SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is the subject of our passage in God's Word this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is willingly assuming a position, an attitude, and a heart that is beneath one's actual or perceived status.
SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is willingly assuming a position, an attitude, and a heart that is beneath one's actual or perceived status.
SPEAKER_01: The key word there is not heart.
SPEAKER_01: The key word there is not attitude.
SPEAKER_01: The key word there is not positioned.
SPEAKER_01: The key word is willingly.
SPEAKER_01: You see, humility is not merely taking a low place, although it is that.
SPEAKER_01: Humility is not simply possessing an attitude of lowliness, although it is that.
SPEAKER_01: Humility begins with and is driven by a disposition of the heart that considers others more significant than oneself.
SPEAKER_01: That consideration of others as more significant then impacts one's mindset and attitudes, and that heart and mindset begin to motivate the actions we know as humility.
SPEAKER_01: If you eliminate any of those three elements, heart, mind, or actions, you vary on a spectrum from false humility to outright pride.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that Philippians 2 is the supreme example of humility.
SPEAKER_01: The most incredible humility that the world has ever seen is displayed in the Son of Man, giving his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_01: So the essence then of our humility as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is taking up our cross and following in his footsteps.
SPEAKER_01: That is, following Jesus in lowliness.
SPEAKER_01: But what is the reality on any given day?
SPEAKER_01: On any given day, in any given moment, is the reality of our hearts one of lowliness, is the reality of our mindset one of lowliness, is the reality of our actions one of humility.
SPEAKER_01: I think the reality is that we often instead display a grumbling about how much the cross weighs.
SPEAKER_01: I think our reality is that we complain about the splinters from the cross pricking our pride.
SPEAKER_01: And we we wonder what great place we will have in heaven for all that we've so humbly endured for the sake of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now, may I invite you on a on a journey to crush our pride.
SPEAKER_01: Make your way in a Bible to Matthew chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 24, if you are new to the Bible, it's about two-thirds of the way into the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: It's the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Going to be paying attention to verse 24, all the way through chapter 18, verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: And most of us have heard these sections preached or taught before, individual sections one at a time.
SPEAKER_01: I won't necessarily say that that's inappropriate because I've done that myself and I think it's an okay thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: But what I hope to do this morning is to show us how all of these are tied together to demonstrate the theme of humility.
SPEAKER_01: And our Bibles have a chapter division in here, beginning at chapter 17, verse 27.
SPEAKER_01: And many of our Bibles have headings that divide the paragraphs as well.
SPEAKER_01: But this is really one large section, and there are two ways that we see this.
SPEAKER_01: Two distinctive characteristics that put all of this section together.
SPEAKER_01: And the first way that we see this is the repetition of a word that has made its way into English as the word scandal or scandalize.
SPEAKER_01: It has the sense of causing a problem, of being like a tripping hazard, or an entrapment of some kind that causes someone to do something negative or sinful.
SPEAKER_01: It can refer to something that is offensive to another person, either to an individual or even to God.
SPEAKER_01: This word is found seven times in our passage this morning.
SPEAKER_01: That's one way we see the connection, the unity of the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: The other way is by a contrast.
SPEAKER_01: A contrast that turns into another repetition.
SPEAKER_01: For example, in chapter 18, verse 1, the disciples asked Jesus about greatness in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That was something that was always on their minds, apparently.
SPEAKER_01: And great in Matthew's Greek language is the word matzon.
SPEAKER_01: Great is matzon.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus then turns that around in answering their question by repeatedly talking about little ones or macron.
SPEAKER_01: They're similar sounding words, matzon and macron, that Jesus turns into a play on words, play on sounds, to emphasize littleness.
SPEAKER_01: These two concepts of offensive scandals and great to little drive this section.
SPEAKER_01: And it teaches us this.
SPEAKER_01: Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ are often full of scandalous pride when they ought to be the ones most clearly reflecting the shocking humility of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let's read it.
SPEAKER_01: To help us grasp the emphasis on the primary repetition of scandalous, every time the word for scandal occurs, I'm going to read it as offensive scandal.
