Jesus Offends
Romans 9:30-33
Message #7
I love the phrase, “Jesus saves!” “Jesus Saves, Bro!.” I love that phrase, but the title of today’s message is “Jesus Offends.” We will be looking at Romans 9:30-33. Jesus saves, and Jesus offends.
This is our seventh message in the “Bait of Satan” series (they all build on one another). We are loosely following the book of the same name, by John Bevere. You can watch, listen or read the series on the WordbyMail app or ROKU/APPLE TV channels.
So far, we have defined the “Bait of Satan” as “any time we are tempted to be offended by another person in the Church.” In the previous six messages, we’ve talked a lot about the damage that can occur in your life when you take up an offense, meaning you become offended by another person in the Church. But, as we get back to the series, what if I told you another part of the bait of Satan is us being tempted to be offended by the words and work of Jesus himself. Have you ever known a person who has been offended by the words or work of Jesus? Outside Church or inside Church, you and I and the people around us will have opportunity for the words and work of Jesus to offend us.
In our key text today, is a quote from the Book of Isaiah, and in the New Testament, this verse is used in Romans 9, in 1 Peter 2, and by Jesus in Matthew 21.
Romans 9:33 (ESV)
33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
1 Peter 2:7–8 (ESV)
7 . . . “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” . . .
In the middle of a phenomenal discourse in John Chapter 5, Jesus says this to the religious leaders.
John 5:39–40 (NLT)
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
The religious leaders wouldn't receive Jesus.
They wouldn’t accept him for who he proved himself to be.
They wouldn’t believe him.
And so, Jesus became a “rock of offense” to them.
In Romans Chapter 9, Paul is talking about the spiritual advantages Israel had through their covenant with God, and then he makes a contrast between the salvation of the Gentiles that came by faith alone, and Jesus becoming a rock of offense to Israel.
Romans 9:30–33 (NLT)
30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. (Jesus)
33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem (Jesus) that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall (a Rock of Offense). But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
I love the clarity of the NLT in verses 21-32.
(31) the people of Israel, tried to get right with God by keeping the law, but they never succeeded.
(32) Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law . . . instead of by trusting in Jesus.
And then, again, the contrast at the end of verse 33.
33 . . . But anyone who TRUSTS in him will never be disgraced.”
Most translations use the word believe here, but the Greek word (PISTEUO) used for believe means, “to put your full trust and faith in Jesus,” and because religious Israel refused to put their trust in Jesus as God’s way of salvation, Jesus became a stumbling block and a rock of offense to them.
And if you and I refuse to fully trust and obey Jesus, then, at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us. If we choose to trust our own ways and our own “attempts to be right with God” instead of putting our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ and in his commands, then at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us.
This verse is heard a lot, talked about a lot. How often do we say, “Lord, am I holding offense against you? Did you do something different than what I thought you should? Did you put me somewhere that I kind of thought you should put me somewhere else? Did you give me a spouse that I thought maybe you should have given me a different one? Did you not show up when I thought you should?” When we put our expectations on God, we begin to blame him. Haven’t you seen people blame God? This is how we take offense. We hold onto offense toward the Lord. He becomes a rock of offense if we do that.
And so, these words (right here) are really important.
The thing that will guarantee that Jesus will never become a “rock of offense” to you in your life is your ever-increasing love for him!
We are called to an experiential, intimate, ever-increasing love relationship with Jesus. We’re called to know him better every day, to walk with him closer every day. To hear his voice and to feel his leading, and to feel the power of his Spirit moving us more every day. And if we will continue to do that, then because of that ever-increasing love for Jesus, we will have more faith and more trust in what he does because we won’t question him like he’s a peer. Don’t you see people questioning God like he is a peer? Who are we to tell God, “Well, this is what I think”? But if we love him, we say, “Lord, I know you are love. I know you love me; I am yours completely. Fully surrendered to you, and so I trust your word, and I trust your work.” That’s a good way to live as a Christ-follower.
Because out of your ever-increasing love for Jesus will come trust, and faith, and confidence in him, and out of your love for Jesus will come your obedience to him. Not because we agree, not because he has “made sense” to us or made a good case, but because we love him. Because of who he is and because we love him, we obey him.
