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Daniel Sydlik
1919 – 2006
Appointed to Governing Body: November 28, 1974
Life Story: June 1, 1985 Watchtower p. 22 "How Priceless Your Friendship, O God"
It was announced this morning (Wednesday,April 19,2006) that Brother Daniel Sydlik died yesterday
afternoon. (Tuesday,April 18,2006) Brother Sydlik was born 2/12/19 near Belleville, Michigan, and
was baptized 7/28/40. He began pioneering one year later, and received various special pioneering
assignments in California. In July 1944 the Draft Board denied Brother Sydlik exemption from
military service although he was a full-time minister. He served almost two years at the McNeil Island
Federal Penitentiary in Washington State. Brother Sydlik began Bethel service in August 1946, and he
married his wife, Marina, on 6/27/70. He served at Bethel almost 60 years, working in the Printery, at
the WBBR radio station, and in the Writing Department. In July 1974 Brother Sydlik was appointed
to the Governing Body, and he worked along with the Personnel Committee for the past 30 years.
Throughout Brother Sydlik's 65 years of dedicated service, he exhibited a deep love for life, for people,
and for Jehovah.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Sister Sydlik.
We can be confident that Brother Sydlik's good works 'go right with him.' (Rev. 14:13)
“What Do You Call This Stone?”
(Notes from a Talk by Brother Daniel Sydlik)
INTRODUCTION:
“If someone took a stone about ‘this’ long and ‘this’ wide and ‘this’ thick, and took the stone and
dropped it in front of your feet, and you tripped and fell over it, what would you call this stone. . ?”
Yes, this stone would be called a ‘stumbling stone’. . . . .
If one took another stone, same size, and it was dropped in front of your feet, and you very carefully
raised your foot and put it on it, stepped up on it, what would you call this stone. .?”
A ‘stepping stone’. . . . .
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Now, actually, what is the difference between the two stones? They are both ‘this’ wide long and
thick, both dropped in front of you, even dropped by the same person. . .
The only difference between a ‘stumbling’ stone and a ‘stepping’ stone, is. . . . . how you use it!
If we put our foot on it, it is called a stepping stone. . .
If we trip over it, it is called a stumbling stone. . .
It is our responsibility to see that everything dropped in front of us is used as a ‘stepping’
stone.
From time to time we hear expressions such as "I'm stumbled" or "that brother or sister was
stumbled." In actual fact, have they been stumbled, or did they stumble? Is it something that was
under their control? Did they do it, or did someone else do it? That is the question we are going to
examine today.
We do have a scriptural principle upon which our discussion is based. It is 1 Peter 2: 4,7,8:
“Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected, it is true, by men, but chosen, precious, with God,
It is to YOU, therefore, that he is precious, because YOU are believers; but to those not believing,
“the identical stone that the builders rejected has become [the] head of [the] corner,” 8 and “a stone of
stumbling and a rock-mass of offense.” These are stumbling because they are disobedient to the
word. To this very end they were also appointed.”
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Now, this discusses ‘stumbling stones’ and ‘building stones’ or, if you like, ‘stepping stones’. Now the
situation is straightforward isn't it? This stone is Jesus; The one that placed the stone on earth is
Jehovah.
To some, Jesus was a stone for building upon or, stepping up, their Christian activity.
To others, he was a rock mass of offence, and stone of stumbling.
Was it Jesus' fault? Was it the fault of the stone? Was it the fault of the person who used it wrongly?
The unbeliever saw him as a stone for stumbling, an offensive rock mass.
On the other hand, to those who were believing, he was the basis of salvation. He was a stepping
stone to salvation.
From time to time we talk about being stumbled, about someone else being stumbled. We hope today
to be able to illustrate and point out to you there is no such thing as a stumbling stone, unless
you want it to be a stumbling stone, regardless of the fact that the person who put the stone in
front of you may mean it to be a ‘stumbling’ stone. The Bible condemns people who intentionally try
to stumble others. It says "it is better for him to get a great millstone, hang it around his neck and
jump into the ocean."
