Bible Study Materials

Questionnaire

CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING

Matthew 18:1-14

Key verse 18:3

“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’”

1. Read verse 1. What was the disciples’ question? Read verses 2-3. According to Jesus, what did the disciples need to do to enter the kingdom of heaven? Why is this a requirement to enter the kingdom of heaven? (see John 3:3-5; Matthew 11:25) Why can’t we enter the kingdom of heaven just as we are? (1 Corinthians 15:50,52-53)

2. Read verse 4. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? What are some ways, then, we can be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? How did Jesus exemplify taking a lowly position? (Philippians 2:5-9)

3. Read verses 5-6. Who is Jesus talking about in these verses? What must be our relationship with the little ones Jesus is talking about? Why is it so serious to cause a little one to stumble?

4. Read verses 7-9. What does Jesus teach about the inevitability of sin? What does Jesus teach about the responsibility of those who promote or spread sin? With what urgency must we prevent stumbling ourselves? How can we obey Jesus’ commands in these verses without cutting things off our bodies?

5. Read verse 10. Why would anyone look down on children or child-like disciples? What is Jesus’ promise for them? What does this mean?

Note: some manuscripts include the words of Luke 19:10 in Matthew 18:11 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

6. Read verses 12-14. How does the parable of the one lost sheep illustrate Jesus’ determination to save the whole world? How does it illustrate the Father’s love for his children?

Attachment:

• Matthew 18a.que.docx

Message

CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING

Matthew 18:1-14

Key verse 18:3

“And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

In the last passage, Jesus taught about how to leave the unbelieving and perverse generation and urged us to grow our faith to the size of a mustard seed. In this passage, Jesus teaches how to enter and be great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus teaches us how to treat His little ones. Let’s pray to treat the little ones as Jesus teaches us in this passage. Let’s take a lowly position like a little child so we will enter the kingdom of heaven in greatness.

Let’s read verses 1-3 together. “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Look at verse 1. The disciples asked Jesus who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They probably didn’t know what they were really asking. Peter rejected the message of the kingdom of heaven- Jesus’ Gospel message of His suffering, death, and resurrection the first time. Jesus’ second Gospel message of the kingdom of heaven was misunderstood as bad news instead of Good News. Also, the nine had too little faith to pray or cast out demons. It seems that they didn’t know what the kingdom of heaven was or what it entailed.

Look at verses 2-3. Jesus knew their hearts and their lack of faith and understanding. So Jesus demonstrated that the kingdom of heaven was not a matter of worldly power or greatness. The kingdom of heaven was a matter of being like a little child. Little children are not powerful or great in the world but are great spiritually, believing all they are told, having a learning mind, and in most cases an obedient heart.

Jesus was more concerned that they get into the kingdom of heaven than they be great in it, so He did not answer how to be greatest at first but just how to enter the kingdom of heaven. We have to enter the kingdom of heaven before we can be great in it.

So how do we get into the kingdom of heaven according to these verses? Look at verses 2-3 again. Jesus brought a little child to the disciples and said that we must change and become like that little child to enter the kingdom of heaven.

What did He mean? How can we become like that little child? Nicodemus wondered something similar- how could he as an old man be born again? And how can we as adults become little children again? The answer is the same.

John 3 says, “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.””

We can be born again and be like little children through the Holy Spirit. In the Holy Spirit we have a new life and start again like spiritual babies and then little children. Paul said the spiritual baby needs to hear and receive the simple Gospel teachings to survive as if it were milk. Little children need to hear and receive the simple Gospel teachings by faith. To become like a little children is in part to receive the Word of God like a little child. In my Sunday school as a little child, all the children listened very carefully to the teacher, learned as much as they could from the Bible passage, and believed all of the Bible wholeheartedly.

To be a little child, then, let’s pray to listen to the Word eagerly and very carefully as to not miss anything, as if for the first time God is speaking to us. Let’s also pray to believe everything the Bible says, learning as much as we can from the passage, listening to the Holy Spirit, and believing and acting out the passage.

Matthew 11 says that little children are not wise or learned by worldly measures. We have to reject worldly wisdom and false worldly knowledge that doubts God, Jesus, or the Gospel. We have to be open to the truth of God and accept it though the world challenges or opposes this truth and sees it as foolishness.

