When God Offends You

Looking back, I realized that my university days were when I was the most zealous for Jesus.

I would spend hours in the Bible, prayer and personal worship. I was active in a church worship band, evangelistic concerts and in music lessons, to hone my skills. And I would practice both the piano and the guitar a lot. I wanted skill, and skill that would last, so that I had more to use when serving in the worship ministry.

“Did you get any studying done those days, JJ?” Errr…

Ever since then I have gone down a lot. Life responsibilities, such as work and family, make me more like a normal Christian, who has to be seriously disciplined to seek God. Practice time is less (ironic for a music teacher, right?) so I have to make the best use of whatever little practice time I have.

Now I could be disappointed. Given the amount of zeal I had in those days, I was expecting that I would be a hard-core, effective servant of the LORD, teaching the Word and being used in healing the sick and all that kind of stuff. But even though I am nowhere near what I dreamed of in my university days, at least I am still walking with God. He has been holding on to me all these years.

And I am grateful!

Not all the people I knew from those days are still walking with the Lord. A few have fallen and are no longer serving God or walking with him.

And it bugs me. I remember looking at them, seeing how different they were from me in terms of personality and giftings, and yet sharing the same purpose: Glorify Jesus with whatever we had and in everything we could do. I was thinking things could only get better, and we would, working together but in our own unique ways, keep on serving God, achieving more and winning our nation for Christ.  

Then offences struck. And people stumbled.

Offences can come from men

Luke 17:1-2 (KJV) - Then said he unto the disciples, “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.               

People in church can offend you. And to get a sense of what kind of offence we are talking about, the word used for “offences” is the Greek word from which we derive the word “scandal” from. It means to trip up, to stumble or entice to sin. Jesus said that it WILL happen.

Knowing that it will happen is our best defence. When we know that it will happen, we will not lose our faith just because people in church fail us. Guess what? If we set our hopes on people, rather than on the LORD, they will disappoint us.

Psalm 118:8-9 (ESV) - It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

So people disappointing us is no excuse. So what if your pastor is a hypocrite? So what? So what if your church people don’t love you as God commanded them to? So what? I mean, if love was so easy, God wouldn’t need to admonish us to love one another, right? Obviously, divine love is not nature to us in our fallen nature. Did God ever promise us that the rest of the believers will love us properly, as he desires? I don’t think so. So why let yourself be stumbled just because people in church let you down?

Offences can come from God

John 6:61-62 (ESV) - But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

 

Again the same Greek word for offense appears. In effect, Jesus is saying, “Does this scandalize you? I am still holding back. You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Jesus then delivered his doctrinal bombshell.

John 6:65-66 (ESV) - And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

 

Maybe it won’t be salvation doctrine that offends you. How about the way God forgives and blesses sinners?
 

Luke 15:29-30 (ESV) – 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

 

When the Gospel, preached in its entirety, offends, some people turn away from God entirely. Sometimes they go doctrine shopping, looking for a church, religion or philosophy that excuses their pet sins or justifies their beliefs and preferences.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV) - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

 

How do we hold firm when God himself offends us?
 

John 6:67-69 (ESV) – So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

 

Jesus has the words of eternal life, which means they cause us to know God, to perceive and be sure of him (John 17:3). His words are Spirit and they are life (John 6:63). But they are no benefit to us unless we actually let his words abide in us (John 15:7). We need to actual taste and experience God’s goodness (Psalm 34:8), especially through the Word (Hebrews 6:5). We start by believing that Jesus is the Holy One of God, then when we grow in our experience of his Word and his goodness in our lives, we end up knowing for sure.

My Faith Crash

I had a massive faith crash years ago.

It was so painful. I was experiencing the presence of God in worship and the Word. I had answered prayers and many significant signs that hinted that I was on the right track. I was returning back to serving God in ministry, and re-discovering the joy of setting my hand to the plough for the Kingdom of God and being fruitful in ministry.

And then the crash came. What I prayed to God earnestly for, I did not get. Even worse, I got the opposite of what I really believed God would give me. He brought me so far, why would he not complete it, right? I clung on in prayer, stayed faithful in ministry and in my own personal time of seeking God, and continued to experience his presence and even answered prayers.

Yes, God continued give me what I asked for. Except for what I wanted the most, desired the most and had reasons to expect the most. For this part of my life I still have no answers, no resolution, no completion. I cannot come up with some spiritual-sounding lesson and say that I now understand why God did things that way during that season. I still don’t.

So what do I have? I still have God with me. Nudging me forward when I totally doubt that he was going to lead me where I am supposed to go. Answering prayers still. Meeting with me in my own personal prayer and worship time still. There is just only one matter, over which I wanted nothing but his will, worked out his way. And when I had finally come to believe I knew what it was, and that I was going to receive it, I didn’t get it. And the shame still remains. Did I ask God for the wrong thing? If so, how could I have missed it so badly?

