Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes we are asked to decide and confirm our intentions with God. Sometimes we have to face up to difficult teachings that boggle our minds. But God will be God. So, Jesus asked his disciples when they grumbled and by extension us when we complain…Does The Way Of God Offend You?
Scripture: Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b (NRSV)
Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:21-32 (NRSV)
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
John 6:60-69 (NRSV)
as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 9:33 (NRSV)
Message: Today we are exploring scripture related to commitment and the art of submitting to one another in love. We are to take and eat of the Body of Christ…the Word made flesh as a marriage of our mind and body and soul in the new covenant. For the reality is that in our heads, there are lots of things about God that offends people. But friends, do not underestimate the importance of just getting over that misguided attitude. Please discover that we really have no other logical choice but to commit to God’s reality. We have nowhere else to turn in this situation. The beauty is that when we are in Christ, we commit not only to God but to each other as in a marriage. And as we do life together, we learn to address priorities of time and money and the making of friends, who share Christian values so that we might become more radiant and holy. Here we realize that God will give us the strength … God will give us the energy… if we give God the truth and the time of our lives. Indeed, we are called to deny ourselves and to follow Jesus. And here we learn to experience a reality we perhaps once questioned and perhaps were even offended by. You see, as humans we learn to accept the reality presented to us as the way of life. The thing is that Jesus presents us with a better way to guide our paths in righteousness. Now it may be helpful for you to know that the word offend in the Bible means something a little different from how we often use it today. It carries with it some of the same meaning, but there is more. It also means to trip up and to cause to stumble. So, when Jesus asked the disciples if they were offended it carried with it a question perhaps meant to wake them up to reality of God. You see, sin is an offense to God, but God does not sin. So, it is a bit absurd to consider that Christ would purposefully offend us. Still Christ offends people. His birth in a stable in Bethlehem was a stumbling block to some. His death on the cross of Calvary was offensive then and it is offensive now. His resurrection and second coming are offensive to many religious people. And here in our text we find that His preaching greatly offended people of His day too. But as followers of Christ, we must get over this. Jesus is not to be a stumbling stone but the cornerstone. Unfortunately, people today hate the sovereignty of God, and it is offensive to their proud hearts because it leaves them as paupers before a Deity who does as He pleases. Thankfully God in kind enough to point people to the true way of salvation. And sometimes that is a hard pill to swallow.
And So, being controlled by the Holy Spirit may well offend our senses or the senses of others, but it is in this submission to the conviction of God that the power of love and its price is revealed. Sometimes it is hard, but in the end, it is worth it to not be offended by the way of God.
Pray we periodically renew our covenant with the Lord. Pray we are committed to each other and to God, for we cannot live the life intended without help. Pray we are ready to respond to what the Lord would command of us. Pray we realize that we cannot even begin to go forward in the Christian life if we intend to go on our own strength. Pray we realize that when we pay attention to each other’s needs our life will get better. Pray we speak the truth in love, because we know how important it is to care about other people. Pray we strive that our speech to be more gracious, sweet, and focused on becoming who God intended us to be. Pray we submit to the Sovereignty of God. Pray we are not offended by the mystery and the reality of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 