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The terms "stumbling block" or "stumbling stone" are interchangeably throughout the scriptures and are a common theme of the Bible. It is first mentioned in the book of Leviticus (19:14) when the law commanded not to put a "stumblingblock" in front of the path of the blind. In it's literal meaning, it refers to something such as a root or a rock that is in a person's path that causes them to trip and breaks their confident stride. It refers to something that catches a person's feet, throws them off their balance, and causes them to fall.

Probably one of the funniest situations that I have ever personally witnessed involved a "stumblingblock." In college, I sold shoes in the evenings after classes so that I had some money coming in to pay my bills, wash my clothes, buy gas, and all of the other zillions of things that are priority when you away from home. My assistant manager was named Larry and was one of those guys who thought that he was God's gift to all women. Larry had been going bald, but had purchased a hair piece or weave or toupee or whatever it was and unfortunately he did not have the money to keep it maintained or spruced up so it was sort of on the back of his head and to one side. Larry thought he was a "mackdaddy" and was always flirting, and had a list of women that he had weaseled from them their phone numbers, and in fact I was the top part-time sales person in the entire company because I learned quickly on that I could get one of the numbers from Larry's "contact sheet" and call one of the ladies and then get Larry on the phone and he would remain there for hours, while I got all of the customers!

The funny day happened when one day my manager, another salesperson, Larry, and I were all standing up front of the huge shoe store poring over a shipment form when a beautiful lady walked in with a snazzy and rather revealing dress walked in the door. Larry looked up and seeing the woman, immediately called out "she's mine." With his biggest goofiest grin, he reached out took the lady's hand, winked at us, and then said "my you look lovely tonight, I'm Larry and I'm here to personally assist you in any way possible!" The lady looked at him sort of strange but told him that she was there to buy some shoes for her infant son, to which Larry replied "oh I have a little boy too so we do have something in common" and then extending his arm as if he were walking the lady down the aisle in a wedding, Larry said "the children's shoes are in back" and off they went down the middle aisle with Larry a little ahead almost dragging the poor lady alone.

The problem was that there were large poles that were essentially metal beams that had been painted down the middle of the aisle, and as Larry and his "lady" are walking for some crazy reason the lady asked him "do you work out or lift weights?" Larry who is slightly ahead of the lady looks back at her and us with his crazy raised eyebrows and says "oh you can tell?" It was at that moment that he ran full tilt into his stumblingblock, the metal pole, and he hit his head on it -- hard! It dazed him so bad, that he fell back and then tripped on a shoe display that we had on the end of one of the side aisles and fell backwards into about 50 boxes of shoes, hitting his head on the edge of the shelf again hard. He tried to get up and recover, but he had some trouble getting out of the shoes that were now everywhere and when he finally got up the lady was bent over double with tears running down her face and laughing so hard that she couldn't even speak. So were we. Larry's love life had hit a major stumblingblock! He meekly asked her if she still wanted to go to the children's shoes and she turned and shook her head with tears still coming down her face and laughing as hard as we were, turned and walked out of the door. It's been a long time since I have seen something more funny!

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A "stumbling block," then, is something that causes someone to pause unplanned in their walk and have to make adjustments or a change of direction, and -- if they do not -- they will quickly lose their course, direction, balance, stride, or even hurt themselves.

There are many stumblingblocks mentioned in scripture that can cause us to not end up at our desired spiritual location. Stumblingblocks are one of the devil's favorite weapon. He loves to cause a Christian to have to pause in their walk with God and to "trip you up." One such stumblingblock is temptation to do evil and we live in an evil world that continually bombards us with spiritual wickedness, but as much as I could preach about the state that our world is in and as much as I could rant and rave about the detrement of lusts of the flesh, I have to admit that the temptation to sin is NOT the greatest stumblinblock of humanity. In fact it is not even close to the top.

