Stumbling Blocks

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. (Mark 9:42)

I want us to look at this topic in a slightly different, though still scriptural, way.

The common understanding of a stumbling block is something that causes someone to fall (into sin)

Treat that is a narrow way of looking at it.

Shifting attention is as powerful, if not more powerful, than an actual stumbling block.

Weakening of resolve also falls in that category.

Let us look at long distance races to get a grip of what I mean.

Teams have pacers whose main purpose is to weary competing teams so that the designated winner will not have much competition at the home stretch.

This happens because only the team knows who the winner is, keeping competitors running after whoever appears like a winner even as the winner is taking it easy behind the leading pack, just to burst through the weary competitors at the last minute.

The pacers did not stumble the competitors in the typical way.

They simply confuse their competitors into competing with shadows by hiding the real competitor.

They therefore expended their energy in the wrong competition.

Incidentally, that happens with our faith and ministry.

Have you seen those always needy, always searching individuals.

They are always asking for support and prayers at every situation, never getting beyond that initial stage. They are always asking for direction and counsel when they see you. They are always seeking this and the other fellowship.

They are like the leech in Proverbs. Allow me to call them dead weights

Those are stumbling blocks. And unless you have a way of dispensing with them you will never advance in ministry beyond their narrow needs since they will always keep you busy responding to their childish and unending calls.

Then there is the pick pocket and the cell phone snatcher.

When I was in the city, I used to observe them in operation.

Their greatest ally is diversion

They will have partners whose main role is to create any sort of diversion, from feigned fights to rowdy arguments to entertainment.

That drama will draw people like a magnet.

Then the pickpockets will just flow into the crowds picking pockets at ease because the crowds’ attention is elsewhere.

I was able to see that most clearly in traffic jams.

Drama will start on the side of the road and the thieves will have an easy time taking phones from eager hands and walk comfortably away since someone won’t be able to get out of the vehicle.

The same would happen when there is a shortage of transport, either when it rains or there is a crisis on the roads.

In the rush of securing a seat when a vehicle arrives, the pickpockets would have one of them block the door of the vehicle so that there is very limited space for someone to get through.

That intense concentration and push for space will then give his accomplices adequate time to take whatever they want from anybody without them noticing.

Does that happen in our faith and ministry?

There are people and ministries whose major preoccupation is looking for people who have responded to the call of God, offering them opportunities in their ministry, even giving huge incentives to draw them from their calling.

They will be minding their own business until they find somebody whose call to ministry is clear. Then they will spare no effort to convince them to join them.

They will create a missions’ pastor position to get a person out of the mission field. They will create a students’ pastor position for a person who ministers in campuses. They will even create an entrepreneurship pastor position for someone creating spiritual waves in the business community.

They are simply snatching soldiers from the trenches and posting them to comfortable desks

There are discipleship ministries (I call it an abuse of the term) whose focus is people who are being discipled by others.

That is the greatest obstacle to true discipleship.

I remember a unique discipleship journey I had with a young man who had been unmanageable even in Sunday school since not only couldn’t he sit still, but even at that young age was unteachable according to his teachers and other children.

But God connected him to me through books and so I was able to in a short while start a very healthy discipleship journey with him.

Before long, the fruits of that discipleship started becoming visible.

In a flash he was snatched from me and offered opportunities my ‘dull’ discipleship did not have. He started being offered responsibilities way above the level of his growth.

It is sad that he died rushing through those ministry openings I knew he was not ready for.

And it is even worse that none of those people offering him those responsibilities ever sought my input concerning his growth path.

I mention this, not because it is the most prominent but because it ended so tragically.

And any discipler will have many such cases in their ministry ‘files’.

Remember the old prophet in Samaria?

Distractions seek to force us to expend our spiritual energy on things that are outside our core calling. They seek to detract our focus from our calling.

And as happened to the young prophet it could end up tragically.

You do not have to attend that prayer meeting. You do not have to attend that fellowship. You do not have to give to that ministry or cause. You do not have to go for that mission.

You are only accountable to God for the orders He has issued to you and not to others, whether they are your spiritual seniors, mentors, bishops.

I was kicked out of ministry because the big man did not agree with God’s orders for me though they fitted in the job description they had given when they called me.

I was thrown out to the streets, not because I had done something wrong, but because I refused to be distracted by orders that did not agree with God’s orders.

That, incidentally, happens all the time when the ministry boss insists that God’s orders must be subject to his office or position.

You wonder why they do not raise their own people who will not have any issues with their orders!

