Matthew 18:1-14
“Who’s the Greatest?”
Vs. 1-3 A Child of the Kingdom
Vs. 4-6 Characteristics of Greatness
Vs. 7-10 Not Being A Stumbling Block
Vs. 11-14 Love of the Lost
Intro
This week’s presidential press conference was interrupted by a historic event. Right in the middle of the president’s speech, he noticed that most of the reporters eyes were turned away from him towards a TV screen. One of his aides told him that they were all watching the official retirement of Michael Jordan. If you ever go to Chicago, you will see M.J.’s statue out front with the slogan, “The greatest player that there ever was or will be!” How does one measure greatness? Is it by accomplishment, notoriety, or office?
This week as well, Time magazine issued its list for the most important person over the last 1,000 years. The person who got that honor was surprising to many, Johann Gutenberg. A man in whom very little is known. There are no records of his life and very little of his work. Why is history not even sure of his birth date?
As most of you are aware, Johann Gutenberg, a trained goldsmith, was the first person to invent the printing press with movable type. The first thing he printed was the Bible. So here, clearly, this man was noted as the most important based upon his accomplishments, which we have all benefited from. So what is the Bible’s position on greatness? That is what we shall see this morning as we look at the text.
Vs. 1-3 A Child of the Kingdom
“At that time.” is one of the little phrases in the Bible that speak to context. The events that follow this statement are preceded by what has happened before. It is clear that the disciples were thinking of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom. Simply put, they were confused; their ideas about the kingdom of Jesus were in contrast. Jesus had just spoken of the fact (17:24–27) that greatness had nothing to do with ethnicity but with relationship. So the disciple’s question is then, “If it’s not a birth right, then what is it based upon?”
The word “greatest” is a comparative word; it means “to a greater degree.” It appears that what the disciples were thinking is that since all were children of the king, then how does one advance? What is the basis of greatness if all are on the same field?
Vs. 2 Now before we get to the answer of our Lord’s, may I just say that it is interesting to me that Jesus does not rebuke the desire to be great? Within all of us fallen human beings there is a desire to be great; it is as natural as breathing. I have never met any person who wanted to fail or be last. We are competitive people; even if we are not competing ourselves, we compete through others.
In Minnesota, there is a new bumper sticker on cars in light of former pro wrestler and now state governor Jesse “The Body” Ventura. It says for all who visit that great state, “My governor can beat up your governor.” Let’s be honest, we compete at everything we do to some degree, all in the desire to be great.
I believe that the problem lies not in the desire to be great, for Jesus does not rebuke that, but rather at the fall, man’s basis of evaluating greatness became warped. Adam and Eve walked in the garden with the Lord; the greatness that they attained was based solely upon their relationship with the Lord, but the moment sin entered their lives, greatness was based upon outward things. In Luke 9:46, we are told that these guys were actually arguing over who would be the greatest; that sounds kind of like a sporting event!
Now let’s see how Jesus answers this: “He called a little child to Him; set him in the midst of them. So here is what makes a person great in the kingdom of God.
1.) Responded to the word of God: Notice Jesus called a little child. There were children all around. Everywhere you see in scripture Jesus with children, you see Him wanting to hang out with them. The issue was never that little children didn’t want to be with Him; it was that others were keeping them from getting to Him.
A.) Part of the response then has to be obedience, but it is obedience that is not, “Do I have to?” It is immediate. Now, every year at Christmas time, parents bring their kids to get a picture on Santa’s lap. In spite of the propaganda about Santa, kids still ball their eyes out when they have to go. Not so with the Lord.
B.) The second part of responding is just desiring to be with the Lord. Kids know who they want to be with; adults can be fooled, but not little kids.
You cannot be great in God’s kingdom unless you are first in His kingdom, which’s going to require obedience to His word.
