What Jesus Did

[Talking about being forgiving, Jesus continued,] "Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold — along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned — to pay the debt.
"But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be...

 

Then Peter came to [Jesus] and asked, "Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?"
"No, not seven times," Jesus replied, "but seventy times seven!"


—Matthew 18:21-22 NLT

Key Thought​

Like so many of us do, Peter wants to know the limits of the Lord's demand for radical forgiveness. While by human standards Peter's "seven times" principle is quite generous, to even ask for a limit to forgiveness in Jesus' Kingdom is to reveal that a person's mind...

 

[Jesus continued,] "I tell you the truth, whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.

"I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."


—Matthew 18:18-20 NLT

Key Thought​

Several key understandings are implicit in this passage:

1. Because the...

 

[Jesus continued,] "If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won't accept the church's decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax...

 

[Jesus continued,] "If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back."

—Matthew 18:15 NLT

Key Thought​

It's one thing to reach out to the fallen brother or sister who has lost sight of the way. It's quite another to restore a brother or sister who has wronged us personally. But underneath the episodes of this chapter lies a stream of grace and redemptive love.

When we have...

 

[Jesus continued,] "If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn't wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish."

—Matthew 18:12-14 NLT

Key Thought​

The Father loves all of his...

 

[Jesus continued,] "Beware that you don't look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father."

—Matthew 18:10 NLT

Key Thought​

This is one of those very interesting passages that we are tempted to make too much of. First, notice the angels are not called guardian angels and, in this verse, are not even said to be present with the children. Jesus' point is that the "little ones" (remember it's...

 

[Jesus continued,] "So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It's better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It's better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell."

—Matthew 18:8-9 NLT

Key Thought​

In a time with few, if any, social...

 

[Jesus continued,] "But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.
"What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting."


—Matthew 18:6-7 NLT

Key Thought​

Jesus is telling us to be sensitive to the vulnerability of others, especially...

 

[Jesus continued,] "And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me."

—Matthew 18:5 NLT

Key Thought​

There are two key thoughts here:

1. Jesus was talking about actual children. His rebuke of the disciples when they didn't welcome children, but pushed them away, was clearly an example of that.
2. He was also using children as a metaphor for disciples. Because children in Jesus' culture were powerless, without rights, and vulnerable, they became...