A distraction is clearly a stumbling block, more so because it may introduce rebellion in the mix.

Resources are another distraction with a powerful pull backwards.

It happens many times because of the way we have been taught about ministry and its support.

As an example, have you realised that probably everybody considering reaching a new place or planting a new church will start raising resources for instruments and a sound system before anything else?

Why not start with raising an evangelistic team?

Someone will therefore spend all their time and resources on the non-essentials so that by the time they get to the essentials they are completely wasted.

But it might become worse because they may have already been corrupted by givers with ulterior motives as I wrote on the posts about common purses (Toxic Friendships).

Imagine God calling you to reach the slums or some other impoverished neighbourhoods. Then a partner gifts you a top of the range SUV to pursue that ministry with.

How effective will you be in your ministry when the fuel your locomotion uses in a day is way above a family’s weekly budget?

That gift may offer you prestige, but it is a stumbling block to your ministry.

An inappropriate gift is a stumbling block when it is kept

Let us also deal with dress that is many times treated as the ultimate stumbling block.

Do you realise that a sharp suit could be a stumbling block?

Think about a farmer or technician who is most comfortable in an overall or other work clothes.

Wearing a suit for the simple reason of preaching or giving a testimony could make him so self conscious as to be completely ineffective in that assignment that suit was meant to make him excel in. It can be compared to asking a fish to function outside water.

How do I know inappropriate dress?

A normal woman or girl wearing inappropriate dress will be overly conscious. You will see her stretching and pulling and many other acrobatic moves so that their dressing appears normal because in her spirit she knows that she is not in her element

A harlot wearing something even more damning and revealing will be comfortable since she is advertising her wares. She is in her element

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)

Forcing our interpretations and traditions on God’s people is actually being a stumbling block to them.

Connect to people where they are and help them connect with God in their context.

As Paul said, the Gospel did not start with you. Stop acting like it did.

On the same vein, callings did not start with yours

And like I always say, God never consults you when He calls anybody, even your children.

Your role is to raise them to respond to Him when He calls, however and wherever he calls.

Making yourself a reference is therefore being a stumbling block to people’s callings.

Do you realise that agreement can also be a stumbling block?

How? You may ask.

Who between Paul and Barnabas was wrong when they parted over Mark?

Each was pursuing his calling. And the callings clashed.

Barnabas nurtured and so had more grace for failure and discouragement. Remember he was the person who introduced the same Paul to the Jerusalem church after they had rejected him?

Paul was a workhorse who had no place for dead weight.

And both succeeded in their ministries.

Paul’s success is all over Acts.

Barnabas’ success is evident because we read Mark’s book and have enough commendation from the same Paul, and even Peter.

Had they come to an agreement, either way, it could have been a stumbling block to one or the other. Simply because it would have been a forced truce.

The only place where there should be agreement is our commitment to God and our response to sin.

Like a pastor friend always says, the veil was torn so that we can relate to God at a personal level without intermediaries. We should never water down that reality.

That title can be a stumbling block, to you or other people

That clerical garb can also be a stumbling block.

Your boasting of your clerical and ministerial credentials can be a stumbling block.

Allow me to give an illustration.

Suppose you are invited to speak to a forum.

You are very good at what you do but have a modest education with nothing following your name.

The organisers decide to introduce all the speakers in that conference.

Prof A, PhD in aeronautics, Dr B, PhD in neurology, Eng C, PhD in synthetic (you do not get the other word), etc.

You are number 10 on the list, and the only person with nothing following your name.

I am sure that long before they get to you, you will be completely deflated and feeling like a buffoon. You are completely intimidated

You interpret their invitation as a design to humiliate you.

And that is long before you have the chance to demonstrate what qualified you to be invited to that forum.

I am sure you will not have a satisfactory delivery when your time comes.

Even that stringing together of scriptural quote reference (something I loved to do) and ancient Bible language explanations might end up being stumbling blocks as they could very easily intimidate or even stop a brother with a message from sharing as it makes them feel inadequate.

I will allow you to fill the gaps.

The only way I can avoid the trap of stumbling God’s people is being the person and minister God has called me to be.

Then I will be able to be a competent minister wherever God sends me without being a drag on the church of Christ.

And I am sure that is why God overlooked the eleven when choosing an apostle to the gentiles since, not only did he understand them, he did not have the biases and prejudices the others had, having been raised amongst them.

Remember the struggle Peter had when he was sent to Cornelius? And the complaint the others had against that ministry?

I believe I have helped somebody look at his ministry in a slightly different way.

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (1Corinthians 9: 19 – 22)