Stumbling Block - Week 1

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- To begin the message this morning, and to begin our brand new series, I want to first share a story.

- It’s a little lengthy, but I’ve taken it from David Platt’s book “Don’t Hold Back – Leaving Behind the American Gospel to Follow Jesus Fully”

- And I was beginning to prepare this sermon and this series, and then I came across this part in the book, and it really perfectly represented what we’re going to be diving into today (and throughout this series).

- So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the story:

o It’s past midnight, and the only light flickering on the mud walls comes from a small candle burning in the middle of a one-room house.

o In a remote valley in central Asia, a small group of my friends and our family in Christ is clustered around that candle. They exemplify what Paul wrote in Philippians about being in need (4:11–12). They’re extremely poor, isolated in the middle of the rugged mountains, and disconnected from education, healthcare, and any opportunity for economic advancement. They’re also persecuted. It’s against the law in their country to convert to Christianity, and if even their family members or friends knew they were followers of Jesus, it could mean immediate death.

o Huddled together in this house, they whisper to one another as they wait. Bashir, whose name means “bringer of good news,” left the village about an hour before. Under the cover of darkness with only a faint glow from the moon, he put on his coat and journeyed two miles to a cave. See Bashir as he reaches its mouth, gets down on his hands and knees, and crawls inside, holding a small flashlight in his mouth. Imagine him making his way through crevices to a pile of rocks. Fumbling through them, he finds the treasure he is looking for.

o Bashir tucks the treasure between his arm and body as he crawls backward out of the cave. Once assured that he isn’t being watched, he stands and hides his treasure under his coat. Then he retraces the two miles back to the village, picking up the pace for fear he’ll be caught with contraband in his possession.

o The small group assembled in the house freeze in fear as they hear the rustling of feet outside the door. After tense seconds that seem like hours, the door slowly opens. Bashir steps in, quietly closes the door, sits down in the circle, and pulls out the treasure.

o A Bible.

o The only one in the village. The only one in the miles of mountains around them. The only copy they have of God’s Word in their language.

o Bashir hasn’t yet learned to read, so he hands the Bible to Moska, one of the only literate women in their area. Her name means “happiness,” and a smile crosses her face as she opens the book. She reads aloud in a soft voice, surrounded by ears attuned to every word.

o After a couple of hours, they know that others in the village will soon be waking, so they go around the room, praying for one another. They pray for safety. But they also pray for opportunities to share what they have learned from God’s Word with other people, knowing there will be great risk in doing so. When they finish, they hand the Bible back to Bashir, who proudly plays his part by hiding the treasure in his coat, stepping gently out of the house, and hurriedly returning to the cave to hide the treasure again.

o When I think about Bashir, Moska, and multitudes of other sisters and brothers in Christ in settings like this, I’m reminded that only the Bible contains the truth that is worth risking life and limb to read, know, and share. It’s the treasure that brings us together in the church. Not the ideals of a country or the positions of a political party. And certainly not the most popular waves of thought in an ever-changing culture.

o So why are so many Christians and churches uniting around (and dividing over) opinions and preferences that aren’t clearly and directly outlined in the Bible? Could it be that we have so conflated biblical ideals with American ideals that we can no longer tell the difference between the two? Or worse, are we subtly, maybe even unknowingly, twisting biblical passages to prop up what we think over and above what God has said in his Word? And in the midst of it all, are we even paying attention to the fact that emerging generations are completely disregarding his Word as they watch the way we wield it?

o The good news of the gospel is that we have a Word that is truer, kinder, and far more worthy of our lives than the founding philosophy of any country, the latest position of any political party, or the newest trend in any social movement. We have a Word that holds mysterious power to bring life to the dead, healing to the damaged, and hope to the disillusioned not only in the church but also in the world. Let’s come together, then, with unshakable conviction around this treasure and risk our lives sharing it with compassion for all people around us.

- So today we are beginning a brand new, six-week series, called “Stumbling Block”, where we are talking about the things that get in between people and Jesus.

- Specifically, we are going to be talking about the things that churches and Christians place in the path – barriers we create – that keep people farther away from Jesus, rather than drawing them closer to Him.