It would be better for him to do that than to stumble on of Jehovah's little ones. Let us refer to a
scripture
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that will state just that. Psalm 91:9-12, 16:
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“Because you [said]: “Jehovah is my refuge,”You have made the Most High himself your
dwelling;10 No calamity will befall you,And not even a plague will draw near to your
tent.11 For he will give his own angels a command concerning you,To guard you in all
your ways.12 Upon their hands they will carry you, That you may not strike your foot
against any stone. 16 With length of days I shall satisfy him, and I shall cause him to see
salvation by me.”
If we really have a relationship with Him, there is not a thing that will ever make us stumble.
So, will we be able to be stumbled if Jehovah is our place of dwelling?
While the Bible talks from time to time about certain people stumbling and so on, this gets at the
motive of those who are deliberately trying to get people to break off their relationship with Jehovah
God. If a person has such a motive, then they have problems with Jehovah.
Never let it be said that someone could come into our midst and, regardless of how they behaved or
how wicked they might be or what they might do, that they could ever cause us to lose our
relationship that we personally have with Jehovah God.
If they can, then what sort of relationship do we have with Jehovah? If any human can interfere with
that relationship, did you really have it in the first place?
Is it based or founded on any human on the earth today? We know it isn't. Therefore, no human
could ever make you stumble; but we still hear the expression and we generally use it to describe a
little upset in the congregation and, in actual fact, such upsets can be the best indicators of
advancement.
So, let's take a typical example of somebody being stumbled. . . .
Let's take a sister in the congregation and she has a sore toe. In fact, it's an ingrown toenail. She
has it bandaged up because even air blowing on it causes her to cringe. She is wearing an open toe
slipper.
She comes to the meeting and comes in the front door.
Everyone is gathered around the back, like we do before the meeting. She has her foot stuck out in
front of her and she sort of guides it through everyone very carefully and, finally, she makes it to her
seat. Now, the meeting is over, everyone is standing up again, mingling around visiting, and the poor
sister has to get her toe back through everyone and out to the front door. Everything is going quite
well; she is almost to the door. Then, along comes Sister Clumsy. Sister Clumsy is a well meaning
person, but she usually puts her feet down first and looks afterwards to see which way they went. So,
she comes along and, “crunch!”, right on the end of the sister's toe!!!
Can you imagine the situation? It takes all of the sister's will power just to keep from screaming out
loud.
Now, we have a sister whose face is red, maybe steam coming out of her ears and nose; Very much
out of sorts, we could say. Sister Clumsy is half-way down the aisle without even realizing that she
stepped on the sister's toe!! Our sister can't even speak because of the pain and, if she did speak, it
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would not be upbuilding anyway. So, now the sister makes her way carefully outside, makes it to her
car and, somehow, gets home.
Well! Someone saw the situation, told one of the elders the sister was stumbled. They thought Sister
Clumsy stumbled her. One of the elders would have the privilege of calling on her to encourage her
and to fix things up. As soon as she opens the door, what a reception he would get. He wouldn't get a
word in edgeways. "You can't tell me she didn't see my toe...if that is the kind of sisters we have at
the Kingdom Hall...I'm not going back if she is there...shopping at the mall no one stepped on my
toe."
So the poor elder would leave, get in his car, give a sigh, say a prayer, and go home. Then we would
say, "She was stumbled." Instead of a stumbling stone, could this situation have been a stepping
stone? We could say she has a reason, couldn't we? Any of us would be a little upset, wouldn't we?
Would it be possible that the situation could be a ‘stepping stone’?
Of course it's a stepping stone!
How. . . ?
Let's go back to the situation. If Sister Clumsy goes around stepping on people's toes, then she has a
problem and it needs to be dealt with.
However, Sister Soretoe has the opportunity of looking at this situation in a new light. Ask
yourself this question: How come this Sister Soretoe got so upset? What flaw is there in her
personality that would allow her to talk like that? Does it not show that her relationship with
Jehovah was almost non-existent?
