Law & Grace - Matthew 18:1-35 "Mini-Sermon, lost sheep & relationships"

We're continuing in our Law and Grace series going through the book of Matthew and we're in chapter 18 for this morning's study. You have on the top of your handout, and we've shown this previously, this kind of chiasm outline. It's with the idea that the book of Matthew is written in general as if it were kind of a reflective pattern, and the center of it being the kingdom parables of chapter 13. We're now in chapter 18, so we're stepping our way through it.

We will very soon get to the final week of Christ's life prior to the crucifixion, and to the crucifixion itself. There are five topics in this passage. It consists almost entirely of words from Christ of the disciples. There are just a couple exceptions to that. And he's going to be repeating, and in some cases verbatim, things that he has said before, restating things in other cases. We've called this sort of a mini-sermon. It has parts of it that are like the Sermon on the Mount, that is from Matthew 5 through 7. Mini-sermon because it's one chapter instead of three.

The first question, the one the disciples come up with is, who is the greatest in the kingdom? And of course, they're very concerned about this. That's very important to them. Even some of the things that Christ has said to Peter have generated, I'm sure, some discussion. Who's first here? Jesus then talks about spiritual stumblers, those who do the stumbling, and stumbling blocks. And those who stumble, so that's the next topic. He talks about going after lost sheep, leaving the 99 and going after the one.

And so we'll take a look at that. He talks about discipline among believers and accompanying with that prayer. And so we will look at that as well. And finally, forgiveness of others under the law of Moses, the passage that Randy just read. is the Law of Moses principle of forgiveness and not the grace principle that we'll be looking at shortly. Okay, so those are the five topics. We will, as we go through it, be following the principles that we used earlier in Matthew and have been continuing to use to compare and contrast. Just like this father-son, you can see some comparisons in the picture and some things that are similar and you see some things that are quite different, especially the size, right?

So we're going to find that we are going to compare things that are similar between Israel and the church, and also what we contrast that is different. We'll discover much that applies to us as we go through this. Comparing, for example, people are compared to sheep in both Israel and the church. The leaders of Israel were called shepherds. The leaders in the church are called shepherds. The group all together is called the flock. Same in Israel and the church. So there is a point of comparison. The same illustration, if you will, is used for both Israel and the church.

We'll also be contrasting Yes, that's a medicine, forgiven all. Contrasting under law, one can forgive in order to be forgiven. That's exactly the message from the passage that Randy read for us. We forgive under law in order to be forgiven, otherwise you won't be. That was the message of that parable. But under grace, we forgive because we are forgiven. We'll talk about that more in a minute. But see, here is where we contrast. Are both people in Israel under the law and people in the church to forgive? Yes. So that's uncommon. The motivation for forgiving is different.

So here's Matthew 18, 1-6, at that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Big question in their minds. So he called a child to himself and set him before them. I'm sure this baffled them. And said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me, Interesting, that word belief, who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

So this question of who is greatest, matter of fact, among the Jews that was a really big issue in the whole culture. Who's the greatest? And I'm sure it baffled the disciples in response to their question to have Jesus call a little child over because in the pecking order, children were at the bottom. You know, it's the children are to be seen, not heard kind of principle. And yes, they love their kids, but they were considered inferior.

The Jews often were concerned about rank. They would be concerned about when you sat down at a table. Who was at the head? And if you're more important, then you're closer to the head of the table, et cetera. And so the important places to be seated, the important places to be, those were all things that were very important to the Jews.

So they asked Jesus, who is the greatest in the coming kingdom of heaven? Who is? You know what? Jesus isn't going to answer it this way, but I could tell him. Jesus is the greatest! Oh, what a dumb question. Okay. When Christ comes again, He will be the greatest, right? And there's no question about it. So I don't know why they were asking. I think they were all just saying, well, after you, then what's the pecking order, right? But, so they ask Jesus who's the greatest in the kingdom.

At that, Jesus then calls a child over to him. Now, the word for child can be anything from a toddler to someone in their early teens or something like that. But it seems likely that this was a younger one. So although it's likely that they were hoping to have him tell them which one of them was the greatest, that's the answer they were hoping.

Let's get some definition here, right? Point to which one of us is going to be the greatest. In fact, we're going to find out in just a couple chapters, the mother of James and John is going to come to Jesus and say, I want you to have one of my sons on your right and the other on the left. You pick which one where, right?

And so they're going to do that. And so that's going to happen. And so you can tell this, who's the greatest thing? And let's get the best seats is really important to these people. Pick me, pick me, right? So that was kind of the theme. So Jesus calls this humble child over. It's like, oh no, we're not going to get the answer we so desperately want.