Here’s a quote from John Bevere from this chapter in the book “The Bait of Satan.”
John Bevere
It is not difficult to obey when you know the character and love of the one to whom you are submitting. Love is the bottom line in our relationship with the Lord—not love of principles or teachings but love for the Person of Jesus Christ. If that love is not firmly in place, we are susceptible to offense and stumbling.
The Apostle John is the Apostle of Love. He calls himself “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.” Listen to what John says about how loving Jesus and obeying his commands go together.
John 14:15 (NLT)
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.
John 14:21 (NLT)
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
John 14:24 (NLT)
24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me . . .
John 15:10 (NLT)
10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love . . .
1 John 2:5 (NLT)
5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
If we grow in our love for Jesus, leading to our obedience to his Word and his work, then we will remain free from Jesus becoming a “rock of offense” to us. But if we choose our own way over God’s way, at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us.
The gospels are full of opportunities for people to be offended by Jesus. It seems every person involved in any way with Jesus had the opportunity to be offended by his words and his work at some point, and the only people who avoided taking up an offense from Jesus were those who loved and trusted him completely.
Let’s take a look at a few examples. I think we’ve already covered the religious leaders – Jesus offended them every time he spoke to them because they refused to believe or trust in Jesus over their controlling religious beliefs.
But Jesus also offended those in his hometown of Nazareth. In Luke Chapter4, in the Synagogue, Jesus read the truth about what the Prophet Isaiah wrote about him personally, and his words offended his hometown so much they tried to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.
Jesus also offended his own family. As the power of his words and his work spread, Mark says this in Chapter 3.
Mark 3:21 (NLT)
21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
And then, in verse 31, the family tries to come and take Jesus away – certainly thinking it was for his own good. But when they asked to see him, his response was…
Mark 3:33 & 35 (NLT)
33 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
. . .
35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
That certainly could have been offensive to his family. But ultimately, his family did believe and trust Jesus, and half-brother James became a leader of the Jerusalem church.
In John Chapter 11, Jesus offended his close friends Mary and Martha when we allowed their brother Lazarus to die. But Jesus had a “bigger purpose” for Lazarus. Can we see that? Can we see that God has a bigger plan than what we want? And Mary and Martha eventually got to see it when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And God had a bigger plan than what Mary and Martha wanted. Sometimes we don’t get to see the bigger plan; we just have to trust and believe.
And Jesus also offended his own followers (often). Remember that time in Matthew Chapter 16 when Jesus called Peter Satan? That had to sting. And in John Chapter 6, the people who were following Jesus became demanding of him (the day after he had fed 5,000 of them a free lunch). So, Jesus purposely gave them an opportunity to be offended, and many of them took up the “rock of offense.”
John 6:66 (NLT)
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
And then Jesus gives the Twelve the same opportunity.
John 6:67 (NLT)
67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
And then, in response to this opportunity to be offended, we see the refining and the purifying of the Twelve.
John 6:68–69 (NLT)
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.
69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Peter speaks (for at least eleven of the Twelve), and when he says, “We believe,” that is the word that means “we put our full faith and trust in you.” It’s the same word from Romans Chapter 9. (PISTEUO.)
Here is a potentially hard truth.
Jesus uses offense to refine his followers and to purify his Church. And I promise you, the Lord has used people being offended by his words and his work to refine and purify this Body of Believers, and I am so grateful that he has.
In the gospels, every person who has close contact with Jesus had the opportunity to be offended by him because they didn’t understand his words or his word because Jesus wasn’t operating in the way they thought he should. But they couldn’t see the whole picture, and they didn’t know the whole plan, and those who became offended turned away from Jesus. They turned their back on him. They deserted him.
But those who did receive him, those who trusted him, believed him, and loved him, they accepted that they couldn’t see and they couldn’t know God’s bigger plan and purpose, and so they trusted Jesus completely, and they were blessed because of it.
And there will be times when we will have the opportunity to be offended by the words and the work of Jesus, and only if we are always growing in our love for him and in our complete trust and faith in him will we be able to stay free from being offended by his words and his work.
So, when you’re tempted to “take offense” by the words or work of Jesus, remember –
Isaiah 55:8–9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Receive, believe, trust and love Jesus and he will never become a rock of offense to you.
