The lesson from this simple passage is sweet, and necessary: Don’t fence God. He needs no body guards.
Note first: Christians need not be God’s protectors as many in Islam violently protect Mohamed. When our God needs defending by us rather than we needing defending by Him – things are upside down. Ultimately, it is the product of human hubris – even though it may flow from a personal sense of reverence.
It is true we are to pray and work for the fame of the name of God to be restored; for the whole of sentient creation to hallow, revere, respect and honor Him for who and what He is. When Jesus taught us to pray, He put this issue as the very first among all things we are to pray for. Nothing was dearer to His own heart than to see His Father’s reputation restored. To see all love and cherish and delight in the Father as He Himself did. But that is not done by swatting down those we think deficient, unworthy or even blasphemous. It is done by trusting Him, praising His name, walking in such a way as to reveal His character, preaching His Gospel and walking in truth.
He is our great defender, we are not His.
Note second: There are none more worthy than others to seek Him than others.
Young, old, hale, infirm, educated, ignorant, accomplished, indigent, intellectual or challenged. He came to seek and save “the lost”, not humanly created sub-sets of humanity.
Jonathan Edwards recounts the case of Phebe Bartlet who at the age of 4 began to manifest evidences of the Spirit moving in her soul. By 5 she was truly remarkable in her pursuit of God. John the Baptizer was filled with the Spirit even in his mother’s womb. And I can add that of myself, having my eyes opened to my sinfulness before God, and my heart opened to embrace Christ and the Cross at the age of 8.
When people show any interest in spiritual matters, we need to take it seriously. This is especially true with children, who do not take such an interest at all naturally.
Note third: How quick Jesus was always ready to bless.
And should we imagine Him any different today? Were these children displaying some interest in Him themselves, or was it only that their parents sought something on their behalf – He loves to receive and bless. Here, it says they specifically wanted Him to pray for these little ones. To speak to the Father on their behalf.
What an encouragement then for parents today to seek Christ that He might intercede on behalf of our children, grandchildren and others. In this, we never see a refusal. Instead, we see Him admonishing any who would hinder it.
Be encouraged to seek Him for your loved ones. He is far more gracious and ready and willing than we dare believe.
A key to understanding this short section has to do with prevailing Jewish thought on two fronts.
First off, we have to note that divorce had become fairly rampant in society. No doubt there are several contributing factors. Being that the Jews were under Roman occupation for quite some time, the permissiveness of Roman culture in this regarding divorce and remarriage, certainly had an impact on the general populace. They were used to seeing this behavior in their own leadership.
Herod the Great was the King of Judea (a Jew but under the Roman power) was in power when Jesus was born. He had 10 wives total. Some murdered, some divorced. But getting out of one marriage into another was a way of life. He considered himself a pious Jew. After all, it was he who built the magnificent Temple in Jerusalem where Jesus went frequently. And it was his son Herod Antipas who divorced his first wife to marry the wife of his half-brother – Herodias – who had John the Baptizer also murdered.
So divorce and remarriage couldn’t be all that bad could it? Since the Jewish political leaders were fine with it, why not everybody?
The second factor was that it was considered a duty for a Jewish man to be married. One commentator noted that is a young man reached the age of 16 and had no marriage prospects locked in, the elders of the Synagogue might call him in and find out what the matter was.
In that kind of an environment, if a man in fact did get divorced, it would be shameful to remain single.
Now you can see why the Disciples were a bit incredulous at Jesus’ statements. If a man can only divorce and then remarry under such narrow parameters, maybe it is best not to get married at all!
“But” Jesus says, singleness is not something to be entered into any less seriously than marriage. And here, He breaks with both major Jewish schools, and with a prominent sub-sect – the Essenes, who connected celibacy with a higher spiritual state. Once again, He doesn’t make anyone happy on any side of the equation. He neither condemns nor pushes singleness. What He does do is call each to live righteously before God, given our freedoms, and providential parameters.
Providentially, there may be some who are born in a condition (physically) where fulfilling the requirements of marital intimacy would not be possible. In such a case, there is a forced singleness. It would be the responsibility for such a one to live within those parameters righteously before God. And no doubt, special grace is extended to such as they seek how to live well before the Father.
Second, there may be those who through accident (perhaps in war) or more likely, by virtue of having been castrated as slaves, in order to serve in court positions to attend royal women – would too find that Providence had precluded marriage as an option. They too would need to seek for grace to remain pure in such forced singleness. Under this umbrella, one might consider a spouse who has become impotent or unable due to disease, accident or some other condition. This form of “singleness” (in this one regard) would require special grace.
