WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.259 Now, these verses in Matthew 18, like much of the Gospels, are probably pretty familiar 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:10.599 to you if you've been around the church for any time. 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:15.060 And if that's the case, let's try to get unfamiliar. 00:00:15.060 --> 00:00:20.559 Let's try to unhear it today so that perhaps we can understand it with a little bit more 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:23.559 clarity and see Christ with more clarity as well. 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:29.440 And if you're new to the church context or new to the Bible, this might have been kind 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:31.760 of weird to hear. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:36.280 Sometimes you think of Jesus as this really mild-mannered guy, but he's getting really 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:38.160 intense. 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:41.280 So what's Jesus getting at with this child? 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:42.760 And why the intensity? 00:00:42.760 --> 00:00:48.560 Well, we're going to look at these things, and I pray that it will lead us to two truths 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:55.760 about the gospel, about Jesus, that can actually completely transform our whole lives. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:59.479 And truths that transform us and help us to live together, too, because even though we're 00:00:59.479 --> 00:01:02.960 apart, we're still in a community together as believers. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:09.920 And this chapter, this whole section of Matthew, is actually about life as disciples, life 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:15.000 together as disciples in the kingdom of heaven. 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:21.599 So in Matthew, Jesus has come on the scene in this book announcing the arrival of this 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.920 long-awaited kingdom of heaven. 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:26.400 It's finally here. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:32.400 And the disciples show throughout the whole gospel, we've seen several times, that it's 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.960 not what they expected it to be. 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:41.280 So the disciples have been expecting a king to come in and usher in this new kingdom. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:47.599 In fact, the Jewish people have been expecting this king for many, many centuries. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:53.159 But what they had come to expect was a warrior king. 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:59.920 They came to expect someone who, as the Jewish people came under Roman oppression and Roman 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:08.240 rule, they expected a king to waltz in and free them from Roman oppression. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:14.240 But it wasn't, so Jesus now is on his way to Jerusalem, and we know that the capstone 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.560 of what's going to happen there is he's going to be executed. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:25.000 And he wasn't going to Jerusalem to free Israel from Roman oppression. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:34.120 He was going to Jerusalem to die, to free the world from the power of sin and death. 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:36.960 The disciples couldn't get their heads around that. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:42.319 In fact, they misunderstood the king himself, and so they misunderstood the nature of the 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:44.039 kingdom that he would bring in. 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:49.799 They didn't understand what Jesus was doing, that what he was about. 00:02:49.799 --> 00:02:55.359 And so they misunderstood this kingdom that Jesus was ushering in. 00:02:55.359 --> 00:03:00.840 By way of illustration, I have a friend from an old church back in the States, and this 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.799 friend has written quite a few books. 00:03:03.799 --> 00:03:08.239 And as we got to know each other, I thought, it would be nice to read one of my friend's 00:03:08.239 --> 00:03:09.239 books. 00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:15.480 And I asked him, and he sent me a PDF, and I began to read, and I was shocked. 00:03:15.480 --> 00:03:20.480 Because from a church friend, I wasn't expecting a book that was kind of in the genre of a 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:22.200 horror book. 00:03:22.200 --> 00:03:24.000 It was really surprising. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.240 I misunderstood him, and so I didn't expect what I got with this book. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:32.640 And that's how the disciples kind of felt all the time, is like, well, we thought we 00:03:32.640 --> 00:03:38.719 understood what Jesus was doing, but this isn't really making a lot of sense. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:43.359 So they come to Jesus, in verse one we see this, and they say, who's the greatest in 00:03:43.359 --> 00:03:45.879 the kingdom of heaven? 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:51.639 Now I want to make a point here that this isn't a dumb question. 00:03:51.639 --> 00:03:55.319 We might kind of scoff at that and think, you know, it was ridiculous. 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:56.560 Why would you ask that? 00:03:56.560 --> 00:03:57.560 Come on. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:03:58.800 It's obvious, right? 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:01.759 That Jesus is the greatest, moving on. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.960 But it's not really a dumb question, and let me give you a few reasons why. 