Isaiah 54:4 (ESV) - Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

What kept me going? It was the eternal life of God. It was continuing to experience God, even when in one matter I was disappointed. I did get one lesson I can share from that season though: You don’t need trust when someone does what you understand. You need trust when that someone is doing a whole lot of things you don’t understand. That is when you have to decide if you will trust that the person knows what he or she is doing, and has your best interests at heart.

And when it comes to people, your trust can be misplaced. But not with God. He has shown his faithfulness to me many times before and many times ever since. Will I stumble and be offended with God over one matter, or will I look at his past faithfulness and trust, even when I don’t understand? 

Conclusion:

I know this is really long, and I have shared some personal stuff. But I hope that some of what I shared here will be useful to you or to those around you, who are struggling with God offending them. Be blessed!

Giving to the Poor

"You must be led by the Spirit when it comes to giving to the poor."

Do you agree or disagree with that idea?

I've met a number of people who say that we should not give to the poor without the specific leading of God. Some of them argue from this passage in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!" (Luke 15:17, NIV)

Their reasoning is:

1) The son came to his senses because he was starving.

2) What if someone gave him food before that? Would that not have delayed him coming to his senses, or maybe even short-circuited the process?

3) We cannot tell where poor people are at in their lives, if they are just about to come to their senses if their suffering lasts a little longer;

Therefore we need to inquire of the Spirit before giving to the poor, whether we should give and, if so, how much.

Here's My Answer

Firstly, anyone who can be bothered to just skim through the Bible will know God commands us to give to the poor.

In the Old Testament:

"During the seventh year, let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove." (Exodus 23:11 NIV)

And again,

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 23:22 (NIV)

All that is about leaving food for the poor to pick up. Notice it didn't say we need to be careful about who we leave the food behind for, nor does it warn us that letting the poor eat may delay them from coming to their senses. How about giving to them directly?

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs… Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (Deu 15:8-9, 10, NIV)

And in the New Testament:

Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21, NIV)

Notice that Jesus did NOT say "follow me and I'll tell you who are the poor you should give to"? He also tells us not only to give to the poor, but to go one step further and have fellowship with them.

"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind." (Luke 14:13, NIV)

Let's compare the "Spirit-led" reasoning and my answer.

In their thinking, only the first point is supported by Scripture. The second is a --what-if-- and –maybe--. The third is true. But the conclusion, that we need to be led by the Spirit to give to the poor, is based entirely on the --what-if-- and –maybe-- given in the second point.

It is NOT directly stated in the Bible at all, nor do we see it demonstrated anywhere in the Bible. It looks good and sounds very spiritual, but it is only human teaching. And Jesus' opinion of that is "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Matthew 15:9, NIV)

I Understand Where They Are Coming From

I really do. Poverty is actually a spiritual problem, and the poor very often are poor because of some attitudes, beliefs and wrong ideas that they hold. After all, everything we see in our lives originates first from our hearts (Pro 4:23) and we experience physical prosperity is tied in with our soul-prosperity (3 John 2). So we can argue that if someone is poor there may be some spiritual problem causing it, or some spiritual lesson the person has to learn in order to get out of poverty. Maybe.

And I have seen some poor people who only care about milking you for all they can get. They may say they don't want to be poor, but they are still doing the things that keep them poor. They also avoid doing what will bring them financial provision and abundance. As long as they can get a hand-out from you, they have no motivation to change their lifestyle and behaviour. And they will stay in the cycle of poverty.

So if you decide that because of that you will NOT give to the poor, or you will give only to very selected cases, I understand fully. But please don't try to justify your decision with spiritual-sounding clichés and jargon. Call it what it is, a personal decision or personal conviction. Don't mention the Holy Spirit to make your decision sound more acceptable, I believe that is misusing the name of God (Exo 20:7).

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."( 1 John 3:17-18, NIV)

Why Am I Talking About All This?

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:15-16. NIV)

Because giving to the poor is also tied in with worship. When you give to the poor, God calls it a sacrifice that pleases him. Some people think they should not give to the poor because they are struggling to make ends meet. That's like saying that only those with good voices should sing praises to God. It's disobeying the clear commands of Scripture.

In case you misunderstand, I'm not financially rich myself. There are always things to pay for, expenses I know are coming up and unexpected problems that cost money. So I following this command isn't easy for me either. But I will still find ways to do it. And there will always be ways.

Here's An Example

One day I was meeting a customer at a church in a poorer district of Singapore. There an unkempt woman with a scrawny little boy (about the same age as Jessiah) approached me and asked for a few dollars to feed her son. And as she talked the smell of alcohol hit me smack in the face.

Dilemma: Should I give her a few dollars, knowing she will throw it away on alcohol and leave her son hungry? Or walk away and leave the poor boy hungry? Both were unacceptable to me.

So I decided to take charge of the situation and overwhelm the woman with enthusiasm. "What?!??!? Your son is hungry? Little boy, how old are you?" I spoke to the boy directly. The kid was surprised at me talking to him directly, but he answered me with Jess' age at that time. "You're hungry? I'll buy food for you!" And I dragged mother and son off to a nearby food stall, told the boy to order what food he wanted and told the stallholder to pack a larger portion of rice, meat and veg for the boy and his mother.