And third, there are some who have been given a gift of not needing marital intimacy, and are able then to devote extra time and effort to serving the Kingdom. They have received another kind of special grace.
When all is said and done, Jesus’ teaching leaves us here:
1 – The norm is marriage, and marriage for life. Let us seek to serve Him within the bounds lovingly and wisely set for such a union. Seeking sexual satisfaction from anyone else other than one’s spouse, is grave sin.
2 – Some remain single for various reasons. There is no shame in not being married. And for some, an actual advantage.
3 – In both – we seek grace from the Lord to live righteously within the limits of His Providence. And He gives it. Let each receive as they are enabled. No providence excuses sin. Each context will find us needing to depend fully upon Him.
Contentment with God’s Providences is one of the most difficult spiritual lessons the Christian needs to learn.
But how gracious He is to provide for us in the gift of His indwelling Spirit.
The Pharisees seemed to have endless energy when it came to testing Jesus. One lexicon says that the word “tested” here means: “to obtain information to be used against a person by trying to cause someone to make a mistake—‘to try to trap, to attempt to catch in a mistake.’ Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. 1996. In Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains, electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., 1:329. New York: United Bible Societies.
The point is that they wanted to prove Jesus to be a fraud, to dissuade people from buying into Him. Perhaps this is because their popularity among the common folk would be eroded if they began to put stock in one who did not agree with the Pharisaical constructs. Perhaps it was that they could not abide anyone who did not support them or hold to every jot and tittle of their interpretations and practices. Perhaps both mixed with other motives as well.
Mind you, the Pharisees took the Bible seriously. They were zealous in serving God as they understood Him and His demands. But in their zeal, they became the biggest practitioners of the “Cancel Culture” of their day. Every disagreement, no matter how small, was a deal breaker for fellowship. Sadly, like so many today. Jesus didn’t fit neatly enough. So He had to be unmasked for the diabolical infiltrator He was. He had to go. So exposing Him publicly as not towing the orthodox line was a necessary tactic.
The problem was, their orthodoxy had features which were not central to Biblical truth, but was more reliant on their interpretations of certain things. Whether or not those were central to Biblical Yaweh worship took second place. If it didn’t fit their entire cast, it was not just suspect, it was evil and needed to be excised.
Sound familiar?
It is still true in politics. And it is still true in much of Evangelical Christianity. Much to our shame.
Note first: The most probable background for the question had to do with a debate between two schools of Biblical thought in that day. One school taught that a man could divorce his wife for things as trivial as burning his toast once too often. The other school, the “conservative” school, thought divorce could only be on the grounds of really serious sin. Of course defining such sin was open to discussion as well. All of this grew out of debate over the guidelines for divorce in Deut. 24.
Jesus was not about to make either side happy.
Why? Because His answer goes beyond questions of merely obeying some letter of the Law. He wants to take them back to consider the question – and all such questions – in terms of their principial foundations. When that is done, quick and easy answers to complex questions disappear. Note second: Jesus makes it clear that marriage is not simply a social contract. In it, God causes the two to be joined in a mysterious way which is meant to demonstrate the nature of Christ and His Church. So it cannot be dissolved easily and without due consideration for what else is involved. God has acted in it, not just the two people married. And no one ought to presume to sever what God has divinely brought into union before His eyes and for His purposes. This is a very high matter. More than man’s reasons and desires need to be dealt with.
Flippant reasons often given like: “We’ve just grown apart”, or, “we made a mistake”; “we were too young”; “I need to do this for me”; “He, or she doesn’t meet my needs”; or worst of all, “I’ve fallen in love with someone else” – don’t cut it.
Divorce is meant to complicated. God determined it so when He gave the Mosaic Law. Marriage, divorce and re-marriage are not issues where one just ticks off the right boxes. It has cosmic implications.
Note third: As was the issue with the Pharisees approach to the Sabbath, something is always amiss when we are called to serve what was meant to serve and bless us. The Sabbath as Jesus says in correcting their view, was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
So it is with marriage. Marriage was meant to bless and contribute to the flourishing of man. Man was not meant to serve marriage. When this is upside down, the institution takes on more importance than the people the institution is meant to bless.
Note fourth: Central to understanding Jesus’ words here, is rightly understanding vss. 8-9, which sadly have been greatly misunderstood by many.
