Insolomonsporch's Blog

©Sandra Gilloth 2010

Chapter Three

“The Bride is Un-offended”

“I have told you all these things, so that you should not be offended…” Jn 16:1

A Great Challenge

One of the greatest challenges facing the Body of Christ today is being dead to offense from others – within the Body as well as within the world.  In fact, John Chapter 15 reads as a litany of the Lord’s cautions about not taking offense.  He explains that the Body will experience difficulties (hatred, persecution, suffering) because of Him, and because we bear His name.  He reminds us once again, that the servant is not greater than his Master.  As the world treated Him this way, so it will also treat His Body.

Why should we care about offenses or our reaction to them?  For one thing, they are a way the enemy tries to derail our focus and get us on a detour from our assigned purpose.  Look at Mt 24:12 as it provides an ominous view of the end-times Body and the state it has deteriorated to.  It says that the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of multiplied lawlessness and iniquity.  Jesus warns His disciples about deception and error, and about coming attacks.  He further warns that many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert Him whom they ought to trust and obey.  They will stumble, He says, and fall away and betray one another with hatred.  These are all escalations of a decline that starts with – taking offense.

The Issue of Offense

Let’s look at the issue of offense to get a better picture of what is taking place. Just prior to His warning against being offended in John 16:1, Jesus has been talking to them about love.  He tells them what it means to dwell or abide in Him, and to have His words abiding in them.  He also defines what it means to love Him.  He says that keeping His commandments will ensure that we abide in His love and live on in it.  Then He gives them the commandment to love one another.  Remember the lyrics of that old  song, “they will know we are Christians by our love”?  If we can presume love is the hallmark of being a Christian — it would appear, then, taking offense is the enemy’s primary strategy to try and preclude that love.

Return for a moment to the warning in Mt 24:10-12.  It warns of how the love of the great body grows cold because of lawlessness and iniquity.  The greatest danger we currently and daily face – is letting our love grow cold.  How does cold love react against offense?  It picks it up!  The word “offended” in John 16 is from Strongs: #4624.  It is:  skandelize/skandelizo – to entrap from #4625, to trip up (fig. stumble) or entice to sin.  Strongs #4625 skandolar: is a trap stick (bent sapling, i.e. snare (fig. cause of displeasure or sin); occasion to fall (of stumbling) the thing that offends.

There is a trap, a snare, — actually bait that the enemy places in our path which we pick up. We pick up the offense.  The result is – the love for the brethren, and even God, begins to grow cold.  Remember the candle example with the wax?  Offense is a hard wax accelerator. Picking up an offense is a sure way to multiply your coldness towards the Body and God, and make way for lawlessness and iniquity to increase.

First Use of “Offended”

One of the first uses of the word “offended” is found in Genesis 20:9 and involves Abraham and King Abimelech.  In this situation, Abraham lies about Sarah being his wife – and calls her his sister.  They have gone to Gerar after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  King Abimelech acquires Sarah as part of his harem.  God Himself warns Abimelech in a dream that He is a dead man because he has taken another man’s wife as his own. As Abimelech confronts Abraham about this, their discussion gives great insight into what generates offense.

Abimelech asks Abraham, “…And how have I offended you that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin?” Gen 20:9.  Additionally, he asks, “What did you see in us that justified you in doing such a thing as this? (Vs 10)  Abraham reveals his own heart in verse 11.  He confesses, “Because I thought, surely there is no reverence or fear of God at all in this place, and they will slay me because of my wife.”

Two things were operating here.  Abraham was acting out of self-preservation and fear, and also out of disdain for Abimelech and the people of Gerar.  Both of these emotions result when you think too highly of yourself, and do not value others.  In a way, Abraham loved himself too much (which caused fear), and did not love Abimelech (which caused him to disdain or devalue Abimelech).  Ironically, Abimelech is very gracious to Abraham and Sarah, even after this incident.  But then Abraham is able to pray for Abimelech and his people, to deliver them from the barrenness that God visited upon them as His judgement.  It ends well – people are healed and God is exalted.  But the underlying heart of offense is revealed.  It is a heart that regards itself more highly than it should.

Philippians 2:3 instructs us to: “Do nothing from factional motives [through contentiousness, strife, selfishness, or for unworthy ends] or prompted by conceit and empty arrogance.  Instead, in the true spirit of humility (lowliness of mind) let each regard the others as better than and superior to himself [thinking more highly of one another than you do yourselves].”

Times of Offense

We don’t have to think overly hard to recall times when we have ourselves been offended – or at least been tempted to begin the process.  Generally, we have been treated in someway that is displeasing to us, or demonstrates what we interpret as disregard or lack of courtesy.  It can be a very small and insignificant thing, maybe that we are mistaken about.  It can be a very large and deliberate thing, of which there is no mistaking the intent to offend.  In both cases, you and I have a choice to make, but our choice should be made way in advance of either of these events.  That is what we hope to accomplish here – advanced planning.  I’m talking about the cross.

Matthew 10:38-39 reads: “And he who does not take up his cross and follow me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conforming wholly to My example in living and, if need be in dying also] is not worthy of Me.  Whoever finds his [lower] life will lose it [the higher life], and whoever loses his life on My account will find it [the higher life].”

When we “die to ourselves” and our rights, we are losing the lower life – and we are taking up our cross and following Christ.  The Apostle Paul makes these intentions even clearer in Acts 20:24.  When speaking about the fact that he is going to Jerusalem and knows that only suffering and imprisonment await him there – he states very directly: “But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy… and faithfully attest to the good news…”.

We begin to see that our best offense (so to speak) against being offended – and eventually becoming cold in our love – is to have Christ’s love in us and follow His example.  Remember how Jesus was speaking of his command to love one another just prior to speaking about offense in John 16?  Self-love and self-regard will make you easily offend-able, but Christ’s nature and intentions given to us through the cross, and a spirit of humility will keep you “dead and unmoved” by offenses. Offenses after all only act as a distraction and detour from the thing or course God wants you to take.  The danger is however, the more you have surrendered to offense the stronger the hold this lower nature has in you, and the harder you will now have to resist and turn away from it towards Jesus in repentance to regain lost ground.  You can’t fight it – that only makes it stronger.  You must drop it in the dust of death and turn away from it.  You must also ask forgiveness and cleaning from the Lord, not just for the wrong choices, but for the very nature that must be put to death in you that has precipitated these choices.

Mortification

There are two places in Scripture where we get our guidance for dying to self – or mortification.  The first is Romans 8:13.  The second is Colossians 3:5.  They are different words in the Greek, but they both get translated as mortify, kill, deaden, put to death, etc.  In the Romans verse, it is the Holy Spirit putting to death.  In Colossians, it is us being active in depriving of power the evil desires in our members.  Both of these Scriptures are strong imperatives for us to commit to memory and walk out.  They are vital for our growth and maturity in Christ!  The more we die to ourselves, the less we are apt to be spun about by the enemy and tripped up by his bait.

Un-offend-able

Now being un-offend-able to the world and other believers is one thing.  But paramount, and of even greater import is to become un-offend-able towards the Lord. Why you might ask?  Ultimately it is because even if offense comes from other people – it has been allowed by the Lord for His reasons.  Proverbs 16:33 is so clear on this:  “The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him].”  An offense may come because we need to see the initial response of our own heart towards it –that we would be moved to repentance.  Realize repentance is not a one time thing for believers.  It should happen often – especially as the Lord is stirring us to grow in Christ-likeness.

We are a people that constantly must stay on guard against the flesh to be a force to sway us.  We need to be able to see the truth about ourselves and our motives, to stay in that place of lowliness and humility.  The Lord Himself is humble and lowly.  How much more so should we be — to remain in close unity with Him? He addresses this need in Matthew 11:6.  “And blessed is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth.”

Think back to the nation of Israel and the Pharisees.  As Jesus reflected truth to them – often an undesirable truth about themselves, they would rail at Him and desire to kill Him.  Depending on the state of their heart at that moment, they are moved either to kill Him, or to kill themselves (figuratively).  This is our litmus test for the character of Christ operating in us.  The more you are “like” Him, the more likely you are to embrace the working of the Cross in you. Not from some masochistic mind-set, but because it is needed. We are not much different, unfortunately, from the Pharisees, although we might generally reject that notion outright.  We must resist becoming a lover of our own press.  We may want to believe the best – but just like Abraham we need to be careful – it is easier to think of ourselves more highly than we should.

What About the Bride

Connecting this back to the Bride then, what does the she say about offense?  What is her posture towards it?  From Song of Solomon 1:4 we see her comment to the Beloved: “The upright [are not offended at your choice, but sincerely] love you.”  Once again – there is that juxtaposition of “offended” and “love”.  This is not accidental.  The righteous are not offended at Jesus, because they truly love Him!

The enemy’s greatest strategy is to try and move the saints to some adversarial position or questioning and unbelief in our position towards God.  Satan would have us believe God would withhold His best for us (like in the Garden).  He would have us believe that God would take us out of Egypt to just let us die in the wilderness (like the Israelites coming out of captivity from Egypt).  He would have us somehow believe that God is uninvolved or distracted from our problems, or doesn’t care enough to be concerned with the little things (but Job dispels this – Job 36:5).

The true challenge before the Bride is to not just to love God and believe He is good, but to believe it in the face of seemingly contradicting evidence.  To stand in faith against whatever the Lord allows in our life – this is what we are called to.  The Bride is called to walk by faith, not by sight.  She is called to be led by the Spirit of God.  This means being in a state that we can be led, because we are like Christ.  What did Job call out:  Though you slay me, yet will I trust you.  What did Joseph find – it was God all along who took Him to Egypt.  What his brothers meant for evil God meant for good – that many would be saved.  What did Jesus experience? Didn’t He say: Father why have you forsaken Me?  Didn’t He experience the most grueling death on the Cross and the separation from the Father even while the Father’s judgement and wrath was poured out on Him?  It is not our plight to carry our own sin —because He did.  But Jesus, who is perfect, trusted the Father perfectly.  You and I, who are not perfect, can in Christ trust the Father the same way.

Ultimately, this is what it is all about.  Who are we going to believe – who will we trust?  Will we trust our own fallen perception, or our own fleshly nature to decide issues of offense for us?  Or will we allow that lower nature to be put to death, deprived of power – and instead walk out as an instrument of righteousness fulfilling the Spirit of Life in Christ? This is the ultimate of what the Bride is called to do, in the power of the Spirit working in us, for the glory of God.