Kingdom Community - 7/4/26

Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: So, for those of you who are unaware, we are studying through the book of Matthew. Last week, Pastor Kent told me that we hit a little bit on our nation's liberty before God and what that means for us in communion. And so this sermon is not as much ⁓ Independence Day oriented. Today we're covering Matthew chapter 18. And ri really when you when you hear someone say Matthew eighteen, my mind at least, I'm sure a lot of minds, go to the section in Matthew eighteen about ⁓ what to do in dealing with conflict resolution, you know, or if someone sins against you. But out of this study, as I've been studying this week, it's really deep. There's so much more to it. It's very rich, and I'm excited to share that with you. I'm gonna have a brief word of prayer that the Lord will share that with you, not just me, because you don't need to hear what I have to say. And then we're gonna dig right into it. Heavenly Father, God, we ask once again that your spirit would be present, that you would hide me behind the cross, Lord, and and speak your words. That as we dig into this, we would learn what you would have for us each to know today. And that we would take it with us as we go. throughout our week and and the rest of our lives. It would not just become head knowledge, Lord, but a heart knowledge. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So Matthew 18, this is right after we talked about two weeks ago, we talked about how there was the transfiguration, right? And those three disciples went up in the mountain and saw Jesus transfigured, and then they came down into the valley, and they could the the other disciples couldn't cast out this demon, and Jesus cast it out and told them that it w they couldn't cast it out because of their unbelief. And there's one section before left before. Matthew eighteen, and Jesus shares that he's going to be betrayed into the hands of the sons of men, into the hands of men, and that they will kill him, and on the third day he they will be raised he shall be raised again, and they were exceedingly sorry. And then there's a little section about the temple half shekel, and the the disciples were asked Why doesn't Jesus or does Jesus pay taxes? Does Jesus pay taxes? And it was a tra it was a trick question because if they if Jesus said, Yes, I pay taxes, then we'd be like, Well, why are you honoring Caesar, our oppressors? You give allegiance to Rome? But if Jesus said no, that's illegal not to pay taxes, and then they could get him for that. So it was a trick question. But Jesus came and told Jesus, so because Peter said yes, Jesus pays taxes. And so Jesus came and said, What do you think, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth Take custom or tribute of their own children or strangers. And Peter said to him, The strangers. And Jesus said, Then are the children free? So Jesus is basically saying, As a child of the king, the king's not going to ask you to pay taxes as your child, right? I'm not going to ask my son to pay taxes for living in my house. But he says, notwithstanding, nevertheless, lest we should offend them. Go to the sea, cast a hook, take up the first fish that comes, and when you have opened its mouth you will find a piece of money, and take that and give it to them for me and for you. And God shows a deep principle here that w it's one thing to to understand the liberty we have as children of God. It's another thing to lay down that liberty for the sake of not offending or stumbling, ⁓ causing causing someone to be offended. And that's kind of what we dig into in Matthew 18. Matthew 18 is very interesting. It's all about this. I called the title of the sermon today Kingdom Community. It's about what the community of heaven is like, in contrast to that of the earth. And it begins with a very amazing question. Not amazing in a good sense, but it's amazing. And so at that same time. Verse one of chapter eighteen The disciples came to Jesus saying or asking, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Isn't that crazy question? For context, they are ⁓ they've been bickering among themselves about who's gonna be the greatest. It's been an ongoing conversation that they've had, you know, amidst their their journey as disciples, you know, who's gonna who's gonna sit at the right hand and the left hand and and who's gonna have the power and the authority, who's gonna be great in the kingdom. And so they ask Jesus. They they they finally get the courage instead of just talking among themselves, they ask Jesus. Jesus, who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom? Who's gonna sit at your right hand, right? And this question kind of sets up the tone for the whole chapter. You see, in context, this question is crazy. Jesus had just told them that the Son of Man is going to die. He's going to be betrayed and killed. And it says they were very sorry about that. And yet a couple verses later they're back at it bickering about who's gonna be great. And it shows that they just didn't understand Jesus' kingdom at all. They didn't understand what they were asking. You see, they're thinking about rank, they're thinking about status, and yet the one who has the the rank in heaven is humbling himself to death for them. While he was moving toward the cross, the point of the lowest position, they are arguing among themselves about who's gonna be the most exalted in position. And I don't know about you, but that's that triggers some things in my brain that I read ⁓ about Lucifer. He was the one who said, I will exalt my my throne above the stars, right? I will be like the most high. You see this this desire to exalt oneself above another originated with Lucifer. And so they don't realize that, but