- There are stories, from all around the world, of people who go to great risk to follow Jesus.

- They sacrifice everything.

- They lose family, friends, jobs, and even their lives.

- They’ll walk miles to a cave to dig out a treasured single copy of the Bible.

- For some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in dangerous and isolated areas, they have the audacious faith to believe that if their people (if their tribes, if their nations) could simply have access to the Gospel, it would change everything.

- If they could simply have a Bible in their language.

- If they could simply have a church or pastor within walking distance.

- If they could simply have the ability to meet and share and speak publicly without fear of death, then they would be able to transform their entire nation with the message and hope of Jesus.

- And yet, here in Canada, we have Bibles in our languages.

- We have churches and pastors in pretty much every neighbourhood in even a small city.

- We are able to gather publicly, to talk about Jesus, to sing loudly to Jesus, to put bumper stickers on our car for Jesus, and no one is going to arrest us and sentence us to death.

- And yet most church buildings this morning aren’t bursting at the seams.

- I’m sorry to say that no one on our leadership team was concerned this morning that we would have to turn people away due to having a lack of room.

- So the question I want to ask us all to consider – this morning and throughout this series – is “why”?

- When Jesus walked the earth, He attracted crowds of people.

- Some loved Him, some hated Him, some didn’t know what to think.

- But they crowded around to learn more about Him.

- Why is the same not true today?

- How would you explain to someone like a Bashir or Moska, who would gather together every time they are able to, how would you explain to them why we have beautiful church buildings that sit empty each and every week?

- Why is the church – why is the message of Jesus – in our culture, so easily ignored? Especially when compared with the actual person of Jesus – who seemed to be impossible to ignore?

- Again, regardless of what you believe about Jesus, even people who doubted He was the Son of God, they couldn’t ignore Him.

- But they can ignore us.

- Why?

- And the answer is found in our stumbling blocks.

- We have put hurdles on the path known as Christianity, and we have told people that if they can’t make it over our hurdles, then they just don’t have the right kind of faith, and they can’t belong in our exclusive little club (that only grows increasingly exclusive and increasingly little as we keep telling people they don’t belong).

- Think about this for a minute, and this is something we are going to come back to all throughout the next 6 weeks: Do you know of anyone who has chosen to walk away from the faith?

- They’ve walked away from Christianity?

- They’ve walked away from Jesus?

- Maybe you know someone like this, maybe you yourself were (or are) on a journey like this at some point in time, but what are some of the reasons why this happens?

- Why do people walk away?

- Have you ever noticed how often the answers people give for why they don’t follow Jesus – have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus?

- Think about it this way:

- There are people who have walked away from Jesus because someone takes the time to point out to them all of the apparent contradictions in the Bible.

- But, here’s the thing, regardless of what you even think about those apparent contradictions (how you attempt to explain them away or how you struggle with them or how you ignore them), but the fact of the matter is that the foundation of Christianity has never been a non-contradictory book.

- Then again, there are people who walk away from Jesus because of the existence of suffering.

- But the foundation of Christianity has never been the absence of suffering (actually, Jesus promised that in this world we will have trouble).

- Suffering doesn’t disprove the existence of God, all it does is disprove the existence of a god who doesn’t allow suffering (and whatever god that is, I can assure you it’s not the God of Christianity – it might be the god of the prosperity gospel, but it’s not the God of Christianity).

- Then again, people leave the church because someone proves to them that the universe is billions of years old. But the foundation of Christianity has never been about how old or young the world is.

- I spoke on the phone with a man last year, who told me that while he admired me and wished he could believe what I believe, he felt just couldn’t have the faith I have.

- He wanted to, but he felt like he couldn’t.

- Why?

- Because, in his words, he just couldn’t believe that Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days.

- And I told him “You know, you don’t actually have to believe in that story to follow Jesus.”

- And that response shocked him, because no one had ever told him that before – if anything he had been told the exact opposite.

- He had been led to believe that he couldn’t even consider Jesus, without first getting his literal interpretation of an ancient Jewish prophet in order first.

