Navigating Others on a Straight Path to Jesus

 

For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him because he is the messenger of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. You, however, have turned from the way. You have caused many to violate the law; you have corrupted the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Malachi 2:7-8

 Many of us, myself included, would not think of ourselves as leaders. But the fact is, we all lead someone. As a parent, I have led my children, and they still come to me for help and advice. As and Aunt I have represented Jesus to my nieces and nephews. As a teacher, I have pointed students in Sunday School, Youth group, Homeschool classes, and Adult classes to Jesus. I diligently try to point people to Jesus in my blog as the Salty Zebra. I’ve had people I never would have thought of as watching me tell me that my example influenced them, sadly both for good and bad.

 When God puts us in a place of witness for Him, it is a privilege and a great responsibility. He has called all of us to this in Matthew 28:19-20:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

 He calls us to make disciples. We are not just to tell people about Jesus, but to come alongside them and support them in their path to draw closer to God. And He doesn’t expect us to do this on our own, surely we couldn’t if we tried, He says that He will be with us always. It is His Holy Spirit drawing people to God and Him working through us that causes people to hear. We are blessed to be included, to be a part of His great and grand design!

 But what if we resist this call? What if we add our own spin onto His message? What if instead of telling people Jesus is the ONLY way to God, we cave to modern culture and share that He is one way to God? That’s where we start swimming in murky waters, with great big monsters living in them. In our attempt to make Jesus more palatable, we are actually causing people to sin. In Matthew 18:6 Jesus tells us, "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea.” Sadly, we could point them astray enough that they never make it to Heaven at all! According to the White Hat Crew:

Consider this. If you're going somewhere and you're off course by just one degree, after one foot, you'll miss your target by 0.2 inches. Trivial, right? But what about as you get farther out?

 After 100 yards, you'll be off by 5.2 feet. Not huge, but noticeable.

After a mile, you'll be off by 92.2 feet. One degree is starting to make a difference.

After traveling from San Francisco to L.A., you'll be off by 6 miles.

If you were trying to get from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., you'd end up on the other side of Baltimore, 42.6 miles away.

Traveling around the globe from Washington, DC, you'd miss by 435 miles and end up in Boston.

In a rocket going to the moon, you'd be 4,169 miles off (nearly twice the diameter of the moon).

Going to the sun, you'd miss by over 1.6 million miles (nearly twice the diameter of the sun).

Traveling to the nearest star, you'd be off course by over 441 billion miles (120 times the distance from the earth to Pluto, or 4,745 times the distance from Earth to the sun).

Over time, a mere one-degree error in course makes a huge difference!

 So, your “adjustment” to the gospel message may seem inconsequential to you, but the consequences could be varied and extreme! Who knows, you could be laying the foundations for a cult 😕. The moral of the story is, stay on script. When you’re telling people about who God is and how He is at work in our world, use scripture. One of the simplest, classic ways to do this is using what’s been dubbed, “The Roman Road.” Here are the scriptures, but if you'd like to read more about how they apply to the gospel and how to use them when sharing with others, this article is really helpful!

1.       All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

2.       The wages of sin is [eternal] death (Romans 6:23).

3.       The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23b).

4.       Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

 A priest is supposed to be trustworthy, someone that you can go to when you need to learn about God and trust that what he tells you is true. In our verse today, however, Malachi accuses the priests of turning from the way. He says that they have caused many to violate the law. By their guidance and advice, they were misdirecting the people of Israel and God tells them in this verse that this breaks their covenant with Him. Presumably they did so at some benefit to themselves. Maybe they were getting a kickback, or felt pressure from the government, or just wanted to justify their own sin. Regardless of their reason, the result was the loss of a much greater benefit, God’s choosing them for Himself, setting them aside, and becoming their inheritance:

At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the LORD's covenant, to stand before the LORD to serve him, and to formulate blessings in his name, as they do to this very day. Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance just as the LORD your God told him.  [Deuteronomy 10:8-9 NET]

Here’s the Thing: Nothing, absolutely nothing this world has to offer is better than what God has for us. When presented with temptation it can be difficult to remember this, but the Bible tells us, “No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. And God is faithful: He will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it.” [1Corinthians 10:13 NET]. God is faithful, faithful beyond our wildest imagination (Psalm 36:5). His Word will prove true (Proverbs 30:5-6 (ESV)). He will never leave you nor forsake you (Matthew 28:20). Stick with Him and you won’t go wrong!