Remove the Stumbling Blocks

A stumbling block is anything that can cause someone to fall. Anything that makes it difficult to get to where you need to go. We all have things in our lives that are stumbling blocks. Blocks that we have put there ourselves and continue to trip over everyday. At the same time we can all be a stumbling block to others.

Peter and Jesus: Peter thought he was helping or standing up for Jesus.

Jesus told him you are being selfish. He was being a stumbling block, not to Jesus but to the entire Human Race! Jesus rebukes him for it! The word Jesus uses here is skandalon, which literally means a cause to stumble!

Jesus and the Pharisees Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for being stumbling blocks to those who are trying to observe the Law. They had put in place so many other rules and laws to observe that it made it impossible for anyone to follow; all in the name of trying to protect it!

The keepers of the Law, the teachers of the Law he calls them hypocrites! Say one thing and do another! We want you to be saved and come to know Jesus but first you need to do this or you need to do that. Why do we constantly put down obstacles in the way of those who are trying to get to Jesus! Lets be clear, Satan can do his own work, we don’t need to help him!

So what are we to do?

We are not to judge one another and cause one another to fall or become discouraged.

Examine these scriptures again: Every man is accountable to God. every man is different. No two people do things the exact same way. Paul says that’s OK! You are not to judge him if he does something a little bit different than you. However, you are not to throw a stumbling block in their path because of it. Here’s the point I want to make tonight. It’s not about you and me. It’s about Jesus.

Romans 14:7–9 KJV 1900

7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Here’s the point:

Jesus didn’t die, rise, and live again so we could be stumbling blocks. He did this so He could be Lord of our lives and we could be an encouragement to others around us.