SPEAKER_01: No matter what the translation you have says, I'm going to read it as offensive scandal so you can get the sense of how often it's in here.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in chapter 17, verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus and the disciples came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two drachma tax went up to Peter and said, Does your teacher pay not pay the tax?
SPEAKER_01: Peter said, Yes, he does.
SPEAKER_01: And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, What do you think, Simon?
SPEAKER_01: From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax?
SPEAKER_01: From their sons or from others?
SPEAKER_01: When Peter said, From others, Jesus said to him, Well, then the sons are free.
SPEAKER_01: However, not to be an offensive scandal to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up.
SPEAKER_01: And when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel.
SPEAKER_01: Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
SPEAKER_01: Calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_01: But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to offensively scandalize, 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.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to the world for offensive scandals, for it is necessary that such scandals come, but woe to the one by whom the offensive scandal comes.
SPEAKER_01: And if your hand or your foot causes you to offensively scandalize, cut it off and throw it away.
SPEAKER_01: It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.
SPEAKER_01: And if your eye causes you to be an offensive scandal, tear it out and throw it away.
SPEAKER_01: It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
SPEAKER_01: See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones.
SPEAKER_01: For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: 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?
SPEAKER_01: And if he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.
SPEAKER_01: So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And we're not going to be able to spend the time in depth on all of them.
SPEAKER_01: And that's on purpose because I want us to see how they all go together to demonstrate how offensively scandalous our hearts often are.
SPEAKER_01: When we ought to really be little ones who follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be helped in seeing Matthew's intention here if we can answer two distinct questions.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, why does Jesus not want to offend regarding attacks?
SPEAKER_01: And secondly, jumping to the end of the text, how is it that one of these little ones could perish?
SPEAKER_01: If we can answer those two questions, we'll be far on our way to seeing what Matthew wants us to see.
SPEAKER_01: And the first step down that road is realizing that this passage is in some way an exposition of verses 22 and 23 in chapter 17.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has just announced for the second very clear time that he's headed to Jerusalem to suffer and to die.
SPEAKER_01: And that's distressing for the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: But not just his humanity, but also his deity.
SPEAKER_01: It's a term that speaks of God's sovereign, glorious rule over all things.
SPEAKER_01: We see that from the book of Daniel.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus is that God man.
SPEAKER_01: He is the first and the last, as Revelation says.
SPEAKER_01: He is the beginning and the end.
SPEAKER_01: He is the one who died and rose again and lives forevermore.
SPEAKER_01: How incomprehensible is it then that he would condescend to die?
SPEAKER_01: How is it that the sovereign king of kings would condescend to take on human form and be found in human form would live like a slave and like a slave suffer a slave's death?
SPEAKER_01: And if he's the sovereign king of kings, why would he bend to pay a tax as though he were somehow obligated to pay an inferior creature or something that he has made?
SPEAKER_01: Let's see if we can't make some sense out of this by first considering the shocking humility of Jesus seen in paying this two drachma tax.
SPEAKER_01: It seems to be a tax that went to support the function and the upkeep of the temple.
SPEAKER_01: That has some historical background in the Old Testament for the upkeep of the tabernacle.
SPEAKER_01: This seems to have gone through some transitions throughout time.
SPEAKER_01: But what it tells us is that this is not a Roman tax.
SPEAKER_01: So this is not an official governmental tax as we might understand it today.
SPEAKER_01: Some historical sources indicate that it was paid by every Jewish male once in their lifetime.
SPEAKER_01: Other sources indicate it was paid every year.
SPEAKER_01: That's quite a difference, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: And then there are indications that some people, like priests and rabbis, were not required to pay it.
SPEAKER_01: So they could be exempt, we might say.
SPEAKER_01: So it's difficult to know how to read the question in verse 24.
SPEAKER_01: Should we read it then as as accusatory?
SPEAKER_01: As though the questioner coming to Peter expected that Jesus is trying to avoid the tax.
SPEAKER_01: Or should we read it simply as inquisitive?