The devil also specializes in confusion and just as he put questions in the mind of Eve that so blurred the words of God in her mind that she sinned, he still loves to question the Word of God in your mind by putting "stumblingblocks" in your thoughts. Thoughts that enter your mind like "well surely the Bible doesn't literally mean that..." or "Is it really necessary to obey all of those verse?" are the work of Satan in your mind. He is trying to trip you up. But Jesus showed us how to overcome the stumblingblocks of Satan because every time Jesus was tempted, He responded with the pure, unchanged Word of God. The Psalmist wrote:

The New King James more directly translates this verse! If you love the Word of God and love what it says and hide it in your heart, then the devil will not be able to get you to stumble with confusing questions and philosophies. Instead of allowing the "what ifs" of Satan to become a stumblingblock, why don't you stand on the Word of God and allow it to become a foundation upon which you can build!? Don't let the "what ifs" of Satan or of people's doubt rob your faith from the Word of God! The Word of God is the only thing that can save you! The devil really can't keep you from living from God, so I have to admit that as great a stumblingblock that confusion about God's Word can be, it's not the greatest stumblingblock of humanity either.

In I Corinthians 8:9, we are commanded to not be stumblingblocks to other Christians. Our actions can be a stumblingblock to others. To say you are a Christian and yet live in an unGodly manner, is definitely a stone of stumbling to others around you. They may have desired to follow you into a closer walk with God but when they see hypocrisy, they stumble in their approach. Actions do speak so much louder than words and when people do not see your actions matching your mouth, you cause a great hindrance and obstacle to come between them and God. I don't like hypocrites any more than anybody else, and I have seen them cause the spiritual fall of weak Christians who had their eyes on man more than Jesus Christ, but I must also admit that despite the great damage that can be done, hypocrisy is not the greatest stumblingblock to humanity living for God.

Another stumbling block mentioned in scripture is that God will always trip up a person who is living against His Word. There may be times in your life that it seems as if someone who does not love God and has no feelings or care toward the Word of God seems to prosper and be striding through life confidently and without a care in the world. The devil likes to place thoughts in our minds like "if they are not faithful to the house of God and they are wealthy and blessed, then why should you bother?" I've even know people to walk away from God and God -- in His mercy -- gives the people a time and a space to repent and get things right before judgment comes. And I've known some Christians to get upset and say "they are just as blessed as they always were while they were living for God." It may seem that way for a time, but remember that it "seems" that way. It is just an illusion. God's Word cannot lie and you cannot live different from the truth of His direction and expect your life to remain happy and perfect. You may go through a time in your life away from God where you seem to have everything figured out and that nothing can break down your stride through life, but God will put a stumblingblock in your way to prove to you that you cannot make it on your own! God will put a stone of stumbling in the sinner's way so that his happy life that "seemed" so perfect comes crashing down around them. He'll do whatever He has to do to make you realize that you DO need a Savior. You do need a Lord of your life. You do need a relationship with Him. I've seen God do some amazing things in His mercy to try to reach a hardened heart, but yet despite all that I have seen, I must admit again that the merciful hand of God getting the attention of the wicked is not the greatest stumblingblock of humanity.

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In our text in I Corinthians, the words that Paul used demand our attention today. Paul was talking about the preconceived notions of people and their response to the preaching of the cross and he makes this startling statement:

Paul says that his primary message to preach is about the "crucifixion of Jesus Christ" and then he makes a wild statement that the cross is to the unbelieving "a stumblingblock." The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is stone of stumbling to many. In fact, the cross is the greatest stumblingblock to humanity even today. This is not the only scripture to refer to Calvary this way, Galatians 5:11 mentions the "offence of the cross" or literally in the Greek: "the stumblingblock of the cross." In the original Greek, the same word is used in both texts.

We read in our other text how that when Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, that Pilate -- who knew of Jesus' innocence -- had a sign placed upon the top of the cross which read "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." He had that title written in three languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Latin which were the respective languages of the Greeks, the Jews, and the Romans, respectively. The Jewish leaders did not like the sign and came to Pilate and said "you should have written that "He said" that He was a king. But Pilate refused to change it saying "what I have written, I have written." Pilate did the wrong thing in actions, but he was completely convinced that Jesus was who He said He was. Pilate had a lot of faults, but he knew that he was crucifying innocent blood. His political mind was used to the actions of true royalty and I believe that there was something in Pilate that realized that he was standing in the midst of someone greater than he was even if the other man was a so called "prisoner." When Pilate had gone to the Jewish people outside, he had called to them "I find no fault in this man." In other words he was saying "I believe everything that He has told me is truth." Go back and read what Jesus had just told Pilate. He had just said "I came into this world to be a king." In fact the first words out of Pilate's mouth when he brought Jesus outside to the Jewish people was "Behold, your king!" Pilate knew that Jesus Christ was king and the sign was his attempt to undo some of the wrong that he had committed by killing an innocent man.

Every person that walked by the cross that day could read that Jesus was a king plainly in their own language. And how untrue it must have seemed. How crazy and foolish it must have looked to have a sign over a person who is dying the horrible death of the worst criminal and yet he is at the same time proclaimed a King! And Paul said that when he preached about this event, it became a stumblingblock to those unbelievers who heard it.

Put yourself for a moment in the shoes of those who stood at the cross and viewed the events through their language and their culture. Put yourself first as a Jew standing at the foot of the cross. You have seen this man perform many mighty miracles and teach great things. You have seen Him raise the dead and heal the blinded eyes. You have seen Him show mercy to the woman caught in the act of the adultery and cause the lame to walk again. You have seen Him cast out every devil that He came in contact with and in fact, He seems to have fulfilled every aspect of what you have been taught to look for in your Messiah, your promised king to come, except for one thing: you have been taught all of your life that He would tear down every oppression and every government and cause the Jewish people to reign on the earth. The Jewish people were reading prophecies that applied to Jesus Christ's second coming when He will rule and reign over all of the earth and they thought that it would be like that the first time that He came, but they did not realize that the first time, He had come to buy them back from the clutches of sin and to bring them an opportunity to live forever with Him!

So as a Jew looking at Jesus hanging on the cross reading the sign above His head that says plainly in Hebrew that Jesus Christ is the King of the Jews, it seems crazy and ludicrous. In fact, many Jewish people who had for a time believed during the life of Jesus Christ did in fact stumble in their faith at the crucifixion because Jesus did not do what they "wanted Him to do." They wanted Him to come in and deliver them completely from any outside sorrow and to break down the Roman rule and change their situation, but Jesus Christ did not come to do it that way. He was a king. He was to be their king. But He had come to set up a spiritual kingdom that would change the world and their circumstances by changing them and their reaction to it! Instead of telling them to take up arms, He told them to put away their swords against one another. Instead of organizing a rebellion against the government, Jesus told them to pay their taxes, follow the laws of the land, and to love their enemies! Instead of following a religion that followed a bunch of rules that caused people to feel "superior," Jesus said that the Word of God had to be on the inside. Instead of telling them to respond to the Roman soldiers' selfish demands with resistance, Jesus said to "go the extra mile" for them and turn the other cheek. The Gospel of Matthew was written primarily to the Jewish people and so it records much more of the preaching of Jesus Christ than the other Gospels.

To the Jew, the miracles were great, the teaching was interesting, and the power was phenomenal, but not only had Jesus Christ preached that they should change the Roman government by changing themselves, He personally allowed Himself to be nailed to a Roman cross and submitted Himself to the unfair, cruel, and disrespectful punishment of the Roman government without one time displaying the supernatural power to fight against them. What Jesus had taught every day about submission and bringing your flesh into subjection, He lived that day upon the cross. It therefore became a stumbling block to them.

How many people today are spiritually like the Jewish people? They will serve Jesus Christ to a point until they come to a point where they realize that Jesus is not necessarily interested as much into coming and changing their circumstances and situations as He is in changing THEM!? Jesus will never take away every enemy and bad situation in your life because He is interested in changing you to be like Him and how can you be like Him if you do not have an enemy to love or someone to whom you can give blessing in exchange for cursing? That's what salvation is all about isn't it? To be like Jesus? But how can you be like Him if you have never been treated unfairly to where you have an opportunity to say "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do?" Get your eyes off your situation and onto your response to your situation. Is it as Jesus' would be? If not, then you are missing the point of Christianity. To live forever with Him, I must allow myself to become like Him. But unfortunately, there are many today like the Jewish people to which the cross becomes a stumbling block to them that they cannot overcome. They never grasp the concept of true forgiveness as displayed on the cross and they refuse to let go of some bad situations yes, but also bitterness that is destroying them! They refuse to bring their flesh into subjection at an altar of deliverance and release some hurts that cause them to lash out at other people or go through life with a "victim" mentality. If anyone had a right to be bitter or feel like a victim, it was Jesus Christ hanging upon that cross, nailed there by the very ones whom He had come to save, but He breathed forgiveness with His last breaths! And to be like Jesus Christ, you will have to learn to likewise forgive when you do not "feel like" forgiving. You will have to learn to love your enemy. And, unfortunately, some will never submit to that sort of actions and thus the cross becomes a stumblingblock to them! The cross is the greatest stumbling block to mankind because that sort of love and forgiveness goes against our sinful nature!

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Change shoes for a moment and put yourself as a Greek staring up at the Cross. The Grecians idolized the human body. They worshipped and worked toward "the perfect personality" and "person." Their philosophy was to teach one about all things and their proper response. They introduced us to the Olympic games with contests of mental physical feats to prove who was the greatest man. Their artists introduced the world to the statue and paintings of the body with sleek muscles and what to them was the perfect emblem of humanity. The Greeks were convinced that man could become perfect on his own and that no outside source was required to become that way. Everything you needed to be a "god" yourself is within you. And to the Greeks, mental handicaps and mutilation of the body were awful and better ignored and forgotten. Think back to every statue and art work that you have ever seen from the era of Hellenistic thought: not one of them portrays any physical faults. In fact, the Gospel of Luke was written to reach out to the Greeks and so Luke focuses on showing the humanity side and teachings of Jesus Christ more than any other book of the Bible. The Greeks taught that you avoided the revelation of weaknesses and of lack of perfection at all costs. In fact, to the Greek, it really did not matter what you were, but how others perceived what you were that counted. To convince others and win their approval was the ultimate achievement in the "contest" of life.

To the Greek, a king of humanity would be perfect in every way. There was no way that the perfect human being would allow themselves to be mutilated by having nails driven through their hands and their feet. To a Greek scholar, if Jesus Christ was really the king as that sign said that He was, then why did He allow Himself to be beaten and hung to die without raising the first resistance to the soldiers? If He was really the perfect human being, then his life would not have ended so young and with such pain and suffering and his body would not bear such scars. He would not certainly end in a defeat. The Greek would turn quickly away, because such a sight as the mutilated and bleeding body of Jesus Christ hanging from a cross would be an outrage, and then to preach to them that that pitiful form of a man was God?! That He was the King of Kings!? To preach such a thing was to go against every thought in a Greek's mind. It caused a huge stumblingblock because to admit that they needed such a man would be to admit that they were not perfect by themselves.

There are many today who are spiritually like the Greek. They refuse to "get real" with God about who they really are and about the battles that they face in their minds and lives. They are concerned with going through life presenting to others the "perfect image" of a good man or woman. And the mask of their "goodness" really only hides the dark sinful secrets and fears and imperfections and hurts of their life. They feel as long as they can fool other people into thinking everything is alright, then everything is alright. The spiritual, modern-day Greek comes across that many things of serving Jesus are simply "below them." So many things of what Jesus requires are "not pretty and not convenient."

