Have you ever met anyone who just seems to rub everybody the wrong way?  It is someone that you just cannot stand or somebody who is just totally repulsive.  I have run into people like that, and I have tried not to be that way myself.  I know we all tend to offend people.  Some people offend intentionally for various motives.  For other people, it is totally unintentional.  They still offend people, cause hurt feelings and cause trouble for people.  Most do not necessarily mean it, but some do.

The word “offense” in the Bible is quite interesting.  Let’s turn to Psalm 119:165.  This is one of our memory verses.  “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.”  Or in the Authorized Version it says “nothing shall offend them.”

THE BROADER MEANING OF “OFFEND”
We know what this word “offend” means in modern English.  Basically it means to hurt someone’s feelings, in general usage anyway.  But it can mean more than that when you start looking into the Bible as to what that word “offense” means.  Today we are going to dig a little deeper into the meaning of the words offend and offense.

This word used in Psalm 119 is from the Hebrew, and it means a stumbling block, an obstacle, an enticement, a scruple.  We do not use the word scruple very much in usual conversation.  Some of the English majors might who are listening, but I do not.  I looked up that one.  Scruple means doubt or uncertainty regarding a question of moral right or duty.  “To offend” also comes from another Hebrew word that means to totter, to waiver, to falter, to stumble, to faint or to fall.  That is interesting.  That word offend does have a broader meaning than what we might expect.

In the New Testament, go to Matthew chapter 18, and I am going to read this one in the Authorized Version.  We often call it the Old King James Version.  The New King James actually translates the word a little bit differently. But let’s read it in the King James Version.  Matthew 18, verse 6:  “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

This was right after Jesus Christ called a child over and said unless you be converted and receive God’s Holy Spirit and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom.  Then He said do not offend one of these little children.  By children He is still, of course, talking to members of the Church who have been converted and are becoming as little children.  We are not to offend them it says.

What does this word “offend” mean in the Greek?  It has a deeper meaning there too or amore extensive meaning.  It also means to entrap, to trip up, figuratively to stumble, to entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure.  It comes from a word that means a snare, figuratively a cause of displeasure or sin.  Here we have some quite broader meanings to the word “offend.”

I looked up the word “offend” in an English dictionary too.  The dictionary definition given there was to give displeasure, displease, affront, anger.  It comes from the Latin meaning to strike against.  Even that is a little bit broader definition than we often use.  But as I said, our common usage for offend is usually just to hurt someone’s feelings, which is certainly accurate.  So there is some overlap here between the modern usage and the Biblical usage of the word offend.  In modern usage it is to cause displeasure or to hurt someone’s feelings.  Biblical usage is to cause displeasure and also to cause someone to sin.  So it is a little broader meaning and something we need to consider as we study.

BALAAM’S OFFENSE
Let’s look at two examples of people who offended others.  We are going to look at Numbers chapter 22 for the example of Balaam.  We will start in verse 1.  “Then the children of Israel moved, and camped in the plains of Moab on the side of the Jordan across from Jericho.”  When the Moabites saw what happened, of course they were terrified that this huge nation of a couple million people suddenly showed up on their doorstep, so to speak.

Going on to verse 5.  “Then he [talking about the king of the Moabites] sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying:  ‘Look, a people has come from Egypt.  See, they cover the face of the earth, and are settling next to me!  Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me.  Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.’”

Balaam would have loved to curse these people, especially since he was going to get paid for it.  But in verse 12 it says, “And God said to Balaam, ‘You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.’” God forbade Balaam from cursing the people.  Instead what happened is when Balaam gave his prophecy he actually blessed the people of Israel three times.

Somehow the king of Moab had to get rid of these people.   How did he do it?  Go on to Numbers 25.  Verse 1:  “Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.  They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.  So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.”  It is talking about the Israelite men committing harlotry, in other words fornication, with the women of Moab, and then those women leading them into idolatry.