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:09.040 First of all, they were in an honor shame culture. 00:04:09.040 --> 00:04:14.960 We in the West, we've kind of moved away from this kind of a culture over the last several 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.560 hundred years, really. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:23.759 But in an honor shame culture, that a status of greatness, or a status of honor, it actually 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:27.600 lifted up in a noble, everyone who's connected to you. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:34.600 It was about giving you and your family better options for your future, better prospects, 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:37.280 and it provided some security. 00:04:37.280 --> 00:04:38.280 So that's one thing. 00:04:38.280 --> 00:04:42.160 The other thing is they brought their questions to the right person. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.840 They weren't just asking any old person, or they weren't making statements of themselves. 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:50.160 They were actually taking their question to Jesus, as we all must do with our questions 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:51.360 about the kingdom. 00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:53.040 They understood something. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:57.760 In fact, it was one of the gifts of being in an honor shame culture is you understand 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:00.000 where honor comes from. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.320 They knew in the kingdom, the king is the one who bestows honor. 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:11.439 So they must go to Jesus to understand who has greatness, who has status. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:16.120 And lastly, they didn't say who will be the greatest in the kingdom when the kingdom gets 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:17.120 here. 00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:20.399 They said who is greatest in the kingdom. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:26.199 Jesus has been demonstrating and teaching all along that where he is, the kingdom is. 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:30.039 So they actually were kind of taking Jesus at his word, that the kingdom is here and 00:05:30.039 --> 00:05:32.600 now, in a sense. 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:38.480 So it's important that we don't mistake this as a dumb question, because then we might 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:42.920 be tempted to kind of disregard Jesus' answer. 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:48.680 But the intensity that Jesus responds with shows us that Jesus took their question seriously 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:52.800 and has something really serious to say in response. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.600 So let's not take that too lightly. 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.680 So when they came, they said who's going to be the greatest, or who is the greatest in 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:01.040 the kingdom of heaven? 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:05.040 And if you imagine it, you know, there's 12 guys over here coming up to Jesus. 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:09.240 And I think they imagined that Jesus would call one of them out and put him in the middle 00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.520 of them and say, well, it's James. 00:06:11.520 --> 00:06:13.920 Or you know, Peter, come here, go stand in the middle. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.080 See, Peter's the greatest and here's why. 00:06:17.080 --> 00:06:23.120 That's probably what they expected, but Jesus did something unexpected, as he usually does. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:25.879 He calls to himself a child. 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:31.519 And he takes that child and he puts that child in their midst. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:36.719 And he says, look with me, verses three to four, truly I say to you, unless you turn 00:06:36.719 --> 00:06:42.360 and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:42.360 --> 00:06:50.159 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 00:06:50.159 --> 00:06:55.719 Now it's tempting and it's a little bit fashionable sometimes to imagine that Jesus is saying 00:06:55.720 --> 00:06:59.940 that we must have some of the qualities of children, that we have to be childlike in 00:06:59.940 --> 00:07:01.520 certain ways. 00:07:01.520 --> 00:07:07.000 And in other stories in the gospels, he does point to other qualities of children as being 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:11.520 admirable, but that's not actually what Jesus is doing here. 00:07:11.520 --> 00:07:16.840 Here we find Jesus doing what I think of as a visual parable. 00:07:16.840 --> 00:07:20.720 It's an object lesson, but it's a very visual, tangible one. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.600 Can you picture it? 00:07:22.600 --> 00:07:28.680 A bunch of guys about my age, 12 guys, and he calls forth a little child. 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:33.680 The word here is, you know, someone before adolescence, think maybe an eight-year-old, 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:40.240 maybe this high, this little child and puts them in their midst. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.600 The lesson is in height. 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:46.680 The disciples are grown men, they're tall and they're asking about greatness, and the 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:50.920 child is little. 00:07:50.920 --> 00:07:57.480 Jesus is pointing to the difference in size between the disciples and the child, and he's 00:07:57.480 --> 00:08:03.439 using it as a metaphor for lowliness, for humility. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:07.920 He's saying to his disciples, you're trying to pop yourselves up. 