- The point is that we all know people who have walked away from Christianity (again, maybe some of us have walked away at some point, or maybe we’re thinking about walking away).

- But many (dare I say “most”) of the reasons why people walk away are actually completely unnecessary.

- Now, if anything that I’ve just said made you wince, made you shudder, made you want to either run out the back doors or rush the stage and condemn me as a heretic, then you are in the right place.

- Because this series is designed to introduce us to a better version of Christianity.

- One that is free of unnecessary stumbling blocks.

- To be clear, this is not a new version, but rather it is a very old version that we have lost sight of in our culture today.

- Because if people are walking away from Jesus – and are able to ignore Jesus – because of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus, then we have a problem.

- And, for those of us who are followers of Jesus, if we are watching people walk away, and we feel like there is nothing we can do to help them, then we have a problem.

- We have become a stumbling block between people and Jesus.

- But, this hasn’t always been the case.

- Once upon a time, a small sect of Judaism (viewed as a Jewish cult by good loyal Jews), known as “the Way” (they would eventually be called “Christians”) turned the world upside down.

- The followed an executed Rabbi, who they had the audacity to claim had come back to life – and they also said that He had given them a new life through the rebirth of His Holy Spirit.

- And, in the face of persecution and numerous attempts to wipe them off the face of the earth, this small batch of Jesus-followers went from being a small persecuted group, to a large majority group.

- So, what did these first Christians know that we don’t?

- What made their faith so impossible to ignore?

- If we’re going to reclaim this version of Christianity from the first Christians, if we’re going to remove the unnecessary stumbling blocks that get in the way between people and Jesus, then we need to reclaim something that the first followers of Jesus understood (and this is something we’re going to look at for several weeks of this series).

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- Jesus introduced something NEW!

- He didn’t come bringing a new version of an old thing, or an update for an existing thing.

- Kind of like when your phone says it has an update, and it takes forever to download and install, and when it’s done… it looks exactly the same as it did before.

- Jesus came to introduce something entirely brand new.

- And it is in that “new” that we find what made Jesus (and what made following Jesus) so impossible to ignore.

- Think about this.

- The most common conflict found in the records of Jesus’ life is the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders.

- Nowadays, it’s the religious people who love Jesus, and the outsiders (who can’t stand religious people) also want nothing to do with Jesus either.

- But, during Jesus’ time on earth it was the exact opposite.

- Now, it can be difficult for us to fully grasp why these religious leaders hated Jesus so much.

- They didn’t dislike Him, they couldn’t “agree to disagree”, and they definitely couldn’t ignore Him.

- In fact, they didn’t even just wish He was dead, they actually helped bring about His death.

- But the reason they reacted so strongly against Jesus is because they realized what we often miss:

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- Jesus didn’t come to bring an update to Judaism.

- But rather, Jesus was bringing something brand new, and that “brand new” was a threat to everything that they valued.

- Here’s one example of this conflict:

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- Matthew 12:1-8

o At about that time Jesus was walking through some grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them. But some Pharisees saw them do it and protested, “Look, your disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath.”

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o Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God, and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. And haven’t you read in the law of Moses that the priests on duty

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o in the Temple may work on the Sabbath? I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple! But you would not have condemned my innocent disciples if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!”

- Now if you’ve heard this story before – or perhaps even if this is your first time hearing this story – maybe there isn’t anything here that is particularly shocking to you.

- I mean, there is a lot of worse stuff in the Bible, right?

- A lot more controversial things, a lot more offensive things.

- But this right here, was incredibly offensive to Jesus’ original audience.

- In particular, Jesus says one thing here that we need to camp out on.

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- “I tell you, there is one here who is even greater than the Temple!” (verse 6)

- This is incredibly shocking language.

- Because to a good Jewish person (and Jesus was a Jewish rabbi, so He should know this), nothing was greater than the Temple.

- The Temple was “God’s home” on earth.

- It was the place where God’s presence resided.

- It was the place where you went to go and meet with God.

- If someone (or something) was greater than the Temple, then that would completely remove all need for a Temple in the first place.

