The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 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 maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
1. Who is the greatest and why?
Mark gives us some greater context.
They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” Mark 9:33-35 (NIV)
The question of the disciples was: “Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” and the very fact that they asked that question showed that they had no idea at all what the Kingdom of Heaven was. Jesus said, “Unless you turn.” He was warning them that they were going in completely the wrong direction, away from the Kingdom of Heaven and not towards it.
Only the person who has the humility of the child is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. Personal ambition, personal prestige, personal publicity, personal profit are motives which can find no place in the life of the Christian. The Christian is the man who forgets self in his devotion to Jesus Christ and in his service of his fellow-men. BDSB
Calling to himself a little child, he warned the disciples that unless they turned from exalted opinions of themselves, their problem would not be one of relative greatness but of entrance into the kingdom of heaven (the Messianic kingdom they looked for him to establish). The absence of pride in position is the aspect of childhood referred to here. To enter Christ’s kingdom, a man must realize his personal inadequacy, and his complete dependence on the Lord. He must experience a new birth. WBC
In any case what Jesus did in setting a child forward as an example for adults to follow was shocking in His day. People of the ancient Near East regarded children as inferior to adults. CN
2. Why does Jesus feel such protectiveness for children?
This incident is also recorded in Mark 9:36; Luke 9:47. The humility of a child consists of childlike trust, vulnerability, and the inability to advance his or her own cause apart from the help, direction, and resources of a parent.
God loves and protects the weakest, most vulnerable and innocent among His creation. Children are especially prized by God. He destroyed several pagan nation who sacrificed their children to idols and eventually turned on His own nation of Judea when they began to burn babies in the fire.
During the years before Israel was destroyed and carried off into the Babylonian Captivity, Topheth was an area near Jerusalem where the babies were sacrificed to Baal. The name comes from the Hebrew word toph for “drum.”
When children were burned in sacrifice to idols, drums were beaten to drown their cries.
Rubbish from Jerusalem was dumped there and continually burned. The place became a symbol for the burning fires of hell, called Gehenna.
The feeling of our Lord about children is very important to note, especially in our day when there are so many crimes committed against these little ones. Our Lord uses the strongest language possible in warning us about offenses against children. JVM
It is possible that Jesus is also referring to new believers as children and warns against harming or causing them to sin. Bad things will happen.
3. So Jesus is encouraging self mutilation?
Jesus uses hyperbole (intentional overstatement) to emphasize the necessity of rigorous self-discipline and radically removing sin from the disciple’s life before it leads to judgment. The Greek for hell in 18:9 is gehenna, a name derived from the Valley of the Son of Hinnom near Jerusalem, where rubbish was constantly burned so that it came to be seen as a metaphor for the fire of hell. ESVN
This business of, if thy hand offend thee and all, is something that Jesus meant to be repugnant. He means it to be shocking. To maim my own body, to me is a very repugnant idea. To lose a hand, to lose an eye by my own doing is just a horribly repugnant thought. And Jesus wanted it to be. He did not literally mean that we are to cut off our hand or to pluck out our eye, but He is only illustrating how vital it is that we enter the kingdom of heaven. It is worth more than having a whole body.So Jesus is saying much the same thing here. If there is something in your life that is causing you to stumble, if there is something in your life that is creating an offense, cut it out, get rid of it. CSC
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
10 “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 11 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.
4. What angels?
Do not despise. I.e., spurn or belittle another believer by treating him or her unkindly or indifferently. their angels. This does not suggest that each believer has a personal guardian angel. Rather, the pronoun is collective and refers to the fact that believers are served by angels in general. These angels are pictured “continually” watching the face of God so as to hear His command to them to help a believer when needed. It is extremely serious to treat any fellow believer with contempt since God and the holy angels are so concerned for their well-being. MSN
The heavenly Father uses angels to care for his childlike disciples, but their angels does not imply that each disciple has one assigned “guardian angel.” always see the face of my Father. These angels do, however, have continuous and open communication with God. ESV
Be careful to receive and not to offend, the very weakest believer in Christ: for as inconsiderable as some of these may appear to thee, the very angels of God have a peculiar charge over them: even those of the highest order, who continually appear at the throne of the Most High. To behold the face of God seems to signify the waiting near his throne; and to be an allusion to the office of chief ministers in earthly courts, who daily converse with their princes. WC
5. What does this “lost sheep” thing tell us about God?
In the time of Jesus the flocks were often communal flocks; they belonged, not to an individual, but to a village. There were, therefore, usually two or three shepherds with them. That is why the shepherd could leave the ninety-nine. If he had left them with no guardian he would have come back to find still more of them gone; but he could leave them in the care of his fellow-shepherds, while he sought the wanderer. The shepherds always made the most strenuous and the most sacrificial efforts to find a lost sheep.