SPEAKER_01: He's curious.
SPEAKER_01: What about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: What does he do?
SPEAKER_01: What does Jesus think about this whole temple tax?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to leave you hanging on that because I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think we can conclusively answer that question.
SPEAKER_01: What we do seem to see here is that the questioner maybe doesn't believe in Jesus as the Son of Man who would give his ransom as a life for many, as as give his life as a ransom for many.
SPEAKER_01: How does he address Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: He says to Peter, does your teacher, that's plural, speaking of all of the disciples, he's not my teacher, he's your teacher.
SPEAKER_01: What does your teacher think?
SPEAKER_01: And he's merely a teacher.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately after identifying himself as the divine God man, a questioner arrives who does not appear to believe in Jesus as the divine God man.
SPEAKER_01: We can be sure that Jesus, at least, himself and perhaps the disciples as well are exempt from the tax.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus seems to indicate, listen, the king and the sons of the king are exempt, right, Peter?
SPEAKER_01: So there's no obligation for them to pay the tax if Jesus is the king and if he considers his disciples as his followers and his sons.
SPEAKER_01: It seems to indicate Jesus is answering the question for Peter, saying, Listen, Peter, we don't have to pay this temple tax, we are exempt.
SPEAKER_01: But so as to not offensively scandalize them, go fishing, catch a fish, and pay your tax.
SPEAKER_01: If only it were that easy, right?
SPEAKER_01: Now many throughout church history have viewed this through the lens of taxation.
SPEAKER_01: There may be some principles to gain toward that end.
SPEAKER_01: But let me let me make this clear that this is not about taxation.
SPEAKER_01: This is about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: We miss the greatness of God's character if we plow ahead on taxes.
SPEAKER_01: We miss the connection with the Son of Man going directly to the cross if we plunge into taxation.
SPEAKER_01: We miss God the Son giving himself up to sinful, murderous creatures if we see this about taxes.
SPEAKER_01: And if we focus on the question of taxes, we miss the reason for this section.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says to Peter, listen, it is a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good thing, Peter, to avoid offensive scandals that keep sinful people from believing in me.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus, the God man, submits himself to the sinful will of his creatures such that he will die at their hands and for their sin.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus, the divine king, submits to an earthly, man-centered custom of taxation.
SPEAKER_01: This is a picture of shocking humility.
SPEAKER_01: See, the Jewish expectation was for a Messiah who would come and do away with all of the taxes.
SPEAKER_01: All of God's people would be sons and daughters, and they don't have to pay taxes.
SPEAKER_01: Their expectation was not for a submissive, humble king, but a conquering king, a powerful king.
SPEAKER_01: And for Jesus to say that paying the tax was a good thing in order to avoid an offensive scandal was confusing and shocking.
SPEAKER_01: And as if that's not enough, Jesus' humility is magnified in the scandalous pride of the disciples.
SPEAKER_01: Notice the first verse of chapter 18.
SPEAKER_01: At that time.
SPEAKER_01: What time?
SPEAKER_01: The time of the questioner coming to Jesus with the question about taxes.
SPEAKER_01: At that time, the disciples come to Jesus saying, Who's the greatest?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The disciples are thinking about greatness with the king, while Jesus is exhibiting great humility and condescension.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus reacts to the question with an object lesson on humility.
SPEAKER_01: And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them.
SPEAKER_01: Now notice what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_01: First, the stunning declaration.
SPEAKER_01: Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: The stunning statement is that these disciples who've left everything to follow Jesus may not even gain entrance into the kingdom of the king, much less a level of greatness in it, because of their prideful desire for position and power.
SPEAKER_01: That's like Jesus showing up in our church on a Sunday morning and saying, You know how prideful your hearts are.
SPEAKER_01: You know how much you desire to be noticed and acknowledged.
SPEAKER_01: You know how much you desire status.
SPEAKER_01: You know how much you want to be listened to.
SPEAKER_01: You want to feel heard and even get your way.
SPEAKER_01: Well, you better turn from that and become little, or else you're not coming into my kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, these disciples had left everything to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But at this point, apparently, there's still a level of false humility in them.