According to 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, there are fire resistant Christians. (Wt. Nov.1,1966)
“According to the undeserved kindness of God that was given to me, as a wise director of works I
laid a foundation, but someone else is building on it. But let each one keep watching how he is
building on it. 11 For no man can lay any other foundation than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood materials, hay, stubble,
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will show it up, because it will be revealed by
means of fire; and the fire itself will prove what sort of work each one’s is. 14 If anyone’s work that he
has built on it remains, he will receive a reward; 15 if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss,
but he himself will be saved; yet, if so, [it will be] as through fire.”
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The gist of this is that 'the hay and stubble' is what is known as a doctrinal Christian, a person who
knows the Truth doctrinally; but 'the gold, silver and precious metal' is the Christian whose personality
has come to conform to what God requires. Now 'the day that will show it up' is the destruction of
Babylon the Great. And that means that if we are doctrinal Christians, our works will be burned up,
our works are flammable; but if we have a personality change then, of course, we are fire resistant
Christians.
Here is the situation: Did Sister Soretoe imagine that she had a lot of self-control? We all imagine
we have a lot of self-control don't we? When we are home by ourselves reading the Bible, no one
around, we are marvellous persons, aren't we? There you sit, peacefully and happily, reading about
self-control and saying: "Uh huh, I have that...patience? Oh yes, I'm very patient...kind? Oh, there is
no one kinder than me." You assess yourself under this situation, when you are alone with no one
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around. Now you walk out of the door into the real world. Then, all of a sudden, you come into a
situation. Before you know, it a car pulls out in front of you, you slam on the brakes, one of your hub
caps comes off, rolls in front of another car which promptly runs over it...$125. The driver that pulled
out in front of you sees what happens and is laughing his head off!! You say, "Well, these things
happen, he probably hasn't been driving too long, I don't want to do anything that might bring
reproach."...or do you find your face is red, steams coming out of your ears, you have your hand
slammed down on the horn and maybe you find yourself saying things that you are glad no one else
can hear? It can happen, can't it? Suddenly, you find you are not quite the person you though you
were.
Now, if this sister had only imagined she had self-control and didn't really have it in her personality,
she would go merrily on her way until she came to the destruction of Babylon the Great, and that
would be the end of her. She doesn't realize she should give attention to this matter. She doesn't
know she has a problem with self-control. She came to the meeting and finds out she does have a
problem with self-control. There are other fruitages of the spirit she is lacking, too. What would be
some of the others? Long-suffering, kindness, mildness, etc. Now, if she applied the lesson and
learned from the situation; if she asked herself the question, "How could I lose my self-control if
I'm a fire-resistant Christian?;" she will go to the Scriptures and read texts concerning self-control
and allow Jehovah's spirit to cooperate with her, pray to Jehovah, work on the problem and, when the
Great Tribulation comes, Jehovah will say, "Very nice, very good personality; come right on into the
New Order."
So, who is her best friend? Of all the brothers and sisters, who is her best friend? The sister who
stepped on her toe actually helped save her life! So, whenever we come into any situation, do we
always say, "They upset me, they shouldn't have said that; he upsets me so, he is obviously bad."
Or, do we say, "If I can be that upset, what's the matter with me?"
So, when this person comes along and upsets us, puts the stumbling stone down, can we say,
"Oh look, a stepping stone!”
What is Jehovah trying to tell me?
What flaw does he see in my character?
What is my weakness?
What do I need to work on?"
Instead of a constant row of ‘stumbling stone’s with your face always in the mud, it is a constant row
of ‘stepping stone’s, with your head held erect, progressing toward maturity in Jehovah's
organization.
Now, you see, brothers and sisters, there is a rather unusual thing that you will notice if ever
you analyze a Congregation:
If it were not for the Truth, most of us here would not have met one another would we? You know
what Jehovah could do? He could look all around the world and find 60 or 70 people with
personalities similar to yours. He could draw them all together into one congregation. Wouldn't that be
nice? Everyone thinks exactly like you, everybody's outlook is the same, everyone is like your very
best friend, and the congregation is full. You are happy. No one ever says a cross word. Never any
problems or difficulties, no one ever gets upset, no blown fuses.
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Then, when we get to Armageddon, Jehovah destroys that whole congregation. Why? Because no
one ever saw the need to make any changes. Everybody said, "We are all beautiful, we are all right,
we are all happy."
