Readings: Ezekiel 33:7-9 | Romans 13:1-10 | Matthew 18:1-20
Text: Matthew 18:1-20
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The text is the Gospel which we just heard from Matthew 18.
Nowadays, it’s really common to tell our children, “You’re amazing! Believe in yourself—” in English and in Spanish. Or, “You’re good enough!” It used to be called “self-esteem.” Now, I don’t know what the buzzword for this is, but this comes from a place where parents want good things for their children. They want a good future for them. They want them to hit the marks that they need as they develop.
That was originally the purpose of standardized testing and check-ins and all of that. But they want their children to have some good formation into adulthood. And when we do that, we’re fighting against this danger of them somehow being left behind. I mean, it was right there in the “No Child Left Behind” policy in the 2000s. And just as emphatically as parents or educators want good things for the children, the Lord wants something far greater for the children of God.
Within the Christian Church, there is a different ethic from the goals of this world. So the first thing that we come across is that thing that is harmful, and in the world it would be to not have self-esteem, or to not have ability, or there not to be some kind of equal opportunity for everyone. And that is seen as the greatest evil.
Well, what is the greatest evil?
Let me start with what’s harmful first.
“6Whoever 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. 7Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! 8And 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. 9And 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.” (Matthew 18:7-9)
Now, Jesus uses this hyperbole to teach a lesson.
Now, I don’t think “causes to sin” really helps us understand what He’s talking about, because it’s ambiguous. The word in the Greek is *scandalized*:
"Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin"—or, "Whoever scandalizes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone..."
It is scandalizing in whatever would corrupt the life of faith, exemplified by this little child that Jesus has brought as an illustration of the life of the believer, no matter what their age is.
The life of faith is one that hears the Word of God and then, in repentance, strives to live according to that Word. And anything that gets in the way of that is poison to a child of God.
So one area that comes up is corrupting the trustworthiness of the Word of God. It is a treachery that cannot be tolerated in the Church.
And this is why, as conservative Christians, as biblical Christians, we make such a point of teaching against higher criticism, which was very popular in a lot of areas and set the foundation for the church bodies that you see today that have strayed so far from the Word of God because they no longer believe that it is God’s Word. They say it contains God’s Word, and it’s up to the individual to somehow detect what’s God’s Word and what’s not. And that’s been a huge divide among Christians in our day, not just in the Lutheran sphere, but in so many different ones.
These little ones who believe in Him have a simple trust in their God that is unsullied by exceptions and caveats. “I don’t say this is the Word of the Lord if you agree with it.” And I don’t say, “This is the Word of the Lord, but really we’re going to teach around it,” or make excuses for it, or say why God wasn’t nice and politically correct in the Old Testament, or something like that.
A golden image of this simple trust is actually exhibited by Mary, the Mother of God, when Gabriel announced that Christ was going to be conceived in her womb.
The angel concludes,
"37For nothing will be impossible with God."
And Mary said,
"38Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word," and the angel departed from her.”
“Let it be to me according to your word” is the proper childlike attitude to come to the Word of God with. Not one where we are smarter than God or think that the Word was only conceived by primitive, dark-age people who were sexist and homophobic or whatever other slanders are cast upon a generation that can’t speak for itself. We simply trust the Word of God.
And with trusting that Word of God, Jesus also gets into another problem that has plagued the modern Church, especially since the Reformation, and that’s the problem of what’s called “antinomianism”. It is a casting off of the Law to say that now that we have been reconciled to God by some arbitrary measure—which is never a good place to start—God’s really okay with sin, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. And that somehow God is going to look at sin or see our sins and just look the other way.
That’s not acceptable either, because the Word of God is not only true, but it’s also true for our lives as we live in repentance and faith. And that’s why when I was teaching the children about adultery last week, I didn’t say, “And by the way, this exception and that exception and, oh, there’s this and that.” We start with the simple teaching of God.
So what is that worst thing that can happen within the ethic of the Christian Church? It is unbelief. It is losing a brother to unbelief and impenitence.
“10See 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. 12What 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? 13And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
And that immediately leads into these familiar words:
“15If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
What a joy it is to bring back a straying brother! How does this take place? By loving and compassionate correction, not by fault-finding or shunning. The Church is comprised of sinners. It’s true. But the Lord puts us, fellow sinners, in a unique position and a unique responsibility to show love for our fellow believers by calling sin what it is and seeking restoration.
In the legalism-plagued Galatian church, this is how St. Paul explained it in chapter 6:
“1Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. 5For each will have to bear his own load.” (Galatians 6:1-5)
Now that brings up this question of what is great in the Kingdom of God.
And Jesus said,
“3and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “5Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6but 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.” (Matthew 18:3-6)
In the Kingdom of God, we have this heavenly vision, and here is the heavenly vision of greatness. It is not a greatness that says, “You are amazing,” or “I am amazing,” or holding up some individual. Instead, we hold up Jesus Christ. We see the power of Him over our sins. We see His victory over sin, death, and the devil. We see Him who has overcome the world, in which John tells us later, “The thing that overcomes the world is our faith in Him.”
We don’t find greatness in the individual members of the Church. The Church is oriented not toward building up individuals, but the value of gathering souls so that they remain in repentance and faith. And that’s why the Church doesn’t fit when you want to talk about success. It can’t be measured by the same metrics, and a lot of the work that is done can’t be put on display. It can’t be shown in a way that shows how successful it is unless you have this heavenly vision of sinners turning to Christ and the angels rejoicing in that. It is a cross-focused vantage point that sees every believer, most especially those who are weak, as precious in the Lord’s sight.
And that’s another thing that the Lord highlights by bringing up a child, because children are weak. They are dependent. They can’t be left to their own devices, and neither can the sheep of the Lord’s flock. They need to be cared for and not assume that they’ll be fine.
When the Lord says to receive children, it means that we meet each other with caring and nurture. We share the Church with those—we share this Christian Church with those—who don’t have it all figured out.
Now, it is important in the Church to differentiate between immaturity and a refusal to hear God’s Word. Within the congregation, this means that we confess the common faith, the one that we confess every Sunday in the Nicene Creed. No one in a congregation is without fault, and no one is more important or less important. We don’t have to share the same experiences or reach the same conclusions, but what has brought us together is this call of the Gospel.
And so, if there is a refusal to hear God’s Law that exposes and kills our sin, and following that, a denial of the Gospel, this is where there really is an urgency. An urgency that comes not just from, “Oh no, I miss them,” but this thing that Jesus describes in the holy angels rejoicing over a sinner who comes to repentance.
That’s the thing that comes into view of calling the proud to repentance. This is God’s good and gracious will. It may not be as comfortable or encouraging as telling someone how great they are, how they’ve done stuff in the past, and that means they can do stuff in the future, or individual success and accomplishments.
It doesn’t mean that they’re without fault, but it does mean that even in that awkward conversation that needs to be had sometimes, the goal is always oriented toward sinners staying in the true faith, living in the Kingdom of God, living by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and in the end receiving the salvation of their souls, in the name of Jesus.
Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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