The Greatest
Jesus is asked a question about what it means to be great in the
Kingdom of God. How does Jesus
answer? He picks up a child and sets the
child into their midst. This is a great
illustration.
Mark and Luke talk about receiving the Kingdom of God “like a
child.” But that is not Matthew’s point
at all. Matthew isn’t talking about having
a faith that believes anything. Matthew
is talking about submission. Jesus says
we must turn (repent) and become like children.
To explain further, Jesus says that we must “humble ourselves.” What is important in the Kingdom of God? Humbleness.
Specifically, humbleness to the Father.
Being in the kingdom is, after all, all about following
orders. Kingdom authority comes from the
king. It always has. Power comes from authority. So first and foremost, to be “great” (or
powerful) in the kingdom of God one must have the authority that comes from
submitting to the King. It isn’t about
having a faith that never questions; it is about having a faith that follows
orders from the King.
Temptation
Jesus then speaks about temptation. Woe to the one through whom temptation
comes. Yeah, that’s right. If you tempt someone else into sinful
behavior, you are guilty before God. That’s
pretty deep. How many times have I been
guilty of getting someone else to do my dirty work, to say what shouldn’t be
said, or to think what shouldn’t be thought?
Jesus also talks about physical temptation. Our bodies will likewise lead us astray. Now, I don’t believe for a second Jesus is
talking about actual physical mutilation here.
In no place have any of Jesus’ disciples actually cut part of their body
away because of sin. What Jesus is doing
here is getting us to think seriously about how we need to separate ourselves
from the desires of the flesh. If we are
to be spiritual people, we must see the flesh as an enemy so that we can combat
the desires of the flesh that are not of God!
Lost Sheep
At first, this parable makes no sense. Why would a person rejoice over 1 sheep
instead of the 99 sheep they have? Human
beings understand cutting our losses. We
also understand survival of the fittest.
We understand that in the natural world, sometimes you lose a sheep.
But here’s the problem. We
think that way because we see ourselves as a part of the 99. We see ourselves as part of the
collective. So let me ask you. Which human being can you name falls into the
category of “never went astray?” I don’t
know about any human beings that have no trace of sinful behavior. Doesn’t the Bible tell us that all have
fallen? (Romans 3:23).
You see, I think what Jesus is trying to do is to get us to see
ourselves as the one. We’re not the
99. There are beings in this universe
that have never fallen – angels and all their many different varieties. But human beings are not counted among them.
However, think about the purpose of Jesus. Who did Jesus come to save? Humanity!
Humanity is the 1 that fell away.
God has the host of heaven – innumerable from human standards. But who did He come to save? The one who fell away: humanity.
Dealing with Sin
Matthew 18 also contains the infamous “If Your Brother Sins Against
You” passage. This passage is almost
universally lifted up as one of the great passages for how to deal with
community issues. There are several
really good points to consider in it.
- First: Keep issues private as much as possible. Nobody likes to be embarrassed publically. So deal with what you can between you and the person who offended you. If your first step is to gossip to someone else rather than take up your issue with the offender, you’ve made a mistake. But if the offender listens, then problem solved!
- Second: If the offender refuses to listen, then take it up with a few people. Get their input. If they see the issue, then take them with you. You’ll have support. Perhaps the offender will see it better from multiple perspectives. But it also still remains semi-private.
- Third: Make it public. If the offender won’t acknowledge what they’ve done, then you have to make it public. You have to draw it into the community so that it doesn’t spread. People need to be aware of it so that the influence of sin doesn’t unknowingly spread. However, note that this is the last step. We like to make it the first, but in the Christian way this is the last step.
Forgiveness
This naturally leads us into a passage about forgiveness. How many times should we forgive someone who
sins repeatedly? How many times should
we go back to that brother and get them to see how they have continued to
sin? Peter suggests 7 times – probably because
7 is the perfect number, right?
Jesus gives a rebuttal of 70 times 7. Jesus counters by telling Peter to take His
answer, do it that many times again, and then increase it by a factor of
10. In reality, Jesus is saying, “As
long as they continue to be repentant each and every time, continue to forgive
them.” After all, what have I said in
this blog during the course of Matthew?
Focus on repentance, not the sin.
God cares more about our desire to turn back to Him that He cares about
the details of how we turned away from Him.
True restoration always trumps brokenness.
To make His point, Jesus speaks of a parable about a servant who
was forgiven much but couldn’t forgive a little. Notice the sin of the man: pride. He actually thought that as a servant he could
pay back about 20,000 years worth of wages. A talent was about 20 years worth of wages. Notice also a complete lack of repentance. Never does the man admit he was wrong or that
he got in over his head. In spite of the
sin and the lack of repentance, the king forgives the debt.
Yet, when the man meets a fellow servant – who owes him about a
third of a year’s worth of wages – he cannot find it within himself to
forgive. So the master seized him and
locked him up until he could pay. We
know how much money he had access to in jail.
We know his debt was about as much money as he could make in 500
lifetimes. Essentially, Jesus is saying
the man was locked up forever.
If you don’t live by grace, you will be judged by the Law. We know how well each of us measures up to
the Law, right?
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