Thoughts from Matthew 18..
How much time do I spend thinking about myself? If we are honest with ourselves, it is shameful to think about how self-centered we can be. We genuinely try to be good to others, but our main focus is much too often about ourselves.
The disciples were arguing amongst themselves regarding who was the greatest when Jesus came to stop their debates. Their greatness was not the point. They needed to have the humility of a child before they could even think of entering the kingdom, let alone be the greatest! The greatest among them is the one who has the faith of a little child!
And what is the greatest enemy of that faith? He then proceeded to describe this enemy of our faith. We often make light of it, to sweep it away or ignore it. We consider ourselves loving and tolerant when we can accept people for their failures and don’t mind when they are doing something wrong. We have learned in our culture to accept ourselves for our bad judgment and shortcomings.
But what does God say about our bad judgment or our shortcomings or our failures? He describes it with one word: sin!
We immediately think of religious connotations when we hear of the word, “sin”. We think of it as a word used by people in church — especially when they’re about to judge others — but we never use it in our everyday life. And we certainly would never want to use it to describe ourselves!
But what is sin? Sin is any time we disobey the God who made us. We sin when we actively disobey him, such as lying, stealing, or any other ways that we break his commands. We also sin when we hold on to evil thoughts, such as revenge, lust, or anger. We also sin when we refuse to do something good. God has set a standard that none of us can achieve and we all are guilty. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of God‘s glory.
Part of the definition of sin describes how we missed the mark. The original root word of sin was an archery term, defining the distance from the center of the target, showing how far the archer had missed. But the other part of sin describes active rebellion. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned, not only because they missed the mark, but because they rebelled against God. They knew what God wanted, but decided to do something different. Just like us! We are all guilty — we all miss the mark and we all rebel against God. Every day!
I am so thankful for Jesus Christ when I think of my own failures, and the rebellion and shortcomings in my own life. I am thankful that he came to take away my sin and to save me from its penalty. Without him, I would be facing an eternity separated from God!
But the disturbing part is when I realize that, after I have been cleansed, I want to go back and play with the same things that brought such disaster!
This is what Jesus is teaching about in Matthew 18. It is important to remember that He is speaking to His disciples, who are already following Him. This message is for those who are already part of His kingdom as He teaches them about the dangers of playing with sin once you are a child of God.
He first describes the danger that you become to others. When you play with sin, you cause other people near you to fail. This is the horror of causing one of the little ones to stumble, to the point that you are better to drown yourself than to let that happen! Beware of sin because of the damage it has on those around us.
Next, he teaches about the danger of sin against each other. If your brother has wronged you, you need to resolve it. It’s not an option to ignore it, to overlook it, or to just be quiet and talk to others about it. We need to resolve this sin between two members of the body of Jesus Christ, even if it involves severe discipline. The potential conflicts and worries associated with confronting your brother is nothing compared to the danger of letting the sin fester between you.
And finally, he teaches about the danger of sin in yourself when you refuse to forgive. Don’t keep track of the number of times that you have been wronged. Forgive infinitely. And most disturbing of all, remember that you cannot receive God‘s forgiveness until you forgive others!
These instructions are hard. None of us can do this perfectly, but this is God’s standard. This is God’s way. May we ask his forgiveness when we fail him!
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