No Offense

We are starting a new series on Sunday. I love new series. It might be that I am a bit ADHD as a leader, but I love developing and preaching new topics and ideas. I get excited for new graphics, videos, and stage design. I love new series.

I am especially excited for this No Offense series. It’s a series that started as a conversation in our church office. It’s a series that started with a question…Does a follower of Jesus have the right to be offended by anything? I was surprised by how much the Bible had to say on this subject.

I think it will be a timely series. I find that people are offended by almost everything. Sports. Politics. Culture. We live in a loud culture that has made us sensitive and easy to offend. I recently saw two friends stop speaking over a debate about which of them was less judgmental. They aren’t friends anymore. Ummmmm.

Something has gone wrong. We can’t continue to live at this level of frustration and anger for very long as a culture. I believe violent outbursts will increase. Mental health issues will increase. We will become increasingly isolated and lonely. Something needs to change.

I think we need a good fight.

I think we need followers of Jesus to fight for the cause of love. Believe me, love is a fight. It is a battle to figure out how to love those who hold a different political opinion. It is a fight to figure out how to love those you disagree with. It’s a struggle that requires energy, focus, and stamina to think through loving those with a different ideology. We have too many followers of Jesus that think the fight is political, social, or even cultural. It’s not. The fight is to figure out love.

Christians should be leading the way on this issue. Our Savior, Jesus, set the example, ran the race, and fought the fight. He teaches us what love is. He shows us what love looks like. He demonstrates His perfect love in this…while we were still sinners He died for us.

As we get ready to start a new series, I think we need less offense and more love. That is a fight that will actually change our culture.