Are You a Stumbling Block to the Gospel?
A stumbling block is something that constitutes a hindrance to others receiving the gospel and turning to Christ and so impedes the advancement of the cause of Christ. The danger about being a stumbling block is that it’s often unconscious, hence the need to contemplate this.
The question under consideration tonight is “ARE YOU A STUMBLING BLOCK TO THE GOSPEL?” And the importance of this, as you may have seen in the caption we sent earlier, is that we are often not aware when we are being a stumbling block. I’m just going to ask about 3 questions, which mostly require that we share certain experiences of ours.
I. CAN YOU RELATE A TIME WHEN YOU OR SOMEONE AROUND YOU COMMENTED ON ANOTHER “CHRISTIAN’S” BEHAVIOUR AND SAID SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF, “IF THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN, THEN I’M NOT INTERESTED”?
II. HAVE YOU EVER OBSERVED A “CHRISTIAN’S” BEHAVIOUR AND THOUGHT “PEOPLE MAY NOT WANT TO BECOME CHRISTIAN BECAUSE OF WHAT/HOW THIS PERSON IS TALKING OR ACTING?
III. HOW OFTEN HAVE YOU HEARD PEOPLE SAY THEY STOPPED GOING TO CHURCH BECAUSE OF HYPOCRISY IN THE LIVES OF MANY PROFESSING CHRISTIANS?
Well, given all our responses thus far, I can see that at least quite a number of us can relate to what we are talking about. To conclude our discussion tonight, I’d like to introduce us to a concept known as the OFFENCE OF THE GOSPEL. Well, many of us may already be familiar with it, but I’d like to bring it into this present context.
The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 labours the point for which I would earnestly encourage us to find time to study those two chapters. But the thrust is what we find in 1 Cor 1:21–24.
1 Corinthians 1:21–24 [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
The gospel is itself offensive to fallen man. Man, who naturally hates God and rebels continually against Him, will recoil at the notion that God is angry with him and will judge him for his sin. He will scorn the preacher of the gospel as the preacher rightly points him to the fact of his deadness in sin and accountability before God, to the fact that he is rebelling against the One who made him and demands his allegiance.
Fallen man will scorn at this message that tells him that he cannot save himself but must cast himself upon Christ alone if he will escape from the judgement that is to come. The gospel hurts man’s pride and ego, and so is itself already offensive to him.
The gospel — the true gospel, not the false one peddled by many greedy men nowadays that seeks to appeal to the fallen sensibilities of sinful man — will always elicit hatred and mockery from fallen man, because he is blinded and enslaved by his sinful passions (2 Cor 4) and it is only when God intervenes that the story changes.
It is only when God sovereignly does his work in the heart of fallen man that he will truly see his need for and submit to Christ. It is only when the Holy Spirit takes the gospel message, regenerates man from his dead and fallen condition, and applies it to him that he will actually surrender to Christ and be saved.
A positive response to the gospel is only a product of the sovereign work of God in the heart of the sinner.
Now someone may be asking, what does all this have to do with what we were asking earlier on?
2 Corinthians 2:15–16 ESV [15] For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, [16] to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
All this that I have said is to show that there is A NECESSARY OFFENCE TO THE GOSPEL. The message of the gospel is itself offensive. Christ crucified is described as a “stumbling block” to the Jews who were seeking signs and “folly” to the Greeks who were seeking wisdom. However, there is what we may call AN UNNECESSARY OFFENCE TO THE GOSPEL, which is where the subject under contemplation is tonight.
So there is a sense in which, according to necessary offence, fallen sinners will hate the Christianity thing. And of course that’s why you have certain people trying to make Christianity more appealing to fallen man. That’s a subject for another day. But there is the sense in which believers may actually constitute an unnecessary offence to the gospel.
This unnecessary offence is in fact sinful, for it hinders men from coming to receive Christ.
For instance, hypocrisy or double-standard living makes sinners recoil at the idea of being a Christian. The sincere ones among them would rather prefer to continue blatantly in their rebellion against God than to come and join you in your hypocrisy. They can see genuine devotion and religion when they see it.