Go on to Numbers 31 and see why they did this.  Verse 16:  “‘Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.’”  Why did these Israelites commit the fornication and go to other gods?  They did this because of the counsel of Balaam.  Balaam had advised the Moabites to get the Israelites to sin, which would then bring a curse upon themselves.  He could not put a curse on them, but he could make them stumble.  In a broad term, he could offend them, if you want to think of it in that way.  This would cause them to stumble and bring a curse upon themselves.

Revelation chapter 2 also mentions this.  You would not think it would, having been written so many years later, but it does mention this in the message to the seven eras of the church.  Turn to Revelation chapter 2, verse 14 where it is talking about Pergamos.  “‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.’”  Here it is clearly stating that Balaam put a stumbling block before Israel.  In other words he offended Israel.  He caused offense to Israel and caused them to commit fornication and idolatry.  That is how Balaam offended people.

We can learn some more from this verse in Revelation if we look at an article written by Dr. Ernest Martin of the Worldwide Church of God.  It was serialized in the Good News Magazine, March through September 1964.  I will read a portion of that article.  “The very meaning of the name ‘Balaam’ shows he considered himself as sitting in the very chair of Nimrod, the beginner of the mystery religions.  The name ‘Balaam’ means in Semitic tongues ‘Conqueror of the People.’  This was the exact proper name the Greeks used to designate Nimrod.  They called him Nicolaus, which also meant ‘Conqueror of the People.’

“In the New Testament we read of people following the doctrines of Nicolaus (Nimrod).  They were called Nicolaitanes.”  This is what we just read in Revelation chapter 2.  “McClintock and Strong’s Encyclopedia speaking of them says: ‘The sect of the Nicolaitanes is described as following the doctrine or teaching of Balaam, and it appears not improbable that this name is employed symbolically, as Nicolaus is equivalent in meaning to Balaam.’”  This is Volume 1, page 621 of McClintock.

“Yes, the two names Nicholas and Balaam are exactly the same in meaning.  They both point to Nimrod, the originator of paganism.  We also find that when Simon Magus (alias Simon Peter)…”  This is not the Simon Peter who knew Christ.  This is another one who called himself Simon Peter at times.  “…when Simon Magus ‘Christianized’ the religion of Nimrod, John the apostle plainly labels his followers Nicolaitanes and followers of Balaam.  All of the heresies mentioned in the Seven Churches are of only one system, the system of Nimrod, under the leadership of Simon Magus.”

THE OFFENSE OF SIMON MAGUS
All of this discussion of Simon Magus continuing the tradition of Balaam leads us to the second person we will study today who offended others.  That was Simon Magus.  I would like to read another portion of this article by Ernest Martin.  First of all let’s read the account in Acts chapter 8 before we go into the article.

Acts chapter 8 talks about Simon Magus.  Read Acts 8:9-18.  This is referring to Simon Magus.  Continue reading verses 19-24.  Now let’s look at this article by Ernest Martin.  We will read another portion of it.  “Peter perceived that Simon was in the ‘gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.  [lawlessness]’  Note:  this verse has been misunderstood because the King James Version fails to give the full force of Peter’s accusation.  This verse, when understood in the matter Peter intended, is one of the most important of the whole chapter.  It is a prophecy.  Peter knew the mind of this man and what this man was to become.  This was made plain by Sir William Ramsey in his Pictures of the Apostolic Church, page 60.  He says, ‘Peter rebuked him in strong and prophetic terms.  The prophecy is concealed in the ordinary translation:  The Greek means “thou art FOR a gall of bitterness and fetter of unrighteousness.”’  So Peter was saying I detect  not just in you a gall of bitterness, I detect you are for a gall of bitterness and a bond of unrighteousness.’”

He was to be a cause of bitter corruption for others, and Peter knew this Simon Magus was going to be a source of trouble for other people.  He was going to bring them into a gall of bitterness and bondage of iniquity.

Continuing the article Mr. Martin says, “This makes it plain.  Peter was uttering a prophecy by the Holy Spirit.  He was telling what this Simon was to become.  Lang’s Commentary says ‘Peter’s words literally mean: “I regard you as a man whose influence will be like that of bitter gall [poison] and a bond of unrighteousness [lawlessness], or as a man who has reached such a state.”’  Not only was Simon in Peter’s time a great antagonist to the Church, but he would be the adversary of the future.”

