This is an excerpt from my latest book, Life in the Kingdom, book 2. Learn more about it here.
A Father’s Fury
18:5–6 “Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.”
God has invested so much time and effort in creating a person to be like His Son that He pronounces dire judgment upon those who undo His work of salvation. It will be better that the stumblers be drowned deep in the sea than face what they will experience at the Judgment Seat. God so appreciates and loves all the work we expend to trust and obey Him, to fight the battles we fight to stand for Him, to cut off all those elements of sin to honor Him above all, that He will be furious at those who unravel all of our and His hard work.
18:7–9 “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.
Jesus sees full salvation as reaching this state of humility before God, where God is all. Humility is of great price with God. Therefore, it is the greatest crime meriting God’s fury to anyone who destroys this partnership of man and God.
If you are a bullying person, a person who aims to hurt, to cut down others, you are to do all that is necessary to make sure you do not expend your destructive tendencies on the persons God is forming for His glory. You are in grave danger if you cross one of these precious ones who have gone through the fires while you have protected your own comfort and ego.
People will say that Jesus is using hyperbole here when talking about cutting off a hand or foot or plucking out an eye. I think not. He is talking about being great in the Kingdom of Heaven. He is talking about a process that takes a lifetime of work, and we get only this one life to trust and obey.
Jesus came to save that which was lost. If we think salvation simply means to die and go to heaven, I can see how His words would seem like exaggeration. But salvation according to Jesus in the gospel of Matthew is seen to be so much more. It is to destroy sin, setting us free to trust and obey God, even to die to sinful self and flesh so as to wholly rely on God — His person, His power, His love. This is not easy to find in this life where sin, Satan, the flesh, and the world all oppose every effort we expend. We are in a race of time to be all we can be. We fight the good fight of faith while the world jeers, giving no encouragement to us at all.
We struggle to find comfort in words of a book that’s thousands of years old, originally written in languages foreign to us, with cultural references obscure to most of us, and doggedly hang onto every word, knowing that we cannot understand it unless the Spirit illuminates us. Does Jesus take this effort lightly? No, He does not. He will reward those who have struggled in faith and obedience to the end. What will He do to those who keep choosing the easy path? What will He do for those who find the Bible too hard to read, prayer too much trouble, and worship a big bother? I, for one, do not want to find out, especially whenever we read of dire judgment passages where Jesus calls them “hypocrites.”
“Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him. For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:9–10). What will we get for the “bad” we have done in the body? Paul did not want to find out, for he continued: “Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11a).
If we are believers, but not taking sin seriously, then why did we become believers? Jesus’ work is to save us from sin, to restore a glorious relationship between God and sinners. If we don’t want to humble ourselves before Him, we may have a wrong understanding of the gospel. We may have a low opinion of salvation. We may have our values polluted by the world and the flesh.
First Corinthians 6:9–10 is clear about the ramifications of not running for the prize: “Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.” The humble are inheriting God’s Kingdom.
Second Peter 1:4 tells us that we may be changed into the “divine nature” through the promises. But we must go through the process of faith and obedience, as he wrote in 1:5–8: “Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Peter is telling us that we will change our minds and actions based on what we believe in the scriptures. We will add moral excellence to our faith; we will gain more self-control if we learn the lessons; we will find ourselves more patient; we will care for the things of God more; we will love our brothers and sisters in the faith more. Experiencing all these things, we come to a more intimate understanding of Christ.
What is the result of all this work, this partnership with God as we grow into Christlikeness? What will happen if we keep on the path of sanctification? Second Peter 1:10–11 tells us, “Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” There is a kingdom now, which we seem to enter into by faith, and a coming kingdom that we will enter into by our works of faith. Whatever the word tells us to do and be, let us strive for that, for we will be abundantly rewarded.
What of those who do not labor for God’s end? Second Peter 1:9 answers that: “For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins.” To obtain the greatest in the kingdom takes simple trust as God works His way in us. We need to look to the end game, not just at the present. When we only look at the present, we will miss out; we will be blind to the fact that our old sins require personal diligence to overcome. We will be blind to the true salvation Christ suffered so cruelly and died so hard to win.
18:10–11 “See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.”
Don’t despise the lowly believers in this world. God’s angels are looking out for them. Jesus is intently focused on their fight of faith. God is not only rooting behind the scenes to win the victory; He is providing us with every grace, every provision to win the battle. Through the promises, we are made aware of the provisions. He has won the war, and the end is certain.
