From the Youth Pastor

The OFFENSIVE Faith!

At the time of writing this article the NBA Playoffs have commenced, and our own Philadelphia 76ers are coming off a first game win against those Detroit ‘bad boy’ Pistons. I get excited whenever the Pistons lose, but it is especially sweet when the Sixers trump them! The Pistons are a rude, arrogant and trash talking team that have a reputation (since the 1980’s) for bullying their way to success with hard-nosed violent defense. Now all basketball players know that you have to play good defense to be successful, but if all you do is try and stop the other team from scoring you won’t win the game. You can foul, dribble, yell and block shots, but if you don’t put the ball through the hoop you won’t win the game. Defense has an important role in the strategy, but being offensive brings the victory!

When I think about the Church here in America I think about a basketball team that is defensive. Our Christian culture has become really good at protecting, banning, and blocking the various cultural influences that seek to intrude our lives. Should we do this? Yes! Certainly! However this can put us on the back foot when we focus too much on trying to guard what we hold dear. It is like the Christians are holding candles, and the devil is violently trying to blow it out, and our response is to cover the flame and protect it from being snuffed out.

Church welcome to the playoffs! Let’s get OFFENSIVE! We know that through the Cross of Jesus it has brought the victory (Romans 8:37), and everyday we can live in this confidence and act boldly in sharing and proclaiming our faith (2 Corinthians 2:12). The Cross of Jesus has earned the right to be heard in anyone’s life. Stop just protecting the faith, but start proclaiming it, and when you do sure enough you will offend people. Our society tells us that it is wrong to offend people and that we must be tolerant. When I hear those statements about tolerance I personally find it offensive. Even in the Christian community I have witnessed these worldviews creep into our vocab. On the other hand the Church will not be tolerated by society and has been told to sit down and be quiet! However “…because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4) the Church has a stronger and more powerful offense than that of the world. The most offensive statement of our day is Jesus words in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me”. Jesus is offensive and is all we need for victory. As God’s people we must be offensive.

Having a good offense is a biblical idea. In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul writes “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life…” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). The fact is, Christians smell. We are either a pleasant fragrance to the elect, or we are an offensive foul aroma to the perishing. We can’t help but be offensive to this culture because of our faith in Christ. So let’s be bold (with gentleness and respect) and proclaim our faith. Expect to ruffle some feathers and be insulted at times, for Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

It’s playoff time—lets bring the OFFENSE!

In Christ,

Pastor Andrew Edmonds