Matthew-062

 

Jesus teaches total change in direction: Humble yourself to be a child

We have been studying the teaching of our Lord Jesus, and we have seen the wisdom and purpose of God in it. I think that the only word that you can use to describe the teaching of the Lord Jesus is that it is “revolutionary.” Often, in this world, revolution is simply changing from one dictator to another, and there is not much change. The outward forms may change, but the essence remains the same.

When the Lord Jesus speaks about revolution, he really is revolu­tionary because everything changes. In Matthew 18:1-4, the Lord Jesus speaks about the complete and total change of a person’s direc­tion in life!

This is not to say that children are always in the habit of humbling themselves. Children are not notable for their humility. When you are already grown-up, when you are already mature, as it were, and to have to turn and become children again, then that is humbling oneself. To go from adulthood to lowering oneself down to the level of a child, is humbling oneself. So the point is not that children are humble but the point is that we are to humble ourselves to become children. And that is truly a revolution, a complete change in direc­tion!

 

Jesus’ teaching is directly contrary to the world’s sense of value

We always want to become grown-up and we are hoping, “I’m only 20 now and I’m still a nobody in this world. Maybe when I’m 25 I’ll be somebody! And if I’m not yet somebody, maybe if I grow a few whiskers that will help to increase my maturity.” But when you reach 25, you’ll find that you are still not very mature, because some­one who is 30 years old says, “Who are you? I am 30 and you are only 25.” So you think, “Well, wait till I get to 30, I’ll really begin to be somebody.” When you got to 30, you find that you are still a nobody. Then you hope that when you get to 35 and you have grown a little more in status, and a few extra whiskers, then you will be something. And when you got to 35, you are still nothing. And so you hope one day, when I get a little grey on the sides, so I am more “distinguished,” then I will be something. Then when you got grey on the sides, you discovered you are still nothing.  

All the time, we are thinking that age and status will help us climb the ladder in this world to become somebody. We will be climbing up this ladder; we will become somebody. We think, “When I gradu­ate, I’ll be somebody. I’m only an undergraduate now so I’m still nothing.”

So you got your little title, your “Bachelor” of whatever subject, and you discover that the world is full of people with a “Bachelor’s” degree. So you think, “A “Bachelor’s” is still not good enough, maybe I will try a “Master’s.” And then you discovered the job market is crowded with Master’s degrees, so you think maybe you will try a Ph.D. And suddenly, you discovered that when you apply for a job, there are so many Ph.D.’s around. And you thought, “Hey, what have I got to do to get somewhere in this world?”

We all remember there is always this endless climbing towards adulthood to becoming something in this world, and this continuing pursuit in that direction. And the Lord Jesus says, “Unless there is a dramatic change in your life, unless you change the whole direction in your life.” And you say, “Hey, I’ve always been trying to get away from being a child! Are you telling me now I’ve got to be a child again?”

 

Inner change: Willing to become a nobody in this world

Yes, there must be a revolutionary change in your thinking, a willing­ness to become a nobody in this world, a willingness to be despised and rejected, as we read about Christ in Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected of men.”

We love children, but they have no social status. Children are nice little people so long as they don’t talk out of turn, behave themselves, don’t splash their food all over the carpet or table, and look a little decent sometimes. When we have finished all this, they are nice little darlings, but they are nobodies in this world. When they speak an opinion we think, “How naïve! How silly!” But we have to condes­cend to smile and show that after all, we still like little children, even if they are so dumb and say such silly things.

Then suddenly, the Lord Jesus tells us, “Except you become as little children”! That really is mind-boggling! But this is the character of the Lord Jesus’ teaching. The Lord Jesus’ teaching always stuns us. Just when we are going this way, the Lord Jesus says, “No, you’re going the wrong direction. It’s the other way.”

And you say, “Hey, that’s just the way I came from.”

The Lord Jesus says, “That’s the way you are going to go. Go back to the time when you were despised and rejected, when you were a little nobody in this world.”

