43 18.06

Turn with me to Matthew 18. This is a difficult chapter to divide into separate passages. However, it’s a lot of material to cover in one sermon. This is Jesus one sermon whose topics flow naturally from one thought to the next. This sermon continues through the rest of the chapter and chapter 19 begins by saying:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. (Matthew 19:1)

So chapter 18 is one continuous teaching or sermon of Jesus. It’s one of five sermons in the book of Matthew.

The focus of this sermon is relationships and how we get along with fellow believers in the body of Christ – the church. When we think of the sermons Jesus preached we usually think about the Sermon on the Mount, but there are so many verses in the epistles that find their foundation in this sermon dealing with how we are to relate to each other.

The sermon starts as a result of some arguing among the apostles over who will be the greatest. Peter was usually the spokesman for the group, so most would probably assume he would be at the right side of Jesus. But what about the left side? And who would be the last or least? This wasn’t the first time the apostles argued about being considered great, and it wouldn’t be the last. This argument continued even to the upper room on the night Jesus was arrested. The gospels show us the apostles weren’t perfect. They had flaws just like we do.

This desire to be first seems it’s a recurring problem wherever there are two or more people. Someone is going to try to exert power over the others. It happened among the apostles and it continued in the early church. In his third letter John addressed this same problem in his letter to one of the churches. John says:

I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. (3 John 1:9)

Diotrophes was trying to exercise his authority. It’s a problem some churches still face. What what Jesus teaches us is that it’s not about us. There is no room in the kingdom of God for those who push their own agenda to get what they want. Are we willing to put the needs of others before our needs and desires?

A couple of months ago I met the new preacher at Love Chapel Christian Church in Erwin. I say new, he’s been there for almost ten years but I just met met him. He was telling me about how things are going there. A few years ago they began to experience some growth and their sanctuary wasn’t large enough. Their sanctuary barely seats a hundred. To accommodate the growth they remodeled the fellowship hall and started having a second service there. After a few months that service was filling up so they added a second service in the fellowship hall. Now they have three services.

But the preacher says there are some who aren’t happy about the worship service in the fellowship hall. They don’t see any reason why they can’t worship in the sanctuary. When he asked them if they had tried that service they said no. They want these new members to change, but they aren’t willing to change. What they don’t see is there are people in the community worshiping in the fellowship hall who tell the preacher they are enjoying it but have never felt comfortable attending church ever before. They don’t feel comfortable walking into a sanctuary, but they were willing to visit a church meeting in a fellowship hall. Are we willing to do whatever we can to help others draw closer to God?

To illustrate the attitude we should have Jesus call a small child to him as an example. The child was an example of humility and unconcern for social status. Jesus says the greatest in the kingdom are those who humble themselves as a little child.

After arguing among themselves about who is the greatest in the kingdom the disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest. The answer Jesus gives was not the one they wanted. Instead of giving a name, Jesus tells them they need to stop worrying about it and become like this child or they won’t even be in the kingdom.

Do we push our own agenda or are we working for the kingdom? Are we more interested in making ourselves comfortable or helping others come to know Jesus. Are we working to be first, or are we working to humble ourselves before God?

SERMON

We already watched the video for the first few verses of the chapter, but since they are so closely linked we are going to start with verse 1 and go through tonight’s passage which ends with verse 14.

Video

A Sunday School teacher asked her class to draw pictures of their favorite Bible stories. She was puzzled by Kyle’s picture, which showed four people on an airplane, so she asked him which story it was meant to represent. “The flight to Egypt,” said Kyle. “I see. And that must be Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus,” she said. “But who’s the fourth person?” “Oh, that’s Pontius, the Pilot.”

A little girl was sitting on her grandfather’s lap as he read her a bedtime story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again. Finally she spoke, “Grandpa, did God make you?” “Yes, sweetheart,” he answered, “God made me a long time ago.” “Oh,” she paused. “Grandpa, did God make me too?” “Yes, indeed, honey,” he said, “God made you just a little while ago.” Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, “God’s getting better at it, isn’t he?”

As Art Linkletter said, kids say the darndest things. Yet Jesus holds children in high esteem. The culture didn’t. At that time children were to be silent and better yet, unseen. But Jesus held children up as an example.

Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (v 3)

Whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (v 4)

Whoever welcomes one such child (v 5)

If anyone causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea (v 6)

See that you do not despise one of these little ones (v 10)

Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish (v 14)

In our passage tonight Jesus talks about offending or putting a stumbling block in front of a child. Jesus says it would be better to suffer an excruciating death than to do that because of the punishment one will receive from God.

