Matthew 18 – Humility, Sin, Returning
Sheep and Forgiveness
Text: Read Matthew 18
May 20, 2020
Greatness in
God’s Kingdom Looks Like Smallness in the World
When Jesus was
asked by His disciples how to obtain greatness in the kingdom of heaven, He
quickly pulled a little child to His side to illustrate His lesson. The lesson
is not that we act like kids do so to speak. Rather, Jesus is letting us know
that we should have a humble heart like a child does. Let’s think about how
kids see and do life.
When they are
told something, they believe it with all their hearts because they trust the
one telling them something. They just act like themselves and don’t pretend to
be anything but who they are. They are fresh and excited, and they are humble.
They are tender hearted. Kids haven’t been tainted by the grown up world’s
thinking. They aren’t all puffed up, aka prideful.
If Mom and Dad
say, "we going to Disney World", they are quick to believe it. What Jesus is
saying here is that what God honors most in His family is a person with humility
– a willingness to do things the way God asks them to do it. They don’t insist
on their way. A humble heart is a willing heart. A humble heart is a
surrendered heart to another’s will. God really appreciates that. Jesus showed
us the example.
Philippians
2:8
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
If It’s Causing
You to Sin, Get Rid of It
While talking
to the disciples, Jesus explained that things that cause us offense – in other
words, to sin, should be disposed of. He warns that it’s better to get rid of
sin and live without the thing that causes it in our lives than to end up in
hell.
Another
important point is that anyone who causes one of His children to sin would be
better off if they had been drowned in the depth of the sea. That sounds pretty
intense, and it is. People who are out there leading a whole lot of very humble
and sweet people into wrong religions and beliefs are really in serious
trouble. Jesus takes it very seriously when religious leaders, for example, teach
people incorrect things about Him. It’s like we read in the chapter the other
day – the blind leading the blind. It will cause them both to fall.
Jesus Came
to Save That Which Was Lost
The whole
purpose for Jesus coming to the earth in the first place was to save that which
was lost through Satan in the fall of man when Adam and Eve sinned. What God
had created to be a family for Himself was handed over to the devil – Satan,
when this first couple sinned by giving him the rule over their lives.
God, who knows
everything of course, knew this was going to happen. He already had a plan to
bring them back the only way He could. That was to come to earth Himself, in
the form of His Son Jesus and become like us so we could go back to being what
we were created to be – in His image. He came to save us from destruction and
ending up in hell for eternity. He came that we would have eternal life with
Him. Look at this very famous word from the Bible.
John 3:13-17
No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from
heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man
be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Lost Sheep
Not only did
Jesus come to save all mankind from destruction, but He also goes after those
who are His who may have wandered away. Many people accept Jesus as their
Savior and come to know and love Him greatly. At first, a person gets born again
and is so touched by the filling of God’s Holy Spirit in them that they are
passionately excited about the new birth that has taken place in their hearts.
They know that all their sins are now forgiven, and they have an eternal hope
in Jesus that will never fade away.
What happens to
so many is this. Once all the excitement and newness start to fade a bit
through daily life experiences, people can get caught back up in the things of
this world and life. While it is necessary for us to live in this world and be
God’s shining light to others, we have to stay heavenly minded throughout it
all.
When trials and
temptations come, people can go back to doing things the old way if they have
not been staying close to Jesus on a daily basis. Then, little by little that once
passionate heart can cool off to a lukewarm state. They find themselves no
longer passionately pursuing an even deeper relationship with Jesus. The devil,
who hates God and His people comes in to steal, kill and destroy anything He
can in our lives to try to pull us away from the Lord.
The good news
from this chapter is that Jesus will go after the one who strays to bring them back
into the fold. He rejoices when one comes back so much, even more than over the
ones who are already in the fold but have not strayed away from His presence
and fellowship. He said it is not the will of God that any one of His children
should perish.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as
some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance.
When Someone
in the Church Does You Wrong
I believe this
is a big subject in the body of Christ today. We hear of people leaving their
congregation because someone at church offended them or did them wrong in some
way. Sadly, they get mad at the whole group and just leave. The thing is, Jesus
gave us a key for dealing with just such things in this chapter.
Jesus gave us a
step by step process to deal with that very issue. People are people, born
again or not. We all have faults and make mistakes. People who are walking with
the Lord more closely will be less likely to hurt others, while new converts
have not yet had enough time to get their thinking changed to the way Jesus
would do things. They still have hurts,
and hurting people will hurt other people.
We are all in a
maturing process, so as we go through this life, we need to have a way to work
things out with each other. Well, Jesus shows us how. If someone sins against
us, we are advised to go directly to that person and work it out. We shouldn’t
go run to other people and tell them about it. We need to keep the matter
private and go directly to the one who hurt us.
If that person
does not hear your case, aka, acknowledge what he did, then the Lord advises us
to go get one or two other people to discuss the matter. In this, we will have
witnesses to the case – sort of like a mini trial in a court of law where you
have a case presented and a jury to decide the matter. This way, you are protected
in case things do not go well.
