Bad Infleunces (Matt 18 5-10)
Rapport: Like any parent, I love my children and I would do anything for them. I am always trying to protect them from the dangers in their lives. They are innocent and vulnerable to danger that we as teenagers and adults are not as susceptible to. If you see both of the girls with me by myself, then you may hear me say “both hands on the car.” I say this when the girls and I are getting in the car in a busy parking lot. If the girls just stood there, as I put the other one in their seat, they could easily be enticed to walk away from the car and in the path of a oncoming car. So if I am putting one girl in her car seat, the other one must put both hands on the car which helps me know that they are not looking around. Both hands are on the car and they are safe.
Just like earthly parents, God, our heavenly Father wants to protect his children- the innocent and weak. Jesus has already talked with his disciples about entering the kingdom of heaven with humility and repentance. He compared Christians to a little child that he used as an illustration in the midst of the disciples. Now he changes gears to talk about protecting these little children.
God wants to protect you as a child of God. He puts warning signs out to guard you from danger. But sometimes other people tear down those warning signs and you fall into danger and sin.
It reminds me of the story of three friends in Tampa, Florida who drove the streets one night looking to pull some pranks. They pulled up over 20 street signs around town including a stop sign at one busy intersection. The next day, three 18 year boys finished up their bowling match and headed home toward that intersection. They drove right through the intersection and were killed by a 8-ton truck instantly.
The street sign vandals went before a judge and were sentenced to 15 years in prison for the deaths of those 3 boys.
There are people in the world that cause Christians to fall into sin. Let’s look at our text for today and let’s focus on this truth from Jesus that…Believers must be aware of the bad influences in their spiritual journey. We will focus on 3 aspects of awareness about bad influences.
1. SEE THE CONTRAST vs. 5-“And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;”
RECEIVING-In our world, we are going to have good influences in our lives that build us up in our faith and lead us to greater understanding of our Father in heaven, but we will also have bad influences in our lives that will try to lead us astray. Jesus was teaching the disciples about both sides. There will be those that receive Christians. He was referring to receiving Christians in the same way that a person welcomes honored guests at a party. I know you like to have parties for yourself. Imagine your favorite birthday party, people are talking to you, you are given presents, you know if you left, the party would be over. That is what Jesus means to receive other Christians. To treat other Christians as if it was their birthday party every day.
RECEIVING OTHERS IN CHRIST-Look in Matthew 25:31-40
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
Here Jesus stresses the same point as in our text today. When we have surrendered our life to Christ, we are inviting the presence of God to live within us. So if we are helpful, kind, loving, and generous to other Christians, we are actually displaying those actions to Christ living in people. In the same way, if we are rude, hateful, or selfish with people, we are also doing those things to Christ.
PASTOR IS A BUM! I heard a story one time where a pastor of a church in the big city, dressed up in dirty clothes, wore a wig, and pretended to be a homeless man begging for money for some food. Homeless people were always around the parking lot of their church and so he stood out front with the rest of the homeless people begging. He watched as church member after church member passed by with rude comments and empty hearts. As the church service started that morning, this pastor walked into the church still dressed as the beggar only to reveal his true identity.
THE STUMBLING BLOCKS
The other group Jesus is referring to is those in the world that lead others to fall into sin. He uses the word skandalizo which means a stumbling block, one who causes another to trip, stumble or fall. He is referring to leading someone into sin.
These people in the world who lead others to sin can be Christians or none Christians. But Jesus here is focusing on “these little ones” not as literal children, but as those who are weak and fragile in their faith. We are all growing more like Christ, but Jesus is teaching that Christians are weak and fragile and can often be lead into sin by others.
I think as a parent of my little girls and how one day there will be people in their lives that will influence them positively and negatively. I will respect those that invest positively in my girls like teachers, coaches, youth pastors, other parents, and our family. But I will do whatever is necessary to protect them from those that might lead them astray. I will always be on the lookout for the bad influences in their lives.
2. KNOW THE FATE v. 6b- “6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Jesus tried to explain here the seriousness bad influences and the fate of those who lead Christians astray. He uses the illustration of the millstone.