You’ll say, “That’s what I don’t want to be!”

The Lord Jesus says, “Unless you are willing to be that, you will not enter the kingdom.”

 

No one is willing to be a child

Who said it was easy to be a Christian? It goes against all our human inclinations, against the very ambitions that we have been indoc­trinated with since our childhood. “Are you still a child? When will you grow up?” are the words we are always told. So we always want to grow up. And now we are told to be a child, to go back to the state where we trust God as a child trusts. We trust him so much that we walk with him, and do what he wants us to do, even when people say, “How ridiculous! How foolish! How naïve! How childish!” And yet, we say, “Amen! Hallelujah!”

This is the Lord Jesus’ teaching. Can you find a better way to explain his teaching? It confronts us with this radical difference from the way we are indoctrinated since childhood. This is the way that we must go: to become again a social non-entity like a child.

 

Matthew 18:5-9

Now today, we come to Matthew 18:5-9.

Notice that I am using the word “stumble” (verses 6, 7. 8, 9), which is the original Greek word. It has been interpreted by the word “sin” in many Bible translations.

Also, in verse 7, “necessary” is not a good translation. It would be better to translate it as “inevitable.” “It is inevitable that temptations come,” but temptations are not necessary in the sense that they are needed.

 

A disciple who becomes as a child truly represents Christ in the world

These words of the Lord Jesus are staggering! They are powerful! What do they signify? The meaning of verse 5 is plain and simple enough. “Whoever receives one such child in my name, receives me.” That is very easy to understand because only a person who is like this kind of child truly represents Christ. Therefore, anyone who receives this childlike person who truly represents Christ receives Christ.

This person has chosen to humble himself from being the arrogant, self-confident, complacent adult, to become a child again. This kind of person trusts God as Father, as a child would trust his father. He loves his Father God and will do what his Father wants him to do even if everyone else sneers at him, despises and rejects him, be­cause he has learned to humble himself, to become as a child again. This kind of person truly represents Christ whereas self-satisfied, arrogant people don’t. To receive a person who has learned to be truly childlike in heart is to receive Christ because that person truly represents Christ. Not to receive such a person is not to receive Christ.

I wonder if you and I, as Christians, correctly represent Christ in the world. Do you think you really represent Christ correctly in this world? When people look at you and me, do they think that we truly represent Christ?

Being humble doesn’t mean that you bend your back still further down and speak in a very soft voice, so that people cannot hear what you are saying; and you see to it that you dress in a very shabby way. Humility is not an external stereotype. It’s an attitude deep inside the heart not expressed by the curvature of your back. That is the most important thing. It’s an attitude of the heart that doesn’t look for man’s praise. It doesn’t seek to be exalted because it has already humbled itself from the adult position to the position of a non-entity in this world. It doesn’t mind what you think.

The point is this: this is the kind of person that truly has the mind of Christ, and therefore represents Christ in the way he speaks and acts. So verse 5 is very easy to understand. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” not any child but such a child; this kind of person who has humbled himself to become as a child.

In verse 6, he is described as “a little one who believes in me”. If you are familiar with the Lord Jesus’ teaching, the disciples are often called “children” or “little ones.” So “a little one who believes in me” is not limited only to literal children who believe in Jesus, but is also a title for the disciples.

 

Stumbling these “little ones” is a very serious matter

This sentence is very important:

The Lord Jesus is speaking about a great millstone here. There were two types of millstones in those days. One was the small millstone which was a hand-sized one that housewives used to have. You can say they were family-sized ones, which every household had to grind flour, or to grind incense for burning on the Sabbath day, or what­ever grinding purposes. However, the big millstone was what you would call today, a “commercial-sized” one, also used for grinding purposes. It was too heavy for man to turn, so a donkey was fastened to it to make it rotate. That is why here, in the Greek, it is literally “a millstone of or for a donkey,” and it is translated as “a great millstone.”

