Thu, 31 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The church at Corinth was boasting of how tolerant they were of sin within the church. Paul calls them to account for this.

What do we learn from this?

A church must deal with the open, flagrant sin among its members. If a member of a church is someone living in disobedience to God’s word, a church must act to discipline that person. The sinning person is like leaven that will spread throughout the entire church body.

If a church refuses to address the sin of its members, it is encouraging more people to disobey. The result will be more sin from more members of the church.

This is also true in our own lives. If we tolerate sin in our own conduct, it will lead to more sin. If we harbor a secret area where we cherish our own private sin, we will begin to sin in other areas as well. Sin grows, and takes over whatever body it inhabits, like leaven.

Paul warns us that sin spreads, and therefore we must work to rid ourselves and our churches of any known sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We will not fully succeed in ridding our selves or our churches of sin. No matter how successful we are, until we die, we won’t reach moral perfection. We will still continue to sin in our words, thoughts and deeds.

Throughout our Christian lives here on earth, we will continue to need a Savior for our sins. We will need the work of Jesus Christ applied to us by faith. In and of ourselves, we will do nothing other than increase our guilt before God, and so we need Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. He alone can save us from the sin that we commit. Otherwise, we would be destroyed for the guilt of our sins.

Wed, 30 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Samuel 23:1-5

¹ Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” ² Therefore David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³ But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

David is on the run from Saul, but he is accumulating a small army of followers. He is gaining experience in organizing, motivating, and mobilizing people. The logistics of supplying his six-hundred followers in the wilderness must have been quite daunting and would have forced David to build a network of trusted suppliers. David is running a small, underground government.

In the midst of this, David gets word that an Israelite city is under attack from the Philistines and that Saul is doing nothing to save them. So David mobilizes his troops and comes to the aid of Keilah.

What do we learn from this?

First of all, we see that David doesn’t act without consulting God first. He prays, and inquires of God for wisdom and guidance. He had the High Priest and the ephod with him, and so he consults God on what to do.

We no longer have the same way of inquiring after God’s will. In David’s day, they didn’t have the completed word of God, and God did still speak through the priests and prophets. In our time, we have a much greater blessing. We have the complete scriptures to see what God’s will is for us.

So for us, when we seek God’s will in a particular situation, we would pray, search the scriptures to see if there is anything that speaks to our situation, seek godly council from people we trust, and then make the best decision we can in light of all we know.

Secondly, we see that David is now performing the actions of the king since the true king is failing to perform his duties. Saul is spending his time pursuing David, and is neglecting his duty to protect the people. Saul should be leading the people of Israel in the defense of Keilah, but he is off doing something else.

David is doing what must be done. He sees a job that is going undone. He realizes that God has equipped him to fill this role at this time, and so David steps up to meet the need of the moment.

There are times that we must act. Perhaps others might have the primary responsibility to meet the need, but if they cannot or will not act, we might have to do what needs to be done, even if it isn’t our “job”. David had to do what the king should have done since Saul refused to do it.

It is interesting to see that at the end of today’s chapter, David makes the narrowest of escapes when Saul breaks of his pursuit to respond to another Philistine invasion. In the latter case, Saul performs his duties to Israel, allowing David to get away. Perhaps David shamed Saul into protecting the people from the Philistines. All the people must have realized that David was protecting the nation while Saul was preoccupied with killing David. Saul probably realized this just strengthened David’s claim upon the throne. Saul must have realized he would have to meet the invading Philistines himself or all the people would back David against Saul.

Where is Christ in this passage?

David here demonstrates a picture of the deliverance we find in Jesus Christ. David is performing the act of a king, protecting the people and bringing deliverance. He saves Keilah from the Philistines.

David’s greater Son, Jesus Christ, who was born to sit upon the throne of David and rule forever, has granted His people a greater deliverance. Through His life and death, Jesus Christ has delivered all those who come to Him in faith from the guilt of their sins. He has delivered them from the tyranny of death and sin. And as our King, He works all things to our ultimate good and to His glory.

