Matt.18_11_14 Exegesis

11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Intro:

Matthew 18 is the 4th major discourse found in this Gospel. The context begins at 17:24 as Jesus and His disciples return to Capernaum, when they enter the city they come to a tax booth and Peter is asked the question does your teacher not pay taxes insinuating that Jesus had not paid the tax. When they came into the house (Probably Peter’s) Jesus asked the question of Peter, “who does the king tax, strangers or his sons,” Peter says strangers and Jesus agrees but in order to not offend the tax collector Jesus sends Peter with a hook and line to the lake and tells him the first fish he catches will have a shekel in its mouth and instructs Peter to take that shekel and pay the taxes for both of them.

This took place after the Transfiguration of Jesus where Peter, James, and John saw the glory of Jesus, now Jesus has personally paid Peter’s taxes and Luke’s account tells us that an argument began among the disciples as to which was the greatest. Thus leading to the question found in Matt. 18:1 “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? I remember one morning in Arequipa Peru, while have breakfast on the rooftop patio of Hotel Bein Beiditos overlooking the indie mountains and the active volcano misty. My friend Dwayne asked Daniel and I, Dewayne asked if the original 12 disciples were here what would they be talking about, Daniel immediately said “they would probably be arguing about who was the greatest.” We must remember that on this side of eternity we may be a saint but we are yet perfected.

Jesus begins to preach and as any good preacher He uses illustrations to explain the meaning, Jesus calls a small child over and sits him down, He says unless you are converted (strephō = turn around) and become like a child you cannot enter the Kingdom of God then answers their question whoever humbles himself like a child he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. A child is humbly dependent upon His father and the believer is to turn away from his independence and be dependent upon His Father in Heaven. Moving forward in this text a child can be a literal child or a believer in Christ Jesus, I believe the emphasis is on the believer regardless of age and Jesus begins to address the sin of this argument in Verse 7-10.

In verse 7 the word stumbling is used 3 times it is the Greek noun skandalon in means obstacle that causes one to sin, Jesus says in this world there will be times that even the true disciple stumbles but pronounces judgment on the one who causes the disciple to stumble. In verses 8 and 9 Jesus speaks the Greek verb skandalizō which means cause to sin but the emphasis has changed from another person that causes the disciple to sin to the vices of life that leads to sin. The same language is used in Matthew 5:29-30 as Jesus teaches about lust stating “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell. This is hyperbole but the point is made that that true disciple of Jesus must deal drastically with sin, He must deal with sin by facing them honestly, confessing and forsaking them.

The Parable 12-13

This section begins a parable of Jesus, the word parable means a putting alongside for the purpose of comparison and understanding. Many define a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. In this Parable Jesus compares Himself to a Shepherd, that’s not difficult to see, all throughout Scripture Jesus is shown as the Good Shepherd, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” John 10:11.

It is the Shepherds responsibility to provide, guide, and protect the sheep. By grace through faith all who come to Jesus belong to Him including those who astray. Astray is the Greek verb planaō, it means to wander about, move about without purpose. In this text Jesus refers to going astray as falling in sin, in verses 8 and 9 He speaks about stumbling (skandalizō) which literally means to fall into sin. The one who has sin in his life must deal with it drastically because it has taken us off the righteous path that Jesus leads us down. Psalm 23:3b tells us that He (Jesus) leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake. Sin is a detour for us and if we are not carful our sin can become a detour for others.

What sin is Jesus referring too in this text? Mainly pride, remember the Disciples had been arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven and Jesus answered their question by calling a small child over as a contrast to their pride saying the humble will be the greatest. The Bible teaches Pride Proceeds a great fall! We enter into His kingdom through humble faith and we thrive in His kingdom through humble faith. Jesus warns the disciples to take drastic measures lest they fall to their sin, Vs. 7-8 He use hyperbole to drive home the point that sin must be dealt with and the only way to deal with pride to take a self examination, do you think too highly of yourself, your importance, your abilities, your status? This is a call to humility with an emphasis of self-denial. Removing a part of your body can never change the spiritual condition of our hearts, rather He calls us to perform spiritual surgery on ourselves to remove stumbling blocks in our lives and those that would cause others to stumble.

If you stumble and fall off the righteous path, is that the end of the line for you? Does the Savior wash his hands of you saying good riddance? No He comes looking for you! He loves you so much that He died for you, and He loves you so much that He comes searching for you. Search is the Greek verb zēteō, which literally means trying to find the location of something. ILL: Have you ever lost something precious to you? Years ago I gave Hope a special ring it 2.25 cts that I designed and my dad made. In that ring was a diamond given to me that belonged to the granddaddy I never knew, Hope loved that ring one day I came home from my travels and she told me that she could not find it, it had gone missing. We searched diligently for that ring, we turned the house upside down taking apart the a/c ducts, took apart plumbing, metal detected the yard, we searched and searched and searched for that ring. If we as sinful creation would search so diligently for one of our precious possessions how much more will Jesus come searching for you!

The Bible says if that straying sheep is found the shepherd will greatly rejoice because He found that which was lost! ILL: Hope has much Jewelry, I replaced the ring that was lost, but it never settled the pain of losing the special ring. Three years later, in early June of that year shortly before our 12th wedding anniversary will cleaning a closet Hope looked down on the floor and she found the special ring that had been lost and we rejoiced greatly with tears and thankfulness. If we can rejoice greatly after finding a ring how much more does Jesus rejoice when one of His sheep is found!

This rejoicing of Jesus is due to you having been restored to the righteous past and through faithful living you will receive all the glory and goodness of heaven which at one time you were going to forfeit.

The Perishable 11,14

Verses 11 and 14 run parallel with each other His purpose in coming was to save the lost and His desire for the disciple is that they do not perish. Both verses end with the Greek verb apollymi means destroy but the context of 18:11 implies to be lost in a spiritual sense while 18:14 means fail to get (see 10:42.)

Jesus’ coming was based on God’s glorious plan of redemption, motivated by love He stepped out of the glorious throne room of heaven to enter into the despair of earth to die for the sake of men so that they can be saved. This is God’s permissive will, he doesn’t desire that any be lost but because of God’s grace of individual freedom many will perish to hell in a Christless eternity. But God’s sovereign will is that no true disciple of Jesus will perish. Verse 14 does not teach the possibility of a true disciple losing his salvation, that stands in contrast to the whole of Jesus’ teachings. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish (apollymi), neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.” John 10:28-30. 25”Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” John 11:25-26 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, (apollymi), but have eternal lifeFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, (apollymi), but have everlasting life. John 3:15-16. There is hope in Jesus and the thought of the possibility of loss of salvation decimates that blessed hope and replaces it with hopelessness. To imply man can undo what God has done credits man with omnipotence making God impotent.

Therefore, the perish in 18:14 must mean that he will be welcomed to heaven at the end of his earthly life but at the cost of little to no reward. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire 1 Cor. 3:12-15 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. 9:24-27. have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. 2 Tim. 4:8

Conclusion: This parable warns us of the consequences of sin in the life of the believer, that we stand to lose some of the goodness that Jesus has prepared for us in heaven yet there is hope in knowing that when we stray Jesus comes diligently searching for us. However, the fact of you returning is not absolute, Jesus says “if” found the shepherd rejoices…. Though Jesus sic the hound of heaven upon you through Holy Spirit Conviction Jesus still holds you accountable for returning, we must deal drastically with the sin in our lives, we must perform spiritual surgery on ourselves to remove sin in our lives so that we do not stray and those that would cause others to stray as well.