If someone took a stone about this long and this wide and this thick and took the stone and dropped it in front of your feet,and you tripped and fell over it, what do you call the stone?(Audience)
Yes, this stone would be called a stumbling stone.If one took another stone, same size, and it was dropped in front of your feet and you very carefully raised your foot andput it on it, stepped up on it, what would you call the stone?(Audience)
A stepping stone. Now actually, what is the difference between the two stones? They are both this wide, long and thick, both dropped in front of you, even dropped by the same person.What is the difference between a stepping stone and astumbling stone? (Audience).
The only difference between a stepping stone and a stumbling stone is how you use it. If we put our foot on it, it is called a stepping stone, if we trip over it, it is called a stumbling stone. But that's our problem. It is our responsibility to see that everything dropped in front of us is used as a stepping stone.
From time to time we hear expressions like "I'm stumbled" or "that brother or sister was stumbled." In actual fact, have they been stumbled or did they stumble? Is it something that was under their control? Did they do it or did someone else do it? That's the question we're going to examine today. We do have a scriptural principle upon which our discussion is based It is based on 1 Pet. 2:4,7,8.
Now, this discusses stumbling stones and building stones, or if you like, stepping stones. (Read) Now the situation is straight forward, isn't it? The stone is Jesus. The one that placed the stone on earth is Jehovah God. To some he was a stone for building upon or stepping up their Christian activity. To others he was a rock mass of offense and a stone of stumbling. Was it Jesus' fault? Was it the fault of the stone? Was it the fault of the person who put the stone there? Or was it the fault of the persons who used it wrongly? The unbelievers saw him as a stone for stumbling, an offensive rock mass. On the other hand, to those who were believing, he was the basis of salvation. He was a stepping stone.
He established a principle like that in our own lives. But we are all believers. From time to time we talk about being stumbled, about someone else being stumbled. We hope today to be able to illustrate and point out to you there is no such thing as a stumbling stone. The bible condemns persons who intentionally try to stumble others. It says: "It is better for him to get a great millstone, hang it around his neck, and-jump in the ocean." It would be better for him to do that than to stumble one of Jehovah's little ones.
Let's refer to a scripture that will state just that. Psalm 91:9-12. If we really have a relationship with him, there is not a thing that will ever make us stumble.
So, will we be able to be stumbled if Jehovah is our place of dwelling? while the Bible talks from time to time about certain people stumbling and so on, this gets at the motive of those who are deliberately trying to get people to break off their relationship with Jehovah God. If a person had such a motive, then they have problems with Jehovah. Never let it be said that someone could come into our midst and regardless of how they behaved, cause us to lose our relationship that we personally have with Jehovah God. And if they can, then what sort of relationship do we have with Jehovah? If any human can interfere with that relationship, did you really have it in the first 'place? Is it based or founded on any human on earth today? We use the expression from time to time, and we generally use it to describe it in the congregation. And in actual fact, such upsets can be the best indicators of our advancement.
So let's take a typical example of someone being stumbled. Let's take a sister in the congregation and she has a bad toe. In fact, its an ingrown toe nail, etc. She has it bandaged up, even air blowing on it causes her to cringe. She is wearing an open toe slipper. She comes to the meeting and comes in the front door. Everyone is gathered around the back like we do before the meeting. She has her foot stuck out in front of her and she sort of guides it through everyone very carefully and finally makes it to her seat. Now, the meeting is over, everyone is standing up again, mingling around, visiting and the poor sister has to get her toe back through everyone and out the front door. Everything is going quite well, she is almost to the door, then along comes Sister Clumsy. Sister Clumsy is a well meaning person, but she usually puts her feet down first and looks afterward to see which way they went. So she comes along and crunch.. right on the end of the sister's toe!! Can you imagine the situation? It takes all of the sister's will power just to keep from screaming out loud. Now we have a sister whose face is red, maybe steam coming out of her ears and nose. Very much out of sorts we could say. But Sister Clumsyis halfway down the aisle without even realizing that she stepped on the sister's toe! Our sister can't even speak because of the pain and if she did speak it would not be upbuilding anyway.
So now the sister makes it outside, makes it to her car and somehow makes it home. Well! Someone saw the situation, told one of the elders the sister was stumbled. They thought Sister Clumsy stumbled her. One of the elders would have the privilege of calling on her to encourage her and fix things up.
As soon as she opens the door, what a reception he would get. He wouldn't get a word in edgewise. "You can't tell me she didn't see my toe.. If that is the kind of sisters we have at the Kingdom Hall, I'm not going back if she is there... shopping at the mall no one stepped on my toe!!" So, the poor elder would leave, get out in his car, give a sigh, say a prayer and go home.Then we'd say "she was stumbled."
