“Stumbling”
Matthew: King and Kingdom
FCC – March 4, 2012
Text: Matthew 18: 6-10
Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 18. This chapter is one of four major sermons of Jesus in Matthew. Matthew 18 has been called by many the “Discipleship Discourse.” In other words, this chapter deals with how believers grow in Christ and relate to one another in the Body of Christ. Discipleship is often seen as an individual exercise lived out only in rigorous private disciplines. That may indeed be a part of becoming a disciple, but individual faith must grow in relationship to other believers.
Remember last week we were in the first five verses in chapter 18 and asked the question, “Who’s the Greatest?” On the heels of Jesus declaring that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer; He must die and rise again; the disciples argued about greatness in the Kingdom. They wanted to know who among them would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus shocked His listeners by giving an object lesson on greatness with a small child. He picked a child out of the crowd to talk about greatness. Normally adults ignored children and followed the example of other adults. Jesus taught His disciples to follow the example of a child.
We learned that “Greatness in the Kingdom” requires:
• Conversion - I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
• Humility - Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
• Hospitality - And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.
John Walvoord writes, “Jesus, in effect, was saying that they were asking the wrong question. They should have been asking, How can I best serve the king? Rather than, How can I best serve myself? The child in the arms of Jesus was a graphic illustration of loving trust, immediate obedience in coming to the arms of Christ, and in seeking only the position of being loved. True greatness involved taking an attitude of unpretentious humility instead of seeking a position of power. These were great lessons for the disciples to learn.”
That brings us to verse 6 and a very difficult and important passage. Jesus points to a child to remind how we are to relate to one another as believers. Look at verse 6: If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble…We often pull the verses we are about to read out of context and say that if any one harms a child they should be drowned in the deepest sea. I’m not saying that’s not true…I’m just saying that Jesus is using a child to make a broader application. Look closer again at verse 6: If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble. So Jesus is concerned about any believer stumbling and uses difficult language to get our attention. Let’s get started.
To avoid stumbling we must…
1. Guard others (v. 6-7) “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!
Jesus is concerned that certain persons and/or things of this world could cause some believers to stumble. McArthur writes: “Jesus is speaking of moral and spiritual stumbling, that is, of sinning. The verb (‘to stumble’) literally means ‘to cause to fall,’ and the Lord is therefore speaking of enticing, trapping, or influencing a believer in any way that leads him to sin. A person who is responsible for causing a Christian to sin commits an offense against Christ Himself as well as against the Christian. In the most vivid and sobering language indicating the seriousness of such an act against one of God’s children, Jesus declared that a person who does such a thing would be better off dying a terrible death.”
“Everyone believer is a child of God and, like all children, needs protection, care, and understanding. It is an enormous crime to harm even one of them by leading them to sin. To ruin the character of a saint or to retard his spiritual growth is heinous in God’s sight…”
The positive concern here is that we take seriously the task to guard and protect others from stumbling. What are some ways that we can cause believers to stumble? This list is not exhaustive, but we can cause believers to stumble by:
1) Tempting them to sin – This is the most obvious way to cause another to stumble. This is Eve offering the apple to Adam. When you invite or entice a believer to sin, you are in effect double sinning. You are sinning by participating in the sinful activity and then you sin double by inviting another to participate with you. It could go like this…a husband tells his wife that they could cheat on their income taxes and she goes along with it. They both sin…the husband double sins. Or two singles are dating and one says to the other, if you love me you would sleep with me. You double sin by committing sin and getting the other person to sin. We can also cause others to stumble by…
2) Setting a bad example – It is amazing how many people watch you. Children watch you. Youth watch you. Young adults watch you. People at work and in your neighborhood watch you. You may never invite them to sin with your words, but might encourage them to send by your life. If you are a Christian and are setting a bad example, others will be able to justify their sin because you do it! You need to live out your Christian conviction and character in a consistent way before others. 1 Timothy 4: 12 Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
3) Flaunting our freedom – There are some areas where we have freedom in Christ to follow our conscience. McArthur writes: “Even when a person himself is not sinning, it is possible for him to lead others into sin. By carelessly flaunting one’s liberty in Christ by participating in an activity that is not itself a sin and is perfectly appropriate for a strong Christian, it is possible to cause weaker brothers and sisters to stumble.” In Romans 14 Paul addresses this issue of eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Some were free to eat the meat, while others it violated their conscience and it was sin for them to eat the meat. The Jewish question often came up about celebrating certain holy days. Some kept the holy days, others were free not too. “More important were the consciences of their fellow believers. As long as someone believes a practice is wrong, for him it is wrongs, because his intent is to do wrong, even though the practice might not be wrong in itself.” We should be not be contemplating our own freedom at the expense of a weaker brother. We should not be justifying our actions if hurts a weaker brother or sister. Hebrews 10: 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
McArthur writes, “Instead of inducing others to sin, we should induce them to grow in righteousness. Instead of misusing our liberty for our own satisfaction, we should be willing to restrict our liberty whenever so doing might help a weaker brother. Instead of setting an evil example, we should set a Christ-like example. Instead of provoking others to the point of anger and rebellion, we should stimulate them to love and good works.”
