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Matthew 18 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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0:00Matthew 18:1 [music]
0:02At that time the disciples came to Jesus
0:05and said who then is the greatest in the
0:08kingdom of heaven
0:10and he called a child to himself and set
0:13him before them.
0:16And he said truly I say to you unless
0:20you are converted and become like
0:23children you will not enter the kingdom
0:26of heaven.
0:28Whoever then humbles himself as this
0:31child, he is the greatest in the kingdom
0:34of heaven.
0:36And whoever receives one such child in
0:39my name receives me.
0:42But whoever causes one of these little
0:44ones who believes in me to stumble, it
0:46would be better for him to have a heavy
0:48millstone hung around his neck and to be
0:51drowned in the depths of [music] the
0:52sea.
0:55So the disciples are asking Jesus, who
1:00is [music] the greatest?
1:02And they're thinking of it
1:05in the sense of rank,
1:08in the sense of status.
1:11And Jesus is thinking of it
1:14in the sense of becoming a faithful
1:18expression of his presence and kingdom.
1:22So the child is not greatest
1:25because he's achieved more. The child is
1:28not greatest because he can control
1:31others or he has higher status than
1:33they.
1:34The child is greatest because he is
1:37humble because he is most responsive to
1:41Jesus.
1:43So what he's trying to do is break apart
1:45their paradigm and say
1:49what you want from the kingdom the
1:51kingdom can't give you. The kingdom
1:53won't give you status. The kingdom won't
1:55give you power in that political sense.
1:59But if you'll humble yourself and become
2:01like a child,
2:04that will be called conversion. And
2:06that's when you will be great in the
2:08kingdom.
2:11How are children essentially different
2:13than us?
2:15Children are unpretentious.
2:18Children are uncomplicated.
2:21Children are responsive.
2:24Children
2:26lead with their hearts.
2:29And that's what he's been saying in the
2:30previous chapters is that the heart is
2:33wrong and that's the problem. So here he
2:35is saying, "What you've got to be is
2:38more like this child."
2:41When you come into the house and
2:44tell some small kids that we're going
2:46swimming, they don't sit there and say,
2:49"Swimming,
2:51that would be nice." They're jumping up
2:54and down. They're clapping their hands.
2:56They're beside themsel. They don't
3:00throttle their enthusiasm
3:03because of their pride and their status.
3:05They are eager. And those are some of
3:08the virtues that Jesus is wanting to
3:11cultivate in his disciples where they're
3:14free from this status orientation.
3:18The word state ultimately shares its
3:21root with the word status. And he's not
3:24here to build a state. He's bu here to
3:26build a kingdom. But it's a kingdom of
3:28sons of a father.
3:31Woe to the world because of its
3:34stumbling blocks.
3:36And and he says, you know, if you cause
3:38one of these little ones to stumble, you
3:40ought to have a millstone hung around
3:42your neck and hurled into the sea.
3:44That's some of the harshest language he
3:45uses in all of his ministry. And he's
3:49saying when when a disciple humbles
3:52himself, gets outside of himself
3:56and responds to God from the heart in a
3:59childlike manner, you could make that
4:03difficult for him. [clears throat] You
4:04could make him stumble in his childlike
4:07faith. And if you do, you deserve a
4:10millstone around your neck.
4:13Woe to the world because of its
4:15stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable
4:18that stumbling blocks come, but [snorts]
4:21woe to that man through whom the
4:23stumbling blocks come.
4:26If your hand or your foot causes you to
4:29stumble, cut it off and throw it from
4:33you. It is better for you to enter life
4:36crippled or lame than to have two hands
4:40or two feet and be cast into the eternal
4:43fire.
4:45If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck
4:47it out and throw it away from you. It is
4:51better for you to enter life with one
4:52eye than to have two eyes and be cast
4:55into the fiery hell.
4:58See that you do not despise one of these
5:01little ones. For I say to you that their
5:03angels in heaven continually see the
5:06face of my father who is in heaven. For
5:09the Son of Man has come to save that
5:12which was lost.
5:15In this section, Jesus is telling us
5:19that we cannot be casual
5:22with the repetitive tendencies in our
5:25life that lead us to sin. We know that
5:29he's already said sin comes from within
5:32a man, not from outside. He says that it
5:35comes from the heart. So when he tells
5:37us that our hand or our foot or our eye
5:41causes us to stumble, he's really saying
5:44that these are places where we have a
5:47contact point with sin, where we have an
5:50opening, an occasion to sin. And he says
5:53that this stumbling
5:56that we are inclined to say, "Oh, no big
5:58deal. We all make mistakes." He connects
6:01it to hell
6:03as if to say, "If you tolerate stumbling
6:06until it becomes the pattern of your
6:08life, you're not on your way to heaven.