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:14.360 You're concerned with greatness in the kingdom, but to even get into the kingdom, you must 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:17.879 turn and get low. 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:22.519 Because the kingdom of heaven is not like the world's kingdoms. 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:26.839 Jesus is always driving this point home, and we would do well to attend to it. 00:08:26.839 --> 00:08:32.879 Because, you know, in our daily jobs throughout the week, often we climb the corporate ladder. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:34.399 We polish our resumes. 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:37.539 We dress for the job we want. 00:08:37.539 --> 00:08:43.320 We position ourselves advantageously in our social spheres of rank and status. 00:08:43.320 --> 00:08:44.320 That's normal. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:47.220 We all do that, if we're honest. 00:08:47.220 --> 00:08:51.560 But that's not what the kingdom of heaven is like. 00:08:51.560 --> 00:08:57.200 To get into the kingdom, you've got to get low. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:06.879 We disciples in the kingdom are to be unconcerned with reaching for status and greatness. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:08.879 Unconcerned with honor for ourselves. 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:09.879 Humble. 00:09:09.879 --> 00:09:16.200 And if I'm honest with you, I find that kind of humility very difficult. 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:18.440 I find it hard to even imagine for myself. 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:24.920 It's really deeply ingrained in me to strive for recognition, to strive for status. 00:09:24.920 --> 00:09:28.040 So what would it be like then to be truly humble? 00:09:28.040 --> 00:09:34.340 Imagine, what would it be like if you met a person who was really humble, really lowly, 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:37.840 not reaching for their own significance and greatness? 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:38.840 C.S. 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:42.160 Lewis wondered the same thing, and he wrote, I think it was in mere Christianity, but I'm 00:09:42.160 --> 00:09:43.320 not sure. 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:47.960 But he wrote, basically, if you were ever to meet a truly humble person, you wouldn't 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:53.160 come away from that meeting thinking, man, that person was humble. 00:09:53.160 --> 00:10:00.320 You would come away from that meeting thinking, that person was really interested in me. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.120 Do you see the difference there? 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:04.200 I think he's right. 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:10.840 I think that true humility, true lowliness, is unconcerned with me and more concerned 00:10:10.840 --> 00:10:12.400 with you. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:15.840 In a sense, humility is unconcerned with humility. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:19.319 I like to think of humility as shy. 00:10:19.319 --> 00:10:23.240 As soon as you even look at it, it runs away. 00:10:23.240 --> 00:10:28.600 So we may be humble, but as soon as we begin to think, hey, I'm being really humble, it's 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:35.199 gone, because we've started focusing on ourselves again, which is the enemy of humility and 00:10:35.199 --> 00:10:37.279 lowliness. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:40.799 True humility is self-forgetful. 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.879 It's not self-abasing. 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:45.319 That would be low self-esteem. 00:10:45.319 --> 00:10:50.039 Low self-esteem is a cheap mockery of humility. 00:10:50.039 --> 00:10:53.559 By the way, so is high self-esteem. 00:10:53.559 --> 00:10:57.240 True humility is self-forgetfulness. 00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:00.799 It's not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:04.599 I think that's also a C.S. Lewis quote. 00:11:04.599 --> 00:11:10.759 So lowliness, Jesus says, to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must be lowly and humble. 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:12.360 It's the way in. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:15.519 Look at verse three with me again. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.240 And let's just think about this a moment. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:23.120 He changes the question from who's the greatest to how do you even get in? 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:26.639 Well, how do we enter the kingdom of heaven? 00:11:26.639 --> 00:11:29.120 How do we become followers of Jesus? 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:34.840 Well, we must, one, admit that we can't do it on our own. 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:40.360 And two, we have to confess a total dependence on Jesus himself to get in. 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:47.960 So in other words, our conversion to Christ is actually an act of humility, isn't it? 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:53.000 So put it the other way around, there's no Christian conversion without humility. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:54.800 It's not possible. 00:11:54.800 --> 00:12:05.720 We have to completely rely on Jesus, dependent and lowly, as obviously helpless as a child. 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:09.480 So you might think, okay, I can do that. 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:15.000 I want to get into the kingdom of heaven, so I'll muster up some humility, you know? 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.399 But there it is again, humility is shy, isn't it? 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:23.680 We don't find humility by looking within to our own strengths. 00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:28.159 We find humility by looking to Jesus. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:33.480 We stop being concerned with our own status anymore, our own ability. 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.480 We just admit that we can't do it. 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:39.840 That's our starting place. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:46.360 Now, you know, children are born like children, but Jesus says that we must turn and become 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:48.120 like children. 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:52.399 So he's not saying that some are naturally fit for the kingdom and some aren't. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:57.279 He's not saying if you're born short, you're in luck, but if you're tall, sorry. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:12:58.840 He says that we have to turn. 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:07.560 So what aspirations of status and greatness are keeping us from turning, from turning 00:13:07.560 --> 00:13:08.560 to Jesus? 00:13:08.560 --> 00:13:14.879 And if you're not a disciple of Jesus today, please understand, no one, no one in the history 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:22.720 of Christianity has ever become a Christian truly by getting better and shaping up. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:28.280 No one has ever pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps to enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:34.600 So if you're thinking, well, I can't be a Christian, you don't know my past, you don't 00:13:34.600 --> 00:13:42.439 know what I'm like, that's the perfect place to start. 00:13:42.439 --> 00:13:48.159 Now Jesus goes on to say that not only is lowliness the way into the kingdom of heaven, 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:51.120 lowliness is the way forward. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:52.879 Look at verse four. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:58.320 Overhumbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:03.279 So we become Christians by a faith filled humility, but we also continue on in the kingdom 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:05.279 in the same manner. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:08.559 Now I don't mean that you'll lose your salvation if you become prideful. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:12.159 What I mean is the same gospel that saved us at the beginning through humility, through 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:20.480 an act of dependence on God is the fuel that carries us on day by day, moment by moment. 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.560 When we put it another way, how do we grow as disciples? 00:14:24.560 --> 00:14:26.440 The Christian life is about growth, right? 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:30.480 We've talked about the tree metaphor a lot last year, this idea of being rooted in Christ 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:31.480 and growing. 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.960 So how do we grow as disciples? 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:36.279 Well we grow by staying low. 00:14:36.279 --> 00:14:39.000 I didn't mean for that to rhyme, but it sounded nice. 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:47.120 We grow by staying low by turning and turning again, by cutting off and killing and tearing 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.799 out anything that would keep us from Christ. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.840 Humbling ourselves is our daily affair. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:15:01.279 A mature Christian is a humble Christian. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.279 You know greatness in the kingdom is so associated with lowliness that Jesus says, look at verse 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:12.560 five, he says that when we welcome a lowly disciple, even the lowliest, it is as though 00:15:12.560 --> 00:15:16.279 we're welcoming Jesus himself. 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:19.559 Think about that. 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:26.079 In the kingdom, we are to show tremendous honor to everybody, even the lowliest people 00:15:26.079 --> 00:15:29.079 that we meet. 00:15:29.079 --> 00:15:31.159 And we're to grasp after no honor ourselves. 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:38.279 In fact, as far as I know, it's the only competitive verse in the Bible, Romans 12-10, says out, 00:15:38.279 --> 00:15:41.559 do one another in showing honor. 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:42.559 Out do. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.399 I love that. 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:52.799 That's what a Christian community should be, is a bunch of lowly saints outdoing one another 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:58.959 with how they show warmth and love and respect and honor to the people around them, to all 00:15:58.959 --> 00:16:02.959 the lowly disciples around them. 00:16:02.959 --> 00:16:06.959 Now we've spent a lot of time in understanding Jesus' object lesson of lowliness because 00:16:06.959 --> 00:16:09.840 it's the key to what's coming next. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:13.439 As we read the passage, you probably hoped I would talk a lot more about hell and gouging 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:19.840 out eyes and things because it's weird and it's startling, but lowliness is the thread 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:21.320 that runs through it all. 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:23.320 It's key. 00:16:23.320 --> 00:16:25.920 So Jesus is about to get really intense. 00:16:25.920 --> 00:16:31.840 First, he says that it would be better for someone to be violently drowned with this 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:38.120 giant millstone than to cause one of his lowly disciples to sin. 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.960 What's all that about? 