It'll settle all of our questions if it just tells us which one's going to be the greatest. Or which ones are going to be the greatest. The disciples ask one question. Jesus gives them two answers. One must become humble and come as a child to enter the kingdom, and the greatest is humble like this child."

Not at all the answer they were hoping for. As a matter of fact, I think they were probably very dismayed by the answer. What? Humble? Oh, we're talking about who's the greatest, you know? This doesn't help at all. You want us to be humble? He's basically telling them, look, forget about who's the greatest, you know? But anyway, they're not getting that.

Jesus essentially puts the measure in receiving, in this next part, in rejecting. Whoever receives one such child in my name, that is, the humble disciple, right, receives me. conveys that any disciple who is humble as this child also welcomes other humble disciples. So guess what? Instead of you guys trying to figure out who's the top of the pecking order and who's farther down the list, it's humility that we're looking for. And so not only are we looking for humility, but receiving others with humility. This is the exact opposite of what they were hoping to find out.

In verse 6, Jesus introduces the topic of causing others to stumble. And he actually goes on for several verses as we see. Saying that anyone who causes the humble disciple to stumble would be better off drowned in the sea. And of course we have hyperbole here. Oh, very interesting. Drowning in the sea was not a Jewish punishment. That was a punishment that only the Greeks and the Romans used, right? So very interesting that he picked that analogy. This probably further puzzled them.

Jesus mentions the big source of stumbling blocks, the world. The world is just full of that sort of thing. And the personal source of stumbling blocks, a specific person. So he gives the big picture, where do stumbling blocks come from? From the world out there. but they are applied by individual people. Now, Jesus is woe to both, but not this kind of woe. It's that kind of woe.

He uses hyperbole to tell the disciples to take radical action to avoid being a stumbling block. He uses hyperbole, as he used in the Sermon on the Mount, cutting off hands, cutting off feet, plucking out eyes, things like that. The sort of thing you like to think about. I don't think they took him literally because there's no account of any of the disciples missing hands or feet or anything of the sort, right?

So they accepted it as hyperbole. It is overstatement to make the point and also make it memorable. But the point is, he says, deal with it radically. Deal with it. Take it seriously. Avoid, definitely avoid being a stumbling block. No cutting off the hands.

Verse 10 says the disciples ought not to look down on or reject one who humbly follows him. Verse 11 you'll find in some of your translations has little brackets around it indicating that some of the various ancient texts don't have it. On the other hand, and this is a point to be made I think of the entire New Testament especially, Wherever there is some dispute about whether a text is in there, in no case is a major doctrine or teaching of the Bible at issue. So in the same thing, in that text, if it has brackets and years, it's not saying anything that's doctrinally off. So now, verse 12.

This is the passage more well known about searching for one lost sheep. So going from this question that Jesus has, he asks them about a man, wouldn't he leave 99 sheep to go and look for the one that is straying? Jesus puts a principle for the earthly kingdom, and it fits us here in the church as well, and we'll see why. While no follower of Christ ought to do anything to cause another to stumble and to stray, When one who has strayed is restored, there is rejoicing in heaven over the one restored.

One. I think this is a big principle. God is not going for acceptable losses. Every person counts. Jesus didn't just die for people's sins. He died for yours and mine. Individually and specifically. So individuals matter. Individuals matter. I'm glad to be at a small church where we have contact with people and we're not just doing program management. Because individuals do matter. People do matter. And that's the way Christ has talked about it here. When he died on the cross, certainly he died for the sins of the whole world, but that includes you individually. Every single one of your sins. Think of this. Is there any one of your sins that Christ didn't die for? No. There is no oops, or about average, or close enough for crucifixion work. No, it's none of that, right? It's none of that.

It is precise, exact, and total for every single one. So it isn't, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him except for Bern, right? No, it's not that. Whosoever believes, period, because every single individual is included in that.

Individually. God cares about each one. And in this instance, it's talking about one who strays. Now this is true whether you're talking about Jews looking forward to the earthly kingdom or whether you're talking about people in the church. God cares for everyone. One person restored to a walk of fellowship. One person restored to a walk in fellowship with other believers and a walk with the Lord. That's great. Heaven rejoices. So never think you don't matter. You really, really do. Every single one.

Now, this principle is consistent with Galatians 6.1.

So in Galatians 6.1 it says, if anyone is caught in the trespass, you who are spiritual ought to restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness. In Matthew 18, 15 through 17, it says, If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private.

