Houston, We Have a Problem – But It’s Not What You Think
The powers that be in Houston are using the law to bully pastors into silence.
On one level, the issue is homosexuality. On another, the issue is freedom of religion and speech. Still, there’s a deeper issue here and it has nothing to do with the mayor who isn’t the devil, she’s just a woman trying to figure out her life and using her influence to work for what she thinks is good.
The driver behind this is the true enemy of the church who knows how easily we are cowed into compromise and into hushing each other at any concern that we’re causing offense. You know, that for every pastor who defies the subpoenas, there are dozens more across the U.S. quietly second-guessing their sermon texts and editing themselves in an effort to do the impossible task of removing the offense from the cross of Jesus Christ.
Have you noticed? It’s something many of us attempt. We keep trying to remove, to mask, and to camouflage the offense of the gospel. But today I have some questions.
What happens if, even with our sensitivity workshops, cultural research, training in millennial communication, hip hair, blue jeans, sick graphics, and elimination of every trace of Christian-ese, people still find it offensive to hear they’re sinners?
What if the subpoenas continue to be served even when we’ve practiced active listening, softened our language, wrapped the gospel in low lights, befriended atheists, couched our admonitions with relatable anecdotes, practiced transparency, exposed our own sin, and walked a mile in our brother’s shoes? What if they’re not satisfied simply putting silencers on our preachers and writers? What if they won’t stop until they take every thought captive that doesn’t please the crowd?
Have you noticed that the mob in Israel, who famously never heard Jesus expound on the topic of homosexuality, still cried out for His death?
Jesus, the One who preached to turn the other cheek, to love thy neighbor as thyself, and to deny ones’ self, the existence of this Jesus offended not only the religious rulers but also everyone else from the reigning powers to the common person quick to choose a hefty stone. They cried out for crucifixion with one voice, choosing to show mercy to a notorious criminal over the storyteller from Nazareth.
Clearly, they feared His parables more than they feared Barabbas’s sword.
Is it possible that the heart of that saving grace we claim as our Noah’s ark into glory is going to offend no matter how much aw-shucks flannel we use to muffle its beat? No matter how slick our presentation? No matter how we attempt to slip the offensive parts in unnoticed between amazing guitar riffs and digitally enhanced cardboard testimonies?
And if this is true, why do we keep trying to reinvent our image to align with what the crowds demand rather than with the One who died offending the crowd?
I worry that the wrong people are going to agree with this post. I’m not interested in throwing out effective outreach based on culturally-informed, sacrificial, listen-first, love-laden truth-telling that relies more on actions than sermons. I am interested in conserving energy for that task by abandoning the apologetic gymnastics involved in trying to become what it is impossible to become if we are ultimately becoming like Jesus.
To become like Jesus is to become offensive. To live like Jesus is to live offending others who are not. To speak like Jesus is to speak words that offend. An offense that extends from the powers on high to the religious posers to the neighbor just out trying to buy a loaf of bread.
To live like Jesus is to know that at any moment, the crowd could decide that you are more worthy of death than the most notorious prisoner. A move we cannot prevent with love or eloquence. To think we can is to believe there may have been some other day for Jesus than the cross.
Maybe it’s a time for straight talk.
Maybe it’s a time to forget about the production, strip off the caramel coating, and simply tell the Biblical truth (and for the most part, it’s clear and not in debate). No apologies. No song. No dance. No hopes that if we smile hard enough and speak with enough compassion, the hearers will ignore the fact that we’re saying they have sinned and cannot save themselves.
I was offended by the gospel and that offense was a gift that led me to Jesus.
Or haven’t you noticed that Jesus spends little time holding workshops on how to deliver the message (He IS the workshop). In scolding the Pharisees, He clearly teaches that our lives must line up with our message. Through His interactions with sinners, we see we are free to interact with the crowd without constantly mentioning what they’re doing wrong. But always, always, His stories and sermons deliver the offensive truth that we are not all right the way we are – none of us. We all need to seek the forgiveness of God, renounce our sin, and submit to Jesus Christ. That’s offensive no matter how you say it.
Repeatedly, however, Jesus does admonish the crowd to bring ears that can hear. The ears people bring to the message are as important as the style in which we deliver it.
Christians should do all we can to deliver God’s word honorably, faithfully, truthfully, artfully, and in love but at the end of the day, the hearer plays a part in this exchange and it isn’t to dictate our part.
Here’s my final question. Have you offended anyone lately? If the answer is no, ask yourself a question – what parts of the gospel are you holding back for fear of the crowd? And if perfect love casts out fear, why have you stopped loving the crowd enough to stop telling them the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help us, God?
