Matthew 18

CHAPTER 18THEME: The little child, the lost sheep, conduct in the coming church, and the parable on forgivenessThe next few chapters do not seem to further advance the movement in Matthew, but they do fill out many of the dark corners which have arisen because of the sudden digression in the Kingdom of Heaven due to the rejection of the King. Matthew 13 in the Mystery Parables Discourse has given us the overall outline of the Kingdom of Heaven in this age, but there are still questions to be answered. These chapters are helpful in answering many of them. Now we find that the new birth is made essential in entering the kingdom.

Matthew 18:1

A LITTLE CHILD BECOMES AN OBJECT LESSONI wonder if you detect a note of fleshly ambition here. It may be that I just have a critical mind, but it seems to me that these men have been talking about this subject, and maybe two or three of them felt that they could reasonably be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. So the Lord did a rather sensational thing.

Matthew 18:2

What does this tell us? It tells us that the little child came to the Lord without hesitation. In Mar_10:14 the Lord said, “…Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not….” The problem was not in getting the little children to come to Him but in stopping the adults from hindering the little ones in coming to the Lord. This is a lovely picture we have here. Our Lord takes this little child and puts him in the midst of them.

Matthew 18:3

This is a verse that has certainly been abused and misunderstood, but remember, the Lord Jesus is talking about conversion not reversion. Some people think this verse means that you must revert back to your childhood in some unusual fashion or that you are to become juvenile in your actions in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord is not talking about going back to a former childhood, but rather of going on to a new life. Here our Lord gives logic to the thinking of the disciples as He diverts their attention from the matter of holding an exalted place in the Kingdom to that of primary importance; namely, of first being able to secure entrance into that Kingdom. This is as radical as Joh_3:3,“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The important thing emphasized in this verse is the new birth. You must become a little child in the sense that you must be born again. When you are born again, you start out spiritually as a child. Unfortunately, there are many folk who do not recognize their spiritual immaturity. When I was pastoring a large city church, you would be surprised at the number of requests that came to me from so-called new converts who wanted to come and give their testimonies. I feel that it was basically the same thing as the disciples’ argument as to who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Lord says that if you have been converted, think of your spiritual age. You are to become a little child. Should a little child get up and blabber out a testimony immediately?

Should a little child be an officer in the church? In listing qualifications for the office of bishop in the church, Paul rules out the novice: “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil” (1Ti_3:6). I think that our Lord is saying something like that here.

Matthew 18:4

When you go back and emphasize the entrance into the Kingdom, the new birth, then you find that the one who humbles himself as a little child is the one who is greatest in the Kingdom.

Matthew 18:5

The word offend means “to cause to stumble”; that is, to lead into sin. Jesus warns against it in strong language! It seems to me that what He is doing in this section is making the evangelism of children a divine imperative. He gives top priority to winning the children to Christ. I commend anyone who is working with children today. There is nothing as important as that. The story is told of Dwight L. Moody concerning his coming home one night after a meeting. His family asked him how many converts he had that night, and he said, “Two and a half.” His family said, “Oh, you had two adults and one child who accepted the Lord as Savior.” Moody replied, “No, no, two children and one adult accepted the Lord.” He continued, “The adult was an old man and he had only half a life to give. He was just half of a convert.” The little children are important. A pastor of a Scottish church turned in his resignation years ago, and as he did so, the elders asked him why. “Well,” he replied, “for this past year I’ve had but one convert, wee Bobby Moffat.” Bobby Moffat was the man who opened up Africa to missionary work. It was the biggest year that preacher ever had! In these verses the Lord is putting a great emphasis upon children.

Matthew 18:7

I can’t think of anything more harsh than this!

Matthew 18:9

Our Lord says that we are not to despise one of the little ones. When one of them dies, his spirit goes immediately to be with God. All little ones go to heaven, my friend. If you have lost a little one, knowing this will be a great comfort to you. They go to heaven, not because they are innocent or because they are yours, but they go to heaven because Jesus died for them. That is what our Lord is talking about here. “Don’t offend them; don’t despise them. Let them come to Me. Even if they die, their spirits are going to be right there in the presence of My Father.” So many parents wonder about the eternal state of their little ones. King David knew about his. When his son by Bathsheba fell ill, he was greatly exercised about the life of the child. We have the record of this in 2Sa_12:15-23. He fasted and wept and lay all night upon the earth. But when the child was dead, he arose, bathed, changed his clothes, and went into the house of God and worshiped. His servants were baffled by his actions, and David’s explanation was this " …While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." He had the confidence that one day he would be with him. This is a very precious truth. Many people have lost little ones, and I have lost a little one, alsomy firstborn. She is buried here in Altadena in Southern California. Every now and then I go by there and put a few flowers on her grave.

She’s not there; she’s with Him, but I go there because that is all I have left of her now. But someday, some golden tomorrow, I’m going to be there in heaven, and I am going to see my little one. She is saved. I have two childrenone in heaven and one here on earth. I confess that I have worried more about the one here than the one in heaven. I know where my firstborn is, and someday I’ll go to be with her. The feeling of our Lord about children is very important to note, especially in our day when there are so many crimes committed against these little ones. Recently, I have been reading about a mother and a stepfather who left a precious little girl along the freeway. How shocking it was to read about this. They just wanted to get rid of her. Some folk believe there is no hell, but I want to say this: If there were no hell, there ought to be one for folk like that! And there is one. Our Lord uses the strongest language possible in warning us about offenses against children.

Matthew 18:11

PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEPNow our Lord moves into the wonderful parable of the lost sheep. This parable is different from the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. The key to this parable is the word save. In Luke 15 the emphasis is upon finding the lost, and in Matthew 18 it is upon saving the lost.

Matthew 18:12

Notice how He closes thisHe is still thinking in terms of the “little ones.”

Matthew 18:14

He will take care of them until they get to the age of accountability, but you, parent, are responsible for leading them to Christ. I am afraid that our school systems are using our children as guinea pigs for humanistic philosophies. Young people are paying an awful price in the contemporary schoolroom. My friend, we have a tremendous responsibility before God in this area.

Matthew 18:15

PATTERN FOR CONDUCT IN THE CHURCHIf he sins against you, you are to go to him. This verse is speaking of sin committed by a believer. The obligation is upon the one who has been injured to approach his brother who has offended him and not vice versa.

Matthew 18:16

There are some people who like to smother trouble and cover it up. This is not the way the Lord tells us to handle it. lf there is a problem between two believers, it should be worked out in an amiable, peaceful, and quiet manner. If the individuals cannot work things out, take it to a group. If the group cannot work things out, the last resort is to take the problem to the church as the final authority. The Lord says in conclusion, concerning this subject:

Matthew 18:18

We have already studied the contents of this verse in Mat_16:19, where we learned that if we withhold the Word, we “bind on earth”; if we give the Word of God to others, we “loose on earth.”

Matthew 18:19

“If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing.” Does He mean that if we agree on anything, He will hear us? Yes, but notice the condition: “where two or three are gathered together in my name.” He will hear any request which is given in Christ’s namethat is, a request that Christ Himself would make. Or, we could say that asking in His name is asking in His will. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” is the simplest form of church government. As verse Mat_18:19 is a new basis for prayer, verse Mat_18:20 is the new basis for the visible church. The early church began there: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Act_2:42).

Matthew 18:21

JESUS’ NEW PROVISO FOR FORGIVENESSPeter thought he was being magnanimous when he said this because two or three times was all you had to forgive according to the rabbis. Simon Peter was willing to forgive seven times. But Peter’s generosity was parsimonious in comparison to the new estimation of Jesus

Matthew 18:22

That is four hundred and ninety times! By that time, things might be pretty well worked out. If not, both of them would have reached old age to the extent that it wouldn’t amount to much anyway! Four hundred and ninety times is going the limitand that is the point our Lord is making.

Matthew 18:23

I guess he was saying that he wanted to pay it back on the installment plan.

Matthew 18:27

I think our Lord is using an outlandish illustration here to prove His point. The amount of money that this servant owed his lord was about twelve million dollars. That is a lot of money to forgive anyone!

Matthew 18:28

“An hundred pence” amounted to about seventeen dollars! Compare that to twelve million!

Matthew 18:29

This parable of the servant, who was forgiven but refused to forgive another, illustrates the principle of forgiveness. This is a new principle presented in this passage, but it is not quite the basis of forgiveness for believers which is set forth in Eph_4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Because God has forgiven us, we are to forgive each other. If God forgave our sins in the same way we forgive others, none of us would be forgiven. But after we have become children of God, because we have been forgiven, we are to forgive. This is the principle of Christian conduct, of course.