And if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Now, this is spoken in a very Jewish context, isn't it? But what's interesting is he does mention the church now for the second time. First time was in chapter 16. Now here, the next time is here in Matthew 18. You know, I doubt very much that the disciples understood what he meant by church yet. As a matter of fact, they had a great deal to discover about what that meant, and they still weren't soaking it in about he's going to die and be buried and raised again. So they had much to discover. I suspect that they later on went, aha, oh, aha, and had those light bulb moments hit them, essentially for decades.

Galatians 6.1, if anyone's caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one the spirit of gentleness. The intent of this person-to-person confrontation is not, I gotcha, you're nailed. No. It is restoration. The goal is restoration. Even done in a spirit of gentleness. Now about that restoration.

Jesus goes on here in this passage to give specific instruction on restoring one straying sheep to fellowship. So he talked about the sheep. He says, OK, now here's how we go about the restoration process. So he's shifting from the sheep analogy to here it is specific. Here's your brother. He mentioned the church here in this context as he did just previously in Matthew 16, 18. The church is actually not mentioned often in Matthew here. The disciples didn't understand what that meant yet. As a matter of fact, it would be about a decade before they would understand the Gentiles are part of the church. And I think that it probably includes most of us. So they didn't understand it.

Nonetheless, he gives instructions. The aim of these verses is to give restoration to the straying brother. Jesus said what to do, however, if the steps in the process don't bring about the desired restoration. In other words, if the first step gets the restoration done, you're done. You only proceed to the next step if the restoration intent is not carried out. In other words, if the brother doesn't respond. Now, the aim of the process is restoration. That's what the process is directed towards. The pattern that Jesus establishes in this sequence is to only involve as many people as are needed to bring about restoration.

We don't instantly, you know, have a break in the service, Roger comes up and he says, people I have to tell you what Vern did. I saw him spit on the sidewalk at his home, right? No, we don't immediately jump to that stage. Why? It's because the principle here is you keep the smallest number of people at each stage necessary in order to have the restoration outcome. You don't escalate and jump past it. The ordered sequence in the process, not to be taken randomly or to have any step bypassed.

I've actually heard of pastors doing that. As soon as something comes up, they'll get up there and boom, and they're pointing fingers and making pronouncements. And that's not the biblical pattern, is it? You and your brother, you and your brother, and one or two others, and then tell it to the church. But not out of sequence.

Verses 12 and 14 say that the Father desires, it's His will, that each one be restored. That's what He wants. Each one counts. This is more emphasis on the each individual matters. There's a five-page supplement available for addressing the intent, manner, and sequence of restoring an erring brother, an erring believer in the church. And a key point there is that we have a kind of a church discipline flowchart that pulls together all the passages. And so it's key. I realize the flowchart idea might be a little bit much for some people. The point being that you don't miss something, okay?

That you pull together all the passages on it. Case in point, March of 1975. This fellow was brought before the church that Nancy and I were going to at an evening service. I remember it. The content, matter of fact, they even taught on this passage and the others related to it.

Because they had to say that this fellow had been caught up in homosexual activity, and they'd gone through all the steps very carefully and prayerfully, all the steps, and finally had come to the point of saying, we have to tell the whole church. And he would not repent. However, two years later, two years later, they had a homecoming celebration for him.

And he said there that, excuse me, He said the way the process had been carried out and done with care and loving and knowing all the way along that he could come back was very instrumental in his coming back and he has remained back in fellowship since. So that's really neat. It's been more than a couple decades since I've seen him personally, but it was a really neat testimony. Here's what it's for.

And even having to go tell the whole church and all resulted in a loving restoration of this man. And when Jesus says treat him as a Gentile and a tax collector, it doesn't mean you spit and kick and treat him disgustingly. It simply means that he's a person who needs to come in fellowship, and you don't just welcome him in fellowship and ignore the problem. But it also doesn't mean that you're somehow all of a sudden cruel to him.

Matthew 18-18 is identical to Matthew 16-19, those two verses, which was about the kingdom in that passage. These passages say that the disciples are to decide on matters humbly. Remember the illustration of the child, and the child being a picture of a humble disciple.

They're to decide on matters humbly based on what God has already established. They're not deciding what's true and false and what ought not to be and what ought to be. God has already established and revealed those things. They are doing their, you know, discussions, their pronouncements about things, all based on what God has already set in place.