Finally, if
after those two attempts to bring resolution to the matter the person will
not cooperate with the church in those discussions, then the church has no
alternative but to release him from close fellowship as one would a sinner who
was never saved to begin with. Let him/her be ashamed of their sin, and let not
the church be affected by it.
Galatians
6:1
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. Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
That does not
mean he can’t later repent and come back and ask for forgiveness. But until he
should come to his/her senses, they shouldn’t be in with the church, because as
we just read back in Matthew 16, a little leaven can spoil the whole group. The
church cannot afford to have such trouble among the group.
What Are We
Allowing? What Will We Forbid?
In this
teaching, Jesus tells us that what we bind on earth is also bound in heaven.
And what we loose on earth is also loosed in heaven. What He was saying is what
we allow is what will stand and what we don’t allow will not stand. In the case
of this discussion, the church was advised to make a decision to remove a
sinning brother who would not repent. They could not afford to allow this to be
mixed in with the rest of the church, less it cause dissension or strife.
On the other
hand, what they wouldn’t allow would also be backed up in heaven and
disallowed. The Lord gave us the authority to handle such matters. It reminds
us of where the whole court system began. Moses was given the responsibility to
help the children of Israel get delivered out of Egypt (bondage). Then they
started bringing all their disputes to him and we can only imagine how
overwhelming that must have been to him. That was a lot of people, and as we
mentioned earlier, we know how people can be in day to day living. Things will
come up.
Exodus 18:13-26
And so it was, on the next day, that
Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from
morning until evening. So when Moses’
father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, “What is this
thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit, and all the
people stand before you from morning until evening?”
And Moses said to his father-in-law,
“Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When
they have a difficulty, they come to me, and I judge between one and
another; and I make known the statutes of God and His laws.”
So Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing
that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with
you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for
you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen
now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you:
Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the
difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the
laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must
do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such
as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over
them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of
fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all
times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring
to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be
easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If
you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to
endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.”
So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law
and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all
Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of
hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So they judged the people
at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged
every small case themselves.
We have been
given the ability to agree as touching anything according to the word of God
and it will be done for us by our Father in heaven. Gathering together in the
God’s house and asking and agreeing for something according to God’s way of
doing things (His will), Jesus assures us that it will be done for us as we
asked.
How Often Do
We Forgive Someone?
The rest of this chapter has to do with
forgiveness. This is another big part of the life of the body of Christ.
Forgiving people is critical for our own spiritual good. God forgave us so much
by sending us His Son Jesus to die for our sins. How much more should we be
willing to forgive those who sin against us?
All of this
ties together so well. People who are sinning against others in the church and
need to be dealt with. And people who have been offended need to be able to
forgive the offender regardless of what they do. For many, this is a hard pill
to swallow. They can’t find it in their heart to forgive the one who hurt
them. But God’s word makes it clear that we need to forgive as God has forgiven
us.
Look at Peter
asking Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. The answer Jesus gave
surely surprised him. What the Lord said to him was simple. Every time we get
offended or hurt, we have to forgive. Some think the offense is too big to
forgive, but if we look at what God has forgiven us, it can put that comment
into it’s proper perspective.
Take one look
through the Ten Commandments and ask yourself honestly if you have ever broken
these laws. The answer to that for every human is, yes, we all have broken
every one of them. Still God chose to
forgive us. That’s amazing love on display!
Some may think
they have never committed murder, or adultery, or stolen something for example.
But Jesus said if we do it in our hearts it is the same as physically doing it.
One can study this out in the earlier chapters of Matthew. See Exodus 20 for
the Ten Commandments. Thank God for Jesus and His atoning Blood!
Forgive Us
Our Debts as We Forgive Those with Debts Against Us
Looking at the
last section of scriptures, I titled it according to what the Lord was teaching
His disciples and us to pray about. This is not a ritualistic prayer to quote
every day word for word. It is a pattern for prayer. As we pray these words we
can also include our own words and situations into our prayers to God. He said
in there we are to ask God to forgive us as we also extend that same
forgiveness to others who have hurt us in some way.
This addresses
the very issue mentioned in verses 23-38. A man owed a very large debt that he
could not pay. When he pleaded for mercy, the master, moved with compassion forgave
him. After that happened, he went out and roughly demanded that someone who
owed him money pay it back. The same scene played out. That man’s fellow
servant fell at his feet begging for mercy but found none.
When the word
got back to the master about this, he was deemed a wicked servant and tortured
until he could repay his debt. The last verse wraps it all up saying that our
Father would do the same to us if we did not forgive from our hearts. The Master
here is really Jesus. The debt we owed is far to big for any of us to pay. We
could never pay for the sins we have committed. We are imperfect, therefore God
had to send down the only One who would be perfect to pay the high price for our
sins. That One is Jesus – God’s only Son.
Matthew 6:14
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
Ephesians
2:4-9
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of
His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Reflection
This
chapter spoke volumes to me today, as they always do. God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light
to our path. See Psalm 119:105. In the recent season of my life, I have
experienced much of what we discussed, especially the lost sheep part and
getting lukewarm. I have had to do a lot of repenting over this. I am so
grateful to the Lord that He loves us enough to come after us and bring us back
to His loving arms again.