The Lord Jesus is saying here, “If you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for you to put a rope through the central hole of the millstone, tie it around your neck and jump into deepest sea. And you ask, “What does this mean?” Does this mean that every time you offend or annoy a brother or sister, you should promptly go and commit suicide? If you take it quite literally, presumably that is what it means. If you offend a brother and a sister next time, then look for a great millstone to tie around your neck, and jump off the Jacques Cartier Bridge into the St. Lawrence River. Is this what the Lord Jesus is saying?

The Lord Jesus’ way of putting his words is so striking that it makes you sit up and think, “What does this mean?” The fundamental purpose of what the Lord Jesus is saying is to drive home into our minds the fact of how much he loves his little ones, his disciples who believe in him. And he is saying that if you caused one of God’s little ones to stumble and fall into sin, God loves them so much that there is nothing you could do to yourself that can compare to what God will do to you. Now you might find that hard to swallow if you are at the receiving end of God’s devastating judgment.

Do you know how precious you are to God if you are the Lord Jesus’ disciple? Do you realize just how much God treasures you? Anyone who so much as touches you, touches the apple of God’s eye. (cf. Zech. 2:8). You know that if you or someone touches the apple of your eye—your eyeball—you immediately respond. If somebody hits you elsewhere, you can still delay the response, but the response is automatic and instant when the eye is touched. So precious is the eye to the body. So precious you are to God!

That is the point. Anyone who hurts a disciple of Christ or seeks to harm him in any way, especially spiritually, God’s response will be powerful in the extreme. Yes, there will be a powerful response! God loves these disciples and is deeply sensitive to whatever is done to them. Now that is exceedingly priceless to our hearts!

 

To stumble: Cause a person to leave God altogether

However, the question that still needs to be asked here is: What does it mean to cause a little one to stumble? This becomes crucial because if God’s response will be so immediate and so terrible that you’d be better off drowning yourself in the depth of the sea than face the judgment he will bring against you, then clearly, we have to know precisely what it is to stumble a disciple of Jesus.

To offend or stumble such a person must be accurately understood from the Scriptures. Here to stumble doesn’t just mean to say you have annoyed him, so that every time you annoy your brother you need to go and jump in the lake quite literally. No! Here, to stumble means something far more serious than that. The word “to stumble” means to damage or destroy a little one’s faith; to cause him to fall and sin that he is in danger of falling away completely, of leaving God altogether.

That is an intensely serious situation. And this word “to stumble” is translated “to sin” in the ESV and RSV. Elsewhere, the RSV translates the very same word quite correctly as “to fall away”, to apostatize, to turn away from God. That is to say, if you have done something to this disciple so that he turns away from God, he falls away from the faith, you have caused him to fall, then what you will experience of God’s anger will be nothing compared to putting a millstone around your neck and jumping in the lake to be drowned.

So this word “to stumble” means to fall away. There are too many examples where the same Greek word is used, but we will just look at the seed that is sown on rocky ground in Matthew 13:21 (The parallel passage is Mk. 4:17).

If you have an ESV or RSV, you will see in the margin the word is “to stumble.” It is exactly the same word as we have here “to fall away.”

The same Greek word is also used in Matthew 24:10. It speaks about the last days before the coming of the Lord Jesus when the love of many people will grow cold; they will turn away from Christ:

You can see here that “stumble” is by no means saying that you have displeased him, but to cause him to collapse spiritually.

 

How would a Christian cause another Christian to stumble?

1. Tempt into sin

How would you cause a disciple to stumble so that his faith col­lapses? We only need to consider Genesis chapter 3, and immediate­ly, you can see that is what Satan did to Eve. One way to cause a person to collapse spiritually is to use any form of temptation that tempts him to sin, so that he collapses spiritually as a result of his sin, as Eve did. Satan tempted her to do something that she should not do, so Eve fell into sin. She in turn caused Adam to fall into sin.