Verses 19 and 20. This is one, let me read. Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst." This is sometimes taken in isolation, and so people, oh, we'll get two or three of us together, God's got to do it, right? This is looked upon as a direction to the apostles in the context of restoring people. So it shouldn't be looked upon as simply some sort of a general promise. It's specifically in the context of dealing with an erring brother. There's some other questions I would have there.

For us in the body of Christ, isn't Jesus with us all the time? Right? I don't have to wait until there are two or three of us together before Jesus is with us, right? He is with every single one of you all the time. Each one of you is a temple, as Paul puts it. Individually is where the individual matters. Each one of you is a temple. It doesn't take a group before Christ is present.

The other thing is that God listens to the prayer, in general, of just one person. Does God listen to one individual's prayer? Yes. James chapter 5, I think it's verse 16, the prayer of a righteous man avails much. One. So this passage here shouldn't be taken as a general promise out of context, but should be looked at as a message to the disciples in dealing with church issues and restoration. Now, the question of how many times to forgive. This is one of my favorites. As a matter of fact, when I wrote this, Nancy said, are you going to tell the story about? And I said, yes. Anyway, she knew.

Peter speaks up asking Jesus how many times to forgive. Seven? It sounds like a nice perfect number, 7 is a great number to work with. Jesus responds by telling Peter to forgive 70 times 7. Well, that number does calculate out to 490. It does. But I don't think Jesus intended for Peter or for us to do the math and start counting.

Let me tell you why. Personal experience. See that guy, the older one? That's me. About 50 years ago. My sister was driving me nuts. How many times did I have to forgive her? 490. Okay. Alright. So one, two, three. And I got to about 26 and lost count, which I think is the reason for Jesus' big number.

But I think there's a bigger problem with doing the math and counting. If you're counting how many times, you're probably not forgiving. You see, because what I was doing was not forgiving, it was just, when I get to 491, I am really going to blow my top, right? No, that's not forgiving.

So Jesus began to tell them the parable, the parable that Randy read for us, to illustrate the importance, the critical importance of forgiveness, and he tells it in a Jewish context. It is under the law of Moses. So here's the passage. I'm not going to reread the passage here because Randy did that for us. But you look at that.

Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave in the same way that I had mercy on you? And his Lord moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers. Torturers. until he should repay all that was owed him. My Heavenly Father will also do the same to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart." And actually, it's from your hearts in the original language. It means everybody, right? Forgiving from the heart. But notice, that's kind of threatening. Not kind of threatening, really threatening. Right? Your father will not forgive you.

Are you ready for the tortures? the difference between law and grace. Let's do some comparing here. For us in the body of Christ, both the Jews under the law of Moses, which includes the disciples at this time, and we in the body of Christ are told to forgive. The principle of forgiveness is applicable to both those under the law of Moses and us under grace, right? Both must forgive.

Contrasting, for us in the body of Christ, Ephesians 4.32, and that's not given here as a reference, but it's quoted, Ephesians 4.32, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Forgive because, boy, if you don't, you're going to be turned over to the torturers? No. Where's the forgiveness in this from God? It's already done. You're already forgiven. So turn around and forgive others. Not, you'd better forgive or you'll be in deep yogurt. Right? Okay. We forgive because we've been forgiven.

Huge difference. There is the contrast between law and grace. The law gives you a threat. Grace offers no threat. Can that be motivating? Yeah, but it's just not fear. When it comes to forgiving, the Christian has motive, means, and opportunity. Now, I know those are words that the prosecutors use, and you find them on police shows. They're looking for motive, means, and opportunity. But bear with me for a minute. We who believe in the body of Christ have motive. What's the motive?

God's mercy and grace shown to us. In Christ we've been forgiven. Is it for you better forgive or else? No. You have been forgiven. It's done to you. We who believe are in the body of Christ have means. And what is the means? The enabling, empowering, and energizing from God himself. Christ's very life. We have the Holy Spirit. We have motive. Grace and mercy. We have means. God's provided it. We have the awesome opportunity to be a vessel for his use by his life. You know that there's no good work out there that God hasn't prepared for you in advance.

He has prepared, Ephesians 2.10, good works that we may walk in them. Walk in them motivated by grace and mercy. walking them empowered, enabled, and energized. What an opportunity, all by grace. What a gracious ministry the Lord has given us.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this, your grace is amazing. And we pray that that grace may indeed be our motivation, that you would fix that. in our hearts and minds. You intend that to be our motive. And we thank you for your awesome graciousness, which is so mind-bogglingly huge that you will spend the rest of eternity showing and demonstrating to us what that looks like. We thank you in the name of Jesus. Amen.