SPEAKER_01: For their hearts were still proud.
SPEAKER_01: They needed, Jesus said, to become Mikron, little instead of desiring matzone, greatness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You're using the wrong word, friends.
SPEAKER_01: This is not about greatness.
SPEAKER_01: And the first whoever is jolting.
SPEAKER_01: Rather than laboring toward greatness, Jesus says that kingdom residents must experience a life reversal that can only be described as humiliation.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever humbles himself, like this child, is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says it's littleness that defines Christ's people, not greatness.
SPEAKER_01: It's littleness that marks those who are great in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: You remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and said, Lord, how can I enter your kingdom?
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Keep the commandments.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Okay, well, I've done this one, I've done this one, I've done this one.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor.
SPEAKER_01: Humiliate yourself, rich young ruler, by becoming poor.
SPEAKER_01: A life reversal.
SPEAKER_01: See, Jesus knew what was at his heart.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is pointing to the requirement for God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: It's littleness, not greatness.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the king himself who is exhibiting the utmost humility.
SPEAKER_01: As he became like a slave, God's people must become like children.
SPEAKER_01: Now we are not to become children.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what it says.
SPEAKER_01: We are to become little as opposed to great.
SPEAKER_01: And if we do not, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Let that settle in.
SPEAKER_01: That's not my words, that's Jesus' words.
SPEAKER_01: Our hearts, our minds, and our actions will be changed to display the humility of Christ, or we will forever be outside of God's glorious and gracious presence.
SPEAKER_01: So the first whoever addresses the heart.
SPEAKER_01: The second whoever addresses the mindset, the attitude that comes from the heart.
SPEAKER_01: So those who do not possess a heart like Jesus will not be a part of his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: And those who do have a heart like his will not proudly refuse association with little people.
SPEAKER_01: Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, this is not about children per se.
SPEAKER_01: This is about Jesus and about becoming like him in our littleness.
SPEAKER_01: It's about crushing our pride and sinful desires to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Being with Jesus means being little enough to receive others who are little in heart because we desire to reflect the heart of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's a third whoever.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a frightening warning about the actions that prideful hearts and minds produce.
SPEAKER_01: Pride, Jesus says, has no problem generating offensive scandals that trip people up.
SPEAKER_01: Because prideful people don't care about the little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Prideful people care about themselves.
SPEAKER_01: And so they don't care about generating some sort of offensiveness that might cause someone else to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says if that's you, it would be better to take a great millstone that only a donkey could move and tie it to your neck and drop you into the deepest part of the sea than for you to live and sin more.
SPEAKER_01: To contextualize it, think of one of those concrete dividers on the highway, you know, those four or five feet long, a couple feet high.
SPEAKER_01: If you are so proudful, proud that you have no problem causing some offense or some scandal that trips up God's little ones, then it would be better for you to tie that around your neck and go jump in the lake.
SPEAKER_01: And for you to keep on living.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, I invited you on a journey to crush her pride.
SPEAKER_01: Now we need to make a couple of clarifications here.
SPEAKER_01: First, Jesus is not speaking specifically about causing children to sin.
SPEAKER_01: He does not refer to children in verse 6 as he does in verse 2, verse 4, and verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus speaks here of a little one who believes in him.
SPEAKER_01: And by now we ought to see that a little one is a disciple, a follower, a believer in Jesus, who has a humble heart that is displayed in humble actions and attitudes.
SPEAKER_01: That can include children.
SPEAKER_01: But it refers more directly to anyone who trusts in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: They are his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Pride, then, is a problem.
SPEAKER_01: It can be offensively scandalous to those who are humble like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If one of Christ's people, if one of his little ones has matured, has grown up to the point of being little.
SPEAKER_01: If one of God's disciples, Christ's disciples, has matured and grown to the point of being humble in heart and humble in mind and humble in action, then others may see them, perceive them as weak, as less than, as able to be manipulated, used, and even abused.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says if anyone treats one of God's humble people as though they are not significant, then it would be better if that proud person had their life snuffed out through drowning than to mistreat God's humble people.