Instead of a stumbling stone, could the situation have been a stepping stone? We could say she has a reason, couldn't we? Any of us would be a little upset, wouldn't we? Would it be possible that the situation is a stepping stone? Of course it's a stepping stone! How? Let's go back to the situation.
Sister Clumsy, if she goes around stepping on people's toes, then she also has a problem and needs to be dealt with. However, Sister Soretoe has the opportunity to look at the situation in anew light. Ask yourself this question... Why did Sister Soretoe get so upset? What flaw is there in her personality that would allow her to talk like that? Does it not show that her relationship with Jehovah was almost nonexistent?
According to 1 Cor. 3:10-15, there are fire resistant christians (read). Watchtower, 11/1/66. The gist of it is that the hay, wood and stubble is what is known as doctrinal christian .A person who knows the truth doctrinally. Now the gold, silver and precious metal is the christian whose personality has come to conform with what God requires.
Now, the day that will show it up is the destruction of Babylon the Great, and that means then if we are doctrinal christians, our works will be burned up, our works are flammable. But... if we have a personality change then of course we are fire-resistant christians. Here is the situation. Did Sister Soretoe imagine she had a lot of self-control? We all imagine we have a lot of self-control, don't we? When we are home by ourselves, reading the Bible and no one is around, we're marvelous persons, aren't we? There you sit peacefully and happily reading about self-control and saying, "uh-ha, I have that." Patience? "Oh, yes, I'm very patient." Kind? When you are alone and no one is around. Now you walk out the door into the real world. Then all of a sudden you come into a situation, before you know it, a car pulls in front of you.You slam on the brakes, one of your hubcaps comes off, rolls out in front of another car, which promptly runs over it... costs $125.00. The driver that pulled out in front of you saw what happened and is laughing his headoff! You say, "Well, these things happen. He probably hasn't been driving long, I don't want to do anything that might bring reproach....." Or do you find that your face is red, steam is coming out of your ears, you're glad no one else is in the car with you? It can happen, can't it? Suddenly you find you're not quite the person you thought! Now, if this sister had only imagined she had self-control and didn't really have it in her personality, she would go merrily on her way until she came to the destruction of Babylon the Great and that would be the end of her.
She doesn't realize that she should give attention to this matter. She doesn't even know she has a problem with self-control. She came to the meeting and finds out she does have a problem with self-control. But there are other fruitages of the spirit she is lacking. What would be some of the others? (Audience) Long-suffering, mildness, kindness,etc. Now if she applied the lesson and learned from the situation, if she asked herself the question... "How could I lose my self-control if I'ma fire-resistant christian?" Then she would go to the scriptures and read texts concerning self-control, allow Jehovah's spirit to cooperate with her, pray to Jehovah, work on the problem and then the great tribulation comes, Jehovah will say... "very nice, very good personality, come right on into the new order." So Audience, who is her best friend? Of all the brothers and sisters, who is her best friend? The sister who stepped on her toe! She actually helped save her life! So whenever we come into a situation, do we always say,"they upset me, they shouldn't have said that. They upset me and are obviously wrong, they must be bad!" Or can we say, "If I can be upset,what's the matter with me?" So when this person comes along and upsets us, and puts the stumbling stone down, can we say, "Oh, look. A stepping stone! What is Jehovah trying to tell me? What flaw does he see in my character? What is my weakness? What do I need to work on?"
Instead of a constant row of stumbling stones withyour face always in the mud, it's a constant row of stepping stones with your head held erect, progressing toward maturity in Jehovah's organization. Now you see, brothers and sisters,there is a rather unusual thing that you will notice if ever you analyze a congregation. If it were not for the truth, most of us here would not have ever met one another, would we?
You know what Jehovah could do? He could look all around the world and find "60 or 70 people with personalities similar to yours. He could draw them all together into one congregation. Wouldn't that be nice? Everyone thinks exactly like you, everyone's outlook is the same. Everyone is like your very best friend and the whole congregation is full. You are happy. No one ever says a cross word... never any problems or difficulties. No one would ever get upset, no blown fuses.
