Matthew 19:13-15. The Little Children and Jesus

 ¹³ Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

 ¹⁴ Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” ¹⁵ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Children are a metaphor for innocence…which is what we as believers are. Once we accept Christ as our Savior, the stain of sin is removed and we are declared innocent.

Bear in mind, it is the lack of innocence that blocks our approach to God (God cannot have any dealings with sin). While the disciples believed they were helping Jesus…they were actually contributing to a worldly misconception: only the most deserving people get to approach the important people.

In a way, they were right. They just didn’t realize that the most deserving are the children…the innocent.

Please, don’t let anything stand in the way of you and our Heavenly father. The blood of Jesus has paved the way. If we fail to take advantage of this we are heaping scorn on the sacrifice he made. Walk, run, crawl…whatever is necessary. Just get there and receive the grace He offers.

Live boldly out there today…

Matthew 19:1-12, Divorce

 ¹ When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. ² Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

 ³ Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

   ⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a] 5} and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

 ⁷ “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

 ⁸ Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. ⁹ I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

 ¹⁰ The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”

 ¹¹ Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Maybe we should just skip today’s passage…

Or, we can continue to be very good natured about how we approach it (like yesterday and the day before).

Let’s begin by admitting that divorce is simply not God’s standard. It’s wandering. Any policy that provides for divorce is simply acknowledging the hardness of our hearts…not the legitimacy of the decision.

Why?

I believe it has to do with the nature of marriage. We’re told it is a living organism, not an institution. In fact…when two people marry they create this new organism. They become “one flesh”.  

As a practical matter, how can we separate a single organism and return it precisely to the state of existence the two beings enjoyed before their union?

Impossible…like pouring two glasses of water together and then separating them back into their own containers…precisely!

Why is this important? Because it implies we cannot sever this organism without doing permanent damage to the parties involves. We will inadvertently cut where we shouldn’t…and one partner will be injured.

Of course, we may be willing to do this. Not very good natured, though.

I’m confident any intentional act that consciously (and willingly) accepts injury to another party is far outside of God’s expectation…which makes it wrong.

Can we recover? Certainly. Should we go ahead simply because we know we can recover? Romans 6:1 says absolutely not!

If Romans 8 says “nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (and it does), the promise includes divorce…among other sins. We can always count on it. What we don’t always count on is the effort it takes to clean up the mess.

We can talk about why God designed marriage this way when we begin reading the Apostle Paul’s writings…

Live boldly out there today…

Matthew 18:21-35, The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

 ²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

 ²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[g]

   ²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[h] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

   ²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

   ²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

   ²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

   ³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

   ³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

   ³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Peter brings up a good point. It’s possible to be very pleasant when we bring somebody’s sin to their attention…unless of course, they sinned against us.

Now, it’s personal…how many times do we have to be pleasant about that?

Well…we may not like the answer.

But the logic is unassailable…

1.   In John 13:35 Jesus says “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”.  

2.   In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul tells us “love…keeps no record of wrongs”.

3.   So…every time we forgive another Christian it’s like the first time.  

Therefore, we only have to forgive somebody who sins against us…once!

I think this is pretty liberating…

However, I may have to do it once…every day for the rest of my life. But, let’s let tomorrow take care of itself, OK?

Live boldly out there today…

Matthew 18:15-20, Dealing With Sin in the Church

    ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

   ¹⁸ “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

   ¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

How do we approach a fellow believer who is sinning…or has sinned?

This is surely one of the tougher admonishments (not an option) in scripture. Actually, if you’re one of those who think this isn’t difficult…I don’t want to live next to you.

It’s helpful if we view this teaching in the context of the last few verses. After all, wandering away is really just a polished way of describing sin…but it’s instructive.

My beloved Golden Retriever, Bailey, is a wanderer…has been for almost 13 years. I’ve paid the Dumb Friends League hundreds of dollars to get her back. I guess that makes ME the “retriever!” It’s difficult for me to get angry with her because she is so good natured about her wandering. It’s who she is.

Still, she has to be taught…and disciplined.

Personal experience tells me we are a lot like Bailey. We wander, but we aren’t malicious or ugly about it. We’re often rather pleasant about it. We still need to be corrected, and most of us want to be corrected…and our willingness to be corrected is one of the ways we can know we are Children of God. It’s just that we prefer being corrected with a similarly pleasant spirit.

So, I made a commitment to myself years ago. If anybody is willing to expend the energy…and risk…required to correct me I will be gracious and thankful with them. I want to encourage them to continue supporting me.

After all, only bad things happen when we don’t listen. “If they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”.

Listening is better…

So, I guess here’s the test: If we have to do this, can we be as good natured in correcting others as they are with our own wandering? That’s the way Jesus would do it. How do I know this? Verse 13 says “if He finds it (the wandering sheep) he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

And…guess what? If we get Jesus involved amazing things can happen because “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

Live boldly out there today…

Matthew 18:10-14, The Parable of the Wandering Sheep

    ¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ^{[11] [a]}

   ¹² “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

We all wander. It's in our DNA.