- If the Temple wasn’t the best place – the one and only place to connect with God – then the entire reason to have a Temple at all would be completely pointless, utterly useless.

- The Temple was the centre of the Jewish faith – the most important place in the world – the official home for God Himself.

- The Temple was the presence of God on earth.

- To say you were greater than the Temple, would mean that you were claiming all of this (and more) about yourself.

- You were the centre of the Jewish faith – wherever You are would be the most important place in the world – You are the official home for God Himself.

- You would be the presence of God on earth.

- No wonder, just a few verses later we are told this:

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- Matthew 12:14

o Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.

- This statement by Jesus was impossible to ignore, and it led a growing number of religious people to plan how to get Jesus out of the equation.

- Because Jesus was undermining the value of the Temple, and that was something that you just don’t do.

- But, if they had really stopped to think about it, they maybe would have remembered that the Temple wasn’t even God’s idea to begin with.

- So let’s go back to ancient Israel, and this is where we’re going to camp out for the rest of this morning.

- Because in order to understand our stumbling blocks that exist today (and how to remove them), we need to first understand the message that is contained in our Bibles and how that message has gotten lost (at least partially) in our Christian culture today.

- So, back in the time of ancient Israel, back in the Old Testament times, Israel had many kings.

- And some of us may already be familiar with the idea that it was never God’s idea for Israel to have an earthly king.

- God alone wanted to be their King.

- But, since all of the other nations had kings, Israel approached Samuel and demanded a good, old, regular king.

- Samuel was a “judge” over Israel, a leader for the people during the time before the kings, and he was also a prophet (a man who spoke to God, and God would speak to Him to bring His message to His people).

- And here’s a little part of Samuel’s story.

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- 1 Samuel 8:1-9

o As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.

o Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel.

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o “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

o Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you.

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o They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

- Fast forward a few verses in the story, after Samuel has warned them and told them all of the not-so-positive things they could expect from an earthly, human king.

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- 1 Samuel 8:19-20a

o But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. “We want to be like the nations around us.”

- The people of Israel make this decision – this crucial, important, tragic, heartbreaking decision.

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- “We want to be like the nations around us.”

- They wanted to be like all the other nations, but God had always intended for Israel to stand out from all the other nations.

- God called Israel His special chosen people, God had set them apart, because God was planning to do something through Israel that would then flow through them and impact all of the other nations.

- Right from the very beginning, when God spoke to Abraham (the Father of Israel), a global purpose was always meant to be the ultimate plan.

- Let’s rewind a little further in Israel’s story.

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- Genesis 12:1-3

o The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation.

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o I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

- And so, between Abraham and Samuel, Israel has been on this journey, which leads to this moment.

- They go from “all the families on earth will be blessed through you”, all the way to “We want to be like the nations around us.”

- And so they get their wish.

- And King Saul is the first king of Israel.

- He’s ok, he’s actually basically exactly what Samuel told them a king would be like.

- But he’s not great, and he’s not God’s perfect plan for His people.

- And after King Saul comes King David (David and Goliath, that David).

- And David is better (not perfect by any means, but an improvement).

- And it’s during David’s time as king that he realizes something.

- Not only do all of the other nations have kings, but all of the other nations also have temples.

- And so David decides that it’s time for the God of Israel to get His own house to live in.

- But, just like Israel never needed a king, they also never needed a Temple.

- And the reason they didn’t need these two things is the same reason, because they already had a King, and He is a King who could not be housed and contained in a physical structure.

- And so, speaking through a prophet named Nathan, this is what God tells David in response to David’s plan to build a Temple for God:

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- 2 Samuel 7:4-7

o But that same night the Lord said to Nathan,

o “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has declared: Are you the one to build a house for me to live in? I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another

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o with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?”’

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- Now here God mentions the “Tabernacle”, which was essentially a tent (a really nice tent, but a tent) which was seen as the place of God’s presence among Israel.

- And God makes it pretty clear, that He didn’t mind living in a tent.

- Because while all of the other gods were regional (they had their physical areas, physical nations, physical boundaries), the God of Israel was mobile.

- He wasn’t contained to a specific Temple building in the boundaries of a specific nation.