C.) Can you imagine for a moment all of these rugged fishermen arguing about which one of them was going to have the higher position? Jesus just calls some little kid, and he comes running, not wanting anything other than time to play with Jesus. May I ask you what you want with Jesus? Are you looking for something from Him?
Do you secretly have some agenda that you want Him to give you? “Lord, I want you to make me the greatest _______!” Or do you just want to be near Him? Oh, to again have the heart that just wants to play with Jesus. You start to become great when you don’t care anything about being great; all you want is to be around Him who is great!
Vs. 3 Here is where Jesus starts to give these guys a definition of what greatness is.
1.) Converted: The word here at its root means to be strengthened from the base by means of being twisted in reverse. Do you get that? Greatness in the kingdom starts with a change. Greatness in God’s kingdom is the opposite of how it is defined in the world. First, it starts with a spiritual change. Is it not interesting that being twisted in reverse actually strengthens? Take two wires together; they are not all that strong; twist them together, and they become incredible strong.
This is the only outward quality of greatness in God’s kingdom; everything else has to do not with accomplishments or notoriety but rather with character!
2.) Become as a little child: You will notice that not only will you not be great if you are not converted, you won’t even be in His kingdom. So what does Jesus mean when He speaks about the character of a child? Well, it is safe to say that He is not speaking of the immaturity of a child. We shall see that He will tell us.
Vs. 4-6 Characteristics of Greatness
Vs. 4 Here then we shall see the qualities of a little child? First, as already seen in Jesus’ call to this child’s response, we can see a few things:
A.) Teachability: In children, there is always a character that has a hunger to learn. It may not always be in the subjects we would prefer, but they want to discover things. When my son was young, he wanted to know what animal was the toughest animal. So every time for a few months when he would see an animal on TV, he would ask, “Dad, who would win in a fight, an elephant or a tiger?” And I would have to answer; he just wanted to know what kind of pet would be the best to have in case you were attacked by another animal.
B.) Trusting: There was no cynicism in this child. That is another thing here; we see that adults are very cynical by nature. We learn to not trust as we grow older. Children take things at face value. Jesus said, Come here; the lad went. He did not stop to evaluate every piece of evidence; he just said that guy looks like fun.
C.) Humility: Someone once said that humility was not thinking of yourself too highly, but really humility is not thinking of yourself at all. In the Greek culture, the humble were powerless; that was a shameful thing. In a biblical perspective, it is a good thing to see yourself as powerless, for it is only then that we will see that we are totally dependent upon the Lord for everything. So we need to have that childlike dependence upon the Lord. Do you see this? Greatness in God’s kingdom comes about only as you depend upon Him for everything.
D.) Vs. 5 Tenderness: Here is another characteristic. When you hurt, they hurt. Kids hate to see others hurting or in need. So if we are like children, then we will receive others. You can have a bunch of kids together; put them together and bang they are all playing together, like they have been friends for years.
E.) Vs. 6 Innocence: A character of innocence is something that Jesus warns against robbing. We too ought to be innocent in nature, harmless as doves. If you go out in your backyard and see your pet rabbit half eaten by a dove right there next to it, you are not going to think the dove killed and ate the rabbit. Why? Because it does not fit the nature of the dove. Things ought not fit our nature to.
F.) Vs. 6 Sincerity: The word here to sin is “to throw off coarse.” Motive ought to always be pure. According to Jesus, to be drowned in the sea and then to rob a child of their innocence by a lack of sincerity.
So there you have what Jesus says is what is greatness. Inward character above outward things. Man, how much better would our world be if we defined greatness in terms of character instead of accomplishments and notoriety? Man, we would not even be having this trial in the Senate. And may I say that we would be responding differently as well? A person’s character is the only thing that will ought to last their accomplishments.
Vs. 7-10 Not Being A Stumbling Block
Vs. 7-9 Now Jesus has already spoken on these very things. It is interesting that He speaks of these things now in the context of greatness of character for the kingdom. What do I mean? Well, anything that would cause the loss of these characteristics in our lives needs to be put away from us. Hey, folks, we are free from sin.
