Stumbling Blocks
As America falls further and further into biblical illiteracy, we become more and more unfamiliar with certain terms. For instance, no one, today, is talking about “stumbling blocks.” What is a stumbling block? Where are they found? Who put them there? What is their purpose?
Whether one is traveling on the wide way that leads to destruction, or on the narrow way that leads to life, there are stumbling blocks in either direction. A stumbling block is a fairly self-explanatory term. It is an obstacle that one stumbles over. As people grow older, they increase in fear over the issue of falling down. Children fall down all day long and simply get up. Senior citizens fall down, break their hips, and die. Falling is not a funny episode for the elderly. Stumbling blocks should be removed.
Stumbling blocks are also especially dangerous to the blind. The point of the blind man’s walking stick is to detect stumbling blocks, and then to carefully avoid them. It is Satan who blinds people to the Gospel truth (2 Cor 4:4). He is also a master at laying down stumbling blocks, too (Mt 4; Lk 4). Demons observe every man’s weakness, regarding sin, and temptation is ordered for him.
When the Bible references stumbling blocks, it speaks of “idols of their heart (Ezek 14:3).” God’s Law is very clear, “You shall have no other gods before Me (Dt 5:7).” Men are moved to action by the spirit in their hearts. What they do is the result of what was in their hearts. God’s assessment of human hearts is not favorable (Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9; Mt 15:19). Men who murder others, commit murder, first, in the passions of their hearts (1 Jn 3:15).
It is the same in worship. Men sacrifice offerings to idols, and behind those idols are demonic spirits (1 Cor 10:20; Rev 9:20). They are imposters of the living God. With galimatias, they persuade men to fall down and worship them, instead of Yahweh, the one true God. Jesus Christ cast out demons to remove the idolatries of men’s hearts (Mt 12:28). The truth sets men free from idolatrous ideas, leading to idolatrous actions (Jn 8:32; Gal 5:1).
It is difficult for us to imagine ideas being idols, but ideas, as we observe in any presidential election year, are very powerful. They can capture the minds of people and persuade their hearts to believe and perform all kinds of nimiety. In our lackadaisical effort to destroy idols, do we even think about the ideas we mildly embrace?
Abortion was an idea before it became a practice, even a legal practice. Prostitution was an idea before it became a practice, even a legal practice in many places. Every wrong idea is an idol, and every idol has a demon behind it, and this is why the god of this world, who was a liar from the beginning (Jn 8:44), is endlessly birthing stumbling blocks, both new and old, by blinding the minds of men (2 Cor 4:4). Satan is the father of lies and his children promulgate a culture of lies. Lies are stumbling blocks on the path of truth.
Let God be true and every man a liar (Rom 3:4). Thus, man’s interests and God’s interests are not the same (Is 55:9). Satan inspired Peter to tempt Jesus into avoiding the path of suffering (Mt 16:23). Jesus said to Peter, and to Satan, “You are a stumbling block to Me.” The will of God was for Jesus Christ to suffer and die to achieve a righteous redemption for His people. Satan inspired Peter to introduce doubt in the Son of God, who was by nature, impeccable. We, however, are not impervious to temptation and sin. Therefore, we sometimes stumble and fall in the most foolish ways.
Men, even elders, set idols right in front of their faces (Ezek 14:3, 4, 7). They put the very thing which holds power, to tempt them to sin, right in front them. The gambler moves to a house closer to the casino. The glutton takes the scenic way home past the fast-food restaurants. The city adds exotic dancing to its collection of night clubs. Another liquor store wants to open in your neighborhood.
In case you did not notice these things, a new billboard will help whet your appetite for whatever sin troubles you. Most of this is done in the name of “freedom,” which claims to be related to “responsibility.” Instead of responsibility, sin abounds, because temptation abounds, because we have put idols right in front of our faces, even paying our satellite television bills to ensure we are tempted. Iniquities become stumbling blocks and stumbling blocks cause more iniquities. It is a circular downward spiral into sin, death, judgment, and punishment in the pit of darkness. People must repent to break the cycle (Ezek 18:30).
Are you causing other people to stumble into sin? Look at your life example. Look at your business? Consider your material possessions. Do they provoke others to envy, jealousy, covetousness, or greed? Jesus taught that stumbling blocks must come (Mt 18:7; Lk 17:1), but it is a woeful thing for one to be a stumbling block or to stumble over another. Paul taught the church at Rome to be careful not to hinder others from the primacy of Jesus Christ (Rom 14:13). He also warned the Corinthians about using their Christian liberty in such a way as to become a stumbling block to weaker brethren (1 Cor 8:9). Christians must repent of worldly lifestyles, even in appearance, that tempt others to sin.
