BE SENSITIVE TO THE CONSCIENCE OF OTHERS!! PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO OR SAY THAT MAY CAUSE OTHERS TO STUMBLE!!!!! 1) As believers, there are certain acts that may not be out rightly sinful because you have a deep knowledge of God’s word concerning them, however, those acts are capable of troubling the conscience of new converts or potential converts who are looking up to you and following your example. Should you go ahead and do or say those things knowing that it could cause another person to be confused or to sin against God? “We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him……………But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? 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.” (1 Cor. 8:1-3; 9-13) 2) For instance, you walk into a building, which is known to entertain heavy drinkers who drink and commit all sorts of sin. You intend to sit in there and have a drink (soft drink). Is walking into that building to get a drink, a sin? No, it is not! Is it necessary to walk in there to get a drink? Can’t you get the soft drink from some other place and sit to drink it elsewhere? If a new convert who just stopped drinking and who just stopped going into that building yet is still battling with the temptation of returning to his former ways, if he sees you, will he not be confused or troubled in his conscience? Will he be edified by your seemingly innocent act? Will he not be encouraged to continue visiting that building and as such fall into the same sins over again from which Christ saved him? 3) Another instance is when you compete in a secular contest, let’s say, a secular singing contest. You say to yourself, ‘I’m going to use this opportunity to sing gospel, Holy Spirit-filled songs that will transform the lives of the audience’. You preach that believers should be separate from worldliness and the passions of the flesh. Will your competing for a reward from the world for your God-given talent not confuse a new convert? Did you not preach “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you”? Yet you are seeking after a reward from the ungodly in the gathering where other contestants will be glorifying the devil with their ungodly songs and dance steps. Can you not preach to members of the audience outside their ungodly gathering since you know that your God is not being glorified in that gathering? Are you not slowly slipping into covetousness and lust for the things of the world? Are you not seeking the praise that comes from man at all cost? 4) Another instance is when you see an old female friend of yours fully adorned with make-up, jewelry, trousers, artificial hair, nails, and all other unholy things. Yet you say to her ‘wow, you look so beautiful.’ Yet you have been vehemently preaching absolute holiness – holiness at heart and holiness on the body. But in this instance, you compliment your friend without sharing Christ with her. Will a new convert or a potential convert not be confused at that speech or comment on facebook? Will her conscience not be troubled? Will she not slip back into the things from which Christ saved her, seeing that you accept them since you are her mentor in the Lord? “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thess. 5:22) “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.” (1 Cor. 10:23-24; 1 Cor. 6:12) ““Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matt. 18:6-7). 5) When a believer causes others to sin by his careless deeds or speech, he cannot walk scot-free into heaven. Even though he may pass through all the halls of judgement successfully, if the blood of any soul flashes at the gate of heaven when he is about to enter, the gates will never open up for him. He will have to present the blood of that soul to God. If this is impossible, he will automatically be turned towards the way to hell. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 9Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” (Ezek. 33:8-9) 6) PLEASE NOTE: There is a thin line between heeding this message and acting hypocritically in secret. The guiding rule should be, WHATEVER YOU WILL NOT DO IN THE OPEN, WHETHER SINFUL OR NOT, DO NOT DO IT IN SECRET EXCEPT FOR THE SAKE OF DECENCY AND MORALITY!!! By this we mean that for instance, you cannot dress up in the open except in your privacy when no other person is watching, for the sake of morality and decency. On the other hand, if you will not walk into a drinking bar when other believers are watching, then you should NOT walk in when no one is watching you. “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:4) 7) If you are filled with love for God and love for others, you would care to be very careful of all that you do or say!! Your liberty in Christ is to be used to love others and to provoke them to do good works, not to cause them to sin or be confused between your behaviour and what you preach. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,” (Heb. 10:24) “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:13-14) “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” (1 Thess. 5:14-15)
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 08:30:05 +0000
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