Mule millstone- The “large millstone” (literally, millstone for a donkey) referred to the huge stone wheels that were attached to a horizontal bar connected to a donkey’s harness. As the animal walked around in circles, the wheel rolled over a raised stone slab (similar in appearance to a large birdbath), crushing the grain underneath.
Depth of sea- The deepest part of the sea. The Romans sometimes practiced this form of execution by trying a heavy stone around a criminal’s neck and dropping him overboard in deep water. Such a pagan form of execution was unimaginably horrible to Jews, perhaps in some respects more fearful even than crucifixion.
So Jesus is saying that one who leads Christians astray from their faith, or a bad influence, would be better off to be thrown into the ocean with a huge stone around your neck and drown than to face the judgment you will face if you lead someone else to sin.
What kind of Judgment?- Jesus uses two words, eternal fire and gehenna fire. The first instance places emphasis on the timeless nature of hell. Judgment in hell will be eternal, without end, with no time. The second instance mentions Gehenna fire. Gehenna was a valley near Jerusalem where in the OT, Jewish children were offered as sacrifices and burned on an alter to the false god Molech. In Jesus’ time, this same place was used to burn refuse, trash, even the dead bodies of criminals and animals. To avoid a stench in the air of rotting flesh, hot fires continually burned there. Jesus used this place as a reference to hell where fires of judgment will burn forever.
How do we lead others to sin? John Macarthur gives many ways to lead others to sin.
· Tempting them directly to sin- like Eve tempted Adam to take the bite of the fruit.
· Indirectly leading them to sin- when Paul says for parents not to provoke their children to wrath.
· Being a sinful example-
· Failing to lead them to righteousness- not making disciples like we should be. Not building up fellow believers in the faith.
JOE THE IDIOT- The newspaper reported some time back a man named Joe who ran an internet sex site called Video Fantasy. Joe had a 10 year old son and on his home computer, Joe installed filtering software to protect his son while surfing the web. In this article, Joe explained, “It is not that I keep him sheltered, but my wife and I pay close attention to what he reads, what he watches on TV, and what he does on the computer because we have a responsibility to him to be the best parents we can be.” While Joe is protecting his own son, he is leading thousands of other sons into immoral sin.
3. UNDERSTAND TH E REACTION vs.7-9
Matthew 18:7-9 (NASB95)7 “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
So how do we respond to being lead into sin?
IMMEDIATE ACTION- In Jewish culture, the right eye and right hand represented a persons best and most precious faculties. The right eye represented one’s best vision, and the right hand one’s best skills. Jesus’ point is that we should be willing to give up whatever is necessary, even the most cherished things we possess, if doing that will help protect us from evil.
This is the hardest point of a Chrisitans’ life is to separate themselves from the things that draw us to sin. Whether it is a best friend, a teacher or coach or a relative, Jesus is teaching us to remove those things from our lives that lead us into sin.
IT MAY BE PAINFUL- Notice how cutting off your hand or plucking our your eye illustrates pain. It is going to cause pain in your life if you have to lose a friend because it leads you to sin, or break up a boyfriend or girlfriend because they lead you to sin, or quit a team or job because of the influence to sin. They are all painful things but yet the pain does not pale in comparison to eternal torment one will face in hell if that sin leads you astray from God.
JOSEPH’S WAY OF DEALING- We read in Genesis how Joseph, who was sold as a slave by his brothers, ended up working in Potiphar’s house. Now Potiphar was the captain of the guard for Pharaoh, King of Egypt and Potiphar had grown to like Joseph and he put Joseph in charge of his home and possessions. But Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph and she wanted to sleep with him. But when he refused the trap of committing adultery, the only thing he knew to do was flee.
When we know those bad influences are out there leading us to sin, we must remove those influences immediately. If your sin occurs on the internet, get rid of your computer. If your relationship leads you to sin, end it. Don’t you want relationship that strengthen your walk with God, not weaken it? If the music you listen to causes you to sin, do more than stop listening to it, throw it away. If your teammates lead you to sin, quit the team. God will bless you because of your sacrifice for His sake.
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