Matthew 18:5-9

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Introduction

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Temptations to Sin

7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Two weeks ago we started into chapter 18, and we said that one the most important things to keep in mind as we march through this chapter, is that what Jesus teaches his disciples here is focused primarily upon the church itself, and more specifically, life within the church. And the reason this is so important to keep in mind is that it plays a vital role in how we interpret what Jesus teaches in chapter 18. And as we continue through this chapter I’ll point out, and I suspect you’ll notice, a lot of verses that are regularly thrown around by Christians to mean all sorts things that are contrary to what Jesus actually said. And I hope that as we reach those verses we’ll very easily see what Jesus meant by what he said if we just keep in mind the context of chapter 18, that all of these teachings are focused primarily about life within the church.
This text is not about evangelism or how to pray, but, again, about life within the church, and how we are to treat one another. How are Jesus’ disciples to be treated, and how are they to treat one another is central to what Jesus intends for us understand.

Little children

And with that, here in verses 5-9, Jesus continues his analogy about children, which he introduced back in verses 1-4. He told his disciples that unless they were willing to become like little children that they could never enter the kingdom of heaven. His point was humility, and a willingness to take upon themselves a humble status, or a humble estate, and that whoever would humble themselves like a small child would become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, previously, I pointed out something else very important for us to see, that Jesus often refers to his disciples as little children. There in verse 2, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This is how Jesus often describes his followers throughout the entirety of his ministry.
In fact, we saw him use the phrase “little ones” to describe his disciples back as far back as chapter 10, in verse 42, when Jesus is equipping and commissioning his disciples for their first ministry endeavor. So, if you would, turn with me back to chapter 10, starting in verse 40. This is at the end of Jesus’ commissioning his disciples to go out and to emulate the work he is doing. And, starting there in verse 40, we read,

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

This is our first record of Jesus calling his disciples children, or, as he puts it here, little ones. And how do we know he’s talking about his disciples? Look there, again, in verse 42,

42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple,

Jesus tells us that these “little ones” are his disciples.
Now, another excellent example of this is in Matthew chapter 25, where Jesus is describing to his disciples the final judgement, and specifically, what characteristics will mark those who will enter into eternal life on the last day. So, turn with me, if you would, to chapter 25, starting in verse 31,

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Those who will enter in are those who, in this life, gave Jesus a drink when he was thirsty (like we just read back in chapter 10), who visited Jesus in prison, and who fed Jesus when he was hungry. And who are those who were hungry, thirsty and in prison that Jesus is talking about? They’re the “least of these, my brothers.” In other words, if you served one of Jesus’ disciples in this way, and in his name, if you loved your brother when he was thirsty or in prison, then you served Jesus, if you received one of the least of these, you, by extension, received Christ! You’ve proven yourself to be one of his disciples!

Jesus is directly associated with his disciples

So, what I want us to see in these passages is twofold, 1) that Jesus often refers to, and describes, his disciples as children, and that he’ll often use phrases like “little children,” “little ones,” and “the least of these” to refer to his disciples. And I point this out so that we know who it is that Jesus is talking about when he uses these phrases. And 2) that Jesus directly associates himself with his disciples. For example, Jesus tells us that how we treat these “little ones” is directly connected to how we treat Jesus himself.
And in many ways this makes perfect sense doesn’t it? If you recall the Apostle Paul’s analogy of the church as members of Christ’s body, we can see how our behavior toward other fellow members directly corresponds to how Jesus says we are treating him, for the church is his body, and he is the head.
And this directly relates to what we read back in verse 5 of chapter 18 doesn’t it?

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

When someone receives one of these “little children” in Christ’s name, they receive Christ himself. Therefore, if we intend to, or believe that we have, received Christ then we will receive also his disciples. And if we claim to have received Christ, yet we reject these “little ones” then our claim to Christ is false. This is why Jesus uses how a persona has received his disciples in Matthew 25 as the litmus test for whether they have received Christ or not, or whether they will enter into eternal life or not.
Jesus takes how his disciples are treated very seriously. He teaches us that how we treat his disciples, is how we treat Jesus. Any sin against our brother is a sin against Christ himself. If we are going to claim to receive Jesus by faith, to be his disciple, then we must also receive our brothers in Christ likewise. We cannot on one hand despise our brother and on the other embrace Christ. To embrace Christ is to embrace our brother.