Tue, 29 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 37:1-2

¹ Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
² For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

Here’s something that is easier said than done: Don’t worry about evildoers. Don’t envy them. When you see them prosper in their evil, don’t wish it was you that was prospering like that. Not so easy, is it? But that is the David’s words for us today.

What do we learn from this?

In David’s day, there were wicked people who flourished. Their evil didn’t seem to catch up with them, and all that they did turned to gold for them. David saw it, and realized the very real temptation to envy them. Things aren’t so different today, are they?

If you are trying to obey God, and it is costing you, it is very hard to see people who openly flaunt God’s law, yet don’t seem to pay any price. In fact, those who try to obey are often the ones who are penalized. How hard it is to not envy the wicked for their success.

But, we must not envy them. Though they seem to prosper, they are flourishing like grass.

David uses a familiar picture. When the conditions are right, grass grows quickly. In the heat of summer, when there is plenty of rain, grass grows so fast you can hardly keep up with mowing your yard. But, all of the sudden, the rain stops, and in the dry heat of late summer, the lawn turns brown and withers. It becomes dormant. It no longer is growing, but rather has all but died.

That’s what the wicked are like. They prosper for a while. But suddenly, their fortunes will turn, and they will fade and wither, like grass. They have no stability in themselves, and they can’t withstand a change in fortune. They have nothing of substance to base their life upon, and so they will ultimately fall away.

Don’t envy the wicked. Their prosperity will not last, and they will eventually have to pay the price for their wickedness.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Those who have lived their lives for their own wickedness and pleasure might live their lives in luxury. They might enjoy themselves and never think of their eternal destiny. But when they die, they will face God and stand accountable for their sins. They have rejected Jesus Christ and His provision for their salvation, and instead have just lived for their own pleasure. They have ignored their conscience that tells them they aren’t right with God. They haven’t sought after God and His righteousness. They have not come to God for His substitute for their sins. Therefore they will spend eternity is hell.

The only way to avoid such an end is to repent of your sins, and turn to God by trusting in Jesus Christ as your own Savior. He is the only way you can be right with God. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can you avoid having your own life end like grass burned in an eternal fire.

For all those who are in Jesus Christ, you have been saved from the wrath of God and your future is bright. You will spend eternity in the felicity of God’s favor and grace. From this perspective, you have nothing to envy of the wicked who will suffer eternal damnation. The little good they have now is nothing compared to their future. Don’t envy them. Pity them and bring them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mon, 28 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Lamentations 5:1-7

¹ Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us;
look, and see our disgrace!
² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
³ We have become orphans, fatherless;
our mothers are like widows.
⁴ We must pay for the water we drink;
the wood we get must be bought.
⁵ Our pursuers are at our necks;
we are weary; we are given no rest.
⁶ We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,
to get bread enough.
⁷ Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
and we bear their iniquities.

Based upon the title, we are not surprised that the book of Lamentations is a very sad book. In it, Jeremiah reviews all the terrible things that befell Jerusalem in the Babylonian conquest, mourning for the death and destruction that has occurred.

But Jeremiah points out in his laments that this all occurred because of the sins of the people. The death and destruction, and the ongoing captivity of the remnant is a direct result of accumulated guilt from the sins of their fathers. The nation of Judah had disobeyed God so severely and for so long that God finally destroyed her in Jeremiah’s time, and held her in captivity for seventy years before finally restoring her to the land.

What do we learn from this?

God does not ignore sin at a national level. The accumulated sins of a people can get to be so great that God will eventually destroy that nation. It might seem like God is ignoring the sins of a nation, as it is flourshing despite its great guilt. But God is not ignorant of their sins. Far from it. God is waiting, and at His chosen time, if they don’t repent He will act to bring home their sins to them.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God does not ignore sin at a personal level either. We will all have to stand before God’s bar of judgment and give account for what we have done. Every sin must be accounted for and paid in full. There will not be one overlooked or ignored. The guilt for all sin must be paid.

