Matthew 18:7-14
How terrible it will be for anyone who causes others to sin. Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but how terrible it will be for the one who does the tempting. So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven crippled or lame than to be thrown into the unquenchable fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven half blind than to have two eyes and enter hell.
Beware that you don't despise a single one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
If a shepherd has one hundred sheep and one wanders away and is lose, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish.
Up until a few years ago I always thought the cut off your hand, eye, foot, etc. was only pertaining to me and my own life. Then I was brought to the realization that we are referred to as Christ's hands and feet and eyes and ears so this also applies to the body of Christ. So if one of us sins and is unrepentant it is in the best interest of the rest of the body to cut off that person since it is well known that sin corrupts the entire body especially the mind and the heart and cannot be allowed to remain a part of the body. We cannot embrace the one who tempts the rest of the body to sin, we cannot allow it to continue and put the rest of the body (especially the new members) in jeopardy.
It is a sad fact that some who claim to be in the body have used the verses about the shepherd and the sheep that has went astray to justify sinning and not only that but to say that sinning is good if it causes that much joy to God when we find our way back. I cannot understand how anyone who has the Holy Spirit in them can think this way. I do not know their hearts, but I do know that this is contrary to the things of God. Yes, God rejoices when we come back to Him, but to put sin in a glorifying light because He does is very wrong.
Beware that you don't despise a single one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.
If a shepherd has one hundred sheep and one wanders away and is lose, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will surely rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish.
Up until a few years ago I always thought the cut off your hand, eye, foot, etc. was only pertaining to me and my own life. Then I was brought to the realization that we are referred to as Christ's hands and feet and eyes and ears so this also applies to the body of Christ. So if one of us sins and is unrepentant it is in the best interest of the rest of the body to cut off that person since it is well known that sin corrupts the entire body especially the mind and the heart and cannot be allowed to remain a part of the body. We cannot embrace the one who tempts the rest of the body to sin, we cannot allow it to continue and put the rest of the body (especially the new members) in jeopardy.
It is a sad fact that some who claim to be in the body have used the verses about the shepherd and the sheep that has went astray to justify sinning and not only that but to say that sinning is good if it causes that much joy to God when we find our way back. I cannot understand how anyone who has the Holy Spirit in them can think this way. I do not know their hearts, but I do know that this is contrary to the things of God. Yes, God rejoices when we come back to Him, but to put sin in a glorifying light because He does is very wrong.
posted by Monica at 11:20 AM
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