SPIRITUALLY DIARY FOR 12/12/2022 10:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-6 “The Peril”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
18:6-7
Message of the verses: “6 but whoever causes
one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him
that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the
depth of the sea.”
“7 "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it
is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the
stumbling block comes!”
We continue to talk about ways that Christian’s can
cause other Christians to stumble in our SD for today. We just looked at some verses in Romans
14:20-23, and also there is similar things written by Paul in 1 Corinthians
8:1-13, and in these verses Paul is talking about food, food that some
believers can eat even though it was against the OT law, but we must remember
that there was a time when Jesus was on earth that what He said caused the
author of (one of the gospels, but I forget which one) to say that in what the
Lord did He was saying that all food was good to eat. We saw that the problem was that there were
some believers who had no problem as to what they ate, while some new believers
had a problem of eating food (meat) that came from the idol’s “meat market.” Paul stated that there is no such thing as an
idol, but then also stated that if eating food like this was offensive to
others then he would not eat it so that he would cause a weaker believer to
stumble.
John MacArthur writes “A weak
Christian is continually offered an activity that offends his conscience is
likely either eventually to go along and do what he believes is wrong, and thus
reveals a motive of disobedience and thereby go against his conscience, or to
overreact against the activity and go deeper into legalism. In either case, he is cause to stumble spiritually;
and anyone who contributes to his stumbling, Jesus says, would be better off
dead.”
He goes on to talk about that many
believers during the Tribulation Period will be surprised that they had served
the Lord through serving His people, and then many others will be surprised that
they had opposed the Lord by not serving His people. Jesus said the following to the unbelieving
goats that were on His left:
“41 "Then He will also say to those on His
left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been
prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing
to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger,
and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in
prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked,
or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will
answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it
to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "And these will
go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”
MacArthur
goes on to write: “It is even possible
to cause someone to stumble into sin by failing to lead them into
righteousness. That may, in fact, be the
most common way in which believers contribute to other believer’s sin. To keep God’s truth and goodness to ourselves
and not share our spiritual insights and experiences is to withhold from others
what can help them grow. It is tragic
that many believers starve for spiritual food while living in a Christian
family and attending an evangelical church.”
The
following are some verses from the New Testament where believers are admonished
to encourage each other in righteousness.
“and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good
deeds,” (Heb. 10:24). Now this next
verse, (Matt. 6:13) we will see that God leads His people away from sin and to
righteousness, and that is what every Christian should seek for himself and for
his fellow Christians: “‘And do not lead
us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [[For Yours is the kingdom and
the power and the glory forever. Amen.]]’”
Next we look at 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.”
MacArthur writes “The person who lives a godly life follows God’s
example. Like God, he never leads others
into sin but helps protect them from it and builds them up in holiness.”
As
believers we are not to induce others to sin, but we should induce them to grow
in righteousness something that Peter wrote in the very last verse found in 2nd
Peter: “but grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both
now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
As we grow in grace through the power of God’s Holy Spirit we are to
help other believers to do the same.
In
our next SD, and hopefully the last in this section we will begin with a story
found in MacArthur’s commentary that is from William Barclay. I look forward to quoting this story.
Spiritual meaning for my life today:
I am thankful to be reminded of ways that I could cause a person to
stumble, either a believer or a non-believer.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the Lord to convict me of any ways that
I have caused anyone to stumble so that I can confess that and not do it again.
12/12/2022 10:50 AM
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