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.759 Get verse five and six with me again. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:49.080 Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these 00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:53.639 little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:58.560 fashioned around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 00:16:58.560 --> 00:17:04.759 Notice that the warning of causing a lowly disciple to sin is in contrast to receiving 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:08.840 someone in Jesus' name. 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:15.559 It may be that Jesus is warning us as a community of believers that the way that we withhold 00:17:15.559 --> 00:17:25.240 our warmth and love and respect from people can cause them to sin. 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:27.959 Haven't you seen that in your experience? 00:17:27.959 --> 00:17:35.759 How many people that you know have given up on Jesus because they've been hurt by his 00:17:35.759 --> 00:17:42.559 death, because of the coldness of his church, or because of a community that grasps after 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:50.960 their own honor and makes much of themselves at the expense of the lowly? 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:56.720 Jesus takes very seriously the fact that our behavior can cause someone else to sin. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.200 Now that might sound startling to you. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:03.279 There are many people in the wider church who deny this, really, and they say that the 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:08.720 Bible is very concerned with personal moral responsibility, and so I can't be responsible 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:11.639 for someone else's sin, that's on them. 00:18:11.639 --> 00:18:13.359 But this is not what Jesus is saying. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.440 I wonder if that's new to you. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:21.119 He's essentially saying children are easy to trip. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:26.359 So we don't put a stumbling block in front of their feet and then point at them when 00:18:26.359 --> 00:18:29.240 they fall and say, do better next time. 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.319 That's cruel. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:37.359 Jesus takes it so seriously that he says, for that person, it'd be better to get a massive 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:42.519 stone tied around your neck like a necklace and go walk the plank. 00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:46.559 He's being alarming on purpose to make a point. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:55.599 So if we take the route of overemphasizing personal moral responsibility at the expense 00:18:55.599 --> 00:19:02.759 of social responsibility, we may be going up against Jesus himself. 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:06.119 If we're so concerned with, well, they're responsible for their own actions that we 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:12.719 let ourselves off the hook, then I think we have some serious reflection to do in light 00:19:12.719 --> 00:19:15.559 of the words of Christ today. 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:17.599 And it's worth a few minutes of reflection and prayer then. 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:19.159 How do I? 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:27.640 How do I cause those around me to sin by what I do and by what I don't do? 00:19:27.640 --> 00:19:31.360 There's a wise old prayer of the church. 00:19:31.360 --> 00:19:35.920 It begins like this, merciful God, I confess that I have sinned against you in word, thought, 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:41.560 indeed, by what I have done and by what I have left undone. 00:19:41.560 --> 00:19:46.920 That's a good prayer of confession to pray to the Lord, maybe daily, because we all sin 00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:52.440 in ways of going against our brothers and sisters, but we also sin by withholding our 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:56.680 warmth, our love, and our respect from them. 00:19:56.680 --> 00:20:03.560 So we actually have to become, as Tim Mackey put it, students of our own character flaws 00:20:03.560 --> 00:20:04.759 for the sake of those around us. 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:06.279 Well, how do we do that? 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:14.440 One way that can be like rocket fuel is to gather two or so mature Christians and occasionally 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:18.600 ask them, say, help me see myself clearly. 00:20:18.600 --> 00:20:20.320 Where can I grow? 00:20:20.320 --> 00:20:24.039 Where can I turn? 00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:28.240 So Jesus has talked about causing others to sin, but what about when we find ourselves 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.240 causing ourselves to sin? 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:34.920 Well, let's look at verses eight and nine now. 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:39.080 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. 00:20:39.080 --> 00:20:43.200 It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.279 be thrown into the eternal fire. 00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:49.880 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it is better for you 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:54.960 to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:56.759 Wow. 00:20:56.759 --> 00:21:01.200 So the Jews of Jesus' day were appalled, I mean, as we all should be, but they were 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:06.240 appalled at the deep kind of religious conviction level of self-mutilation. 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:10.120 So Jesus is reaching for very extreme language here. 