they're cherishing a satanic disposition. And they asked Jesus that. And so I think this sets the stage for what Jesus is about to say. This is not a a collection of random teachings. This is all a progression in answer to this question who's the greatest in the kingdom? And this this is a there's a painful contrast if you understand the context. It's it's not a a normal teaching. Jesus is rebuking them through this. And so he begins in verse two, he says, Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them. Imagine, you know, they just ask him, Hey Jesus, who's the greatest in the kingdom? He didn't even answer them at first. He calls a little child. In context, the in this day and age, a child was lowest status, right? Children were dependents. And in the Roman ⁓ mindset, Roman culture, they had what they called the patria potestas, which is like basically the father is the head of the home, the authority, the kids are s they submit. You know, it's very much like You're y as a child you have no rights, no rank, nothing. You are a dependent, almost borderline property. And and so Jesus calls a child, you know, that that in mind, no rank, nothing. And he says, Truly I tell you, except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. This is a rebuke. You're worried about who's gonna be great? I'm telling you, unless you become like this child in multiple ways, you're not even gonna be in the kingdom. Because that spirit that you're cherishing, that's the same spirit that led Satan to fall out of heaven. That same spirit of self exaltation is what led to the whole great controversy. This whole issue we're dealing with, because Satan said, I wanna be great. I wanna I wanna be. Why why is Jesus where he is and not me? I wanna be like the most high. So unless you become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom. You see, the child, in spiritual senses, the child has no claim to property, no independence, no s no status or rank or anything. And so Jesus is saying, unless you come to the place where you realize your utter dependence on me, that you have no rank before me, no standing before me, you're a sinner. You've forfeited everything to claim any rank. When you come to me in simple dependence and childlike trust, like a son comes to a father, that's when we're starting to get somewhere. Jesus is not looking for CEOs and executives or kings. He's looking for children. See, a child is not gonna question his authority. A child's not gonna doubt his word. If when I was ⁓ when I was a kid, my mom and I, I was a very curious kid. I was the kind of kid who asks why to the why to the why, you know? I asked, Well why? And she says, Well why? I was that kind of a kid. And my mom would tell me stuff, and I just took it. I was like, Okay, you're right. And I knew nothing nothing different until I started getting a little older and I wasn't a little child anymore. And I would ask my mom a question and she would say, Well, this. And then I was like, Well, what about this? And she's like, ⁓ well and it got to the point where I didn't just take my mom at her word. And for humans, that's okay. My mom wasn't always right. But as a child, I didn't question my mom. Even if she wasn't right, I didn't know it. I just trusted her. I just took her word. And that's what Jesus is getting at here. A child depends on their parents for everything. They trust their parents in everything implicitly. And they're protected by their parents. You know, when when dad's around as a kid, I don't know, I nothing to be afraid of. The bear, lion, my dad's gonna take care of me. And this is the beginning of the kingdom community, where we see ourselves not as Some sort of status at all or rank, but where we see ourselves as children of a heavenly Father, humble, dependent, and trusting. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So this is the first section, the first teaching in Matthew 18. We need to become little before God. The issue is not merely ambition or self-exaltation. It's it's a conversion from the whole spirit of self-seeking, self-importance. The idea that I need some sort of a status. Or I need some sort of position. We don't. We don't. Position and status are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. We need positions to accomplish good, not To be in a position. It's deliverance from this need to be seen, to be recognized, to be important. We have some insight, some counsel. And Jesus in this message is trying to tell the disciples that it's not enough to be instructed about the nature of Christ's kingdom. But these disciples in this moment needed an entire change of heart to bring them into harmony with the principles of Jesus' kingdom. And this shows the great controversy in miniature. As I was saying, Lucifer wanted position. He wanted rank. He wanted to be higher. He wanted God's power, but not God's character. And yet we see the contrast. Christ laid down all of it. He laid down the status and the rank to become a little child for us in that manger and to take on our burdens with no status. You know, the Bible says that he was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And so Matthew 18 sets up these two. tracks and shows us the kingdom track. Satan's kingdom says, I must ascend, I will exalt myself. And Christ's kingdom says, I will humble myself for the sake of others. And so in our lives today, the same question, Lord, who is the greatest can appear in our lives. On a it's very easy for it to sneak in. You know, church conflict. A lot of church conflicts are not really about doctrine, sometimes, but not usually about doctrine, not usually about you know objective things like policies. It's usually hurt feelings or wounded pride. That leads to to conflicts. And that's not to push anyone under the