The Gospel According to Matthew
INTRODUCTION: Wow what a week we have had. I am not at all a fan of Facebook at times like this and yet I got so upset by things I finally made a couple posts, if nothing else to hopefully ad some fresh air. Then as I start to read this lesson and study, it really spoke to me. I will admit it was hard to listen too in light of everything that is happening in our world. Once again Jesus is calling us to a radical different attitude, radical action, and radical heart. Trust me when I say I'm not trying to be political, in fact maybe that is our problem in this country we are trying to be political instead of just committed followers of Jesus.
Question of the day: What trait do you love most about children?
READ: Matthew 18: 1-5
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said:“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Remember Jesus has just described to them how he was going to die, and it said they were grieved... now so soon after that they are trying to figure out who is the greatest in the kingdom. Who was going to be closest to Jesus? Who was going to be higher up?
Ellen White writes, "Now the cross was just before Him; and His own disciples were so filled with self-seeking--the very principle of Satan's kingdom--that they could not enter into sympathy with their Lord, or even understand Him as He spoke of His humiliation for them."
"Those who were actuated by pride and love of distinction were thinking of themselves, and of the rewards they were to have, rather than how they were to render back to God the gifts they had received."
What gifts have we received that we are to "render back to God"?
Let's names specific gifts.
Are we rendering those back to God and how do we do that?
So to answer there question Jesus not only talks about a child he gets a child and places the child in the midst of them. He was using all learning styles wasn't he? He wanted it to be a strong visual. Something they would remember.
So what are some traits that Children have and often loose when they age?
In Desire of Ages, Ellen writes, "The simplicity, the self-forgetfulness, and the confiding love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values. These are the characteristics of real greatness."
His last sentence is a bit biting this week. Isn't it? "And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
So without getting political. What is Jesus telling us? How important is the least of these? Hmm. Made me pause.
Causing to Stumble
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, 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. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, 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.
Wow this is some strong language. Ellen White addresses that when she wrote, "Why this earnest language, than which none can be stronger? Because "the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." Shall His disciples show less regard for the souls of their fellow men than the Majesty of heaven has shown? Every soul has cost an infinite price, and how terrible is the sin of turning one soul away from Christ, so that for him the Saviour's love and humiliation and agony shall have been in vain."
Forget fearing for someone else to maim you, Jesus says if we do anything to cause someone else to stumble we should maim ourselves. Sounds to me like he is calling for a radical willingness to demonstrate the love of Jesus.How do we do that?
What are practical things we can do to show the love of Jesus?
How many times have people been injured by church?
How many times have people shared their story of never returning because, "if that is who He is, I can't be apart."
What can we do to make sure we aren't a stumbling block?
I think this passage has been used way to often to simple keep people from doing something that others find to be less than "puritanical". It certainly can include that but is it possible that we "do" it all or "don't do" it all right and we could still do it wrong.
To not be a stumbling block is it important for us to be:
loving
forgiving
long suffering
brave
giving up our comfort
looking a little messy
sacrificing
What else?
So as followers of Christ, who should we be?
Who am I? Convinced that I don't begin to understand the depth of the sacrifice He has called me to. Convinced that I need to work more diligently at understanding my Savior so that I don't miss represent, and so that I am not a stumbling block to those in search of Him.
Additional quotes from Desire of Ages.
The fact that one does not in all things conform to our personal ideas or opinions will not justify us in forbidding him to labor for God. Christ is the Great Teacher; we are not to judge or to command, but in humility each is to sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of Him. Every soul whom God has made willing is a channel through which Christ will reveal His pardoning love. How careful we should be lest we discourage one of God's light bearers, and thus intercept the rays that He would have shine to the world!
Harshness or coldness shown by a disciple toward one whom Christ was drawing--such an act as that of John in forbidding one to work miracles in Christ's name--might result in turning the feet into the path of the enemy, and causing the loss of a soul.
Let the repenting sinner fix his eyes upon "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29); and by beholding, he becomes changed. His fear is turned to joy, his doubts to hope. Gratitude springs up. The stony heart is broken. A tide of love sweeps into the soul. Christ is in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. When we see Jesus, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, working to save the lost, slighted, scorned, derided, driven from city to city till His mission was accomplished; when we behold Him in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and on the cross dying in agony,--when we see this, self will no longer clamor to be recognized. Looking unto Jesus, we shall be ashamed of our coldness, our lethargy, our self-seeking. We shall be willing to be anything or nothing, so that we may do heart service for the Master. We shall rejoice to bear the cross after Jesus, to endure trial, shame, or persecution for His dear sake.
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