Confrontation is completely out of fashion these days. We live in an over-sensitive culture where any conviction and certainty are viewed as arrogant and divisive. Even the church shies away from confrontation. We prefer sermons that are more “uplifting.” We have evangelism programs that are relational to oppose those outdated confrontational methods. In an effort to avoid offending any visitors, many churches try to make them as comfortable as possible and remove any mention of sin, repentance, and hell from the message. We appear afraid of any confrontation.
Confrontation is so despised that we’ve even imagined a Jesus who had never spoken in more than a soft whisper and never told anyone they were wrong. This Jesus must have walked around wearing a tie-dyed robe handing out daisies to everyone he met. The truth is that while Jesus had a soft heart and good news for those who were “already broken, humbled, and fed up with the life of sin” (pg. 1). But for false teachers and religious hypocrites He reserved the most scathing rebukes.
In John MacArthur’s book, The Jesus You Can’t Ignore, he investigates the sensitivities of modern evangelicalism and compares them to the reality of Jesus presented in the gospels. He says in the introduction, “The way Jesus dealt with His adversaries is in fact a serious rebuke to the church of our generation…We cannot be men-pleasers and servants of Christ at the same time” (pg. xv).
Too often we let our pride guide us in trying to please others instead of being obedient, even when it might cause us some trouble. We prefer to pursue a sense of unity at the expense of truth. A fear of argument or division causes us to set aside our call to discernment. “These days it seems the visible church is dominated by people who simply are not interested in making any careful distinctions between fact and falsehood, sound doctrine and heresy, biblical truth and mere human opinion” (pg. xxi).
John MacArthur, however, is not calling for us to seek out confrontation. “Generally speaking, avoiding conflicts is a good idea. Warmth and congeniality are normally preferable to cold harshness. Civility, compassion, and good manners are in short supply these days, and we ought to have more of them. Gentleness, a soft answer, and a kind word usually go farther than an argument or a rebuke. That which edifies is more helpful and more fruitful in the long run than criticism. Cultivating friends is more pleasant and more profitable than crusading against enemies” (pg. 19). But he explains that there is a time when clear, sharp lines need to be drawn out of compassion for those who may be deceived by false teaching.
In the familiar way that MacArthur teaches, the book is a simple exposition of various Scripture texts detailing Jesus’ confrontational style. Jesus kicked off his public ministry with a tirade in the temple against the moneychangers. He confronted Nicodemus with the hard truth that his devotion to Pharisaism was not enough to merit God’s favor. In fact, the sweetness of John 3:16 that we are all familiar with is followed up by a phrase that is not so sweet for the non-believer: “he that does not believe is condemned…” (John 3:18). “Let’s face it: the idea that the entire human race is fallen and condemned is simply too harsh for most people’s tastes” (pg. 63). It was quite the slap in the face to Nicodemus when Jesus told him that being a son of Abraham and his devotion to the temple and the law would still leave him guilty in front of God.
MacArthur also describes Jesus’ altercations with the Pharisees after His miracles, examines the embarrassing public rebuke that is the sermon on the mount, and considers Jesus’ final sermon pronouncing woes on the Pharisees; calling them “hypocrites,” “vipers,” “whitewashed tombs,” “child of hell,” and “blind fools.” MacArthur points out the significance that “the One of whom it was said, ‘God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved’ (John 3:17) made His last public sermon an extended message of condemnation.” (pg. 183) Because of His hard teachings, as Jesus public ministry progressed, His audience steadily narrowed to a small following and eventually was abandoned by even His closest disciples.
The message of The Jesus You Can’t Ignore is not for us to be more combative with our neighbors and fellow Christians. It is that every Christian has a duty to be discerning and to stand firmly on the proclamation of the Truth. Sometimes you will find the opportunity to minister to a humbled sinner, and at times you will find yourself in the middle of a confrontation with a proud, self-righteous Pharisee.
If Jesus is to be our example, then we must be bold as He was and be willing to take some heat for the Gospel. “His preaching had one aim: to declare truth, not to win accolades from the audience. For those who were not interested in hearing the truth, He did not try to make it easier to receive. What He did instead was make it impossible to ignore.” (pg. 160)
