Latest / Reformed Thinking / Stumbling Blocks and Divine Woe: The Moral Seriousness in Christ's Kingdom (Matthew 18:7)

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Stumbling Blocks and Divine Woe: The Moral Seriousness in Christ's Kingdom (Matthew 18:7) · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine walking into a toddler's playroom AST the blocks and the
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stuffed animals and casually setting down a loaded, rusted
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bear trap right in the middle of the floor.
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You know you would be horrified. You would probably call the
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authorities immediately. The sheer malice required to do
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something like that is, I mean, it is almost unthinkable.
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Yeah, it really is completely unthinkable.
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Right, but according to Jesus Christ, we are setting lethal
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traps for vulnerable people every single day.
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The traps are invisible, but the damage is catastrophic and the
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stated penalty for laying one of those traps is a millstone tied
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around the neck and a plunge into the pitch black depths of
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the sea. Welcome to reformed thinking.
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Today we are undertaking A rigorous theological deep dive
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into the source material provided by two scholarly
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treatises. The first is stumbling blocks
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and divine woe, the moral seriousness in Christ's Kingdom,
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and the second is the divine decree and the lethal snare.
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Yes, and our mission in this session is to unpack the intense
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theological tension between God's absolute sovereign decree
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and human accountability. We are looking specifically at
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the spiritual traps we set for others as established in Matthew
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chapter 18, verse 7. You know modern culture preaches
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the gospel of radical autonomy. The reigning dogma of our day is
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well, live your truth. We are constantly instructed to
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assume our private choices are strictly our own business.
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We are told that as long as we feel authentic, our actions hurt
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no one else. Today, we're going to contrast
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that culturally popular assumption with Christo's
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terrifying woe against those who cause other to stumble.
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That is a massive contrast to draw and to grasp the absolute
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gravity of this woe, we first have to understand who Jesus is
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fiercely protecting. In this passage we have to look
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at the immediate context of the Kingdom and how Christ defines
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greatness. Yeah, the disciples are, quite
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frankly, acting like politicians maneuvering for a cabinet
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position. They are arguing over who gets
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to be the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
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They want status. They want rank.
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Jesus responds by bringing a child into their midst,
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completely overturning their assumptions about what matters
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in his Kingdom. He shows them that greatness
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equals humility and total dependence.
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That historical and literary context provides the necessary
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lens for grasping the severity of the warning that follows.
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When Jesus places that child in the middle of the disciples, he
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is doing something shocking to the ancient mind.
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We tend to view this scene through a highly sentimental
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modern Western lens. We picture, you know, Sunday
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school artwork with soft lighting and a sanitized,
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smiling Jesus. Oh.
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Absolutely. The Flannelgraph.
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Jesus. Yes, precisely.
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But in the 1st century Greco Roman world, a child had zero
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legal status, 0 economic leverage and 0 social standing.
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Under the Roman legal concept of patriot protestas, the father of
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the household possessed absolute authority over his children, up
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to and including the right of life and death.
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A child was entirely vulnerable, entirely lacking in rights and
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entirely dependent on the provision and protection of
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others. Wow, so the cultural backdrop
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makes that visual so much sharper.
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It really does. Jesus uses this literal child as
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a living, breathing emblem of the little ones in his Kingdom.
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These little ones are not exclusively biological children.
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They represent the lowly, the dependent, the tender true
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believers within the covenant community.
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They are the new converts, the socially marginalized, those
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with sensitive consciences who bring nothing to the table but
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their faith in Christ. Right.
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They have no spiritual leverage of their own.
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None at all. And Christ aligns himself with
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these believers so intimately that he declares receiving them
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is synonymous with receiving Him.
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Because He cherishes his sheep with such fierce jealousy, He
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issues a devastating warning against anyone who would cause
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them to trip. And to understand the mechanism
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of that tripping, we must examine the specific Greek word
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used in the text for the snare. That word is scandal.
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On yes, scandal. On, We often picture a stumbling
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block as a random passive boulder sitting on a walking
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path. You know something you might
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accidentally stub your toe against while you're on a hike?
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Like an innocent mistake. Right, an accident, but
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historically and linguistically a scandal.
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On is not a passive rock. In extra Biblical Greek, the
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term specifically describes the trigger stick of a lethal trap
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or a snare used by hunters to catch animals.
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It is a part of the trap where the bait is placed, the exact
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mechanism designed to snap the trap shut and bring about
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destruction. That is a staggering visual
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difference. It is, spiritually speaking, a
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scandal on is a calculated, active inducement to evil.
