*********************
Dealing with Stumbling Blocks
“Woe to the
world because of its stumbling blocks!” Jesus said. “It is inevitable that
stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block
comes!” (Matthew 18:7).
As we can
see, this is central issue for Jesus. Being a stumbling block is not something that we can just
brush off as being our own personal affair. Whenever Jesus pronounced “woe” on
someone or something, the expression carried with it very serious consequences
– eternal consequences. This issue of stumbling blocks is an issue that we
cannot brush aside and pretend does not matter. We see this even more clearly
as we continue to read what Jesus said.
“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” (Matthew 18:8-9).
Those are
some strong words. This is one of those instances where I do not think Jesus is
speaking literally. I do not think that he is saying that we actually should
cut off our hand if we continually do something wrong with it. I suppose some
people might teach that Jesus does mean this literally. If you hear someone
saying that, the first thing that I would do is to check to see if they still
have both of their hands and both of their eyes.
However,
neither do I want to compromise or water down the words of Jesus. He spoke in
such strong terms because he wanted to show us that this is an extremely
important matter. It is a matter that will have eternal consequences, and woe to us if we do not heed these words.
Beyond Dismemberment
So if Jesus
does not mean for us to literally cut off our hand or gouge out our eye, then
what does he mean?
What it
meant to the Apostle Paul was even more extreme than what Jesus had said. Paul
said, “I have been crucified with
Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians
2:20). Paul did not stop at cutting off his hand or gouging out his eye. He
crucified his entire body!
This did not
mean that Paul literally and physically rigged up a cross and had someone nail
him to it. However, spiritually speaking, this is exactly what he did do. He
considered his life apart from Christ to have no value.
No… more
than that, he considered his life apart from Christ to be dead!
He
continues, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life
which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20 NAS).
Paul did not
physically die in the flesh on that day that he gave himself up for Christ, but
spiritually speaking, his flesh did die. From that moment on, he worked on
living for Christ in all and every area of his life.
If we are
sincere about our own lives with Christ, this is also what we must do. However,
even knowing this, it still may leave us wondering about what Jesus said about
stumbling blocks. How do we remove these things from our lives?
*************************The conclusion in a couple of days
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