“It is also interesting to note Peter’s statement that Simon was to become a ‘gall of bitterness.’  People today may not realize the exact meaning of such a phrase, but no Jew in the first century had any doubt as to its meaning.  It was a figure of speech adopted from the Old Testament which denoted going over to idols and abominations of the heathen [in other words false gods].  Read in Deuteronomy 29:16-18.”  Let’s go there right now.  Let’s see where Peter was getting this from.

Deuteronomy 29, verse 16:  “…(for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them - wood and stone and silver and gold); so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood…”

Let’s continue the article.  “Read in Deuteronomy 29:16-18 and see how plainly this figure of speech is used.  When the apostle Peter applied to Simon Magus the phrase ‘gall of bitterness,’ he meant that Simon would be the responsible party for the introduction of heathen beliefs and idols into Christianity.  The prophecy takes on a new and important scope when we realize this real meaning of Peter’s prophecy.  No wonder Jude says, speaking about the very men who followed Simon Magus (including Simon himself): ‘For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.’  [That is Jude 4.]  We can be confident that Peter recognized that Satan was going to use this Simon Magus as the great protagonist of false Christianity.  The later history of Simon Magus proves that Peter’s prophecy came true in a most remarkable way.”  That is the end of the quotation.

This gall of bitterness and wormwood really is poison and false doctrine.  When Peter identified Simon Magus as a source of gall of bitterness, this wormwood, he was showing how Satan would introduce idols (false gods) into the Church.  We have here this second example of people who offended.  Simon Magus offended in a way where he caused hundreds of millions to stumble into apostasy!

JOSEPH WAS NOT OFFENDED
Let’s go on and look at examples of people who did not offend and, in fact, were not offended under some difficult circumstances.  Turn to Genesis chapter 45.  We have the story of Joseph.  You remember Joseph of the Old Testament.  He was one of the sons of Jacob.  He was favored by his father above all the others.  He also had dreams that he told his brothers about.  They were offended by that, certainly.  The did not like that.  They were offended in the modern sense.  Their feelings were hurt.  They sold him into slavery. Eventually he was taken to Egypt.

Joseph could have been offended in terms of having his feelings hurt.  Or he could have been offended in terms of stumbling because he was taken to a pagan nation.  He could have stumbled in the sense of going into false religion and false gods.  We learn later he did not.

Remember he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife.  He could have been offended, stumbled in the broadest sense and yielded to the temptation.  But he did not.  He resisted and did not stumble.  He was not offended in that way.  He was falsely accused, put in prison and taken out of prison.  Again, he could have been offended in terms of his feelings being hurt.  He could have been offended in terms of having stumbled and fallen away from God, but he did not.

When we finally get to Genesis 45, years later Joseph’s brothers have arrived in Egypt. Genesis 45, verse 4:  “And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come near to me.’  So they came near.  Then he said:  ‘I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.  But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.’”

Joseph was not offended in terms of having his feelings hurt, because he forgave his brothers.  This is a really good example for us.  By being forgiving, we are not offended. He could have been offended in terms of stumbling by accepting the gods of Egypt, but here he talks about how God had sent him there to preserve life.  He is talking about the true God, so he still believed in the true God.  He had not given up.  He had not fallen away.  He had not stumbled.  We have a good example with Joseph and a good point about avoiding being offended, that is to forgive.

STEPHEN WAS NOT OFFENDED
Our second person is Stephen.  Turn to Acts chapter 7.  Stephen was one of the first disciples.  He was not offended either.  Remember he was brought before a council.  He had a chance to speak before that council.  Let’s pick up the story in Acts chapter 7, verse 51:  “‘You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!  You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.  Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?  And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.’”  He gave quite a statement to the ruling Jews of that day.  And they stoned him.