Can I let you in on a secret? You are not so good that you do not need this man hanging on the cross. To be like Christ is to become a servant, and yet there is no greater joy than serving Him and knowing that you have been completely and totally honest with Him. The perfect Christian does not exist. The perfect spiritual man does not exist upon this earth. No matter how much you may think that you are fooling other people, you are not fooling God. God knows everything that has happened in your life and knows every one of your faults. You do need to repent to that God for you have sinned against Him. The scriptures say that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Don't let pride keep you out of heaven. Don't let pride keep you from following Him. You are only fooling yourself with the attitude of dealing with things by yourself. You need the cross. You need Jesus Christ. You need His life changing power through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. You will never be anything good without it. Isaiah said that "our righeousness is as filthy rags" when you compare it to the purity of God. No matter how good you have been or done, your accomplishments don't amount to anything if you do not have Jesus Christ as King in your life! The cross is not pretty and was never meant to be pretty, but it can change your life forever! God may ask you to do some things that hurt your pride and your ideal "image" of what your life should be, but to obey Him is eternal life and to refuse is eternal death. But some people will unfortunately care more about what others think than what Jesus Christ thinks! They are a spiritual Greek. The cross has become a stumblingblock to them.

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Place yourself in that third group of people who stood around the cross and read the Latin inscription above this man's head that proclaimed Him king. Think about the cross through the eyes of the Romans. There has never been a more efficient fighting army than the Roman army. In an era before technological warfare, they were fierce and unbeatable. They were never defeated by an outside, visible army but the collapse of Rome was caused by moral decline on the inside. At the height of their reign, the Roman Empire was the strongest, and most united world power that had ever been. They were the only empire to have far away nations ASK to join them and submit to them. And many nations were turned down because they were not viewed as being able to bring any substantial improvement into the Roman lives.

The Roman mind was then about might and power. It was about being in charge. The Gospel of Mark was written to reach the Romans and it reads like an action novel. There is less teaching and preaching and more miracles in Mark than any other Gospel. It is about Jesus Christ "doing something." The Roman was self-sufficient due to his ability to get himself out of a jam. Rome was at first only ruled by men who had great military victories under their belt. To be respected by the Romans you had to be "a man" and prove your strength through your actions.

To look up at a man who had willingly submitted Himself to the soldiers and even forgave them was a show of weakness to the Romans. He didn't even put up a good fight. To say that this humble, broken man hanging on the cross, is the man that I need to submit to as my king? You've got to be kidding. I've got the sword and spear. I'm strong enough to make it on my own. Christianity is just for "weak people." Only "weak people who are not as strong as I am have to go to church all of the time." Is that so? Then why is your life not perfect and why can't you kick those dark habits on your own? If you, oh spiritual roman, have everything that you need within your own power to be a success then why has your life been less than successful!?

I'm here today to tell you that real men serve Jesus Christ and obey His Words, and sometimes the correct response is to not say anything at all. Sometimes the incorrect response is action and the right way to live is to wait patiently on the salvation of the Lord. God sends trials into our lives sometimes to just see if we will buck and kick and try to fight our way through, or if we will refuse to get sidetracked and keep doing what we know to do until God fights our battles! The natural human response is to kick and fight against subjection, but it was not a sign of weakness that Jesus willingly went to and hung upon the cross, but rather a sign of strength. The greatest love that you can show is show a love that would rather die for someone else than live for yourself. The greatest strength in the world in either man or woman is to be able to wrestle your fleshly desires that are contrary to our good God and submit them to His Word. You are not truly strong if you are bound by sin. You are not truly powerful as you think if you cannot save yourself, and you can't. But this man that at first appearance seems to be weakly hanging on the cross, is doing so that you might have eternal life and power over death, hell, and the grave! He is dying so that you do not have to live bound to the clutches and pain of sin. In your mind you know that sin is destroying your life and every relationship that means anything to you! It is not a sign of strength to resist the pull of Jesus Christ and His Word and Spirit but rather a weakness because you are saying that you would rather stay bound to a future of hurt and pain and eternal death rather than experience the life changing, empowering gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus told His disciples:

