“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  In this verse, the Apostle John is speaking to all Christians, not those of a particular age.  Every believer, oldest to the youngest, is a dear child of God.  In this verse, we are able to find the key to unlock our recent teachings in Romans 14 and 15.  If you are in Christ, you are a child of God.  With this perspective of being a child seared into your mind, then you have what is needed to “welcome the weak”.  Today, because it is essential for the unity of this body, let us recalibrate our perspective of  ourselves and of each other.

If you will, suppose the sermon has been preached and we have arrived at the end of the matter, we have reached the sermon’s conclusion, the thrust of the message: PRIDE fuels the conflict between the weak and the strong because STRENGTH is confused with GREATNESS but, GREATNESS in the kingdom of God is the HUMILITY of a CHILD and in CHILDLIKE HUMILITY the weak and the strong find UNITY.

How is it with this passage of Scripture from Matthew 18 we arrive at this conclusion?  Why is it so difficult, why is it so hard, to just get along, especially on nonessential matters?  Why is it so frequent that we end up arguing and dividing over opinions?  Why is it that brothers and sisters judge each other and despise each other?  Why is it so hard for the strong to welcome the weak?  Why is it so easy for the strong to despise the weak for their weakness?  Why is it so easy for the weak to judge the strong for their freedoms?  Why is it so hard for the weak to see themselves as weak?  Why is it so hard for the weak to submit their opinions to the teachings of Scripture?  Why is it so difficult to stop quarreling over opinions?  Why is it so difficult to please each other?  Why is it so easy to do the things we are not supposed to do?

These are natural questions that arise in thinking about the recent “Welcoming the Weak” teachings from Romans.  What is the answer to each?

PRIDE fuels the conflict between the weak and the strong

We focus on and overestimate ourselves, our maturity, because we have the wrong scale, the wrong standard.  The right standard is God’s perfect Law, the perfect righteousness of Christ, for which everyone, believers and unbelievers, fall short.  Even as God is gracious to pour out on our lives the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, maturing us in some area, we start to notice that we are stronger in comparison to other believers.  This comparison is no different than the one made by an unbeliever as he compares himself to the person standing next to him.  Being more mature than we were a year ago or being more mature than those sitting around us is not the goal.  For all of Christendom, we may be vying for last place with regards to maturity.  The goal, which is full manhood, is Christ!

The philosophy of our church is, “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:12) but, ministry itself is not the overall objective, the end goal.  What is desired from ministry is what flows from ministry, what God has ordained through ministry, the fruit of ministry, that being maturity in Christ, the “building up of the body”, and that each believer contribute through the gifts he has been given to this “building up” process, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God; to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” (Ephesians 4:13).  Achieving “the stature of the fullness of Christ” is our measurement, our scale, our standard with the objective being, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15).  We start as little children but we are to grow up into Christ.  Paul repeats this when he says, “...you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,” (Romans 8:15-17).  Paul then teaches, “For those whom (God) foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).  We are children of God, with Christ as our preeminent, elder brother, the fulfillment of maturity.  Christlikeness is the goal. 

When do we arrive at this maturity? “...We are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).  Today, we are, or should be, growing children but mature manhood happens only when we see Christ face to face.  As we self evaluate where we are in our spiritual maturity, our measurement must be “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”!  With an honest evaluation, our “strength” should evaporate into weakness, there being no comparison to our Christian walk with the Christ!  We cannot “out Christian” Jesus!

We must see our identity as children, as this will be important to mature and grow.  In humility, we see that we fall short of the example of Christ: we are neither the greatest nor the least.  PRIDE fuels the conflict between the weak and the strong, but why?

Because STRENGTH is confused with GREATNESS

As we grow and mature, so do the opportunities for pride.  While it is true the strong are more mature than the weak, the comparison of maturity must be to Christ, not one another.  There are valid times, driven by Biblical instruction, to perform a maturity assessment, such as in the selection of Elders, to ensure a believer, strong in faith with the required qualifications, is chosen.  It is the kind of sober-minded comparison found in Hebrews 5:12-14, where we see the writer indicating some Christians are feeding on milk and some on solid food.  It is a necessary evaluation of where a believer lies in respect to their maturity and ensuring they receive the right nourishment relative to that maturity; however, we must be careful to avoid the pitfalls pride can introduce and not allow our maturity to become about us.