That shows there is a very wide range of possibilities to cause a Christian to stumble. You simply tempt him to do something that he knows he shouldn’t. It may be a sexual temptation for example, or it may be in the area of money, to get him to pocket money that he shouldn’t. Or present something to a disciple in such an enticing manner that he or she is captivated by it. We can cause a disciple to fall in this way.

 

2. Tempt into false teaching and so worship money

In the Old Testament as well, we see examples of how someone can cause another to stumble. The very same word “stumble” in the Greek and also in the Hebrew Old Testament is often used in connec­tion with worshipping an idol, such as in Ezekiel 14:3, 44:12.

We see in each case that people have been misled into worshipping a false god. The same thing can happen today. We can be tempted into false teaching and so worship a false god. Idolatry is by no means extinct today.

Or perhaps more realistically, we may be tempted to worship money. Money is the big idol, the golden calf of today. Everyone bows their knee to the golden calf. Incidentally, I hear the price of gold is soaring high, going over the $700 mark now, so everyone is going after the gold. How we wouldn’t love to have the golden calf today! Every ounce costs over $700, so how much would a golden calf be worth in terms of the weight of gold alone? Everyone worships the idol, the golden calf. Very interestingly, this idol worship in Ezekiel 7:19 is connected with gold and silver. It is the kind of idolatry that we are deeply engaged in today, especially in our type of society.

I am deeply concerned for any proposition that is put before a Christian to get involved in some form of business. I don’t know how you can do any kind of business without having some sort of reverence—if we don’t put it as strongly as “worship”—for the golden calf, for money, for gold. After all, what is the driving force in business but to make money and increase one’s wealth? Success is determined by the amount of money you earn on a weekly or monthly basis. I am very anxious about this temptation.

Once, someone approached me and said, “Why don’t you do a little business on the side? It only takes a few hours a day, then you can make several hundred dollars a month, depending on how much time you put in. Maybe even a couple of thousand if you really put time in. So why don’t you supplement your relatively small pastoral income with doing some business on the side?” I turned this idea down immediately, because once you start putting in one hour, and it brings in a few tens of dollars, you will think, “Maybe if I put in two hours, I’ll make more. Or maybe three hours.” Soon, one of these days, I will stand up on the pulpit and say to you, “I really didn’t have time to prepare my message because I was so busy with my business. My business is really expanding now. If my business is doing well enough, you can look for another pastor.”

I felt that the person who was making this suggestion to me about entering into this part-time business was really putting a stumbling block before me, persuading me to turn towards idolatry. Why can’t we be satisfied with food and drink? Perhaps we don’t earn half as much as others, but as Paul says, “But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.” (1 Tim. 6:8) It doesn’t matter that I cannot drive such a fine car, or wear a stylish coat as someone else. But thanks be to God, I have enough to eat and wear, and that is sufficient for me! Why must we forever be tempted by this god, Mammon, who says, “Come, worship me and I’ll give you more money”? Beware of this temptation. But even more dangerous, be­ware of putting this temptation in front of someone else. This is the last thing I would do to any person, for fear that he will be so absorbed into craving more that he stumbles and falls away altogether from God.

Therefore first, how we stumble a disciple is any form of temptation to do something he ought not do, for example, commit sexual sins. Secondly, we may tempt someone who is serving God to go into business. There is nothing in the Bible which says you may not do business. But if a person is serving God and you say to him, “Why not do some business on the side?” That can effectively ruin his ministry altogether. That begins to be a stumbling block. I have nothing against businessmen. That is their way of life. But beware of tempting someone who is serving the Lord God to change his direction, or at least give part of his time to business to jeopardize his call and commitment.

 

3. Tempt into eating something against a disciple’s conscience

The third reason for stumbling a person is in 1 Corinthians 8:13, where you may not regard it as doing something sinful, but it’s something against the person’s conscience to do it. If you compel him to do it, you will stumble him. For example, a person may be brought up a vegetarian, he is not a meat-eater; or he doesn’t eat certain types of meat, such as meat offered to idols as in First Corinthians. You find nothing wrong with eating meat or certain types of meat, but he does. Therefore, if you either trick or compel him into eating meat or certain types of meat, you may stumble him.

