Matthew 18

The disciples asked Jesus a question that most of us have probably pondered at some point: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Our Sunday school answer would all be to yell out: JESUS! But… who, after Him? Jesus, recognizing their heart (as He always does) tries to help them understand that their heart is in the wrong place when they ask this question. It shouldn’t be about the position or authority of the person in heaven, it should be about their service towards God — and those who are in need. Interestingly, Jesus uses a child as the point of illustration. He tells the disciples that they have to turn and have the humility of a child. The world teaches us the exact opposite of that. We should be about promoting ourselves and our accomplishments. We should make much of our talents, our gifts, our power, our authority, our money. Children have none of these things (well, they have talents — just not fully developed or built yet).

Jesus then gives a warning to those who would cause one of His children to sin. What I love about His warning is the language He uses — He doesn’t simply say it would be better for them if they were dead… Oh no… That is WAY too easy. He tells them that it would be better for them “to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Now, I’ve seen a movie or two where people were killed this way and I have to tell you — it looks terrible! Jesus didn’t say that it would be easier for them to simply die… He says if would be better if they drowned because of a heavy stone around their neck. Wow! Jesus didn’t mince words on these things, did he?

Now, challenge yourself for a moment and think about the past few days. Were you humble? Were you thinking more about others and how you can serve them in their time or need or were you focused on how amazing you are and your own talents? Were you focused on what you could accomplish and what you could do? God has a lot of work to still do in my heart, I am afraid.

The next bit of Scripture is quite misunderstood, I believe. People often think Jesus is saying that if their eye causes them to sin (lustful looks, pornography or the like), they are supposed to cut it out. This would be addressing the symptom and not the root cause — our heart. Cutting out your eye or cutting off your hand isn’t going to cause you stop looking at pornographic material or punching someone in the face. It may make it more difficult, but your heart is still in the same place. Jesus is telling us to address the root of the issue! He is instructing us to remove the offense from our life and that it may take extreme (or radical) measures to make that happen. If you are someone that struggles with online pornography, get rid of your computer. That’s extreme. Jesus is calling His people to radical change in their life.

Some of the most practical Scripture in the Bible (yet never followed) can be found in verses 15-20. Too often, Christian’s would rather gossip, complain, whine and moan about other people who have offended them than do what the Bible instructs them to do. It doesn’t tell us to go and talk to everyone who we know and let them know how this person has wronged you. Quite the opposite. We should go directly to our brother or sister and tell him. Again, Jesus is being pretty radical here. It’s a simple thing that we all recognize and agree with in principle… until it is us that was wronged. We would rather tell our five hundred closest friends on social media how Bob or Mary wronged us. We would rather file our grievances in a public manner so that we would receive sympathy from others. We want others to recognize and comfort us in our time of hurt. There is a time for that, but it isn’t until after we have gone directly to the person who offended us and talked to them about it.

Quite often, the person who offended us didn’t even mean to do this. As a person who struggles to shut his mouth and bridle his tongue, this is especially true of me. I am confident that I have hurt people's feelings that I don’t even know about because they have never told me. If those people came to me and told me how they were hurt, I am confident that I would feel terrible and apologize and ask for their forgiveness. I have said and done lots of stupid things in my life but, as a believer, I am truly sorry for any grievances I have against my brothers and sisters. I could go on here for hours, but it is critical that you get this. Don’t hold your pain in — go to the person who has hurt you and tell them about it. Nothing can be more therapeutic than being honest and telling that person how you feel. More likely than not, their response and apology for their behavior will help you process the pain easier and move on in your life.

Jesus recognizes that not all people will feel remorse for their sin. There are plenty of people who simply have hardened their heart and don’t feel remorse for acting like a jerk. In these cases, Jesus instructs us to take one or two others along with you and talk to them again. This is excellent, practical wisdom. Whenever these sort of issues occur, it always ends up in a “he said, she said” kind of situation. In every case, there are always two sides to the story but those people trying to help are never sure which one is true (usually, the entire truth lies somewhere in-between the two stories). However, when there are one or more witnesses present to help attest to the truth of the story, this gives credence to the facts. While I would hate for this to ever happen to anyone, it is helpful to recognize that if you have to progress to this step, the person who has hurt you is really having to work through their sin.

Finally, Jesus says that if the person still doesn’t repent, bring it before the church. At that time, bringing the grievance before the church was something that was somewhat of a judicial matter. The Jewish assembly would help to resolve matters such as these. In modern day church, it is a bit different but shouldn’t be. If we all lived in community with each other (as they did then), bringing the issue to a leader in their community for wisdom and guidance made total sense. If the person still did not recognize their sin and repent, treat them as an unbeliever who needed to receive the gospel.

It is no mistake that Jesus then addresses forgiven after this. Jesus explains to Peter than we should forgive people “70 times 7”… or with no limits on our forgiveness. In context of the previous instruction, this should give people some further helpful guidance on recognizing that even when people hurt us, we should still forgive them… even when they don’t repent of their sin. Jesus continues to help us understand how we should forgive people in context of how much God has forgiven us. God has forgiven us for every sin that we have ever committed and will ever commit. If He is willing to forgive us for all of our sins, how much more should we forgive a person for their one sin (or maybe even a hand full of sins) against us? When you put it in this kind of context, it is really hard to find a reason why we shouldn’t forgive someone else who has hurt us.

Lord, thank you for the instruction that Jesus has given to us. He has given us practical, helpful, guidance to live our lives day-to-day. He has lived as a human on earth so that He knew our struggles and our sins. Thank you, Father, for keeping my heart in check. I need as much help there as I can possibly get from you! My heart is prone to wander and to find joy in things that make much of me instead of You! Father, thank you for forgiving me for all of my sins… not just one of them or the little ones. I pray that you would continue to forgive me for my offenses against You, my offenses against my brothers — even those that I don’t realize I have done. Lord, help me to stop talking to others about people who have hurt me but guide me to talk directly to them about the offense. Your Word is clear in this matter and I pray that I would be faithful to Your guidance. Thank you, once again Father, for Your Word which gives me practical guidance and direction in my life. In Jesus name… Amen! 

  JASON WORTHEN | Elder

 Jason and Larissa were part of the founding members of Hutto Bible Church in 2007. Previously, they attended Hill County Bible Church Pflugerville for nearly six years. They have been married for 16 years and have three daughters: Elisabeth, Sarah and Rebekah. Jason is employed by General Motors and Larissa is a stay-at-home mom who works three times as hard. Jason put his trust in Christ in 2003 when he was attending Bible Study Fellowship in Austin. Both Jason and Larissa have served in Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry and in an elder capacity.