Have You Irritated Anyone Lately?

By:  Dawn Ford

Have you ever read a book where you enjoyed every character, agreed with everything they did or there were only “good guys” in the story?  I don’t know about you, but that would put me to sleep.  Every good story needs some kind of conflict.  Or the opposite.  Have you ever read a book where you didn’t like any of the characters, didn’t agree with anything they did, and there were only “bad guys” in the story?  I wouldn’t be able to finish it.  What’s the point of reading a story if there’s no one to root for?

So why as Christ Followers do we tell our story between two extremes?  Either we’re the forever “good guys” bending to the world almost apologizing for our beliefs or we’re the forever “bad guys” hitting people over the head with our bible bullying them into belief.  While we are called to the “great commission” (Matthew 28:19), we are not called to bring anyone to Christ kicking or screaming. 

A great model for balance was Jesus Christ.  From the moment of his birth to his death 33 years later, he pretty much irked someone.  Whether it was King Herod (Matthew 2:1-19), the ruling class (pick a gospel and read it), or a self-righteous Jew (Luke 10:30-37), he wasn’t afraid to make waves, to make people think or call people out if they weren’t living appropriately.   But how he did it was just as important as why he did it.

1.      Jesus knew his audience.  Jesus was a Jew living in first century Palestine.  The majority of his audiences were Jews.  He knew who he was speaking to, what they struggle with and what the constraints of society were.  While he taught using imagery his audience would understand, he wasn’t afraid to challenge them.  Especially about their religious beliefs, their class structure and their gender basis.   

2.      Jesus knew the facts.  During Jesus time every male Jew was taught in the synagogue until they were 14 years of age.  Then from there if they showed promise the boys were trained further.  Jesus’ earthly father was a carpenter, so Jesus was destine to learn the trade and be a carpenter as well.  The possibility of him being trained beyond 14 was slim.  While he was divine, during his three year ministry many did not realize that, so his knowledge of scripture for the amount of formal training was astounding.  Even the soldier’s first attempt to arrest him was confounded by his knowledge of scripture and his ability to teach. (John 7:45-46)

3.      Jesus only had one agenda.  While Jesus made many scratch their heads and had them walking away unable to argue with him, his motives for pure and his agenda very specific.  He wanted to bring people back to his father. (John 5:19, John 6:32) It wasn’t about winning the argument.  It wasn’t about being right.  It was about opening people’s eyes and making them see the truth they already knew in a radical way.   

4.      Jesus always made his argument in love.  Whether he was eating with a tax collector, correcting Peter or given the Pharisees a hard time, he never watered down his message. He never tried to make his words easier to swallow and he never shoved his message down anyone’s throat.  He spoke truth, but left it up to his audience if they were going to follow. 

Discussion Questions:

1.      Where do you fall between the two extremes?  How can you make an effort to be more balanced in your approach?

2.      Do you have a strong knowledge of scripture and the word of God or do you rely on others to give you the data dump?

3.      What do you do if someone gets mad at you about your Christian beliefs?

Leave a comment below.  Let me know what you think. 

Dawn Ford is the Vice President and Creative Director for Infinite Love Ministries.  A non-profit corporation dedicated to showing all the infinite love of Christ.  This is done two ways; directly through sound bible teaching and indirectly through supporting programs that promote literacy and better health care.  For more info. check out www.infiniteloveministries.com.