bus. We all wrestle with a fallen nature. But a lot of church conflicts come from this same struggle of who's the greatest? I like who are you to tell me I'm wrong? Because we're all equal and and there's these these conflicts happen. And so understanding this can help us to resolve a lot of church conflicts before they get to the point later in Matthew eighteen where we need to go to someone. Realising that to be great I don't need to exalt myself, I need to lay down my rights for my brother or my sister. The second lesson that we see is how the how the Father values and treats the little ones. It says in verse five, after saying, Whoever will humble himself is greatest in the kingdom, it says, And whosoever shall receive such a little one in my name receives me. But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hung around his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Mercy. See, I've don't there's not a lot of places in the Bible that are that graphic, right? Talk like that. Jesus is saying, It's better for you You know what a millstone is? The millstone, they took these stones when they were grinding wheat at the mill. They didn't have fancy technology like we have today. It was stones, and they ground the wheat. And he's saying it has a hole in it. It's better for you to have a millstone hung around your neck, big rock, and be drowned, than to offend one of the little ones who believes in me. He's setting priorities. Not saying it in a threatening way. I think a lot of people take it as a threat. He's saying it in a priority way. He's saying it's better to die than it is to offend a little one who believes in me. You see, in Satan's kingdom, the priority is you are just an obstacle in my way to ascending, right? I'll do what I need to do. If I have to hurt somebody, I hurt somebody. If I have to offend someone, I offend someone to get to where I want to be. Christ is saying, It's better to suffer great loss yourself, it's better to die yourself than to s cause anyone else to stumble, to offend anyone else. Because as it says in Philippians, you are to esteem others better than yourself, to look not only to your own interests but the interests of others. And then he transitions, same same line of thought here. Woe to the world because of offenses, because of things that cause people to stumble. For it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Jesus says here There's gonna be things that cause people to be offended. There's gonna be there's sin in this world. And things are gonna happen. People are going to be offended. People are going to stumble. But it better not be you. You see, there's two warnings here. Number one, don't cause people to stumble. This is a spiritual snare to cause someone to stumble. It's the idea of not not physical stumbling or or not even, you know. hurting someone's feelings in a basic sense, but to become a spiritual snare or to do something that would trip up another person's walk with God. To be you know, I hear stories, ⁓ I'm never going to church again because of the way that person treated me. That's being a snare. That's causing someone to stumble. It c you can push someone away or you can pull someone too hardly, right? That's what it means to trip someone up, to cause someone to stumble is to make someone look Less upon the character of God and the the church of God because of your actions, and lead them to lightly esteem God's love and salvation for them. That's a very dangerous thing to do. And Jesus is fiercely protective over his vulnerable souls. For example, a careless Christian can make it harder for someone else to believe. I hear that all the time. ⁓ well, if this is all that Christianity is, he he's no more godly than I am. He doesn't do what he says he's supposed to do and all this kind stuff. So why would I? That's causing someone to stumble. A harsh Christian can make it harder for someone else to repent. Instead of coming to the to the erring brother or sister in love and gently telling them the the wrong Saying, ⁓ you need you know you need to do this, and then you gotta be this, this, and that, and if you don't, yeah, good luck. You know, that can make it harder for someone else to repent. Instead of seeing the wrong, they see the person who's lambasting them. And it can harden them and harden their hearts against the truth, because it wasn't spoken in love. A hypocritical Christian or ⁓ a a sinful Christian sometimes can make it harder for someone else to trust. If someone Grandpa is a Christian, but then you know, behind closed doors they molested them. What does that say of the church or of a Christian? That's causing someone to stumble. Anything that we do in this manner causes someone to stumble if they see it. And so it says, Woe to that man. By whom the offense comes. God holds us accountable. God holds them still accountable because ultimately we shouldn't look to others, right? Ultimately, I'm responsible to God. And if someone sins against me, that doesn't reflect on God, that reflects on them. And it's my responsibility as a free soul to understand that. But while I'm held accountable, they're also held accountable for their sin against me. And that's a grievous sin, is what Jesus is saying. And then he turns the warning inward verse eight Therefore, if your hand or your foot offends you, cut it off, and cast it from you, for it is better to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if your eye offends you, pluck it out, and cast it from you, for it is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. And so Jesus says the same sins that would cause someone else to stumble, if they cause you to stumble, you should treat them with the same severity. Don't let it in your life. Because just as that soul is precious to me, you're precious