Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived
from Jerusalem to see Jesus. “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old
tradition?” they demanded. “They ignore
our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your
traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and
‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their
parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I
have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake
of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you,
for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with
their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your
mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your
mouth.” Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize
you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?” Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be
uprooted, so ignore them. They are
blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they
will both fall into a ditch.”
Matthew 15:1
- 14 (NLT)
Just imagine the grand
(tragic) comedy of it all. Pharisees,
the grand religious leaders, got offended by the preaching of God
incarnate!
They got offended?
At what?
Jesus had told them their
lives offended God. The blessings God
had put in their hands were meant to be a blessing for the community, not a
windfall to be hoarded. Yet the
Pharisees found all sorts of loopholes to get around Scripture’s teaching, even
to the point of ignoring destitute parents.
Blind leading the blind! And God help
the preacher who calls them on it!
Does the teaching of Scripture offend?
Elizabeth and I watched the
Billy Graham special last Thursday evening.
In his message, Dr. Graham referred to the cross of Christ as “an
offense”[1] many times.
Why is the cross an
offense?
It has to do with the
sinful nature of humanity. By nature we
are a rebellious sort; we want to hoard our treasure. It’s not just the treasure of bank accounts
and material possessions – it’s the treasure of our sovereign
independence. We don’t mind letting God
be a part
of our lives; we don’t mind including a little church in our schedules, or a
little charity here and there. But go
against my will, my comfort, my choices?
Yes, that is exactly what
the cross requires, to deny self, pick up the cross
and follow Jesus. That inspires grateful
people who have been saved; it makes willful people angry!
What to do about preaching that offends
Preachers don’t have to be
ignorant, bigoted, angry or ugly to offend people if they will simply stick to
preaching the “offensive cross of Christ”.
There are enough Pharisees to get angry in any crowd.
Preachers like me are not
infallible; we make mistakes. Looking
back over a ministry of 35 years I realize some days my “sermon” could have
been a whole lot better if I had just read the text and called it a day. But one thing was true about every sermon –
it was always an attempt to preach Christ, and Him crucified, and how we can better
serve this King of Glory.
If you find yourself
getting angry over a sermon, use this checklist:
o
Is that preacher saying something that’s “tied to the
cross”?
o
Am I in need of repenting of that thing?
o
Or am I just cranky and need a nap?
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