Sin robs us of teachability, trust, tenderness, humility, innocence, and sincerity. These qualities are what make a person great in God’s kingdom, so if you want to be great, then you want to be free from anything that would rob you of being great.
So Jesus talks again about being serious about sin in our lives. Did you know that many animals, when they are trapped by the foot, will actually chew their own foot off to be free? For they realize that it is better to have only three paws be free than to have four mounted on the wall!
Vs. 10 Now verse ten has been used as the proof text for the belief that we have guardian angels. Heb. 1:14 does tell us that “angels are only servants. They are spirits sent from God to care for those who will receive salvation.” Yet with that said, there is no need to limit that to just one.
Jesus is saying to the disciples that you can test where your heart is at with greatness in your attitude towards the little children. Now He reminds them that these little children are precious to Him, the Father. The word “despise” means to think against or not esteem. We ought to esteem these characteristics as seen in the little children. He lists several reasons for it:
A.) In heaven, the children have angels who behold the face of the Father. In other words, these angels who are in the presence of the Father highly esteem these children; if they do so, ought we. More than that, they highly prize these little ones.
Vs. 11-14 Love of the Lost
Vs. 11 B.) Here Jesus gives yet another reason to esteem these characteristics. It is the very reason for His coming to bring mankind back from seeing himself based upon his accomplishments and notoriety. So that they would again see greatness based upon a Christlike character. If these are not what makes you great, then you are lost there, for know that Jesus is seeking to save you from that.
Vs. 12-14 Here we see the heart of Jesus, His unconditional love. He does not say, “Those dumb sheep getting away from Me, they are going to get what they deserve.” We also see what pleases the Father in finding the lost sheep. It has never been God’s desire to see any of the little children fall away from the love security that only He provides.
Matthew 18:15-35
“Great in Forgiveness”
Vs. 15-20 If Your Brother Sins Against You, How Many Times Shall I Forgive
Vs. 23-35 Settling Accounts
Intro
There arose an argument as to which one of the disciples’s would hold the highest position, to which Jesus used a child’s characteristics to show what greatness would be. Everything Jesus said dealt with inward qualities. The only thing that could be seen outwardly was a person’s conversion. Jesus spoke on the importance of making sure that we saw greatness in those terms; why He even said that we ought to be concerned about our own failures above that of others, but what if some blow it towards us?
It is interesting to me that Jesus raises the issue of someone else’s failure only after He mentions our own. We are always more concerned over someone else’s mistakes than we are about our own. I have found out that my sin always looks worse on you than it does on me. I believe that if I was always more concerned about my own shortcomings instead of others, I would not fall so often.
The story is told of the tragic death of Karl Wallenda, the world-famous tightrope walker who died in 1978 falling from a 75-foot high wire in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Not long after his death, his wife was interviewed, where she commented upon her husband’s obsession over personal failure at this stunt. In all of his previous stunts, he had been only concerned with walking, not falling.
She went on to say that his over concern with falling made him personally supervise the installation of the tightrope to ensure that those whom he had always trusted would not blow it this time. So instead of preparing to succeed in his walk, he only practiced not to fall, which she believed caused his death. How about you? Are you more concerned with others because you are afraid to fall? Why not put your energies into walking, not in falling?
Vs. 15-20 If Your Brother Sins Against You
Vs. 15 Remember that all of Chapter 18 happens at the same time. So the context of this passage on forgiveness is that of greatness in the kingdom of heaven. And as we have already seen greatness in the qualities of a child, also in making sure that we do not cause anyone to stumble. I believe that there is more to this as well, for forgiveness seems to be an indicator of greatness.
Take, for instance, the story in Luke 7:36–50 where Jesus was invited to a Pharisees house while there a woman came into the house set at His feet weeping. Her tears washed His feet; she dried them with her hair, then she anointed those feet with fragrant oil. All of this caused an uproar amongst the guests.
