Matthew 18

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew+18/

The disciples ask Jesus who the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven is. Jesus calls a child over to Him, and places the boy among the disciples. He tells them that unless they become like the child, they will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Children by nature are in lowly positions. They have to serve their parents and other adults. They are lowly, and they don't look for all that much power because they know that they cannot gain it. Also, children have an easy time of accepting things as the truth without seeing them. They can put their full faith in God even though none of us have seen Him. Some of this, however, comes from the fact that they can see enough to see His works in nature and in their own lives. They do not go through the same hustle of life that adults do, so they take time to see what God can do for them. Jesus also tells the disciples that whoever welcomes a child in His name welcomes Jesus. This truth is huge. Stop the child abuse, children living on the streets, child prostitutes, etc. Welcome them in Jesus' name. This verse can also mean that if we welcome them into the Kingdom of Heaven by telling them about Jesus, we welcome Jesus.

Jesus warns that anyone who causes a child to stumble who believes in Him, they would be better off if they were thrown into water with a large stone around their necks. I also see a double meaning here. One, literal children. If you mislead a Christian child in their faith, you punishment is great. Also, children in faith. When you first start putting your faith in Jesus and have not grown in that faith, you are a child. If someone causes one of these children, who could be elderly even, to stumble, it is as bad as causing a literal child to stumble. Great sadness should come on the world because of the things that cause people to stumble. Jesus knows that such things will come. He experienced many of them Himself but never stumbled. The person who causes the stumbling, however, should be the most sorrowful and distressed of all. If a hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off because it is better to live life maimed than enter Hell. If your eye causes you to sin, cut it out and throw it away because it is better to live blind than go to Hell. Throw out the things that your flesh desire but cause you to sin. It is better to live life without those pleasurable things than to go to Hell for them.

Do not despise little ones because their angels in Heaven always look on God's face. This can mean many things. Two that I see are that, as we learn as children, every person has a guardian angel who looks out for their assigned person. Two, since all that is Christ's is ours if we believe in Him, just as He owns the angels, so do we, even the children who believe. This also shows us that in Heaven, the angels always look upon God, probably, if not definitely, worshipping Him always. Then Jesus tells a parable of a shepherd with a hundred sheep. One wanders away, and the shepherd leaves the other ninety-nine to find the missing sheep. When he finds the sheep, he is more thrilled with that one than with the ninety-nine others. Go is this way with His children. He does not want any of us to wander away from Him. If we do, He will seek after us until he can bring us back to His kingdom, and He will be thrilled with that person for returning. There's something wonderful about questioning God because it gives Him a chance to show His full power to us.

If someone sins, we are to confront them about it and let them know what they have done against the Lord. If they listen to us, that's great, but if they don't. we are to take two or three other believers with us next time we go to them. If they do not listen to you again, take them before the church. If they don't listen to the church, they lack true faith and should be treated like non-believers. Wherever two or more gather in the name of Jesus, there He is. The church is not a building or a cross or anything like that. It is people. People gathered in Jesus' name.

Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive our brothers and sisters. He asks if seven is good. Jesus tells Him it's seventy times seven. Then, He tells a parable of a king who wanted to settle his accounts with his servants. He calls them in one by one to decide what's to be done. One man owes him 20 years worth of labor, so the king decides to sell everything the servant owns to pay off the debt. When the servant begs the king to have mercy on him, the king is filled with compassion and cancels the servant's debt. As the servant leaves, he passes a servant who owes him some money. He beats the man and when the man tells him to be merciful and he will eventually pay him back, the servant has him thrown in jail. The other servants heard about this and told the master. The master was angry because while he had shown mercy on the servant, the servant had shown no mercy to his fellow servant. He sent the servant to prison. This is what God does to us if we do not forgive each other. We owe God a lot because of our sin, but if we ask Him, He will show mercy on us. When He does, we must show mercy to others who owe us and forgive them. If not, God will be unhappy with us.