The strong must maintain the perspective that they are children no matter where they are on the growth chart, no matter what they are able to eat.  Churches split, people leave and faith is abandoned because of the pride that has overtaken believers who see themselves as superior to other believers.  In our pride and with a sense of justification, we often dismiss people and/or berate them for their weakness, all the while rejecting the instructions of Romans 14 and 15.  As they reject their obligations to the weak, the strong, with their unkindness, their unwelcoming and inhospitable coldness, tempt the weak into anger, bitterness, despair and even into a false view of Christlikeness, which may lead to an abandoning of the faith. 

When the strong continue in their freedoms and fail to restrict themselves, they do exactly the opposite of what is instructed in I John 3:18: their actions betray the truth they speak regarding their love.  The strong despise the weak.

In similar fashion, the weak do the same thing as they think that holding onto their opinions is the epitome of true strength, rejecting the arguments of the strong, rejecting the solid food in favor of holding onto their milk.  The weak avoid meaningful and honest investigation of the Scriptural basis for their opinions, even Scriptures that directly refute those opinions.  Holding onto their opinions takes precedence over conforming their minds to the opinions of Scripture.  They may want nothing to do with what the strong understand and teach so, in their pride, the weak dismiss the strong, passing judgment on them, disqualifying them from speaking into their lives.  The weak draw lines and make rules where the Bible does not, placing greater value on their opinions than on fellow believers, taking the place of God; and, so they judge.  The weak will harden their hearts, withhold forgiveness, understanding and affection, ultimately breaking fellowship.

Holding fast to opinions they believe are true, the weak tempt the strong to frustration, anger and discouragement; therefore, pride comes for both the strong and the weak.  In particular, pride comes when we fail to keep our eyes on Christ as our standard, when we measure our lives on the scale of maturity with those around us, when we are delighted to find areas where we are growing, when we think we are great in God’s kingdom.  When this happens, we are unable to obey the instructions given in Romans 14 and 15.  The antidote is the humility of a child, humility that recognizes our helplessness.  Constant recognition that we remain little children must continue to be our perspective. 

But GREATNESS in the kingdom of God is the HUMILITY of a CHILD

Jesus told us that true greatness is found in a helpless child.  We must see ourselves as children of God in relation to Christ!  This must be our new (or renewed!) perspective.  It needs to fall like a gentle rain and seep into our innermost being so that it can destroy and erode strongholds of self-sufficiency, greatness, strength and weakness that live in our minds, change the scale we use to measure our spiritual growth and change how we bear each other’s burdens.  Maintaining this “helpless child” perspective each time we come into conflict must become and remain a habit.  It is the way God sees us and it is the way we should see ourselves and each other.

In today’s text, which will effectively include Matthew 17:24 - 18:6, we find the beginning of the fourth discourse of Jesus recorded by Matthew.  This sermon is often called, “The Sermon to the Church” or “The Sermon on Church Order”.  It is important to remember that this is a sermon (by Jesus!) to the “embryonic” church, the church before it is the church.  The tax being discussed in the beginning of this passage is the temple tax, a religious tax, not a Roman tax, with its origin in Exodus 30. Neither that text, nor any other text, clearly indicates it is to be an ongoing, annual tax.  In fact, it seems like a one-time tax.  In this sermon, Jesus is indicating to His disciples that the religious Jews demanding the payment of this annual tax are the weak, holding onto an opinion not supported by Scripture.  In their judgment, these (weak) Jews are demanding Jesus’ payment of the tax, asking Peter, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?” (Matthew 18:24).  In quickly responding, Peter gives an affirming response.  Jesus, understanding that He is free, exempt from this rule made by man, the payment of this tax, understanding His place as strong yet having an obligation to the weak (Romans 14:6) and without despise for Peter or the weak Jews, obeys Romans 15:1, “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, ….”  So as, “not to give offense to them”, these weak religious Jews, Jesus instructs Peter in the method in which he is to obtain the exact amount needed for the tax and then to pay it (Matthew 18:27).  Thus, Christ bears with the weak, understanding the kingdom of God is more important than causing the weak to stumble.  This is the lesson Jesus is teaching Peter.  

