WWUTT 2048 Whoever Causes These Little Ones to Sin (Matthew 18:1-14)

Jesus set a child before his disciples and said, unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God. We must become like children and we must love God's children when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing. And if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.

Thank you, Becky.

The Disciples’ Question About Greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven

In our study of the gospel of Matthew, we're jumping into chapter 18 today as I kind of teased out yesterday. And I'm going to start off here reading the first 14 verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he called a child to himself and set him before them and said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever therefore will humble 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 to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. Nevertheless, woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you.

It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into the fiery hell.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of my father who is in heaven. For the son of man has come to save that which was lost.

What do you think? If any man has 100 sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 which have not gone astray.

In this way, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. Surely you see the theme that has continued in all three of these, let's call them addresses. It's not exactly three parables because only that third one is a parable versus 12 to 14 where you have the parable of the lost sheep.

So Jesus addresses the disciples in three ways here. And in all three of these addresses is a reference to little ones. Do not cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble. Do not displace one of these little ones who despise one of these little ones.

The father does not desire that any of these little ones should perish. So we have a reference to the little ones three times in verses one through 14. Now, little ones, does that always mean children though?

Of course, Jesus presents a child to the disciples and says, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives me. But is he always talking about children all the way through verses one through 14?

Well, let's consider that particular context. So of course we have this split up into three parts. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That's the question that the disciples ask at the beginning of chapter 18.

Jesus warns about stumbling blocks in verses seven to 11 especially that you may cause one of these little ones to stumble. And then you have the parable of the lost sheep in verses 12 to 14, in which he says that it is the will of the father who is in heaven that none of these little ones should perish.

So let's consider this as we go. Beginning in verse one, at that time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now, it doesn't appear to be that there's anything that is leading up to this.

There are other places in the gospels where the disciples are arguing with one another over this. But Matthew doesn't give any pre-dialogue here that would indicate to us that the disciples were talking about something else.

We can assume that this event closely follows exactly what we read yesterday about the temple tax. Jesus sending Peter to go catch a fish and the fish that he brings in, dump it over, coin's gonna fall out, use that coin to pay for the temple tax for you and for me.

A pretty miraculous fish catch. And I wish that we could all pay our taxes that way. So shortly after that, the disciples asked Jesus this question, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Probably a self-serving question.

Like, what do I need to do to be considered the greatest? How can I sit at your right hand? Remember, as we've been talking through verses or chapters 16 and 17, that the disciples are expecting an empire.

They want a king who is gonna sit on an earthly throne, is gonna throw out the Herods and the Romans and make Israel a superpower again. That's what they're expecting. So what needs to happen for us to sit at your right hand?

And it's interesting that they say, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? This could be motivated, and I'm probably assuming too much here, but it could be motivated by the vision Peter, James, and John got to see on the Mount of Transfiguration.

With Jesus transfigured before them, they got to see him in his glory. So now they're not talking about an earthly kingdom. They are talking about a heavenly kingdom, but it is gonna be the power of heaven that comes to earth.

They're still expecting earthly conquest. They're thinking in very fleshly ways. So a very self-serving question here to ask Jesus, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus calls a child to himself and sets the child before them.

Now, remember the exchange that Jesus and Peter had at the end of chapter 17 about paying taxes. And Peter's assumption is probably that Jesus is going to assume the throne. We won't have to pay taxes anymore because we've been welcomed into this kingdom as sons of God through Jesus Christ, the master that we've been following.

So maybe Peter's thinking we don't have to pay taxes. And yet it is through Christ's poverty that Jesus shows or gives Peter a lesson about trusting in the sovereignty of God, trusting in what Jesus knows that Peter doesn't know, that you go catch this fish and you're gonna get a coin that it's gonna pay our taxes for us.

Christ still showing and demonstrating his power is the all-knowing God, the all-supplying God, but doing this through poverty instead of through power. And so even here, as the disciples ask Jesus this question, the context just flows right from what we read at the end of chapter 17 into the beginning of chapter 18.

They're expecting, again, some sort of display of power and what does Jesus give to them? But a humble picture of a child. He calls a child to himself and set him before them and said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Probably deflating the disciples' high and lofty prospects, whatever selfishness they had in this question, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus brings them to humility, saying you must humble yourself.

You must become like this child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, Jesus makes constant references throughout Matthew's gospel to his disciples being like children. Consider the prayer that Jesus prayed at the end of chapter 11.

He says, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in your sight.

