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‘Doth this offend you?’
Joh_6:61
I. He tries our faith!—You say that you believe in Jesus. You do well; but Satan does the same. How, then, must our faith differ? The eagle knows the sun is shining, and some men will love their sins, lay up riches and fawn upon the great to feed ambition; yet they will tell you they believe in Christ. But why? Because they want to quiet conscience and put on Death a more pleasing garb. Is this true faith? No; their faith is in themselves or in their wealth. Again, laying one’s sins on Jesus to-day and wilfully repeating them to-morrow, believing He will always free you from their guilt—this is not faith. It is asking God to give consent to evil, thinking ‘wickedly that He is even such an one as thyself.’ Then what is faith? Faith in Christ means perfect trust; thus if you believe that He can make you clean, you will rely upon the means He has ordained. Do not set your heart on Pharpar or Abana lest it offend you to be sent to Jordan, and faith begins to argue with divinity.
II. He tests our earnestness.—You have given yourself to Christ, and asked Him to do with you according to His blessed will. You want to tread the paths the saints of old have trod, and live for Jesus only. The march begins with conscious grace. He fills the soul with sweet and heavenly calm. You see the best visions of the Fatherland, visions of peace. Jesus is near in all His beauty, you see His footprints clearly and feel His guiding hand. This opening of the soul’s true life is like the golden sunrise on the snowy Alps. But do not stop to gaze; enjoy the vision as you would the flowers of spring. Those roseate hues will fade ere the sun is fairly on its way—dark clouds will gather round and tempests beat—cold winds will moan and whistle through the corridors; the driven snow just now so beautiful will wear a leaden aspect. Time has no lasting beauty, no bright unchanging sky. We seek this in eternity; earth gives the Cross and Paradise the Crown. Then count thyself happy if the sun resumes his early splendour as he sinks into the West. If the soul is bathed again in heavenly peace in its last struggles on the wave of time—‘Doth this offend you?’ Yet rest assured that if you have really given yourself to God you soon will find how true it is. The soldier’s valour is not proved in time of peace, nor does he look on peace as lasting, but simply as the hour to train for war. Is it for nothing that we call the Man of Sorrows Brother? For nothing that the infant brow was signed? And bear in mind, the Cross of Baptism has never been effaced. It is the mark distinct whereby the angels know us to this day, the seal indelible which we shall carry to eternity. But what an empty show that Cross would be if the Christian life was to be a life of ease and satisfaction.
III. He tests our obedience.—If we would grow in holiness we shall meet with many things that will offend our nature or wound self-love. We shall learn every day how much remains unconquered. But ‘whatsoever the Master saith unto thee, do it.’ If His demands on thy affection seem too great it only proves how much He loves thee, but that thy whole heart has not yet been given in return. And inasmuch as the Lord our God is jealous, these demands are made till we hold nothing from Him, love nothing that does not savour of Him, seek nothing out of Him. But in each call your will is free—‘Doth it offend you?’ You have it in your power to refuse to hear; God will not force us to receive His Grace. It may be He is asking you to give up some pleasure which robs Him of His glory, some companion who leads you from the Saviour and the Church’s faith, some pet indulgence that makes your life a selfish or a worldly life, and keeps a prisoner on earth the soul that ought to hover round the Throne of Grace. Or, more glorious still, perhaps it is the Spirit breathing in your ear one of those great counsels of perfection which the world will ever treat with ridicule and scorn. ‘Doth it offend you?’ Or do you try to think the call is not a real one, only some untamed fancy, painting religion with unnatural tints? Many a soul has tried to think the like, and gone to the grave a spiritual failure. Why? Because Christianity is terribly practical, though not after mammon’s fashion; these Divine inspirations must be carried out; the calls of Love obeyed. God will not be mocked; then think of the danger of despising His counsels. Are they too hard? Do they offend you?
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Rev. C. H. Rouse.
Illustration‘Humility is the frame of mind which we should labour and pray for, if we would not be offended. If we find any of Christ’s sayings hard to understand, we should humbly remember our present ignorance, and believe that we shall know more by and by. If we find any of His sayings difficult to obey, we should humbly recollect that He will never require of us impossibilities, and that what He bids us do He will give us grace to perform.’