They can see when your lifestyle is contradicting the message you claim to believe and bear. You’re “shooing” them away from Christ, and God will judge you for that.
Another is when you take your Christian liberties to the extreme, or you embrace antinomianism (claiming that God’s law is no longer important for the Christian and so you can live anyhow you wish). “Moral” unbelievers will look at you and say, if being Christian equals having loose morals, I’m not interested.
You claim to have liberty and grace and so take that as a license to sin, when unbelievers look at you and look at themselves, at best they can’t see any difference, and at worst, they see they’re better than you. In their mind, “why bother becoming a Christian?” You’re a stumbling block to the gospel, and God will judge you for that.
Or in taking your liberties to the extreme, you cause a younger convert or Christian to stumble. God will judge you for that. Many of the conversations people have back and forth will have ended long ago if people stopped asking “Is this a sin?” and started asking instead “Will this cause my brother to fall?” or “Will this hurt my gospel witness to sinners?”
Another one is legalism. Lest you say, “Oh, I’m not antinomian, I don’t live anyhow, in fact I have very strict moral standards”… Don’t be so quick to absolve yourself. Are you the type to lay all sorts of stumbling blocks on people’s way to Christ by imposing upon them your man-made laws and traditions, simply because you’re not comfortable with it?
I’ll be very vivid here. For instance, because someone (an unbeliever) has a tattoo or has his hair plat, you look at him as though he is beyond saving. You place yourself on that high horse because you don’t live like him and so you regard him like he’s less of a human being. Instead of preaching the gospel to him and seeing beyond his outer appearance and speaking to his heart, you advocate some form of mere conformity to certain standards.
Rather than proclaim the gospel to people, you’re merely proclaiming your own self-made traditions and standards which cannot save. If he does come over, you advocate mere external conformity again without pressing for true repentance from the heart.
You make him feel comfortable as long as he conforms. You make him twice the son of hell as he was before, because he is now made to believe that mere outward conformity is what will save him. You go around on your Pharisaical high horse imposing your unbiblical laws and traditions on others, telling them that if they don’t conform, they can’t make heaven.
You are staving away Christ’s flock, because those that don’t fall for your deception look at you in disdain and know that you are a deceiver. They say, if that is what being Christian means, I’m not interested. Of course, this is different from the normal pushback from fallen man against God’s righteous demands in His Law.
For example, look at the woman who some months ago was making rounds on the internet with the catch phrase “If you are doing such and such or not doing such and such, you won’t make heaven”. Unbelievers look at that as ridiculous as it is and are deterred from turning to Christ. If you are of such kind, you are a stumbling block to the gospel, and God will judge you accordingly.
And lastly, if you are proclaiming a false gospel… a gospel of health and wealth or prosperity and gain… The so-called gospel that makes people believe that the crux of being in Christ is being wealthy and having everyday as Christmas. You now sound like a broken record, because intelligent people no longer fall for that gimmick.
Unbelievers look at the falsehood you peddle and know that you’re a fraud, because they know that that’s simply not true. You’re a stumbling block to the cross of Christ if you preach any other gospel apart from that which Christ and His apostles preached.
What gospel do you preach? Is it a social impact gospel? Is it a “how to have your best life now” gospel? Is it a social justice gospel? Or is it the biblical gospel of Christ?
We must live up to the message we preach and claim to believe, brothers and sisters. If we don’t, but deter people from turning to Christ because our lifestyle doesn’t match up to our message, or because people can’t see the difference in how we live from how sinners live, we will be judged.
Let’s remember the Lord’s warning… If anyone causes any of these little ones to stumble, it would be better that a millstone be hanged around his neck and he be cast into the midst of the sea.
May God grant us ears to hear and hearts to listen. Father help us to be faithful, and deliver us from every tendency to constitute an unnecessary offence to the gospel. Help us and have mercy on us in any way we have done harm to the cause of Christ. Help us, Lord. Help us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.