Kingdom Mindset: Matthew 18

CIT: When we become a child of the King we begin to live with and treat each other differently.

Become a child of the King

Protect one another

Love one another

Reconcile with and restore one another

Forgive one another

Become a child of the King (Matthew 18:1-4)

Through humble faith

Jesus tells his disciples that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven you must become like a child. This does not mean that we become pure like a child, for children are obviously not pure they are little balls of sin, Jesus points to the humility of the child as the mark of a true disciple and citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven

Not through human achievement and/or status.

This is how the disciples were thinking.

Is through childlike trust, vulnerability, and need for assistance from God.

This is what Jesus expects

Elias is a good example of this. Because he is just a child he is humble in that he is incapable of fully accomplishing what he wants. An example of this is when he wants to shoot a basketball into a tall goal so he asks me to pick him up and hold him up high so he can make the basket. He must trust that I will hold hold, he is vulnerable in admitting his short comings (literally and figuratively), and he needs my assistance in order to accomplish this task.

This is what it means to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven, are frankly to be in the Kingdom fo Heaven at all, we must humbly trust that Jesus accomplished what we could not in his life, death, and resurrection. We must be vulnerable in admitting that we have fallen short of his perfect standard. And we must ask God to save us from our sin.

And when we have truly done this, our lives become transformed to begin following through with this humble childlike attitude towards other Christians. So, now let’s see how Jesus explains how we should follow through with this towards other Christians.

Protect one another (Matthew 18:5-9)

Concern for others holiness

The child there is not literally a child, it is a reference to a disciple of Christ.

It is a horrible thing to cause another Christian to fall into sin, so let’s be deeply concerned about their holiness and lead other Christians to holiness rather than sin.

Concern for personal holiness

How do we begin to develop an attitude of concern for others holiness? We first develop a concern for our own personal holiness.

Jesus tells us that temptations to sin will come, but that we should not give into temptation. And tells us a way to escape this temptation is by removing sources of temptation.

What is it that causes temptation to sin to arise? How can you remove that from your life? If you are truly concerned about being holy as the Lord is holy (Lev. 19:2) then you will do what is necessary.

Love one another (Matthew 18:10-14)

Jesus says to not despise another disciple, so what is the opposite of despising someone? Loving them.

How do we learn how to love though? John explains best in 1 John, specifically in 1 John 4:8-10 “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

How do we learn how to love? By examining what God has done for us. And Jesus gives us two example at which to look.

In light of God’s provision (Matthew 18:10)

This text has been interpreted in multiple ways but it does not mean that each Christian has an individual guardian angel. What we do see though is that God does provide angels, that dwell in the presence of the Father, for Christians.

This means that God, in his immense love for us, is providing angels to serve our needs.

In light of God’s pursuit

Not only does God provide even angels for us, he also pursues us himself. This version of the 99-1 sheep shows us that God is not willing to see even one of his disciples abandon the flock, therefore he will pursue his wayward disciples in order to bring them back into the community of the Church, the Kingdom of God.

How do we respond to this? We do the same.

Reconcile with and restore one another (Matthew 18:15-20)

Steps of church discipline

Private correction

Small group clarification

Church admonition

Church excommunication

***This is the purpose of Church Discipline***

Church Discipline is meant to reconcile broken relationships

When one Christian hurts another Christian the offended party should never harbor resentment towards the offending party. this only breeds division in the church, like in 1 Corinthians.

Some of you need to reconcile with each other.

Church Discipline is meant to restore wayward disciples

When a Christian is abandoning the Church in pursuit of sinful living we are to pursue them to restore them to the Church and holy living.

We must pursue those who have left

Forgive one another (Matthew 18:21-35)

If we truly pursue Christian community then we must have a forgiving attitude. Peter began to realize this when he asked Jesus if they should be willing to even forgive people 7 times, which was already more than the cultural 3 times. But Jesus shows that we shouldn’t keep count of how many times we forgive. Why? Because God has been so forgiving to us.

Recognize the magnitude of God forgiving you

10,000 talents would be equivalent to 6 billion dollars.

We must all take a moment to recognize the debt that we owe before God. It is not even quantifiable, and yet he has offered us forgiveness through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.

Now extend that forgiveness to one another.

When we truly sit in the reality of our forgiveness on the cross it should cause us to have a completely different attitude.

Afghanistan forgiveness story. How many times should you forgive someone? How many times has your mom or dad forgiven you? How many times has God forgiven you? Now how does that change your thoughts of forgiving someone else?

Personal Application Questions

Are you causing, leading, or enabling a brother or sister in Christ to sin?

Are you guarding, protecting, and nurturing your own personal holiness?

Is there anyone you need to humbly confront concerning sin for their good and for the Father’s glory?

Are you harboring any bitterness or unforgiveness towards someone else?

“May the love of the Father through the Son by the Spirit compel the love of his children in the Church.”