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:15.319 Now, we're not going to get into it a whole lot, but when he talks about children and 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:21.759 throwing limbs and things into the eternal fire, there's a lot of biblical history, a 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:27.319 lot of color in this picture that's provided by the Old Testament and by the sins of the 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:31.759 kings who, when Jesus says, I said I wasn't going to get into it, here I am, getting into 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:35.159 it, when he says the hell of fire, he's referring to a valley. 00:21:35.159 --> 00:21:39.719 And in this valley, in the Old Testament under King Manasseh, they would offer their children 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:43.759 up as burnt offerings to a false God. 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:49.319 So Jesus is using their own, the stories of their own past failures to make a very extreme 00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:50.319 point here. 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:53.279 Anyway, I digress. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:57.920 Many in that day believe that in the resurrection, those who did believe in resurrection, believe 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:02.839 that if you had been mutilated in some way, if you had lost a limb, you would be raised 00:22:02.839 --> 00:22:07.319 to resurrected life without the limb that you lost. 00:22:07.319 --> 00:22:08.319 Does that make sense? 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.679 That your mutilation stays permanent. 00:22:11.679 --> 00:22:16.079 That's why Jesus is addressing those beliefs and saying it'd be better to enter into life, 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:23.759 you speaking of resurrection life, I think, mutilated than sinning and apart from Christ. 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:28.279 Self-mutilation would affect your access to the temple and your ability to worship and 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:32.879 give burnt offerings and celebrate with the Lord's people. 00:22:32.879 --> 00:22:38.099 And it would deeply affect your own social status, your dignity. 00:22:38.099 --> 00:22:42.519 So Jesus is cutting at the heart, making a really extreme case here, and he's doing 00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:46.719 it because he takes sin so seriously. 00:22:46.719 --> 00:22:52.719 He's so protective of his little ones that he says that that social disgrace and all 00:22:52.719 --> 00:22:58.159 of that baggage that comes with it would be better. 00:22:58.159 --> 00:23:01.679 It would be better than causing yourself to sin. 00:23:01.679 --> 00:23:07.559 Now Jesus takes that temptation very seriously because he takes sin very seriously. 00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:09.559 Is Jesus being literal though? 00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:11.599 What's the deal with the hand, the foot, the eye? 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:16.279 Well, of course, Jesus is not, I don't think I have to say this, but it's good to say, 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:21.240 Jesus is not actually advocating that you go and cut off your hand, right? 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:26.440 By singling out hands and feet and eyes, he's probably drawing attention to the way that 00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:33.000 we treat people for our way of life, our walk, and by the way that we see people with eyes 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:35.639 of compassion and understanding. 00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:43.560 And those are the areas that we little ones are so vulnerable to fail in, aren't we? 00:23:43.560 --> 00:23:45.480 But regardless of that, the point is clear. 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:49.920 Temptations are bound to come, but sin is serious. 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:55.320 So you better get rid of anything that makes sin easy. 00:23:55.320 --> 00:24:00.600 Cut off anything that makes sin tempting for you. 00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:06.519 So Jesus cares about social responsibility, we care for those around us and we don't 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:13.079 cause them to sin, and he cares about personal moral responsibility that we watch ourselves, 00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:16.279 that we don't cause ourselves to sin too. 00:24:16.279 --> 00:24:18.599 So on the one hand, it's comforting. 00:24:18.599 --> 00:24:25.959 It's comforting to know that Jesus is upset when someone's behavior causes you to fall. 00:24:25.959 --> 00:24:27.519 Jesus is angry on your behalf. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.519 That's comforting. 00:24:28.519 --> 00:24:35.079 And it's sobering to know that we bear serious responsibility for our own sins as well. 00:24:35.079 --> 00:24:37.599 Now, how does all this fit together? 00:24:37.599 --> 00:24:42.240 Well, Jesus started with children, he ended with self-mutilation and drowning, and the 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:45.319 thread that runs through it all is the little one. 00:24:45.319 --> 00:24:47.980 Have you picked up on that? 00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:54.039 The little one is the thread because it takes humility to enter the kingdom, and it takes 00:24:54.039 --> 00:25:00.240 humility to treat our brothers and sisters like Jesus himself with the same honor. 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:05.039 And it takes humility to admit that we've caused others to sin. 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:12.940 And it takes humility to take action against our own temptations to sin. 00:25:12.940 --> 00:25:16.920 That child in their midst, that visual parable is the key to understanding this, because 00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:21.960 Jesus wants us to thoughtfully and thoroughly grasp this truth. 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:25.880 If we don't have humility, we don't have Jesus. 