The fact is, we are not! There are only two types of people who don't have to change and that is the
person who is perfect and the one who never wishes to be!
If you are not quite perfect and you want to stay alive long enough to be perfect, then obviously we
have to make changes. How long since you've made a change in your personality? Which flaw are
you working on currently? Nothing? You mean you are perfect already? How long since you asked
someone what faults you need to work on? You haven't? Was it because they might tell you?
Sometimes, we don't want to know that badly, do we? As a matter of fact, this is one of our problems.
Have you ever said to someone, "Brother (or sister), I would like to call your attention a weakness in
your personality, a little flaw: you seem to lack a little self-control."
He looks at you all wide-eyed and says,
"Oh, no, you have it all wrong. I've got a lot of faults, but self-control is not one of them. No, no. I'm
positive on that."
"What are your faults, then," you say.
"I've got a lot of faults."
"Especially which one," you ask.
"Oh, everything. All kinds." (We love talking in generalities and hate being specific.) "I'm such a weak
person, so imperfect."
"Yes, I agree with you. One of your faults is impatience."
"No, no, that's not one of them!" (This is being specific now.) "I've got a lot of faults, but patience is
not one of them."
"Well, and your trouble is you are a little unkind."
"What!!! That's my strong point! If there is something I'm good at, it's being kind."
"Well, what are some of your faults?"
So, we just love being general, don't we? We just have to face the fact that there are definite
flaws in our character, certain specific problems we need to work on. This is where we need to
face ourselves, look in the mirror, and see what kind of people we really are. What kind of a
relationship do we have with Jehovah, or our relationship with people, or with the
Organization.
So, this is how a ‘stumbling stone’ becomes a ‘stepping stone’. Simply by looking at it, seeing
it for what it is, and taking advantage of it. Make changes in YOUR personality that others can
see.
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To illustrate this from the Bible, let us take up the account of a man who is called an apostle,
although not one of the original 12. His name was Barnabus. When you think of Barnabus, you
automatically think of someone else who always goes first; Paul's name is (always) first (“Paul
and Barnabus. . .etc.,)
Why? Did you know that Barnabus came into the Truth first?
Did you know who it was that taught and trained Paul?
The apostle Barnabus!
Actually, his name was not Barnabus but Joseph. We can read about him in the book of Acts,
Chapter 4. He was a Jew born of the tribe of Levi. He was a native of Cyprus. He was one of the
ones present on the day of Pentecost 33 CE and heard Peter's speech recorded at Acts 2. He was
either converted on the day of Pentecost or a day or two afterwards. It is understood that he was one
of the 3,000 baptized on the day of Pentecost.
Barnabus, or Joseph, was a big-hearted man, generous, an extrovert. If anybody was depressed, do
you know whom he or she called on? Joseph. Evidently he would comfort them, build them up, and
cheer them up. We know this because the Apostles nicknamed him Barnabus, ‘Son of Comfort’. He
is better known by his nickname than by his real name. Let's notice in Acts 4:36. He was a generous
man, sold everything he had and turned the money over to the Apostles. Can you imagine yourself in
this situation: the brothers announce that some brothers from another country need help with funds to
continue the preaching work. So, you sell your home and withdraw your savings and send it to the
brothers. You might say, "It's easy to make money in the U.S., so we will send all we have now to
these brothers."
How many of us would be prepared to go quite that far? We would put a little in the congregation box,
we're glad to help. But Barnabus sold the land and gave it all. That's the kind of brother we're talking
about. We can't help but admire Barnabus.
After Paul was converted, the Apostles didn't want to meet him. They were not sure it wasn't a
scheme to infiltrate the organization and murder more Christians. When Paul came down to
Jerusalem to meet up with the Apostles, they wouldn't talk to him! (Acts 9:26)
Who do you think came to the rescue? Our big-hearted brother, Barnabus! He came to Paul's
aid and led him to the Apostles. Now turn, please, to Acts 13, where a list of prominent men is
found.
