It's All Fun And Games Until Someone Loses An Eye

God would have you and me to be effective for his kingdom. As believers we are children of his kingdom and with rights come responsibility. God expects us to examine our lives to see and find the areas that cause us to stumble and then pluck those areas out. It is not enough for us to know that sin exist but we are to root the sin out. This can only be done by conforming our thought process to God’s standard which Philippians 4:8 so clearly defines for us. We are to understand that if we do not take this area in our lives seriously we run the risk of being disqualified in service to God. One day we as believers we will stand before the Judgment seat of Christ not to give an account our sins for they have been paid for, but rather to give account for our effectiveness for God’s kingdom in this life. We must seek to honor and glorify him with our lives and in doing so allow him to use us.

IV. Application:

We need to identify areas in our lives that cause us to stumble. As I prepared for this message today I examined my own life to find what areas had I not subjected to God. After prayerfully considering I determined there were things that God wished for me to pluck out. I would encourage you to do the same. This should be something that you spend time on as you prayerfully consider what God would have you to pluck out of your lives.

We need to captivate our thoughts to God’s standard. It is not enough to just identify the area of your life that causes you to stumble, but is vital that you plan a course of action to see that the sin is rooted out. In my own life I had to develop some steps that I would follow in order to see these habits become God conformed. Of course we must always remind ourselves of Philippians 4:8 as we focus our attention on changing our thought processes.

We must pursue an effective witness in our lives. For the believer who allows sin to be rooted in their lives, it will bring about a life of disappointment and discouragement. Paul tells us that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit thereby encouraging us in position with Christ. We also learn that we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit; he is working in our lives to make us more like Christ. If we do not deal with the sin issue than the believer will lose their effectiveness. However, if a person does not care about dealing with the sin issue, then the natural question that must be asked is, Are you really saved?

Conclusion:

Now we get back to the issue at hand. Why did Jesus say these words? It is apparent this is an admonition to withstand the first springs and occasions of evil desires by sacrificing what is most useful and dear to us. Jesus grounds his precept of the most rigid self denial on the consideration of the truest self interest. It would be more profitable for one to pluck out an eye and enter into life, than to have two eyes and be cast into hell. I just don’t think he’s exaggerating here. I’m sorry theologians. I’m sorry commentators. This preacher just can’t go along with it.