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It is an influence, an action, or an attitude that lures
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vulnerable souls toward unbelief, moral ruin, or a
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violation of their conscience. I want to stop right there and
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look at the contrast you just painted, because it shatters the
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modern caricature of Jesus. We often picture Jesus in this
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scene like a gentle preschool teacher gathering the kids
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around for a soft, comforting lesson on being nice to one
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another. But he pivots straight from
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holding a vulnerable child to talking about Millstone's
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execution and drowning in the depth of the sea.
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It is a shocking pivot. It really is.
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How do we reconcile the tender shepherd with this fierce,
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almost frightening protector? It seems like a massive
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contradiction to the modern mind, which demands A savior who
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only speaks words of affirmation and tolerance.
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Well, I think when we understand the clear definition of that
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trigger stick, the scandal on, we see that Jesus is reacting
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the way any loving, fiercely protective parent would react to
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someone placing a loaded trap in a toddler's playroom.
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The fierceness is a direct product of his love.
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He is not being vindictive. He is operating as the guardian
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of his people. That makes perfect sense because
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Christ fiercely protects his sheep.
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He issues a prophetic warning to the environment that constantly
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tries to trap them, the fallen world.
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Let us look at the first half of Matthew 18, verse 7.
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Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that
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temptations come. That is a heavy verse.
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It is. Jesus is pointing to a massive
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cosmic reality here. He does not say temptations
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might happen if we are unlucky, or that traps are just an
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unfortunate possibility in a broken universe.
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He declares that their arrival is an absolute, unavoidable
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necessity. And the linguistic weight of
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that verse cannot be overstated. The word translated as necessary
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is the Greek term ananke. It denotes an inescapable
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inevitability, a binding cosmic decree that cannot be thwarted
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by human will or circumstance. Furthermore, the word translated
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as woe is way which operates as a formal prophetic denunciation
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of impending divine judgement. So it is not just a mild rebuke.
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No, not at all. It is the language of the
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courtroom of heaven coming down to pronounce doom.
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When we connect this inescapable necessity to Reformed theology,
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specifically the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 3
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and V, we find a robust, unyielding framework for
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understanding this cosmic reality.
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God, from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel
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of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever
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comes to pass. That covers absolutely
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everything. Everything.
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His meticulous Providence extends from the falling of a
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tiny Sparrow to the geopolitical movements of empires.
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And yes, even in the presence of these very spiritual snares,
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this introduces the staggering theological tension known as
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compatolism. Right, because we have to hold 2
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truths together there. Exactly.
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God remains utterly holy and Immaculate.
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He is in no way the author of sin, nor does He approve of the
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evil trap. He hates the sin.
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Yet the trap set by malicious human hands occurs strictly
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under His sovereign necessity in decree.
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God permits and uses these stumbling blocks for specific
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pedagogical and judicial purposes.
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I think we see this principle explicitly outlined in First
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Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 19, where the Apostle Paul states
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that factions and divisions must exist in the church so that
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those who are genuine may be recognized.
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Yes, the trap exposes the true nature of the heart.
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We also see this in Genesis chapter 50 verse 20, where
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Joseph declares to his brothers that the evil they intended for
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his destruction was meant by God for good to save many lives.
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The snare acts like a brutal but effective sieve, separating the
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wheat from the chaff, testing, proving and refining the genuine
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faith of the elect. And we must rigorously contrast
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this biblical truth with the prevailing errors of our day.
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We look at our minionism, which paints God as a passive
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observer, desperately managing a chaotic world, hoping people
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make the right choices but lacking control over the snares.
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Right. In that view, God is just
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reacting. Yeah, just hoping for the best.
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And we look at the prosperity gospel, which falsely promises a
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paved, luxurious path entirely free of snares, claiming that if
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you have enough faith, you will never face a stumbling block.
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Both frameworks completely failed to account for the divine
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necessity of the scandal on that Jesus explicitly declares.
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They completely miss the nanke, the necessity.
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Exactly. I am trying to process this
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tension, and I think an analogy might help clarify what you were
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saying about compatibilism, though I admit it is a difficult
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concept to swallow. Think of it like a master author
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writing a massive, sweeping narrative.
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OK, I follow you. The villains actions within the
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story are genuinely malicious. They were driven by real hatred,
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a real greed, and a real desire to destroy the protagonist.