- God could move beyond boundaries and areas and nations.

- And so the Tabernacle would move around with the people of Israel.

- But, even with God saying that He rather enjoys camping and being in His Tent (at least for now), King David doesn’t drop the idea, and continues on with his plan to build a Temple.

- But God says David has too much blood on his hands to build one.

- But David doesn’t give up, and he hands the job down to his son Solomon.

- And David prepares everything he possibly could, so that Solomon would be ready to build the Temple when he was crowned as the new king of Israel.

- And Solomon does exactly that.

- So, when the Temple is built, Solomon invites God to leave His tent, and move into the Temple.

- And God did, but during this big moment, God said something to Solomon that is important.

- God basically gives Solomon the same conversation that all parents give before they hand over the keys to the car for the first time (or buy their kids their first cell phone).

- “This is a big responsibility, this is an important day… but if you mess this up, if you act irresponsible and untrustworthy, I am going to take those car keys/phone right back away from you!”

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- 1 Kings 9:3-9

o The Lord said to him,

o “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

o “As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my

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o commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

o “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you,

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o and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by

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o will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’

o “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them.

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o That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’”

- This is God speaking, and He is making something very clear right from the very beginning of this whole “Temple” dedication:

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- He is saying that the Temple was nice for Israel to have, but it was not necessary.

- Because God cannot really live in (be contained to) a building in the first place.

- He has always been, and will always be, a mobile, moving, active God.

- And so the Temple is built, and King Solomon and Israel enjoy a time of great prosperity and peace.

- And it seems like now would be a great time for Israel to be what God had created them to be.

- To finally step into their destiny that was promised to Abraham, and be a blessing to all other nations.

- But that didn’t happen, because Solomon got distracted.

- By lots of women.

- And lots of other gods.

- And all of that “Temple talk” from before, didn’t stick, because not only did Solomon build God’s Temple for Israel, but he also built a bunch of other mini temples for other gods, to keep his foreign wives happy.

- God’s warning of “if you don’t stay loyal to me, I will burn this place to the ground” talk was in 1 Kings 9, and here’s what we read just two chapters later.

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- 1 Kings 11:8

o Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

- Solomon not only built these shrines and temples, but he also started worshipping these other gods.

- And now, once again, Israel was in no place to become a blessing to the rest of the world, because they were acting just like the rest of the world.

- And so after Solomon the nation of Israel splits into two, and both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah head down a path that leads to their exile.

- And when Babylon conquers Judah, they also destroy the Temple.

- Fortunately, God had already moved out.

- Later on, Babylon would fall to Persia, and Persia would allow Jews to return home and rebuild their Temple.

- But, it was rebuilt smaller and with fewer resources.

- When the older folks saw the new, smaller Temple, and how it paled in comparison to Solomon’s, they just began to weep.

- But perhaps the most concerning thing, was that in the Jewish Scriptures, there is absolutely no mention of God’s presence ever moving into this second, smaller Temple.

- Apparently, God was done with Temple buildings (after all, they were never His idea to begin with).

- But God was not done with Israel, He was not done with Judah, and He had not forgotten His promises to Abraham.

- And so throughout this time of craziness and chaos, God sent prophet after prophet to tell His people that He wasn’t finished with them.

- He hadn’t given up on them.

- Malachi was the final ancient Jewish prophet, and what he spoke and taught is preserved for us in the final book of the Jewish Scriptures – at the end of the Old Testament.

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- Malachi 1:10-11

o “How I wish one of you would shut the Temple doors so that these worthless sacrifices could not be offered! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “and I will not accept your offerings.

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o But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

- And then, later on, Malachi also brought this message.

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- Malachi 3:1

o “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

- And then, for 400 years, there was silence.

- But, even if God was silent for these 400 years, He certainly wasn’t still.

- He was getting things ready, getting everything and everyone in place, for what was coming.

- And, what was coming?

- I’ll give you a hint, we just celebrated it a couple of weeks ago.

- As the Apostle Paul wrote:

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- Galatians 4:4

o But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

- This was it.

- The wait was over.

