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Rescuing The Lost

Matthew 18:12-14

Jesus was continuing His teaching to the disciples, not to seek their own importance (Matthew 18:1-5), and not to despise the 'little ones' (both children and everybody who trusted Him and submitted to His authority as the 'children of His kingdom' - Matthew 18:10).  He then reinforced that teaching, emphasising that everybody is precious to Him, with this parable.
 

Restoring The Sinner (1)

Matthew 18:15-17

Everybody sins (Romans 3:23).  Even believers, including the Apostle Paul, with many years of Bible knowledge and faithful service, will sin (Romans 7:21-23).  It is the condition of fallen humanity which does not leave us until we are translated to glory.  However, sin always separates: person from person, and people from God.  The good news is that the gospel of God's grace is designed to bring people to repentance, so that they can be forgiven and restored to their Maker's service and to each other.
 

Restoring The Sinner (2)

Matthew 18:18-20

These verses come immediately after Jesus' teaching about the role of the apostles, and then the church, in leading errant believers to repentance (Matthew 18:15-17).  The step-by-step process to reconciliation is firstly by gracious private conversation (Galatians 6:1-3), then by the added testimony of others and, if there is no repentance, the problem should be exposed to the church and the sinner excluded from fellowship.  The style of language is of a court making a judgement.  ‘Binding’ and ‘loosing’ by a prayerful church have divine authority as in Matthew 16:19.   

Forgiving The Sinner

Matthew 18:21-22

Peter's question probably came in response to Jesus' teaching about restoring repentant sinners to fellowship with God and others (Matthew 18:15-20).  Jesus had advocated honest but loving and gracious confrontation of sinful behaviour, encouraging repentance which would lead to reconciliation.  Peter understood what Jesus was saying, but then he asked how persistent offenders should be treated.
 

Forgiving Is A Gospel Priority

Matthew 18:23-27

Jesus used this parable (Matthew 18:23-35) to teach His disciples the importance of forgiveness in God's kingdom.  His intriguing narrative was designed to embed the principle into the hearts of the trainee apostles.  If they were to be competent to lead the church, they had to learn God's strategy of forgiveness.  It was not natural to them.  For example, James and John were quick to condemn when Jesus wanted people to have time to repent and be forgiven (Luke 9:52-56).
 

The Ugliness Of Unforgiveness

Matthew 18:28-31

In this parable, Jesus had just told the story of a servant who owed his master 10,000 bags of gold and could not repay the debt (Matthew 18:23-27).  The master could get some of the money back by selling the servant and his family into lifelong slavery.  But when the servant begged for mercy, his master forgave his debt (accepting a personal loss and discharging the servant from any further obligation to pay).  It was a picture of God's compassion (Psalm 86:15).  He has mercy on anyone who asks for mercy (Job 9:15), giving them the chance to start again without the debt of sin hanging over

Unforgiveness Is Sin

Matthew 18:32-35

The master in this parable represents Father God who, at His own expense (the death of Jesus Christ), is willing to forgive all who cry to Him for mercy.  In the story, a servant, who owed much, was forgiven but he was not thankful; instead he was very unkind to another servant who owed him money (Matthew 18:28-30).  The outcry among the other servants was very great, and so the master called the first servant in to deal with him (Matthew 18:31).
 

The Attraction Of Jesus

Matthew 19:1-2

Jesus was on a mission - sent from heaven to the cross … and along the way to train a group of men to carry the gospel to the world.  His time in Galilee had been important.  Away from the religio-political pressure of Jerusalem in Judea, Jesus intrigued His disciples by the miracles and parables He taught to the crowd.  Afterwards, in private, the trainee apostles asked Him to explain their meaning (Mark 4:10-12).  It was a period of intense learning to prepare them for their leadership task ahead.  They heard so much but could only understand it fully when they received the Holy Spirit (J

What God Has Joined Together

Matthew 19:3-6

Marriage is not a human invention, a social device for companionship and raising children.  It is God's idea and founded on His creation design for humanity.  However, it is obvious that some marriages work easily while others are a struggle.  The Pharisees had firm views on divorce or, more correctly, two opposing views.  They were divided into two theological and ideological schools: those of Shammah said that divorce was only permissible after adultery, while those of Hillel taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason however trivial.
 

Hard-Hearted Marriage

Matthew 19:7-9

When Jesus was asked about divorce, He told them about God's design for marriage – the joining together of a man and a woman together to become one new, unique and inseparable unit, ‘one flesh’ (Matthew 19:4-6).  "What God had joined together, let no one separate", said Jesus (Matthew 19:6).  However, some of the Pharisees believed that there was a provision for easy divorce in God's Law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), and they pressed Jesus to explain the passage which apparently allowed a husband to write a certificate of divorce and send his wife away if she displeased him.  
 

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