WHAT MUST BE DONE WHEN YOUR FOOT, EYE, OR HAND OFFENDS YOU- Mt.1

By Edward O’Hara,

This is probably one of the most important messages I have ever given. So please, receive it in the spirit of love in which it is intended. It is regarding the offenses that Jesus said must come. How they come. And what believers must do about these offenses when they come.

And please note that what we are told by Jesus and Paul is to be done with these offenses is not a reference to what is done with a brother in the Lord. One who is truly a part of the body of Christ. Because a true brother in Christ can not do what these offenders do. Only an unbeliever can do these kinds of offenses.

Which brings us again to the question in the title of this message that asks how can your foot offend you. To which must be added for that matter how can any body part offend you? It really can’t. At least not the eye, foot, hand, knee, etc that is part of your physical body.

So to properly understand what Jesus meant by this parable we need to look at what Paul taught about the body of Christ. Because it is among this body that the offenses that Jesus spoke of may come. In 1Cor.12 Paul said, “For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”

So it is from the parts of what is supposed to be the body of Christ, but are actually the tares that have been allowed to grow alongside them, that is to be cut off when they bring in offenses that may lead others in the body astray, after being given an opportunity at repentance.

So for example, when Paul said about the man that was having sex with his father’s wife that they were to kick him out of their fellowship. He was describing exactly what Jesus said about your hand, foot, or eye offending you.

We can also see from this example that it’s not just any wrong teaching like the timing of the rapture that causes such an offense. It is only those that are of consequence regarding salvation that fit here. Which would be what is believed about the Jesus of the Bible and His atonement.

So we won’t have the same response about the offense when someone gets it wrong about the timing of the rapture or tongues, or even whether or not one must be baptized through immersion or sprinkling, or at all, to be saved. As we must when a teaching is an offense to who Jesus is and what the atonement was for.

Which is why at this channel I am so myopic in my focus regarding those things that are absolutes where salvation is concerned. And is why I spend so much time helping people to understand what happens when a man is born again. And what it really is that caused man’s need for Jesus in the first place.

Because many times rather than trying to discover as much as possible about their new life in Christ when a person first comes to faith. Most people once they are saved are done learning what it actually means to be saved, or even what happened to them when they chose to believe in Jesus, that sets them apart from the rest of mankind as children of God and heirs to His kingdom.

And instead begin trying to move on to the more difficult parts of the word of God before they have matured enough by drinking the milk of the word to be able to. And by doing this they many times accept things that are not Biblical because they have not “exercised their senses to be able to discern between good and evil”.

So, this is why Jesus said in Mt.18 “Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; BUT WOE TO THAT MAN BY WHOM THE OFFENSE COMETH!”

And then gave instructions about how to deal with the the man represented in this parable by the hand, foot, or eye that caused the offense saying, “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”

What do we have here? We are seeing that when we allow the offense of false teachings or wrong beliefs such as those we see in 1Cor.5 exhibited by the man who was having sex with his father’s wife to remain in the body, we risk the judgment of God that casts those who profess and glory in such things into the lake of fire.

We see here in Mt.18 also that our Father in heaven has such regard and love for us that when a sheep has gone astray He will leave the others to seek and to save the one gone astray. Showing that forgiveness is always the desired end. And not condemnation.

And as Jesus continues in vs.15-18 they are told how to go about cutting off the one who has caused the offense. Saying the one offended must go to him and try to work it out. And if the offender will not hear him he is to take 2 more with him to try to work it out. And if not them, then the offender is to be taken in front of the whole body. And upon not hearing them he is then cut off.

Now a believer will always hear a brother who is offended. And repent of the offense so that the body will function as God intended. But, an unbeliever sees no need for repentance. So he will resist these attempts at making things right with the body and with God.

Vs.18 tells us that this binds him both on earth and in heaven while he remains unrepentant. Meaning he is cut off from the body and unable to do any damage there.

He can only be loosed, or able to rejoin the body, when he repents. This is all about how repentance and forgiveness is to work as it pertains to the body of Christ. So is the authority given to the body of Christ by God for binding and loosening. For cutting off and forgiveness.

This is why Jesus says to Peter that we must forgive them when they repent. Not 7 times, but 70 times 7. Which means we must always be ready to forgive a man who repents of his offense.

Just as Paul told the Corinthians to forgive the man who was having sex with his father’s wife after he repented in 2Cor.2. Saying in vs.8, “Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.”

He saw the error in his beliefs and what it meant to be a part of the body of Christ. And turned from the offending beliefs to a true and saving faith in Jesus.

One thing that needs to be made clear about this is that the offender who Jesus said is to be cut off is not a believer. He is an unbeliever. Which is why he has brought such damnable offense into the body. And is so unwilling to repent. By turning from them to the truth.

He has no anchor for what he believes as the body of Christ does. Ours is the foundation of the prophets and apostles with Jesus our chief cornerstone as Paul tells us in Eph.2:20. While the offender had no personal relationship with Jesus. Nor any understanding about the things of God as they have been taught by the prophets and apostles.

So the reason for him being cut off is so that when he sees his offense he will also see his need for Jesus. To be saved from his pagan or self righteous past, to become an eternal part of the body of Christ by a personal loving relationship with Him. And not just someone that is in and among those that are joined in an eternal relationship with Jesus.

There is much more to add to this that I will try to cover in my next message. But, for now I want to ask you something very important. Something that has to do with the message I have shared with you today.

Are you someone who hangs around people that are joined to Christ but have never really trusted in Jesus for eternal life yourself? Are you someone at which the woes Jesus warned of are directed? Who brings with him certain offending beliefs about who Jesus is and what the atonement is for? If so, then now is the time to be joined with Jesus by putting your faith in Him.

To turn from the old way of believing you have learned from the false teachers of this world. To a loving relationship with your Creator. By first confessing the Lord Jesus. And believing that He has raised from the dead. By being born again by the Spirit of God.

Made a child of God by the creation of a spirit in you that joins us to Him eternally. A relationship that will never be able to be broken. As only a child’s is with his father. So shall your relationship be with your Creator. Making you heir to His kingdom. Having eternal life now, and immortality at the resurrection.

Trust in Him and you will have this eternal life. Do this and the new wine that is the spirit that He created in you will be poured into a new wine bottle which is the immortal body at the resurrection. Do this and you will inherit His kingdom. Do this… and I will see you there or in the air!

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