The phrase “cause to stumble” is actually only one word in the Greek – σκανδαλίζω (skandalízō). You can almost hear the English word that comes from it – scandal. It means to trap, lead them astray morally, or to cause someone to trip and fall. The word originally referred to a bait stick used in a trap. As the pray eats the bait it releases the trap. Here it could mean to lead someone to sin or to lead someone away from faith in God.

How were the disciples doing this? They were causing envy and strife among each other by worrying about and arguing about who was most important. Who had the most power? Whose opinion should be listened to and followed? Jesus says to cause someone to stumble is punishable with eternal punishment.

In addition to crucifixion, death by drowning was another form of Roman execution. For the Jews this was especially terrifying. They believed the body needed to be properly buried and that without the body there would be no afterlife. In the case of a drowning there would be no body to bury. So Jesus said it would be better to have a millstone, and I think we already have a good idea about what a millstone looks like and how heavy it might be, it would be better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea.

Jesus is using hyperbole. He’s exaggerating to make a point. You don’t need something as heavy as a millstone to drown someone. Nor do you need the depths of the sea. A couple of cinder blocks would be enough and eight feet is deep enough. Jesus is simply making a point about how serious the matter is.

How do we cause fellow believers to stumble? How can we become as obstacle?

The most obvious way we become an obstacle is by enticing them to sin. That’s what the serpent did to Eve, and then turned around and offered it to Adam, enticing him to sin. Jesus condemned the religious leaders for enticing others to sin.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)

In other words, Jesus says they are causing others to stumble. They would lower the biblical standard. Jesus addressed several of those in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “You have heard it said, but I tell you. . . .” Jesus condemns the believers in Pergamum of this in Revelation 2 when he says:

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. (Revelation 2:14)

Jesus makes a similar comment about the church in Thyatira whom Jesus says were tolerating the woman Jezebel. There are a number of ways we can encourage or entice others to sin. We can do so when we ourselves participate in a sin or encourage a sin being practiced in front of us. Jesus tells us not to encourage others to sin.

Second, we can become an obstacle to others by failing in our example. The goal God has set for us is Christ-likeness. God wants us to be like Jesus.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)

Whoever claims to live in [Jesus] must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6)

Jesus told the apostles that their goal was to become like their teacher – to become like him. That’s God’s goal for us, is that our goal for ourselves.

They didn’t have this when I was in college, but today there are websites you can go and and look at ratings students give professors. The purpose for doing this is to know what kind of teacher you are signing up for. Is the teacher easy. Does the teacher give a lot of homework or outside reading? We want to know the answers because we want to take the easiest teacher possible. We want to take the path of least resistance. Sadly we do that in the rest of our lives as well.

No matter who you are you are setting an example for others. It doesn’t matter if you’re a parent or not, a leader in the church or not, people are watching the example you leave. Are you striving to live your life like Jesus or are you doing the least possible to get by? Someone is looking at you. Someone is watching you. They will follow your example. You might not think anyone is watching, but I assure you someone is. What kind of example are you giving them? Paul wrote to Timothy saying:

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)

Paul wanted Timothy to set a good example of what it meant to live for God. And what kind of example did Paul set? He wrote to the Corinthians:

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)

He knew others were watching him and he encouraged them to follow his example. If we’re living like Jesus that’s great, but if we’re cutting corners we could be leading people astray. We should be showing each other what it means to live for God. What kind of example are you setting at home, at work, or at church?

Third, we can become an obstacle by not encouraging others. The KJV says we are to provoke one another. I prefer a more contemporary translation. Provoking each other doesn’t sound very positive today though it did at the time. The NIV says we should “spur one another on.” The NASB encourages us to “consider how to stimulate one another.” And the NLT says we are to “think of ways to motivate one another.” What are these different translations talking about?

24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

The author of Hebrews is saying we have an obligation towards one another to help and encourage each other to grow in Jesus and become more like him. I not only have a calling to become like Jesus myself, I have an obligation as a follower of Jesus to help you do the same.

I’ll give you a complaint I have with some preachers. For several years I led a preachers group that meets at Milligan each month for lunch. Attendance is never very good. There are more than two dozen Christian churches in Carter County alone. That doesn’t include Washington and Sullivan Counties. Yet we never have even two dozen attending and most of those who do attend are retired. I know how busy a preacher’s life can be, but I don’t think that’s the real reason most don’t attend. I think it’s because they don’t think they are getting anything out of the meeting. That may be true, but that’s not the only reason for attending. Their attendance at meetings like that could help encourage other preachers.