a. The love of God is an individual love. The ninety-and-nine were not enough; one sheep was out on the hillside and the shepherd could not rest until he had brought it home. However large a family a parent has, he cannot spare even one; there is not one who does not matter. God is like that; God cannot be happy until the last wanderer is gathered in.
b. The love of God is a patient love. Sheep are proverbially foolish creatures. The sheep has no one but itself to blame for the danger it had got itself into. Men are apt to have so little patience with the foolish ones. When they get into trouble, we are apt to say, “It’s their own fault; they brought it on themselves; don’t waste any sympathy on fools.” God is not like that. The sheep might be foolish but the shepherd would still risk his life to save it. Men may be fools but God loves even the foolish man who has no one to blame but himself for his sin and his sorrow.
c. The love of God is a seeking love. The shepherd was not content to wait for the sheep to come back; he went out to search for it. That is what the Jew could not understand about the Christian idea Of God. The Jew would gladly agree that, if the sinner came crawling wretchedly home, God would forgive. But we know that God is far more wonderful than that, for in Jesus Christ, he came to seek for those who wander away. God is not content to wait until men come home; he goes out to search for them no matter what it costs him.
d. The love of God is a rejoicing love. Here there is nothing but joy. There are no recriminations; there is no receiving back with a grudge and a sense of superior contempt; it is all joy. So often we accept a man who is penitent with a moral lecture and a clear indication that he must regard himself as contemptible, and the practical statement that we have no further use for him and do not propose to trust him ever again. It is human never to forget a man’s past and always to remember his sins against him. God puts our sins behind his back; and when we return to him, it is all joy.
e. The love of God is a protecting love. It is the love which seeks and saves. There can be a love which ruins; there can be a love which softens; but the love of God is a protecting love which saves a man for the service of his fellow-men, a love which makes the wanderer wise, the weak strong, the sinner pure, the captive of sin the free man of holiness, and the vanquished by temptation its conqueror. BDSB
Jesus used the lost sheep analogy in Luke chapter 15, but in this one it refers to the unsaved person who repents and enters the Kingdom of God
1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:1-7 (NIV)
A Brother Who Sins Against You
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
6. Why get the church involved in a personal matter?
If a matter can be settled without getting others involved, that will keep rumors and misunderstandings from multiplying and will keep the conflict from spreading.
Argue your case with your neighbor, And do not reveal the secret of another, Or he who hears it will reproach you, And the evil report about you will not pass away. Prov 25:9-10 (NASB)
This is the best case scenario. The ultimate objective is restoration of the offending brother or sister to the path of discipleship. ESV
Procedures are outlined to show the injured party how to respond. His first responsibility is to go privately to the offender, without waiting for an apology. Such procedure makes it easier for him to obtain a confession. If he is successful, he will gain the offending brother as a friend and restore him to the fellowship of the Lord and the congregation. If a second overture is necessary, several witnesses should be present at the interview. WBC
One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Deut 19:15 (NIV)
The third step, if necessary, is to report the situation to the “church.” This is the second reference to ekklesia in Matthew and the only other occurrence of this word in the four Gospels. We must remember that at that time there was no church, only just the disciples, the ”called out ones” the ekklesia. Several of Jesus’ statements do not fit this early period of His ministry, but are prophetic of the church’s future needs. Matthew, living in this later period, would be reminded (by the Spirit) of Jesus’ earlier statements, which only after Pentecost did he fully understand. ESV
7. Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector? Shouldn’t we treat all people with love?
If the offending party of will not repent after the matter has been brought before the entire church, then he or she is to be excluded from the fellowship and thought of as an unbeliever. Gentile and tax collector describes those who are deliberately rebellious against God. ESV
Matthew was written to Jews. Gentiles were regarded as unclean and tax-collection was a profession despised by the Jews. This phrase with its two descriptive examples, would have been misunderstood by Gentiles, so it is not in the other Gospels.
