Pastoral Care from Every Christian
length: 59:47 - taught on Jul, 16 2025
Class Outline:
Wednesday July 16, 2025
Jesus makes the little ones His cause. Since that is true, so should we. Mat 18 is the Sermon of Community.
Jesus repeats the word “one” (vv. 5, 6, 10, 12, 14) and uses it in strategic places.
The phrase defines the “little ones” as those who have put their trust in Jesus for their salvation. The seriousness of the charge against whoever causes one of them to stumble is that they have somehow damaged that trust.
Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.
Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this — not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.
15 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. 2 Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU FELL ON ME." 4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.
A person can stumble because of sin but also due to unfair criticism or discouragement, failure to forgive, lack of care. Jesus names it as a capital offense.
Vs. 7 has a double woe. The world and those in it who are stumbling blocks.
Christ calls the stumbling blocks in the world of people - necessary or inevitable (ananke). Consider the parable of the wheat and the tares.
In such a world, discipleship was not going to be easy.
It must be said here that every believer is responsible for their own actions and for their own spiritual lives.
In MAT 5:29-30 we encounter sexuality and here power. Either drive can dominate one’s life.
Amputate! He is not kidding! (We’ll explain)
The place of punishment is eternal fire.
The stumbling blocks of the world are generally unbelievers and it would be better for them to amputate than to be judged to go to eternal fire.
Jesus’ approach to sin problems is to cut them out and throw them as far away as possible. It is a kind of heroism, but one that depends on being convinced as to the importance of the life of Christ. Jesus does not teach a semi-repentance; an I want it to go but not just yet.
As the Lord knows, the hurt will only be for a little while and the long-term is life.
So far in this sermon:
We have seen three steps to a good community or congregation: 1) limit our freedom in order not to hurt the non-Christian; 2) lower our self-consciousness to the lowest little one so as to focus more on our duty to others, 3) rein in our appetites by ridding ourselves of anything that misleads or hurts others.
These are all a part of the narrow way in the Sermon on the Mount. Few find it.
It is better to unfulfilled and loyal than to be full and disloyal.
He now teaches us three ways to seek out others.
[Note: vs. 11 is in LUK 19:10, but was added here at some point. It is not a part of the original Matthew.]
Jesus is talking to His own disciples and the context is them caring for one another so that none wander away (not lost). Luke’s parable is evangelistic and Matthew’s is pastoral.
To despise is the opposite of welcome in vs. 5.
A single little one matters to God, and therefore, must matter to all disciples. He is now likened to a little sheep, which reflects our vulnerability.
We are also reassured that we have a Father in heaven who cares for each sheep.
Unique to the Bible is this statement of “their angels in heaven.” Are these guardian angels?
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
For He will give His angels charge concerning you,
To guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
That you do not strike your foot against a stone.
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Most commentators assume that the reference is to guardian angels, some do not (of course).
The greater joy over the one recovered sheep than over the 99 emphasizes God’s pastoral care. God loves to save.
One member is in spiritual danger and action must be taken to win them back. God’s heart needs to be our heart.
For thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 "As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day. 13 "I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. 14 "I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 "I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord God. 16 "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment.
Jesus unites Himself with this image as the Great Shepherd in Joh 10.
For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined [apollumi, MAT 18:14], the brother for whose sake Christ died.
The singular pronouns means that this part of the teaching is not directed at church leaders. (Stage 1) The person who sees the straying due to sin is the one who is to confront the straying sheep.
We should be careful if we read or hear someone labeling this section as discipline.
'You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
It is easier to hide behind a leader rather than approach the offender on your own. Yes, you are your brother’s keeper.
It is important to remember:
"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
We concluded that the “log” was the incalculable magnitude of your own sin, or debt to God. It is removed in Christ alone, and that understanding of the grace of God in the doctrine of redemption, humbles you and clarifies the eyes of your heart to properly approach your brother whose sin is leading them astray from God.
In both the OT and NT, the Lord does not want sin dividing His people. He does not ask us to be sinless, but to deal with it.
V. 15 elegcho - convict, repute; not a gentle verb.
But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.
As a great example: Think of Jesus going directly to Peter after his denial that was destroying his soul.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Paul met and remained with Peter for some weeks in Jerusalem. Imagine the rapt Paul listening to the all the things that Peter had to tell, including the details of his denial of Christ and how Christ came to him and reconciled and comforted him. That’s what this is about.
If a believer fails to live out his spiritual life, it is the greatest tragedy of all.
The pastoral approach is underlined by the very “win,” [kerdiano] which shows that the concern is not mainly with the safety and/or reputation of the whole community but with the spiritual welfare of the individual.
If the individual, one-on-one approach has not been successful, more drastic action is needed. God does not want us to give up on them. It is not discipline but a Christian being drawn away from God due to sin.
Stage 2: take one or two others with you.
Again, there is no mention of leaders, just one or two others with no indication with how they should be selected, DEU 19:15.
Stage three: tell the church (now public).
The Lord cares for them!
Then we come to the last resort, which the two earlier approaches have been designed to avoid. Speak it or tell it to the church must require a public statement. This is to be avoided at all costs, but if it becomes necessary, that is how important the straying sheep is to the Lord.
Consider as a Gentile (unbeliever) and tax collector (used in MAT 5:47 together to represent those outside of the fellowship).
The idea is not that they are shunned, but removed from the fellowship with the hope that they repent.
The repentant man in Corinth:
Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
The point of all three stages is winning your brother who is moving in dangerous directions; even suspending fellowship with him or her.
Each of us is to have pastoral care for every member of the church.
MAT 18:18-20 [you might end up with a little church]
To complete the first half of this sermon, Jesus now tells us of the authority of the disciple community as it comes from heaven.
The commission is a repeat of what the Lord told Peter in MAT 16:19 except that the verbs are plural. As with Peter so with the church, the binding and loosing is about making decisions about right and wrong.
The church is given the authority to deal with sin that will destroy its unity within and heaven backs her. When the church looses, meaning she accepts the doing of good by the will of God, heaven backs her.
The promise means that the church does not have to fear the threats of the world.
He wants a strong, unified church. Not one that allows sin that takes people away from God.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant but their power.
The leaders and the congregation at Corinth let a vast amount of immorality to go on and it hurt the violators as well as those who witnessed them.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH." 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Contemporary Judaism regarded ten males as the minimum number for corporate worship to be valid. I am grateful that Jesus’ principle is much less restrictive: two in agreement are enough.
One of Jesus’ titles is Immanuel, “God with us.”
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, “God with us.”
Christ “with you” is a significant element in Matthew’s gospel, both now and in the future eschatology, which we’ll see a lot more of in Mat 24-25. It echoes the OT theme of God dwelling among His people.
I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.
For this to be true with Jesus, He has to resurrect, which He has already promised.
Now, what if three are gathered and one is straying away from the Lord, and therefore the group, because of sin?
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