Matthew 18
1 – 4
At that time the followers came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Jesus called a little child to him. He stood the child before the followers. Then he said, “I tell you the truth. You must change and become like little children.
If you do not do this, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The greatest person in the kingdom of heaven is the one who makes himself humble like this child.
The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord. Sometimes we treat children as if they are not important. It is a privilege to know a child and teach them God’s ways. We should see each child as someone we can help to know God better than we did at that age.
5 – 6
Whoever accepts a little child in my name accepts me. If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, then it will be very bad for that person. It would be better for him to have a large stone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea.
It is a very serious thing to bring sin into the life of a little child. Be very careful how you act and how you talk to a child. Do not plant your anger or other weak areas into a child.
Fathers, do not lead your children your children into anger. Ephesians 6:4
7 – 9
How terrible for the people of the world because of the things that cause them to sin. Such things will happen. But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to have only part of your body but have life forever.
That is much better than to have two hands and two feet but be thrown into the fire that burns forever. If your eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better for you to have only one eye but have life forever. That is much better than to have two eyes but be thrown into the fire of hell.
You can confess your sin instead of cutting your hand off. Cut the sin off by not using this part of your body! Turn your eye away from seeing things that will destroy you. It is better to live as if you had no eye. Take your hand away from touching things that will pull you away from Jesus! Do not use your feet to go to places that make you weak!
10 –– 14
Be careful. Do not think these little children are worth nothing. I tell you that they have angels in heaven who are always with my Father in heaven. The Son of Man came to save lost people.
“If a man has 100 sheep, but one of the sheep gets lost, he will leave the other 99 sheep on the hill. He will go to look for the lost sheep.
And if he finds it, he is happier about that 1 sheep than about the 99 that were never lost. I tell you the truth. In the same way, your Father in heaven does not want any of these little children to be lost.
When a sheep keeps on running away, and getting into trouble, the shepherd takes his rod and breaks the sheep’s legs. Then he carries that sheep on his shoulders until the legs are healed. During this time the sheep becomes close friends with the shepherd and never wants to run away again.
Your rod and staff make me feel safe. Psalm 23:4
15. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him what he did wrong. Do this in private. If he listens to you, then you have helped him to be your brother again.
This is something that is not taught and needs to be known by all Christians. We are hearing the words of Jesus telling us not to talk to everyone else about a problem we have with another Christian!
If you are reading this and you make some excuse to tell everyone how much someone has hurt you then you are not listening to the Words of Jesus!
Youi have to decide if you want the problem solved or if you want to make it worse!
Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops. Proverbs 26:20
16. But if he refuses to listen, then go to him again and take one or two other people with you. ‘Every case may be proved by two or three witnesses.’
Find strong Christians who will pray ahead of time and go to this person in the spirit of Galatians 6:1.
17 – 18
If he refuses to listen to them, then tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, then treat him as you would one who does not believe in God. Treat him as if he were a tax collector.
I tell you the truth. The things you do not allow on earth will be the things God does not allow. The things you allow on earth will be the things that God allows.
God has given you leaders in the church who are a covering for you. If this person will not listen to them then he should be asked to take some time away from the church so that this situation does not become bigger.
We do not hate this person but we see them now as someone who is not walking with Jesus and needs our prayers and kindness which may bring him back. Keep the door open. Do not tell him that he is being sent away for the rest of his life but offer him a way to come back!
19 – 20
Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something, then you can pray for it. And the thing you ask for will be done for you by my Father in heaven. This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.”
Everything in God’s world is done by the testimony of two or three witnesses. When we are doing so serious as asking brother to leave the church we want to make sure the Lord is in this decision. This same idea is in all of our prayers!
21 – 22
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when my brother sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? Should I forgive him as many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, you must forgive him more than seven times. You must forgive him even if he does wrong to you seventy times seven.
When we do not forgive it is like drinking poison and hoping that this poison hurts the one you are angry at. Forgiveness is one of the ways that we can tell who is a real follower of Jesus. Jesus said to stop in the middle of your prayer and make things right with your brother before you come back and pray. Matthew 5:24
23 – 24
The kingdom of heaven is like a king who decided to collect the money his servants owed him. So the king began to collect his money. One servant owed him several million dollars.
The idea here is that this was an impossible amount to pay back.
25. But the servant did not have enough money to pay his master, the king. So the master ordered that everything the servant owned should be sold, even the servant’s wife and children. The money would be used to pay the king what the servant owed.
We see that the things we do will not only hurt us but can hurt the whole family.
26 – 28
But the servant fell on his knees and begged, ‘Be patient with me. I will pay you everything I owe.’ The master felt sorry for his servant. So the master told the servant he did not have to pay. He let the servant go free.
Later, that same servant found another servant who owed him a few dollars. The servant grabbed the other servant around the neck and said, ‘Pay me the money you owe me!’
How can we forget that we have been forgiven of the evil things we have done and then try to stop forgiveness from coming to someone else?
29 – 33
The other servant fell on his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me. I will pay you everything I owe.’
But the first servant refused to be patient. He threw the other servant into prison until he could pay everything he owed. All the other servants saw what happened.
They were very sorry. So they went and told their master all that had happened.
“Then the master called his servant in and said, ‘You evil servant! You begged me to forget what you owed. So I told you that you did not have to pay anything. I had mercy on you. You should have had the same mercy on that other servant.’
It is worse for us when we will not forgive someone for doing the same things we have done!
34 – 35
The master was very angry, and he sent the servant to prison to be tortured. The servant had to stay in prison until he could pay everything he owed.
This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
When we open the door to the devil he tortures us with evil thoughts. God protects us as use His Word to fight against the enemy but if we open the door then God pulls back His protection until we turn away from the evil we done.