Some interpret these verse so as to say God granted divorce to Israel to accommodate the sinful desires of some. This would be most strange indeed. It would be as though one said: “I am a serial rapist and cannot control myself due to the hardness of my heart”, and God replies: “I will make a law then that serial rapists are not to be charged for their sin, after all, it is due to the hardness of their hearts.” At once we see the folly of such an interpretation.
The sense is this: Because there are some, whose hardness of heart leads them to such an extreme that they would even violate the most basic, most sacred covenant of marriage – God gave to the innocent party a means of relief – that they might leave and be married to another who is faithful.
Divorce is not license to the wicked, it is relief for the betrayed.
Jesus is saying that the Law was not given to give those with hard hearts a pass, but rather to protect those injured and sinned against.
Note fifth: It is true that there is no divorce without sin. It is not true that who are divorced have sinned. If in fact divorce itself IS sin in all cases, then God writing Israel a decree of divorce in Jer. 3:8 implicates Him in sin. We know this cannot be true. But what was behind God’s divorce? Spiritual adultery. And what is it Christ appeals to here in our text? The same. Adultery.
Now it is obvious that the Bible has much more to say about the topic in a number of other places. But for Jesus’ purpose of refusing to be drawn into a war of interpretive niggling, and calling all parties to lift up our hearts and minds to see such matters on higher places indeed, He silences His prosecutors, and blesses His people.
At first blush, these two verses seem exceedingly incidental. Really, why bother? But I think there is something still worth noting here.
Note first: Back in 17:22, Jesus spoke – the most clearly to that point in time – about the immediate future. He said He was going to be delivered into the hands of men, killed, and then raised up three days later. This greatly distressed them the text says. But then the events of everyday life seem to push this revelation into the background. First there was the 2 drachma tax controversy, then the discussion over who was greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And this led to Jesus’ extended discourse on humility and forgiveness.
And so it can be with us even now. The promises of Christ’s return, the resurrection, the new heavens and the new earth can easily be lost by us as having continuing importance in the ordering of our lives. As staggering as those realities are, they can be overshadowed by the stuff of everyday life. But not Jesus. He takes His sidestep to deal with the immediate, but as soon as He is finished with those, He is right back on track. He is still undeterred from His path to Jerusalem.
And I wonder in myself, am I so mindful of my own path to the Celestial City? Am I a traveling partner with Bunyan’s Christian? Yes, many things require our attention from all sides each and every day. But are we on our way home? Or has that idea been pushed so far back in our minds that it no longer informs our thoughts, actions and decisions?
Am I, are you – consciously proceeding toward Heaven? Is that our course? Are all other things dealt with, experienced and contexualized by where we are headed? For to lose sight of where we are going, is to wander aimlessly through life. And is this not behind the despair of so many – even professed Christians?
Are we consciously going home to be with Jesus? And do we remain aware that the only way there is through the cross?
Note second: No matter where Jesus is, or whatever else is going on, pouring our mercy and grace on others is never neglected.
Large crowds were following Him. And He was neither deterred by them, nor unmindful of them.
He might have been consumed in Himself with what was about to happen to Him. But no. Or, He might have been tempted to stop His journey to enjoy the attention of the crowds. But neither is true. He met them, and He continued on His way.
Note third: His ministry to these crowds, is a ministry to a throng of the unnamed. The common folk. There are no mentions of the healing of notable people. No mention of class, station nor even the particulars of the healings. It is simply recorded that this is what He did. They, unmindful of what awaited Him, were simply desiring their needs to be met. And in typical Jesus fashion, He just blessed them. He gave them what He had without pomp, ceremony or self-reference.
How sweet and how gracious and how willing to bless our Lord is.
And if He is not too busy, too distracted, too fixed on the Cross to stop and heal this nameless crowd, then how much more is He ready to hear the prayers and meet the needs of His people from His place beside the Father even today.
Oh Christian, come to Him with your needs.
Oh lost one, come to Him with your sin.
He is no further away than the cry of your heart .
Matthew 18:23-35 / To Enter Heaven, Heaven must first Enter You.
Jesus is not done speaking about forgiveness. And in taking up this parable, elucidates not only the foundation upon which our forgiveness of one another rests, but also a crucial principle of The Kingdom.
Note first: Jesus says the Kingdom bears a comparison to what He is about to disclose. This is not just a nice religious idea, it is in fact an aspect of the rule of God in His Kingdom. He establishes something of great importance here, and something not to be glossed over lightly.