His response in verse 60:  “Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin.’  And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”

Stephen was not offended to have his feelings hurt because he forgave.  We can forgive too.  He was not offended.  He did not stumble and fall away from the truth.  He did not give in to save his life.  No, he was not offended at all.

CHRIST WAS NOT OFFENDED
A third person who was not offended was Jesus Christ Himself.  Turn to John chapter 5. In terms of being offended and not to stumble, we remember where Satan the devil actually tempted Him himself after forty days of fasting.  Jesus Christ was not offended, did not stumble, did not fall away.  But in John chapter 5 we find something to learn about not being offended.  John 5, verse 19:  “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.  For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.’”  Jesus Christ admitted He could do nothing by Himself.

If we realize how small and insignificant we are, we are not going to be offended.  We have no value except for our potential.  That is where our value is, so if someone is trying to offend us because of how we look or because of our intelligence or some mistake we have made or whatever, we are small.  We realize that.  They are not telling us anything we do not know.  Remember God calls the weak and the foolish of the world.  We are supposed to become less weak and less foolish, but He does not call the billionaires.  He does not call the famous models of the world or the movie stars, the rock stars or whatever.  He just calls common people, so what is to offend?

Let’s read John 6:34-38.  It is talking about doing the Father’s will.  That is what we are supposed to be doing.  We are not to be doing our own will and to be self-willed.  Christ was not self-willed.  If we are not self-willed, we are not going to be offended, and we will not be living for self-aggrandizement.  We are to be unselfish.  We are supposed to be looking to other people’s needs.

Go on to John chapter 8.  Verse 27:  “They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.  And He who sent Me is with Me.  The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.’”  We do things that please the Father and not the things that please ourselves.

Turn to John 12:48.  “‘He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him - the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.’”  Jesus Christ spoke what He heard from the Father, and He admitted it.  He admitted that the Father was greater than Him.

John chapter 14, verse 8:  “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?”  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?  The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’”  Again, Jesus Christ is talking about how He was submitting to the Father.  There is a government in heaven.  It is the Father at the top and then Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ knew that, and He was not going to be offended because of His position.

Turn to Matthew 12.  Some people made some pretty offensive comments that I think some of us would have had trouble dealing with.  Matthew 12, verse 22:  “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’”  That is insulting!

Continue reading in Matthew 12, verses 25 to 32.  It says that if someone spoke against Christ (which they did here), it could be forgiven them.  But if they spoke against God’s Holy Spirit (the power of God), that was just going too far.  Christ was not offended by what they personally said to Him, but He also realized they had gone too far by blaspheming against God’s Holy Spirit.

Go on to Luke chapter 23.  This is at the end of Christ’s physical life.  Luke 23, verse 32: “There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.  And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’  And they divided His garments and cast lots.”

We do have Jesus Christ giving us a perfect example of forgiveness instead of being offended.  That is, offended in the way of having your feelings hurt or stumbling, falling away.  Remember people were goading Him to come down off the cross to save Himself.  He was apparently surrounded by demons doing the same thing at the same time.  We have studied that before.  Yet, He resisted all that and was not offended.  He endured to the end.

I Peter chapter 2 talks about this example of Christ.  It tells us that we must be applying it in our lives.  I Peter chapter 2, starting in verse 18:  “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh [I might add also to those who rub us the wrong way], for this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.  For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?”  Sometimes we get ourselves into trouble.  When we have done something wrong, we certainly should not be offended if we have to suffer for it because someone takes us to task for it.

Continuing with the rest of verse 20:  “But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”  Often we do good, and we are still persecuted and insulted.  We could be offended if we let it happen, but we should not.

Verse 21 of I Peter 2:  “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth,’ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously…”  Jesus Christ was not offended and did not have His feeling hurt to where He would then lash out to people.  That is one of the symptoms of being offended.  If someone is offended, one of the things they will often do is lash out at other people.  Their feelings are hurt, so they retaliate.  That is not the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to follow Christ’s example.  Quite often we are going to get the short end of the stick.  We just have to realize that is going to happen.  We should deal with it and not be offended.  Now we have looked at Christ’s example.  One of the main things we learned is that He was not offended because He forgave.