And he's talking about his disciples, the wise and knowing those who were Pharisees, the teachers of the law, who sat in the synagogue and in the Sanhedrin. They didn't know who Jesus was and that the scriptures pointed to him, but the disciples have come to know this.

And then of course, you have Jesus questioned to his disciples in chapter 16, who do you say that I am? And Peter saying, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus saying, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for it is not flesh and blood who revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

And so Jesus has called the disciples as being like children. He's made that address of them before. And the fact that they know, the fact that they know who Jesus is, is because the father has revealed this to children.

The children of God adopted into God's family through Christ. And so Jesus says, you must become, when you are converted, you must become like children. Now, in what way do we become like children? Well, we're born again, first of all.

So it's like being born all over again. We're new, we're fresh, we are immature, we are needing to learn and grow up and be fed. And we are completely dependent upon our father who is in heaven, just like a child is dependent upon their parents.

So we need to be dependent upon our heavenly father for everything that he supplies to us. We can only enter the kingdom of God through that which God has given to us. We cannot enter the kingdom by anything that we do.

It is because of what Christ has done for us. It is this very humility before God. I can do nothing of my own. It is not of my works, but your work, the finished work that was accomplished in Christ. Only by faith in Jesus are we forgiven our sins and given everlasting life.

And unless you become like a child and understand this, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. As a teacher of the word, I continually have to remind myself to humble myself that I'm still learning these things from scripture.

Even though I am supposed to be a mature Christian, I'm supposed to be a model of a mature Christian for my congregation, for the church that I pastor. But part of that modeling mature Christianity for my congregation is to continually come back to my father and depend upon him to supply my every need.

Continually coming back to Christ, being reminded that it is he who raises the dead and he has raised my dead soul to life that I might live for him. And so this humility that we must have as followers of Christ in order to enter his kingdom, Jesus going on to explain that in verse four, whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

You must be considered the least in order to be the greatest. Now, this child that Jesus presents to his disciples was most likely a very young child, not just someone 10 and certainly not a teenager, but a very young child who cannot do anything on their own.

And if left to themselves would probably die, would probably perish because there was no one to feed them and care for them and even teach them that they may grow in knowledge, that they might be disciplined, knowing the difference between right and wrong.

We need to be completely dependent upon our father to show us these things. And as said in Hebrews 12, our father even disciplines us that we may know the right way that we should go. His rod and his staff guide and comfort us as said in Psalm 23.

So you must humble yourself like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven. And whoever humbles himself is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And then Jesus says this verses five and six, whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Now I'm a Baptist and as a good Baptist, we don't practice infant baptism. But that doesn't mean that we don't practice baptizing children. I have baptized children. Those that have made a credible profession of faith, they even understand what it means to take up a cross and follow after Jesus whenever I ask them that question.

And so children can be baptized just because you're Baptist doesn't mean that you don't baptize children. We just don't baptize infants because a baptism is supposed to be a confession and that child needs to know what it is that they are confessing.

So we receive these children into our congregation. We receive them before they are confessors, but we raise them that they may know what the gospel is, that they may come to faith in Jesus Christ because of what they've been taught.

And when they make that profession of faith, they're baptized to show I've been buried with Christ in my sins and risen again to new life. Made churches everywhere, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, whatever else.

Those that are solid and following in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, may they be receptive of all children and especially teaching them that they may come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as savior and confess that faith through baptism.

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it is better for him a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that it be drowned in the depths of the sea. Now, this surely speaks to any kind of sin that would be inflicted upon a little child, but this would even speak to neglecting children.

Because if you neglect a child, that also will cause them to stumble because they won't learn, they won't understand the difference between right and wrong. So Jesus is calling for action here. You must receive these children.

You must teach them that they may grow. If you neglect these children, you don't receive them, or even if you do something sinful to them, anything that would cause them to stumble, there are severe, serious penalties of judgment that would come upon a person who does any kind of sinful act toward a child.

And we see our culture treating our children in such incredibly sinful ways even today. It was just this week that I saw a story of Joe Biden, President of the United States, saying that he would withhold funds for public schools.

He would withhold food programs for public schools, would not fund their lunches if they don't allow boys to use girls' bathrooms. This is how wicked this administration is in our culture. And if they continue on this wicked path, those that are behind it who have approved of this, they're gonna have millstones hung around their necks at the judgment in a manner of speaking.

Great will be the judgment upon those who sin against these children. But understand that Jesus has also presented this child as an example, as a metaphor. So this is also a child that represents believers in the household of God, in the church.