to me. Don't let this in your life. If something is causing you to stumble, get it out of your life. Doesn't mean you literally pluck out your eye, just just in case I need to say that. Please don't go cutting off your hands and your feet and your eyes. It's a spiritual application. You need to take the time to look what is causing me to stumble and what do I need to do to get it out of my life. Every soul has an infinite cost and an infinite price. Every soul is valued by the Father, and God takes it very seriously when someone causes that soul to stumble, whether us to someone else, or even to ourselves. And that's the second main point. The kingdom community not only values the little ones and humbles themselves, but a kingdom community refuses to wound or despise or abandon the souls of That Christ paid an infinite price for. And so we need to be And along the same lines he says, Take heed that you do not despise the little ones. This is the second point. We do not offend them, but do not despise the little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels are always beholding the face of my Father in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which is lost. It's possible not to outwardly offend someone or do them wrong and yet still despise them in your heart. The word there despise is to to treat them as insignificant, to disregard them, to look down upon them, the same language of who's the greatest? You're not as great as me. Jesus says, not only do we not need to offend them, we need to make sure we don't despise them. Why? What does he say? Because they have an angel, and that angel is constantly looking at the face of my father. The father doesn't despise them, he values them to the point that he sends a heavenly angel to be by their side at all times. That's beautiful, is it not? God values each one of us that he gives us a guardian angel, a heavenly angel that is by our side at all times. And he says. Why would you despise someone who God esteems so highly? You cannot treat them as not worth your attention or affection or interest. And then to emphasize this point, he gives the parable of the lost sheep. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go into the mountains and seek the one which is astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices. More of that one sheep than the ninety-nine that did not go astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that any one of these little ones should perish. So the second lesson we see in Matthew 18 is to value God's children, God's little ones, not to offend them and not to despise them. Because the Father is not willing to lose one sheep, not one weak believer or wavering believer, not one wounded soul, not even one wandering member or difficult member. Or one who has wandered very far from God. God loves each one of them. The strong, the Bible says, are to support the weak, not to despise them. And so a modern application of this second principle. As a church, as a community, how do we value each other? How do we treat each other? Are we careful not to offend each other? Are we careful to consider the interests of each other? Are we Welcoming and kind, are we patient and gentle? Do we treat people as inconveniences or as a brother or sister in Christ who we love? The test of our church health is not about how we treat the people who are strong and beautiful and wonderful all the time, but it's how we treat the weak. How we treat the ones who were a little less agreeable or difficult or overlooked. That tells how healthy our church really is. And from here we go into the third principle of Matthew eighteen. First is to become little before God, second to value God's children as he values them, and third to seek to gain your brother or sister if they trespass against you. Verse fifteen. Moreover, if your brother or sister shall trespass against you, this is the part we always talk about with Matthew eighteen. Go and tell him his faults between you and him alone. And if he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. You see, this is a section is usually called church discipline, right? We call it a church discipline section. But it's not about church discipline and the that kind of wording. That wording makes it seem scary, and a lot of times ⁓ people are very reticent to practice Matthew 18 because of the connotations. In the context of the rest of the chapter, I hope you're starting to see what it's about. Jesus has just spoken about a shepherd willing to leave 99 to go look for one lost sheep. And so in that context, he says, If your brother is that one lost sheep, if your brother trespasses against you, you see, it's different. It's not if I trespass against someone else. If I sin against someone else, yeah, it's obvious. I need to go make it right. But if I'm sinning against someone else, the odds are I might not be having a tender conscience to know that I sinned against them and that I need to confess. Right? It says if they sin against you, if you are the victim, the offended party. Go and tell him his fault between you and him. And if you put that in context with the earlier part of the chapter, that does not mean to go to them and say, Brother, sister so-and-so, you did this and you did this and you did this against me, and I'm mad at you, and you need to for you need to you need to ask for forgiveness. You think that's gonna work? No. Pray about it. Yeah, pray about it. But no, that's not gonna work. It says to go alone and tell him his fault, and and I think In context, it's saying, in a spirit of love and meekness. Say, brother, I I know you meant well, but when when you were saying that about me, it just it really hurt my feelings because of this or this or that and it didn't seem very considerate and and I just