Then we get to Armageddon and Jehovah destroys that whole congregation. Why? because no one saw any need to make any changes. Everybody said, "We're all beautiful.We're all right. We're all happy." But the fact is, we're not. There are only two types of people that don't have to make any changes and that is the person who is perfect and the one who never wishes to be! If you're not quite perfect yet and you want to stay alive long enough to be perfect, then obviously we have to make changes. How long since you've made a change in your personality? Which flaw are you working on currently? Nothing? You mean you're perfect? How long since you have asked someone what faults you need to work on? You haven't? Was it because they might tell you? Sometimes we don't want to know that badly do we? As a matter of fact, this is one of our problems. Have you ever said to somebody,"Brother or sister, I would like to call to your attention a weakness in your personality, a little flaw? You seem to lack a little self-control."And he says to you, "No, no, you've got it all wrong. I've got a lot of faults, but self-control is not one of them. No, I'm positive of that." What are your faults? Especially which one? We love talking in generalities and hate being specific. "I'm such a weak person -I'm so imperfect. Yes, I agree with you, one of your faults is impatience.... No, no,that's not one of them."
This is being specific now. "I've got a lot of faults, but patience is not one of them. Your trouble is that you're a little unkind. What? That's my strong point! If there's something I'm good at, it is being kind. Well, what are some of your faults? Oh, everything. Just everything. I have many faults." So we just love being general,don't we? We just have to face the fact that there are definite flaws in our character, certain problems, specific ones we need to work on.But this is where we need to face ourselves, look in the mirror and see what kind of people we really are. What kind of relationship do we have with Jehovah? Or is our relationship with people or an organizaítion?
So this is how a stumbling stone becomes a stepping stone. Simply by our looking at it, seeing it for what it is, and taking advantage of it" Make changes in YOUR personality that others can see.
To illustrate this from the Bible, let us take up the account of a man that is not so much talked about in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Although you will recall his name in the book of Acts. He is one of the outstanding examples we have in the Bible of turning stumbling stones into stepping stones.
It is a man who is called an apostle, although not one of the original 12 and his name was Barnabas. When you think of Barnabas, you automatically think of someone else who always goes with Barnabas. Who was that? Audience) Paul and Barnabas! Actually his name was not Barnabas, but Joseph. We can read about him in the book of Acts chapter 4. He was a Jew, born of the tribe of Levi. He was a native of Cypress. He was one of the ones present at the day of Pentecost 33 C.E. and heard Peter's speech recorded at Acts 2.
He was either converted on the Day of Pentecost or a day or two after that. But it is understood that he was one of the 3,000 baptized on Pentecost. Barnabas or Joseph, was a big hearted man, generous, extroverted sort of man. If anybody was depressed, do you know who they called on? Joseph. Evidently, he would comfort them, build them up,cheer them up. We know this because the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, Son of Comfort. He is better known by his nickname than by his real name.
Let's notice this in Acts 4:36 (read). He was a generous person, sold everything he had and turned over the money to the apostles. Can you imagine yourself in this situation, the brothers announce some brothers from another country need help with funds to continue the preaching work. So you sell your home and withdraw your savings and sent it to the brothers. It is easy to make money in the U.S.- so we'll just send all we have now to these brothers. How many of us would be prepared to go quite that far? We would put a little in the contribution box, we're glad to help. But Barnabas sold the land and gave it all... that's the kind of brother we're talking about. We can't help but admire Barnabas.
After Paul was converted, the apostles didn't want to meet him. They were not sure it wasn't a scheme to infiltrate the organization and murder more Christians. So when Paul came down to Jerusalem to meet up with the apostles, they wouldn't talk to him (read Acts 9:26) Who do you think came to the rescue? Our big-hearted brother, Barnabas.He came to Paul's aid and led him to the apostles. Now turn, please to Acts 13 where a list of the prominent men is found. Let's check verse #1... notice the top of the list. Who's name do we find? Barnabas! Look at the bottom of the list. What do we conclude from that? Barnabas or Joseph, was a very prominent person in the Antioch Congregation. He was the one that introducd Paul to the disciples. He was the head of the teaching list. Now notice verse #2. What name is first? Barnabas and Saul. They went off on a job, they worked together under guidance of holy spirit. Just keep turning the pages of the Bible and you will see that we put Paul's name first. As you keep reading in Acts 15:35, Paul's name begins to be first and Barnabas' name comes second. What do you think happened?
Well one day, quite obviously, Barnabas was called into the office of the older men who did the appointing and they must have said to Barnabas, " You know, Barn, you've done a very good job training Paul. In, fact, you've done such a good job, now we would like to put him in charge of you. You can be second in charge, second of two." Now, if Barnabas had reacted like most humans react and maybe sometimes how we act in situations like this, we might have said something like this... "That's gratitude for you! So that's what you think of all my hard work. I was in the truth when he was still out murdering Christians! I gave all my money, all my property, that's thanks for you! Now what do you do? You put him in charge! You wouldn't even talk to him. I had to bring him to you. How could you do this to me? I could go back to the Jewish Religion. They didn't treat me like that! I'm of the tribe of Levi...".
