Humility and Greatness Pt. 2

Last Sunday we began to study this great passage dealing with the ideas of Humility and greatness. And we focused in on the first theme, and maybe the most fundamental, which was Humility before the face of Christ. Humility before the face of the Lord.

The disciples had asked, “Lord, who is the greatest” or “greater one” in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

And sensing their need of a major milestone lesson, Jesus pulled a little chlid into their midst, and told them - whoever becomes like one of these little ones is the greatest - whoever “humbles himself” like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom.

The insignificance and relative smallness of that child, the weakness, the timidity, the honesty, the readiness to believe, the readiness to accept - that was the point. The “little ones” before the Lord are the ones who come to him like that little child.

We saw that this position before the Lord is really part of, or one way to describe, genuine conversion - unless you “turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom.” Conversion then, in one sense, is turning from pride, from self-reliance, self-sufficiency, moral ability, to recognize the weakness, the need. The Meekness, the poorness of spirit, the mourning over sin, the hungering after righteousness. That is the attitude of one who is genuinely changed before the face of the Lord.

Well, after looking at all that in the first 5 verses, we were still left with quite a bit of study to do.

So today, we will pick it up in verse 6, which is really a good stopping, and starting point, as it is a transitional verse. If your bible has paragraphs marked off, you might see the paragraph change in verse 7, but just because it is a new paragraph does not mean that the idea has altogether changed.

Verse 6 keeps the theme of “these little ones” and begins to speak about the next kind of humility, and that is Humility in the face of temptation.

Now, it is worth noting that at this point, Jesus is not speaking strictly of little children when he uses that phrase, but rather those who have turned and become like this little child - his disciples, and by implication, any who have humbled themselves before Him.

We see that in verse 4-5

Matthew 18:4–5 ESV

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

Whoever humbles himself like this child… that is the disciple, the one who has turned.

Whoever receives “one such child.” One of this kind of child - the follower of Jesus, the one who has humbled himself before the Lord.

So when Jesus speaks again of the little ones, in verse 6 and again in verse 10, he’s speaking not strictly of the literal children who come to Him, but to everyone who is a child before the Lord. Who has recognized their insufficiency and need before Him, and come to heed his call.

This, then, is a metaphor for being a believer - a Christian - a follower of Jesus. It is to be a child of God. And we know that.

For instance, John, writing to the believers in his first letter, refers to them as “my little children...”

And later in his epistle, he writes this

1 John 3:1 ESV

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

It is important to know that the “little ones” in this passage refer to the believers, to those who have humbled themselves before the Lord, because one of the main points of this teaching is that we do not despise the little ones, but rather accept them, care for them, and love them, because the Lord does.

If the Lord’s eye is not to the great, the noble, the mighty, the strong, as we saw in 1 Corinthians, then our eye must not be to those attributes either. Our eye must be to those whom God has called, even in their weakness, their humility, we must not despise them.

Matthew 18:5–6 ESV

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

We are to receive them, and in doing so, we have received the Lord - for we have taken on his viewpoint, his attitude.

2. Humility in the Face of Temptation - Vs. 6-9

“whoever causes one of these little believers to stumble...”

The word for “cause to sin” or “cause to stumble” is a broad word. It can mean as much as to cause to fall away, or to fall utterly, or it can mean as simple as to cause to trip up.

The idea is that a stumbling stone has been placed in the way of someone. And object is placed in their way.

The first, and most obvious, warning here is that there is great woe for anyone who attempts to cause a believer to sin. And that great woe is evidenced in the warning that Jesus gives.

“it would be better...”

and that woe continues in verse 7.

Matthew 18:7 ESV

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

Now, this brings up an interesting parallel. It is not a contradiction, simply two parallel truths, that

a) it is a known and necessary fact that temptations, stumbling blocks be in the world. It is part of God’s redemptive and master plan to allow, even ordain such things in life.

b) that there is great woe to whomever causes the temptation, whoever causes the stumbling block to be placed there.

This is certainly not a free pass for those who stumble, and for those who sin, it is not taking onus or responsibility off someone who does fall to temptation, but it shines light on the other side of the coin - the person who put the temptation there.

This, of course, comes from the Evil One himself, where we see first in the Garden, Satan willfully drew Adam and Eve toward the forbidden fruit, enticing them with a masterful sales pitch building up the greatness of what they were missing out on. And in that story, we see a curse fell on both the tempter and the ones who fell to the temptation. Satan will have his sure end, but Humankind are in a cursed world with a cursed end, and the only way out is by the Gospel, the redemption of the Lord.