Professing Christ outside the context of the church

And there are so many people I’ve known over the years that profess to be Christians, yet they’re not connected to a local body of believers, they’re not a part of a local church, and when I read texts like this I wonder how in the world that person will ever be able obey these commandments outside of the context of the local church, because, in large part, its within the context of the local church, whether for worship, prayer or fellowship that we serve one another, and so prove that we are his disciples. It’s how we become aware of one another’s needs, it’s how we find opportunity to love one another, in both word and deed.
When I was growing up I often heard an excuse that some of my friends gave for not gathering for worship with other believers, they would say, “going to church doesn’t make you a Christian.” Now, how many of you have have ever heard that? Or maybe I should ask, how many of you ever said that? Well, in one sense, this is true, gathering together as a local body doesn’t make you a Christian, but let us not forget that though gathering together doesn’t make anyone a Christian, gathering together is what Christians do. Just like loving one another, serving one another, and forgiving one another are things that Christians do. While these things don’t make anyone a Christian, they certainly are what Christians do. These things are the evidence, they’re the proof that you are the Christian you claim to be. This is why Jesus always points to the fruit of a person’s life when he speaks of final judgement and whether a person will enter into eternal life or not. In other words, you don’t get to call yourself an apple tree without bearing apples. If you can’t produce apples then you don’t get to call yourself an apple tree.

Don’t mess with Jesus’ disciples

Texts like these are particularly sharp for anyone who calls themselves a Christian, and it’s good for us to take account of our own lives to inspect whether or not the Spirit is bearing fruit in us (not perfectly, but bearing fruit), as Jesus describes here. But verse 5 also applies to those who are manifestly outside the church. It highlights the fact that those who reject Christ will also reject his disciples. We won’t be a people who are liked by the world, in fact, many will seek to suppress and marginalize us, and it’s this that Jesus addresses in verse 6,

6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

The bottom line here is that Jesus takes very seriously the treatment of his disciples, whether that’s from within the church or from outside the church.
Now, some modern Bible translations don’t use the word ‘sin’ here, and instead they use the word ‘stumble’, and read “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” The reason they do this is because the underlying Greek word literally means “to trip”. The idea though is that this stumbling leads ultimately to sin, which is why you’ll see translators waffling on which word to use.
And the reason I bring this up is that I think the word ‘stumble’ here can help us paint a picture of what Jesus is envisioning. One thing that marks our American, western society today from a Christian perspective is the mass secularization of our universities. Many colleges that were once founded upon a Christian worldview are now institutions of secularism that have become outright hostile toward biblical Christianity. Many of us have experienced this firsthand or heard stories of how children, after attending university, have lost their childhood faith. I, myself, remember, some 15 years ago, experiencing this reality, even within the computer science focused institutions.
Many students taking their first humanities class, or ethics course are confronted by professors who are hostile toward Christianity, and some of these professors seem to even make it their mission to dismantle their student’s faith piece by piece, by attacking the reliability of the Bible to claiming that science disproves the truthfulness of the Scriptures.
And I think it’s things like this that fit Jesus’ description here in our day. And Jesus’ response to such attacks against his little ones, his response to the people who cause his little children to stumble is staggering. In essence, he says of such people that it would be better for them to have a great millstone fastened around their neck and drowned in the depth of the sea, than for them to have caused his little ones to stumble and for them to face hell fire for it.