Note second: Important to see in this parable is that these are legitimate debts, not sins per se. Among people, it is one thing, with God, it takes on much more gravity. How much easier is it to forgive a simple debt, than to forgive true sin? But in Christ, God deals with both.
Here the question arises, in what way is human sin to be likened to, or considered as a debt? Which answer is found in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We were made in His image. We were created to bear and display His glory, His perfections and holiness to the rest of creation. And in our sin, we have defrauded Him of what we owe – bearing His image and honoring Him as God; which is also our very great sin. It is not just THAT we sin, and thus fall short of His glory. It is also that in falling short of His glory – we sin our greatest sin. For we who were made to reveal Him, obscure, hide and distort His image. SO the rest of creation is robbed of seeing, knowing and worshiping Him, and He is robbed of the duty we owe to Him inherent in the very purpose of our creation. What a debt!
Note Third: Now we must ask, what is it in comparison to what we owe God, do that we think others owe us – legitimately or not – and then fail to forgive when confronted? Respect? Deference? Recognition? Loyalty? And do we recognize their brokenness and inability to repay – and so turn a blind eye and a deaf ear and forgive freely? Father, give me that heart.
Note fourth: The nature of our debt is such that it cannot be repayed. For even if we were to perfectly display His glory from this day forward, there is no way to go back and restore the days already lost. Time cannot be undone. We cannot recover those lost days. They are forever gone. Such is the reality in the figures Jesus uses.
In His time, the servant owing 10,000 talents was something akin to 20 years wages. In modern dress, it would be something like a billion dollars or more. The point is that there is no way this debt could be repayed no matter how much patience the King might extend. Working another 20 years would only be earning what he ought to earn for those twenty – it would not make up for the loss.
And so it is with our sin-debt.
Note fifth: The announcement of the Gospel is, that forgiveness for this un-repayable debt is to be had for all who would come, humble themselves and plead for mercy. God is so lavish, so gracious, so merciful that “through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:38-39). And that Jesus Himself said this is to be proclaimed to the world. What a wondrous Gospel it is we have to preach.
Note sixth: Grace must bear fruit. If it does not, the grace extended is forfeited.
The 17th Century English Divine authored the famous book “The Almost Christian Discovered.” John Wesley and George Whitefield would both go on to preach famous sermons by the same title. For the great danger is, that men can come under the realization of their great debt to God, and can believe that God forgives for Christ’s sake, and for a while walk in the elation of thinking their debt forgiven – who nonetheless, show that such mercy announced has made no real change to their nature. And reveling as they may in the thought of their being set free, still treat others as though there is no mercy or grace to be found at their hands.
And what will end of such be? The free offer rescinded. And the final end, as though mercy had never been received at all.
So it is Jesus closes the parable with His warning. Look and see. If grace extended has not wrought an inward change so as to become a vessel of grace to others, one can at last prove themselves to still be lost and undone. Like wicked Simon the Magician, who “believed” but was not changed. Who was baptized, but was never born again. Who heard the announcement of free grace, but sought to make merchandise of it to others. Who despite his profession at the time, proved to still be “in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Who heard the facts of the Gospel, and rejoiced in them for a time, but was never born again by the Spirit of God.
Grace must bear fruit. If it does not, the grace received is forfeited. Like the seed which fell on rocky ground in Matt. 15. Something immediately sprang up. But with no depth of soil, what appeared withered just as quickly.
Our God forgives easily, freely, generously. But where grace bears no fruit, sin will yet be punished to the full.
From Matthew 18:21-22 / Three Strikes and You’re Out!
Note first: The question here is regarding personal offenses. And as D.A. Carson notes, the Rabbinic teaching popular at the time was, you could (and should) for an offender personal sins 3 times. But on the fourth infraction – zippo. Done.
Now, Peter, in a noble effort ups the ante. He more than doubles the quota. And herein lies a problem which underlies much theological error – quantifying spiritual things.
This tendency, because we like neat and clean cutoff points, spills over into all sorts of places in the Christian life. How many chapters in the Bible should I read each day in order to be in good standing? How many Church services per month do I need to attend? What do I set the egg-timer on so that I am sure I pray just the right amount of time? How many times do I forgive those who sin against me so as to know I can tick the box off on my qualification form?
You see the problem.
Such thinking forms the foundation of legalism. It is proto-Phariseeism. It starts small and well meaning and maybe even subconsciously. But when it grows, it blossoms into full grown legalism. And this, from earnest Evangelicals.
