READ ISH. 28:16; 8:14-15; 1PETER 2:8; ROMANS 9:33; EPH. 2:20.

There are some issues about Christ that have caught my attention lately. In the building of His church, He is the chief cornerstone. In the process of development of His body on earth, His cross is an offence to many who do not get aligned with his Kingdom purposes and focus. In understanding and experience, I have found that ones response to offences will determine the direction of the remaining part of ones life is care is not taken. It looks like if your response is wrong, you are on your way down into Satan's trap and if you get it right, you are on your way into a life of fulfillment in the purposes of God.

The word offence in the Greek is SKANDALON and it means a bait or trap. It implies something that causes one to stumble. It is a snare or that which causes error or sin. It is used in different ways in the New Testament. In Luke 17, Jesus says it is impossible that no offences should come but woe to him through whom they come!

The source and purpose of offences always differ and we need to recognize them for what they really are. Offences themselves are not the sin but your response to them will determine whether we sin or not. If we get offended and act in offence then sin has got us. If we get offended but do not act in offence we have defeated the enemy of our souls. Offences can lead to bitterness and the root of bitterness will defile many and open the door to other demonic activities in a person, family or church. (Hebrews 12:15-16). Depending on the source and purpose for an offence, we should respond in different ways to this subject. In the course of our spiritual development, offences come to test, prove and determine what is inside our hearts.

Allowing the cross to affect our ambitions, letting the death process affect our desires can be offensive in the way we get tested. Our pride, selfishness and greed can get confronted almost without any announcement and the manner of confrontation may be through an offence from someone else who is maybe immature or someone in authority over us. Whichever way, it is for our good that after being angry we settle down to deal with what that offence has revealed in us. This is letting the cross work in us to bring death to the works of the flesh, pride of life and other issues hanging in our lives. Too many times we let the offence remain and we get wounded and bitter instead of better. I believe it is in the light of the possibility of being better that we see the role of Jesus Christ being the rock of offence in the light of the believer. It is in the role of the cross that Christ is a positive stone of stumbling. To those who do not want their sinful nature dealt with they will get offended and stop the process of allowing the cross to have any effect on them. In Galatians, Paul talks about the offence of the cross. There is something about the cross that is offensive. It is the fact that it speaks death to something in the human dimension that makes it offensive. The effect of the cross in types and shadows can be gleaned from some stories in the Old Testament. When David refused to kill Saul, the King who wanted to see David dead, it is a type of dying to your desires and letting God’s will prevail in the circumstances of our lives. The value system that evaluates the things of God higher than our desires and feelings and sometimes our expectations is what the cross seeks to establish in our lives. When Daniel would not defile himself with the Kings meat, he was denying himself and allowing the cross to affect his flesh in a shadow. (Old Testament stories reflect types and shadows of New Testament realities. Since they do not reflect the totality of the reality, we call then types.)

When Christ is allowed to be in His church there will be offences that will reveal the hearts of people there. This is usually seen in apostolic settings like in the Acts 8:18-24 account of Simon the sorcerer’s activities where the issues of his heart were revealed. The words were in the natural offensive but revealing. As Christ builds His church, He builds His word into the hearts of his people by dealing with the mindsets and desires that are contrary to His will in them. He prepares us for what He has prepared for us. Many things need to be rooted out, pulled down and destroyed before real building and planting can be done in our lives. Jeremiah 1:10 refers to a prophetic mandate to remove forcefully before the Word of God can be built into people. The process of removal is usually unpleasant and can be offensive. When the contents of the heart of people are ignored, it is not the church of Christ that is being built but the place where Satan has access whenever he gets ready to strike. He uses offence to carry out his operations. Offence in the heart of an unbroken person will trigger a lot of bitterness. That becomes the workshop for the enemy to carry out his masterly destructive schemes. The Kingdom of God cannot be destroyed. All who yield to the enemy are the ones who get destroyed ultimately. Much havoc can however be caused by these offended people. We must let the Rock of offence have his way to offend all that can be offended in us. Psalm 119:165 talks about having nothing to offend us if we love his law. Whatever needs to die to let Christ live in us should be allowed to die. This should bring a change of disposition in us as we seek to let Christ be formed in us. What the enemy planned for destruction is now a stepping-stone to greater heights in God.

I can recall that major progress in life and ministry has always been preceded by major forgiveness sometimes to ones hurt. May this understanding help us pass our tests as we forgive from our hearts and yield to the dealings of God to remove all the things in us that offend Him and His purposes in our lives. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

It is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me and the life I live in the flesh, I live by the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. May this be your testimony.

Rev. Kola Ewuosho.