This is our seventh message in the “Bait of Satan” series (they all build on one another). We are loosely following the book of the same name, by John Bevere. You can watch, listen or read the series on the WordbyMail app or ROKU/APPLE TV channels.
So far, we have defined the “Bait of Satan” as “any time we are tempted to be offended by another person in the Church.” In the previous six messages, we’ve talked a lot about the damage that can occur in your life when you take up an offense, meaning you become offended by another person in the Church. But, as we get back to the series, what if I told you another part of the bait of Satan is us being tempted to be offended by the words and work of Jesus himself. Have you ever known a person who has been offended by the words or work of Jesus? Outside Church or inside Church, you and I and the people around us will have opportunity for the words and work of Jesus to offend us.
In our key text today, is a quote from the Book of Isaiah, and in the New Testament, this verse is used in Romans 9, in 1 Peter 2, and by Jesus in Matthew 21.
Romans 9:33 (ESV)
33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
1 Peter 2:7–8 (ESV)
7 . . . “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” . . .
In the middle of a phenomenal discourse in John Chapter 5, Jesus says this to the religious leaders.
John 5:39–40 (NLT)
39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!
40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.
The religious leaders wouldn't receive Jesus.
They wouldn’t accept him for who he proved himself to be.
They wouldn’t believe him.
And so, Jesus became a “rock of offense” to them.
In Romans Chapter 9, Paul is talking about the spiritual advantages Israel had through their covenant with God, and then he makes a contrast between the salvation of the Gentiles that came by faith alone, and Jesus becoming a rock of offense to Israel.
Romans 9:30–33 (NLT)
30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. (Jesus)
33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem (Jesus) that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall (a Rock of Offense). But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
I love the clarity of the NLT in verses 21-32.
(31) the people of Israel, tried to get right with God by keeping the law, but they never succeeded.
(32) Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law . . . instead of by trusting in Jesus.
And then, again, the contrast at the end of verse 33.
33 . . . But anyone who TRUSTS in him will never be disgraced.”
Most translations use the word believe here, but the Greek word (PISTEUO) used for believe means, “to put your full trust and faith in Jesus,” and because religious Israel refused to put their trust in Jesus as God’s way of salvation, Jesus became a stumbling block and a rock of offense to them.
And if you and I refuse to fully trust and obey Jesus, then, at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us. If we choose to trust our own ways and our own “attempts to be right with God” instead of putting our full faith and trust in Jesus Christ and in his commands, then at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us.
This verse is heard a lot, talked about a lot. How often do we say, “Lord, am I holding offense against you? Did you do something different than what I thought you should? Did you put me somewhere that I kind of thought you should put me somewhere else? Did you give me a spouse that I thought maybe you should have given me a different one? Did you not show up when I thought you should?” When we put our expectations on God, we begin to blame him. Haven’t you seen people blame God? This is how we take offense. We hold onto offense toward the Lord. He becomes a rock of offense if we do that.
And so, these words (right here) are really important.
The thing that will guarantee that Jesus will never become a “rock of offense” to you in your life is your ever-increasing love for him!
We are called to an experiential, intimate, ever-increasing love relationship with Jesus. We’re called to know him better every day, to walk with him closer every day. To hear his voice and to feel his leading, and to feel the power of his Spirit moving us more every day. And if we will continue to do that, then because of that ever-increasing love for Jesus, we will have more faith and more trust in what he does because we won’t question him like he’s a peer. Don’t you see people questioning God like he is a peer? Who are we to tell God, “Well, this is what I think”? But if we love him, we say, “Lord, I know you are love. I know you love me; I am yours completely. Fully surrendered to you, and so I trust your word, and I trust your work.” That’s a good way to live as a Christ-follower.
Because out of your ever-increasing love for Jesus will come trust, and faith, and confidence in him, and out of your love for Jesus will come your obedience to him. Not because we agree, not because he has “made sense” to us or made a good case, but because we love him. Because of who he is and because we love him, we obey him.
Here’s a quote from John Bevere from this chapter in the book “The Bait of Satan.”