So it is Jesus uses a hyperbolic number to expose the wrong reasoning. It is not a matter of quantity, but one of the inner heart and mind ruled by the Spirit, and in light of the forgiveness we ourselves receive each and every day from our Lord and King.
I remember a time in my own life when I had in fact been sinned against very greatly by a dearest friend. And my own hackles were raised to new heights. Anger and resentment grew daily. Revenge entered my heart.
Then by grace, one day in reading the Word and prayer, the thought entered my mind – one I blush to say now should have been there all along, but had been obliterated by my sinful response: In truth, no one has ever sinned against me, as greatly as I have sinned against my God. And yet here I am, the beneficiary of His ceaseless mercy and grace.
And in the moment, I was free.
Free to forgive, even though the other party showed no signs of repentance.
And what does that forgiveness look like? For me, it was going before the Lord, and pleading that nothing be laid to their charge before His throne on my account. Maybe I could not be reconciled to them because they did not want it. But I could ask the Father, that on the day of judgment, nothing related to me be charged to them. And, that in the intervening years, they would come to know Christ’s saving grace for themselves.
And such an approach takes quantities out of the equation, even as Jesus does not deal with me in terms of quantity – but out of the overflow of His divine love, mercy and grace.
Holy Spirit, make me like the Savior. And let me forgive out of the reservoir of cleansing His blood supplies. Where I can go and wash multiple times a day – and out of which I can then forgive others.
Note second: A question remains: Does forgiveness end the matter entirely? And we must say – often not. Other issues may be involved. Criminality for instance. Or danger to others who may also become victims. Remedial chastisement.
Our responsibility to the perpetrator and to the larger community must be considered. Forgiveness may not, in every case, simply end in dismissal and reconciliation. We must be in a perpetually forgiving frame. But that may not end the affair in and of itself.
J. C. Ryle writes: “The rule here laid down must of course be interpreted with sober-minded qualification. Our Lord does not mean that offences against the law of the land and the good order of society, are to be passed over in silence. He does not mean that we are to allow people to commit thefts, and assaults, with impunity. All that He means is, that we are to study a general spirit of mercy and forgivingness towards our brethren. We are to bear much, and to put up with much, rather than quarrel. We are to look over much, and submit to much, rather than have any strife. We are to lay aside everything like malice, strife, revenge, and retaliation. Such feelings are only fit for heathens. They are utterly unworthy of a disciple of Christ.11 Ryle, J. C. 1860. Expository Thoughts on Matthew. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.
Note third: All of this is evidenced by the parable which follows. Forgiveness in that case did not lead to brokenness and genuine repentance. And so as the continued sin pattern spilled over to another, other action had to be taken and the “forgiveness” freely offered could not result in simply letting the matter go. It became apparent that remedial chastisement was also necessary – which looks as though forgiveness was rescinded, but was in fact further dealing with the offender in light of a wider circle of impact.
There is a perceptible shift in Jesus’ teaching at this point. His topic is still sin, but it moves to the personal and away from the general. In the process, we enter into some concepts which have been greatly debated in every generation, and particularly ours.
Note first: Jesus’ opening reference here is to private sin, personal sin, not public.
When Paul rebukes Peter in Antioch (Acts 15 & Gal. 2), he does not go to him privately because the sin was done publicly. It wasn’t a personal offense but one that was broader, against the Gospel and the Church. Being such, its effect needed immediate attention – its harmfulness to the observers right then compelled an immediate and public response.
It is often heard today, when preachers or teachers say or do sinful and outrageous things, that they ought to be approached privately first. Not so. Public sin requires immediate, open and public rebuke – especially when it is on the part of those in leadership. So Paul by the Spirit will tell us, when dealing with the sins of those in the Eldership – “as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.” (1 Tim. 5:17)
Jesus’ here is addressing when someone sins against YOU. Personally. Individually. And from what appears in the process He outlines – privately. We’ll see this more in Peter’s follow-up inquiry in 21-22 and Jesus’ subsequent parable.
Note second: This is an issue of real sin, not just hurt feelings.
Scripture elsewhere enjoins us to overlook slights and minor offenses. Prov. 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, but lovecovers all offenses.” 1 Pet. 4:8 “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since lovecovers a multitude of sins.”
What Jesus is addressing here is more serious. It is not a disagreement over taste, opinions, or everyday knocks and bumps. As 1 Cor. will tell us, we are not to be litigious. Either inside or outside the Church. But especially among the brethren.