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Yet those wicked actions are entirely constrained within the
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author's sovereign plot. The author writes the villain
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into the story for a specific overarching purpose, perhaps to
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test the hero, to reveal the hero's true character, or to
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bring about a triumphant resolution that would be
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absolutely impossible without the introduction of that
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specific conflict. That is a highly effective way
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to picture. It thanks the author is in
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complete control of the narrative arc, but the villain
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is still genuinely wicked in his motivations and actions.
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Now, looking at that analogy, a skeptic is going to raise a
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massive, glaring objection. I feel it myself when I read
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this text. If God decrees that these traps
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are an absolute necessity, if he writes the script so that the
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scandal on must appear, doesn't that give the center a perfect
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ironclad excuse when they trip someone up?
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That is, the natural human reaction, isn't?
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It it is the person who sets the snare could simply throw their
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hands up, point to the heavens and say I am innocent.
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I am just fulfilling the cosmic decree.
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I am just playing my I signed a role in the narrative.
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You cannot punish me for doing what was ordained and.
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That specific objection, the brazen attempt to blame the
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cosmic decree for personal, willful sin, is precisely what
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Christ cuts off in the second-half of the verse.
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Jesus perfectly anticipates that universal human tendency to
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shift blame. It is the same instinct Adam
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showed in the Garden when he blamed God for the woman he
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provided. Right, the woman you gave me.
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Exactly. Jesus pivots the focus with
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devastating sharpness. He moves from the macro tragedy
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of the fallen world to the micro culpability of the individual
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actor declaring. But woe to the one by whom the
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temptation comes. We look again to the Westminster
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Confession of Faith, this time Chapter 9, which addresses the
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state of man's will. A crucial chapter.
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Very crucial humanity in its fallen state lost all ability to
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will any spiritual good accompanying salvation.
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We are totally depraved dead in our trespasses.
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However, man remains a free moral agent.
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We sin because we desperately want to sin.
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We set traps because our hearts are bent toward rebellion,
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selfishness and pride. So we're not being forced
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against our will. No, we're not robots being
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forced against our will to do evil.
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We choose it freely according to our fallen nature.
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Therefore, the inevitability of the trap within God's Providence
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does not mitigate one ounce of the guilt resting on the person
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who freely sets it by their own volition.
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And the scholarly sources we are analyzing point out how modern
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secular philosophies attempt to completely dissolve this
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personal responsibility into systemic or structural forces.
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Yes, they do. And to be clear to you, the
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listener, we are impartially reporting the author's specific
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theological critique here. They point to modern frameworks
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such as critical race theory or liberal sociological theology.
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Again, we are simply conveying the ideas in the source material
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without endorsing or taking sides on the specific political
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or sociological frameworks. But the authors argue that these
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frameworks try to remove the crushing weight of individual
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guilt by blaming abstract societal structures.
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So the argument is that if the system is corrupt, the
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individual is just a victim of deterministic forces.
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Right, and therefore cannot be held personally accountable for
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their moral failures. While Jesus explicitly
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acknowledges the reality of systemic worldly corruption when
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he says woe to the world, He absolutely refuses to let the
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individual hide behind that systemic reality.
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He pins the judicial woe directly, unsparing and
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terrifyingly on the individual human agent, that man.
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We hear that cultural excuse constantly, do we not?
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People say, well, society is just corrupt, corporate culture
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is cutthroat, the political system is broken.
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Everyone compromises to get ahead.
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So you cannot blame me for doing the exact same thing.
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It is a massive diffusion of responsibility.
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It is a very convenient shield. It is a Imagine a notoriously
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dangerous stretch of Hwy. The road itself is structurally
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hazardous, the curves are blind, the pavement is incredibly
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slick, there are no guardrails, and accidents are statistically
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inevitable. It is a terrible, broken system
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of infrastructure. But if a reckless driver decides
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to speed down that highway at 100 miles an hour, texting on
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their phone and causes a catastrophic, fatal crash, they
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cannot stand before a judge and say, your Honor, the highway
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statistically proven to cause accidents, the infrastructure is
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to blame. Therefore, I am completely
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innocent. The judge would not accept that
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for a second. The judge would laugh them out
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of the courtroom right before locking them up.
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The system might be massively flawed, but the driver who
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freely chose to act recklessly and cause the wreck is still
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fully legally and morally at fault.
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That is a great illustration of the tension.
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Thank you. How does this localized woe
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shatter our modern illusion that our personal private sins only
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affect ourselves? We love to believe our spiritual
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compromises happen in a vacuum. We think our private media
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consumption, our private grumbling, our private
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indulgences are sealed off from the rest of the congregation.
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But Christ is showing us that our private sins inevitably act
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as lethal trigger sticks for the people around us.