Think not? Listen to the plaintive refrain of the great hymn writer Robert Robinson. "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the Lord I love".


Ironically, the title of this hymn is "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".

The blessing? We serve a God who is paying attention. He notices. Some days I barely glance at the fence and God taps me on the spirit..."don't even think about it!"

Other days I'm far outside before I even realize it. I'm not proud of it, just being honest. The brutal truth is...I've spent so much time outside the fence that I'm embarrased. Fortunately, I never escape the watchful eye of God and He leads me home.


I'm very blessed that I don't have to count on myself to keep me in the fold. As our hymn closes..."here's my heart, oh take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above".

God lovingly does for us...what we cannot do for ourselves.

By the way...it's true for our children and grandchildren as well. My heart is filled with thanksgiving. How about yours?

Live boldly out there today.

Matthew 18:6-9, Causing to Stumble

    ⁶ “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—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. ⁷ Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! ⁸ If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

I love watching the History Channel…unless the subject is the Bible.

It never fails…the smartest theologians in the world are invited to explain how the bible just cannot be accurate.

I understand the temptation. When scripture seems nonsensical we begin to speculate. We “think” about more plausible explanations. We do it about a six day creation. We do it about a universal flood. We do it about the Israelites destroying the inhabitants of the Promised Land.

We do it about Jesus…the virgin birth and his divinity…and his atonement. We do it about the need to repent of our sinfulness and be born again.

Or honoring the Lord’s day…

Or divorce…

And…when we finally “think” ourselves into a comfortable understanding of scripture its often far removed from its original intent. How do we know our new understanding makes sense to God? We don’t.

That’s going to be a problem…

I’m not suggesting we be intellectually obtuse. The Bible has its thorny issues. However, our ability to discern depends on a lot of study, a lot of prayer and a concerted dependence on the Holy Spirit for illumination. If we leave one of these three disciplines out we run the risk of “thinking our way” to the truth.

Nobody has ever gotten there that way.

How often do we witness John the Baptist saying “I think”? How about the Apostle Paul? Exactly.

So, while Jesus is talking about these little ones (believers), he continues by telling the crowd to be very careful not to cause any one of them to stumble.

Actually…if we profess a doctrine that is not sound and it results in believers becoming confused about God’s demands in their lives…we would be better off if somebody threw us into the ocean with a rock tied to our necks.

Where does this temptation come from? Jesus alludes to it. He says “if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell”. In other words, if we limit our devotion to what we can see and understand we will fall far short.

It’s bad enough when we confuse ourselves. Jesus tells us it is inexcusable when we confuse others. So here’s the question: Is our doctrine based on what we “know” to be true? Or is it based on what we “think” is true? The Gospel of john tells us “these things are written that you might know.”

Live boldly out there today…

Matthew 18:1-5, The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

"OK, Jesus...I have a hypothetical question."

How else could this question "who's the greatest" be asked? with a straight face? I'd embarrass myself.

But then again, I've heard countless clergy conversations during my years in ministry that surround issues like...

• How's your attendance holding up?
• How much are they paying you?
• Did I tell you about our new sanctuary addition?
• How big is your youth group now?

Questions of concern and interest? Probably not. These are questions intended to help us evaluate our own performance.

When I was in the Air Force and attended senior leadership conferences  I often noticed the gaggle of Colonels would divide into two groups...the Command Chaplains and the "not so" Command Chaplains. One of those times I was in the "not so command" group and was curiously listening to one chaplain complaining about never having the opportunity to become a Command Chaplain. He was unhappy and showed it. I was curious with the fact that anybody who achieved the prestigious position of full Colonel could be unhappy about anything. Well, compared to the group standing a few feet away, I guess perspective is everything.

On the contrary...I was watching  my grandsons at Christmas. At one point I noticed they were both opening similar presents...except (in my opinion) one was far superior to the other. It didn't seem to bother either child. They were content with what was in front of them.

We can guess which attitude is more pleasing to God.

I don't know why God distinguishes some and not others. I know for sure it's not because they are more highly valued.We do a disservice to God when we think any other way.

As I watched my grandsons I think I understand what Jesus was saying. The thing that is so precious about little children is the lack of self-consciousness. They don't know about making comparisons...they have to be taught that kind of ugliness. For the most part they are perfectly content with what's in front of them.

And, or course, if we are content with what's in front of us...we will welcome Jesus with enthusiasm every time he enters our lives.

How about it. When Jesus woos us..do we take a minute to compare his call with our other options? When we pour ourselves out to a life of ministry are we content with the results, or do we evaluate our offering compared to our neighbor?

Real greatness is taking profound pleasure in what God has given...every day.

Live boldly out there today...