If you find yourself constantly offended, embroiled regularly in conflict with others and needing to press your case over and over – perhaps the problem isn’t “them”.
Not long ago I watched an interview with a person who had been married four times. Their lament was that there are just too few good women out there. My thought was, the common denominator in these four failed marriages is – you. Maybe that should be considered?
That said, when we are sinned against, truly sinned against privately, and we cannot just let it go in grace or it proves to be a harmful pattern in the other’s life – we first needs be loving and concerned to cover the sin from other’s eyes, unless necessity forces us to at last bring it to the Church.
Note third: The grand object in Jesus’ approach is recovery, not vengeance.
As Spurgeon preached: “Whenever there is a child of God who has any defilement upon him, and you are able to point it out and rid him of it, submit to any degradation, put yourself in any position, sooner than that child of God should be the subject of sin.” (Spurgeon, C. H. 1865. “Jesus Washing His Disciples’ Feet.” In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, 11:72. London: Passmore & Alabaster.)
And that, is to be our first motivation in all of this. Not prosecuting a case so that they get their comeuppance. Not for revenge. But for restoration. Restoration of the relationship and recovery from a fall. So in vs. 15 – Jesus’ says this with the hope that you will gain back your brother.
Note fourth: Not all our efforts in this regard will be successful.
We have it in spades in the life of Christ Himself. He comes and tells He creations their sin against Him. And they refuse to be reconciled. So it may be with us.
But the object in vs. 16 is NOT, please hear this – NOT, to take two or three witnesses to back you up. No. We take others to hear the whole matter objectively from BOTH sides. So that those unacquainted with the issue might hear both parties unprejudiced.
In other words, this is to be done in a spirit of humility, owning that we might be wrong in bringing this charge. We must be willing to be reversed if the evidence should not substantiate our perspective. We may have seen wrongly, heard wrongly, concluded wrongly, and need to be corrected in our perceptions. We do not enter into such a process like charging bulls, but like humble supplicants, wanting to get things right between us once more.
Note fifth: It is only after a number of efforts at reconciliation are exhausted, and it is truly a serious matter, that we must bring the matter to the Church. Only after several others have weighed the matter, and called upon the offender to repent, and they have refused to do so. Only then is it brought before the assembly.
The picture is one of patient pleading with the sinner over time, followed by obstinate refusal.
The mechanism then, is to bring the matter before the Congregation.
And only then – if in the view of the gathered saints, the person still refuses to repent, then and only then, they are to be treated as a “Gentile and a tax collector.”
And what does that mean? Does it mean we wash our hands of them? No!
It means we take a bold refusal to repent of sin as an indicator that they are not manifesting the most foundational aspect of being a true Believer – repentance – and thus treat them as unconverted until they do. In other words, they become the object of our efforts to bring them to Gospel salvation. They are not enemies to be prosecuted, but unbelievers who need to be evangelized.
Note sixth: It is in this context that the grossly misused idea of binding and loosing comes into play.
The simple and straightforward idea here is: One who refuses to listen to the Church when reproved by the majority as to their sin – and thus will not repent – is to be “loosed” from the Church. Those who repent, remain “bound” together in love. And Heaven ratifies this action.
Jesus is telling them that when they deal rightly with those who will not hear and repent as unconverted – they will not be making a mistake. They can act with confidence. Heaven had reached the same conclusion even before they did.
And since such judgments are not matters of personal execution, but before a council of “two or three” and then the congregation who are gathered together to adjudicate the matter, they can be confident they act with Jesus’ authority in the matter. As though He were personally attending.
Note lastly: How far we are to go in dealing with one another’s sins.
For in this, we are made to reconsider the history of mankind, and especially God’s dealing with the Jewish nation throughout the ages, and how He sent prophet after prophet after prophet, and disciplines of all kinds – for hundreds of years – before the decimation of the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and the centuries following before the last destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.
If God is so patient with His people over such great spans of time and concerning grave and damnable sins – then how patient are we to be with one another when personally sinned against?
This is now the 4th part of Jesus’ reply to the questions: “Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” And in it, Jesus makes a glorious appeal to understanding The Father’s tender care for the humble. Let men vie for position and status. It will be their downfall. But if you would know unbounded care and the most tender ministrations from the hand of God – it is found in His regard for the humble.
Note first: The command to not disregard the humblest of those who believe in Him.
As Paul would later instruct us by the Spirit: “consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us 1wisdom from God, 2righteousness and 3sanctification and 4redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:26-31)
These are our brethren. This is the host of the redeemed. Not the intelligentsia. Not the elite. The common man. The poor in this world’s eyes. He came to those who are weak and foolish and low and despised. For we who are nothing in ourselves.
