SIN SURGERY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

Matthew 18:7-9

“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”

  
Mark 9:43-48

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Here are four fundamental spiritual truths regarding Christians and Christianity:

1. We are all sinners. No one is sin-free.

2. God hates sin. He despises it and will never be in its presence.

3. Because all people are sinners, they all are separated from God because of that sin.

4. God did not wish to be separated from His beloved people and so He sent His only Son, Jesus, as the perfect, unblemished atoning sacrifice. Jesus paid the penalty for sin that all people deserved and thus it is only through a belief and trust in Him that anyone can bridge the separation between them and God to dwell with Him forever.

Why the primer on sin, its impact on humanity, and the actions God took to try and resolve that impact?

Because as we see in our scripture passage today and continued study of Matthew, Chapter 18, Jesus discusses the matter of sin head on and provides guidance as to how we can deal with it while living in the world. Look again at His words here:

“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”  Matthew 18:7-9

Here we find Jesus addressing the number one stumbling block between mankind and the kid of righteousness God desires, the kind of righteousness we find perfectly when we examine the life of His Son Jesus.

Of course, that stumbling block is sin.

Of interest here, Jesus is not denying the existence of sin. He is not trying to minimize its dreadful effects on those it infects. Rather, He is acknowledging that sin is real and alive and well, and there is nothing mankind can do except to try and counter it.

So what is the best counter defense for sin?

Looking at Jesus’ words, it’s self-performed sin surgery.

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

Now is our Savior literally calling anyone to maim themselves here?

Not at all.

What He is doing is speaking metaphorically while conveying an important tactic all people need to adopt in order to battle iniquity when it comes knocking at their door.

Jesus is calling us to first identify what triggers our failing and falling into transgression. There is always a temptation point that leads us down the wrong road and if we’re going to have a chance to resist and ward off sin, then we need to be surgical in the way we eliminate those temptation points or triggers from our lives. The hand or foot or eye in Jesus’ analogies represent the things that would cause us to stumble into sin and he asserts we are better off with those things gone from ourselves, even if they are things we think we really need.

The bottom line is if something causes us to sin, we don’t need it and should cut ourselves off from it rather than risk being taken away from putting our belief and trust in Jesus and the God who sent Him and subsequently condemned for eternal destruction and damnation.

Trust me, salvation and the eternal life that comes with it is well worth giving up anything this world has to offer.

So what things in life are leading you down the road of sin and away from being the person God longs for you to be?

Assess those things and obey Jesus’ command to perform sin surgery and remove them from your life.

You’ll be eternally glad that you did.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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