So then, we must be changed to enter the kingdom of heaven. We cannot enter as we are. So says 1 Corinthians 15, “I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable…For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.” To enter the kingdom of heaven, we must change not only from our worldly body to the resurrected body. We also must change our worldly wisdom to childlike spiritual wisdom, worldly learning to a childlike spiritual learning mind, and worldly ways to childlike spiritual ways. Let’s pray for God to change us from learned people in the world to spiritual people with a childlike nature in every way.

Let’s read verse 4 together. “Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus answered their question. To be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is to take the lowly position of a child. Again, the lowly position of the child in the world is opposite of the high position in the world of the wise and learned. It is opposite because the wise and learned feel like they can take care of themselves and are able to do all things by themselves without God, while the child knows they are completely dependent on adults to take care of them and help them do all things.

I confess I often think I can do things by myself. I think many Christians are the same. But the reality is that I and we need God’s help in all things so we can make the best decisions, have the greatest wisdom, and the most ability, talent, and inspiration possible. Without God, I and we make many mistakes, have many bad decisions, and fail many times. Let’s pray to become like the little child who depends on God for everything.

Also, the wise and learned are too lofty in the world to accept the kingdom of God, but the

lowly child is like a servant or slave of all in the world due to their position, according to Galatians. They are humbled already to accept their need for salvation to the kingdom of God.

And whoever wants to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven must also take the lowly position of a child to be the servant or slave of all. If we want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, we must serve all people in every way God gives us- in preaching, teaching, cooking, cleaning, giving financially, driving them around, or whatever we can do to serve them. We must especially serve them spiritually so that in every way we serve them, they see the glory and truth of God and the Gospel. May God help us to take the lowly position of the child in these ways so we may honor God greatly as His servants and be blessed greatly in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is our inspiration for taking a lowly position instead of holding on to our glory. As Philippians says, “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,”

Jesus had the most glorious position as God in the kingdom of God. But he humbled himself to become a baby in a manger, a little child. He kept the nature of a child by completely depending on His Father His whole life, by completely obeying His Father His whole life, and by serving all people with His whole life. Because He did this and also lowered Himself to death on the Cross, God made Him greatest in heaven with the greatest name in Creation.

So we see how to be the greatest in heaven by imitating Jesus, that is by being like a lowly little child. We are the greatest in heaven by depending on our Heavenly Father our whole lives, by obeying our Heavenly Father our whole lives, and by serving all people in the name of our Father our whole lives. May God help us to imitate Jesus, taking the lowly position of a child to enter and be great in the kingdom of heaven.

Let’s read verses 5-6. “And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.””

In verse 5, I believe Jesus is still talking about literal children like the one in front of Him and the disciples. Sometimes we may dismiss or despise a child as less important than our ministry such as taking care of college students, preparing a message, going to the campus, or doing Daily Bread. However, we must welcome children as if we are welcoming Jesus Himself. They are precious to God and very important to be loved and taken care of as if we were serving Jesus Himself. I pray for our UBF ministries that all parents will love their children as if they were loving Jesus in the flesh in front of them. But we also must welcome all people in Jesus’ name to our ministries with vision that they will become a child of God by His power and help for them to receive faith in Jesus and the Gospel

Look at verse 6. Here, Jesus says that the little ones are those who believe in Jesus and not just children in general. Those who believe are so precious that Jesus speaks severely about causing other believers to stumble.

What does it mean to stumble? A general interpretation would be to place some obstacle in the way for people to follow Jesus, live by faith, or believe in the Gospel. For example, the Pharisees despised those who were lowly people in the world, those who had the lowly position similar to a child. And so they were disliked and presented an obstacle for them to teach or lead people.

We are not to be like the Pharisees, but prevent all stumbling blocks that may keep people from coming to Jesus. For example, we must be humble and serve all kinds of people with the Word of God and the love of God. We must also tolerate all kinds of people, be loving and welcoming, and consistently put on the image of Jesus in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We must not lead others to temptation or have sinful behavior. In this way, we will keep people from stumbling- that is sinning, falling away from Jesus or being unable to follow Jesus due to anything we do or say. Let’s pray not to cause anyone to stumble in sin, temptation, or by a bad example, but make it easy for everyone to believe in and follow Jesus.