SPEAKER_01: That's a startling warning, friends.
SPEAKER_01: And it's hard to hear.
SPEAKER_01: But why does Jesus say it?
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is the littlest one of all.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is our example in humility of heart, in humbleness of mind, and of humility in action.
SPEAKER_01: The king gave his life for us.
SPEAKER_01: He paid a tax, he did not have to pay.
SPEAKER_01: And those who saw him as insignificant betrayed him and hung him upon a cross, and they will suffer for that sin for eternity.
SPEAKER_01: And now he says that we are identified with him when we are little as he is little.
SPEAKER_01: Christ's humility displayed through his people declares to everyone that we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, to cause a humble disciple to stumble is to flaunt your pride in the face of God.
SPEAKER_01: And it would be better if you were drowned in the sea than to flaunt your perceived greatness, wisdom, and authority in the face of God at the cost of his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to the world for offensive scandals.
SPEAKER_01: It's necessary.
SPEAKER_01: And offensive scandals come.
SPEAKER_01: But woe to the one by whom they come.
SPEAKER_01: Your translation may have temptations to sin in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: And to sin in verse 8 and verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a bad translation.
SPEAKER_01: But we need to remember that Jesus is using the same word in 1727, 18.6, 187, 188, and 189.
SPEAKER_01: It's the same word.
SPEAKER_01: So the English Standard Version that I read from is translates the same word as give offense to sin and temptation to sin and temptation.
SPEAKER_01: That's four variations in meaning in the same context.
SPEAKER_01: And we need to ask if those four variations of meaning for the same word are the best way to translate them in such a short section.
SPEAKER_01: And that's not an easy answer, or not an easy question to answer.
SPEAKER_01: But I would suggest to you that maybe we might be helped if we translate them all the same.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, for simplicity's sake, stumble, to be tripped up.
SPEAKER_01: And that comes from something that's scandalous in some way.
SPEAKER_01: We still need to interpret then what kind of stumbling is meant in each case.
SPEAKER_01: It might be a sinful kind of stumbling that comes from our hearts chasing evil desires out of pride.
SPEAKER_01: It might mean a stumbling of the mind where we just can't perceive the truth, the reality of something.
SPEAKER_01: But let's apply that kind of thinking to verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: Woe to the world for stumbling.
SPEAKER_01: It's necessary that stumblings come.
SPEAKER_01: But woe to the one by whom the stumbling comes.
SPEAKER_01: So if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away.
SPEAKER_01: It's better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
SPEAKER_01: And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away.
SPEAKER_01: It's better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
SPEAKER_01: Now the issue here, I don't think, is so much the stumbling, although that's important.
SPEAKER_01: The issue here is that we understand the life and the eternal fire.
SPEAKER_01: The life of which Jesus speaks is the presence with him in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: That's the question the disciples asked in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Most of all, you don't necessarily want greatness in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You want to be there.
SPEAKER_01: Because right now you're on that line between being there and not being there, and being there is life, and not being there is the hell of fire.
SPEAKER_01: The eternal judgment apart from his glory, grace, and love.
SPEAKER_01: And we've already seen then that littleness is an identifying mark of those who have the life that is eternal, the life that has the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It's a littleness, a humility that mirrors the character of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And the opposite of that littleness is pride.
SPEAKER_01: A pride that seeks greatness, attention, honor, recognition, a heart that wants to be noticed, wants to be heard, wants to be catered to.
SPEAKER_01: That kind of heart has no place in the Lord's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So the temptations or the stumbling that exist in the world are grounded in pride.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says it's necessary.
SPEAKER_01: It's necessary that pride and the stumblings that it generates exist in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because it reveals who belongs to the kingdom of heaven and who doesn't.
SPEAKER_01: The pride that generates stumbling reveals if you belong to Jesus as his son or daughter, or if you are going to be cast into the hell of fire.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, if you want to be great in Christ's kingdom, your heart and your mind and your actions not just changed, got to be transformed.
SPEAKER_01: Through a kind of humiliation, like Jesus was suggesting to the rich young ruler.
SPEAKER_01: You have to reject, you have to jettison all elements of pride and desire the littleness of Christ so that his littleness becomes your littleness.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just a suggestion, friends.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verses 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, this is so important.
SPEAKER_01: You better go through some amputations.
SPEAKER_01: Now, those are clearly exaggerations.
SPEAKER_01: How do we know that they're exaggerations?
SPEAKER_01: We know it because it's possible to amputate an offending hand or foot or an eye and still be full of pride and end up in the fires of hell.
SPEAKER_01: The lesson here is for the disciples who are asking about greatness in the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the king.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says they were pursuing an eternal greatness out of pride.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says that human pride doesn't get you greatness.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, human pride injures God's little ones.
SPEAKER_01: It's offensive to God.
SPEAKER_01: And it's scandalous because it can lead God's little ones into trouble and even sin.
SPEAKER_01: It is scandalous because it bars the door of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, you must root out all pride from the depths of your heart at all costs.
SPEAKER_01: Now consider briefly the shepherd's example.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: See to it, then, that you do not despise one of these little ones.
SPEAKER_01: For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think?
SPEAKER_01: For man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray.
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't he leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one who went astray?
SPEAKER_01: And when he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray.
SPEAKER_01: So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that any one of these little ones should perish.
SPEAKER_01: See that you do not despise one of these little ones.
SPEAKER_01: We continue the little versus great theme.
SPEAKER_01: The little one is not necessarily a child, it can be.
SPEAKER_01: It is a believer in Christ whose heart and mind and actions are humble like a child's, and it's a command.
SPEAKER_01: See to it that you do not look down on a humble believer in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: In heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Many believe that this verse speaks of guardian angels.
SPEAKER_01: And there may be some truth to that.
SPEAKER_01: But a better explanation may be that God's children, in our context, God's children are the ones who mirror his humble heart.
SPEAKER_01: The believing little ones who mirror his humble heart have angels who serve them in the purpose and plan of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Hebrews chapter 1 tells us about angels.
SPEAKER_01: They are servants of those who believe.
SPEAKER_01: They may guard a person as we understand it, but it's probably better to understand them as servants of God on our behalf.
SPEAKER_01: And that service is limited, by the way, in Scripture, to those who believe in Christ, not to all human beings.
SPEAKER_01: So here the emphasis is on presence, not on service.
SPEAKER_01: What does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: He says, listen, we're talking about the kingdom of heaven here.
SPEAKER_01: And their angels are in heaven where my father is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It's about presence, not service.
SPEAKER_01: A humble believer's angels are always seeing the face of God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: So the implication is that the Father sees the treatment of his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Lowell prayed for the tragedy in Texas.
SPEAKER_01: What happens to the face of a parent when they see their little one?
SPEAKER_01: Hurt, abused, scandalized, tripped up.
SPEAKER_01: The parent's face communicates a response, a reaction to what their little ones are facing.
SPEAKER_01: The angels who are in heaven always see the face of my father, and his face communicates his displeasure to the angels, and the angels of the little ones act at the Father's command to serve his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Beware then that you do not look down on one of God's little ones, for you may find yourself facing a dangerous angel carrying out the wrath of God, because you and your pride thought it good to offend the Holy One and cause his little one to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: God loves his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: Beware then that you do not cause them to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus displays this through a parable of the 99 and the one.
SPEAKER_01: Just as a shepherd of a hundred sheep is so concerned about the one who wanders off that he leaves the 99 left alone on the mountaintops to go find the one, so too is the Father's care for his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: The Father's love is unmeasurable for the little ones who mirror his heart and his mind and his actions by imitating the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And it's so important to him that holy angels serve those little ones at the Father's command.
SPEAKER_01: They are so important that anyone who causes them to stumble ought rather to be dead.
SPEAKER_01: See how the Father loves his little ones.
SPEAKER_01: And if that is the loving care you want from God the Father, you will do everything possible not to seek greatness, but littleness like your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: For he is the one who out of the littleness of his heart believed that holding on tightly to the glories of heaven was not the best thing, but instead to set it aside and to wrap himself with flesh.
SPEAKER_01: And being found in human form to lower himself to the position of a slave, and being found as a slave to humble himself even more for the joy that was set before him, to endure the suffering of a cruel cross.
SPEAKER_01: Friends, why did Jesus miraculously provide a coin to pay a tax he did not have to pay?
SPEAKER_01: Why did he not claim an exemption and demand his way to demand respect and honor and service?
SPEAKER_01: He is the Son of Man who was seen in Daniel in the glory of the.
SPEAKER_01: Of the throne room of the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_01: Why did he humble himself to take on such a lowly place for the King of Kings?
SPEAKER_01: Well, what does Matthew say?
SPEAKER_01: Matthew records Jesus' own words.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, Peter, we're free from paying the tax.
SPEAKER_01: There's no command from God to do that.
SPEAKER_01: But so as to not cause them to stumble.
SPEAKER_01: Go.
SPEAKER_01: Cast a hook.
SPEAKER_01: Take the first fish and give the coin to them.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus miraculously provided a coin to demonstrate the humility that we are to possess and to live out.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus considered others more significant than himself.
SPEAKER_01: He did not demand his rights.
SPEAKER_01: He did not demand respect and honor.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he sought out the sheep who went astray.
SPEAKER_01: Can we pause there for a minute?
SPEAKER_01: And will you would you allow me to go beyond the text of scripture just for a moment?
SPEAKER_01: Hearing no objections.
SPEAKER_01: We are not told what I'm about to suggest to you.
SPEAKER_01: But given the inspiration of scripture and the authorial intent of the biblical authors, it would not surprise me if Matthew put this in his biography of Jesus because, because the early church knew who those temple tax collectors were who came to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: And even more, it wouldn't surprise me if Matthew put this in the biography of Jesus, because the early church knew that those temple tax collectors had come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Again, we have no evidence to support that.
SPEAKER_01: But it's the kind of situation that fits this context.
SPEAKER_01: And if anything like that occurred, if anything like that is in Matthew's mind as he's writing this, then it bolsters what we have just observed.
SPEAKER_01: Because it could be that the good shepherd of the sheep knew that those taxation folks were his sheep who had not yet heard his voice and come to him.
SPEAKER_01: And even though he is the sovereign king of kings, he was unwilling to cause them to stumble over an insignificant thing.
SPEAKER_01: So the Son of God himself humbled himself to pay a tax as part of his seeking out his lost sheep.
SPEAKER_01: But it may illustrate really well what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: And if our Lord considered others more significant than himself over such unimportant matters, how can we do less?
SPEAKER_01: How could we not give ourselves over to pursuing littleness and value above ourselves all the other little ones who believe in Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: So verse 14 of chapter 18, I don't think is suggesting that little ones can perish.
SPEAKER_01: I think it is simply declaring that God is not willing for them to perish.
SPEAKER_01: And if you choose to not humble yourself and become little as the king is little, you will find yourself in opposition to the king himself.
SPEAKER_01: Because he is not willing that his little ones perish.
SPEAKER_01: So even if the king himself is willing to take off his royal robes and to pay a tax, even to die upon a wretched and cruel cross, so that people will come to him for life, how much more then ought his redeemed people to be little ones with humble hearts who take up their cross daily and follow him.
SPEAKER_01: Not complaining about its weight, not complaining about its splinters, but knowing all along that the things about which we want to gripe are the very things that He's designed to make us little.
SPEAKER_01: We desperately need your spirit to crush it.
SPEAKER_01: But do that first and foremost by letting us see you and all of your humility.
SPEAKER_01: Enable us to make much of you.
SPEAKER_01: Enable us to have that mindset of John the Baptist who said, Jesus is the one who must increase and I must decrease.
SPEAKER_01: Let us make much of you, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so be found following in the steps of our Savior, carrying our cross as beloved little ones of the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.