• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection On giving offense

On giving offense

Posted on September 11, 2021 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


“Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?

Matthew 15:12 (ESV)

I recently received a copy of a new study Bible for which I will write a review in the next week or so. To prepare for the review, I thought I would use it as I do my daily Bible reading and assess the helpfulness of the notes as I go through each passage.

Looking at the notes for the passage cited above, the commentator referred to this as a “non-issue” for Jesus. Jesus was not concerned at all about offending the Pharisees, even though they held significant influence in society at that time.

We need to face the fact that sometimes the truth is offensive. Sometimes what we need to hear is the opposite of what we want to hear. In a fallen, broken world, we cannot escape this.

When the doctor tells me that I need to change my behavior or face health consequences, he is not being intolerant even though he is telling me something that I don’t really want to hear. I don’t like it, but I know it is true, and it is in my best interest to act on that information.

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

In the popular religion of our society, we are asked to never give an offense. We are asked to never call any behavior wrong. We are asked to accept any and every belief as equally true. We are asked to offend our own conscience for the sake of not offending someone else’s.

In our societal religion, the definition of tolerance has morphed from being willing to let someone else hold a different opinion to accepting every opinion is equally true.

Unfortunately, this societal religion has crept into the church.

When the discussion of church leadership moves away from how we can lovingly communicate the truth of the gospel, and focuses on being inoffensive on a Sunday morning, we have succumbed to societal religion and have started down a path that will lead us away from Jesus Christ. When the leadership of a church takes down the cross because someone might be offended by it, that church has begun moving away from following Christ.

Certainly, we want to be good communicators of God’s love. We follow Christ out of our gratitude for the grace we have been given. We want to present the beauty of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. We should accurately reflect the attitude of Jesus who welcomed all to come into relationship with himself. In doing this, we should do it in a way that accurately represents who Jesus is and how he loved humanity.

But Jesus did not shrink from conveying to humanity that those who reject him will face consequences. Nowhere can you find Jesus indicating that ideas don’t matter and any belief is acceptable as long as it is firmly held. On every page of the gospel accounts, Jesus says something that is deemed intolerant by our society.

Let’s face the fact that Jesus was divisive. He had a narrow view of truth.

Therefore, if our desire to be inoffensive interferes with our ability to present the truth that apart from Christ there is no salvation (Jesus said that, it is not me making this up), then we have ceased being the Church and have become just another social club that is nominally religious.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

I have the opportunity to go to Istanbul, Turkey this summer to minister to Syrian refugees. If you would like more details about this trip, please use this link Mark McIntyre - Istanbul, Turkey Please note that this trip is fully funded, but I would appreciate your continued prayer. The trip will take place June 27 - July 6, 2025.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Trust

And he marveled at their unbelief

Mark 6 records the events when Jesus returned to his hometown of Nazareth. The townspeople were not quick to recognize the significance of what Jesus was doing. In fact, Mark records that Jesus “could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Jesus’ response […]

Leadership

What church leaders should look like

Some on the outside look at church people as smug moralists who look down on the sinners outside. One does not need to search very hard on the internet to find some preacher, of the hellfire and brimstone variety, screaming out condemnation on the sinners outside. When we practice behavior like this, we deserve the […]

A misguided goal

I probably sound a bit like a scratched record that skips and gets stuck in the middle of a song. But I keep running across passages in Scripture that challenge the way that I have experienced church in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. The woke church, socially acceptable church, seeker-sensitive church, and just […]

Before you accuse me

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself

I borrowed the title of this post from a song written by Bo Diddley and also recorded by Eric Clapton, but it seemed appropriate for my topic. In responding to the cultural climate, unfortunately large segments of the church fall prey to one of two errors. One extreme is to acquiesce to the culture and […]

Sheep with Shepherd

Irresponsible Shepherds Bring Desolation

Ed Stetzer recently wrote an article regarding the decline of the United Methodists. This decline is not unique to that denomination, other “main-line” denominations share this experience. These denominations have been in the news for abandonment of standards that held sway in Christendom for 2000 years. For example, The Presbyterian Church USA recently enacted rules […]

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
June 2025
SMTWTFS
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930 
« May    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2025 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in