If you plan to pay for your own sins by being good enough, or by doing some special act to earn God’s favor, know this: you will pay for your sins eternally in hell. Your acts of piety are not good enough to appease God’s wrath at your sins.

The only hope you have for averting God’s wrath and avoiding eternal punishment is to flee now, while you are still alive, to God’s provision for your salvation. He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, to take on human flesh and die on behalf of all those who flee to Him for salvation. He bears the punishment for their sins, so that when His people stand at the bar of God’s judgment, God can accept them as righteous. Their sins have all been accounted for. Their sins have been paid in full upon Jesus Christ. And all those who have come to God through faith in Jesus Christ have the full righteousness of Christ accounted to them, so they are perfectly righteous in the Father’s sight. Their sins are not ignored. But because of the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf, they are perfectly righteous.

Sun, 27 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

We often think of the church in the age of the apostles as an ideal church: pure and uncorrupted. But as we read the epistles of the New Testament, and the letters to the Corinthian church in particular, we get a picture of a church that had some serious problems. In today’s reading, after a very brief opening, Paul immediately gets to the first issue. There are divisions in the church as the members align themselves with different leaders.

What do we learn from this?

There have always been problems in the church. There were problems in the First Century and there are problems in the Twenty-first Century. As long as people are sinful, we will always have problems in the church. Since we won’t be purified of our sins until we are glorified in heaven at our death or Christ’s return, we will have to live with trouble to some extent in every church.

Do we have divisions in the church today? Yes, we are guilty of the same sin for which Paul chastised the Corinthian church. At a major level, each denomination is a division in the church. There are thousands of denominations, reflecting the very divisive nature of the church today.

At one level, denominations are good. Because each denomination is a grouping of people who hold to common doctrine, that means that individuals with differing beliefs aren’t forced to fight over doctrine in the local church body. They can instead find a church that holds to the doctrines they believe and unite with those believers. When I became convinced that Christians should baptize their children, instead of causing problem by trying to change the local church I was attending to accept that doctrine, I just quietly left that denomination and joined a paedo-baptistic denomination. I can now work together with the people in this local church body without having to argue about who should be baptized, and my previous church is spared the turmoil of a doctrinal fight.

But we still have to admit that the cause of denominations is sin. When we believe wrong doctrine, we are sinning.

Using my paedo-baptism example: it is either right to baptize the infant children of believers, or it is wrong. It is either right to not baptize the infant children of believers, or it is wrong to withhold baptism from them. Let’s not mince words: if it is wrong to baptize babies, then it is a sin when we do so. But if it is wrong to withhold baptism from our covenant children, then it is a sin if we don’t baptize them.

When we hold to wrong doctrine, no matter how sincerely we are in our beliefs, we sin.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Thanks be to God that even us divisive Christians can be saved! Even as we hold to wrong doctrines, God saves us. For we are not saved for holding to right doctrines. When we get to heaven, we will not have a systematic doctrine test, and all those who get 100 % will be admitted. Thank God for his mercy upon us. That is not how we gain access to heaven.

Our entrance to heaven is based upon what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. He saves us by His life and death. That is applied to us by faith, as we trust God alone for the salvation He provides. That is how we are saved. Not by what we do, or by what doctrine we hold to, but by our faith in the God who has done all for us.

Sat, 26 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Samuel 18:1-5

¹ As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. ² And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. ³ Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. ⁵ And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

In today’s passage, we see God prospering David in Saul’s court. He given leadership roles in the army, and is meeting with success. But as his military successes grow, Saul becomes jealous, and makes his first attempts upon David’s life. Rather than rejoice in the victories won under David’s leadership (as Jonathan and the people of Israel do), Saul becomes angry and resentful.

What do we learn from this?

It is possible for us to see someone do something well, and resent it. It can be something very important that needs to be done, but if they do it well, we can be jealous of the recognition they receive. “I should get that kind of acclaim for what I’ve done.”

We see how wrong this is when we look at Saul, but do we recognize that we do the same thing with the people around us? This is a direct violation of the tenth commandment not to envy. It is a sin, and we should repent of it.

We also see God’s providence in what is happening in this chapter.

God is prospering David in all his endeavors. David is being groomed for his future role as king, and God is working to give him experiences he will need. Even as Saul in his jealousy is doing what he can to keep David from eventually becoming king, all his actions just further that eventual end. God is working to bring David to the throne, and even Saul’s insane jealousy works, according to God’s providence, to bring this about.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Through many hardships, much suffering, and bitter opposition, David came to the kingship of Israel. We see some of the opposition in today’s reading.

David’s greater Son, Jesus Christ, also faced hardships, suffering, and opposition when He was born, lived and died. He then was resurrected and is now seated on the throne, with all authority over heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is now ruling over all, bringing everything into subjection to Him.

Fri, 25 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 33:13-19

13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
¹⁴ from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵ he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
¹⁶ The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
¹⁷ The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.

¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
¹⁹ that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.

Today the psalmist reminds us where our safety really lies: not in our own strength and ability, but in God and His favor.

What do we learn from this?

We think that our strength is our safety. More money and more power are what we need. My future will be bright if I just have a larger bank account. Our nation will prosper if we have a powerful army. But these are all false hopes for our protection.

The things we think bring us safety are not bad, in and of themselves. It is not wrong to be wealthy or to have a well equipped army. What is wrong is to trust in these provisions of ours rather than to trust in God.

We can work hard to build up our means of protection, but it will all be to no avail without God prospering our work.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Trust in God, not in yourself. It is true in all areas of your life. But the most significant area is the eternal salvation of your soul.

The only way to avert God’s wrath upon your sins is by trusting in the substitute He has provided. Jesus Christ has borne the punishment for the sins of those who come to Him in faith. But all those who are trusting in their own abilities and strengths will be eternally damned. They must pay for their own sins themselves because they have rejected God’s provision in Jesus Christ, offered to all who will humbly come trusting in God alone.

Thu, 24 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Lamentations 1:1-5

¹ How lonely sits the city
that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become,
she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces
has become a slave.

² She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
she has none to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.

³ Judah has gone into exile because of affliction
and hard servitude;
she dwells now among the nations,
but finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
for none come to the festival;
all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her virgins have been afflicted,
and she herself suffers bitterly.

⁵ Her foes have become the head;
her enemies prosper,
because the LORD has afflicted her
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.

Jeremiah writes the book of Lamentations after having lived through the horrors of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The majority of the people either died of disease and famine from the siege, were killed by the Babylonian army, or were carried into captivity. Jerusalem was looted and burned. The walls were broken down, and it was left a ruins. Jeremiah pens his lamentations over the devastation of Israel, mourning for the loss of all that was.

But why did this happen? What is the cause of the ruin of the people of Israel?

God did it. The LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. All the death and destruction is the result of their own sin.

What do we learn from this?

Sin is serious. God hates sin and will not tolerate it. We tend to think that sin isn’t serious. To us, disobedience to God’s word is no big deal. Sin is just a “mistake” or an “error in judgment”. When we sin, we can easily write it off because “we’re only human”, and of course, “nobody’s perfect”. After all, there are so many rules in the Bible. We do our best to keep most (or some) of them, and that should count for something.

But we see in scripture that God’s attitude to sin is not lax. Sin must be punished. Sin will be punished. The people of Israel had flaunted God’s law for so long that He brought about the destruction of their nation at the hands of the Babylonians. Sin is serious.

Where is Christ in this passage?

God must punish sin. He can not ignore sin or sweep it under a rug and pretend the sin never happened. He must punish all sin.

Why did God take up human flesh and come to earth in the person of Jesus Christ? Why did the Second Person of the Trinity become incarnate? Because God must punish sin. He came because that is the only way that God could punish sin and still accept sinful people into His presence.

Jesus Christ took the guilt of all the people who will come to Him in faith, and He paid the price for those sins upon the cross. He atoned for the guilt of their sins, so they don’t have to. He justifies all who come to Him in faith so that they can stand before Him. Because of the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf, God declares them to be righteous. Their sin has been paid for and they stand before Him dressed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God’s grace is an amazing thing, that sinful people can be accepted because of His great work on their behalf.

