A Caring Community - Matthew 18

Each one of us is a member of a community of friends and relatives that may often have higher expectations of us than we are really capable of fulfilling. Regardless of our size, talents, or capabilities, Jesus created each person with a specific purpose in his mind for us to fulfill in this life. As I read the closing verses of chapter seventeen I noted that the tax collectors in Capernaum were concerned about whether or not Jesus and the disciples were paying their temple tax—they confronted Peter and ask him if they were paying taxes like others had to do.

Peter assured them that they did pay taxes—but reading between lines—I believe he may have thought that they were delinquent because he went directly to Jesus, who sensed the need to pay the tax. He told Peter to go fishing, and that he should look in the mouth of the first fish he caught where he would find a four-drachma coin; then he told Peter to take the coin and pay their tax. In my distant past I remember reading about this miracle and have always thought it to be one of the most peculiar of the miracles performed by Christ. Imagine the thrill of catching a fish with a very valuable gold coin in his mouth.

As I look back and think about what others may have expected of me—I realize that I was too short to play basket-ball; to light to play foot-ball; lacked the coordination and talent to succeed in golf and although I enjoyed participating in these sports it seemed that I was more successful in a good boat with a rod and reel and a hand full of plastic worms anchored somewhere on Toledo Bend Lake, in Louisiana. This may not have been the purpose that God had in mind for me—because I have looked many times into the mouth of a large-mouth bass and have never found anything that would pay my taxes.

Some of you, my critics, may wonder what this has to do with the lesson for today; and if this crosses your mind, you should read the entire chapter of Matthew 18. You will find that verses 1-14 deals with the humility of the community in which you live—verses 15-20 deals with the ability of your community to practice reconciliation—and the last four-teen verses proclaims the need for a community to be able to forgive even those who prove to be a disappointment.

Beginning back in chapter 16 and concluding in 18, Jesus focuses on the origin of his church and especially on how he expected the members of Christ’s church to act and react with each other and toward the other members of their community. As Christ moved from one community to another, there was a steady increase of the opposition to Him. Therefore, he turned from the general public to his disciples and increased the emphasis on his coming rejection, suffering, death and resurrection that would take place during the final days of his life in Jerusalem—which was about six months. It was imperative that they understand who he was and what he came to earth to accomplish—to seek and save the lost through his death on the cross. He also wanted them to understand that he came to establish a Christian Community that would be known as His Church. This Church community would be a mass of people who confessed him as the Christ, or Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Our lesson today explains some of his instructions given to the church [community of faith] regarding how they are expected to conduct themselves. In a nut-shell—they are to be A CARING COMMUNITY.

Using my humble example; we are not to expect more out of a short, light-weight, with few talents, to defend Larry Bird; to play with the Dallas Cowboys; or defeat Arnold Palmer. I will go one step further—we are not to judge those who may not see eye-to-eye with us in all of our beliefs—and the first 14 verses deals with characteristic of children—which is humility. No man is an island unto him-self and must realize that those around him help to build him up or tear him down—therefore we must choose our friends carefully. General Dwight D. Eisenhower profoundly expressed what I am trying to say in this quote—“Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends.” If time permits, we will cover three themes found in his lesson—Humility, purity, and mercy.

It is clearly evidenced in the first verse that the disciples did not understand what it meant for a man to be humble. Their question was “Who will be the greatest in your Kingdom?” Again, reading between the lines, we can see that they had no idea that a child would be considered greater than they would be. They had given up everything and followed Christ. They had walked many miles of dusty roads beside Him… hungry, fished all night with no catch, and witnessed hatred and danger of harm from those who opposed them and to date, not one of them had forsaken Christ, but instead had exerted every effort to help him become the accepted Messiah. I believe that they were really honestly concerned about which one of them Christ would pick to be his successor on earth…which of them would Christ trust with the future of his church. To find that a young child was ahead of them in his choosing must have been a shocker. Matthew spends the rest of this chapter explaining to them and us that they had asked the wrong question. It would not be the strongest or most brilliant; it would be the most humble and forgiving.

The question they ask proves that they were striving to be the greatest in His Kingdom. As a member of the Church, what is your aim? Is it your goal to receive fulfillment of your personal ambitions? Are you interested in obtaining greater power and prestige in order to exalt self? These are the exact opposites of what the goals of a CARRING COMMUNITY should be—it should be the church community that cares. It is not easy; in fact, it is very difficult to forget self in your life that should aim at service to others and not power and control over others. Simply said—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Lou Holtz calls it his “Do right rule.”

Jesus told his disciples that they would have to become as a child or they would never see the kingdom of Heaven. So let us look as some of the attributes of a child which we must emulate in order to be a part of His caring community. First, a child has the power of wonderment—lives in a fantasy world, dreaming, learning and don’t claim to know it all. Even though they may be mistreated, they still can forgive and forget. They are continually interested in learning and too their advantage they do not have to unlearn which is a difficult task.

The central theme is humility, and true and complete humility is found only in the very young, before they become self-centered. I believe that children in that day were humble for more years than they are today. The reason being that, today’s parents force their children into the competitive world at an earlier age. There is more pressure to be number one [#1] at an earlier age and at any cost. It is natural for children to be dependent and they do not resent having those that care for them [parents] to be their safety zone. If Christians would learn to depend completely on Jesus for our strength and success we would find greater peace and success in our lives. How often does a young child in our country worry about being hungry, cold, and without care? I realize that some do. It is sad, but even those that finds them-selves cold and hungry still trust in parents to provide. Parents may fail; but God will not fail [us]…His children.