Why then would we try to create some sort of new spiritual elite by comparing ourselves to one another?
It is a wickedness wholly antithetical to the Gospel.
This skewed reasoning is why the Church clamors after every celebrity who makes any claim to something like Christianity. Because we want to be thought of as something other than weak, low and foolish in the eyes of the world – which attitude inherently bleeds over into status seeking in the Kingdom as well.
Note secondly: Jesus’ use of the word “despise” here.
In modern parlance, we tend to read the word despise with the connotation of true and virulent hatred. But more often, it refers to hatred in the sense of total disregard. Treating someone as though they simply do not matter. Worthless in the eyes of God and man. Not worth paying attention to.
So it is, the command here is to guard our hearts from treating any of the weakest, lowest, most broken, as though they are not worth our time or ministrations. For He came for these. Indeed, when everything of self-illusion is stripped away, this is the YOU and ME He came for. And if we will not see ourselves as just a low, just as weak, just as worthless in the eyes of the world, then we inject some measure of pride into our salvation. That somehow we were worth more than others and that is why we were saved.
Note third: That in the parable which follows, Jesus emphasizes in no uncertain terms how precious each and every one of His sheep are to Him. Without distinction.
Now there have been no end of conjectures as how to precisely understand the metaphor here. But among them all, I have grown fond of that slant which Epiphanius (Bishop of Salamis – c. 315-403) suggests. He conjectures a most charming way of getting away from the questions which take us away from the meat and refreshing fruit of this passage. It would seem he makes his conjecture due to the way this parable reads in Luke 15.
He suggests that the picture is that of the Son of God leaving Heaven and the righteous angels in the presence of God, to come and die. To seek out the “lost sheep.” It is a picture of the incarnation. In other words, the very oddity of the scenario is meant to suggest to us something we wouldn’t ordinarily consider.
The 99 represents the majority of all of God’s Creation which has NOT strayed from Him, especially the righteous, unfallen angels. And the one sheep, is that one small part of Creation which has strayed – fallen mankind. Jesus leaves the 99 in Heaven, safe, secure and righteous, and comes seeking we lost, foolish and rebellious ones. And finding us, what does He do? He places us upon His own shoulders, with the full weight of all of our guilt and sin. He takes us up upon Himself, since we have no means to return to the fold ourselves. And carrying us to the Heavenlies on His scourge-scarred shoulders, He presents us blameless before His glory with great joy. (Jude 24) So it is Jesus notes it is joy “in Heaven” over the repentant sinner, above the righteous angelic host who need no repentance. And how they rejoice with Him in the fulfilling of His redemptive work.
And so we come to that closing thought: there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over the 99 – the angelic host – who have no need of repentance. And we are humbled to think how such a salvation, such a Savior can be ours.
Glorify Him Christian – He values your soul more than all the holy angels in heaven. No wonder the Psalmist must gasp: “What IS man, that you take notice of him?”
This is now the third section dealing with the issue of seeking standing in the Kingdom of Heaven in comparison to others. We must not lose the train of thought Jesus is about, and does not complete until vs. 14. He has not started a new subject. And His words grow more dire.
Note first: How seriously we must take all sin, but especially the sin of seeking self aggrandizement.
If you work toward that end (if your hand causes you to sin); or if you walk in that direction (if your foot causes you to sin) – take drastic measures in dealing with this most pernicious and damnable desire. Better to lose anything else, no matter how dear or seemingly advantageous or necessary rather than lose your eternal soul to Hell for pursuing self.
Can Jesus be any more emphatic regarding our battle with sinful tendencies? I think not.
Note second: The only thing worse than giving into self-promotion and high standing in the eyes of others and before the Lord, is to pass on to others – to model or teach others – to seek the same!
Temptations come to everyone. But when we become the source of tempting others to sin – woe unto us!
The current trend to convince people that we are somehow worthy of grace, worthy to be saved, worthy of Christ’s blood, instead of leading people to understand that salvation and all that comes with it is by pure grace alone – fosters this notion and celebration of self.
So desperate are we to justify ourselves in some manner, no matter how paltry, that it can hardly be overstated. We constantly, incessantly compare ourselves to others so as to imagine ourselves not so bad, at least not as bad a X.