At the time of this teaching, we then find the disciples coming to Jesus with a desire to know, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1).  At the very heart of the question is the disciples’ desire to know where they each fit in the kingdom of heaven, now seeing themselves as sons, having great prominence within it.  The response of Jesus is His call to Himself a child and tells them, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn (or “are converted”) and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4).

Note the conversion, the turning from our pride, our self-sufficiency comes first, seeing ourselves as the sinners we truly are in need of a Savior, having nothing to offer our King but the suffering He will have to experience for our sin.  Being born again must come first, being birthed into the kingdom as a child, then comes the childlike humbling.

While all of mankind is made in the image of God, not all are children of God.  By nature, we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).   It is not the natural children but “the children of the promise” (Romans 9:8) who are Abraham’s offspring.  Jesus adds to this that children not of the kingdom of God are in fact children of Satan (John 8:44).  The clear, distinguishing difference between the “two fathers”, Satan and Jesus, is the pride of Satan and the humility of Jesus.  And we know, Jesus gave up heaven, so that His children could be reconciled to Himself and to eternally dwell with Him in heaven, whereas Satan, in his pride, rebels and stokes the fire of rebellion in the hearts of man so that his children can suffer eternally in hell with him.

Humility and pride are the starting gates to two different destinations.  Only as you become a child of God are you able to exhibit the required humility and faith to believe in someone other than yourself, faith only a child can have.  The true children of God understand their weakness, understand they are least, understand they are helpless, understand their need to cry out with a trust their Father will come to them and provide for, feed, clothe and protect them.  The true children of God understand that the greatest in God’s kingdom are the humble, the gentle, the lowly of heart, the manifestation of the full maturity of Jesus Christ.   You cannot come to Christ in pride,  Greatness in the kingdom of God is the humility of a child.

In CHILDLIKE HUMILITY the weak and the strong find UNITY

As we, in humility are able to establish and maintain the perspective of being children, unity among the body can flourish.  Humility is greatness!  Our maturity in the faith is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Some children are older in the faith than are other children but, children we all remain. Let the truth of the necessity of essential, childlike humility seep into our hearts and minds.  As this happens, we then have the ability to obey the teachings and instructions that follow throughout Matthew 18, to live compassionately, but boldly, with eyes toward building up the younger in faith, giving them what is needed, speaking the truth that is right for the moment, putting them in the way they should go.  Also, it means living as we are called and instructed by God to live, understanding what we truly teach is by our actions, that our lives are to demonstrate whether there is truth in what we speak and teach. 

All ministry is “children’s” ministry and ministry is exhausting as children require so much having an almost constant stream of questions, fears, anxieties and opinions.  Children are needy!  Furthermore, no child of God can remain lost, left behind.  We must go after them, as they cannot be left to their sin.  We are called to build up, strengthen, encourage, restore and forgive (without end) our brothers and sisters.  All the while, in humility, we must remember all that Christ did for us and offer the same humility to our younger family members.

Understand and remember that our pride can fuel conflict with another believer, unless we see ourselves and the brother with whom we have conflict as the children of God we are, submitting ourselves to the Father, the effect being we see the momentary heat of the conflict lower, allowing the gentleness and heart needed to hear and to understand the concerns of our brother or sister.  If we are strong, then we know we are NOT great but, in fact, least.  We have the humility of a child because we understand our helplessness, our own need.  In that humility, the weak and strong will find unity.

Understand and remember the words of Paul to the church at Ephesus: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).

Selah

• How is  it both humbling and good to remember Christ is the standard to which you must evaluate your Christian maturity?

• Do you see yourself as an utterly helpless child, desperate for the provisions of life and godliness found only when you continually place your heart in humility at the feet of your Lord, when you surrender your will to His?

• In the ultimate display of love and humility, Christ set aside His Deity and became a child so that you might become a fellow heir with Him for eternity.  Has the Lord revealed something you need to set aside to make desirable the same outcome for others around you?