Woe

Woe

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.  
But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 
“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!  
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin 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.  
And if your eye causes you to sin, 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.” 
Matthew 18:5-9
Here is a warning from Jesus we need to be careful how we treat people and what we teach.
A friend of my daughter in law has a child about eight. She is visibly disabled.
The child grew up in church and heard much about a specific preacher. She wanted her mother to take her to this man to be healed.
They got there and were told to sit a the back. During the alter call, a call for those in need of a healing touch, the child asked her mother to take her forward.
To the horror of the mother they were intercepted on their way down to the front and asked to go to their seat.
It totally devastated the child, and the two went away disillusioned.
The mother also noticed at the time that there were no people at the front with visible or extreme disabilities.
Here is an example of how someone can cause someone’s faith to be questioned. To cause someone to sin.
Fortunately as I understand it the little girls faith rebounded because it was in Jesus not in the preacher.
Not all such encounters have such a happy ending.
The warning Jesus give in this passage is not only a warning about making children sin, but about making all people sin. Turning people from the saving grace of Christ.
Back in the nineties a high profile televangelist said God was going to kill all the homosexuals in North America within a few years. What garbage! And how wrong he was. The LGBT community has more rights today that ever before in North America.
Were that man to make such a prediction in old Testament times and found to be wrong he’d have been stoned.
Now I am not a gay man, but I cringe when I hear the gay community coming under attack by preachers and individual Christians as if they have some special sin.
Those who call themselves Christians and are attacking the LGBT community or any community be it Islam, Hindu’s Buddhist or any other group are guilty of making them stumble.
The people who are being attacked see the attack especially if it’s on their faith or lifestyle as a personal attack. Thus it gets their guard up and shuts down all dialogue.
   In doing so these so called Christians are becoming a stumbling block to those people.
When Paul wrote, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”Romans 3:23 he meant all. That includes televangelist, pastors, Christian teachers, the Christian sitting in the pew and all those outside of the church walls, in fact everyone that has ever lived or is living today.
The apostle Paul make it clear what we in the church must do.
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.” 
                                                                   1 Corinthians 5:12,13.
Tony Campolo and American evangelist wrote,
“Let us preach Christ, let us be faithful to proclaiming the Gospel, but let's leave judgment in the hands of God.”
                 Tony Campolo
Jesus gave the Church it’s prime directive when he said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 
                                                                               Matthew 28:18-20.
The scriptures also give a warning, Jesus saying,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” 
                                                                                                            Matthew 7:21-23.
To the Christian reading this be on guard that you are not a stumbling block to those around you.
Do everything in love. Remember the words of the Apostle James,
“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.  
Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.  
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,”  have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?...
But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.  
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  
     James 2:1-4, 9,10
Think about it