The Danger of Stumbling Blocks
Matthew 18:7-14
February 29, 2012
As you know last week we entered a new section in Matthew’s gospel.
Jesus is speaking on the relationship of the church.
It all started because Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus on the mountain and the others did not, and inevitably an argument broke out as to who was greatest.
Each of these men were seeking the position of prominence and glory.
Eventually this dispute even made it to Jesus.
In 18:1 “the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
And you will remember Jesus shocked them.
He grabbed the most insignificant, weakest,
Most ignorant person in the room.
He grabbed a child.
And said in verse 3, “Truly I say to you unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
And as we said many misunderstand the passage assuming Jesus is saying
We have to trust like children trust or be innocent like children or innocent.
But that is not what Jesus meant.
Verse 4 said, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus didn’t speak of trust, or sweetness, or innocence, or any of the like.
Jesus spoke of humility.
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No one counts on a child for anything.
No one looks to a child for anything.
They have no responsibility because they have very little ability.
They will never be selected to preach a sermon or chair a committee
Or balance the budget or plan a mission trip.
They are the lowest and Jesus told the 12 you must become low like them
The greatest in the kingdom is the one who thinks he is the least.
And, he is the one who values others above himself.
Which is why Jesus said in verses 5-6 “And who ever receives on such child in My name receives Me; but whoever cause one of the little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Obviously the greatest is the least.
And so Jesus took their arrogance and revealed that
They have no clue about how the church operates.
We are not those who are continually trying to be first,
We must be those who are continually trying to be last.
Philippians 2:1-4 “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
It is imperative that we put our brothers and sisters before ourselves.
This is the attitude of the church.
A true Christian’s attitude should be something like this:
“I am the least important person here,
And I come, not to see how good I can be treated,
But I come to serve you,
Because you are so important to Christ.”
And it is this attitude of putting your brother first that Christ deals with in the remainder of the chapter.
And as I told you last week I am so grateful for this chapter.
I think the church understands the need to put others first,
But often times how to do it is misapplied.
Today in the church (particularly here in Spur) we hear a lot about unity.
• It really started at the Thanksgiving service…
• It carried over into the Community Bible Chapel revival…
• I have had two meetings now with the pastors of Spur as we talk about unity among the churches.
But the more we talk about unity the more concerned I become
At how easily it can be misapplied.
There are two misconceptions that continually surface in regard to unity.
1) If unity is accomplished, truth must be compromised
I hear it all the time.
“Our doctrines divide us.”
“We have to put away doctrinal differences”
“We have to quit being so rigid in regard to our differing beliefs”
Others just “Agree to disagree” as though it were up to us
Whether or not the truth is achieved.
I hear it all the time as though unity and truth were enemies.
But repeatedly throughout Scripture
Truth is not the enemy of unity it is the basis for it.
The church unifies on the truth.
If we lose the truth we may indeed unify
But we have to forfeit our title as church.
(And that is a sermon for another day.)
The second misconception that continually resurfaces in regard to unity is this:
2) If unity is accomplished, sin must be tolerated
Now granted no one says it in those exact terms that would sound awful.
What they generally say is something like this.
“I think it’s time we determine to quit judging each other
And just start loving each other.”
“You know if I would quit recognizing my brother’s faults and just start loving him for who he is then the church would be a better place.”
Now, no one is denying the necessity of brotherly love,
It is just that we must recognize what true brotherly love really is.
1 John 4:7-11 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 5:1-3 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”
And we see that the truest love I can have for my brother
Is a love born out of obedience to God.
In short love without obedience may feel good, but it isn’t God-like love.
1 Corinthians 13:6 “[Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;”
And so any notion that the path to a healthy unified church
Is through tolerance of sin is a faulty notion.
We don’t unify as sinners.
We unify as saints.
Any love that tolerates and overlooks sin is not love at all,
Regardless of how tight a bond it may temporarily create.
The truest unity of the church is found when we all
With one accord believe the truth and strive for holiness.
But losing truth or tolerating sin
Will never achieve the unity the church is supposed to have.
And that is very clearly articulated here in Matthew 18.
For Jesus is giving instruction on the church
And without a doubt His point is that the most dangerous thing
The church can allow to remain is sin.
It may make people feel good to overlook sin,
But it will never produce the type of church that Christ desires.
And I want us to study this text and see that
There are two main problems with allowing sin to remain.
There are two main problems with treating sin as if it were not big deal.
#1 SIN DESTROYS MEN
Matthew 18:7-9
Last week when we studied verse 6 Jesus said, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Obviously our Lord is serious about not causing our brothers to sin.
You would be better off to tie yourself to the ocean floor
Than to have Me catch you doing that.
And Jesus continues that thought here.
(7) “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come;”
Now this is just a tragic fact of life.
This world is full of things that cause people to stumble.
The Bible says that Satan is presently the “god of this world”,
he is the “prince of the power of the air”.
