They Were Offended

http://faithandvictory.com/sermons/they-were-offended/

Faith and Victory Church

Auburn WA, 98002

todd@faithandvictory.com

Mark 6:1-6 “they were offended ”

• Are you ready to offend some people?

• A famous atheist, Penn Jillette (From Penn and Teller) once said, “How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”

• Jesus is offensive. Many people don’t want to believe this or agree with this- but it’s the truth

• Now- being offensive and offending someone are two different things

• I get a reputation sometimes of being offensive, but the reality is that I just value truth so much and people get offended by it. I get it- there is a fine line between being offensive and offending people

• People say- 2 Corinthians 6:3 We give no offense in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed.

• proskope¯ pros-kop-ay' a stumbling, that is, (figuratively and concretely) occasion of sin: - offence.

• As a Christian- we shouldn’t be creating opportunities to help people SIN that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be KEEPING them from Sin.

• Jesus offends- Matthew 15:12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

• His whole ministry was to get in the faces, minds and lives of those who were DOING IT WRONG

• Jesus tells you how to live. He tells you what to say. How to live. What to do. He wants to control every single aspect of your life. He wants you to do things you don’t agree with. He wants you to change everything about you. He wants you to stop living for yourself and start living for him

• He spent lots of time going around offending people. Religious people. Civic people. Government people. Normal people. Random people.

• I believe that Christians should be offending periodically- if they are not- what we saying and doing? Charles Spurgeon “You are the salt not the sugar candy; something the world will spit out, not swallow.”

• What offended people about Jesus? He told the truth. That is it.

• To the Rich young ruler- Mark 10:22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

• Paul Offended- Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.

• 1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

• Jesus received a beating and a crucifixion. Paul got flogged and beaten as well. Next to death

• In this story we See that Jesus offended some people- “so they were offended by him”

• What were they offended by?

1. Offended by what he knew- they were astonished

• “And many hearing Him were astonished”

• It is interesting that when Jesus comes to this point in this ministry that he decides to come back to the country that he came from to go and do some ministry, his disciples follow him and he goes to the synagogue to go and do some preaching

• The guys in the synagogue don’t necessarily hate what he’s saying as much as they are upset with how much he knows and the power by which he speaks

• The main Issue I think is probably envy and anger because he’s preaching truth better than they did- and Jesus hadn’t had to go through the hoops that he had to go through

• What does it mean to you?

• If you are a Christian- People are going to get offended by what you know-

• Peter and John were a couple guys who were speaking to the Sanhedrin (jewish rulers)

• They got really upset because they weren’t supposed to be as powerful speakers as they were

• If you know the truth of Gospel, you’re smarter than the people who don’t. SPEAK IT

• Young man- at a softball event- talking to bikers about Jesus- HE had knowledge

• Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.- Christianity IS a thinking mans religion- nothing wrong with SPEAKING TRUTH

• Acts 4: 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. (Because they were offended)

2. Offended by what he had- where did he get these things

• When Jesus spoke these guys couldn’t even fathom the knowledge that Jesus had because they had it locked in their brain what they thought it took for someone to become a master teacher