He would have been stumbled, wouldn't he? Is that how he reacted? In those pages of the Bible, just by changing the names over, a whole human drama unfolds. From time to time, that's the way it happens in our organization. Brothers in different positions are changing or altered..moved around. We have to react to these situations, in fact Jehovah is interested in how we do react.
We can learn a valuable lesson by the way Barnabas reacted. He was a big man, with a big heart and he knew why he was in the truth. His attitude was... "It's okay by me. I'II be first in charge, last in charge, second in charge or whatever. I just want to get on with the preaching of the good news of the kingdom. That's the important thing to do. Wherever you think I can best fit in, it's okay by me."
Don't you think, though, that our Barnabas is a 'wishy,washy' type of person who wouldn't stand up if the circumstances required it. An example of this happened just a little latter on. (Acts l5th Chap.) There was a little bit of stumbling going on. Verse says.. (read). Now this was no small quarrel, what does it say? A sharp burst of anger. This background to this situation is very interesting. John, surnamed Mark, who is talked about here, is Mark the Bible writer. Mark was Barnabas' cousin. He had grown up in Jerusalem. He had been used to sleeping in beds, eating meals on plates and tables. His family was well off finanícially. They were constantly visited by the apostles and other prominent ones in the organization. Young John Mark, a teenager, used to sit and listen to the exciting and romantic stories of what occurred on the missionary tours --the highway men, the shipwreck, all the exciting things that would appeal to a young person. Then one day, he begged Barnabas and Paul to go with them on a tour and finally convinced them to take him along. Let's imagine them off on a tour. Paul, a small, wiry man with lots of nervous energy, going a hundred miles an hour all the time and big old lovable Barnabas, heavy framed, long stride, and used to walking all day, striding along, thinking about their ministry. And in the back, bringing up the rear, we find John Mark, hot, tired, thirsty, probably not having walked for more than an hour in his life.
So it probably went something like this: "Paul, when are we going to stop and eat? Eat, have a drink of water", "We've got to keep going. We will eat tonight." Now it is close to nightfall and John Mark might have said something like this: "Paul, where is the inn?" Then Paul probably says: "Inn? What's an inn? We don't stay at inns on missionary tours."John Mark says: "Well, where will we sleep?" Paul answers:"We'll get over here off the road in this clearing and we'll have a rest." So they lie down, and can you imagine John Mark,dusty, used to a bath probably, with the rocks digging into his back, Paul and Barnabas both snoring by now. Finally Mark drops off to sleep, only to wake up about 4 hours later stiff, legs cramping, the ground has cooled off, shivering and says: "Paul, I'm cold. Okay, no problem. Let's get up. I wanted to get an early start anyway. Let's go... walking will soon warm you up."
So this is the way it went day after day. Then one day Mark has had it" He wasn't used to it, couldn't take it, so he said: "I want to go home." Paul said: "You want to what?..." "Yes, I can't take it. I'm sore and tired and I've got sores on my feet, mosquito bites all over me. I've got to go home." So Paul says: "Well, that's just great. Now we have to go over to a seaport, get you on a boat, and we'll never be able to keep our schedule. What a mess!"
Now with all this background, Barnabas says to Paul:"I think I'II take John Mark with me on this tour." Paul says:"Are you crazy? -You're going to take that mamby-pamby. Not as long as I'm in charge! We're not taking him!" Barnabas says; "I'm taking him. He has learned a lot since then.He feels real bad and I think we could give him another chance."Paul says: "Well, if you take him, you're not going with me, and that's final." Barnabas says: "Well, that suits me just fine.I'II just go on my own." Paul says: "Good!" They split up, the scriptures say "in a sharp burst of anger. " They went their various ways. Who was right? Barnabas was. Mark became an excellent missionary, wrote a book of the Bible. Who had to eat humble pie?
Guess who stood there and heard it all? John Mark! How would you feel, standing there hearing your qualifications for the ministry discussed in such terms? (Example: elders discussing you in front of the congregation.) Do you know how the story ends? It doesn't really tell us very much, but in Col.4:10 it says... (read) Nice conclusion, eh? Where was Paul? Mark was with Paul. So we can see by what Paul says in Colossians that there was no longer any problems. So what must have happened? Paul must have had to go up to John Mark and say..."Look, John, I'm sorry. I was wrong.You've done very well. I'd like for you to go with me and help on the next tour." Now, what would you have said? Maybe: "No, you didn't want me before. You said I wasn't any good. You said I was a mamby-pamby. You stumbled me, so I'm sticking to Barnabas, my cousin. He's had faith in me all along, not like you."
