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First of all, we welcomed Pastor Matt back this morning from having been sick. So yay for his recovery!! Okay, so my week was really good. Mike was able to visit for his Birthday Wednesday. He arrived around 6 pm and left Thursday around 3:00 after we had been up to visit Arianna and the baby about 45 minutes north. Prayers for Rob and family on his biological father's side as they lost a cousin last night. I invited Rob back to Fellowship Group this morning for the final celebration of the season. He and Heather showed up and offered to drive me back to the Church after since it's so hot today. I gladly accepted since I had forgotten to grab a hair tie* this morning... ;p Also for my friend Andrea who had another surgery on Friday. She passed 10 on the pain scale with this one. Pray for quick healing so she can get back to her life as usual. Continued prayer for Rich and family as we have services coming up June 4th for his father. We also trust God's provision and timing in all things for each of us. For me, my parents, for Mike, all of us... Oh, and another bit of good news is that Jeremy's life seems to be heading back on track towards God's purpose of Ministry in his path. He's had a heart for the Far East since Bible College. Originally India, but more recently for the Philippines. He's been talking to a woman over there for nearly 2 yrs now who has become very special to him and they are talking about a future together.
How many of you have taken a fall that you needed more than 5 minutes to recover from?? I'm sure there's a lot of hands raised. Mine among them. The one time I actually went to Summer Camp as a kid is when mine happened. It was July of 1980. I was turning 11 that Monday. Our cabin group was engaged in that activity where a rope is tied between 2 trees and each of us had to get over without touching it. We had the tallest/biggest girl down on her hands and knees so each of the rest of us could stand on her back and hop over. When my turn came, I ended up landing flat on my back and knocking the wind out of my lungs. I spent the remainder of the day in the Infirmary*. We all stumble in some way at some time; whether it's physical, mental, or spiritual. At the same time, we may be the one to cause someone else to stumble. What matters is how or if we choose to fix it.
As you may recall, this series is on Discipleship. As believers, God's major question to us is, "Do you trust Me??" Pursuing greater knowledge, and in turn, greater faith in Him is what Discipleship is all about. It is our response to God's question of trust by saying, "Yes, I trust You in all things." The challenge then is to mean what we say and embrace His ways in our daily lives. Trust His provision, His timing, His healing (both physical and emotional), His methods, His Will for everything we do. Let's practice that now by reading the message brought from God's Word, to Pastor Matt, to me, and finally, to all of you.
Matthew 18:6-9
New International Version
Causing to Stumble 6 “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! 8 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.
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Just to set the stage and bring in the context here, Jesus is teaching a group of people and one of the 12 asks, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven??" Jesus answers by pulling a nearby child close and saying that only "childlike faith" can succeed. Our passage above follows --
As you can all see, there is nothing "light" or "happy" about these verses. They are a harsh outcry against those who would prevent people from believing or causing them to fall in the course of their faith. The greater scope of the theme here is on righteousness. Jesus is once again making it abundantly clear that righteousness is not simply about a list of "dos" and "don'ts". It's not about behavior modification*, nor is it peripheral to, or a "bonus feature" of Salvation. It's about transformed lives being lived out as a result of transformed hearts anchored in His love, mercy, and grace.
In verse 6, Jesus is still holding the child close in order to bring a "visual aid" to His message. But if we really look at it, He's not just talking about children who believe in Him. He's talking about new believers of any given age. Children in the faith, as it were. The next point it's important to explore here is the word, "stumble". (You may have guessed this from the message intro) Jesus isn't just talking about something as trivial as a stubbed toe here. He's talking about a major "face plant" that requires time and effort to recover from.
Pastor Matt related a story here about something that happened to him in College. He had been chosen as a Campus Tour Guide for prospective Freshmen. In the course of his duties, he played a part in a performance being given by some of his classmates. This being a Bible School, the play involved Matt running away from "Evil". Now this auditorium space was all concrete. Matt has never been referred to as "Slim", and there's a thing in Physics called "momentum". The stairs he had meant to descend were several feet over, and there had been chairs placed in his intended landing area. He barely skimmed the chairs, and basically "belly flopped" on the floor!! Ooof!! He was clearly feeling that for the next day or 2... :/
As we read through the passage, we notice that Jesus is ultimately addressing 3 groups of people --
The Religious Elite -- He's not calling them out by title, specifically, but the influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees is clearly referenced here. Anyone of authority who seeks to prevent people from believing in God is going to be in trouble. We see that even today whether it's in Legalistic Churches* where the focus is on striving, guilt, and shame; or in the Political policies being put forward to persecute Christians as a whole. (or even small groups) Anyone who doesn't know what a "mill stone" is, you can rest assured its not a "floatation device"!! I'll include one in the images below.
False Teachers -- This could include distractions/lies of the World as well as Church Leaders who preach wrong messages. Two groups Pastor Matt mentioned here in the Church-based circle were those who preach the Prosperity Gospel* and those on either side of the aisle who preach Christian Nationalism*.
