Matthew 18
Page 44 Line 11 – Page 47 Line 6
February 15, 2017
Jenny Fahy
Christian Community:
Humility, purity, accountability, restoration and forgiveness
I.
Matthew chapter 18: The Community Prescription
A. Context: Opposition to Jesus’ ministry from the religious teachers is increasing. Jesus will be soon
leaving earth.
B. Purpose: To instruct His disciples about Christian community life: What should right relationships
between believers look like?
C. Why: The church community will be a witness of the reality of the presence of the kingdom in this
age.
II.
Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
A. Why do they ask this?
1. Discipleship in ancient times involved significant commitment to study and a disciplined
lifestyle to attain mastery’s level of expertise
2. Jesus just called John the Baptist the culmination of the OT prophets (Matthew 11:11)
B. Greatness turned upside down
1. Disciples’ definition of greatness = expertise & accomplishments
2. Jesus’s definition of greatness = humility
a.
Object lesson: child
“The humility of a child consists of the inability to advance his or her own cause apart from
the help and resources of a parent…Therefore, childlikeness is a characteristic of all true
disciples, because it is only through God’s mercy that a person can enter his kingdom and
find the greatness that comes from having one’s sins forgiven and being invested with
kingdom life.” (Wilkins, 2004, p. 613)
3. What does unhealthy comparison do?
a.
Destroy relationships
“Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the
next person. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking,
but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than
others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be
nothing to be proud about” (C.S. Lewis, 1952)
4.
How does humility heal community?
a.
Gospel humility helps us receive the kingdom as a gift given by our father and to
view other believers as recipient of same gift
b.
“…the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of
myself, it is thinking of myself less. (Keller, 2014, p. 32)
III.
How do believers care for each other?
A. Matthew 18: 5 – We believe the witness of other Christian disciples and accept them into our
community
B. Matthew 18: 6-7 – We watch over fellow believers by protecting them from sin
1. Matthew 18: 8-9 - We take our own sin very seriously (as it harms us and other
believers)
2. Matthew 18:10 - God is intimately involved with caring for his believers (angels see the
faces of these little ones)
IV.
Parable of the Lost Sheep
A. Main point = God will expend every effort to bring back believers who have gone astray
B. Who is lost? How did they become lost?
1. Believers following other’s into sin (Matthew 18: 6-7)
2. Believers wandering away through their own sinful choices (Matthew 18:8-9)
C. Lessons for us:
1. Restoring a believer to right relationship in the community is a cause for celebration
2. God’s people can never be satisfied that their numbers are sufficiently great as to stop
trying to save those that have wandered away!
V.
Accountability for sinning believers
A. Goals: Restoration of the brother or sister and purity in the fellowship of believers
B. Step 1: Private, personal confrontation
C. Step 2: Take 1 or 2 witnesses to act as arbitrators to the dispute and/or be witnesses
to unrepentance
D. Step 3: Involvement of church
E. Step 4: Spiritual exclusion from fellowship of the church
F. Principles of Christian discipline (Matthew 18:18-20)
1. Pray and seek God’s will/wisdom for appropriate discipline
2. The church is the instrument of God’s will on earth – what the church judges as sin
and forgives (i.e. bind and loose) God will also
3. Jesus is with us – the guarantee that God will give the church unity in carrying out all
actions including discipline
VI.
Forgiving seventy-seven times!
A. What about the believer who is in a cycle of sinning and repenting?
B. OT background: Judaism allowed 3 times (Amos 1:3, 2:6; Job 33:29-30) so Peter’s offer of 7
times appears quite generous
C. Jesus: 77 times – Countless times (the number does not matter)
D. How can this be? Answer is the parable of the unmerciful servant
VII.
Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
A. Masterful parallel:
1. First servant & King
a. First servant owes an incomprehensible amount
b. King demands justice & discipline
c. First servant makes a ridiculous petition
d. King’s response: mercy & forgiveness
e. First servant’s response: Unchanged, hard heart
2. Second servant & first servant
a. Second servant owes a manageable amount
b. First servant demands punishment
c. Second servant makes a reasonable petition (in almost the same words)
d. First servant’s response: ANGER, no mercy or forgiveness
“Think about a time when you were really angry. Isn’t it true that the entire situation could
have been reduced to this simple idea: You wanted something and you didn’t get it? In
other words, you didn’t get what you were convinced you deserved. Somebody owed
you!” (Stanley, 2006, p 71)
e. King’s response: First servant will be treated as he treated others!
B. Main point: A person that has experienced God’s mercy and grace will have a transformed
heart and live a changed life demonstrated by giving the same mercy they have received from
God to others.
“If we hold out waiting to be paid back for the wrongs done to use, we will be the ones
who pay. If, on the other hand, we cancel the debts owed to us, we will be set free.”
(Stanley, 2006, p. 141)
VIII.
Summary: Matthew chapter 18
A. Just like God himself in the Trinity, God’s people were made to live in community.
B. Community is torn apart by sins such as unhealthy comparison, self-centeredness and retribution.
C. Jesus teaches that the family of faith can overcome these destructive forces by practicing humility,
purity, accountability, discipline, reconciliation, restoration, and forgiveness.
D. When you fall short, remember the solution comes by re-focusing our hearts back on God – who
He is, what He has done, and how He sees us and others!
E. The Christian community is a witness to God’s character and a demonstration of His restoration
plan to the whole world.
Application questions:
1. In what ways do you compare yourself to others? What is gospel humility? How does humility help you
to see yourself and others differently?
2. Reflect on areas where you may have sin in your life. How is your sin impacting your and others’ lives?
What steps can you take to take this sin seriously?
3. Are you aware of the sinful behavior of another believer? What guidance does the book of Matthew
give you for approaching this situation in a Godly way?
4. Do you have unresolved anger towards others? How can you move toward forgiving those debts?
5. In what ways has forgiving others changed your life?
6. How are you a part of demonstrating God’s kingdom on this earth through Christian community?
Bibliography:
Blomberg, C. L. Matthew: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American
Commentary). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1992.
Keller, T. The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The True Path to Christian Joy. Leyland, England: 10Publishing ,
2014.
Kistemaker, S. J. The Parables of Jesus. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1998.
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York: NY: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952.
Stanley, A. It Came From Within! The Shocking Truth of What Lurks in the Heart. Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah
Publishers, Inc., 2006.
Wenham, D. The Parables of Jesus. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989.
Wilkins, Michael J. Matthew: The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004