We comfort ourselves in our sins that they are not as dastardly, not as deserving of Hell as this one or that one. All because we do not truly know the depths of the sins we DO have, and because we do not recognize that outward sins are simply symptoms of the very same corruption. But how we love to note that other’s symptoms are worse than ours, imagining then that we are somehow inherently less sinful, less lost, and more easily salvable.
The truth is, if you or I were the only person alive, it would still take nothing less than the blood of the sin-less Son of God to reconcile us to the Father. Nothing less than Calvary and all its horrors. Nothing less than the incarnation, the resurrection and the sending of the Spirit.
Sin, no matter how little its manifestations, is nothing less than cosmic rebellion and deserving of eternal damnation.
Who will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?
Christ!
And Christ alone!
Note third: The denial of the flesh in resisting temptation is not a light thing.
It is:
a. Inevitable for all those who would follow Christ.
b. Powerful.
c. Personally costly to refuse.
d. Something which must be dealt with drastically.
e. It may leave us temporarily impaired of bereft of even something legitimate in our war against it.
f. Worth it.
Note fourth: How great then is our salvation. Indeed, how great is this Savior who delivers us from all the guilt and shame this sin brings with it, and then bestows upon poor Believers the eternal riches of glory that He Himself deserves and has won.
Worship Him today. For He is all our righteousness. He is all our holiness. He is all our reward.
What was begun in vs. 1, will continue down through vs. 14. And seldom is the great subject matter of this discourse considered well and in its context.
As we saw already, what prompts these words of Jesus is the question by His Disciples: “Who is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?”
Note first: How we may give the benefit of the doubt in hope that none of them were using this as a veiled inquiry as to their personal standing, but the opposite seems true. Peter, James and John had just come down from the Mt. of Transfiguration where they had seen the most amazing display of Christ in His glory. Were they inquiring as to whether or not a prophet like Elijah might have a higher place than even Moses – or something of the like? Possibly. But it seems more likely, especially given Jesus’ extended answer, that they were concerned with their own standing. Especially the three among the rest, and perhaps one among the three.
Jesus wastes no time in addressing the wickedness of one seeking position in Christ’s kingdom. In seeking self-aggrandizement. The One who knew it was no robbery for Him to be equal with God, and came in the likeness of sinful flesh, finds this tendency so abhorrent, so destructive, that He must denounce it in the most emphatic terms.
Note second: The perniciousness of pride is a special temptation among those who consider themselves servants of God.
These are Christ’s own here. His unique Apostles. And what evidently had crept in was some sort of thought regarding how they were to be honored above others. We are so wont to think of ourselves as “special”. And it is astonishing to see what degree this now comprises much of American Evangelical emphasis in preaching, and in the celebrity status sought after, and lavished in by many prominent ministers and ministries.
Turn on “Christian” TV, go to YouTube, go to a Christian bookstore, and there will be no end of tales of supposed “Transfiguration” type experiences being related, and then capitalized upon as though such experiences confer unique authority upon the dreamer. It is not just a lie, but as Jesus demonstrates here, such self-celebrity and self-aggrandizement is damnable.
Note third: How Jesus turns the tables. First and foremost, we are to receive the humblest and simplest of saints who believe in Him, as receiving Christ Himself. Humility is prized, not self. A holy lack of self-awareness. A total absence of even thinking on the category of how one might be regarded in comparison to others in the Kingdom of Christ.
In contradistinction to the Disciples’ thoughts at the moment, they were to show respect to those who are aware of their need of grace. These are the ones we embrace, not those who appear great in men’s eyes. And in effect He says – whatever you do, do not look down on them for their weakness and humility, or make that a cause of shaming them or hindering them. For I will not take it lightly.
Note fourth: Once more, using the import of Jesus’ response, He is saying in effect – Whatever you do, do not drag others into this ego-driven paradigm that seeks greatness in this way. Should this be the case, it would be better to be tossed into the sea with a millstone around your neck than to do such a thing.
This is of such grave importance to us all, but especially to we in the ministry of the Word. If you find yourself creating or feeding this mentality of seeking greatness (in the eyes of men) in others – take violent action against it. If your work labors to that end, or your walk takes you in that direction, if your eye is enticed by it – do everything you can to stop it. It is the path to Hell.
For nothing can be further from the character and perfections of Christ, then to be filled with pride of self over others. If we would see Him, prize Him, know Him, delight in Him, truly love Him, we must marvel at His humility. And seek the work of the Spirit to thrust His holy sword through any appearance of such contrary pride in us. Adore Him in His humility.
ResponsiveReiding 