6:12You're not walking in the narrow way of
6:14life. You're not living by grace.
6:19You're in the wrong kingdom. You're
6:21under the power of darkness. You're
6:24under the power of sin. You're a slave
6:26to sin." And so he says, "Don't be
6:28casual in your dealing with sin." Do you
6:30think he's asking us to cut our hand off
6:34in a literal sense,
6:36but he's trying to snap us out of our
6:39tolerance towards sin. He's trying to
6:42shake us out of the indifference, the
6:45ambivalence that we have toward our own
6:48stumblings.
6:50And he's saying if you don't stop those
6:51patterns, they're going to set you on
6:54the wrong course and you're going to end
6:56up in the wrong place one day. So to
6:59resolve chronic stumbling is to avoid
7:03the place of total destruction in the
7:06end. And he tells us that we should cut
7:09it off. What are the places in your life
7:12where you stumble over and over?
7:16What could you do to sever that? to take
7:19away that opportunity, to make it where
7:22you didn't have a touch point with that.
7:25If you can get radical about that,
7:28radical about cutting sin out of your
7:31life, you can get on a different path, a
7:34path of grace. The word radical means to
7:37the root. And that's what he ultimately
7:40wants is for us to get to the root of
7:42the problem.
7:44But as Jesus is teaching us to be
7:46radical, he also wants to remind us of
7:49God's mercy. And so he says, "What do
7:52you think? If a man has a hundred sheep
7:56and one of them has gone astray, does he
7:59not leave the 99 on the mountains and go
8:04in search for the one that is straying?"
8:09If it turns out that he finds it, truly
8:11I say to you, he rejoices over it more
8:15than over the 99 which have not gone
8:18astray.
8:20So it is not the will of your father who
8:22is in heaven that one of these little
8:24ones should perish.
8:27So he's telling us maybe there are
8:29things in your life you need to cut off.
8:32Maybe there are things that have led you
8:34out of the flock and purpose and grace
8:36of God.
8:38But God is not in the business of
8:40numbers.
8:42He's willing to risk leaving the 90 and9
8:46to come out and find you. That's the
8:49heart of the the pastor, the good
8:51shepherd who is determined to bring in
8:54that lost sheep
8:56and help him find his place back in the
8:59fold. So when you feel that indignation
9:03toward your sin, don't let it turn to
9:05shame. And don't let that shame turn to
9:08isolation and chase you away from the
9:10flock of God because the good shepherd
9:14wants to pull you right back in and give
9:17you your place among his sheep.
9:21If your brother sins,
9:24go and show him his fault in private.
9:30If he listens to you, you have won your
9:33brother.
9:35But if he does not listen to you, take
9:38one or two more with you,
9:42so that by the mouth of two or three
9:44witnesses, every fact may be confirmed.
9:49If he refuses to listen to them,
9:52[clears throat]
9:52tell it to the church.
9:55And if he refuses to listen even to the
9:57church, let him be to you as a gentile
10:01and a tax collector.
10:04Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on
10:07earth shall have been bound in heaven,
10:10and whatever you loose on earth shall
10:12have been loosed in heaven. Again I say
10:15to you that if two of you agree on earth
10:17about anything that you may ask,
10:19[clears throat]
10:20it shall be done for them by my father
10:22who is in heaven. For where two or three
10:26have gathered together in my name, I am
10:29there in their midst.
10:31So now he deals with the person who has
10:34strayed
10:35but will not cut sin out of their life.
10:40They are rejecting the good shepherd.
10:43The good shepherd first comes to them
10:45through their brother and points out you
10:48did this wrong.
10:50And if they will listen, if they have a
10:53hearing ear,
10:55listening is the path and the steps back
10:58into the fold. But if they will not
11:01hear,
11:03and this means to hear with a view
11:05toward obeying. If they will not hear
11:08the correction, then they're supposed to
11:11take with them one other person. You
11:13see, God doesn't want to shame us when
11:15we fail. So he says, "Go alone and do it
11:18in private." He says that explicitly.