And we're even gonna talk about the church as we continue in chapter 18. We're gonna get to that next week when we talk about church discipline, verses 15 to 20. So somebody who causes one of these little ones to stumble or who does not receive these children or who would despise one of these little ones as Jesus goes on to say in verse 10, if you see somebody sinning, here's how you deal with that.

And then we come into what Jesus says about church discipline, verses 15 to 20. But here, if somebody sins against somebody else in the church, one of these little ones, meaning anybody of faith, anybody who is born again and has become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, if you cause any of these to stumble, this kind of judgment will come upon you because you would neglect or despise even one of your brothers or sisters in the Lord who should be a brother or sister in the Lord.

And so then Jesus goes to talk about stumbling blocks in verses seven to 11. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. I just gave you an example of one, the wicked administration and some of the horrible things that they're doing in public schools in our country today.

Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. It's gonna happen. We're gonna be tempted by the things in this world. There are people that are gonna hate us and despise us and even sin against us.

So these stumbling blocks are there. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. But woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes. Of course, there are gonna be stumbling blocks in the world.

Don't be a stumbling block in the church. Verses eight through nine. If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.

And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into the fiery hell. Now, once again, Jesus is being metaphorical here.

He's not saying that you literally must maim yourself in order to enter the kingdom of God because you could cut off your two hands or your two feet or pluck an eye out of your head and you still have a wicked sinful heart that desires the things of your flesh rather than the things of Christ.

So literally doing those things to yourself is not gonna help you to inherit the kingdom of God. But simply what Jesus is saying is that whatever is causing you to sin, whatever is tempting you, get that out of your life.

Whatever it takes, get it out of your life. It might require some extreme sacrifices, but it would be better for you to sacrifice that thing that is causing you to sin, that is creating this temptation that you keep getting drawn to, it is better for you to cut that out of your life than to still have it and be thrown into hell.

Whatever you've gotta do to cut those things out of your life, if it's causing your hands to sin, if it's causing you to sin with your feet, running to evil, if it's something that you're continually looking at and lusting after, get those things out of your life lest you perish in judgment.

And then Jesus ties that in, the warning about stumbling blocks. Once again, he ties that into loving little ones. See that you do not despise one of these little ones for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of my father who is in heaven.

That's a challenging passage. It could mean, it could be a reference to guardian angels or it could just simply be the spirits of those children who have gone to heaven and are with the father because angel can mean something other than, the heavenly being the holy ones of God that are surrounding the throne and singing his praises.

It could also be a reference to a messenger or a spirit of some kind, but they are continually set before the father who is in heaven as the father has received children. So we must and not despise these little ones.

And again, that especially applies to our brothers and sisters in the Lord in the church. Do not despise one another, welcome one another, love each other knowing that they are your brothers and sisters cared for by your father in heaven so you must care for them too.

And then finally we have the parable of the lost sheep in verses 12 to 14. What do you think? If any man has 100 sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search for the one that is straying?

And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 which have not gone astray. In this way, it is not the will of your father who is in heaven that one of these little ones, one of those who belong to him should perish.

God desires that none should perish, but we will all be saved. Everyone who is in Christ will be saved. And so we must look at one another with love and affection, with an eternal love and affection. Get used to the brothers and sisters in the Lord that you have because you're gonna be with them for a very long time.

And if you should despise one of these little ones, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. So let us humble ourselves in this respect and love one another. That really is the address here. That's what Jesus is saying to his disciples.

You must become like children in the kingdom of God in order to inherit the kingdom of God, and you must love the members of the kingdom of God. And then we go from here into, well, what if your brother does cause you to stumble?

What if your brother does sin against you? How do you handle that? And that's what we're going to be talking about next week in verses 15 to 20. Let's finish here with prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us.

And may we be filled with love and adoration for you. And as we love God, as you love your children, may we also have love and affection for your children. And we strive to encourage and build up one another, to receive each other, to draw them into the family of God.

No matter who they are and no matter what their status is, high or low, we don't show favorites. We don't show partiality. We don't discriminate. We love everybody, welcoming one another into the body of Christ and helping those who need help.

Loving those who are less mature in a very special way. For as it said in Romans chapter 15, those of you who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak. So that we might build one another up in love.

Teach us to do this more and more. May our churches be communities of Christ, where as worshipers of Jesus and as adorers of God, we love one another and build each other up in this most holy faith, that we might present each other to Christ and say, here is the one that I have loved because you loved me and loved this one.

So have I loved. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, bring us into your kingdom. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.

On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study, When We Understand the Text.