Well, on a smaller scale, Jesus is warning about our earthly interactions and making this clear - tempting someone to stumble is in itself a great offense.

The word “woe” is not a light word - it matches the strength of the “it would be better...” in verse 6.

We might think of this in terms of an unbeliever trying his hardest to get a believer to sin. I have been in situations, whether working with someone or knowing someone well who was a self-professed unbeliever, who tried their best to trip me up, to place something in my way that would stir up sinful anger, or get a reaction out of me. That, in itself, is a grave offense.

One of the greatest examples of our day in terms of temptation, especially for men but for women also, is the industry of Pornography. It is an entire industry given to the temptation of lust and the promotion of adultery and fornication.

It is viewed, by most of the world, as a neutral, even normal or necessary industry. But in the act of inviting anyone to enjoy the fruits of the efforts, there is a great temptation being put forth.

So in this case, there is woe to the person who indulges in the pornography - they need the grace of God and redemption, but there is a special woe for those who make the sinful object as well. There is no excuse for either person.

And the idea is this - we ought never to have a light view toward sin and temptation. We must never view it as a small thing if someone we does causes a believer to react sinfully. We must never view it as “neutral” if we purposefully place a stumblingblock in the way of “one of these little ones - God’s litte ones.

And, as we read on, the force of Jesus’ argument turns to show us that we must be humble in the face of our own temptation as well.

Because sometimes, maybe most often, the one who puts the stumbling block in our own way is ourself.

Matthew 18:8–9 ESV

And 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 crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Think of it - “your hand… your foot...” if they cause you to stumble, to sin, then it would be better...”

The question I must ask myself in the face of this text is this. Do I excuse my sin in terms of, “well its just my personality.” or “i’m especially given to this kind of sin...” or “it runs in the family” or “we all have our vices...”

Jesus leaves no question on how we should look at the seriousness of sin and temptation. Whether we are the one indulging in the sin, placing the temptation in front of someone else, or if its our own hands and feet that cause us to sin, we should look at it with the most serious and trembling attitude.

The admonition, for the hand or foot, or the eye, is that if they cause us to sin, we should be rid of them.

Now, we saw this back in Matthew 5, concerning the temptation to lust - and Scott did a great job working through that passage, and came to the conclusion (which I agree with) that this is hyperbole, that Jesus is not actually calling for people to mame themselves in the face of temptation.

For if one hand causes you to sin, and you cut it off, our sinful nature is such that the other hand would pick up where it left off.

And if one foot causes us to stumble, our nature is such that we would find another means of mobility and be swift to our own temptation.

And if one eye causes us to sin, then with another good eye we would still have a laser focus on the temptaton.

The idea is to kill the sin. To view it as an enemy. To view temptation as a sworn nemesis that we avoid, eradicate, and despise.

Think of the imagery - the hand, the foot, the eye.

The hand - what we do, what we handle.

The foot - where we go, our mobility

The eye - what we see, focus on, the lamp of the body.

In every area of life, including our thought life, our action, and our movement, we must have the attitude that sin and temptation is not to be messed with.

And where humility comes in here is this -

We are arrogant in thinking that sin is no big deal

We are arrogant in thinking that we are able to face temptation lightly

In thinking that tempting or causing others to stumble is “no big deal...”

In thinking that our lives now have no bearing on the future.

A word on eternity - vs. 8-9

better to enter life, than to be thrown into eternal fire.

This is the classic biblical reference to the two destinies of mankind. There is, for the unrepentant, the proud, the unbeliever, the eternal flame. And whether we take it as literal flame, or something that a flame imagines as unbearably tormentuous, then the warning is equal. Jesus speaks of the idea of eternal torment, of hell, of this kind of lasting judgment as much or more than he does of the idea of eternal life. He wants the warning to be clear.

On the other hand, there is eternal life. And it is better to humble ourselves before Him now - to realize our weakness in the face of temptation, and to enter eternal life, than to go on in our arrogance and face eternal torment.

This all goes back to that blessed humility. There is a difference in those who recognize their dependence on the Lord vs. those who live as unto themselves, those who have such a view of self-sufficiency that they pay no attention to the weight of sin and temptation.

Humility in the face of temptation

3. Humility in the Face of Mercy - Vs. 10-14

Jesus picks up or continues with the theme of the “little ones” here. And again, we are thinking in terms of Believers - God’s little ones.

You and I, dear one, if you have humbled yourself before Him, are the Lord’s “little ones.” And do not despise being called or considered as a little one, because the Lord Himself does not despise you as such.

And that is the admonition here in verse 10 - see that you do not despise one of these little ones...”

