Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2: 0:21

So this week we are doing a series of episodes called yeah, that's Not what that Means, okay. And so I'm going to be going over five of the most common, misapplied and misunderstood scriptures in all the biblical canon, and yesterday I talked about Matthew 7, verses 1 through 3, and the fact that we are indeed supposed to judge, but the posture of our heart determines whether it is appropriate or not. Today we're going to another synoptic gospel, and that's the gospel of Luke, and we're going to look at Luke 17, verses one and two, and I'll read it now in the Christian Standard Bible he said to his disciples these are the words of Jesus. Offenses will certainly come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to.

Speaker 2: 1:06

So this particular scripture I mean, it's a crazy word, picture, right, and it's been used by a lot of different groups, right? So anti-human trafficking organizations have used this verse. I've seen state house bills that are referring to punishments for pedophiles using the millstone language. So the Millstone Act or something like that. Children's rights groups have used this and again, the word picture is just absolutely terrifying. I mean, you don't need to be aquaphobic, that's, you know, fear of drowning. To look at this and be like this would be absolutely horrible. Because here's the thing a millstone, that's a large round stone that they used to grind grain back in the day, and donkey millstones that's very likely the reference that Jesus was making in verse two. Those milestones could range in size from 200 pounds to a thousand pounds, and I'm not a very strong swimmer, so you could put a cinder block around my neck and I'm probably going to go right to the bottom.

Speaker 2: 1:53

But, in a nutshell, the fundamental misunderstanding of these words from Jesus is the thought that Jesus is simply talking about children like children, children like, you know, people who are young in age, and that we should not harm them in any way. And yeah, that's not what that means, because in its correct context, jesus is referring to people who are young in the faith. And part of the problem is when we hear the word or the phrase little ones, we always think of little people Because, you know, you hear your grandparents say, oh, where are those little ones? And they're talking about their little grandkids. So you're maybe thinking of like a, you know, six or seven year old, or even like a two or three year old. But that simply isn't what Jesus is saying here, and many great theologians have written about this short passage to help us understand to whom Jesus is referring. But, in summary, when Jesus says little ones, he's describing people that are childlike disciples of him. You know him being Jesus. So, in context, a little one could indeed be a seven-year-old, but it could also be referring to a 77-year-old, because, no matter where you are in your life longevity journey, this is referring to people that are young in their walks with Christ, and so this is also including this idea that, okay, childlike disciples, those who are young in their walk, they may not have the weapons necessary to withstand temptations. Maybe they haven't had, you know, a lot of Bible study, or maybe they are young and their brains aren't fully developed and it's really, really hard for them to withstand the pressure to sin. So now that we've set the record straight about who exactly Jesus is talking about, and to let's actually get to the point of this short passage Again, let me read the passage here.

Speaker 2: 3:26

He said to his disciples offenses will certainly come, but woe to the one through whom they come.

Speaker 2: 3:34

It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

Speaker 2: 3:38

So the word offenses in the Greek is the word scandala, okay, and that means temptations.

Speaker 2: 3:45

So, to be clear, jesus is communicating that it is better for you to have a 1000 pound rock tied to you right Put around your neck, and for you to walk the plank and end up in the bottom of the sea then would be for you to tempt a newer disciple of Christ to sin.

Speaker 2: 4:05

There really is no ambiguity here. So if you are a newer believer and we're so thankful for those of you that are listening to this show that are newer believers you are not exempt from protecting yourself from those that may seek to cause your downfall, for those that may pull you towards sin, whether they're doing it intentionally or not, and for the rest of us, for some of us more mature Christians. We would do well to heed the warning here of Jesus and to ensure that we are clearing the pathways in front of these little ones, right being a bit of a snowplow, so that they would not stumble, as opposed to, you know, putting more stumbling blocks in front of them along the way. That's not going to help them on their discipleship journey and it's certainly not gonna help them on their sanctification journey. Okay, guys, so come back here tomorrow, where we will look at a scripture that you might wanna take off the wall of your local high school football weight room.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you wanna help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.