Wednesday, May 23,
2012, 8:00 a.m. – My four year old grandson came into my room to wake me
this morning. He said he was hungry. I was in one of those deep “coma-like”
sleeps and dreaming, so it took me a few minutes to respond to him. I then went
out to the kitchen to help him get his breakfast. I sat down and ate with him.
Then, I noticed the dishwasher needed emptying, so he helped me empty it. He
gets impatient sometimes and tries to do things faster than what I move, so I
told him to “have patience,” and then I sang to him a children’s song I had learned
when my kids were small – “Patience” (Herbert the Snail) – Music Machine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kn6Z2Mop5I.
I wanted to play the song for Samuel. I thought the song was
on one of our “Patch the Pirate” tapes (more children’s songs from my kids’
era), but alas, it was not. Samuel seemed interested in hearing the tapes
(pre-CDs, IPods and the like) I had, and the songs on them, so I began to play
the “Goes to the Jungle” one for him, which had a little boy named Samuel as
one of the characters, which was nice. I sat down with him and listened to the
first part of the tape. Just as I was about to go back to my room to have my
quiet time with the Lord, a song began to play that I really like, called “My
Very Best Friend.”
The Lord had placed the song “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
in my mind this morning upon awakening, so when I went back to my room, and the
words to “My Very Best Friend” were still playing in my mind, I realized that
both songs were about Jesus, and about our close walk and relationship with
him, and I thought how “cool” of God to direct me to that song, as well. [I
typed up the words from what I heard on the tape, so not necessarily perfect.]
Then, I sat down to have my quiet time with the Lord. I was
praying through some things in my life, asking the Lord for direction, mainly
having to do with balancing and prioritizing my time in the way the Lord would
want. I felt led to go back through the previous chapters in Matthew to see
what he had been teaching me already. He stopped me at Matthew 10:26-42. I read
the passage. It was definitely God’s answer to my prayer. The Lord’s words to
me this morning gave me much peace and assurance.
I had read Matthew 16 yesterday and part of 17 last night. I
knew the Lord was leading me this morning to a passage concerning our
relationship with Jesus Christ, so when I got to Matthew 18 I realized this is
where I was supposed to be reading, how it paralleled the passage in Matthew
10, and how it fit with singing children’s songs this morning, and with time
spent with my grandson, etc. The Lord was preparing my heart for what he wanted
to teach me this morning.
Matthew 18:1-9
(NIV 1984): At that time the disciples
came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little
child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven.
“And whoever welcomes
a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of
these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have
a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the
sea.
“Woe to the world
because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe
to the man through whom they come! 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 maimed or
crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.
And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better
for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the
fire of hell.
My Understanding: Little
children are not perfect any more than we are. They don’t always have the
purest of motives or intent. They don’t always immediately obey their Mommies
and/or Daddies. So, what is it about little children that Jesus was referring
when he told his disciples that unless they change and become like little
children, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven?
For one, I believe really small children are very teachable.
They seem to hear the voice of God easier than many adults, they trust more
easily, believe more easily, and have greater faith than most adults. Their
minds are not clogged up with so much useless junk, knowledge, philosophies,
etc. as the minds of educated and/or life-experienced adults. They don’t have
to filter what they hear from God through so much life experience and human or
even Biblical head knowledge. So, they can just trust the Lord and accept what
he says.
The disciples’ thinking seemed to not reflect this kind of
child-like faith and trust. They were concerned with their positions in heaven,
i.e. who would be the greatest. Children are not immune to this, so this is not
to say that children never struggle with wanting to be first or more important
than others. They do. They have human natures, too, just like us. Yet, there is
a simplicity about them that can symbolize humility of spirit which is
exemplified in their child-like trust and their teachability. The disciples
evidently were lacking in this kind of simple trust and faith because they were
missing the point of heaven. They were thinking with earthly minds instead of
with heavenly thinking (more like a young child).
Parallels in Matthew
10
Jesus had just finished telling his disciples (Matthew 10)
that he was sending them out like sheep among wolves. He told them of how they
would be hated, persecuted, arrested, brought before councils and flogged in
synagogues, betrayed, rejected and treated as an enemy even by their own family
members, but that those who stood firm to the end would be saved. Some of them
would even be accused of being of Satan, just like had happened to Jesus and to
John the Baptist. Yet, Jesus said they were not to fear persecution or
opposition from sinful man, but whatever the Lord said to them privately, in
their times alone with him, in those quiet and still moments, they were to
proclaim openly and publicly. He told them that whoever acknowledges him before
men, he will acknowledge before his Father, but whoever disowns him before men,
he will disown before his Father.
Then, Jesus said (as recorded in Matt. 10): “Anyone who loves his father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is
not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life for my sake will find it.”