Matthew 18:10 ESV

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Some have taken this verse to extrapolate the idea that we all have our personal guardian angels. The problem here is that the point or the weight of the passage is not on the role of the angels, but on the care and concern of the Father for each one of these little ones.

The angels, so to speak, with their face to the Father who is intimately concerned with each and every one of his children. The angels stand at the ready wit a command from the Father to act in the face of the injustice or harm.

The idea then, is not that angels are always watching over us - no, it is much stronger. It is that God Himself is always watching over us. The angels aren’t looking to us, they are looking to God, the ultimate guard and keeper. The angels don’t guard us, the Father does.

These, of course, are the believers - the ones who have become like little children before the Lord.

The Father’s care for every one of them is immense!

Jesus then gives a parable to illustrate the immense mercy and care of the Father, and he does so in terms of the Shepherd.

Now, Luke 19:10 says this

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

And some later manuscripts of Matthew include that verse here before the parable. You might have a footnote or a bracket around verse 11 in your bible. It does not mean that the verse is unbiblical or wrong, it just means that Matthew probable didn’t originally put it here. But the idea is retained in Luke, that the mission of the Lord is to seek the lost like shepherd.

This shepherd imagery also reminds us of Matthew 9.

Matthew 9:36 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Here, then, in the parable, the wandering one is one of the believing Little Ones.

Matthew 18:12–13 ESV

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

God, as shepherd, cares for every single one of his children. Not one of them is forgotten or relegated as unimportant, even in their weakness, even in their insignificance.

“does he not...” - that anticipates a positive response.

When one of God’s children wanders, does He not seek them out? Of course He does!

We should never despise being a little one before the Lord, for he cares for every one of his children immensely. He humbles himself, so to speak, to seek us out. His mercy runs far and wide to preserve every one of His little ones.

When one of God’s children wanders, he doesn’t do what we might do. List their relative deficiencies, and then say “oh well, just let him go.”

No, like the careful shepherd he seeks, he finds, and he saves.

Matthew 18:14 ESV

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

It is not he will that one of God’s children should perish. That is how God sees every single one of His children. Every one of his little ones who has humbled their self before Him. He looks at each of them with the same eye of Love, the same eye of compassion, the same eye of tender mercy, the same eye of preservation, the same value and worth, the same rich and profound care.

1 John 3:1 (ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

See the love? It is pictured in the shed blood of Jesus Christ! That is the level of love and care. That is the depth of mercy and kindness!

And if that is the Father’s care, then our’s should reflect that.

And that takes us back to verse 10 - because the picture of the Father’s tender care and mercy for his children was an illustration of Jesus command in verse 10.

Matthew 18:10 (ESV)

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones.”

The question then, is “how do we despise one of God’s children?”

despise - Thinking down on one. Seeing them as Inferior. Having disdain for one of them. Caring nothing for one of them. Disregarding them.

The disciples aske, ‘who is the greatest?” And Jesus is showing them, You’re asking the wrong question!

How do we despise God’s children?

By overlooking them in favor of a more important person.

James 2:1 ESV

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.

Acts 10:34–35 ESV

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

Who is the greatest is the wrong question, the wrong focus.

2. By Neglecting to care for them

That is inherent in the word. To despise is to not care for, so then the admonition is that we care for each one of God’s children. Each one of the believers.

Exampled in the father’s care.

1 John 3:17–18 ESV

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

3. By Ridiculing them

One of the meanings of Despise is to “scorn” - so the other side of that is that we are not to scorn.

There is a difference in loving rebuke, loving correction, and scorn or ridicule. One is with the eye of love and mercy and care, the other is with the eye of pride.

4. By Rejecting someone when the Lovingly Correct Us

We will see this when we come in a couple weeks to the whole process outlined in Verses 15 and following. We are called to lovingly confront a brother when he sins against us. So when a brother or sister does that for us, and we despise him or reject him for it, we are showing out pride and immaturity.

5. By Taking Advantage of their Weakness

1 Thessalonians 4:4–6 ESV

that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

Paul is speaking on having self-control, and then gives the admonition that we do not transgress or wrong our brother in that matter, in terms of their self-control, because God is the avenger of them.

That goes right back to the idea of the stumbling block - we should never put a stumbling block in front of a brother, especially if we know it is an area of their weakness. And the warning is that it is not just wrong, but that God Himself, as the loving Father, has his eye to them. He is their avenger.

So the Question - who is the greatest? - has lead to all this.

May we not have an eye to the greatest, or even greatness as a goal.

But may we humble ourselves before the Lord.

May we be humble in the face of sin and temptation.

May we be humble in the face of Mercy, for God, our Merciful Father, cares deeply for each one of His Children.