Let's check verse 1:
13 “Now in Antioch there were prophets and teachers in the local congregation, Bar´na·bas as well
as Sym´e·on who was called Ni´ger, and Lucius of Cy·re´ne, and Man´a·en who was educated with
Herod the district ruler, and Saul.”
Notice the top of the list; whose name is found?
Barnabus!
Look at the bottom of the list and what do we conclude from that?
Barnabus, or Joseph, was a very prominent person in the Antioch congregation.
He was the one that introduced Paul to the disciples.
He was the head of the teaching list.
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Now, notice verse 2;
As they were publicly ministering to Jehovah and fasting, the holy spirit said: “Of all persons set
Bar´na·bas and Saul apart for me for the work to which I have called them.”
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Now whose name is first? . . .Barnabus and Saul.
They went off on a job; they worked together under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
As you keep reading, in Acts 15:35, Paul's name begins to come first, and Barnabus' comes
second.
What do you think happened. . ?
Well one day, quite obviously, Barnabus is called into the office of the older men who did the
appointing and they must have said to Barnabus "You know, Barn, you've done a very good job in training Paul.
In fact, you've done such a good job, now we would like to put him in charge of you.
The next tour you go on, we'd like Paul to be in charge of you.
You can be second in command, second of two."
Now, if Barnabus had reacted like most humans react, (and maybe sometimes like we react in
situations like this,) he might have said something like this,
"That's gratitude for you! So that's all you think of all my hard work?
I was in the Truth when he was still out murdering Christians.
I gave you all my money, all my property.
That's thanks for you!
Now, what do you do?
You put him in charge!
How could you do this to me?
You wouldn't even talk to him, I had to bring him to you.
I could go back to the Jewish religion.
They didn't treat me like this, and I am one of the tribe of Levi..."
He would have been stumbled, wouldn't he? Is that how he reacted? In these pages of the Bible, just
by changing the names over, a whole human drama unfolds:
From time to time, that's the way it happens in our organization.
Brothers in different positions are changed or altered, moved around.
We have to react to these situations. In fact, Jehovah is interested in how we do react.
We can learn a valuable lesson by the way Barnabus reacted.
He was a big man with a big heart and he knew who his relationship was with.
He knew what he was doing.
He knew why he was in the Truth.
His attitude was, "It's OK by me: I'll be first in charge, second in charge, last in charge, whatever.
I just want to get on with the preaching of the good news. . . .
That's the important thing to do. . . .
Wherever you think I can best fit in, it's OK by me."
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Don't think that our Barnabus was a wishy-washy type of person who wouldn't stand up if the
circumstances required it. An example of this happened just a little later on. In Acts 15, there was a
little bit of stumbling going on. Verse 36 says now this was no small quarrel - what does it say? A
"sharp burst of anger."
The background to this situation is very interesting. . .
John, surnamed Mark, who is talked about here, is Mark the Bible writer. Mark was Barnabus'
cousin. He has grown up in Jerusalem. He has been used to sleeping in beds, eating meals on
plates and tables. His family was well-off, financially. They were constantly visited by apostles and
other prominent ones in the organization. Young John Mark, a teenager, used to sit and listen to the
exciting and romantic stories of what occurred on the missionary tours; the highwaymen, the
shipwrecks, all the exiting things that would appeal to a young person. Then, one day, he begged
Paul and Barnabus to let him go with them on a tour and, finally, convinced them to take him along.
Let's imagine them off on a tour:
Paul, a small, wiry man with lots of nervous energy, going a hundred miles an hour all the time,
, , ,and big, old, loveable Barnabus, heavy-framed, long stride, and used to walking all day, striding
along thinking about their ministry.
In the back, bringing up the rear, we find John Mark, hot, tired, thirsty, probably not having walked for
more than an hour in his life!!
So, it probably went something like this:
John Mark: "Paul, when are we going to eat?"
Paul: "Eat? Have a drink of water; we have to keep going, we will eat tonight."
Now, it is close to nightfall, and John Mark might have said something like this: "Paul, where is the
inn?"
Paul says, "An inn. What's an inn? we don't stay in inns on missionary tours!"
"Well, where will we sleep then?" says John Mark.
"We'll get off the road over there and have a rest."