11:21Keep it quiet. Don't hurt people. Don't
11:24shame people. But if they will not hear
11:27that, then take one more with you
11:31because sin is not an option. You can't
11:34let it keep happening. And even if it's
11:37not happening to you, you can't let it
11:40destroy your brother or you become an
11:42accomplice in what is ruining his life
11:45and leading him toward hell in the
11:47equation that Jesus has given us here.
11:51So take one more with you. Do it as
11:53little and small and private and careful
11:56as you can, but do it until you get a
11:59breakthrough, until you gain your
12:01brother back. But if he will not hear
12:03your brother, take it before the church.
12:06Now, this is one of only two times that
12:09he uses the term church.
12:13And church
12:16in Greek is ecclesia.
12:19It was a word that was used in Roman
12:22civil and political practice
12:25when the emperor or the state
12:29had a matter and they wanted to create a
12:33special commission
12:36to solve a problem or to appoint offices
12:40um within a specific area. They would
12:43create a an eklesia and it was like a
12:46delegation or a commission.
12:50And the eklesia in Roman civil affairs
12:54was the gathering of wise and trusted
12:58voices from the town or their area and
13:02it was posited with the authority of the
13:05emperor or the state and commissioned to
13:09resolve a matter in that locality.
13:13So Jesus is not saying that his church
13:16is going to be a commission representing
13:20Rome's authority in an area. He's saying
13:23that his community is going to be an
13:26eklesia because it's a commission that
13:30represents heavenly authority on earth.
13:33So it's not standing in the place
13:35between the emperor and the issue or the
13:39person. It's standing in the place
13:41between heaven and the person. So he
13:44says, "If he refuses to listen to them,
13:46tell it to the church. And if he refuses
13:49to listen even to the church, let him be
13:51to you as a gentile and a tax
13:53collector." Now Jesus loved Gentiles and
13:57[clears throat] spoke to them and he ate
13:59with tax collectors on occasion. So it
14:03doesn't mean that this person has no
14:07love from you. It means that he's not
14:09part of your brotherhood. He has not
14:12heard you. He has not included in your
14:15covenant of trust.
14:18He then goes on and he says, "Truly I
14:20say to you, whatever you bind on earth
14:22shall have been bound in heaven." So
14:24he's saying, you are the eklesia. You
14:28are the commission. You are the
14:29delegates, but you are sent there to
14:32represent the authority not of an
14:35emperor or of a political state, but of
14:38your father in heaven. And whatever you
14:40do, it's not going to be something you
14:42do that you ask heaven to enforce.
14:44You're only going to mirror what heaven
14:47is deciding. When you speak collectively
14:50on a matter, you're saying, "We feel
14:54that this is what God is doing. This is
14:56what God is speaking through the
14:58scriptures, by his spirit, and now
15:00through his people. Again, I say to you
15:04that if two of you agree on earth about
15:07anything that they may ask, it shall be
15:09done for them by my father who is in
15:11heaven. For where two or three have
15:14gathered together in my name, I am there
15:16in their midst. Now, he is not saying
15:18that this is the size of your weekly
15:21prayer meeting. That's not his point. He
15:23has not changed his subject matter. He's
15:25talking about resolving an issue. And
15:28he's saying where two or three are
15:30together, you have an aggregation of the
15:33church. You have a representation of the
15:36church. And I am there deciding the
15:38matter through you. If you're doing it
15:41with the right spirit, if you're doing
15:43it with the right motivation, if Christ
15:46truly is uh in the tabernacle of his
15:49people. And so that's what he's saying.
15:52He's saying that I am with you so you
15:54can make the decision. Just like the
15:56eklesia in Rome represents the emperor,
15:59the eklesia here represents Christ even
16:02though he is not present in the flesh.
16:05Then Peter came and said to him, Lord,
16:08how often shall my brother sin against
16:11me and I forgive him?
16:14So Peter did not tune in on the fact
16:17that
16:19he had the duty of restoring his brother
16:23and he didn't even really focus on the
16:25fact that he might have to put his
16:26brother out of the community if his
16:28brother didn't hear him. He instead
16:31focused on the fact that ouch his
16:34brother might hear him and he might have
16:36to forgive him and drop his grudge.
16:39So he immediately is hoping that Jesus
16:42will put some limits on this forgiveness
16:44stuff so that restoration
16:47uh isn't as automatic as it sounds in
16:50this process that Jesus has laid out.