But think for a moment: The fact that God the Father would send His Son to die such a painful death on the cross demonstrates how much God hates sin. In order to save His people, the Father had to vent all His wrath for their sin upon His own Son. That is how bad sin is and how seriously God takes sin. Sin is not a mistake. It isn’t a slip up. Sin isn’t something we can indulge ourselves in, knowing that God will forgive us.

Wed, 23 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Romans 13:8-10

⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Having completed the doctrinal section, Paul is now into the practical application section of the book of Romans. Now that we understand about our sinful condition, our need for a Savior, and what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, what should we do? How should we live? In today’s passage, Paul tells us that we should love our neighbors, and in doing so, we fulfill the law.

What do we learn from this?

Paul tells us that the second summary command (love your neighbor) sums up the second table of the law (commands 5 through 10 of the ten commandments). The first summary command (love God), sums up the first table (commands 1 through 4).

When we truly love our neighbor, we will not commit adultery, or murder, or steal, or covet that which is theirs. We will treat them with the love and respect we would like to receive.

Keep in mind that Jesus has explained to us in the Sermon on the Mount that we are not keeping the commands when we simply refrain from what is stated. The commands go way beyond bare minimum obedience. If I refrain from killing my neighbor but hate him, I have violated the command. If I don’t steal the possessions of my neighbor, but I slander him, I have stolen his reputation and have violated the command. Any time we do not show love to our neighbor, we are violating a command, and stand guilty before God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The only one who ever perfectly loved his neighbor is Jesus Christ. The rest of us have all failed to a lesser or greater degree. We have all violated these commands regularly, for we have not been perfect in our love for our neighbor.

But thanks be to God, we can have the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to us. He has been perfect on our behalf, and He offers us His complete obedience. As we are in Jesus Christ, God sees us as completely fulfilling the law.

Tue, 22 August, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

1 Samuel 14:24-35

²⁴ And the men of Israel had been hard pressed that day, so Saul had laid an oath on the people, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” So none of the people had tasted food. ²⁵ Now when all the people came to the forest, behold, there was honey on the ground. ²⁶ And when the people entered the forest, behold, the honey was dropping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷ But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath, so he put out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes became bright. ²⁸ Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats food this day.’” And the people were faint. ²⁹ Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. See how my eyes have become bright because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰ How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies that they found. For now the defeat among the Philistines has not been great.”

³¹ They struck down the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint. ³² The people pounced on the spoil and took sheep and oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. ³³ Then they told Saul, “Behold, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood.” And he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a great stone to me here.” ³⁴ And Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Let every man bring his ox or his sheep and slaughter them here and eat, and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.’” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night and they slaughtered them there. ³⁵ And Saul built an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

Jonathan and his armorbearer attacked a Philistine outpost, and win a great, though small victory. Saul observes the chaos in the Philistine camp, attacks, and there is a rout of the Philistines. But for some unknown reason, Saul makes a oath that curses anyone who eats during the day.

The people become weak in their fighting because of the lack of food, and when the oath expires, they are so hungry from the exertion that they violate the dietary laws in their haste get food.

What do we learn from this?

There is a time and place for an oath, but oaths are dangerous things. Particularly as a leader, you must be careful what you bind your people to do. There is a particular danger when you take something that is a basic need but isn’t sinful in itself, and forbid people to do it in the name of being pious. People will try to hold to the oath, but because of their fundamental desires, they will be greatly tempted, and often end up meeting the need in a sinful way. So something that is good and right in itself becomes sin because someone made up an unreasonable and unbiblical requirement. (Think of the harm done by the Roman Church requiring their priests to be celebate.)

We must not setup unbiblical standards and bind those around us to hold to them.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ warned us against causing His little ones to

stumble into sin. He cares greatly that we don’t harm others by our wrong requirements we place upon them. If as a leader we require people to hold to an unbiblical standard, and it drives them into sin, Jesus Christ calls woes upon us.