So they lie down, and can you imagine John Mark, dusty, used to a bath probably, with the rocks
digging into his back, Paul and Barnabus probably snoring by now? Finally, Mark drops off to sleep
only - to wake up about 4 hours later stiff, legs cramping, the ground has cooled off and he is
shivering and he says, "Paul, I'm freezing."
Paul says, "OK, no problem. Let's get up, I wanted to get an early start anyway. Let's go. Walking will
soon warm you up!"
So this is the way it went every day, day after day. . . .
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Then, one day, Mark had had it. He wasn't used to it, couldn't take it, so he said:, "I want to go
home!"
Paul said, "You want to what?"
"Yes, I want to go home; I can't take it. I'm sore and tired, I've got sores all over my feet,
mosquito bites all over me and I've just got to go home."
So Paul says, "Well, that's just great, now we have to go over to a seaport, get you on a boat
and we'll never be able to keep on schedule. What a mess!"
Now, with all of this background, let’s return to the "sharp burst of anger" in Acts 15:
Barnabus says to Paul, "I think I'll take John Mark with me on this tour.. . .”
Paul says, "Are you crazy? You think you're going to take that mamby-pamby kid – not as long
as I'm in charge! We're not taking him, and that's that!"
Barnabus says, "I am taking him! . . .He's learned a lot since then, he feels really bad, and I
think we could give him another chance."
Paul says, "Well, if you take him, you're not going with me, and that's final!"
Barnabus says, "Well, that suits me just fine, I'll go on my own!"
Paul says, "Good!”
They split up, the Scriptures say, in "a sharp burst of anger." They went their various ways.
Who was right. . . ?
Barnabus was!
Mark became an excellent missionary, and even wrote a book of the Bible.
Who had to eat humble pie . . . ?
Guess who stood there and heard it all?. . John Mark.
How would you feel, standing there, hearing your qualifications for the ministry discussed in such
terms?
Do you know how the story ends?
It doesn't really tell us very much but in Colossians 4:10:
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Ar·is·tar´chus my fellow captive sends YOU his greetings, and so does Mark, the cousin of
Bar´na·bas, (concerning whom YOU received commands to welcome him if ever he comes to YOU,)
Nice conclusion, isn't it?
Mark was with Paul, so we can see by what Paul says in Colossians
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that there was no longer any problems. . .
So, what must have happened?
Paul must have had to go to John Mark and say,
"Look, John, I'm sorry;I was wrong; You've done very well. . . I'd like you to go with me and
help on the next tour."
Now, what would you have said? Maybe, "No, you didn't want me before. You said I wasn't any
good. You said I was mamby-pamby. You stumbled me, so I'm sticking to Barnabus, my
cousin. He's had faith in me all along, not like you."
Do you think that is what happened? Evidently not, or they wouldn't have been together when
Paul concluded his letter to the Colossians. Those early Christians had their problems, but they
were men enough, mature enough. They had a good relationship with Jehovah, so as to make every
‘stumbling stone’ that appeared in front of their feet a ‘stepping stone’ to Christian growth and
maturity.
So, evidently, John Mark said,
"Paul, I would be glad to come with you, you were justified in feeling the way you did and I'm
sorry I made such a mess of the first tour when I was just a kid and did those stupid things."
So why, today, do we feel justified in speaking out because we think someone has been too
rough on us, "came close to stumbling us"?
I wonder if anyone has ever been as rough on us as what happened to one of the most loved of all
the apostles, Peter?
We always think of Peter as an impulsive man, but that's not really true. Peter was a warm-hearted
and spontaneous man. Peter was a man, not a childish, petty individual. When you stop and think
about it, isn't that where we often find problems between ones in the congregation stemming from?
Childishness, petty problems? "How dare that sister say that about me, poor little me? I'm stumbled."
Peter used to try and please people. In fact, he tried too hard sometimes. He didn't always think first,
just went straight into situations. One day, he found himself in a situation where he was in a group of
Gentiles eating meat with them. No problem. Then came along some prominent Jews. So Peter
wouldn't eat meat with the Gentiles any longer. Now, this was bad wasn't it? Peter probably assisted
many of these Gentiles into the Truth.