Part of the reason for meeting together as we are now is to encourage each other. But you can’t encourage anyone if you aren’t there. I don’t think we understand what just our attendance can do to encourage others. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up. . . . (1 Thessalonians 5:11a)

We should be encouraging and promoting the right things in each other. When we don’t we are letting each other down. We can cause others to stumble by not shedding the light God has given us.

Fourth, we can become an obstacle by pressing our liberties. This was a major issue in Paul’s day. The issue in that day was eating meat sacrificed to idols. There was a belief that if you ate meat that had been sacrificed to an idol that you were worshiping that idol. Paul’s argument was the idol is made up. It’s just a piece of wood, stone, or gold.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” (1 Corinthians 8:4)

Therefore, you don’t have to worry about eating meat sacrificed to it. However, he also said that we shouldn’t do anything that would hinder someone else’s faith. However, he also knows that not everyone thinks this way.

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. (1 Corinthians 8:7)

So the advice he gives is this:

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Corinthians 8:9)

Don’t eat the meat, not because it will hurt you but because it could hurt someone else. Paul concludes by saying:

Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:13)

It’s not about pressing our liberties and saying we can do this or that because we are free in Jesus and if it offends your conscience that’s too bad. The truth is we have freedoms not to do something just as much as freedom to do something. Even if we are not sinning it is possible to cause someone else to sin. Paul told the Romans:

19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall. (Romans 14:19-21)

While there are probably more ways, one last way we might become an obstacle is by withholding forgiveness. We’ll talk about forgiveness later in Matthew, but refusing to forgive those who sin against us could cause someone to sin.

After warning against causing someone to stumble, Jesus says that if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble you should cut it off. And if your eye causes you to stumble you should gouge it out. This isn’t the first time Jesus has said this. He first mentioned it in the Sermon on the Mount where he talked about cutting off your hand or gouging out your eye if they cause you to stumble. Once again Jesus is exaggerating to make a point. I mentioned Jesus wasn’t being literal when we looked at the passage in Matthew 5. How do we know Jesus doesn’t want us to actually cut off a body part? We know he’s not being literal because we know that no part of our body causes us to sin. Sin comes from the heart. James tells us:

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. (James 1:13-15)

Therefore, cutting off your hand or foot and gouging out your eye won’t do any good. There’s a very good chance you’d be able to continue committing that sin even without the body part. Sin is not just what we do physically, it’s also what we think. That’s what Jesus was saying when he said, “You have heard it said, but I tell you.”

21You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. (Matthew 5:21-22)

You might need hands in order to kill someone, but you don’t need hands to continue being angry with them.

27You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)

You don’t need eyes to think lustful thoughts and God still considers it adultery. Sin is not just a physical act, it also includes our attitude. Therefore, cutting off a piece of our body isn’t going to stop us from sinning.

So what is Jesus getting at? Jesus is saying we must take sin in our lives seriously. We can’t allow it to continue. We can’t allow those things that lead us to sin remain. We need to take decisive steps.

I took a friend to visit Recovery Soldier Ministry Tuesday. He’d never seen it, so I took him over to let Ben give him a tour and tell him what they do. Ben commented that sometimes they will send someone to a recovery center in Knoxville because staying in Elizabethton wouldn’t be healthy. If the guy is from the county the temptation to return to drugs may be too great when they are still running into people that led them astray. Sometimes it’s better to just get away from the temptation. So Ben says they’ll send the guy down to Knoxville.

That’s what Jesus is talking about. Paul encouraged the Corinthians to:

Flee from sexual immorality. (1 Corinthians 6:18a)

Don’t try to stand there and fight it, just run away from it. Paul told Timothy:

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:22)

The point Jesus is making is there is nothing worth having if it’s going to lead us to sin. Get rid of it. There are enough temptations we face each day, we need to get rid of the ones we can.

Jesus starts by talking about not being an obstacle that will cause someone to sin. Next he’ll move on to what we do when someone does sin.

We all need Jesus. We need his grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness. When we look at God’s word and then at our lives we can see how far short we have fallen. We have a lot of work to do. We need God’s strength to help us. We must rely on God. It is only through the grace of Christ that we will grow in him like we need to.

January 1st will be here soon. We’ll start making resolutions for the new year. However, it doesn’t matter how many promises you make to become a better person, you need the Spirit of God working in you to actually achieve it. We need God.

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