wanted to to come and tell you about it because I don't want there to be anything between us. And that's what it says is if he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. This is the goal. This is the controlling phrase of this church discipline. Is not you have proved your point. It's not about, ⁓ you have exposed him. Not that you've won an argument or you've gotten something off your chest or anything else. The goal is you have gained your brother back. If he will not listen to you, then take one or two more, so that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. I'm sure ⁓ this has never happened to you guys, but sometimes when you're in a a ⁓ one-on-one converse conversation, you know, a little heated conversation, sometimes you're not seeing objectively. Sometimes things are not being understood. Right? This is why we have counseling and things like that. Sometimes an objective third party helps to clarify the facts. In contrast to feelings and to give room and and a safe space to talk these things out. And this is what's going on here. First we go privately. We're trying to keep the sin from being made public as much as possible. You start here. You don't gossip about it. You don't try to vent to someone else. I'm guilty of that. You don't need to try to build a case or gather sympathy before you go to this person. You just talk to them, and if they're not gonna listen, Then you p take a third party, and this adds wisdom, it adds accountability, it adds objectivity. Ideally, you find someone who is not taking either side, right? You don't want someone you don't want a yes man. You want an objective brother or sister who's mature in the faith to help you. This protects the offended person from exaggeration, but it also protects the offender from unfair treatment. And the goal is still restoration. Recovery. If this doesn't work, he neglects to hear them, then tell it to the church. This is not public shaming. This is where a lot of things ⁓ fall apart. Most people don't get to this point. To tell it to the church is like a big deal, right? The church is not a place. We're all clear on that, right? We call this a church, but this is a building. We are the church. And so to tell it to the church is to tell the wider congregation in as much as necessary. I I think. This is Something we have to be mindful. This is helping the church to take responsibility for the spiritual health of the body. And the church does not become a gossip fest, it becomes a place to unite in prayer and restoration and appeal and moral clarity. To in in the mouth of the community to come to a clear consensus in love. And it guards two truths. It's very important. This is a very important step. It show it guards the truth that sin can be ignored, the lie. The lie that sin can be ignored. That's not true. Sin needs to be dealt with. But it also ignores, I mean it also guards against ignoring the I the the the lie that the sinner must be discarded. The sinner can just be dealt with. It's those two extremes of, well, you know, this person sinned, let's just get rid of them. That's not right. Jesus sought the lost. But it also is, ⁓ well, we don't wanna we don't wanna deal with it. We d you know it's it's sensitive, just just let it be. No. There's a lot of doctors and nurses in this congregation. What happens if you let an infection just let it be? You can go septic. So Jesus is saying, if necessary, if if you're not regaining your brother or sister through the mouth of one or two witnesses, then bring it to a larger Larger congregation. It doesn't necessarily mean everyone. I don't think it needs to go there right away. This might be the board of elders. It could be a church board. It could be some sort of larger group as necessary to bring the matter to. And it says if he neglects to hear the church, then let him be to you as a heathen and a publican. This sometimes is misinterpreted as well. This is not As the Jews would see a heathen and a publican, ⁓ sinner, you didn't listen to me, you didn't listen to the witnesses, you didn't listen to the church. Get the hints, you're unclean. No. How did Jesus teach about treating the heathen or the publican? Redemptively. He did not pretend that they were faithful to the covenant when they weren't. He didn't pretend that they were in the kingdom of heaven. But he still sought them, he loved them, he associated with them, he dealt with them in love. And that's what Jesus is saying here. Not cast them off as a filthy sinner who's not repentant. It's help them to see that you don't agree with what they're doing, that you don't see them as being faithful to God, as that the whole church has agreed that this is not right, and yet we still love you, we're still seeking you, and we have our hand extended open, we're waiting for you to come back. Even if the person stands outside the church, God's servants still have a work to do for them, seeking to win them to repentance. They should not be despised or neglected, but treated with tenderness and compassion. And then we have this little thing at the end. It says, Truly I tell you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And I say to you, if two or three of you agree on anything, That you shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. See, a lot of times we take this verse out of context. Did you know that that verse is in the context of church discipline? Jesus is saying, not that we have the power to bind or loose in the sense of condemn or forgive sins, but the church acts as the body of Christ, right? And we, as a body, by God's grace, we are filled with the Holy Spirit, and our decisions are in harmony with the decisions of heaven by God's grace, if we are submitted to the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus is saying