Some may have been his studies and, now, he won't even sit with them?
Galatians chapter 2 talks about it...
Peter isn't confessing his sins in this scripture;
In fact, who wrote Galatians?
So, why is Paul writing about Peter's faults?
Imagine yourself as Peter, one of the 12 apostles, one of the Governing Body.
Now, here is a letter written to the entire district of Galatia.
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All the congregations in Galatia see and hear it.
This is what the apostle Paul wrote about the apostle Peter:
Galatians 2:11-14.
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However, when Ce´phas came to Antioch, I resisted him face to face, because he stood
condemned. 12 For before the arrival of certain men from James, he used to eat with people of the
nations; but when they arrived, he went withdrawing and separating himself, in fear of those of the
circumcised class. 13 The rest of the Jews also joined him in putting on this pretense, so that even
Bar´na·bas was led along with them in their pretense. 14 But when I saw they were not walking
straight according to the truth of the good news, I said to Ce´phas before them all: “If you, though you
are a Jew, live as the nations do, and not as Jews do, how is it that you are compelling people of the
nations to live according to Jewish practice?”
How would you like to see that in a letter from the circuit overseer or one of our fellow elders
sent to all the congregations in the area about us?
"Brother 'so and so' is a hypocrite, I rebuked him. I stood up to him in front of the whole
congregation."
That's what Paul did to Peter in front of the congregation and then wrote about it to the district
of Galatia.
How would we feel? The next assembly we went to we would probably turn our lapel card
backwards wouldn't we? We might have our head bowed a little, might we not?
What did Peter do? Did he say, "I'll get even with him; He wasn't even one of the original 12."
He could have resigned, started Christian Religion number 2.
That is not what Peter did. As a matter of fact, if we could do what Peter did, then we
would know how to turn a stumbling stone into a stepping stone.
Notice what that warm hearted-apostle said in 2 Peter 3:15:
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Furthermore, consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul
according to the wisdom given him also wrote YOU,
Now, there is a good example!
What did he say?
"Our beloved brother..."
The one who gave him the counsel, the one who called him a hypocrite, was his very best friend!
CONCLUSION:
Like sister Clumsy stepping on sister Soretoe. Brothers and sisters, that is where we are today, in that
situation. We are in a congregation of people that are not like ourselves. Look around. See the
variety, the
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backgrounds, the environment different ones were raised in. Now, due to our heart condition, we
have been drawn together as a congregation. We bump each other, rub each other up the
wrong way, and irritate each other.
It's like the lapidary business. It says in Haggai, "I will bring from all the nations the treasures, the
precious, the desirable stones, like treasures from the nations. I will bring them in and will
beautify my house," my beautiful restored temple, with the other sheep that he calls ‘gemstones’.
So we are like gems or jewels. Like a diamond that is uncut, we reflect nothing that is very
nice until we are cut and polished into shape. When Jehovah's light shines down into the earthly
organization and it touches us, let's hope that we reflect that light like a cut diamond reflects the light,
or do we absorb the light in our dullness like an uncut stone? That is why, like a diamond, our
cutting and polishing has to continue for God's praise and glory, that we might be something
that can actually beautify his arrangement. Because we are in that arrangement it is a privilege
to be bumped and knocked about, isn't it? Jehovah allows situations to come upon us.
THERE IS NO SITUATION PERMITTED TO COME UPON US THAT ISN'T FOR OUR ULTIMATE
BENEFIT, IF WE ALLOW IT TO BE.
If we fall on our face, trip over the stone, then we miss the purpose of Jehovah allowing it.
He cares for us, he loves us, he wants us to stay with him. He wants us to develop to be perfect.
He allows us to come into situations where things are brought to our attention.
It says in 1 Peter 2:5, "God will finish our training." Are we dodging it? Are we avoiding it? Or,
are we looking at it as Jehovah God, thanking him prayerfully for the help in overcoming these
situations?
Therefore, if someone took a stone about ‘this’ wide, ‘this’ long, and ‘this’ thick, and dropped it in front
of us,
“What Would We Call This Stone. . . . ?”