Romans 14:13

Causing others to spiritually stumble

1.  Causing someone to stumble is doing anything that hinders the spiritual edification of another person. What are some of the ways we can cause someone to stumble by our actions? Or by our inaction? Every one of us has character flaws. In what ways might your own flaws be having a spiritual impact on yourself or others?

2.  Causing someone to stumble spiritually is a different thing from pleasing or displeasing them. Can you imagine a situation where someone might be displeased with something you said or did, yet have been spiritually edified by it? Or can you imagine another situation where someone could be very pleased to hear a particular kind of teaching and yet be spiritually harmed by it?

Revelation 2:2 & 6, 14 & 15 and

2 Peter 2:1-2, 12-22

False Teaching

3.  Christ commends the church at Ephesus for hating the practices of the Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:2 & 6). Why is Christ so intolerant towards false teachers? (Matthew 18:6-7).

4.  Balaam’s error involved encouraging God’s people to sin, which brought divine judgment on them (Numbers 31:16). What are the effects of leaving false teaching within the church unchecked? (2 Peter 2:1-2, 12-22).

5.  The fact that maturing Christians become more Christlike means that they will increasingly love the things that He loves and hate the things that He hates. What is Christ’s attitude towards Christians who tolerate false teachers to spread false teaching in the church? (Revelation 2:20-23a). What might that mean for us today? (Romans 16:17-18 and Ephesians 5:11).

Matthew 24:11-13 and Revelation 2:7

Conquering

6.  Christ promises that those who overcome and conquer will be granted the right to eat from the tree of life in paradise (v7). It’s not just false teaching and immoral practices that need to be conquered, cooling off in love must also be overcome. What stops us from overcoming in this area?

7.  Christ’s promise that we will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God means that there are spiritual blessings of feeding on Christ and having an ever-closer relationship with Him, both now and in eternity. How do these things incentivise us to keep going and keep overcoming in the Christian life? What things might need to change in our lives and devotional habits in order that we will feed on Christ more?