Resisting Self Righteousness
“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.” ~Mark 9:42
It is easy, and in fact common, for readers to quickly jump to the conclusion that Jesus is cautioning us not to encourage other believers to commit ordinary acts of sin. But that simply doesn’t make sense, when the verse is considered within the context of the whole conversation. Jesus is in fact making a much larger statement regarding out holy responsibility as adopted children of God.
The disciples had just informed Jesus that they told a man that was driving out demons in Jesus’ name to stop, “because he was not one of us.” Jesus told them “Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.”
We are a body of never ending sinners saved only by God’s grace and endlessly washed clean by the blood of our Savior, Jesus. What sin can Jesus be speaking of, then? The sin is unbelief – a sin so grave that God felt it necessary to actually purged every unbeliever from among the children of Israel in the wilderness (Numbers 21: 4-8) at one time.
Tragically, we often fail to realize that it is not our personal responsibility to impose the doubt, guilt, shame and feelings of unworthiness and distance from God that leads one to the feet of the Savior. That is the work of the Holy Spirit through the crushing weight of the law. And when we, in a moment of self-righteousness, cause one of our brothers or sisters to lose sight of Jesus by causing them doubt or despair, we have caused great harm.
Despair and moments of doubt come easy enough, without being introduced by fellow believers. Even John the Baptist, whom Jesus declared to be the greatest prophet ever, had a moment of doubt, when he sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was “the one to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus was crystal clear regarding our causing fellow believers to stumble, and one of our single most important responsibilities as children of God is to love, protect and encourage our own.