And all the world “lies in the power of the evil one”
Because of that this world loves sin and loves to get others to join them.
This world is filled with pleasures and lusts that lead men to ruin.
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
John said watch out for the world, don’t love it, it is a trap, it is a snare.
It will drag you into things that will lead you into judgment.
James 3:13-16 “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.”
James says the world (or earth)
Is full of jealousy and selfish ambition and arrogance and deception.
It is disorderly and evil and it will suck you in.
The sad reality is that it even targets God’s people.
Remember Demas?
2 Timothy 4:9-10 “Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”
The world is a place filled with snares and stumbling blocks
And traps and temptations.
And while there are things we can do to limit our exposure
The reality is we never fully escape them.
Our world advertises sin on every billboard…
People brag about sin at every turn…
And that is why Jesus said, “it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come;”
There is no possible way to escape them.
Even Jesus purposely went on the mountain to be tempted.
He had to be, so that He would know how to come to our aid.
Hebrews 2:18 “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.”
Hebrews 4:15-16 “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
If temptation were not inevitable Jesus’ exposure to it
Would not have been necessary.
“stumbling blocks” are inevitable.
This fact may be one of the chief reasons for our apathy in regard to sin.
Too often today the church has accepted the notion
That sin is ok because it is so prevalent.
• I’m gonna sin…
• You’re gonna sin…
• There’s no reason getting too bothered about it, it’s gonna happen…
But listen, Jesus said that stumbling blocks were “inevitable”
He did not say they were ACCEPTABLE.
They are “inevitable” because Satan
And a whole host of unbelievers live in this world.
It won’t be until the millennium when Satan is in prison
That stumbling blocks won’t be “inevitable”.
They are now, but not acceptable.
For look at what Jesus says next.
“but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!”
Now there is the warning.
Stumbling blocks may be inevitable,
But you had better make sure you aren’t the one setting them up!
“Woe” is the epitome of a heavy curse pulled down.
And that is what Jesus says.
You do not want to be the person that leads another person into sin.
• You don’t want to pass the picture that others shouldn’t look at…
• You don’t want to tell the joke that others shouldn’t laugh at…
• You don’t want to wear the dress that others shouldn’t notice…
• You don’t want to send the email that others shouldn’t read…
• You don’t want to plant the thought that others shouldn’t think…
• You don’t want to say what others shouldn’t hear…
• You don’t want to offer what others shouldn’t have…
And we certainly don’t want to be like Peter
And be those who give people what we think they want to hear.
Matthew 16:22-23 “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”
We call that being an enabler.
Someone comes up and says, “I’m thinking about doing this or that…”
And because we want them to like us we tell them to go ahead
Even if what they are going to do is wrong.
Peter was appealing to lustful selfishness
And if Jesus hadn’t been so strong, He might have taken the bait.
And churches are notorious for that sort of thing,
In fact Paul even said this was a coming epidemic:
2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
Paul said not only will stumbling blocks be available,
But men will actively seek them out.
They will find people to tell them what they want to hear.
Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
The world is full of people who want to hear what they want to hear.
If we oblige them and tell them what they want to hear
Then we’ve enabled them to sin and are a stumbling block like Peter was.
And you and I don’t want to cause people to stumble.
Because if you have a part in it when they stumble,
The Lord has issue with you as well.
He doesn’t pronounce a woe on the sinner
He pronounces a woe on the one who caused it!
You don’t want to lead others into sin.
Now Jesus doesn’t tell what the specific curse is,
But we do know it is worse than being tied to the ocean floor
With a millstone around your neck.
The point is avoid it!
But don’t just avoid doing it to others, avoid it in your own life as well.
(8-9) “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”
Now we do need to temper this a little.
The Lord is not teaching self-mutilation here.
Namely for this reason, cutting off your hand can’t eliminate temptation.
Gouging out your eye can’t eliminate temptation.
We learned in the Sermon on the Mount
Sin originates in the heart, not the hands.
But Jesus is making a point here as to how bad sin is
And to what extreme one should go to avoid it.
Sin is so bad that if cutting off a hand would eliminate it then do it.
Sin is so bad that if gouging out an eye would eliminate it then do it.
WHY IS SIN SO BAD?
Because sin sends people to hell!
The point is to avoid sin at all cost.
If there is a sacrifice to be made to keep you from sinning,
The make the sacrifice.
It would be better to go to heaven as a cripple than to hell as a whole man.
And by the way this links to the previous as well.
Tolerating sin in your own life is a stumbling block to others.
• If you tolerate adultery in your own life, it will cause others to stumble…
• If you tolerate drunkenness in your own life, it will cause others to
stumble…
• If you tolerate crudeness, or gossip, or jealousy, or strife, or ambition, or
any other sin in your own life it will cause others to stumble…
People watch.
(My high school friends would cuss if I did)
By tolerating sin in my life I was an enabler to them.
And so not only must we determine not to make others stumble,
We must even guard our own lives from it.