- God’s promise to Abraham would be fulfilled.

- And the families of the earth – all the nations – would be blessed as a result.

- And as part of the process, God would visit the Temple one more time.

- He would “come suddenly to His Temple” (as Malachi had predicted).

- But, this time God wouldn’t come as a cloud or pillar of fire.

- He wouldn’t come through the voice of a prophet, priest, judge, or king.

- Instead, God would come as rabbi from Nazareth, and He would change absolutely everything.

- And so this morning, before we wrap up, I would like us to have a time of taking communion together.

- Communion is a time for followers of Jesus to unite around the broken body and shed blood of Jesus.

- Whether you are new here or have been here for a long time, whether you are here in person or watching online, this is open to all followers of Jesus.

- But we want to pause, remember, and appreciate the fact that Jesus came as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

- Jesus came to bless all people.

- All families.

- All nations.

- For God so loved the…world.

- And the journey to get there, the journey to get to the moment of “when the right time came” was a long and messy journey.

- But that long and messy journey led to Jesus.

- It led to the Saviour.

- It led to His sacrifice for us.

- It led to something entirely, completely, brand new.

- ***Take communion

- And so these last few weeks, we’ve focused on the Christmas season.

- We’ve focused on the baby who was born to change everything.

- The baby who came to introduce something new. The baby who came to make everything brand new.

- The baby, who grew into a man, who was impossible to ignore.

- And yet, right now, all around us, we have church buildings that sit mostly empty.

- People who could walk across the street to hear the message of this man who changed absolutely everything.

- And yet they don’t care.

- Why not?

- What is stopping them?

- And what does all of this Abraham, King David, King Solomon, Tabernacle, Temple talk have to do with the stumbling blocks that are getting in the way between our loved ones (or maybe even us) and Jesus?

- As David Platt wrote, are generations viewing the way that Christians wield the Bible – the way that we weaponize things that we claim are “Gospel truth” – are people watching that, and deciding to disregard the entire message of Jesus (even if it has nothing to do with Jesus)?

- What stumbling blocks are in the way between our loved ones and Jesus?

- And how can we remove them, so that more people might come to know Jesus – the mobile God who wants to make us His mobile Temples?

- And we’ll pick it up there, next week.

- Close in prayer

- (*) Now What

- Benediction: “We’ve had a church service. Now go, and be the Church.”

Scriptures:

- Matthew 12:1-8

- Genesis 12:1-7

- 1 Samuel 7:15-8:22

- 2 Samuel 7:1-17

- 1 Kings 8:1-9:9

- 1 Kings 11:1-13

- Galatians 4:1-31

Pray:

- Pray that God would reveal any “stumbling blocks” that you have placed in the way between Jesus and others around you. Pray for wisdom and empathy in how you can remove these stumbling blocks and be better able to share His Good News.

- Pray that God would grow your faith, overflowing through you by the power of His Holy Spirit. Pray that your relationship with Jesus would be impossible to ignore to those around you.

Discussion/Reflection:

- Why is Christianity so easy for people to ignore in our culture today? On the flip side, why was Jesus so impossible to ignore (even by those who disagreed with Him)?

- What do you think are some of the “stumbling blocks” of Christian culture and church culture in our world today? What (if anything) do you think can be done to remove them?

- When you think of the story of ancient Israel (from Abraham to King Solomon, from the Tabernacle to the Temple, etc), how do you apply it to your life today? What does the message of the Old Testament Jewish nation mean for New Testament followers of Jesus?

- “Jesus didn’t come to bring an update to Judaism. He came to introduce something brand new.” What do you think of that idea? Do you agree? Disagree? Why?

Now What Next Step:

- This week, reach out to someone you know who has walked away from Christianity (someone who used to believe in Jesus, but now isn’t so sure). You may want to reach out in person, or send them a message.

- Ask them what their reason(s) for walking away were.

- Don’t argue with them. Don’t tell them they are wrong. Don’t start a fight.

- Just listen.

- Let them share their story with you, and be prayerfully mindful of any “stumbling blocks” they mention that might have been unnecessary or avoidable when compared with the actual message and person of Jesus.