Preaching Jesus Is Confrontational
by Terry Wane Benton
Those who say that we should "just preach Jesus and avoid all arguments or not try to reason with people from error to truth” are themselves unaware that they are making an argument with far-reaching implications. When Paul preached Jesus, it was always met with controversy. Read through the book of Acts and see if preaching Jesus was ever non-confrontational. Preaching Jesus and His resurrection confronted the error of unbelieving Judaism and sometimes stirred them to hateful opposition (Acts 17:5).
Preaching the resurrected Jesus is itself a presentation of evidence that confronts atheism and materialism. In Athens, this preaching caused some to “mock” (Acts 17:32), and in other places, it caused others to get mad and grit their teeth (Acts 7:54). Preaching Jesus is confrontational.
The very preaching of the resurrection of Jesus is confrontational. It means the death of Jesus on the cross was not for His own sins but for our sins, and that confronts every one of us to the core of our being. When we preach Jesus, we are preaching that sin is real and that everyone is guilty and hell-bound without making a covenant with Jesus and His blood. The apostles were reasoning from the evidence of prophetic scripture and the evidence of Jesus’ miracles and the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection to win the argument that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living God, and defeat the argument that He was not (II Corinthians 5:11; 10:5).
Saying “God” is controversial as far as atheism is concerned. Saying “all have sinned” is controversial to those who deny there is a God and a higher standard than the desire and imagination of man. There is no way to preach Jesus and avoid controversy. If so, Jesus would have shown the way, and His apostles would have shown the way. Instead, Jesus and His apostles show us that the message of the cross and the resurrection is the means of reasoning through all kinds of error to truth and always argue the case of truth against error.
Have you been confronted with the truth of the gospel? Do you understand the power of this message? Have you been persuaded? Not facing the truth may be easier, but it won’t end well! Be thankful for those who care enough to contend earnestly for the faith, for only the truth can set us free (John 8:30-31).
