Properly Approaching (American)privilege-7 Series

PROPERLY APPROACHING PRIVILEGE-VII—Matthew 21:33-46

OR:

A CHRISTIAN APPROACH To (American)PRIVILEGE

Need:

Christians, like many Americans, can center their Privilege & Pride upon illegitimate sources.

Thru this parable, Jesus highlighted/clarified a proper approach to a God-ordained privilege.

There is a Proper(Christian) Approach to Privilege.

What is a Proper/Christian Approach to Privilege?

Or

How should Christians approach their God-ordained privilege?

9 approaches to Christian privilege.

We have previously discovered that we must

Approach our privilege with...

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT(:33a)

2. RELIABILITY/Trustworthiness(:33b)

3. AVAILABILITY(:34)

4. HUMILITY(:35-39)

5. SENSIBILITY(:40-41)Logic/Reasonableness

6. BUILDING(:42)Edification

7. A PARTICULAR & PERTINENT PRODUCT(:43)

8—Approach your privilege with...

STABILITY(:44)

Explanation:(:44)

:44—“And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Jesus’ words are applied from Isa. 8:13-15 & Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45...

Isa. 8:13-15—“The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling & a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap & a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall & be broken, Be snared & taken.”

Dan. 2:34-35, 44-45—“You[Nebuchadnezzar] watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron & clay, & broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, & the gold were crushed together, & became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain & filled the whole earth.”.....“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; & the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces & consume all these kingdoms, & it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, & that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, & the gold--the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, & its interpretation is sure.”

a.—Any person who “falls”/trips/stumbles on” the stone of Jesus[directly opposed] will be “broken” to pieces.

This describes an active opposition of Jesus as Messiah. Such people fall/stumble over the stone, i.e., these do not accept Jesus’ being the cornerstone. Something about Jesus is offensive to them & He thus trips them up so that they cannot(will not) see Him as God’s Messiah. These are looking elsewhere for Messiah & stumble, producing a negative result.

Mat. 11:6(Lk. 7:23)—“And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

“Those who have rejected Jesus, for whom the cornerstone has become a stumbling stone, will be broken by Him.”—NAC

You can be on the church roll & in the church house, yet reject Jesus!

?Can this also be a warning to us that our ‘brokenness’ is necessary in order to follow Jesus?

b.—In like manner, the one upon whom the stone falls[indirectly opposed] will be “ground to powder” or scattered like dust[unrecoverable].

“...even if one does not actively oppose Jesus[cf.--a.], anything less than genuine discipleship will lead to judgment—the stone will “fall on” & “crush” such a person.”—NAC

“...to those who have rejected Him[this Cornerstone] is either the stone of stumbling or the stone that crushes, in both cases brings ruin to them.”—WBC

“For those who will not have Jesus as Deliverer, He becomes Destroyer.”.....“God’s enemies are destined to be pulverized into nothingness.”—MNTC

Jn. 9:39-41—“And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, & that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, & said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”

Mat. 10:28, 32-36—““And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul & body in hell.”.....“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, & a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; “& ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’”