So Jesus told them a story about two people who owed a debt, one more than the other. They got the right answer, but they were on the wrong side of it. Notice who Jesus summarizes it in verse 47. “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
Is greatness measured upon the ability to forgive? Why sure! Is God not the greatest of all? And has He not forgiven the most? I came across this poem the other day titled:
Forgiven;
They hauled him, trembling, to the Judgment Seat.
“O Lord, behold the man who made the nails that pierced Your hands and feet!”
The master laid his nail-scarred hand upon the shame-bowed head.
“They were good nails,” he said…
What can be worse than a person who leads another astray? What does Jesus do with that person? Why, according to verses 11–14, He goes after both the one who was led astray and the one who did the leading. What if it happened to us? What should we do? Here then we are given practical instructions on the lost art of forgiveness.
1.) First, the words in verse 15 “against you” are not in some of the manuscripts. Folks, our responsibility to restore lies not in the fact that they have wronged us, but that they have by their sin wronged themselves. The point I make is that of motive it is not to correct some wrong done to us, rather it is to correct some wrong that they have done to themselves.
2.) Next we see the need to keep the matter private in the words, “Go tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Oh, how many times has this not been done by me? It is possible that the person is not aware of their behavior. Do not go seek counsel, telling the story to others for the purpose of prayer. Go in humility just between the two of you.
3.) In the word “gained,” we are given another clue to the lost art of forgiveness; our attitude ought not to be to win the argument but rather to gain out, brother. This word “gain” appears 16 times in the N.T. It’s a commercial term that is used to describe the process by which a man accumulates wealth. In the context, the person who sins is a loss; your loss, if restored, becomes a gain.
What this picture creates is a picture of a person’s value to us. Do you see what a difference this would make in our attitude toward forgiveness? If we would treat them as we would our dollars! In that great passage in Gal. 6:1 on restoring a brother who has sinned, Paul uses a similar word: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.” “Restore” means to set a broken bone; to do so requires tenderness and patience; all of these describe what our attitudes ought to be.
4.) Vs. 16 If the person will not here you, then only then do you take another person or persons to help in the restoration. So here is another principal in the lost art of forgiveness. Get help from others after you have tried to restore but have not been able to do so.
This is the social approach. Perhaps the person needs to see others who see them as valuable. They can make sure that your story is coming from a righteous heart so that they can establish that they see the same sin as you do.
5.) Vs. 17 If that does not work, then only then does it go to the whole body of Christ. Remember that our goal is that of winning our fallen brother. It is important that we see two points in this:
A.) It is the responsibility of the church to not allow a person to continue down a path that is destructive. Some folks think that it is love to allow believers to continue to destroy their lives and the lives of others. It is the church that has lost him; it ought to be the church that seeks to gain him back. We often try to win the lost, but it is important that we win the saved as well. We must keep the church holy, just as our Father is pure holy.
B.) With that said, as the backdrop, we are not talking about excommunication, which is usually thought of as kicking a person out of church and ignoring them. That is not what Jesus is saying here. Again, there is a process that has to have proceeded this way, but the time it has reached this stage, the church is involved in the protection of the family of God, and the fellowship of unconditional acceptance must be removed.
Simply put, if the person refuses the things of Christ for the things of the world, let them have the world, but let them have it at the expense of the benefits of the church. So Jesus says to treat them as a heathen, a tax collector. So how are we to treat them based upon these words?
Look at verse 11! The man whom you tried to gain who was a loss now falls into a new category, that of a person whom Christ has died. You keep him from the shelter of the church in order to bring him to the consciousness of his need, of which he will find grace again in the arms of Jesus.
