulgent, self satisfying ways until the Holy Spirit breaks their heart for what they've done. But this doesn't mean we shouldn't share. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So we must still press through and share even though some will be offended. The good news is, there are some that are so hungry to hear about the hope that is in Christ, that their reaction to hearing the Gospel will make it all worth it as you see a life changed forever right before your eyes! Tell somebody!
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