"Boy, are you thirsty?" "I'm OK, I drink water from a tap." "No boy, that's not good enough. Come with me!" And I went over to a nearby convenience shop and bought them bottled water (Singapore water is fluoridated, bleah!!!) and apples too. It was fun actually, because I was both feeding the poor (as God commanded) AND playing along with the mother. You should have seen the look on her face as she saw me paying for the food and water. Total dismay. All that money that she could have spent on beer, and not a cent going to her! I spent more than the few dollars she was hoping for, and she couldn't stop me without admitting that she only wanted the money for beer.

In the meantime, I kept talking to the boy. It was heart-warming to see how happy he was. I made sure the food was enough for both him and his mother, and if she chose not to eat it but to get drunk instead, then the boy would have enough for 2-3 meals. On top of that, I talked to the boy as if he was an intelligent fellow, deserving dignity. He was a good kid, I could tell from the time I spent with him.

Finally, when I HAD to leave, the mother made one last try, asking for a few dollars again. And I could honestly tell her that I was out of cash, showing her my empty wallet. And I needed to rush off for another appointment. And with a cheery "God bless you!" to the son I left. She got what she asked for, but not what she wanted. Hahaha!

Conclusion:

I share the above story not to boast of my good works (many people do more than me, and much more often) but to show that there are always ways to help the poor. You just need to be a little bit more creative. It doesn't have to be just money, you can organize a church outing to clean the homes of some poor people, the aged who are staying by themselves and cannot clean up their homes.

And just as I have discovered that things go better in my life when I take time out to praise God, I believe you will find things going better in your life as you make the effort to do good and share with others. Be blessed!

Another Source of Worship Ministry Conflicts

Some time back I talked about one of the causes of worship ministry conflicts, people placing different levels of priority on performance and participation. There is actually another cause of conflicts and misunderstanding in worship ministry, and it is how we see worship ministry through the eyes of our own personal giftings.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) - Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

What usually happens is that people will tend to fellowship with others with the same gifting. Teachers will enjoy hanging out with other teachers, prophets with other prophets and so on. This is how they develop themselves to be even stronger and effective in that particular area. The problems arise when they assume that they are the only ones who are right and the others are wrong. And THAT can lead to massive conflicts, strife and even people leaving the ministry.

Let's see how it works out in the following scenarios

1) Choosing songs for a worship set –

If you are a teacher, you'll probably prefer songs that are Scripture set to music and those that have solid lyrical content (like hymns). If you are an evangelist, you might prefer invitation-type songs such as So You Would Come (Hillsongs). If you are more prophetically inclined, you may prefer songs that are more figurative, poetic or symbolic, such as Dance with Me by Jesus Culture.

You can already see from here how conflicts can arise. Not many people are at the level of maturity when they can see the differences how other people approach worship ministry and celebrate them.

2) And how about worship music?

An evangelist will prefer what appeals to the pre-believers, exciting, performance-style music. Why? Because it is more likely to bring in the crowds for him or her to preach to. A prophet will prefer more a repetitive, droning style of music. A teacher will prefer more laid-back, unobtrusive musical accompaniment that does not distract the people from the lyrical content.

3) What if the church is spiritually dead in the area of praise and worship?

A prophet will be more inclined to think finding an anointed worship leader or on-fire worship team to minister to the congregation will work. This is more like the style of Old Testament prophets; they would seek God, speak to God's people to bring them the message on God's heart, and things happen. A teacher will try to get a worship trainer or pastor to teach the congregation. A pastor will be the one who worries about whether there are groups of people within the congregation who are alienated by any changes in the worship ministry or style, because it's unacceptable to him (or her) to rejoice over the 99 sheep who remain and write off the 1 who leaves (Luke 15:3).

Conclusion:

Of course, we know everything isn't that cut and dried in real life. Many church leaders have a mix of giftings. For example, many pastors have the teaching gifting to some degree, in fact, Paul puts it as a requirement (1 Tim 3:2). Timothy was supposed to both teach (1 Tim 4:11) and do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim 4:5). And Peter, in Acts 2:17-18, says:

Acts 2:17-18 (NIV) – "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy."

This suggests to me that every believer has the potential to move in the prophetic gifting in some way. By the way, Jack Deere has written a chapter on how the key people in the history of the Presbyterian denomination (such as John Knox) actually moved in the gift of prophecy. It makes an astounding read. It's in his book Surprised by the Voice of God. Do check it out, it's a very good example of how a teacher (Jack Deere) sees the gift of prophecy from a teacher's perspective.

Anyway, many people I have met slant their thinking along one particular gifting, and have the priorities that come with that gifting. So I hope that this post will help you see your own slant and understand the perspectives of those around you, so that we can understand each other better, have less conflict and work together for the glory of God!

Be blessed!

P.S. Jack Deere's book, Surprised by The Voice of God, is a well-thought-out, Scriptural look at how God speaks to his people today. It has my highest recommendation for every believer, especially those who are seriously want to hear the voice of God in their lives and want to avoid the common mistakes. You can get it here!