Defending The Truth
I notice in the report of one of our preachers that the church where he preaches is getting ready to conduct its summer meeting, and that they will use the same preacher that they used for their meeting last summer. I was especially interested in the following statement in the report:
"Brother ___ was with us last June in a ten days meeting. He defends the Truth but he does it in such a way, the sectarian world cannot become offended."
Now that is the brother's statement and I suppose it expresses his idea of the proper way to defend the Truth. I know that this is the idea of many brethren. But can a man preach and defend the truth and not offend those who are opposed to that truth? Any preacher who has learned to preach and defend the truth so as to never offend has learned something that Jesus and the apostles never learned. Let us examine some of the preaching of Christ and the apostles and see if they preached in such a way that the "sectarian world could not be offended."
1. I notice in Matt. 13:54-57 that Jesus came into his own country, and taught the people in the synagogue. His teaching was such that the people were astonished, and verse 57 says, "and they were offended in him." This report of the preaching of Jesus sounds quite different from that quoted above. If Jesus were here today, the congregations who do not want the sects offended could not get him to conduct their meetings, for his defense of the truth offended people.
2. Turning to the 15th chapter of Matthew, I find Jesus again teaching the scribes and Pharisees. In the course of this teaching he said this to them: "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men? Now isn't that a good description of sectarian churches today? I affirm that sectarianism is worshipping Christ in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Well, Christ preached these things to the sects of his day, and I never read a report that he "defended the truth in such a way that the Pharisees could not become offended." But we do read that after he had spoken the above things his disciples came to him and said, "Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?" Oh yes, the Lord had offended one of the largest sects of that time, and the disciples seemed to be concerned about it. Perhaps they, were like some of my brethren today—wanted a preacher who would just preach the gospel and leave everybody alone; one who would defend the truth in such a way that the sects could not be offended. Well Jesus didn't do it that way, and he wasn't going about with an apology for what he had preached either. Neither did he want his disciples to try to smooth over what he had preached. He made it a little stronger by saying, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." There are many religious plants in the world today, but there is only one planted by God, and that is the church of Christ. Now I contend that if a man preaches and defends the truth he must preach and defend the one church of the New Testament; and in doing that he must preach to the sectarians that their man made churches were not planted by the heavenly Father, and will therefore be rooted up in the last day. I challenge any preacher to show how this can be done without some being offended.
I tell you brethren, we need to give up this idea of never offending. It is borrowed property anyway. Some of my brethren borrowed the idea from the sects, and I say it is high time to return it. Gospel preachers should not go into the pulpit with the idea of trying to see how many they can offend, but we should preach the gospel to its fullness and stop being afraid that someone will be offended. If someone doesn't call a halt in the churches of Christ, it won't be long until we can join right in with the Christian Church. The spirit of "soft-soaping" and compromise is already in some of the churches and preachers here in California (and elsewhere for that matter) until their preaching sounds more like sectarianism than New Testament Christianity. Some of our BIG preachers here in the west write that there are Christians in all churches. Jimmie Lovell thinks we should quit preaching the church and tear down all the signs advertising the "church of Christ."
But back to this idea of not offending anyone with what we preach, I find that Christ not only offended the sects of his time, but his teaching also offended his followers. Turning to the 6th chapter of John, I learn that many of his disciples thought that his teaching regarding the true bread of life was a hard saying. Some were offended and did not believe him. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." (John 6:6) I wonder how some preachers today ever learned to preach so as never to offend the sects when Jesus couldn't even preach so as to never offend his own disciples!
Coming down to the apostles and their preaching under the commission, I find that they offended people. Read Peter's sermon in Acts 3:12-26. Notice how he talked to those Jews: " ...the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate." Yes, Peter told them that they had denied the Holy One and killed the Prince of Life. And his preaching certainly offended some. It grieved the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees. It offended them so much that they put Peter and John in prison. Of course there is no danger of a preacher getting into trouble because of his preaching if he will just learn to preach and defend the truth in such a way as to never offend the sectarian world. Peter and John had not learned how to do that. It's truly a shame that some of our 1951 model preachers were not there in Jerusalem so they could have taught Peter and John how to preach and not offend. Of course Peter said they were speaking the things they had seen and heard. They were just preaching as they were guided by the "Holy Spirit sent down from heaven." Now if they had just left off some of those things perhaps they would not have offended anyone.
When the gospel is preached we may expect opposition. Read Stephen's sermon recorded in Acts 7 and see how much opposition there was to his preaching. If only some of these preachers who can "defend the truth in such a way so as to never offend the sectarians" had been there they could have given Stephen some advice on the "right approach" and the "proper method" of defending the truth and thereby have saved his life. Too bad that Stephen died without learning how to preach so as not to cause offense and opposition.
All of the preachers of the New Testament caused offense and opposition. This is also true of the pioneer preachers of America. The church was not built on a soft-soaping, compromising gospel. The church of our Lord has fought for every inch of ground that she holds. We didn't get where we are today by being afraid of offending those opposed to truth.
What is the matter anyway? Have brethren reached the place where they think more of the feelings of men than they do of the will of God? Well you can't please God and men too. Paul said that if he pleased men he would not be the servant of Christ. Can it be that we, like Israel of old, want to be like the nations around us?
It is my desire to see the church and gospel preachers everywhere take a firm stand for the truth. Let us preach the word; being instant in season, out of season; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine. Let us not fear opposition, but shall we not rather take the sword of the Spirit and go out to meet and overcome every opposition. Let us fight the good fight of faith, not with carnal weapons, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:4, 5)
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