16:53Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how
16:55often shall my brother sin against me
16:58and I forgive him? Up to seven times."
17:01And he's kind of going out on a limb
17:04hoping Jesus says, "Oh no, no, no, not
17:06seven. three or two up to seven times.
17:10Jesus said to him, I do not say to you
17:14up to seven times,
17:17but up to 70* 7. That's 490 times in one
17:23day. His point is
17:27God's mercy isn't keeping a tally.
17:31God's mercy is limitless if people will
17:35repent, if people will hear, if it is
17:38authentic.
17:40If we're just playing games, if we're
17:43not really hearing, then we're not
17:44really availing ourselves of that mercy.
17:46But if we will hear, his mercy is
17:49limitless. For this reason, because it's
17:53so much forgiveness, for this reason,
17:56the kingdom of heaven may be compared to
17:58a king who wished to settle accounts
18:00with his slaves.
18:02When he had begun to settle them, one
18:05who owed him 10,000 talents was brought
18:08to him. But since he did not have the
18:11means to repay, his lord commanded him
18:15to be sold along with his wife and
18:18children and all that he had and
18:20repayment to be made.
18:24So the slave fell to the ground and
18:27prostrated himself before him, saying,
18:30"Have patience with me and I will repay
18:33you everything."
18:36And the lord of that slave felt
18:38compassion and released him and forgave
18:42him the debt.
18:44But that slave went out and found one of
18:47his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred
18:51dinari. And he seized him and began to
18:55choke him, saying, "Pay back what you
18:57owe."
18:59So his fellow slave fell to the ground
19:01and began to plead with him, saying,
19:03"Have patience with me. I will repay
19:06you. But he was unwilling and went and
19:09threw him in prison until he should pay
19:12back what was owed.
19:14So when his fellow slaves saw what had
19:17happened, they were deeply grieved and
19:19came and reported to their lord all that
19:22had happened.
19:24Then summoning him, his lord said to
19:26him, "You wicked slave, I forgave you
19:30all that debt because you pleaded with
19:32me. Should you not also have mercy on
19:36your fellow slave in the same way that I
19:38had mercy on you? And his lord moved
19:42with anger handed him over to the
19:45torturers until he should repay all that
19:47was owed him. My heavenly father will
19:50also do the same to you if each of you
19:54does not forgive his brother from your
19:57heart. This is an awesome story of
20:01forgiveness.
20:03Peter is wanting Jesus to say that
20:05there's a limit to how much you can
20:08forgive somebody. But in this equation,
20:12Jesus is saying that we are the person
20:16who owed 10,000 talents to God. That's
20:20like $5 million.
20:23And then he's saying God forgave us
20:27through the blood of the cross. God
20:29wiped out our debt. Notice that we owed
20:32it. We really did owe it. Forgiveness is
20:36not denying the debt. It is releasing
20:39you from having to pay it. It is taking
20:43away that power over you, that extortion
20:46to control you and letting you go.
20:50But then we are tempted to turn and make
20:54someone give us what what they owe us
20:59even though [music] by comparison it is
21:01a tiny debt. It's like the difference
21:04between $5 and [music] $5 million.
21:08That's the equation difference. So this
21:11handful of dinari is owed and the man
21:15begs him, please have mercy on me.
21:18Again, we need to pay attention to the
21:20fact that the debt is owed. There is an
21:26amount that is owed. But in the second
21:32case, we aren't like the Lord. We say,
21:35"No, you've got to pay it." Because we
21:37think it's a question of whether it's
21:39owed or not instead of it being a
21:41question of how much we've already been
21:43forgiven or not. And so we say, "No, no,
21:47you need to give me what you owe." We
21:49demand it of him.
21:52And then the Lord is angry
21:55and he hands us over to the torturers.
21:57This is another description of hell
22:01until we've paid exactly what we owe,
22:04which is a figure of speech because
22:07torturers don't get you to pay.
22:12The Lord was moved with anger.
22:15God is moved. He is stirred. [music] He
22:18is furious when we are reticent to show
22:22mercy.
22:23And he says that this is the kingdom
22:25[music] of heaven. Anybody who has a
22:28vision of the kingdom that is some
22:30millennial political reign after
22:32Christ's return, they don't understand
22:35that the kingdom is these sort of daily
22:37issues
22:39of loving and forgiving and releasing
22:41people from what they actually owe us.
22:45[snorts]
22:47[music]
22:58>> [music]

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