For example, you serve him a dish and when he has finished it, you say, “Ha ha! That was meat!” He doesn’t know what he is supposed to do! Should he get sick? You tricked him! This is not right because you will stumble him. His conscience is weak. It’s useless to say he shouldn’t have a weak conscience, but he is weak. You have to give him time, and maybe gradually, he will understand.

Paul says this in First Corinthians because he is particularly concerned about the Jews who are brought up to eat neither food offered to idols nor pork. The Muslims also cannot eat pork. You may say, “Don’t be ridiculous! Pork is like any other meat, so you and your silly notions about not eating pork is sheer nonsense!” Then one day, when he is eating, you give him a piece of pork and he thinks he is eating chicken and swallows it.

And you say, “Does it taste nice?”

“Nice!”

“Do you know what it was?”

“No.”

“Pork!”

The poor man is in absolute desperation! For you it’s great fun. You are laughing at him. But he is in anxiety. He has broken the law of his fathers, so he must be ready to go to hell! This is not the way to behave! So you can cause a person to fall by having no consideration for his weak conscience.

 

4. Tempt into drinking what is against a disciple’s conscience

A fourth way to stumble a person is to make him drink something against his conscience. To some people, drinking alcohol is a sin. Their conscience is weak, and think that drinking alcohol is very sin­ful as they were brought up with the notion that alcohol is forbidden in Scripture, which is not true. In fact, exactly the reverse is true. But if a person is brought up with the notion that alcohol is sinful, I have to go very carefully with him. My conscience is strong, but his is weak.

Therefore, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:13,

If my taking alcohol is going to be an offense to this brother, then I won’t take it because I am concerned about his conscience, not my freedom. I have the freedom to do it, but I should not exercise my freedom when it offends his conscience.

You may say, “Do you live in the Twentieth Century and you don’t drink tea or coffee? Haven’t you caught up with civilization?” So you ridicule and humiliate him, making him really feel like a fool.

We must have patience and not be arrogant. This is the attitude of humility. We often stumble people one way or another. You may think you are strong, but you may be surprised at how you are easily stumbled by someone who is a little bit inconsiderate. When you are at the receiving end of it, you might not find it so easy to take.

 

5. Stop a disciple from going on in spiritual life

The fifth way we can stumble a person is far more serious. This is what Peter did towards the Lord Jesus as mentioned in Matthew 16:23 [NAS].

That is a very serious stumbling block. In what way did Peter function as a stumbling block? The Lord Jesus was going towards the cross to lay down his life for you and me, and for the whole world, and Peter said, “Lord, don’t go the cross. You shouldn’t do this to yourself. You shouldn’t go to this kind of suffering. I love you too much to allow you go to this kind of suffering. Lord, don’t do it!” And the Lord Jesus said, “Peter, get out of my way. You are a stumbling block to me to block my way.”

A stumbling block is any kind of a rock that hinders your progress, that stops you from going on in your spiritual life. Now that is very serious. Here, you can see how easily we could function as a stumbling block. One thing that I am always afraid of, that even in my good intentions, I might stop someone progressing on the spiritual path of walking with Christ. We could do this out of good intention just as Peter did. He thought he loved the Lord Jesus so much that when Jesus said that he was going to die, Peter said, “No, don’t do this to yourself.”

Many times, what happens when a brother or a sister says that he is going to take up his cross and follow Christ, he is going on the narrow road of discipleship? The stumbling block comes. Either one’s family or friends or other people stop them and say, “You shouldn’t take up the cross and take up all this suffering of self-denial and loss. You shouldn’t do this to yourself.”

