At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “So who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ” He called a child and had him stand among them. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses. For offenses will inevitably come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes. If your hand or your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to fall away, 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 hellfire.
“See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
“If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”
Then Peter approached him and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times? ”
“I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven.
“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.
“At this, the servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything.’ Then the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan.
“That servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe! ’
“At this, his fellow servant fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he wasn’t willing. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. When the other servants saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you? ’ And because he was angry, his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you unless every one of you forgives his brother or sister from your heart.”
Who is the greatest? Jesus, not us. It’s easy to lose our way, and we should remember that when one of our own loses their way. We should be seeking to constantly be bringing others back to Jesus, and hoping they will do the same when we go astray. The Christian life is not intended to be an exercise in living in solitude, you can’t do it alone, you need a church around you to be a genuine follower of Jesus… you can’t be a body part without a body. When a fellow believer goes astray, when they are showing fruit that doesn’t come from the spirit, we have an absolute responsibility to go after them. We can’t just put our fingers in our ears and think “tisk, tisk, they shouldn’t do that.” When one member suffers, we all suffer. The church should draw bright lines and hold high standards for genuine Christian conduct. Go to people when there’s an issue, don’t go to other people. Go to them privately. If that doesn’t work, get a small group together and try to help them, go after them, try to bring them back into the fold. If you’re the only one who thinks what they are doing is wrong, then maybe you’re wrong… or maybe you’re in the wrong place. If, however, genuine believers lovingly confront a brother or sister in Christ and they are not willing to change, then for the sake of unity, they can’t remain a part of the fellowship. The church must be unified, sometimes that means when someone has separated themselves from the rest through their divisive words or actions, we have to give them what they want, separation. It’s better to have a smaller unified group, than a huge body who aren’t getting along. God is not divided, neither should his people be. In order for unity to happen, we’ve got to live by forgiveness. Forgiveness presupposes that we are all imperfect. We recognize that when a friend messes up, they can come back. And when we mess up, that means we can to. If we can’t forgive, then we won’t be forgiven. Jesus forgives, Jesus forgave… us, so we forgive others. There’s always a seat at the table of faith for repentant hearts. See you Sunday.