WE SHOULD NOT BE OFFENDED
What about us?  We are not to be offended.  We are not to be offending people.  Turn to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 12.  “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”  There are times when we do start to get offended.  It is not just talking about fatigue.  Also if we are offended and our feelings are hurt sometimes we just sit there.  Woe is me.

Verse 13 once again:  “…make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”  We are to be living sacrifices.  A sacrifice in the Old Testament was not to be injured, lame or anything like that.  We are not supposed to be either.

Hebrews 12, verse 14:  “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:  looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…”

We are not to let that root of bitterness come in and offend us, whether it is the false doctrines that could cause us to stumble (to fall away), or other circumstances that can cause us to have our feelings hurt and maybe even fall away.  One of several reasons why people tend to leave the Church is that they have been offended by somebody.  They just say, I am going to stay home forever now and that’s the end of that.  We do not want that to ever happen.

Turn to Romans chapter 3.  One of the things we have to realize in being offended, and I mentioned this before, is that we are nothing great.  God has not called anyone great.  We are to become great, but we are not great now.  Read Romans 3:9-13.  It is talking about poison again, like bitterness.

Continue reading verses 14-18.  This is the way humanity is.  This is how we start out.  We do not know the way of peace.

Verse 23:  “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  This is something we have to admit.  We have sinned.  We are not that great.  When someone makes dispersions against our character, we must realize we are not great, we are not perfect.  Do not be offended by it.  We do not let a blow to our self-image offend us either by hurt feelings or by getting so upset that we just give it all up.  Remember the broader definition of being offended, besides hurting our feelings, is also to stumble (to fall).  We do not want that to happen.

Keep your finger in Romans, if you like, and go to Isaiah 64 just for a minute.  Again, this is reminding ourselves just what we are and what we are coming out of.  Isaiah 64, verse 6:  “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rages; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.  And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities.”

It says that any righteousness we think we have, is just like a filthy rag.  True righteousness, of course, has to come from Jesus Christ.  He paid the penalty for our sins.  He cleans us up, and in fact He is working right now to clean up the bride (the temple) so that Christ can return to it.  We have a ways to go.

Back to Romans chapter 12 this time.  This is what we sometimes like to call the Christian Living Chapter.  We will just read one small portion of it today.  Verse 3:  “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…”  We are not to be thinking of ourselves as something great.  Do not be exalting ourselves.  “…but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”  Instead of thinking highly of ourselves, let’s think soberly.  Here we are connecting sober thinking to humility and not thinking highly of ourselves.

When the Bible tells us to be sober, we are supposed to be controlling our thoughts.  That is not just talking about not getting drunk.  There is more to it than that.  When we are talking about a sober person that means being thoughtful, in this case, even being tied to humility.  We are supposed to be thoughtful and humble.  If we are that way, we are not going to be offended.  Remember there is a verse that says, wherefore let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.  (That is another memory verse.)  So we should not think too highly of ourselves.  We are to be humble, and that is one way of not being offended.  We are not great and should not have our minds on ourselves.

There is more to humility that just realizing you are not great.  A person who is always looking down on himself, may not be humble either.  Did you ever think of that?  He may have his or her mind on himself all of the time.  We think of those things that are important to us, good or bad.  If we are thinking about ourselves all of the time, it is putting too much importance on ourselves. We are leaving ourselves wide open to be offended in some way.  It is very important not to be offended in this way.

It is not just because of ourselves that we will be offended by having our feelings hurt, but also sometimes things associated with us.  Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, whom this work is based on, used to talk about the “empire-ical self,” in other words, your empire.  Everybody has their own little empire, and it is not just yourself.  It can be your spouse, your children, your parents, your house, your dog.  Don’t make fun of my dog!  It could be your country. People can have all kinds of love and concern for their own lovely children, but what about the children half way around the world who are starving or who are involved with war?  Do we have the same out-going concern for them?  So when something in our empireical self becomes insulted or attacked, we may be offended at that.  We are not to be thin skinned at all.  We are supposed to do the best we can.  Just let it roll off the best we can.