Some speak out of genuine love for you, like Peter was speaking to the Lord Jesus out of genuine love. That is what makes it so hard to take and what makes the stumbling block so effective. When you want to take up the cross to follow the Lord Jesus to serve God full-time, sometimes, your father or mother, who may even be a Christian, will plead with you not to do this with tears in their eyes, “For my sake, for your sake, don’t do it.” Isn’t it so hard when you see the tears in their eyes, the genuineness of their love as they block your way in the path of discipleship? I have seen many people effectively stopped from going forward because they recognize this genuine love.

Remember again, Peter spoke out of genuine love for the Lord Jesus, “Please don’t go to the cross.” But for the Lord Jesus, who is con­cerned to do the Father’s will, the severity of his response can be understood: “Get out of my way, Peter! You are a stumbling block to me!”

How many Christians have wanted to serve the God, and people said to them, “You should consider carefully. I don’t think you should. I don’t think you have the gift of preaching, and I don’t think this, and I don’t think that” So the poor fellow scratches his head and thinks, “Well, he is an older Christian than me. If he doesn’t think I’m suita­ble to serve the God, he must be right. Maybe I am not fit to serve God.”

If you stand in the way of his spiritual progress, be very careful because the Lord Jesus says here, “It would be better for you to hang a millstone around your neck and jump into the deepest sea.” Never dare to stand in the way of someone who wants to serve, or is ser­ving God. Never tell him that he is useless, that he hasn’t got the gifts, or he shouldn’t be doing this. Do you dare to take that responsibility? I don’t. The only thing that I do and I should do is to make clear to that person what the costs are. Has he really counted the cost? Does he really know the difficulties involved? And when I have explained the difficulties to him, when he has been given the chance to count the cost, and he wants to go on, I cannot and I must not stand in his way.

I have seen many older Christians discourage a person from serving God. They say to a younger Christian, “Oh, you are too young in the faith. You’ve only been a Christian for two years. You can’t preach and this or that.” So they feel, “If an older Christian says so, then I’m really not fit to serve the Lord,” and they turn back. In many cases, once they have turned back, they go all the way downhill spiritually until they have completely turned away from God. I have seen that kind of tragedy.

What will God say to you on that Day if you had done that? As a Christian, beware of being an obstacle to a fellow-Christian. Of course, the non-Christian will always be an obstacle. You expect him to be. Remember the Lord Jesus is not speaking to non-Christians. He is speaking about one Christian being an obstacle to another Christian, and that if you, as a Christian or a disciple, become a hindrance or a cause of stumbling to another Christian, so that he falls away from God, it would be better for you to jump into the deepest sea than to face the judgment that God will mete out to you. This is very important to observe.

Therefore, we can see that we could effectively stumble a disciple in any of these five ways.

 

Be like Jesus, a good stumbling block to block the road of destruction

Does this mean then that we should always so speak to a fellow-Christian that we never offend or hurt him? Not at all! One must understand that there are two types of stumbling blocks, the one good and the other bad. What do we mean? Well, we have seen Peter as a stumbling block to the Lord’s spiritual advance in completing the work of salvation.

But there is a good stumbling block that you put before someone because you want to stop him from going down the road of destruction. Romans 9:33—which is often understood in quite the wrong sense—says Jesus is a stumbling block to the unbeliever, not with the intention of destroying him, but with the purpose of block­ing him from going down the road of destruction. For Jesus came not to condemn but to save. Paul is quoting from Isaiah 8:14.

As a non-Christian, you may now be sliding down this broad road to destruction, right down into the eternal fire without even knowing it. And the Lord Jesus is there as a stumbling block. The cross of Christ blocks the way to hell. Christ stands in front of the gates of hell so that any person who wants to go to hell will have to push his way past the outstretched, nail-pierced hands of Christ to get to hell.

If we see a brother going down the road to sin towards destruction, clearly, we must try to block his way; we must persuade him not to go on in this path of self-destruction.

