Don’t Be Offended

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
Matthew 11:4?-?6

Jesus healed the sick and the blind and the lame and the mute and the demon possessed. The gospel was being preached through the entire world and he said blessed are those who do not take offense at me.

Are we offended by the word of God? The answer is yes. At one point or another, we have all been offended by something the Bible has confronted us on or sin in our lives. There are many verses that challenge me. Such as love my enemies and praying for those who persecute me. It is not easy to hear do not be lovers of much wine, be doers of the word and not just hearers, to give to the poor, to sacrifice for others and to not love your life so much that you are unwilling to lay it down for the testimony of Jesus. It is confrontational to society to hear that God created us male and female and that He designed us to be in heterosexual relationships. The Bible is meant to confront us and challenge us and to turn us away from worldly thoughts, lusts and desires and to fix our eyes on Jesus.

The world is in complete opposition to their Creator. They do not believe that they are created, they think that they are in control of their own lives and their own destinies. Society believes they can be who they want, love who they want and live how they want. Well I’m here to share the cold hard truth of these beliefs are a lie. God loves mankind and He created us in His image but separate from him we are destined to a life of hell and torment. That is another Biblical truth people don’t want to hear about. Hell. The punishment for all who do not put their faith in Jesus Christ, but we have to talk about it. As we see the end of all things come closer and closer it is time to recognize the fact we may be in the last years of history and it is time to listen to the voice of God, repent of sin and put our faith and hope and trust back in the arms of God who created us.

There is a parable in Matthew 20:1-16 that Jesus taught. In this parable, a landowner offered a denarius, (which was equal to a day’s wages) to workers at different times throughout the twelve-hour workday. Some workers began first thing in the morning then he went out the third hour, sixth hour and ninth hour to hire other workers. He offered each worker the same denarius for pay no matter the hour they were hired. The landowner went out for the last time in the eleventh hour of the day and said, “why have you been standing here idle all day”? The workers responded with, “no one had hired them”. So he offered a denarius to them as well and they headed to work. When the landowner went to pay the workers, those who started in the morning were upset that they received the same pay as the workers who started in the eleventh hour. The classic ‘This isn’t fair line’ comes to mind. But the land owner said you agreed to the pay you received and that as the land owner, it was his right to be generous with those in the eleventh hour as it was in the first hour. He challenged their thinking and asked Is your eye envious of my generosity?

In this parable the denarius represents salvation. There are people who came to faith 50 years ago, ten years ago, last year, yesterday and all time frames in between. Jesus gives the same wage to everyone, the same gift, and He is calling people right now to repent and turn to Him. This is the eleventh hour and now is the time to repent and begin the journey of being connected to the life-giving vine of Christ. His generous gift is the same to all who believe, throughout all times of history, and all of us need Him as Savior. But we do not have all the time in the world to respond to this message. There will come a day when history is completed and judgment is poured out on all who have rejected Christ.

Blessed are those who do not take offense at the gospel, who are not offended when the Bible or someone sharing the Bible confronts sin in your life. Blessed is the person who is not offended when you hear that you are a sinner in need of a savior. The ultimate blessing of restoration comes when you put your faith and hope in The Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Even though this may be the eleventh hour of history it is the same gift being offered. He is the King of Kings and this gospel will continue to be preached through all the nations until the day He returns. So don’t be offended. Listen and consider the truth of salvation and Jesus Christ will set you free.

The Lord bless you and keep you,

Kara

Faith, Hope, Encourage