Restorative Discipleship Part 5: Squashing the Open Door of Offense

Offense
Offended G4624 (Skandalizo) To entrap; trip up; entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure | Hebrew H6586 (pasa) to rebel or revolt against another

  • A brother offended (pasha) is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle. – Proverbs 18:19
  • And then shall many be offended (skandalízō), and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. -Matthew 24:10
  • Even Jesus said that He came not to bring peace (Matthew 10:34-35) but that the gospel will bring division. Why? Because the world is offended by it and we are not of this world. (John 15:19)
  • The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’s day were extremely self-righteous and they were offended by Jesus left and right. (Matthew 15:12)
  • Proverbs 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
  • Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
  • 1 Corinthians 10:32 Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God.
  • Colossians 3:13 Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
  • Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.
  • Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 
  • Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!”
  • Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
  • Proverbs 17:9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

Judgement
Judgement G2920 kree’-sis; decision (subjectively or objectively, for or against); by extension, a tribunal; by implication, justice (especially, divine law):—accusation, condemnation, damnation, judgment.

  • “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:1-5).
  • But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Romans 14:10)
  • Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. (Romans 14:13)
  • Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5).
  • For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged (1 Corinthians 11:31)
  • To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:23)
  • Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge (James 4:11).
  • Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. (James 5:9)
  • And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night (Revelation 2:10).
  • And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war (Revelation 19:11).

Mercy

  • And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6)
  • But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy (Psalm 59:16-17).
  • “For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 136)
  • He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)
  • Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Mt 5:7)
  • But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us (Ephesians 2:4).
  • Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5).
  • Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)
  • For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. (James 2:13).
  • But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (James 3:17).
  • Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:10).
  • Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (Jude 1:21).

One Another
How we treat each other is a major component of spiritual growth. The old addage of “as long as I’ve got king Jesus, I don’t need nobody else” is a false statement. We actually need each other. Review the file below, and see for yourself. The New Testament speaks on how we ought treat one another as a primary focus on the Church.

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