8. What does this “binding and loosing” mean?
We have already studied the contents of this verse in Matthew 16:19, where we learned that if we withhold the Word, we “bind on earth”; if we give the Word of God to others, we “loose on earth.”JVM
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Matt. 16:19.
What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? Were they given only to Simon Peter? No, Jesus gives them to those who make the same confession made by Peter, those who know Christ as Savior. If you are a child of God, you have the keys as well as any person has the keys. The keys were the badge of authority of the office of the scribes who interpreted the Scriptures to the people (see Neh. 8:2-8).
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read. Neh 8:8
Every Christian today has the Scriptures and, therefore, the keys. If we withhold the Word, we “bind on earth”; if we give the Word, we “loose on earth.” No man or individual church has the keys — to the exclusion of all other believers. We have a responsibility today to give out the gospel because it is the only thing that can save people. This is a tremendous revelation. Who is sufficient for these things? You and I have a responsibility that is awesome indeed! JVM
Believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and as such can be used to bring understanding, “loosening of the truth on earth” to those searching for life, and we can shut up the truth for those bent on rejecting and distorting the truth.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. Matt 7:6
9. “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” What is significant about this verse?
two or three. Jewish tradition requires at least 10 men (a minyan) to constitute a synagogue or even hold public prayer. Here, Christ promised to be present in the midst of an even smaller flock—”two or three witnesses” gathered in His name for the purpose of discipline MSN
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
10. Is there any precedence for forgiving 7 times?
Though seven was a number of perfection among the Hebrews, and often meant much more than the units in it imply, yet it is evident that Peter uses it here in its plain literal sense, as our Lord’s words sufficiently testify.It was a maxim among the Jews never to forgive more than thrice: Peter enlarges this charity more than one half; and our Lord makes even his enlargement septuple. Revenge is natural to man, i.e. man is naturally a vindictive being, and, in consequence, nothing is more difficult to him than forgiveness of injuries.ACC
Up to seven times? Peter thought he was being magnanimous. The rabbis, citing several verses from Amos taught that since God forgave Israel’s enemies only 3 times, it was presumptuous and unnecessary to forgive anyone more than 3 times. Seventy times seven. Innumerable times. MSN
11. In this story who is the King and who is the debtor?
The King is God and the debtor is us. In the story and in
that culture 10,ooo talents would be equal to 6 billion dollars. In OT times, a talent was a unit of weight equaling about 75 pounds (34 kg). In NT times, it was a unit of monetary reckoning (though not an actual coin), valued at about 6,000 drachmas, the equivalent of about 20 years’ wages for a laborer. (A common laborer earned about one denarius per day.) In approximate modern equivalents, if a laborer earns $15 per hour, at 2,000 hours per year he would earn $30,000 per year, and a talent would equal $600,000 (USD). Hence, “ten thousand talents” hyperbolically represents an incalculable debt—in today’s terms, about $6 billion.
We have a tendency to minimize our sin debt. We sometimes want to rate our sins and call some small and some big. God doesn’t grade on the curve, it’s 100% perfection or death, there is no middle ground. All sinners deserve death.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son John 3:18
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest,and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Psalms 51:1-6
Here we have David in a moment of clarity, acknowledging his complete and utter depravity and the enormity of his sin debt earned throughout a lifetime of rebellion and self will. And this is person who God called “a man after my own heart”. What chance do we have?
12. What is the major point of this story?
A transformed heart must result in a changed life that offers the same mercy and forgiveness as has been received from God. Someone who does not grant forgiveness to others shows that his own heart has not experienced God’s forgiveness. Throughout Scripture, the heart refers to the center of one’s being, including one’s reason, emotions, and will. ESVN
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. Psalms 32:1-2
· MSN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
· NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
· JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
· ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
· BN …..Barnes Notes
· WBC…… Wycliffe Bible Commentary
CN …… Constables Notes
· IC……….Ironside Commentary
· NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
· JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
· VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
· BDSB……………….Barclay’s Daily Study Bible
· WC…………………. Wesley’s Commentary
ESVN.........................ESV Study Bible Notes
CSC............................Chuck Smith Commentary
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