The most offensive thing about Jesus...

 

Here's a challenging question. Don't take it the wrong way. It's just meant to make you think.

 

What is the most offensive part about Christianity today?

 

What do people say offends them the most? I'm not talking about what Christians think. I'm speaking about the perspective of the world/society.

 

It says a lot about what we're emphasizing.

 

Is it our positions on social issues? The way so many Christians rally behind political figures who aren't altogether godly?

 

Is it because of how so many Christians support wars... bigger military... unrestricted gun laws?

 

Is it because of how so many Christians have treated people who thought differently, who lived differently, as if they were sitting on the throne of God pronouncing His judgments on His behalf?

 

If it isn't our GRACE, our radical belief in FORGIVENESS, our unequivocal belief in a better way that welcomes ALL PEOPLE (even those the world hates) and offers God's gift to everyone... 

 

...then, we're focused on the wrong thing.  

 

There's nothing more offensive (to our limited but overly-inflated human egos) than God's grace. 

 

If that's not what's causing offense, then we've lost our way.

 

These days it feels like more people know Christianity for what it's against than for what it's for.  

Honestly, I'm probably preaching to the choir here. Because if you didn't already feel that way, I imagine my newsletter already offended you and you'd have unsubscribed by now.

 

But if you're stuck with me despite of all of this and you're still unsure about all of this...

 

I'd ask you to consider Jesus' own words/actions. Look at the "offense" many took at the things he said and did? How does the "face" of Christianity in today's public square compare?

 

Are we really showing the world the face of Jesus? Or are we showing them the face of our own insecurities? 

 

If people want to take offense at me because I'm too accepting... too loving... too patient with sinners... too willing to embrace the outcast... too ready to forgive... too willing to see God's best in people without ignoring their flaws...  

 

So be it.

 

The world doesn't change when we force-feed the Bible on people. The way of the Kingdom of God (the way Jesus talks about the Gospel in His preaching) isn't about political change.

 

It's about a new order that reins in human hearts... and comes from the Spirit.

 

You can protest the government. You can even put pressure on them to change laws you think run contrary to the Bible.

 

But if hearts aren't changed, it won't make a bit of a difference. ZERO difference. Even if you get the Supreme Court on your side.

 

Getting really angry, or condemning people, never changes hearts.  

 

Jesus rarely spoke harshly to the political figures of his day (the Romans). He reserved his harshest criticisms for the religious leaders who'd focused on all the wrong things.

 

The religious leaders had forgotten the heart of God's law which was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind... and to love your neighbor as yourself.  

 

The world is a messy place.

 

But sitting on a high-horse and pointing fingers doesn't make it any better.

 

Only love can do that. Only grace can change hearts and lives.

 

And when Jesus dared to eat with sinners and welcomed foreigners and outcasts to his table... when he dared to forgive sins... that's when the powers-that-be really got offended.

 

And that's okay. Because if that's the kind of thing I'm doing that turns people off, let them take offense.

 

But we too often make a big deal when we see Christians "stand up" for moral behaviors in the public square... who stand "against" certain trends in culture that don't fit into the Biblical standard.

 

We all gather around and applaud them for their "bravery."

 

Sometimes I applaud these efforts, particularly if their "stand" is to advocate against injustice, for the sake of the poor or the under-privileged.

 

But usually it's more about "virtue signaling" to other Christians, standing for a "principle" for the principle's sake. That's not the kind of stand we need, or the kind to celebrate. Of course, we have a morality that's a little "weird" to the rest of the world. It has always been that way!

 

But our job isn't to make the rest of the world look a little more polished, or to behave in ways that fit our morals.

 

Hammering people with ethical principles doesn't change hearts.

 

It's only when those principles are embodied in love, when the heart of Christ flows through us to lift up the brokenhearted, the oppressed, the ignored. and the like that people encounter the transformative power of Kingdom of God that Jesus' brought into the world - and continues to bring through the means of grace and the Holy Spirit.

 

But what about other people's ungodly "views"? Shouldn't they change! They're violating God's law!

 

God is far more patient than we are. He knows that what changes in the heart sometimes takes a little time to work its way into the mind, and from there, to manifest in different actions or views.

 

Sometimes people have to go through a struggle to change, and it's not our job to rob them of the struggle that God intends to use to refine their hearts and minds.

 

We need to speak to people's hearts. And more, we need to get our hands dirty, to put some skin in the game, to show that the words we're speaking aren't just a matter of holier-than-thou morals. We need to show that the love of God, and the love of others, is what moves us...

 

Because He first loved us.

 

Christian morality doesn't come overnight. It's not like one day you're worldly, embracing whatever your passions desire, and then you suddenly become virtuous because you heard about Jesus yesterday. God will sort it all out eventually. Because lives (and societies) are only changed when the heart is changed, too. God doesn't work on our timetable. He doesn't bow to our agendas. All he asks us to do is to be citizens of his kingdom... to live lives embracing radical grace and forgiveness.   

 

That doesn't mean there isn't a time for Christians to protest. But we protest injustice. We protest out of compassion for those suffering under oppression. We become a voice for the voiceless. We stand with the poor in spirit, the meek, the ostracized, and anyone else who suffers injustice. But these protest come from a place of love. Not out of a desire to whip "sinners" into shape, like we're a spiritual counterpart to Jillian Michaels, Tony Horton, (or insert your favorite celebrity fitness trainer here).

 

The point of the law isn't to merely shame people for their behavior or different view points. It's to bring them into a closer understanding of their true brokenness. And that "brokenness" can be experienced in a lot of ways.

 

There are SO MANY people out there who feel broken. We have an answer to that. It's not about piling up condemnations, or forcing them into a moral point of view. It's a message and lived reality of restoration and grace. It's a message that can transform us and finds hope in the brokenness...  

 

Because He was broken for us.  

 

In His offensive grace,  

Judah