The remedy would be to remove all stumbling blocks from your life. When the school insists you must have internet in your home, or your child will not have access to her spelling list or math videos, you know you can either conform to this world or get left behind. The competition vies for our time, money, and attention like billboards enticing us to leave the highway.
Jesus explained the highway, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you (Mt 6:33).” The world’s objective is to make sure this does not happen. This is why your daughter’s coach schedules practice on Sunday nights or schedules a match for Sunday morning. He would not agree with the claim that he is an agent of Satan, but your daughter is also not at church youth group learning about the kingdom of Christ. Why? Satan wants her heart, and he will do it by occupying her time and grooming her affections.
The removal of Satan’s stumbling blocks will come on the day of the Lord’s judgment. Lawless sinners will be gathered up and thrown into their just judgment…fiery hell (Mt 13:40–42). Sinners are idolaters, and those who do not bow their knee to Jesus Christ, in service and worship, are demon-inspired rebels against God.
Every intention of the wicked human heart is only evil all the time (Gen 6:5). Men are without excuse. Stumbling blocks exist to create an obstruction for people to miss Jesus Christ and His kingdom. People, who themselves serve as stumbling blocks to others, will be punished for their work of obstruction (Ezek 44:12). The Shaman, Imam, Rabbi, Hindu Priest, Prosperity Preacher, and materialistic salesman all serve to hinder people from pure devotion to Jesus Christ. What about you?
Having learned a little bit about stumbling blocks, we might be surprised to discover God also uses stumbling blocks to hinder people. Whereas Satan’s obstructions are for evil, God intends for His stumbling block to be for peoples’ good.
Jesus Christ is God’s stumbling block (1 Cor 1:23), placed in front of men, who are hell-bent toward eternal oblivion. Wherever Jesus Christ and Him crucified is preached (1 Cor 2:2), there is an obstruction from God. Sinful people hate God’s intrusion in their lives, and they persecute preachers of the divine stumbling block (Gal 5:11).
Sinful men do not see God’s stumbling block as the Rock of their salvation. They prefer the preaching of Balaam, who influenced Balak to put stumbling blocks in front of the children of Israel to perform acts of idol worship, including sexual immorality (Rev 2:14). The sex-obsessed church of Jesus Christ in America is nothing new. Rainbow flags over church entrances may seem novel and good to liberal churches, but Balaam surely gives us an Old Testament example of the spirit of Jezebel present in the church, today. Jesus instructed the churches to repent of this (Rev 2–3).
Jesus Christ is a Rock of offense because He is either the millstone crushing us for His better purpose, or He is the millstone around the neck of him, who is ready to be thrown into the sea, known as, “the lake of fire.” Our eternal destiny is guided along the way leading in two directions. Two spirits vie to compel us in the way we should go. Both directions, the wide way and the narrow way, are laden with stumbling blocks. Many travel the wide way and are confronted by Jesus Christ, God’s stumbling block. Few travel the narrow way and are confronted with endless poisoned water oases. Which direction are you headed, today? Which stumbling block are you stopping at to take a closer look?
Today, if you find yourself on the wide world way, you are being confronted with God’s stumbling block, Jesus Christ and His cross. God’s message for you with this obstacle is that you are heading in the wrong direction on the way. The way of the world leads to hell. The oases of drugs, alcohol, illicit sex, gluttony, materialism, which you call “blessings” are only mirages on the way to a hotter desert hell. Turn around and journey on the narrow way, which is in the opposite direction of the world.
Today, if you find yourself on the narrow way, you are being aided in your journey by God’s stumbling block, the Cross. The uphill journey to the higher ground of heaven comes with a Cross, a stumbling block, in the ground that prevents your backsliding down the slippery slope of sin. Take hold of the Cross of Jesus Christ, every day. Rest and gain strength from the grace of forgiveness and the power of God’s love displayed there. Fear not, as Christ, the millstone, breaks your hardened heart, in order for God’s better purposes to manifest in and through you.
Christ, the divine stumbling block, hinders the hell-bound and helps the humble heaven-bound. Find refuge in the Rock. Drink deeply from the Rock. The Rock is Christ Jesus. He is salvation for those who cling to Him, and an offense to those who navigate to avoid Him.
Which describes you best in your relationship to the Rock on your road to eternity? Jesus Christ is your true stumbling block…either way. Whether you take hold of Him, or avoid Him, He is immoveable. Every other stumbling block in the road is a slippery stone promising salvation, but who is like our Rock? Stop at this Rock and build the foundation of your future on Him alone. Upon this Rock, this stumbling stone, is the church that cannot be moved; and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed, nor will he fall into the eternal pit.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
February 11, 2021
