To some who know neither their own deceitfulness and hypocrisy, nor the awful delusions of the devil as an angel of light, I may appear harsh, bitter, severe, bigoted, narrow-minded, and to deserve every other term of reproach which self-seekers and flesh-pleasers heap upon those who fearlessly hunt out their refuge of lies. To preach the gospel in our days is to preach to PLEASE EVERYBODY AND OFFEND NOBODY, to starve the real children, and feed the illegitimate, to beat the heir, and caress the dog, to call the children of God antinomians, and to call empty formalists decided Christians; to style opening up Satin’s delusions “preaching in a bad spirit;” and wrapping up hypocrites, impostors, Pharisees, and self-deceivers in their delusions, “not preaching in the spirit of the gospel.” This turning of things upside down, this calling good evil and evil good, and putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter… J.C. Philpot
While Philpot wrote that a few hundred years ago, it is no less true today, and in fact may be more pertinent than in his own day. A faithful minister, though hard to find, is certainly thought of as harsh, severe, bigoted, and of all things narrow-minded. A minister that will dare to search the hearts of the people with the spotlight of the Scriptures is sure to be reacted against with the self-righteous anger of those who cannot bear the light. This was true of the prophets in the Old Testament and this is true of the apostles of Christ, but more than all it was true of Christ Himself. He was hated because of His searching style of preaching. He was hated when He told the religious people of His day (while on earth in bodily form) that they were hypocrites and then pointed out the reality of that by His teachings.
We can read the words above and also from our Bibles and be thankful that we live in a day where people are nicer and not as mean, but we must confront ourselves with reality and remember that Jesus told us that if the people hated Him they will hate His followers as well. Perhaps the real issue is not that people are nicer today, but that the preaching does not search hearts and expose hypocrisy today. Perhaps the words of Philpot about what it meant to preach the Gospel in his day is even more true today: “To preach the gospel in our days is to preach to PLEASE EVERYBODY AND OFFEND NOBODY.”
How many times have we heard men with silky voices say that we should be more winsome in order to win more converts? How many times have we heard others condemned for being too harsh, censorious, or perhaps judgmental? How many times have we heard that preachers should not be so hard on people but instead be kind and loving? It may be the case that preachers are to be kind and loving, but it is also the case that the very concepts of “kind” and “loving” have been twisted to mean something far beyond what they mean in the Bible. It was a kind thing for God to speak through His prophets and point out to men how vile and wicked they really were. It was a kind thing for God to warn the nation of Israel (and others) that judgment was coming upon them.
We are told that ministers should be less offensive and should not offend people if they want a successful ministry. But again, who gets to define success? What did it mean for Isaiah to have a successful ministry? What did it mean for Jeremiah to have a successful ministry? What did it mean for Jesus to have a successful ministry? What did it mean for the many martyrs across the centuries to have sucessful ministries? Perhaps the real question has to do with whether a man can even be a true minister if he is not preaching in a way that offends people. We are told by Paul that he preaching nothing but Christ crucified, but we are also told that there is an offense of the cross (KJV) and the stumbling block of the cross (NASB). Can it be that the cross cannot be truly preached when people are not angered by the necessary teaching of the cross?
It may also be the case that those who are afraid to offend men will instead offend God, yet if we preach to please God we can be sure that men will not all be pleased. Paul put it this way in Galatians 1: “As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” Those who strive to please men in their preaching are not true servants of Christ. The goal must be to preach the truth of God, but in doing that we must realize that men are at enmity with God and they don’t want to hear the truth of God preached. Men hate the true teaching of grace and they will oppose it when it is preached. We cannot please God and preach in such a way that men are not offended.
God Loves... Himself 
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