The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day five)

“it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned….  It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame… It is better for you to enter life with one eye…”.

This passage contains some of the most shocking language and images that Jesus ever uses. Amputation. Drowning. Gouging. I like what Jon Bloom says about this passage, “Extreme danger calls for extreme measures of escape. Yes, the mutilation imagery is a metaphor, but it is not hyperbole.  We know it is a metaphor because the literal loss of a hand or an eye doesn’t get to the root issue of sin. But radical and painful amputation of stumbling blocks out of our lives may be the only way to escape falling headlong into sin’s insidiously deceptive snare.”

So, how do we acquire this same perspective that Jesus has. What would help us feel and think this same way about sin and temptation?  Start with an understanding and reverence for the holiness of God. (Fear of the Lord) seeing and sensing God for Who He really is. Bloom continues, “For the Christian, the fear of the Lord does not compete with our joy in the Lord.”

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:3).

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10)

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day four)

There are at least two lessons to be learned in our Re:Verse passage this week.  First: to cause an innocent one to stumble will bring dire consequences.  Death by drowning would be more desirable than the fiery consequences of hell.  Second:  when someone inevitably stumbles, we are to pursue them with all of our being to restore them.  This is known as accountability.  We leave the ninety and nine and search for the one who is lost!  The inter-connectivity of a church family leaves no room for isolationism or island living.  If a fellow believer is straying or has lost their way, we are accountable to seek to lead them back to fellowship with God.

How many times have we said, “It’s none of my business”?  Our culture has convinced us not to judge.  Judgment though may be obvious when biblical commands are broken and are evident to all, but we don’t want to say it out loud.  The standard is God’s…we need to encourage those around us to hold to that standard.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day three)

“Does he not leave the ninety-nine?”

God’s been seeking people the whole Bible long. From “Where is your brother Abel?” to “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth” to “The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost,” God has called, searched for, pursued, wooed. This is what the universe’s Creator does. Scripture shows us a God cut to the heart for those who have gone missing. The word of God which declares that the Lord is among the gathering of even two or three is the same word of God that admonishes us against contentedness to remain just two or three. See people, notice them, hear them, welcome them, sit with them. The Savior will reveal himself in these moments of tender conversation to those who’ve lost their way. Some of them will come home.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:5-14 (day two) “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! vs 7

Have you ever watched a hurdle or steeple chase race? It’s one thing to train to run as fast as you can to get from point a to point b, but to actually put obstacles in the way is next level. Steeple chasers in particular seem to be gluttons for punishment because of the height of the obstacles and the water hazard that awaits them on the other side. It stands to reason, then, that sprinters who run 100 meters without hurdles run it faster than those with them.

Obstacles are inevitable. Whether they be self-imposed, as they often are, or appear by circumstance they are a fact of life. It is our hope, as believers, that we are able to navigate around them without a setback to our faith journey. Often they can even help teach us lessons as we move forward to help avoid them the next time. Jesus’ words however speak specifically to those who would cause others to stumble, especially children or young believers. He doesn’t mince words; we are not to do this. It makes every interaction with them so important. We must guard our words and actions to make every effort to encourage their faith, not hinder it. Likely, this will only help our own journey as well. I don’t want to run a steeple chase race of faith, let’s not make our children run one either.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:1-4 (day seven)  

“Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

What would have happened if Jesus had given them an answer they actually sought? Would the group as a whole be able to respect the decision while being hurt that it was not them? The question revealed their personal intentions and expectations. They had not quite figured it all out yet. At this point they were not there to serve Jesus, they were there for what Jesus could bring them.

Where were you when you figured it out? Where were you when you realized that being a Christian is not about what Jesus can do for you but what you can do for Jesus?

I think this was that moment for the disciples. Maybe not immediately, but looking back they saw this illustration and realized what it took to be heavenly residents. All three synoptic writers include this event in their account. John addresses his readers in 1 John as Little Children. The disciples all looked back at this illustration as a defining moment. They were Better Together when the together was centered on Jesus.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:1-4 (day six)  

Jesus wasn’t using children as a mere object lesson. No, I think he really enjoyed being with them; listening to them, playing with them, answering their often whimsical but sincere questions. There is an authenticity to children that is rare among the aged, beginning as early as the tween years. Younger kids, most often, are what you see is what you get. They have no pretense or guile; they embody a true freedom to be themselves.

This was a significant contrast with the whitewashed tombs of many of the religious leaders of the day. All pretty on the outside, but full of dried up bones. Not so sure if Jesus enjoyed spending too much time with the likes of them.

At the end of the day, humility is the ability to be authentic; a keen self-awareness that doesn’t mind being fully seen and known…and redeemed.

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:1-4 (day five)  

“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus seemingly doesn’t answer the question the disciples asked Him. Unless you realize that they have asked the wrong question. So, Jesus teaches them by giving the right answer to their wrong question.

What is Jesus teaching them?  What is He desiring for them to “see” and grasp?  Humility. A child’s status in that day??  A nobody. A child is to be “looked after”, not “looked up to”. (Better Together)

I’ll end with a quote from CS Lewis about humility:

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody.
Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him.
If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”

Re:Verse passage – Matthew 18:1-4 (day four)

The disciples, like us, were trying to superimpose their understanding of how things work here on earth with how things will be in heaven.  On earth, we tend to always seek something better.  If we can get more possessions, or more power, or more influence, we can get greater status or authority…it is a constant drive in life to yearn for more.  In our passage, the disciples are asking Jesus what they need to do to get ahead in heaven.

Contentment is sometimes an elusive character quality.  To be satisfied with what God has provided, rather than always seeking more, is known as humility. To see life through the humble eyes of a child, allows us to approach God in a heart attitude that sees Him for who He really is…Almighty God!  Isn’t it just backward to our thinking that the more we do to impress God does not get us more.  The more we rest in God and are steadfast in our seeking Him, the more pleasing we are in our faith!