that it's not the permission for the church to act arbitrarily. But if we are truly the church and we are truly in unity with God, the decisions of the church are the same decisions that heaven will make, that or that heaven would have made. And there's the in the Greek, there's ambiguity as to how that could be translated. That says, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, it can also be translated, whatsoever you shall bind on earth will have been bound in heaven. So there's ambiguity there. And so it can be taken to mean what you do on earth will have been done in heaven when you are in unity with me and the Holy Spirit. And so in context the the promise where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them is often applied to random meetings. But I think it's a beautiful promise that especially when dealing with conflict, when seeking to reconcile a brother, when trying to deal with these problems, Jesus promises that He's with us as a helper, a comforter, a guide. He's present wherever his word is obeyed with a sincere heart. And heaven works with the humans in drawing souls to Jesus. So in contemporary application, we should follow this principle. We should follow this. This has some some guardrails. You see, Matthew eighteen should not be covered, should not be used to cover abuse, or to silence victims, or to protect predators, or to force vulnerable people into unsafe confrontations. If you are being abused by someone, that does not mean that you go to them privately and say, hey, I don't like that you're abusing me. You're going to probably get abused more. You have to use your wisdom and discernment. This is a principle, an outline, but it's not necessarily followed exactly every single time. Sometimes you skip the first step in cases of abuse and things like that, and you bring other people with you, or you don't even come. You work things out. according to God's wisdom with much prayer. And just because someone repents and confesses and is restored does not mean you don't have healthy boundaries or guardrails. If someone does something that's very let's let's use a common case of financial fraud. If the treasurer steals money from the church and you confront him and he admits it and he confesses and he Does what he can to restore things, and you've gained your brother, that doesn't mean that three weeks later you put him as treasurer again. Right? There's a difference between forgiveness and common sense. You have to set boundaries. When people break trust and do things like that, that does not mean that everything is okay. Forgiveness does not mean you're saying everything is okay. We're gonna get into that in the next section. And so Contemporary application, sometimes I think we gather sympathy before we go to our brother and sister to talk to them. We make it a bigger problem than it needs to be, sooner than it needs to be. Sometimes we call it concern instead of calling it by its true name gossip. Or we call it discernment when really we have contempt in our hearts. And so I think this is a section we need to be prayerful about. This is what the kingdom community is about restoring Our brothers and sisters to each other. Keeping unity. And so the final point we see starts in verse twenty-one. Number four, to forgive as one forgiven. So first we become small and little in God's eyes. We value people as God values them. We seek to gain our brother. And we forgive as one forgiven. Twenty one, Peter came to Jesus after he taught all these things, and he said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times? In Jewish culture. The rabbis taught three times. Three strikes you're out. That's what the the the the ⁓ Pharisees would teach. You forgive someone three times for the same thing, and then that's it. And so Peter saying seven times was pretty generous, right? But it's still the wrong attitude. And Jesus said to him, I say unto you, not seven times, but seventy times seven. Jesus is saying, more than you can account. The whole idea is you're not keeping count. You're not keeping track. If you're truly forgiving, you don't need to be keeping count. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king which would take account of his servants, and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him which owed him ten thousand talents, more money than he could pay off in his lifetime. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children, and all that he had, and payments to be made. Imagine that. You owe a big debt, and not only are you going to be sold, but your wife's going to be sold into slavery, your children are going to be sold into slavery, everything that you have is going to be liquidated, and you're going to have to make payments with what you earn as a slave. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. He couldn't pay it all. Ten thousand talents is like hundreds of years worth of wages for the common person. And the Lord of the servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Forgave it all. That's a lot of forgiveness, right? Ten thousand talents is a lot. I didn't calculate what it is in a modern sense. I should have. Lots of money. But then we see a problem. But that same servant went out, found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pence. Chump change. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat. saying, Pay me what you owe me. Do you see a little discretion like a little little discrepancy here? And the fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. Same words. Same thing. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw that was done, they were very sorry, and told the Lord all that was done. And his Lord, after that he had called him, said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all of that debt because you asked me. And should you not have also had compassion on your fellow servant as I had pity on you? And his Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him. So likewise shall my heavenly father do to you, if you from your hearts do not forgive every one his brother their trespasses. That's heavy, is it not? You see, this servant owes an impossible debt. He can't pay, he pleads for forgiveness, the king forgives pardon. He gives him pardon. And so that that one servant goes to this guy and he says, No, you know, I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna be merciful to you. I want you to notice something. Jesus in this parable doesn't say that the debt didn't exist. It wasn't an imaginary debt. Jesus doesn't say that that other fellow servant owed nothing, it was a hundred pence. It's a real debt. The key is not that there was a not a debt to be paid, but that the one who was forgiven did not exercise the same forgiveness. Yes, there was a real offense, there was a real debt, but in proportion it was small. The problem was not that he remembered that there was a wrong done to him. The problem was that he forgot the mercy that had been shown him. People really do wound us, people really do betray us, people really do hurt us, there really is a debt. But in light of what we have been forgiven, We should be more merciful. No one has sinned against me as much as I have sinned against God. And God has been gracious enough to forgive me all of my sins. Can I not be gracious enough to forgive someone the thing they did to me? And that's the principle here. It does not erase the pain, but it dethrones the desire for vengeance. It takes me out of the judgment seat. And puts it in God's hands because God will deal with them ultimately. You see, unforgiveness I'm sure you guys have heard this before, it's common. Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. It hurts you just as much as it hurts them. And Jesus is saying this parable to say it's not about keeping score. Well, how would you feel if God kept track of how many times you sinned against him? And there was a you know? Man, that would be scary. Well, God, I've sinned six times this week. I can't do one more, or you might not forgive me. We can't get up to seven. I know that's your favorite number. That's scary, right? But God doesn't keep track. What does the Bible say? His mercies are new every year. Every morning. His mercies are new every morning. And so, in the same way, this is the ground of our forgiveness and compassion for others. It doesn't mean that the sin doesn't matter, or it doesn't mean that trust is restored. It doesn't mean that boundaries are unnecessary or that abuse needs to be endured. It doesn't mean that injustice is okay or that repentance is irrelevant. But it means that I'm willing to let go. That's the word. In the Greek is a fieme, it means to to let go of something. To release it to God, to stop choking my brother, asking him to pay me back for what he did, to let God take care of it, to still set the necessary boundaries and do what needs to be done, but to forgive, to not hold it against them as something that needs to be paid. It's not saying that sin is small, but it's saying that God's grace is great. And so in conclusion, we see this progression in Matthew eighteen. What makes a kingdom community? You see how out of place that original question is Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus says that the greatest is not the one who stands above others in high status or position, he's the one who becomes little before God as a child. The greatest is not the one who uses their influence carelessly, offending or despising people, but the one who refuses to wound or despise a little one, who would rather die than hurt another soul. The greatest in the kingdom is not the one who ignores the difficult sheep and just pushes aside the conflicts, but the one who shares the father's burden for the lost. The greatest is not the one who tries to win a conflict or an argument, but the one who seeks at all costs to gain their brother or sister back. The greatest in the kingdom is not the one who keeps count of offenses, but the one who get forgives as freely as he has been forgiven. This is the kingdom community. And this is the what Jesus wants to create in our hearts, in our homes and in our churches. And I want to ask you, do you want to be a part of that kind of a community? I sure would. I would love to be a part of that community where each one of us are valued and equal and loved. And I believe we are, an extent. We're not perfect, but I believe the community that we find in church is so much better than that you find in the world. And I praise God for that. It's an evidence of His Spirit working. So my appeal to you is will you let Jesus convert you to become as a little child? Will you let Jesus put that love and forgiveness into your heart that only He can put there? Will you be willing to become a com kingdom community where there are no disposable souls? Because we see in the kingdom of heaven It's filled with love for God and love for people. If that's your desire, I ask that you raise your hand with me as we pray. Father God, we thank you and we praise you that your kingdom is not like the kingdom of this world. That you love us despite the fact that we have no status or rank, that you value and treasure us, that you guard us with an intense love. A fierce love that will not let anyone touch the apple of your eye. God, we praise you that you desire unity for ⁓ our families as a church, Lord. And I ask that you would make that a reality for each one of us today. Bring us closer to your heart and make us a community of the kingdom. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention