Jeremiah Knight on X
If our highest goal is to avoid offending people, then we will eventually have to remove Christ Himself.
The offense is not merely in our tone, our timing, or our lack of wisdom. Sometimes the offense is the truth itself. Christ does not leave man proud, neutral, safe, or in control. He exposes sin, destroys self righteousness, demands repentance, and declares that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed” (Romans 9:33).
This is why the world can tolerate a harmless Jesus, a moral Jesus, a political Jesus, a sentimental Jesus, or a Jesus who only affirms. But the true Christ of Scripture will always offend the heart that refuses to bow. He is not an accessory to human desire. He is Lord.
The cross is offensive because it tells man that he is so sinful he needed the Son of God to bleed, and so helpless that he cannot save himself.
“But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:23).
We must not be rude, proud, or careless. But neither must we soften Christ until the world can approve Him. A gospel that never offends pride, sin, false religion, and unbelief is not the gospel of Scripture.
“If I still preached circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished” (Galatians 5:11).
So let us be loving, clear, patient, and faithful. But let us stop pretending that truth can be made acceptable to every rebel heart. Christ is salvation to those who believe, but to those who refuse Him, He remains the stone over which they stumble.
The answer is not to hide Him.
The answer is to preach Him plainly.