DON’T BE OFFENSIVE
We have spent a lot of time on being offended, but we are not to be offensive either.  We have already read in Matthew 18 where we were told if you want to be in the kingdom, be converted, be as a little child and then do not cause each other to stumble (to be offended).  So it is very important.  In fact, it said it would be better if a millstone were hung around your neck than to offend someone and cause someone to stumble to the point where they fall away.

We have talked about falling away.  We would not want anybody to fall away, of course.  We would not even want them to stumble to the point where their reward is reduced. Remember, there is salvation, of course, but there is also degree of reward.  Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins so that we can receive salvation, but the amount of our reward depends on what we do.  Wouldn’t it be tragic if we did something or said something to somebody that in some way reduced their reward.  We want to be careful not to do that.

In I Corinthians 8 the apostle Paul was very careful not to offend and not to be offensive. There were times he corrected people, but he was not trying to be offensive.  I Corinthians 8, verse 12:  “But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.  Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.”

Here Paul was saying he did not want anyone to stumble (to fall away and be offended in that sense).  He did not want them to stumble as a result of something he would eat.  That is just one example.  If he did not want to offend someone and cause them to fall away by what he ate, he would not want to do anything else to offend them to cause them to stumble either.  We need to be the same way.  In our conversation and communication with people, we want to be very careful with that.

There are other ways, too, even the way you dress for example.  A woman may think she has a real nice dress and everything, but if it is too revealing, it can cause men to stumble and be offended in the broad sense of tending to fall away.  In other words, she can cause a man to lust and sin in that way.  You do not want that to happen.

Another way we want to be careful is by our example.  A Church member may see another Church member doing something wrong.  We need to watch our own conduct, because someone else could be watching our conduct too.  One example is that you are having a drink of alcohol.  I received some advice years ago from a minister.  He said, if you are having a drink, you conduct yourself as if you are being watched by a person who has no sense of humor.  Think about that for a while.  If you have a drink and you are acting in any way like you are drunk, that is what somebody is going to think.  So if a Church member sees another Church member getting drunk, it is going to reduce his respect for that person.  He might have had a lot of respect for that person.  He might have looked up to that person as an example.  He might have thought I would like to be like that.  We are not supposed to do that in a serious way because we are to look to Jesus Christ for our example, but we do see other people who seem to think they have overcome a lot.  We may think I would like to be like that and respond the way they do.  If a person who is being looked up to suddenly does something where he acts drunk or actually is drunk, he will offend somebody.  He now has caused them to stumble.  He has reduced their view of him, and they are going to have to look to someone else for an example.  We are to boost each other up.  We are to edify each other and not tear each other down in that way.

We have to be careful we are not offending.  We do not want to be the type who rub people the wrong way.  We have talked before about how we communicate to people.  We have to be careful and consider their feelings so that they are not offended, have their feelings hurt or that we say something that would cause them to stumble, to sin or even to fall away.

LOVE GOD’S LAW
We will go back to Psalm 119:165.  “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.”  How do we reach this point?  We have talked a little bit about being humble and forgiving already.  But it says great peace are they who love Your law.  We should love God’s law.  Matthew chapter 22 is where Christ summarized God’s law, the ten commandments.

Matthew chapter 22, verse 36:  “‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’  Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’”

This first great commandment covers the first four commandments.  Our relationship with God shows how we love God because here it says the first commandment is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.  In other places it says strength too.  This is how we keep from falling into idolatry and stumbling into idolatry (from being offended in that way).

For the second commandment it says you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  This is talking about a love of out-going concern.  To keep ourselves from stumbling or from having our feelings hurt, we need to have out-going concern (a humility and a love toward other people).  Remember God’s commandments are a summary of love: how to love God and how to love your neighbor.  It says that right here in Matthew 22.  So if we have that love, we are going to be forgiving of people.  As we mentioned already, if we are forgiving, we are not going to be offended.