27, November 2005
Dakota Community Church
No Offense
Are you easily offended or do you have someone in your life that is? You know what I mean, one of those people who get all bent out of shape because you haven’t called them, as though their phone doesn’t have buttons. What are we supposed do in these cases? Who is responsible for working out these little differences? What happens if we just ignore them and how can we keep ourselves from missing out on God’s will for our lives because of them?
1. Offenses happen.
You cannot be a part of a close group of humans without eventually having a really good reason to be offended.
- You see it in families.
- You see it on sports teams.
- You see it in the business world.
- You see it in churches.
Matthew 18:6-7
“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!
There are two main causes.
- The fall.
- Communication issues.
Genesis 11:5-9
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
A.) We need to try not to be the offender.
Proverbs 18:19
An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel.
Keep in mind that people were even offended by Jesus who was without sin.
Matthew 13:54-57
Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at him.
B.) Be sure that you do not “take on” the offenses of others.
Proverbs 26:21-22 (NLT)
A quarrelsome person starts fights as easily as hot embers light charcoal or fire lights wood.
What dainty morsels rumors are--but they sink deep into one’s heart.
2. Love covers.
How should we respond when we are offended?
We can love the person and cover the offence or we can seek vindication and expose it.
Proverbs 17:9
He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
Illustration:
How would you like someone to be waiting to take your picture first thing in the morning before you had time to shave, shower and get yourself together? Are you thinking "no way"?
When we refuse to forgive others, it’s like taking a picture of them when they are their ugliest. Never letting them be anything else but the person who offended us.
Forgiving others allows us to tear up those ugly images and sets them free to be all that God created them to be. None of us want to be remembered only for the bad.
Genesis 9:20-25
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father’s nakedness.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said,
"Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers."
Remember they are all alive because of Noah’s righteousness in a wicked generation.
- There was no curse on Noah for this incident.
- Ham went out of his way to be offended.
- If you cannot be naked in your own tent where can you be?
I think it is significant that this is the only story between the flood and the tower of Babel, and that it involves cursing and blessing.
- A curse for the one who exposed another’s sin.
- A blessing for the merciful.
Proverbs 19:11
A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
James 2:12-13
Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Look at the heart of God towards us:
Isaiah 44:22
I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
3. Grace grows.
I have noticed that as people age they tend to grow in one of two ways. Some allow the difficulties, disappointments, and inequities of life to harden them. Life is not fair. They become bitter and negative. They are always pointing out what is wrong.
Illustration:
I had one angry old man tell me in the Bible Bookstore where I work that only the King James Bible is a true “Holy Bible” and reading the others is a waste of time. Imagine being old and that ignorant.
The other group grows in grace. They are merciful. They see the best in people. They embrace change and continue to gain wisdom.
Question:
What kind of 70 year old will you be, based on the direction you are headed now?
You have a choice to make:
2Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
Hebrews 12:14-15
Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Grace grows but so do bitter roots.
The difference is in the watering.
The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned, "Mother, you must come and see the daffodils before they are over." Finally, I promised, reluctantly. I’d driven only a few miles when the road was covered with wet, gray fog. As I slowly executed the hazardous mountain turns, I was praying to reach the turnoff. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house, I said, "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! There is nothing that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch in this weather!"
"I’ll drive," Carolyn offered. In a few minutes, we were back on the Rim-of- the-World road heading over the top of the mountain.
We parked in a small parking lot adjoining a little stone church. I saw a pine needle covered path, and an inconspicuous, hand lettered sign "Daffodil Garden." I followed Carolyn down the path. Then we turned a corner. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down every crevice and over every rise. Even in the mist, the mountainside was radiant, clothed in massive drifts and waterfalls of daffodils. A charming path wound through the garden with several resting stations, with Victorian wooden benches and great tubs of tulips. It didn’t matter that the sun wasn’t shining. Five acres of flowers!
"But who?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "That’s her home." On the patio we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline. The first answer was simple. "50,000 bulbs." The second was, "One at a time, by one woman." The third was, "Began in 1958."
There it was. The Daffodil Principle. For me it was a life changing experience. I thought of this woman, who, more than thirty five years before, had begun one bulb at a time to bring beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top. No shortcuts, loving the slow process of planting. She had changed her world. Her daffodil garden taught me about learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time, learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time.
"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five years ago and worked away at it all those years. My wise daughter responded, "Start tomorrow."
By Geraldine Edwards
Did you like this sermon? If not - No Offense!
PowerPoint available on request - dcormie@mts.net