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And if this woe applies so severely to the individual, we
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have to look at how this lethal snare manifest practically
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within the visible church today. The theology of the scandal on
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applies directly and painfully to the corporate life of the
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congregation, the conduct of pastoral leadership, and the
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often abused concept of Christian liberty.
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Let us unpack that idea of Christian liberty, because that
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gets abused all the time. It really does.
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In the Reformed understanding, influence is a weighty moral
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stewardship. Sin behaves like a contagion.
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It spreads and infects the covenant community.
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It never remains isolated in the private chambers of the heart.
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One of the most common ways this snare operates in the modern
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church is to the selfish abuse of Christian liberty.
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You see that everywhere. I do.
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You often see mature, doctrinally sound believers who
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fiercely prize their autonomy, their theological rights, and
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their personal preferences over the spiritual safety of tender
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consciences. They understand that they are
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free from the ceremonial law. They might engage in consuming
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certain entertainment, use specific harsh language under
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the guise of being authentic, or consume alcohol in ways that
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technically fall within the bounds of their liberty.
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But they do it recklessly. Exactly.
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They do so without any regard, any love, or any carefulness for
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the weak brother or sister observing them.
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They failed to consider the new convert who might be drawn back
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into past addictions, or the tender soul who might be plunged
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into moral confusion. By their brazen example.
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They turn their theological freedom into a trigger stick.
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That is a sobering thought and furthermore, the sources we are
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evaluating place a massive weight of accountability on
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church leadership. The pulpit and the elders
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oversight are not morally light matters.
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They are a matter of life and death.
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Yes, the authors address the specific widespread danger of
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the seeker sensitive movement and theological pragmatism
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within evangelicalism by trying to remove the biblical offense
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of the cross to appeal to the unregenerate world leaders
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introduced devastating worldly scandal.
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They watered down the truth. They replaced the holy reverence
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of corporate worship with consumer driven entertainment.
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They soften the absolute divine demands regarding repentance,
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wrath and holiness. They compromise clear moral
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standards simply to keep the seats full and the offering
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plates heavy. When pastoral leaders act as
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false teachers who multiply sin in the name of cultural
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relevance, they are not just making a methodological error.
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They are laying lethal trigger sticks directly in the aisles of
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the sanctuary, trapping the very sheep they were commissioned to
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protect. I want you to think about your
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own casual habits for a moment. Think about the media you
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consume on a Tuesday night. Think about the sarcastic,
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cynical jokes you tolerate or participate in within your
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social circles. Think about the way you speak
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about the local church or criticize its leaders over
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Sunday lunch while your children or a new believer is sitting
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right there at the table listening to every word.
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Those are the invisible traps. Right.
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Could your highly prized, authentic lifestyle actually be
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a lethal trigger stick for the weak believer sitting in the Pew
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next to you? Are you making compromise look
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acceptable, even sophisticated, to someone who is desperately
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fighting to mortify the sin in their own life?
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Looking at the severe standard, the law operates precisely as
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the reformers taught. It acts as a terrifying,
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exposing mirror. It strips away all our
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sophisticated self justification.
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It really does. When we understand that a
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scandal on can be an attitude of intellectual pride, a harsh,
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dismissive word that discourages a young believer, or a pragmatic
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ministry strategy that obscures the sharp edges of the gospel,
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we realize that every single person listening to this is
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guilty of being a stumbling block.
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We have all laid the trap. We have all caused the little
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ones to stumble. Which is a terrifying
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realization. It is if the woe is absolute,
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and if God's holy judgement against the one who causes
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offense is a cosmic certainty, where is the hope?
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Because if we stop right here, we are left in absolute despair.
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And this is precisely where we must shift from the crushing
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condemnatory weight of the Law to the breathtaking grace of the
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Gospel. We must explicitly we preach
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Christ crucified and risen. We encounter A magnificent
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redemptive historical irony in this text.
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Jesus of Nazareth is the only man who walked through this
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fallen trap filled world with perfect, flawless obedience.
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He never once acted as a scandal.
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On not a single time. Never.
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He never let anyone into sin. He never flattered men in their
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rebellion, He never compromised the truth for the sake of
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crowds, and he never used his immense liberty to crush the
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weak. He was perfectly gentle with the
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bruised Reed and the smoking flax, yet by the brilliant
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design of the Father's decree, Jesus himself became the
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ultimate stone of stumbling and rock of offense to the
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unbelieving world and the self-righteous religious elite.