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:28.920 Now, there are a couple things I'd like us to notice. 00:25:28.920 --> 00:25:32.039 I told you at the beginning that there are two truths here about the gospel and Jesus 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:34.480 that can transform us. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.960 Here's the first one. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:42.079 Jesus' intensity, because you should be asking, why is he getting so intense? 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:46.279 Jesus' intensity is like the intensity of a parent. 00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:55.519 He's intense about protecting the little ones of the faith, because we are precious to him. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:59.559 He's fierce about protecting you. 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:05.559 When you are rejected, he takes it personally as if he was rejected. 00:26:05.559 --> 00:26:07.920 Fierce like a parent. 00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:15.079 And when you are tempted and fall to sin, if you're a Christian, God's wrath for your 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.039 sin has been satisfied in Christ. 00:26:18.039 --> 00:26:21.519 So if you're tempted and fall to sin, he's not angry at you. 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:24.599 He's angry for you. 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:27.159 Do you realize that? 00:26:27.159 --> 00:26:34.399 In other words, Jesus is intense, because you deeply matter to Jesus. 00:26:34.399 --> 00:26:37.319 You do. 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:42.240 Becoming humble, lowering ourselves, it's a vulnerable thing to do. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:50.079 It's hard to stand up in front of somebody and really lower yourself, really get low. 00:26:50.079 --> 00:26:54.720 You can only do it if that person is really trustworthy. 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:58.200 So we wouldn't do it for just anybody, but for Jesus? 00:26:58.200 --> 00:27:00.079 Absolutely. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:04.319 Because his greatness is the kind that drives us to kind of a joyful humility. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:06.799 He doesn't have a superiority complex. 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:10.039 Jesus is not a narcissist. 00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:14.200 The second point, by the way, the second truth is that we can really humble ourselves to 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:19.200 Jesus because he did it first. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:29.000 Eternal God, immeasurable glory for ages past, became a human. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.799 And if that wasn't low enough, he went even lower. 00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:33.559 He became like a servant. 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:38.079 He didn't come as a great human, you know, a stately king riding in with his army. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.319 He came in lowly. 00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:41.519 He washed feet. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:46.439 And if that wasn't low enough, he went even lower still. 00:27:46.439 --> 00:27:59.879 And he died a disgraceful, shameful death that he did not deserve for you. 00:27:59.879 --> 00:28:08.240 And that's why we can get low with Jesus is he's not above lowliness. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:11.559 Isaiah 57-15 is one of my favorite verses. 00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:16.880 It says this, for thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, 00:28:16.880 --> 00:28:19.400 whose name is holy. 00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:28.680 I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, 00:28:28.680 --> 00:28:36.120 to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite. 00:28:36.120 --> 00:28:38.039 I love that. 00:28:38.039 --> 00:28:39.519 So what now? 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:44.720 If you've been trying to climb your way into the kingdom, to climb up the ladder of the 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.599 kingdom, stop it. 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:48.279 It's not going to help. 00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:52.079 Just get low and admit that you can't and watch Jesus. 00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:54.000 He loves that. 00:28:54.000 --> 00:29:01.119 And if you're a disciple and you've lost your lowness, turn. 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:03.920 It's the way on in the kingdom. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:06.399 It's how we continue with Christ. 00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:08.120 We turn and we turn again. 00:29:08.120 --> 00:29:10.960 We cut off whatever makes sin easy. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:11.960 And we just get low. 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:15.400 And that's where Jesus is. 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:17.800 Let's pray. 00:29:17.800 --> 00:29:23.519 Lord, we accept a difficult teaching from you today. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:31.640 And I ask that you would help all of us be honest in light of your word. 00:29:31.640 --> 00:29:42.120 That you would allow us to be divided, bone from marrow, as it were, by the sharp sword 00:29:42.120 --> 00:29:44.040 of your word. 00:29:44.040 --> 00:29:48.000 That we would be confronted where we need to be confronted, that we would be comforted 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.759 where we need to be comforted. 00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:57.520 And for those of us who have some turning to do today, help us to do that, Lord, for 00:29:57.519 --> 00:30:01.799 your sake, for your glory, for your honor. 00:30:01.799 --> 00:30:03.440 Help us to get low. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:31.000 Amen.