For some reason Jesus changed his emphasis from the idea of a caring community to the punishment of anyone that would mistreat or mislead a child. I sometimes tremble when I think back to my years in the teens and twenties when I found pleasure in ‘teasing’ and sometimes ‘tormenting’ the kids that were younger—just for the fun of it. [My fun, not theirs.] I also remember being teased to the point of tears. Wish I could remember every case…I would call them and apologize and seek forgiveness. This kind of treatment of a child can lead one to a point where they would be better off if they had a mill stone about their neck and were cast in the sea; folks, that is pretty severe punishment. The point is…don’t mess around with Jesus’ little ones. I believe the danger is greater while misleading children up to about eight to ten years—and ‘babes in Christ for their first four or five years, or anyone that has not studied the Word and established their faith.

There are two warnings against temptation that must be noted. The greatest sin is found in the man that tempts others to sin, as with the one who would tempt the child, tempting a ‘babe in Christ’ to do wrong is even greater than sinning personally against God. The second thought regarding temptation is pertaining to an individual who is giving in to their own desires of lust or greed. The Bible says that by seeing you are tempted to lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise sin against you own body and God—it would be better for you to be blind. I do not advocate actually punching your eyes out—but it is necessary for you to control the thought process that produces the sin and remove it from your thinking. Pluck it out. Cut it off. Anything that causes you to sin should be eliminated.

Looking down on others and living a self-centered life is two nuts in the same shell. Christ emphatically states that children have special angels that look over them and are able to approach God in their behalf at any time. I see this as the Lord’s way of keeping children safe and unaccountable for any sin committed prior to the age of accountability. The next lesson taught by Christ is that if one of these little ones becomes lost, or goes astray, we should be concerned to the extent that we would leave the 99 who are safe and go look for the one that is lost. I am persuaded that this could also refer to a young Christian that has drifted away from the Christian path-way. I am afraid that the members of our Christian Community would be more likely to condemn the stray and let him find his own way back to the flock. Christ indicated that the shepherd—pastor, deacon, or strong Christian brother/sister should be more concerned about the one that is astray. It is dangerous when you judge any person as unworthy simply because they have beliefs and practices in their life that you do not agree with. Just keep in mind that Jesus stated that he came into this world to seek and save the lost. Should we not do likewise?

Things really get serious when one of these undesirables sin against us personally. We have no right to condemn and forget them even when their sin is against us. Always remember that there are two sides to every disagreement, and you need to resolve the difference in a Christian manner. Jesus gave us the method we should follow. Read again verses 15-19. The modern day Christian is usually not willing to negotiate a dispute in order to allow right to win, and bring abut reconciliation between two who have a problem. The Christian Community of yesteryear was more willing to follow the instructions. First, go to your brother and personally try to be reconciled; if successful you have won a brother. If he does not listen, then take two or three witnesses and let them hear the evidence and act as a jury. This will usually settle the matter, but if it is a more difficult one, it is time to take it to the Church Community for a final decision that is binding on both parties. How long has it been since you have seen this kind of effort put forth in order to save one or both lives? Who said for us to do it this way? Christ!

We have looked at the need for humility in the Church Community—not the strong but the child-like humble people will inherit the Kingdom. We have discussed the need for Reconciliation of differences and we are told that if one is guilty and refuses to listen to even the church—he is to be treated as the Jews treated the pagans and tax-collectors. Now we turn to the third and final attribute discussed in this lesson—and this has to do with forgiveness in our Church Community. Some of my readers will use a different name for their Church Community, but I am specifically referring to the Christian members of the First Baptist Church of Heber Springs, Arkansas.

Again we find old Peter at the head of the line, looking for answers to some of his questions. Remember that ‘seven’ [7] is considered the complete number—and Peter must have felt that he would complete his responsibility toward anyone who sinned against him if he was willing to forgive him seven times. He asked Jesus if that was enough. The answer was NO; you must forgive him seventy times seven. [70x7=490]. And it is clear that Jesus simply meant that there is never a time when you should refuse to forgive one who earnestly seeks forgiveness. Think for a moment, how many of us have sinned against Christ more that 490 times, confessed our sins and asked for forgiveness and received it immediately? I dare say that some of us have exceeded that number in just a few months…maybe even weeks.

Please don’t skip over the characteristic of forgiveness discussed in the last thirty-four verses of chapter 18. Read it, because time will not permit a complete recount in this written lesson. Jesus related that the servant of one king owed his master ten thousand talents—and that is so great that no order-nary servant could ever pay the debt. The servant could not pay and was condemned …however he repented, and pled for mercy and received it. His life was saved. He was a sinner saved by the grace [undeserved favor] of the king. The king forgave him. The king cancelled his debt.

The redeemed servant sought another that owed him only a hundred denarii and demanded that the debt be paid. This servant could not pay, and pleaded for forgiveness of his debt. The wicked servant would not relent and had the second servant thrown into prison. Other servants were concerned and reported his evil treatment to the king [master] who called him in and rebuked him; the king changed his mind, and had the unforgiving servant thrown into jail until he could pay.

The final lesson for each of us is to learn from today’s lesson is that God will treat each unforgiving person just as this master treated his servant. If you are a member of a CARING CHURCH COMMUNITY and you personally are an unforgiving soul…you should always remember the day that Jesus Christ through his mercy, forgave you. Do unto others as Christ has done for you!