Matthew
18:1-14
Sermon Notes
Get Low
1/8/2014
Lynchburg,
Virginia
EXHORDIUM
Things seem
like they are getting close now. As we look forward to the showdown in the
Garden, Judas’s betrayal and Peter’s denial, we can clearly understand the
Apostles’ expectations. They were vying for Cabinet spots in the new
administration. No doubt some of them had some great experiences to relate. The
demons were subject to them. They could heal the sick and lame. Jesus possessed
all power from heaven to rule the earth and the Apostles were the immediate
beneficiaries of this power.
They are
right, of course, but the power is not wielded like the kings of the Earth
wield it. The disciples could handle that. They were exactly prepared for such
wielding of power. Jesus is full of surprises.
EXEGESIS
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who
is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
Why would the disciples ask such a
question? We might ask that same sort of question but with the teaching of time
and the failure of the disciples, we expect a better answer. They were
wondering how one might rule in the Kingdom of Heaven, in Christ’s Kingdom.
They probably expected an answer
related to a king or a prophet. David is the greatest or maybe Solomon who was
wise and ruled in peace. Perhaps Elijah or Isaiah? John Baptist? Maybe the disciples
thought that Jesus would choose one of them? Peter? James? John?
The very fact of putting yourself up to
be great measured by typically earthly or worldly standards is the problem.
We now have a different expectation in
answering this question. We think of the Kingdom of Heaven in terms of Christ’s
Kingdom, doing His will. We may think of who is greatest in Christ’s Church.
When we think this way, our mind generally does not immediately run to those
who have achieved great personal recognition, say some great and wealthy
preacher. Or, we don’t tend to think of the great politicians. Our idea of
greatness in Christ’s kingdom is rooted in the teaching in this chapter.
Greatness to Christ is determined by
selflessness, service, laying down one’s life for one’s friends.
How is the one that does this? Can you
think of many? That list starts to get short in a hurry. Maybe we think of some
little godly country parson who loved his church and people so much that he
served them for fifty years, preaching, visiting the sick, baptizing the
children, burying the old saints, praying for the weak and no one ever knew
about his toil and struggle. That seems like a really great man in God’s
Kingdom. And we can all relate to that but very few of us strive for that kind
of greatness.
Or, in our midst, we may think about
greatness another way. We have exemplary mothers. They lay down their lives for
their husbands and children. Many of them are despised by the world’s standard
of greatness.
2 And Jesus called a
little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say
unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven.
First, the example of greatness is in a
child. What? Why not a mature person? Perhaps because a mature man is too
obviously self-aware. A child is still looking out his eyes and not so much
looking at himself.
Except ye be converted. You have to be
converted. From what to what? From adulthood to childhood. Without this you
cannot go to heaven.
What is conversion? It is the Spirit’s
work in the heart that produces humility. Conversion makes you like a little
child. In what way? It produces the ability to trust in Jesus like a child.
Jesus loves me this I know.
4 Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom
of heaven.
Do you want to be great in the kingdom
of God? We might think the answer is no, that it would be proud and sinful to
seek greatness. But Jesus is saying that we should want to be great. We just
need to be the kind of great that He thinks is great.
5 And whoso shall
receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6 But whoso shall offend one of these little
ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Who are the little ones? First,
children. The little ones belong to Jesus. They are His. In this church, we
baptize them as babies to recognize the fact that they belong to Jesus. Jesus
has very strong words for those who cause children to stumble. He says it would
be better for you if someone drowned you in the sea.
Second, He has just said that those who
humble themselves as children are great in the kingdom. So, those who cause
believers in Jesus to stumble also face the punishment of Christ. This is serious
business.
How do you stumble children? Look at
what Jesus says, “Whoso receives one such little child in my name receives me.”
To fail to receive a child in the name of Jesus is to stumble that child. There
are many ways to do this. We put many stumbling blocks in the way of children.
Our government education system is rigged against them teaching the foolishness
of evolution, egalitarianism, sexual promiscuity, gender bending.
But even in the church, there are those
who stumble children unnecessarily. When a child professes belief in Jesus just
as He suggests here, why do some parents, ministers and churches doubt their
words and faith? The child says “I believe in Jesus” and the parent or pastor
responds with something that amounts to, “No you don’t, you can’t yet, you
don’t understand the gospel the way I do.” This is a stumbling block. In fact,
so much so, that I would suggest that Jesus’s words here are aimed at just such
an attitude. Repent and be like the child! Jesus says, “It is enough to simply
believe that I save sinners and you are one! Receive this child in my name!”
Matt.
18:7
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that
offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Look, we
cannot go out of the world. It does not work to bury your head in the sane in
some separate holy place. Simple, separate, deliberate does not usually work
out. We are in the world and cannot escape out of it until death and the
Resurrection. Until then, we in and among sinners. Offences are going to come.
You and your children are going to be exposed to evil.
Of
course, you can control that exposure to some degree. You can protect their
hearts and minds until they are strong enough to resist the world. But you
cannot keep them from the world. Not in your home school, not in your co-op,
not in your Christian school, not in your isolated neighborhood. At some point,
they will be thrust into the world with all of its ugliness. And in that world,
there will be offences and stumbling blocks.
In fact,
you need to train up in the way they should go. This should include a
systematic exposure to the world and its sin. This way you can teach them how
to crash through, hurdle or turn away from the stumbling blocks.
A failure
to equip them in this way is a further stumbling block. Some isolated children
get exposed the world to late and instead of being prepared to overcome the
world in the strength of Christ, they are themselves overwhelmed.
8 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.
Get rid
of your members that cause you to stumble little ones. Cut them off. What are
they?
1.
Ambition- hand or foot
2.
Worldliness- eye
10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these
little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven. 11 For the Son of man is come to save that which
was lost.
Don’t
despise the children. Don’t despise those who enter into the faith like
children. Their angels behold the face of the Father. They have angels!
For those
who stumble, the Son of man, Jesus, has come to save them.
EXHORTATION
God’s Concern for His Children
12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep,
and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and
goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find
it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the
ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father
which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
The Lord
is pleased with those who do well. He rejoices over them. (13). But gives Him
even greater joy? That those who have strayed have returned.
We have
several in this congregation who have children or siblings or parents who have
strayed. It is a grevious matter. But God has not given up on them. He is the
Good Shepherd. It is not the will of Your Father in heaven that these little
one perish.
So, let
us pray that they return, that they are found by the Good Shepherd and when
they are found, that they return to the sheepfold with Him.
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