Vs. 18-20 Here we are given three things concerning the church’s position on forgiveness:
1.) Vs. 18 Purity: Forgiveness is never at the cost of compromising truth. The words “bound loosened” are better understood by the words “prohibited permitted.” What Jesus says here is to keep the church pure to keep sin on the outside, not allowing it in. The way in which you do so is to ask, Is this prohibited in heaven? Is it permitted in heaven?
In other words, this is what we are or are not allowing consistent with the teaching of the word of God. I read today that the United Methodist Church has just come out in favor of homosexual marriage by performing them officially. Under their leadership, when a policy has been accepted by the organization as a whole, then the individual churches have to follow suit. Is that practice prohibited in heaven? Yes.
2.) Vs. 19 Prayer: Forgiveness ought to always be bathed in prayer. The word “agree” is the word where we get our word “symphony.” In other words, the church ought to be in harmony in prayer over the loss of their fallen brother. Not only for the person who has fallen, but over themselves, lest they fall as well.
3.) Vs. 20 Fellowship: Forgiveness ought to always come with the idea of restoration back into fellowship with the Lord. If we have not done the first two, then the third here will be impossible. Notice the key of this is not in how many gather or where they gather, but in the attitude of their hearts when they gather, “My name.”
There are a great many churches that have a lot of people come together; they have the numbers posted in the bulletin the following week that say 400 were there, but the greater question is, was it in His name? Was the purpose of our gathering together Jesus, His character nature? Are we about him?
Because it is only then that He is in the midst! We are far more concerned these days with how many people attended our church—not nearly enough concerned whether or not Jesus was there! I think of Rev. 3:20, where Jesus stood outside the church and knocked on the door to get in.
The true church has no need for walls; it is concerned only with fellowshipping with Him. There is always one more person in the church that is there in His name, and then we count. He is the one that we want to make sure always attends.
Vs. 21-22 How Many Times Shall I Forgive
Vs. 21 Peter was blown out by Jesus words here and came up to Jesus with what I’m sure he thought was a generous offer. The teaching of the day was the original three strikes law. You were obligated to forgive a person two times, but on the third offense you were not obligated to forgive. So Peter says seven times? Now Peter made some of the same mistakes I make in forgiving.
A.) He did not start out in humility. Instead of asking how many times he needs to forgive someone who has wronged him, he should have started out with how many times he would want someone to forgive him. He was sure his brother would sin against him, but he was not as sure that he would sin against his brother.
It would always be better if we started out with the realization, as I said before, that we are the worst sinners we have ever met. The issue is not whether or not you are going to sin against me; it is how many times am I going to blow it around you and how do I wish you to handle it.
B.) The second mistake Peter made was that he tried to put a limit on love. Where there is true love in forgiveness, there can be no measure. What if God had a measure for us on the amount of forgiveness He would grant us? Can you imagine? You blow it, become convicted of your sin, repent, and ask God to forgive you when you hear Him say, “No, I can’t do it; you have run out of forgiveness!”
Vs. 22 So Jesus answers, unlimited! Forgiveness must be unconditional and unlimited. Life is not lived by the law but by love. That is why Jesus illustrates this with a parable.
Vs. 23-35 Settling Accounts
Vs. 23-34 In these verses, Jesus tells the story of two debtors, the first of whom was a lender as well. To understand the amounts of the debt owed, we need to put this into today’s numbers. The first man owed the master 20 million, and the second man owed the first man 20 dollars.
So what’s the point of the story? Simply put, we must, in forgiving a brother, start with the debt that we owed to the Lord. Then forgive as He has forgiven us. We all start out as debtors. He was sincere in his request for forgiveness, but he showed pride in thinking that he could pay it back (Vs. 26) and a lack of humility (Vs. 28).
It would take a man 20 years to earn one talent; there is no way he could ever pay back 10,000 talents. That is true with us; we can never repay Jesus for our debt. Then instead of sharing his joy of being forgiven, he demanded payment for 20 bucks.