Just
this morning I had to humble myself before the Lord and ask for His forgiveness. By His grace, He showed me through the
reading of this chapter that I had not loved Him the way I should have and had
wandered away from my First Love -
Jesus. Other things in life just kept me from really living a life of full devotion
to Him. I was sad at the thought of how I have broken His heart so many times. I
realized how I had let the busyness of life and the lusts of my flesh get in to
pull me away from closeness to Him.
The
devil certainly wants to cause these distractions to come to do just that. He
prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. If he can get one
of God’s sheep pulled off by themselves for long enough, he can devour them.
Why? Because they are by themselves. That’s why we need the church. That’s why
we need to read our Bible every day and that’s why we need to pray and seek the
Lord for help and guidance every day.
The
BIG thing in all these things we should do as a Christian brings me back to
what I am reading about people who teach God’s children to sin. I had a dream
of being in a church pew. I had gone to a very religious church for years. Here’s
what it was like:
Sitting
in a pew learning what we ought to do,
not knowing how we would do it, or about the love of God to bring us through
it.
That
little rhyme came to me in my time with the Lord this morning. He helped me see that not all of the things that I have done for Him have been done with a cheerful and
willing heart. Some was done because it was the thing we are are “supposed” to do.
And some I did because I knew He wanted me to, but my heart was not really in
it. In other words, rather than being a cheerful giver, I was doing it alright,
all the while gritting my teeth as if to just endure it.
God
won’t accept all of our sacrifices and gifts we bring to Him. No, the ones we
give grudgingly will not make Him feel loved or blessed. It's just like us when we
give something to someone we care about. If we are doing it out of duty and a
sense of obligation, it really carries no value for the recipient. Likewise,
God has feelings and emotions – like us because we are, after all, created in
His image.
If
we aren’t doing what we do for Jesus because we love Him, then it won’t matter
one bit to Him. That’s religion, and He hates religion. So do I! Religion
teaches us to do a bunch of works and go through rituals. Then we walk away
thinking we “did something for God”, when all we did was to satisfy our conscience
thinking it was somehow going to help us in eternity.
Jesus
talked about getting rid of things that cause us to sin. The Lord has asked me
to forgo certain things that cause me to stumble and sin. I wrestled with this
a long time because my flesh didn’t want to accept it. So I have had to
readjust my thinking and change my heart to say I love God more than those
things He wants me to give up. He is flexible in some ways on those things, but
for the most part, He has shown me a pattern of what will be in my best interest,
for my spiritual and my physical good.
I
was upset about the church leaders and some of the members who had taught me
religion rather than relationship in my past. I had to forgive them. I am doing
it again today in my heart. It’s so important. My sins have been so great, and
I want to be forgiving because of all that Jesus forgave me.
Yes,
there will be pain in the offering, but is Jesus worth it to us? I want to say
a great big yes to that. As I go forward, I believe He will help me to improve
greatly as I humble myself before Him. Some songs that came up for me today
really described this all so well. They talked about remembering the time when
we first let Jesus come into our heart. Also, deciding to follow Jesus with no
turning back. Lastly, a song about going home to the Father’s arms – like a
prodigal son.
Each
day, I find it good to read a Psalm and a Proverb. It will bring a heart of
prayer as well as wisdom. Look at the following and see if it blesses you.
A Psalm a
Day & a Proverb a Day Keeps the Trouble Away!
Each day we can
find verses in these two books that will bring something to the surface that we
may be dealing with. It can be a need for healing, protection, comfort, or
peace.
Whatever the need be, valuable nuggets can be picked up in God’s words
of wisdom and the many prayers of the Psalms that can enhance our study for the
day. I will give you examples of what I see, and you can pick out your own
verses and thereby design your own prayers. Enjoy 😊
Psalm
20 (Read First) A Prayer Example
Heavenly
Father,
Hear
me when I call on You in the day of trouble. Send me help, strengthen me, and
support me. Remember what gifts I have given You and the sacrifices I have
made. Give me my heart’s desire to love and serve You. Cause those plans to
succeed. While others trust in the things of this world to save and help them, I
will remember that You are God and only You can help me. Nothing and no one
else can. Thank You Father God, in Jesus Name. Amen.
Proverbs
20 (Read First) – A Prayer Example
Heavenly
Father,
Forgive
me for being works oriented rather than motivated by love. Your word says that
we are known by our actions. Even kids are. You said to draw out what is deep
in our heart. Today You helped me to do just that. You also said that our
conscience will search and reveal our hearts. Mine certainly has been operating
just fine. Forgive for the times I have
ignored what I knew to be right. And forgive me for the times I have not sought
Your help and trusted in Your strength to get through the temptations, the battles,
and the storms in life. In the Name of Jesus I ask God that You would continue
to show me the way through Your word and in my spirit, among the many other
ways You choose to speak to me. Thank You for Your perfect love that casts out
fear. In Jesus Name. Amen.
How
About You?
Will
you take a look at your heart before God and allow Him to show you what’s deep
in your heart that needs to be drawn out? It may be painful for a moment, but
it will be worth it.
Questions
or comments? Email me at: Hannylynn05@gmail.com
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