JULY 22
A Rock That Offends
“‘The stone which the builders rejected has become
the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’”
1 PETER 2:7,8
the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’”
1 PETER 2:7,8
The people to whom Jesus preached already had their own ideas about what the Messiah would do, and what His Kingdom would look like. Unfortunately those ideas were utterly wrong. So Jesus said they needed to repent: to change their heart, to change their mind, to change their behavior, and to get ready to experience something that went totally against their preconceived ideas and notions.
To enter the Kingdom of God and to know the King around Whom this Kingdom is organized requires a radical change on many levels. The way you perceive things, the way you relate to things, the way you understand things – all of it has to be changed. At the very least it must be challenged.
Source: “The Irresistible Kingdom” by Chip Brogden
Related Posts:
CHIP BROGDEN is a best-selling author, teacher, and former pastor who shares "real, simple, truth" about a Christ-centered faith that is based on relationship, not religion. Learn more »
Yes Lord……
Thank you Jesus,i am loving the truth,radical repentance.Bless you Chip i am so grateful for your powerful Kingdom ministry!
Thank you for the narrow gate and path Lord! Thank you Chip for your devotion.
In order to have ” a radical change on many levels” we must eat the fruit from the Tree of Life (dependent on Jesus Christ), and not from the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil which is indepentent and self centered and not Christ centred. Thank you brother Chip for challenging us to focus on Christ.
Kim
Thank you chip, makes so much sense, but shows me how far I have to go, ugh!
The term radical repentance caught my eye, and rightly so brother, Jesus is rejected as the corner stone because the builders refuses to built in God minds, they built in men opinions and philosophies. So, radical repentance, you flush Everything is your views and opinions and allow God in Jesus to built in you His desires, opinions, views, and Will. Refuse the fruit of the flesh and allow God to push forward His will in us.
Thank You Chip for this timely word, once again. Radical repentance means minute by minute, complete and totally sincere, repentance as we become aware of all our daily faults, habits, and weaknesses. We bring it all to Jesus Christ and seek to be set free from the bondage that holds us bound. We seek His will in Life; totally conforming ourselves to His image, as we learn to become more and more like Him. This is exactly where I am at now. It is extremely humbling and goes against my “do it yourself” “survivor mode” of thinking. We equate pleasure seeking and “the easy path” with successful Christian Living. We are taught in many Churches that Christ did it all while He was dying; so we don’t make any effort whatsoever to keep our Lives clean on a daily basis. Lord Jesus, forgive us for our hardness of hearts. Help us to see that You DO know what is best for us. Set us free from OURSELVES. Cleanse us from the sin we tenaciously hold on to, and open our eyes to see how we need to follow your example and be more like You. In Your Holy Name we seek deliverance now. Amen
There are so many warnings and teachings of Jesus that we and others at times can’t quite grasp. This scripture is easy to understand when we allow Him to explain it. 1 Peter mentions “The stone which the builders rejected became the Chief Cornerstone. What were the builders building, one might ask? what were they doing that they would reject the Chief Corner Stone, which is Christ. Why would they reject Him while they were building, the One and Only Stone that would keep the building standing. What is this building? This Stone is a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offence. This Stone can cause one to loose their footing and fall. This Stone is offensive. Why would the Stone be offensive and cause one to loose their footing and fall? We don’t here these words taught today about Jesus. Have we underestimated Who Jesus really is. Do we look at Him and determine He is love and He will not object to anything we think up and do as long as our intentions are in the right place? According to this scripture, I think not. Jesus can cause everything we build to come crashing down around us, even though we thought we did it for Him. He could offend us to the point that we choose to utterly reject Him, because He didn’t allow the kingdom to be built the way we thought and wanted? When we go out on our own to build His kingdom, preach the gospel, make disciples, live our life, did we do it in our own notions or how Jesus said to and how these things take place and when? I believe we really know the answer to these questions. Its up to us to follow His lead and to not assume Jesus will go with the flow. After all The Rock, The Cornerstone will cause one to be offended and stumble.