Lex posted a great post on offense and truth, so I got her permission to repost it here:

Dennis brought up an interesting thought during staff prayer time this morning. I’d heard this once before – I think Zahnd preached it – but Dennis emphasized some different aspects.

All of the gospels record Jesus feeding 5000 men (plus women and children), but only John records the exodus that followed.

Jesus feeds a crowd of 10,000+ and they’re following Him to make Him king, and for material gain. If you were trying to grow a church, or amass a following, you’d try to keep your first 10,000+ crowd happy. But Jesus turns around and tells them that unless they eat His flesh and drink His blood they cannot be His followers.

Believers today read that and we go, “Oh, communion. He’s talking about communion.” But no one in the crowd knew that, and Jesus knew that was offensive – especially to the Jewish people.

So in verse 60, John records the general reaction of the crowd, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” And in verse 66, John records that, “From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”

I’ve heard it preached that following Jesus is difficult. That it’s not what you tend to expect. This morning, Dennis offered this thought: When you feed people and meet the felt needs, you can gather a crowd. When you preach the whole truth of the gospel, people – disciples even – will leave.

Not all of them will leave, and don’t read that as an excuse to not try to grow a ministry. But if the truth was offensive when Jesus preached it, it’s going to be offensive when you preach it too. If it’s not, maybe it’s time to look at what you’re preaching.

Do you ever shy away from preaching the “whole truth” because you’re not sure how your students will take it?

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