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We see this explicitly prophesied in Isaiah chapter 8
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verse 14 and confirmed by the apostle Peter in first Peter
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chapter 2 verse 8. Yes, Christ offended the pride
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of the Pharisees because he refused to conform to their
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legalistic man made snares. He offended the Greeks because
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the cross was foolishness. But more critically for our
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salvation, we must look at the reality of the substitutionary
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atonement. Christ stood as the federal head
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and representative for his elect.
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He took our place. He did on the cross.
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He absorbed the full, unmitigated way, the very war,
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the very cursed, the terrifying wrath pronounced in Matthew 18.
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He drank the cup of God's fury down to the dregs, taking the
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precise penalty for every single time His people acted as a
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stumbling block. Because Christ took the woe upon
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Himself. Those who are united to Him by
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faith or permanently shielded from the eternal consequences of
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the traps they have set, their guilt is washed away by His
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blood. The contrast between the
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cultures advice and Christ's here is jarring.
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The world's advice is constantly telling you to cut toxic people
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out of your life to protect your peace.
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The culture tells you to guard your own boundaries by
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amputating relationships that drain you.
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That is the modern mantra. It is but Christ's command in
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the verses immediately following this terrifying warning is to
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cut off your own hand or foot to protect the souls of others.
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He tells you to ruthlessly amputate your own sin, your own
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cherished liberties, and your own selfish desires to keep a
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brother from stumbling. He calls for self mutilation of
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the flesh, not the mutilation of your relationships.
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That is a heavy difficult calling.
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Very heavy. How does our union with Christ
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make that kind of radical self amputation possible without
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driving us into crippling legalistic despair?
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If we were just trying to earn our salvation by frantically
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avoiding being a stumbling block, we would be paralyzed by
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fear. We would never speak a word,
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never take an action, constantly terrified that the divine woe is
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about to fall on our heads for a misstep.
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But union with Christ changes the entire motivation and
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mechanism of obedience. It changes the motivation from
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the paralyzing fear of condemnation to the joyful
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freedom of grateful obedience. This brings us directly to the
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theological genius of the Westminster Confession,
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specifically Chapter 11 concerning justification and
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Chapter 13 concerning sanctification.
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Those chapters are so clarifying on this point.
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They really are. We do not avoid sin, and we do
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not cut off our hands or feet in order to earn our salvation or
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to appease an angry judge. The judge is satisfied the woe
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has already been exhausted. At Calvary, we are justified by
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faith alone, resting entirely on the imputed righteousness of
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Christ. From that secure, unshakable
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standing of grace, the Holy Spirit empowers the believer to
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pursue radical mortification of sin.
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This is what the reformers called the third use of the law.
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Spot on. The law no longer condemns us to
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hell, but it acts as a perfect guide, showing us how to
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practically love our neighbor and honor God.
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When we cut off the hand or the foot, meaning we ruthlessly,
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intentionally eliminate habits, relationships, or practices that
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lead us and others into sin, we do so because we are united to
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the Savior who is literally broken and pierced for us.
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We love the sheep because He loved the sheep.
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And we need fuel for that kind of endurance.
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We do, and we are sustained in this grueling daily work of
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sanctification. Through the ordinary means of
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grace, God has provided the faithful preaching of the Word
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and the proper administration of the sacraments.
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These means act as vital life giving nourishment for weary
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believers who are walking through a world heavily mined
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with snares. They grant us the spiritual
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stamina to live watchful, holy self denying lives without
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falling backward into the trap of legalism or works
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righteousness. We can summarize the massive
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theological stakes we have covered today like this.
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God is entirely sovereign over a world filled with absolutely
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necessary traps. His holy decree encompasses
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everything that comes to pass. Yet we were held fiercely,
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personally and undeniably accountable for our influence
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and the snares we lay for others.
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Yes, we cannot blame the system. No, we cannot.
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Christ absorb the terrifying woe we deserve for our failures.
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And from that place of total forgiveness, He now calls us to
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holy vigilance. He demands that we value the
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spiritual safety and conscience of his sheep far above our own
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personal liberties, preferences and cultural relevance.
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That is the heart of the matter. So I want to leave you with a
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final lingering application to consider as you walk into your
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local church this coming Lord's Day.
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If the Sovereign Lord of the Universe looks at the weakest,
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most obscure, least impressive believer in your congregation
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with such intense jealous protection that he threatens
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cosmic, devastating judgement against anyone who trips them
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up, well, I mean, how should that change the way you look at
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the most frustrating, immature, difficult believer sitting
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across the aisle from you this Sunday?
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Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into the source
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material on Reformed thinking.