Clearly, he did not understand what had been forgiven him. Lastly, because of his lack of forgiveness, he became prisoner. The worst prison that there has ever been is to be found in the prison we make of an unforgiven heart. We only imprison ourselves. Do you want justice or mercy? It depends on the perspective of your own debt, doesn’t it?
Vs. 35 So there you have it, greatness measured upon our ability to forgive. No wonder so many people see the church as being hypocritical. We treat nonbelievers better than our own family. Why become a part of a group of people who don’t treat each other well? A while back, a tornado hit a small community in Wyoming.
The only thing destroyed was the church. The local paper had this to say: “We are pleased to announce that the cyclone that destroyed Cheyenne Community Church yesterday did no real damage to the town.” The church that practices the art of forgiveness will always be missed!
Matthew 18:21
“A Forgiving Marriage”
Vs. 21-22 How Many Times Shall I Forgive
Vs. 23-35 Settling Accounts
Vs. 1-6, Two Shall Become One
Intro
Last week we were looking at what makes a person great in the eyes of God.
A.) First, according to verse 3, they must become converted. That is to say, to even have the possibility of becoming great at all, they must simply, without any deals, receive Jesus as ruler over their lives.
B.) Second, Jesus goes on to list the characteristics of a child, such as humility, obedience, tenderness, teachability, innocence, and purity. In other words, Jesus was telling these guys that what makes a person great is not accomplishments or notoriety, which are outward standards, but rather inward character. May I be more specific? A Christ-like character—that is what makes a person great! But how can that be measured?
C.) It will be measured in how we treat others, namely in how we forgive those who sin. Radical stuff, isn’t it? What a great world this would be if the way we saw everything was based upon the expression of love! Why is forgiveness such a good measure of greatness? Because when you forgive someone, you are chosen to do so upon a person who has wronged you. In other words, your love is operating not upon how they make you feel or what they do for you. It is a love that comes not from you at all but from God.
Dr. Christian Barnard, the first man ever to do a heart transplant, was talking to one of his transplant patients’s Philip Blaiberg, himself a doctor. Suddenly Dr. Barnard asked, “Would you like to see your old heart?” Dr. Blaiberg of coarse was fascinated, so the two men stood in a room in a South African hospital and took down a glass jar that contained his heart.
Dr. Blaiberg stood there stunned in silence. He was the first person ever to hold his own heart in his hands. He began to ask a few medical questions about the procedure, then he turned again to the heart in the glass jar and said, “So this is my old heart, that has caused me so much trouble.”
He then handed it back to Dr. Barnard, who never again went to see it. Wouldn’t that be great if we could, as believers, take a look at our “old heart that has caused us so much trouble,” put it away, and never be bothered with it again? The best way to see if that old heart has changed or not is to see how you forgive others’s!
The second part of the text this morning deals with marriage. I find it interesting that the topic of marriage would follow right the heals of forgiving others. If you want a great marriage, you had better become great at forgiveness.
A little girl came home from school one day all excited because the teacher had just read the story of Snow White to the class. She could not wait to tell her mother the story. She ran into the house and said, “Mommy, I just heard this neat story; you will never believe what happened.” So she began to tell the story of Snow White. When she finally got to the part about Prince Charming, she said, “And Mom, Prince Charming kissed her back to life; guess what happened?” Well, honey, they lived happily ever after!.” she said. Her daughter shook her head in disagreement and said, “No, they did not, Mom; they got married!” Marriage will only be “happily ever after” to the degree we forgive each other.
Vs. 35 So there you have it, greatness measured upon our ability to forgive. No wonder so many people see the church as being hypocritical. We treat nonbelievers better than our own family. Why become a part of a group of people who don’t treat each other well? A while back, a tornado hit a small community in Wyoming.
The only thing destroyed was the church. The local paper had this to say: “We are pleased to announce that the cyclone that destroyed Cheyenne Community Church yesterday did no real damage to the town.” The church that practices the art of forgiveness will always be missed!