Individual believers -- While the first two groups are about outside influences, the third group Jesus addresses is the believers themselves. Since He had come to us in our humanity, He understood that the biggest struggles may come from within. We have a natural inclination (most times) to fight against outside influences either in defense of our beliefs or in the process of embracing new ones. What feels harder is to fight against ourselves in these battles. We want to "be true to ourselves", right?? The challenge then becomes, "What does that really look like??" "How do we know??" "How can we be sure??" Jesus' point here lies in the fact that we each need to take responsibility for our own Spiritual Growth*. The question of "How can we be sure of being true to ourselves??" is only successfully answered by faith in Him. As we've seen in prior messages, everything else is nothing but empty promises and "little faith*". In Matt. 5, Jesus challenges the crowd to pursue a level of righteousness that "surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven." That may have seemed like a tall order for them; but only until they realized the truth that those groups didn't have faith in God in the same way as their faith in Jesus led them to because they still held to the Old Covenant and refused to see the New being played out before their eyes. This is exactly why Jesus used the illustration of children so much in His teaching. A child relies solely on what they are taught and simply trusts that it's true. They don't have to "unlearn" anything in order to believe.
So we see here that Jesus doesn't "mince words". His messages are very clear on what is good or bad according to the Father. And as we mentioned above, it's not about "behavior modification" or lists or rules. It's about plumbing the depths of our hearts in order to transform our lives in response to His love. Jesus didn't come to make "bad" people "good"; He came to make "dead" people "live". In order to accomplish this, it took a massive effort. Notice the violence of the language used above in our passage. We are to essentially "tear ourselves limb from limb" in order to escape/avoid sin!! Thankfully, we don't actually have to because of what Jesus did for us by subjecting Himself to the violence of The Cross. The message still stands in effect, however. We need to remove anything in our lives that threatens to take our focus off Him so that we are better able to live out our faith and spread His love to others*.
The consequences of not following God are dire. There are several words used for Hell in the Bible, depending on reference and translation. The actual word here is meant to be Gehenna. This depicts an eternity of suffering not only separation from God, but an all-encompassing, overwhelming stench of fire burning human flesh. Pastor Matt shared here about visiting India a number of years back. As you walked along the Ganges River, you would see the ashes of the deceased floating in the water because it is considered as sacred to them. Farther in the walk, they came closer to the Crematorium where those who had enough money paid for their loved ones to be consumed. Others would simply have to resort to building funeral pyres on their own. A gigantic trash heap of this scent is the picture painted by the word, "Gehenna". That's going to be a "hard pass" from me!!
So how do we respond to this?? How can we guarantee our future with God and our personal growth in faith?? First, we can pray for clarity from God. Pray for Him to show us the bits of our lives that we fall short in. After this is done, repent and seek improvement in those areas or complete removal where necessary. The "antidote" for sin is not in any efforts we can possibly make, but in the the violence of the Cross and the Salvation Jesus purchased there for us in His love, mercy, and grace. God didn't send Jesus to judge us or condemn, only to save us. He held nothing back in doing so. In response, we should be holding nothing back from following Him.
Gather what you need for Communion and examine yourself in prayer before you partake. You don't have to be a Church member, just part of God's family, even if you're just asking Him this minute before you grab a cracker and juice. -- God Bless!!
Footnotes --
Lack of a hair tie this morning left me feeling "half-dressed". Ladies, what do you feel "half-dressed" without?? LOL
I not only spent the rest of that day in the Infirmary, but also that night, as our cabin group and one or 2 others were scheduled for an overnight hike. I was told the next day that it was just as well I had missed it as it was "mosquito city" outside!!
If you've read through many of my previous posts, you'll notice my overwhelming "distaste" for Legalism... Uuuggh!!
Prosperity Gospel -- I spent the better part of 11 yrs in one of these Churches when my kids were little. The only "word of caution" I would bring to this group is motive. John 10:10 speaks of Jesus' bringing "life abundantly". That is just a spiritual condition, but a physical one. The word "shalom" literally means, "nothing missing, nothing broken". That includes money. Also we see in 3 John 2:5 were it says, "I would that your lives prosper even as your souls prosper." Now some think that the teachings of Paul don't line up with those of Jesus, but if you really explore it, they do. Besides which, we know fully well that Jesus personally called him out to preach, so why would the messages not match?? Bottom line, it's all about the heart.
Christian Nationalism -- I just had to look this one up. Okay, so bottom line here is that we not allow our identity as Christians to "cloud our judgement" when it comes to our politics. We can't be hypocritical by forcing our views on others if we don't want theirs forced on us. This goes for either side. I generally try to avoid politics on here, but when it's part of the subject at hand it becomes necessary for a second.
Taking responsibility for our own Spiritual Growth is something not all Churches embrace. Some limit access to the truth, or seek to control every aspect of our lives. Aside from Legalism, Catholicism is something I don't look kindly on either. I'm aware that, as a Christian Blogger, I will alienate certain people with this opinion, but if you've been reading very long; you know how open and honest I am. I don't pretend to like something if I don't. If you're a Catholic reading this, I pray that you would eventually see the light of truth and convert to a Protestant Church where you'll learn a lot more about God than your Church would ever tell you. As for the Protestant Churches that control everything, I pray that you would release control to God and let people follow God according to their own journey, not your illusions of His Will. (My ex-husband, Rich, and I started attending a Church like that before we were warned away by others years back)
"Little faith" -- see message from 2 weeks ago.
Spread His love to others -- The Great Commission is to "go and make disciples..." The originally Greek word here literally means, "in your going". So "in the course of your daily life..." We don't need special schooling or knowledge, just The Word and Spirit of God.
Music -- No rights!!
Can you believe they also bathe in this water!!?? :/
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