John Bevere
It is not difficult to obey when you know the character and love of the one to whom you are submitting. Love is the bottom line in our relationship with the Lord—not love of principles or teachings but love for the Person of Jesus Christ. If that love is not firmly in place, we are susceptible to offense and stumbling.
The Apostle John is the Apostle of Love. He calls himself “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.” Listen to what John says about how loving Jesus and obeying his commands go together.
John 14:15 (NLT)
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.
John 14:21 (NLT)
21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
John 14:24 (NLT)
24 Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me . . .
John 15:10 (NLT)
10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love . . .
1 John 2:5 (NLT)
5 But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him.
If we grow in our love for Jesus, leading to our obedience to his Word and his work, then we will remain free from Jesus becoming a “rock of offense” to us. But if we choose our own way over God’s way, at some point, Jesus will become a “rock of offense” to us.
The gospels are full of opportunities for people to be offended by Jesus. It seems every person involved in any way with Jesus had the opportunity to be offended by his words and his work at some point, and the only people who avoided taking up an offense from Jesus were those who loved and trusted him completely.
Let’s take a look at a few examples. I think we’ve already covered the religious leaders – Jesus offended them every time he spoke to them because they refused to believe or trust in Jesus over their controlling religious beliefs.
But Jesus also offended those in his hometown of Nazareth. In Luke Chapter4, in the Synagogue, Jesus read the truth about what the Prophet Isaiah wrote about him personally, and his words offended his hometown so much they tried to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.
Jesus also offended his own family. As the power of his words and his work spread, Mark says this in Chapter 3.
Mark 3:21 (NLT)
21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.
And then, in verse 31, the family tries to come and take Jesus away – certainly thinking it was for his own good. But when they asked to see him, his response was…
Mark 3:33 & 35 (NLT)
33 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
. . .
35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
That certainly could have been offensive to his family. But ultimately, his family did believe and trust Jesus, and half-brother James became a leader of the Jerusalem church.
In John Chapter 11, Jesus offended his close friends Mary and Martha when we allowed their brother Lazarus to die. But Jesus had a “bigger purpose” for Lazarus. Can we see that? Can we see that God has a bigger plan than what we want? And Mary and Martha eventually got to see it when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And God had a bigger plan than what Mary and Martha wanted. Sometimes we don’t get to see the bigger plan; we just have to trust and believe.
And Jesus also offended his own followers (often). Remember that time in Matthew Chapter 16 when Jesus called Peter Satan? That had to sting. And in John Chapter 6, the people who were following Jesus became demanding of him (the day after he had fed 5,000 of them a free lunch). So, Jesus purposely gave them an opportunity to be offended, and many of them took up the “rock of offense.”
John 6:66 (NLT)
66 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him.
And then Jesus gives the Twelve the same opportunity.
John 6:67 (NLT)
67 Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
And then, in response to this opportunity to be offended, we see the refining and the purifying of the Twelve.
John 6:68–69 (NLT)
68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.
69 We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Peter speaks (for at least eleven of the Twelve), and when he says, “We believe,” that is the word that means “we put our full faith and trust in you.” It’s the same word from Romans Chapter 9. (PISTEUO.)
Here is a potentially hard truth.
Jesus uses offense to refine his followers and to purify his Church. And I promise you, the Lord has used people being offended by his words and his work to refine and purify this Body of Believers, and I am so grateful that he has.
In the gospels, every person who has close contact with Jesus had the opportunity to be offended by him because they didn’t understand his words or his word because Jesus wasn’t operating in the way they thought he should. But they couldn’t see the whole picture, and they didn’t know the whole plan, and those who became offended turned away from Jesus. They turned their back on him. They deserted him.
But those who did receive him, those who trusted him, believed him, and loved him, they accepted that they couldn’t see and they couldn’t know God’s bigger plan and purpose, and so they trusted Jesus completely, and they were blessed because of it.
And there will be times when we will have the opportunity to be offended by the words and the work of Jesus, and only if we are always growing in our love for him and in our complete trust and faith in him will we be able to stay free from being offended by his words and his work.
So, when you’re tempted to “take offense” by the words or work of Jesus, remember –
Isaiah 55:8–9 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Receive, believe, trust and love Jesus and he will never become a rock of offense to you.