Look at verses 6-9. It is better that we die than to cause anyone to stumble. It is better that we take extreme and painful measures in our lives than to stumble ourselves. This is because what is physical, such as our body and life, is temporary. But to stumble ourselves or to cause others to stumble has eternal consequences. To stumble, Jesus says in verses 8-9, can have the eternal consequence of eternal condemnation and punishment in hell.

Such types of stumbling with this eternal consequence includes doing anything to keep others from knowing and following Jesus, whether tempting them, leading them astray or keeping them away from Jesus because of our sin, or by giving people any excuse not to hear the Gospel from us due to our ungodly or unchildlike character or behavior. 1 Corinthians 8 and other passages from Paul urge us not to use our knowledge or freedom in Jesus to lead others away from the faith in their ignorance or weakness. Again, may God help us not to lead others to stumble.

Look at verses 8-9 again. Stumbling with this eternal consequence includes our own straying from or abandoning the faith or succumbing to slavery to sin and temptation. Although we need not physically harm ourselves to prevent this, we must receive from the Holy Spirit the fruit of self-control to make and keep a clear decision to cut off the power of temptation that causes us to sin, including getting rid of all things that tempt us to sin.

We must receive discipline. Hebrews 12:4 says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” We must discipline ourselves as severely as necessary to prevent stumbling and sin. Also, Hebrews 12:10b-11, “God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” We must receive God’s discipline (whether punishment or training or otherwise) so we will not stumble but receive righteousness and peace through eliminating our stumbling blocks.

Finally, as Romans 12 says, we must offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God- not cutting off pieces of our body but cutting off the parts of the world that are temptations and stumbling blocks to us and cutting off our worldly mind and desires. As Romans 12:2 says, we must be renewed in our mind to “be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” May God help us to do what is necessary to keep from stumbling, including receiving self-control from the Spirit, discipline from God, and a clear decision to cut out of our lives all things that lead us to temptation and/or sin.

Let’s read verse 10. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”

Who are the little ones in verse 10? In some sense, it does not matter because we must not despise anyone as a person-but only for their sins and wickedness. We must not despise children and make them of lesser importance in our ministry or spiritual work to lead others to Christ. We must not despise those of little faith, but raise them up to strengthen their faith and protect them from falling away due to their lack of understanding and strength. We must not despise those who are not saved. For some manuscripts include a verse 11, which is from Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus did not despise the unsaved- the lost- but sought after them to bring them back to the flock as in verses 12-13.

Verse 11 is further backed up by the parable in verses 12-13. It says that the lost sheep, the one who wandered away from God’s ways, is sought after. The lost sheep is like the prodigal son who sinned in every way, despised his life and God’s ways in every way until God caught up with him through a famine. Jesus asks us to be good shepherds like the one in verses 12-13, to chase the lost sheep and trust in the 99 sheep to stay faithful. Jesus did the same, chasing the lost sheep and trusting His disciples and the righteous ones to stay faithful. Let’s pray to chase the lost sheep so that God and heaven will rejoice when they come back in Gospel faith.

Let’s read verse 14 together. “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” Here, the little ones again are all people. As 2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God wants no person to perish, and so every person is a little one. God loves every person and so let’s pray to treat every person as God’s little ones.

What does it mean? It means to do for every person what we have received and learned in this passage. For every person, we must welcome them to our ministry, or at least welcome them to hear the Gospel in Jesus’ name. For every person, including ourselves, we must remove all stumbling blocks with great seriousness so no one is led away from Jesus, away from the faith, or toward sin.

We must not despise anyone, but love them and value them as a beloved little one of God. We must pursue every person God puts in our lives, bringing them into the flock of God through faith in the Gospel and obedience to Jesus. We must not be willing, as far as it is up to us, that anyone should perish.

So finally, let us pray to take the lowly position of a child, becoming humble, serving all others, having a learning mind, and obedient spirit. Let us pray to take care of God’s little ones, removing all stumbling blocks from their path of faith and salvation in the kingdom of heaven. And let us pray to love God’s little ones and pursue them spiritually as the shepherd pursues the lost sheep and rejoices when it returns. Amen.

Attachment:

• Matthew 18a message.docx