What Am I, Offensive? Part 4

What Am I, Offensive?

Part Four

“And He said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”   Luke 17:1-4 (ESV)

Before I finish this discourse about offense I would like to recommend that you took a look at John Bevere’s book, “The Bait of Satan. A lot of I what I have been highlighting about the issue of offense was discussed in his book. It was, and still is, a great tool for me to go through when I have those moments where I seemed to have taken a nibble on the bait and found myself stuck with some unwanted fruits. It has made me refer to God’s Word for counsel on more than one occasion. With that said let’s get back into Joseph’s life and his reaction when it seemed like he could have gotten all kinds of offended.

Remember that moment with Potiphar’s wife that we find in Genesis 39: 11-18?  We have Potiphar’s wife getting offended when Joseph turns down her advances, she throws a hissy fit and it’s off to prison he goes. Those prisons were in the true sense of the word prison. To paraphrase Bevere on Joseph’s thoughts, “He may have been sitting in the dark and damp of his cell saying to himself, “I served my master with honesty and integrity for over ten years and this is what I get? I’ve been more loyal to him than his wife. I’ve been loyal to my God and fled from that nutty woman’s sexual advances for the whole time I have been serving his over inflated ego and this is my reward? A dungeon!!”

The one thing that we can notice is no matter what his circumstances were after being sold into slavery was that Joseph remained in obedience to God. As a young man of 17 his dreams opened his eyes that he had found favor with God but he lacked the discernment that the authority he was to receive was given to serve and not set him apart. It took his time in prison for the refiner’s fire to begin to do its work in Joseph. When the opportunity presented itself he was able to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh’s former cupbearer and baker. Now the baker didn’t fare out very well but the cupbearer did. We can find this in Genesis 40: 20-23 as yet another moment where Joseph could take offense but when opportunity once again arises, in God’s perfect timing, Pharaoh has a dream that none of his wise men or fancy magicians could explain.

Enter the restored cupbearer. Joseph finally gets to take a shower, put on a decent tunic and is presented to Pharaoh then finally we get the much needed interpretation to Pharaoh’s dream. And had Joseph harbored in any offense against his brothers when they came looking for food when the famine that Joseph foretold Pharaoh came we would not have the book of Exodus would we? So when it was all said and done we get to read this marvelous passage in Genesis 50:19-21, “But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”(ESV)

So offense will come, it will be our response to it that really matters. Being offensive to an unsaved world will come, our response to it still will matter. The bottom line here is that a dead man cannot be offended. If we are truly dead to self and alive in Jesus, we will find the strength to turn the other check. We will wear our armor in the honor of God’s glory knowing that the chink’s on the breastplate, on the helmet, on the sheild and maybe even on the shoes were done in the defense of knowing His truth and defending the victory that was already won on the Cross. -- Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a frequent contributor to Freedom Fighter

GPS – God’s Positioning System: 2 Samuel 19-21; Psalm 115; Proverbs 6

Compass Pointers: “Once you leave the place God has chosen for you, your root system begins to dwarf. The next time it will be easier for you to flee from adversity because you have been careful not to root yourself too deeply. You end up coming to the place where you have little or no strength to endure hardship or persecution.

You then become a spiritual vagabond, wandering from place to place, suspicious and afraid that others will mistreat you. Crippled and hindered in your ability to produce true spiritual fruit, you struggle in a self-centered life, eating the remains of the fruit of others.”  The Bait of Satan   John Bevere

Navigation Rules to Memorize: Level 1: Proverbs 18:10; Level 2: Proverbs 18:1-8

Anchored to the Rock: When a good man falls, he falls on his knees.