UNSHAKEABLE SERIES
Part : I Cannot Afford To Be Offended | Antione Ashley
Objective:
Text: Luke 7:18-23 NKJV
“18 Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things. 19 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
20 When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ” 21 And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.
22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
We live in a time where everyone is offended.
- People are offended about what you did
- people are offended about what you post
- People are offended about you commenting or not commenting on their post
And because there is no real reconciliation and godly ways of handling offense, many are falling away.
- Marriages and homes are falling apart, churches are splitting, and destinies are being ruined
But the most deadly offense is an offense that people are having with God.
- there’s a spiritual falling away thatis resulting from people bing offended with God.
- They aren’t just leaving
Here we see John the Baptist, the most prolific prophet that Jesus Himself quotes as the greatest ever born.
But John, however, is offended in his prison cell and is at risk of losing it all.
You cannot remain unshakeable with offense lodged inside of your heart, for if it is not removed, all hell will break within your home, life, and destiny.
—#UNSHAKEABLE_SERIES
Question:
What happens when you are offended at God? I know that you know
Can you be unshakeable in God, when his work is not WORKED OUT exactly how you thought it should be?
Looking at John
If there’s anyone who should not be offended with Jesus, it should be John because John knows Jesus better than any of us does. But even while he knows Jesus well, John also has a hidden struggle with Jesus.
John is confident in his theology concerning the PERSON of Christ; however he has a hidden struggle on the WORK of Christ.
This small problem is what breeds into an offense in John’s life, and like John, I have seen many fall NOT to the facts of knowing WHO Jesus is, but becoming offended with the works of Jesus, not knowing what He is doing.
1 John gets OFFENDED at Jesus’ care for his enemy (Luke 7:1-10)
A
2 John becomes JEALOUS of the widow’s son raised from death (Luke 7:11-15)
Jesus has left the town of Capernaum and is now in Nain where he comes up to a live funeral procession.
Here’s the problem:
John is jealous that Jesus would heal the Romans servant and raise this woman’s son from the dead and pay no attention to his situation. John is getting jealous of seeing someone else being blessed by God while he’s not.
Jealousy is proven here by:
1. He sent his disciples to be there to
Luke 7:18NKJV: Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.”
- His suspicion then turned into minimizing the glory of God.
Instead of John praising God for what Jesus WAS DOING, he was minimizing it and focusing all on what God WAS NOT DOING.
3. His jealousy ended up in Questioning Jesus (Luke 7:19)
John finally broke down and asked,
Luke 7:19 NKJV “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?””
- this is subtle, but very BOLD.
- to ask this shows just offended he actually is
4 Jesus handles John
(Luke 7:20-24)
Jesus could have crushed John, but I think he saw the pain in John talking versus the heart of John talking.
Offense makes a person delusional and causes them to irrationally through their pain, and Jesus saw this in John
Offense defined
skandalizo
- a trap, snare
- any impediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble or fall,
- i.e. Jesus is called a rock which is a cause of stumbling
- fig. applied to Jesus Christ, whose person and career were so contrary to the expectations of the Jews concerning the Messiah, that they rejected him and by their obstinacy made shipwreck of their salvation
any person or thing by which one is (entrapped) drawn into error or sin
to cause a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey
to see in another what I disapprove of and what hinders me from acknowledging his authority