Jesus is fiercely protective of his disciples

Now, what I don’t want us to miss, is this, Jesus is fiercely protective of his disciples. Any affliction, persecution or sin against his people, in this life, will not go unpunished. This reality will become massively important for his disciples later on, when they’re tasked with enduring immense persecution and suffering; and this reality is hugely important for us now, to remember also, that as persecutions, and marginalization increases in our nation, that none of it will go overlooked by our Lord. So on one hand this text is incredibly terrifying, but on the other it ought to be wonderfully comforting to Jesus’ disciples.

Temptations of the world

Now, listen to verse 7,

7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

It’s inevitable that temptations will come, for we live in a fallen, sinful world, and discipleship was never intended to be easy. And as Christians we’re responsible for our actions even though temptations are inevitable. How often are we prone to blame our circumstances for our sin, or for our behavior, but we don’t get to point the finger, we’re responsible, even when temptations abound around us. James writes in his letter that, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14).
However, that’s no excuse for Jesus’ followers, or anyone outside the church, to make that reality any harder. Therefore, woe, not merely to the world, but, woe, to anyone (even fellow disciples) by whom that temptation comes! It’s a warning to those of us inside the church and to those outside the church.
This passage speaks of both Jesus’ concern for his children and the concern we should have for our fellow believers. We must be zealously concerned with each other’s personal holiness, and that we would not cause one another to sin. And while temptations will continue in this world, we’re not to add to those temptations by causing one another to stumble and sin within the church.
For example, don’t engage one another in gossip, leading astray other’s together with you. Don’t watch sexually explicit content that will cause you or other onlookers to fall into sexual temptation. Don’t exercise supposed Christian liberties when others you know are fighting to not turn those liberties into a license to sin. Here we are warned not to be a stumbling block to our fellow brother’s in Christ.

The analogy of amputation

Then Jesus goes on there in verse 8-9,

8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Sin is not only dangerous when it causes your brother to stumble, but it is also deadly for you. Therefore, Jesus says that it is better for you to cut off your hand if it causes you to sin, and for you to enter into eternal life with only one hand than with two hands into eternal fire (everlasting fire, gehenna, v. 8).
Therefore, we must be committed not only to the personal holiness of others but ourselves also. The sin that is deadly to our brother is equally deadly to us. Make no mistake sin is like leaven, and it only takes a little leaven to affect the entire loaf, both yourself and the rest of the church.
Most of us are probably familiar with gangrene. The Mayo Clinic states that, “gangrene refers to the death of body tissue due to either a lack of blood flow or a serious bacterial infection. Gangrene commonly affects the extremities, including your toes, fingers and limbs...” (Gangrene, Mayo Clinic, www.mayoclinic.org) And gangrene can become so severe, with the amount of tissue death, so extensive, that a body part, such as a foot, or hand, may need to be amputated, or removed. This is the kind of analogy that Jesus is using here to highlight the dangerous nature of sin.
Many of us have probably watched a movie or read a book where a character or actor is faced with the decision to either amputate a particular body part or risk an infection spreading to the rest of their body and killing them. I can only imagine how hard it would be to be put in a situation where I had to choose between my life and keeping my leg. Most of us would certainly choose our life, but that isn’t to say we wouldn’t be distressed at the thought of no longer having our leg. However, if we didn’t sacrifice our leg we would be sacrificing our lives. And this is what Jesus means for us to see here, that sin is deadly. It’s deadly to your brother and its deadly to you. Sin is never worth it.

Zealous about protecting one another from sin

You see, if we are casual about the sin in our own lives, we’ll lead others to be casual about the sin in theirs. If we don’t take sin seriously in our own lives, others won’t take sin seriously in theirs. But if we are zealous out our own holiness, we will also be zealous about he holiness of others, and we’ll be zealous about protecting one another from sin. And this gets at the heart of these teachings, protecting one another from the deadly consequences of sin, that would otherwise lead us down a path to destruction. Within the church we must be willing and diligent to make war with sin, knowing that it means to destroy us, knowing that it means to destroy our brother. So let us see to it, in this life, to make a habit of rooting out the sin in our lives and seeking the good of our brother, protecting him from the sin that so easily entangles us.

Prayer

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