In this sense, the Lord Jesus was not at all afraid to offend the Pharisees. We find that in Matthew 15:12, his disciples said he was a stumbling block to the Pharisees:

The word, “offended” is exactly the same Greek word as “stumbled.”

That is why I say there is the right kind of stumbling block and there is the wrong kind of stumbling block. The wrong kind is what causes a Christian, a spiritual man to fall into sin and to fall away from God. The right kind of stumbling block is to prevent him from falling into sin, to speak the truth in love and lovingly to persuade him not to go on to the road of destruction.

Is the Lord Jesus saying that every time you offend a brother you should jump into the lake? Not at all! You may need to offend a brother. He may need to hear the truth. But if you offend him or cause him to stumble in such a way that he falls spiritually, that carries a serious consequence. You have touched the apple of God’s eye and you will experience the full rigor of his judgment.

By now, I think the whole point of the Lord Jesus’ words here should be very easy to understand. He is saying, “God loves these little ones (disciples) so much that anyone who so much as dares to cause them to fall away from him spiritually, there is nothing he can do to him­self that will compare with what God will do to him at the Judgment.”

 

“Once saved always saved”?

Notice one important point I must draw clearly to your attention. If it is true that once you are in grace you are always in grace, then what the Lord Jesus says has no meaning whatsoever. That has wiped out everything he has said here. The “little one” who believes in Christ is saved, and since once he is saved he is always saved, there is nothing you could do to him that could make him fall away from God, is there? According to that teaching, you could sin against your brother as much as you like as there is nothing you could do that could cause him to fall away from the faith and be eternally lost. You can see how this kind of false teaching so current in the churches today, negates the very foundation of the Lord Jesus’ teaching, I beg of you to see carefully.

“Once saved always saved” is a false teaching that has caused many to stumble. The notion that once you are in grace you are always in grace means I can sin against you as much as I like, what does it matter? I could tempt you to sin with riches, sex, anything, and you cannot fall away because once you are in grace you are always in grace. So why is the Lord Jesus warning that God is severe about causing a brother to sin? There is nothing to get excited about. There is nothing you could do to hurt him.

You can see why that kind of teaching denies the very nature of the Lord Jesus’ own teaching. It’s simply not true that you cannot harm your brother, that you cannot cause a brother to fall away from God. I beg of you to understand this carefully. If this were so, then the Lord Jesus’ teaching here warning a person about the dangers of causing a brother to fall, would be pointless.

Moreover, if it’s true that once you are saved you are always saved, then the next section is also false. Let us read Matthew 18:7-9:

The whole section is speaking to disciples, not speaking to non-Christians. Just look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, you will see that at each place, it is referring to Christians. Remember all the “you” are addressed to the disciples. Jesus is speaking to his disciples: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin for it is necessary that temptations come but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to go into life with one hand than for you to go into hell with two hands. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to go into life with one eye than to go into hell with two eyes.”

Now then, if it’s true that once you are a disciple you are always saved, then evidently, the Lord Jesus’ teaching is not true. It doesn’t matter if my hand, my eye, my whole body sins. I can sin and sin because there is nothing I can do to be lost. Now that is not the teaching of the Lord Jesus. Look carefully here and see for yourself what the truth of the matter is. It’s simply not true to say that. This doctrine—once you are in grace you are always in grace—which has come out of hell, is deceiving brothers and sisters today, into a false security: “You don’t have to worry. It’s true assurance.” That is not true assurance. True assurance is the assurance of the Holy Spirit of God in your heart, witnessing with your heart that you are a child of God. That is the only true assurance in the Bible that you can see in Romans 8:16.

 

Fierce, determined reaction: shows fearfulness to sin against God

There is no need to be holy because of that teaching. You don’t have to be afraid to sin. Look at the Lord Jesus’ words carefully, and see what he says to his disciples: “If your hand sins, you’d better react so fiercely and so determinedly that although your hand is very precious to you, and if you cut off your hand you’ll be maimed, so you’ll be jobless, it’s better to be a cripple than to go to hell.”

