Matthew 18:7
Welcome to the study of
the Bible, the greatest book in the world. Jesus said in Matthew 18:7-10, "Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs
be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes. Wherefore
if your hand or your foot offend you, cut them off, and cast them from you: it
is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands
or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if your eye offend you, pluck
it out and cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life with one
eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Take heed that you
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."
On the subject of
individual human responsibility and the sovereignty of God, it is sometimes
difficult to explain the relationship of the one to the other, especially with
our limited ability to see things as God sees them. Some people end up
emphasizing too much the responsibility of man and the free will of man, to the
point of neglecting the great truth of the sovereignty of God and the power of
God over all things. On the other hand, some people end up emphasizing too much
the sovereignty of God, and they neglect the great truth that human beings have
a free will and a free choice.
Of course, Jesus made
neither error. He did not attempt to argue the one concept against the other.
Somehow both are true. God is sovereign and man is free to choose. The
statement of Jesus in Matthew 18:7 manifests both the sovereignty of God and
the free will of man. Jesus said, "Woe to the world
because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that
man by whom the offense comes."
Humans are often bad
influences on each other. Too often the sin of one person begets sin in
another. Solomon wrote in the Book of Proverbs and said, "My son, if sinners
entice thee, consent thou not." Be
careful of how others are influencing you and make sure that it is your goal to
influence others for good, and not to be influenced by others for evil.
Jesus said, "Woe to the world
because of offenses." When Jesus
pronounced this woe to the world perhaps He was thinking of the consequences of
sin. Sin will always bring negative consequences. You will never benefit from
doing wrong. The ultimate result of every wrong deed will be sorrow and woe. "Be not deceived
God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." How great is the sorrow and the grief and
the suffering that some people have gone through because of sins! Life will be
better when we learn to have better behavior, because much of what happens to each of us is simply the consequences of our own
actions.
When Jesus said, "Woe to the world
because of offenses," perhaps He
was also thinking of the ultimate judgment that some people will one day face.
The entire universe is proceeding towards the day when all will give an account
to their Maker. "Every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess."
Logic demands that there must be a hell, because some people could never be
punished enough in this life to give them what they deserve, compared to the
suffering that they have caused others, the souls that they have ruined, and
the evil into which they have plunged themselves. One of the reasons that
believers do not take vengeance is because they know that God does. "Vengeance is
mine, saith the Lord, I will repay."
Jesus came into the
world to die for the sins of the world. This is the greatest of all of the acts
of love and kindness that God does for us. But those who refuse to partake of
God’s love will be held accountable for their evil deeds. They will especially
be held accountable for how they have wrongly influenced others, and especially
for how they have enticed or caused children to stumble. To paraphrase what
Jesus said in Matthew 18:6, "But whoso shall
entice to sin or cause to stumble one of these little ones that 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."
Several of the teachings that Jesus gave in the first 10 verses
of Matthew chapter 18 were warnings about hell. That is probably why He said in
verse 11, "For
the son of man is come to save that which was lost." Jesus could not mention hell without also
mentioning that His great purpose is to keep everyone out of hell. To
illustrate His concern for every soul Jesus said in Matthew 18:12-14, "How think ye? If a
man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the
ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of that
sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the
will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should
perish."
Sometimes we talk about
being saved and we talk about when we found God, but it would be much more
accurate to say that when we were saved, God found us. God does the saving, and
He does the seeking and the finding of the lost. Be careful of telling someone
that they are saved just because they repeated some words or repeated some
prayer that you give them. No one gets saved until
Jesus visits them and finds them, and then they respond by surrendering to Him.
One of the great things
that Jesus is doing in the world is seeking and finding lost souls. Perhaps sometimes God
allows bad or unpleasant things to happen to people in order to help wake them up to their need to seek God’s
help. Sadly,
some people will only look up when they have
reached the bottom. For a similar reason God allows good or pleasant
things to happen to people: to help wake them up to the goodness of God so that
they will want to serve Him and know more about Him who has blessed them so
much. God gave us a conscience so that we would agree with our conscience and
admit that we have need of forgiveness. Romans 2:4 says, "the goodness of
God leads you to repentance."
In verse 13 Jesus
emphasized the great joy that is felt in heaven whenever one sinner becomes
saved from their sins. Salvation is the best thing
that can happen to anyone, because what is more valuable than a human
soul and what is more important than that which will last for eternity?
God is in the business
of saving souls. That is why Jesus came into the world. After being saved,
believers are left in the world to help spread His Word so that others will
also be saved. One of the measures of your spiritual condition and your
closeness to God is how concerned you are for lost souls. Jesus said in Matthew
18:14, "Even
so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these
little ones should perish." We
should all pray and ask God to give us less of a critical spirit and more of a
compassionate heart for lost souls. Beware of anyone who sounds antagonistic or
too critical against the lost people of this world. The gospel of Christ is the
good news of God’s offer of acceptance and forgiveness to all who are lost, no
matter what have been their failures or sins.
Jesus said that God is
not willing that one of the little ones should perish. Sometimes when a child
dies there are questions as to why such a thing should happen. Perhaps it is
because God loves children so much that He wants some of them in heaven as well
as on earth. Or perhaps it is because God knows the end from the beginning, and
God is not willing that any should perish, and God knows that for some people
their best chance of going to heaven would be to die as a child. Wouldn’t it be
better to die as a child and go to heaven than to live a long life and then
perish forever?
