How Far is Too Far?

I was watching the movie The Greatest Story Ever Told last night, which of course is the story of the life of Christ. I was particularly struck with how many times Jesus said something totally unexpected, and to those whom He addressed, how offensive those statements must have seemed. If you read Christ's statements in the Scriptures, you will find that what Jesus said and did was totally offensive - at least to anyone who thought they were already righteous; to anyone who thought they had it figured out; to anyone who thought they had arrived.

So often I hear people say- We all just need to get along. We need to show our love for everyone, and not worry about people who disagree with us. What people believe isn't important. The only thing that's important is whether they show love. After all, Jesus didn't condemn anyone. Jesus is all about love. He wasn't about confrontation.

Oh Really? How about those people He clearly offended? How about His rantings to the Pharisees and to the hypocrites? How about when he physically overturned the tables in the Temple and drove away the merchants and tax collectors?

Think about it for a moment - Jesus was extremely confrontational. But, He expressed that confrontation and sometimes anger in a righteous way.

Recently someone asked me "What gives you the right to call someone a false teacher or a heretic? What gives you the right to judge whether worship services are reverent or not?" Then they capped it off with "You've just gone too far now!"

Let me ask you, how far is too far for the sake of the truth? How far is too far for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

What gives me the right is the same thing that gives you the right -nay duty- if you are a true believer: it is what Jesus would have done.

As a Christian, I am being negligent if I don't confront untruth. I am being negligent if I don't confront false teaching. I am being negligent if I remain silent. Let's not fall into the trap of remaining in our comfort zones. Let's step out in faith. Let's start calling truth truth and let's start calling untruth a lie.

Scripture tells us that Satan is the father of lies; therefore when we confront untruth, we confront Satan himself. I doubt that he will take that lying down. Unfortunately, the way he tends to express himself is through others who say things like I've mentioned above.

The truth is too important a matter to simply capitulate. At Truth Matters, we cannot, we will not ever give up on this principle. I hope you will stand alongside us as we battle with the principalities and powers of this world.