William Barclay tells the story of an old man on his death bed who was upset and confessed, “When we were boys at play, one day at a crossroads we reserved a signpost, and I’ve never ceased to wonder how many people were sent in the wrong direction for what we did.”
Jesus says that this behavior is so horrible that he says it would be better for that person to be drowned than for him to lead a believer to sin. Wow. It is a horrible sin to lead another to sin. If you done that don’t drown yourself in the depths of the sea, but drown yourself in the depths of the grace of Jesus.
To avoid stumbling we must guard others…secondly we must…
2. Discipline ourselves (8-10) If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
What we handle and touch matters to God. Where we set out feet matters to God. We should only handle things and go places that are pleasing to God. That takes incredible spiritual discipline. The Apostle Paul reminds us that our motivation from touching and handling holy things is that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
2 Corinthians 6: 16-18 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 17 “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”18 “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
Jesus emphasizes the hand, foot, and eyes. Obviously, other body parts can lead us into sin as well. Let’s talk about Jesus command to teaching to gouging out our eyes or cutting off body parts. We talked about this in Matthew 5, but I think it deserves repeating. One of the great church father’s Origen took this teaching literally and castrated himself. One sect of Pharisees were so concerned about this commandment that any time a woman came near them they would close their eyes and run into things…they were called the black and blue Pharisees. I’m not making this up.
Every conservative commentator I read took this teaching of Jesus as hyperbole. Even if you gouged out your right eye, that doesn’t take care of the heart problem, and you would still have another eye, and another hand to lead you into sin. And besides, since the body is the Temple of God, self-mutilation is just a big a sin as wandering eyes or hands or feet. Jesus is saying that we have to take radical measures to deal with the sin caused by our eyes and hands and our feet.
Wiersbe writes, “How do we get victory? By purifying the desires of the heart (appetite leads to action) and disciplining the actions of the body. Obviously, our Lord is not talking about literal surgery, for this would not solve the problem in the heart. The eye and the hand are usually the two ‘culprits’ when it comes to sexual sins, so they must be disciplined. Jesus said, ‘Deal immediately and decisively with sin! Don’t taper off—cut off!’ Spiritual surgery is more important than physical surgery…”
If we value purity with our eyes and our hands and feet, we will be radical in getting rid of the things that let sin into our heart. If you hands are on the mouse of your computer and your eyes are looking at a pornographic website…get rid of the computer…or put a filter on. If you hand is on the remote and your eyes are on an inappropriate show…change the channel.
Tom Constable: He also urged His disciples to discipline their thoughts and motives. The
point of this section was the seriousness of rejecting or opposing Jesus’ disciples in their
work of carrying out His will. It is as serious as child abuse.
Casting Crowns – Slow Fade
“Be careful little eyes what you see, it’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings. Be careful little feet where you go, for it’s the little feet behind you that you are sure to follow.
Be careful little ears what you hear, when flattering leads to compromise, the end is always near. Be careful little lips what you say, for empty words and promises leave broken hearts astray.
It’s a slow fade when you give yourself away, it’s a slow fade when black and white turn to gray. And thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid, when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day. It’s a slow fade.”
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Holiness is to be our first object: everything else must take a secondary place. Right eyes and right hands are no longer right if they lead us wrong.”
To avoid stumbling we must guard others and discipline ourselves.
Conclusion: Romans 14: 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block