Starting in Matthew
18:15 Jesus teaches us on the subject of human relationships. He had just
finished teaching us how to become rightly related to God. Jesus told us that
it is important that we have the same attitude as
that of a child when we call upon the name of Christ. We need to see ourselves
as weak and unable, and we need to totally trust in Him as a small child trusts
in his or her parent. Being rightly related to God is extremely important
because it will be the difference between heaven and hell. And being rightly
related to other humans around us is also
important, according to Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17, "Moreover if your
brother shall trespass against you, go and tell him his fault between thee and
him alone: if he shall hear thee, you have gained your brother. But if he will
not hear you, then take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear
them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be
unto you as a heathen man and a publican."
Out of the four gospels,
the only time that Jesus mentioned the church is here in the book of Matthew.
In Matthew
In Matthew
chapter 16 Jesus indicates to us what should be the central theme and the
central doctrine of the church. Jesus did so by putting His stamp of approval
upon the confession made by Simon Peter when Peter said, "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus
is our Savior, Jesus is our example, and Jesus is our leader. There are many
reasons for the church to gather together, and these reasons all have to do with
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For example, believers
gather to talk about Jesus, to teach about Jesus, to sing about Jesus,
to worship Jesus, to think about Jesus, and to remind each other of the
wonderful things that Jesus has done for us and that He will do for us in the
future.
The church is founded
upon who Jesus is and what He has done. The church is also made up of people:
people who need each other and people who need to
work together as a team in order to achieve their greatest effectiveness
as followers of Christ. In the few verses of Matthew chapter 18 where Jesus
talks about the church, His emphasis is on believers doing what they can do in
order to retain the proper relationship with each other as fellow believers in
their Savior Jesus Christ. Your relationship with God is important, and
according to Jesus, your relationship with other believers is also important.
Notice first of all that
Jesus used the word "brother" in
Matthew 18:15 in talking about another believer. The church is meant to be a
family of brothers and sisters. This is a spiritual family because we all have
the same Spiritual Father, who is our God. We have all been made children of
God by the same means: through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a tremendous
equality between believers. We become members of His church in the same way: by
repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus as the Son of the living God. We
are all sinners saved by grace, and therefore we have an equal status and equal
standing before God. We all have a common destiny: to live forever and serve
God in the eternal bliss of the
First Corinthians 12
combines the subject of spiritual gifts with the teaching about the unity of
all believers. It says in First Corinthians 12:4-10,
"Now there are different gifts, but the
same Spirit. And there are different services, but the same Lord. And there are
different works, but it is the same God who works all in all. For to one is
given by the Spirit the Word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the
same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of
healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another
prophesy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of
languages; to another the interpretation of languages."
The rest of First Corinthians
chapter 12 goes on to present the church as the body of Jesus Christ. We know
that the church is spiritual, that it is founded by Jesus, that it is a
worldwide church made up of all the true believers in Jesus Christ, and that
each believer has been given one or more gifts. The church is called the body
of Jesus Christ because each believer is a member of the body. Our bodies have
arms and legs, eyes and ears, and many other parts. Each part of the body is
necessary and important. Each believer has his or her own unique place in the
body of Christ.
One of the reasons that
each member of the body of Jesus Christ is important is because we all have
gifts and abilities that can be used for the spiritual benefit of everyone
else. We are reminded in First Corinthians 13 that the greatest gift of all is
love, and all the other gifts are of no benefit unless they are exercised with
love. First Corinthians 13:1-2 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and
have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge;
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not
love, I am nothing."
It was obviously very
important to Jesus that His believers be able to retain their relationship with
one another as spiritual brothers and sisters, with the same goals and the same
destiny. And Christians should be always united in love because of the common love of
Christ of which they are all recipients. Jesus prayed for the unity of all the
believers in John 17:20-21 and said, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as you Father
are in me, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you
have sent me."
Unity among believers is
very important. Therefore, believers must be able to deal with the situations
that will arise when things go wrong between them, because
things will go wrong from time to time. We are all still sinners. We are not
perfect yet. Therefore, Jesus gave us very clear instructions on how to deal
with a matter when we feel that we have been sinned against by a brother or a
sister in Christ. Don’t get mad, don’t hold a grudge, and don’t get revenge. Do the three things listed below that Jesus said to do in
order to maintain the relationship between you and your brother.
First, Jesus said to go to them in private and talk to them about it. Make sure that it is done in the spirit of Galatians 6:1 that says, "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." If the relationship with your brother or sister in Christ is not restored by the means of going to him or her in privacy, then Jesus said that the second thing to do is to take one or two others with you to talk to him or her again. And if that still doesn’t work, then Jesus said that the third thing to do is to bring the matter up before the entire congregation. Your goal must be to restore the relationship between you and your brother or sister in Christ, because according to Jesus unity among believers is very important. It takes a spiritually-minded person to help resolve issues and create unity with a spirit of love among true believers. Why is there such terrible division among Christians in these last days? Maybe it’s because there really are not very many spiritually-minded people in the “Christian” organizations of our day. But please remember that we are not to try to obtain unity at all cost. This Christian unity must be based upon the principles of Scripture. No one should compromise truth for the sake of unity.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2007 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved