Matthew 18:1–20
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for our meditation this morning is the Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 18.
At the beginning of our reading, the disciples are arguing with one another about which of them is the greatest. And in order to answer their question and to teach them, Jesus calls to Himself a child and places the child in their midst. And He said, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
To teach His disciples against sinful pride, Jesus teaches childlike humility.
And why is it that the child is an example of saving faith? It's not because children are in themselves sinless. We know from the Psalm of David that I was conceived and born in sin. We are sinners from the day we're born into this world, and we commit our own sins from the day of our birth.
But Jesus gives the child as an example of saving faith because the child knows his need. The child knows that he is completely reliant on others in order for him to survive. And in the same way, Jesus says that we must, like a child, recognize our need—our need for God.
We have to recognize that there's nothing that we could do in ourselves to bring us to God or save ourselves. But we are fully reliant on God. We must humble ourselves before God, humble ourselves to know our sin, humble ourselves to know our need for God's forgiveness, humble ourselves to receive that forgiveness from God.
And then, when we know our great need for forgiveness and when we receive that forgiveness from God, we can then in true humility forgive those who sin against us.
And that's the message that our text has for us today from Matthew chapter 18: In humility, you receive forgiveness from Jesus Christ. And in humility, you give forgiveness. In humility, you receive the forgiveness that comes through Jesus. And in humility, you give forgiveness to your brother who sins against you.
Humility is really the antidote to our sinful pride because sinful man, since the fall, is driven by pride.
You can really see that this is the sin of the garden all the way back in Genesis chapter 3. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve, saying, "You will not surely die, but rather you will be like God."
Sin from the very beginning is to make ourselves like God. And sinful pride always rears its ugly head in the hearts and minds of sinful men to exalt ourselves over God and to exalt ourselves over each other.
This is seen in the disciples at the beginning of our reading for today when they're arguing with each other about which one is the greatest. And then this is seen in our daily lives as we're tempted to sin.
And what is sin really besides putting what we want over what God wants?
And then sinful pride is seen in our lives in the temptation to exalt ourselves over others, both by overemphasizing our good works and then also downplaying the severity of our sin.
Yeah, maybe I am a sinner, but I'm definitely not as much of a sinner as that person. Yeah, I might be a sinner, but my sin in reality isn't that bad.
But sinful pride is blinding to the true severity of our sin. Sinful pride builds up this false fortress of our own delusion that makes us feel safe and secure in how great we are.
But God's Law comes in and smashes these delusions to pieces. God's Law humbles us by showing us who we truly are: poor, miserable sinners.
This is the reality that we're faced with when we see our sin, and then also the holiness of what God's love requires.
God's love requires you to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. God's Law requires you to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind. God's Law requires you to love your neighbor as yourself and do it perfectly.
And when we're faced with the holiness and perfection of God's Law, and then we compare it to all the times in our life when we have been prideful, when we have neglected God, when we have exalted ourselves over others, we truly see the severity of our sin.
We see the severity that St. Paul says about all people in Romans chapter 3:
"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
And then this leads us to the conclusion that St. Paul goes on to say in Romans 3: "So that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God."
Stop trying to justify yourself. Stop trying to say how great you are and how your sin actually isn't that bad. Every mouth, when faced with the Law of God, is stopped, and the whole world is held accountable to God.
That's what we realize when we're faced with God's Law: that our sin is truly severe. Our sin truly kills us and separates us from God.
Like St. Paul says in Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death."
And therefore, sin is never something to be laughed at or just shoved to the side or swept under the rug to pretend like nobody is actually going to notice, but rather sin must be dealt with.
And that's why Jesus speaks so severely and harshly about sin in our reading for today from Matthew chapter 18:
"Woe to the world for temptations to sin. For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life, crippled or lame, than with two hands or two feet, to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire."
Now, right off the bat, we can acknowledge that Jesus is speaking with hyperbole here. He's not actually telling you to cut off your hand or cut off your foot or gouge out your eye.
But even though Jesus is speaking with hyperbole, we don't want to make the error of missing what He's trying to tell us.
Sure, maybe you don't have to actually cut off your hand. But He is telling you that it legitimately would be better for you to do this and enter into life than to enter into hell with two hands.
He's saying this to emphasize how terrible sin is and how much it truly does kill us. And therefore, we have to repent. We have to cut sin out of our lives and receive the forgiveness of sins because sin, when it is manifest in our life, kills faith.
Therefore, never say with pride, "Oh, I would never fall into that sin, so I don't need to be on my guard."
But rather listen to the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:12: "Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
And Jesus in this passage also wants us to be aware of how much our sin affects others.
The temptation is always to say, "Well, I'm just living my own life, so why does anybody else care what I do? Why does it matter to anyone else?"
But Jesus is making it very clear that our sin always affects others. It affects our neighbor. It affects our brothers and sisters in Christ in the body of Christ. And it affects those children that God has given into our care.
Our sin affects others. It scandalizes the innocent and it inspires and drags other people to do their own sins as well when they imitate us in our sin.
And that's why Jesus goes on to say, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
And when we hear all this from Jesus, when we recognize our own sin, the severity of our sin, and the way that our sin affects others, this leads us to the only conclusion possible: that we in ourselves are poor, miserable sinners in need of God's forgiveness.
When we truly hear God's Law and realize our own sin, the only place left to go is to our knees, begging God for forgiveness.
God's Law drives us to true repentance, recognizing our sin and recognizing our need for forgiveness. And it strips away all that prideful self-reliance so that we are completely exposed and helpless.
Our only hope is that He would seek us out, find us, and forgive us.
And like a child is completely reliant on God for everything, we are completely reliant on God to find us and to forgive us.
And God sees us in our sin. And His earnest desire is to save you.
Jesus goes on to say, "What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of that one who went astray? And if he finds it, truly I say to you that he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
God's Word makes us realize that we are the lost sheep who went astray. We need to be sought out by God, found by Him, and brought home on His shoulders as He rejoices over us.
If it was up to us in our own power, all we could ever do is wander around until we starved or got devoured. We need God to seek us out and take us home.
And He sends His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep to forgive us, to bring us back.
As Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 53, "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
So even though I in myself am a sinner, Jesus' mercy, grace, and forgiveness washes over me and gives me a new heart. He gives me a pure heart that is cleansed with His blood. He gives me a humble heart that understands that I would be completely lost without the forgiveness of Jesus.
And then because of all this, He also gives me a forgiving heart, as the forgiveness of Jesus covers my sin and then flows through me to others who have sinned against me.
Because in our lives, others that God has given us are not there for me to compete with for who's better or to tear them down in order to exalt myself more, but rather everyone else that God has placed in my life is also a beloved sheep of God that needs to be brought back to Him.
God has forgiven me and reconciled me to Him. And because of this, it is my earnest desire that my brother would be forgiven and reconciled to God and also reconciled to me.
So that's why Jesus goes on to say:
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."
When someone sins against you, you can always remember how God has forgiven you. You remember the severity of your own sin and the greatness of the mercy of God who came to you and forgives your sins through the blood of Christ.
Then Christ, who dwells in you, causes you to have that same mercy and compassion on the one who has sinned against you.
And you can see in the words of Jesus here that the motivation of telling the brother his sin and bringing him back is not to show that you're better than the brother. It's not to exalt yourself over the brother, but rather it is to gain the brother so that you can be one with him once again and that he can be reconciled to God.
And in contrast, our sinful human nature prefers to either lash out to the person who has sinned against us and sin to them as well, or to just withdraw from the situation, say nothing to anyone, but then silently hold a grudge against him in my heart.
But as we heard in our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel chapter 33, if I withdraw from the brother and don't tell him his fault, he cannot know his sin and cannot repent and be reconciled to you and to God. And that is a great tragedy.
But in addition to this, when I withdraw and then don't tell anyone, but continue to hold a grudge and hatred in my heart against this person, that eats me. That destroys me. That destroys my faith as that anger continues to grow and grow.
And if I refuse to forgive someone, this shows that I do not recognize the severity of my own sin and do not truly believe God's forgiveness for me.
But rather, pridefully, I think that in some way I deserve God's love, but this person doesn't because I'm better than them.
That's the temptation that we struggle with when we refuse to forgive someone.
But that's not what Jesus urges us to do. His words cut straight through all of this: "Go and tell him his fault."
And then recognize that Jesus has a pattern and an order to how we do this. Telling the person directly, and then if he doesn't listen, bring other people as a witness and tell the person. And if he doesn't listen even to them, then tell it to the church.
But the temptation of the sinful human nature is instead to gossip and to tell everyone else but that person who is actually involved.
And this is a deadly poison that can absolutely destroy a relationship, a family, or even an entire church.
This is what James chapter 3 talks about: "How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life and set on fire by hell."
Gossip helps no one, but it only stokes pride, as people hate one another and then grow to think how much better they are than others.
But Jesus' words cut right through gossip as well: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church."
There's a very clear progression here: telling him directly, with two or three others, then telling it to the church.
But you notice that the goal is always gaining the brother.
So in your life, in the life of the church, do not let gossip abound, but seek genuine Christian reconciliation.
If someone sins against you, which will happen in this life because we are all still dealing with the sinful flesh, you must tell the person directly instead of telling everyone else.
And if I as your pastor sin against you or do or say something that you don't like, I urge you, please tell me.
And if you hear through the grapevine or whatever about how so-and-so did such-and-such a thing, please direct that person to the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 18 to tell the person directly.
Why deal with all this? Wouldn't it be so much easier if you could just believe in Jesus personally and then just go off and be by yourself? Wouldn't it be nice if you didn't have to deal with all kinds of other people who make you mad?
Well, maybe it would be easier for you in your sinful human nature, but you would be missing what the Church actually is, and you would be missing what Christ has done for you.
God has reconciled you to Himself, and He has created His bride, His holy Christian Church.
This is the body of Christ. And we cannot decide to cut ourselves off from the body and then still claim to be connected to Christ. We cannot despise His bride, the Church, and then claim to love Christ.
The Church is not about being better than others, but the Church is all about receiving God's forgiveness and forgiving one another.
That's the gift that Jesus gives to His Church. That's what He won for you on the cross. And that's what He continues to pour out on you and give you day after day.
Forgiveness through the preaching of the Word and through the absolution. Forgiveness poured out on you in the waters of Holy Baptism that you return to each and every day. Forgiveness given to you in His body and blood on the altar as you eat and drink His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
And then all of this forgiveness pours out to one another as we forgive each other in the body of Christ.
We're all gathered around Christ's forgiveness and bound together by His love for us and our love for one another.
That's why Jesus says in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am."
So, who truly is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
It's not the man who thinks he's better than everyone else. Rather, it's the one who is humbled by God to believe that he is a poor sinner, a lost sheep in need of God's mercy and grace.
He's the one who receives the grace of Jesus, like a little child receives a gift.
And after he's been sought by the shepherd, he seeks his brother. After he's been forgiven himself, he forgives his brother. After he's been reconciled to God, he seeks to reconcile with his brother.
This is the life of the Church: sinners receiving the forgiveness of Jesus and sinners seeking one another with that same forgiveness.
And here Christ is among us with His Word, with His forgiveness, with His mercy. Amen.
And now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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