And the point here is that sin must be avoided at all cost!
Sin destroys men.
Romans 5:12-14 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.”
Romans 6:20-23 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Do we need to read the curses that God pronounced on Adam and Eve?
Do we need to revisit the great flood?
Do we need to revisit Sodom and Gomorrah?
Do we need to revisit the Exile of Israel?
Sin kills people, it destroys their lives and sends them to hell.
It is impossible to promote love in the body and yet tolerate sin.
That’s like a doctor promoting good health while passing out cigarettes.
Sin must be avoided because it destroys men.
#2 IT DISPLEASES GOD
Matthew 18:10-14
Leading people into sin is contrary to God’s desire.
It displeases Him.
And Jesus here gives three ways in which this happens.
1) IT IS CONTRARY TO THE WATCH OF THE ANGELS (10)
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus says not to “despise one of these little ones”
Again, not children, but fellow believers, even the most humble.
“despise” means to look down on them or to treat them as insignificant.
In the context of the passage it would men
Thinking it is no big deal to lead them into sin.
I read a story recently about a young handicapped man
Whose brother and friends forced him to drink beer until he was drunk.
I’m sure they thought it was funny, but they despised him
As though making him get drunk was no big deal.
Jesus says not to do that, “for…their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Jesus says to lead another into sin goes against the watch of the angels.
Angels do indeed watch over us.
Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?”
Angels are literally working for us to help us live righteous lives.
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness angels ministered to Him.
When Jesus was suffering in the garden angels ministered to Him.
They encouraged they helped and in a mysterious way they do us as well.
And they get their orders directly from the Father,
Whose face they continually see.
And the point here is that when we lead others into sin
We are directly working in opposition to the mission of the angels.
They are watching out that we don’t sin,
When we trip others into it we work contrary to them.
Contrary to the Watch of the Angels
2) IT IS CONTRARY TO THE WORK OF SALVATION (12-13)
We skip verse 11 [“For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.], not because that isn’t true but because Jesus didn’t say it here.
But here Jesus does reveal that leading others into sin
Is contrary to the work of salvation.
Jesus gives the familiar illustration of a shepherd looking for a lost sheep.
This shepherd has a sheep that is straying.
He hasn’t stumbled yet, but he is a prime candidate
Because he is alone and vulnerable.
And any good shepherd searches for his lost sheep.
And not only does he search, but if he finds it he rejoices.
The implication here is that those who work for the kingdom
Don’t delight in scattering people into sin,
They delight in gathering them out of it.
The church is on a mission.
It is the Savior’s mission.
And it is a mission to rescue men from sin.
• We proclaim repentance and forgiveness.
• We proclaim holiness and salvation.
• We ask men to leave the darkness of sin and enter the light of life.
So to call men to salvation and then cause them
To stumble right back into sin is obviously counter-productive.
It is contrary to the work of salvation.
Contrary to the Watch of the Angels Contrary to the Work of Salvation
3) IT IS CONTRARY TO THE WILL OF GOD (14)
People today talk on and off about finding God’s will.
And admittedly sometimes finding God’s will can be difficult.
But I can definitively tell you what is not God’s will.
It is not God’s will “that one of these little ones perish.”
• God does not want His children to sin.
• God does not want His children to stumble.
• God does not want His children to cause others to do it.
It is impossible to be in the will of God while leading others to sin.
That is foreign to the nature and will of God.
James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”
And so how could we ever claim to be like God
Or to be doing His will when we do cause others to be tempted?
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
It is not the will of God that anyone sins.
And when we lead others to sin or cause others to stumble,
Not only are we bringing extreme wrath upon our heads,
But are also working contrary to the plan of God.
It is contrary to the watch of the angels.
It is contrary to the work of salvation.
It is contrary to the will of God.
And when we do it we are doing the work of Satan
Just as Peter was when he tried to get Jesus to skip the cross.
The point is that sin is not welcome in God’s church.
He doesn’t want us CAUSING it
He doesn’t want us COMMITTING it
He doesn’t want us CONDONING it
Those who do have no clue what His plan is for the church.
Christ intends for His church to be unified and sanctified.
His church wasn’t just to love, but to love in truth and holiness.
He commanded the type of love
That does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
He commanded the type of love
That will be my brother’s keeper and will not lead him into sin.
He commanded the type of love
That will discipline self for the sake of being an example for my brother.
He commanded the type of love
Where the real enemy is removed and brothers can find encouragement
To live the life God intended, not the life their flesh desires.
This is the church.
Tolerance of sin was never the idea.
So let me encourage you church
• To seek holiness and purity in your own life.
• To watch out for and protect your brother.
• To make it a point not to do anything that causes your brother
• To think thoughts he shouldn’t think
• Or do things he shouldn’t do
• Or want things he shouldn’t want
• Or laugh at things he shouldn’t laugh at
Make it a point to do everything you can
To help your brother live a holy life.
That is what the church is all about.
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