Certainly, the Lord Jesus is using picture language. It doesn’t mean that cutting off your hand stops you from sinning. But if you can stop yourself from sinning by any means, you’d better do it because God is the God of love, but he is also the God of holiness. It’s absolutely essential to consider carefully the Lord Jesus’ teaching! It seems to me that in the church today, we don’t understand the Lord Jesus’ teaching as well as some of the Pharisees and rabbis did.

 

The story of Rabbi Nahum of Gimzel

In closing, let me tell you the story of Rabbi Nahum of Gimzel. We are told that rabbi Nahum of Gimzel was blind, he had no hands and no feet, and he was covered in boils. Rabbi Nahum of Gimzel lived in the early days of the church, A.D. 80-120, very near the time of Christ. When you look at the story of Rabbi Nahum of Gimzel, you have the feeling that maybe the Pharisees understood the gospel better than Christians, for all the ridicule that we have heaped upon them.

He was a righteous man, a man of outstanding quality, and he taught a group of disciples. His disciples asked him, “You are so righteous, so good, so loving, why should you be blind, crippled in both hands and feet, and your body all covered in sores? How can a man as righteous as you are suffer these things?” So the rabbi told them what had happened.

“One day, when I was a young man, I was transporting some food on three donkeys, and as I was going along the way, a sick man lying by the wayside said to me, “Rabbi, please give me some of that food that you are transporting.” And Rabbi Nahum said to him, “I will give you something on the way back.” So he went on. When he came back, he found the man dead by the roadside. He had died in the mean time. Rabbi Nahum got off his donkey and knelt down beside this man and said, “Oh God! May the eyes that looked upon this man without pity be blind! May the hands that failed to help him be cut off! May the feet that did not run to this man’s need be amputated!” And having said this he still felt that he had not yet paid this man the debt of love that he owed him and he said, “May my body be covered in boils!”

Rabbi Nahum said to his disciples, “God is the living God, so you see me today, I am blind in both eyes, my hands and feet were cut off, and my body is covered in boils.” He did not say how, but perhaps in a war. He was a blind and crippled rabbi teaching his disciples.

When the disciples heard this they said, “Rabbi, woe be to us that we see you like this!” Rabbi Nahum said, “No, woe be to me if you didn’t see me like this!” What did he mean? He meant “Woe be to me if I did not experience the judgment of God now, because I did not help this man and so he died. It’s better for me to be blind now, to be without hands and feet now than to be cast into hell with two eyes, and two hands and feet.”

Do you see how Rabbi Nahum understood the Lord Jesus’ teaching far better than most Christians? He knew it was better to enter into eternal life this way than to go to hell with all the members of his body intact. He understood as many Christians don’t seem to understand.

So let us understand that God loves us with a love that is absolutely beyond our comprehension. God loves us so much that if anyone else sought to hinder us or harm us spiritually, that person would face the whole wrath of God upon him. But we on our part must walk in holiness before our loving God. Don’t say to ourselves, “We can sin as much as we like but God wouldn’t mind, because he loves us so much.” He minds exceedingly! Even though he loves us so much, we will face his judgment if we sin.

Understand the Lord Jesus’ teaching of God’s love and God’s holi­ness. Can you see the perfect balance? God loves us with an intensity beyond our comprehension, but his love will not allow him to condone sin on our part. Let us have the wisdom of Rabbi Nahum of Gimzel to realize this, to rejoice in God’s love on the one hand, and to walk in gratitude and joy in God’s holiness on the other hand.

Always remember one thing: No one but no one loves you in the way that God loves you. Think deeply on that. Your father and mother don’t love you as much as God loves you. There is no friend in this world, neither husband nor wife who can love you as much as God. As the hymn goes, “Love divine all loves excelling,” whether it is the love of father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, God’s love goes beyond all those kinds of love. “Joy of heaven come down to us,” God gives us this joy of experiencing his love which is also holy.