Do you think that that is what happened? Evidently not, or they wouldn't have been together when Paul concluded his letter to the Colossians. Those early Christians had their problems, but they were men enough, mature enough, they had a good relationship with Jehovah God, enough so as to make every stumbling stone that appeared in front of their feet a stepping stone to christian growth and maturity. So evidently John Mark said: "Paul, I would be glad to come with you. You were justified in feeling the way you did... and I'm sorry I made such a mess of the first tour when I was just a kid and did all those stupid things." So why today do we feel justified in speaking out because we think someone has been too rough on us, came close to stumbling us? I wonder if anyone has ever been as rough on us as what happened to one of the most loved of all the apostles, Peter? We always think of Peter as an impulsive man, but that's not really true. Peter was warmhearted and spontaneous. Peter was a man, not a childish, petty individual. And when you stop and think about it, isn't that where we many times find problems between ones in the congregations stem from? Childishíness...petty problems? "How dare that sister say that about Poor little me! I'm stumbled!"
Peter used to try to please people. In fact, he tried too hard sometimes. He didn't always think first, just warmheartedly went into situations. One day he found himself in a situation where he was in a group of Gentiles eating meat with them. No problems.Then came along some prominent Jews...then Peter wouldn't eat with the Gentiles any longer. Now, this was kind of bad, wasn't it? Peter probably assisted-many of these Gentiles into the truth. Some might have been his studies, and now he won't even sit with them? Galatians chapter 2 talks about this. Peter isn't confessing his sins in this scripture. In fact, who wrote Galatians? (Audience) So why is Paul writing about Peter's faults? Imagine yourself as Peter...one of the 12 apostles, one of the Governing Body. Now here is a letter written to the entire district of Galíatia. All the congregations in Galatia see and hear it. This is what the Apostle Paul wrote about the apostle Peter. Gal.2:11-14 (read).How would you like to see that in a letter from the circuit overseer or one of our fellow elders sent to all the congregations in the area about us? Brother So-and So is a hypocrite, I rebuked him. I stood up to him in front of the whole congregation.
That's what Paul did to Peter in front of the congregation and then wrote about it to the district of Galatia. How would we feel? The next assembly we went to, we would probably turn our lapel card backwards, wouldn't we? We might have our head bowed a little, might we not? What did Peter do? Did he say: "I'II get even with him." He wasn't even one of the original 12. He could have resigned...started Christian Religion #2. That is not what Peter did as a matter of fact, if we could do what Peter did then we would know how to turn a stumbling stone into a stepping stone. Notice what that warm-hearted apostle said in 2 Pet.3:l5...(read). Now there is a good example. What did he say? "Our Beloved brother..." The one who gave him the counsel, the one who called him a hypocrite was his very best friend. Like Sister Clumsy stepping on Sister Soretoe. Brothers and Sisters, that is where we are today...in that situation. We are in a congregaítion of people that are not like ourselves. Look around. See the variety, the backgrounds, the environment different ones were raised in. And now, due to our heart condition, we have been drawn together as a congregation. We bump each other, rob each other, irritate each other. Why? It's like the lapidary business...
It says in Haggai, "I will bring from all the nations the treasures, the precious, the desirable, stone-like treasures from the nations. I will bring them in and will beautify my house...my beautiful restored temple with the other sheep who he calls gemstones. So we are like gems or jewels. But like diamonds that are uncut, we reflect nothing that is very nice until we are cut and polished into shape. So when Jehovah's light shines down into the earthly organization and it touches us, let us hope we reflect that light like a cut diamond reflects light, or do we absorb the light in our dullness like an uncut stone?
That is why, like a diamond, our cutting and polishing has to continue for God's praise and glory that we might be something that can actually beautify his arrangement. Because we are in that arrangement, it is a privilege to be bumped and knocked about, isn't it? Jehovah allows situations to come upon us. THERE IS NO SITUATION PERMITTED TO COME UPON US THAT ISN'T FOR OUR ULTIMATE BENEFIT IF WE ALLOW IT TO BE. But if we fall on our face, trip over the stone, then we miss the purpose of Jehovah's allowing it.He cares for us. He loves us. He wants us to stay with him. He wants us to develop, to be perfect. He allows us to come into situations where things are brought to our attention. It says in 1 Pet. 2:15...God-will finish our training. Are we dodging it? Are we avoiding it? Or are we looking at it as from Jehovah God, thanking him prayerfully for the help in overcoming these situations? Then, if someone took a stone about this wide, this long, and this thick and dropped it in front of us, what would we call the stone?