True power? It is being able to not only have liberty of worship, thought, and actions in your own life, but to be able to reach out to others and direct them to the chain breaking, testimony making, life freeing power of the Holy Ghost. True power is what this man dying on the cross is trying to bring to you. Not some fake power based upon fear or intimidation but true, Almighty Power working in and through your life and it only comes through be willing to surrender to His power! Your power on your own will never grant you the freedom that you so desire. But, unfortunately, some people will look at Jesus and the cross and shake their head and choose to trust in their own power, and end up bound to sin just as they started their life without ever knowing true victory. Thus, the cross is the greatest stumblingblock to spiritual Romans.

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I close with this. There was another group of people standing at Calvary that day viewing the events through a different sort of language. There were a few minority standing there viewing the death of Jesus Christ through the language of faith. We know at least four followers of Christ were present at the cross: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Jesus' aunt, the sister of Mary; Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus had cast many devils; the young disciple John. They did not understand everything about why Jesus had to die, but they refused to desert Him as the others had done. It was Mary Magdalene and the women who would return to the tomb first to see if He had risen as He had said He would. The Bible says that every time Jesus Christ did something great that astounded her, His mother had "kept these things in her heart." While others may have rejected Jesus Christ, there was at least a handful that never forgot the miraculous birth and the astounding events with which Jesus' life and ministry had begun. This may have not been the ending that Mary was expecting when she had held that baby in her arms while listening to the stories of the shepherds about angels appearing to them, but if Jesus had willingly submitted Himself to this death, then something good was going to come of it, for everything that Jesus had done had had good come from it!

These four believers standing there really believed that Jesus Christ was a king. They did not understand the plan in it's entirety but they knew that they had been touched and changed by Him and would never be the same! Therefore when they looked at a man hanging on a cross, they saw their perfect example and they saw the set up for a tremendous miracle.

Hopefully you are like those four standing at the foot of the Cross. Hopefully you have too had a miraculous and Spiritual birth involving the Holy Ghost overshadowing you. Hopefully your life has been forever changed by that man's life and death. Hopefully you are completely convinced that He is the King of Kings and the Lord of All in your life. Hopefully your love and faith will cause you to serve Him and follow Him even when going through the darkest time of your life just as those four standing at the foot of the cross did.

If so, then I want to tell you that the cross of Calvary should be greatest stumblingblock to you. That's right, even as a devoted follower and Spirit-filled believer, the cross better be the greatest stumblingblock in your life. You see the cross acts as a stumblingblock in the entryway of paths that I should not be taking. Even as Spirit-filled believer, there have been times that I wanted to hold a grudge, and just as I was about to act and turn down that path, I tripped over Calvary again and the words "Father forgive them" came back into my mind. I paused, righted myself and thanked God for Calvary being there to stop me and remind me of the correct path. There have been times that I have grown cold in the Lord, and I have wanted to take an easier road that perhaps might not bring as much persecution, but then as I began to take that path, oops, there's that stumblingblock again reminding me of the greatest sacrifice of all time that was my example and once again I am reminded that I must give my all! There have been times when I wanted to act harshly and rashly and just "do something" to cause a door to open and as I began to try to use my own might to create a door, Oh!, I trip over that stumbling block and fall upon it once again to be reminded that I should patiently wait for the plan of God in my life. The Cross of Calvary is the definer of the strait and narrow path that leads to righteousness and if I ever choose to ignore the warning of it's presence, then I cannot help but fall away. But thank God for Calvary and His precious example! As long as I am continually reminded of it's power and direction, I cannot fail! The Cross is truly the greatest stumblingblock of humanity!