This is the kind of child-like faith, humility and trust in
Jesus that Jesus was talking about in Matthew 18. It has to do with totally abandoning,
i.e. completely and unreservedly giving ourselves over to Jesus Christ, like a
child will do when he completely trusts someone. The child shows no fear, but
will even jump into the air trusting you to catch him, only sometimes without
warning you first. J
He is not consumed with himself at that moment but can only think of the joy of
being in your loving arms. That is the way we are to love Jesus. And, truly he
is the only one deserving of such unbridled love and devotion. When we let go
of our old lives of sin and we jump into new life with Jesus, then we truly
find our lives. He must be in first place in our lives above all else, and his
approval of us should always matter more to us than whether or not man (or
woman) approves and accepts us. What positions we hold or who is most important
does not matter anymore.
Welcome “Little Ones”
Jesus had just finished (Matthew 18) telling his disciples
that they must humble themselves like a child in order to enter the kingdom of
heaven. Then, he said that whoever welcomes a little child like this (like he
exemplified) in his name welcomes
him. The next sentence explains the meaning of child as “little ones” who
believe in Jesus, so Jesus is referring not just to small children here, but to
all who have come to Christ with such child-like faith. He is not meaning at all
those who merely claim to have faith in Christ, but all those who have humbled
themselves, have repented of their sins, and who have abandoned their lives of
sin in order to walk in humble and faithful obedience to Jesus Christ. When we
welcome Jesus’ true disciples and we don’t reject, despise, persecute, devalue,
and/or dishonor them, we are welcoming him. He said that whatever we do to
those who are his followers it is like we are doing it to him (see Matt. 10).
Whoever receives us receives Jesus, and he who receives Jesus receives the
Father. And if one gives a “cup of cold water” to the “little ones” because
they are Jesus’ disciples, he will not lose his reward. A cup of cold water is
meant to quench one’s thirst, so this means to offer refreshment, i.e. to
encourage, revive, energize, extend kindness and revitalize the Lord’s
disciples, the opposite of rejection and persecution.
Cause to Sin
Yet, if anyone goes beyond just rejection and persecution,
which is hurtful enough, to actually causing (leading) one of Jesus’ disciples
to fall into sin, he or she stands in danger of God’s judgment on him. Having a
millstone tied around your neck and drowned in the depths of the sea would pale
by comparison to the judgment of God that would await you. Jesus takes sin very
seriously. Jesus said “Woe” (anguish; grief; affliction; distress) to the world
because of what things cause sin. Satan is the author of sin, he tempts us to
sin with his lies and deceptions, and our own sin natures are what lead us into
sin. As well, sinful attitudes, unforgiveness, hatred, lust, poor judgment,
sinful desires of the flesh, golden opportunities to sin, the worldliness in
the church, sinful practices of church leaders, peer pressure, the availability
of movies, TV, videos, the internet, smart phones, tablets and the like at our
finger tips where we can access the whole world of sin are “things” that lead
us to sin. Yet sin is truly a heart issue and is a decision of our own hearts
and minds. Outside of faith in Jesus Christ, we are doomed to eternity in hell
(eternal punishment; woe). Even with Christ, if we fall into sin and don’t
repent, we should experience some level of anguish or distress because of our
sin. Sin hurts us and hurts others. That is pain enough!
Then Jesus said something that I believe, Biblically,
applies to all sin. Jesus frequently used hyperboles in his illustrations to
make a point. A hyperbole is “a deliberate and obvious exaggeration used for
effect” (Encarta). And, in this case, he stated that if a part of our bodies
caused or led us into sin, such as our eyes or hands, we were to gouge them out
(the eye) or cut them off (the hand or foot) and throw them away. He argued
that it was better to lose one part of one’s body, rather than the whole body
to be thrown into hell because of a sinful lifestyle. This has its counterpart
in these passages of scripture:
“Therefore, since we
are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything
that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with
perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1).
“Therefore, get rid of
all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word
planted in you, which can save you” (Jms. 1:21; cf. Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1
Pet. 2:1).
We are not only to get rid of the sin, but we are to throw
off everything (burden or hindrance) that hinders our walk with Christ, i.e.
that leads us into sin. We need to rid ourselves of those hindrances to our
faithful walks of obedience to Christ Jesus. And, we need to run with
perseverance the race marked out for us to run, in repentance, faithfulness and
obedience to Christ, so that we can have that “closer walk” with Christ. We
must know that Jesus Christ is the very best friend we will ever have. And, we
need to treat him like he is really our very best friend, too, which includes forsaking
our sins, following him in obedience, and treating others as though what we are
doing we are doing to Jesus Christ.
Just a
Closer Walk with Thee / Unknown
I am
weak, but Thou art strong,
Jesus,
keep me from all wrong,
I’ll be
satisfied as long
As I
walk, let me walk close to Thee.
Just a
closer walk with Thee,
Grant it,
Jesus, is my plea,
Daily
walking close to Thee,
Let it
be, dear Lord, let it be.
My Very Best Friend
/ Ron Hamilton – “Patch the Pirate”
Jesus is closer than a
brother.
Every moment he is
near.
I know he never will forsake
me.
He has conquered all
my fear.
Jesus is closer than a
brother.
On his love I can
depend.
King of kings, Lord of
lords,
Conquering Son, oh,
all of these,
He’s my very best
friend.
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