Matthew 18
18
Chapter 18
Who is important in God's kingdom?
1Soon after this, the disciples came to Jesus and they asked him, ‘Who is the most important person in the kingdom of heaven?’
2Jesus called a child to come to him. He made the child stand in the middle of them all. 3He said, ‘I tell you this: You must change and become like little children. If not, you will never come into the kingdom of heaven. 4This little child does not think that he is very important. You must also think as he does. Whoever does this will be the most important person in the kingdom of heaven. 5If anyone accepts a child like this because of me, that person also accepts me.’
6Jesus said, ‘A person who believes in me may not seem important. But you should never make that person do wrong things. #18:6 The person might be someone who does not believe well in God. Or he may be a child. It would be better to die than to cause someone to stop obeying God. Do not do that! It would be better for you if someone tied a big stone round your neck. Then you would sink deep down into the sea and die. 7Some things in this world will cause people to do wrong things. You can be sure that bad things will happen. But it will be very bad for the person who makes these things happen.
8If your hand or your foot causes you to do wrong things, you should cut it off. You should throw it away. It is better to have only one hand or one foot and to have God's true life. It will be much worse to keep both your hands and both your feet and still do wrong things. Then God will throw you into hell, where the fire always burns. 9If your eye causes you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. It is better to have only one of your eyes and to have God's true life. It will be much worse if you keep both your eyes but then God throws you into hell. There the fire always burns.
10Be careful! Do not think that any of these little people are not important. I tell you this. They have angels who watch over them. Those angels are always standing in front of my Father in heaven. #18:10 God's word teaches us that there are angels. And these angels are servants of God, who watch over his people.
11[I, the Son of Man, came to look for those who are far away from God.] #18:11 Verse 11 is in old Bibles. Many Bible students think that someone put it into Matthew's book later.
12Think about a man who has 100 sheep. He discovers that one of his sheep is not there with the others. What does he do? He leaves all his other sheep on the hills. He goes to look for the one lost sheep. 13And I tell you this: If he finds that lost sheep, he will be very happy. All the other sheep are safe together. But they do not make him as happy as this one sheep does. 14God, your Father in heaven, is like that shepherd. He does not want any of these little people to be lost, not even one of them.’ #18:14 In this story, God is like the man who takes care of the sheep. The lost sheep is like a person who is not obeying God. God cares that he is lost. He wants to bring him back to himself.
A friend does wrong things against you
15Jesus said, ‘If your Christian friend has done something wrong against you, you must go and speak to him. When you are alone with him, tell him what he has done that is wrong. He may agree with what you say. If he does, then you can call him your friend again.
16But maybe he does not want to listen to you. Then take one or two other people with you to speak to him. They will then know what wrong things your friend has done. Remember what the Bible says: “There must be two or three people to say certainly that another person has done something wrong. Two or three people must agree what has happened.” 17If your friend still will not agree that he has done something wrong, then go and tell the church leaders. #18:17 The word ‘church’ means a group of Christians. They meet together because they are obeying Jesus. It does not mean the building where they meet. If he does not agree with the leaders, stop being his friend. He is like somebody who refuses to obey God. #18:17 This does not mean that we should only be friends with other Christians. We can be friends with other people too. But perhaps a person says that he follows Jesus. But he does not obey Jesus. Then we should not be a special friend of that person.
18I tell you this: You will tell people here on earth what is right for them to do. And you will tell them what is not right for them to do. God in heaven will give you this authority. He will agree with what you say.
19Two people may agree together to ask God for something. If they agree like that, then my Father in heaven will give them what they ask for. #18:19 People must ask God for the right things. They must be things that God wants to give to them. 20Two or more people may meet together because they believe in me. If they do that, I will be there with them.’
Jesus tells the people about the servant who did not forgive
21Then Peter came to talk to Jesus. He asked, ‘Lord, if my friend does wrong things against me many times, how many times should I forgive him? Must I forgive him as many as seven times for the wrong things that he has done against me?’
22Jesus replied, ‘I do not say only seven times. I say you should forgive him 77 times!’ #18:22 Jesus is saying that we must continue to forgive people many, many times.
23Jesus then said, ‘I will tell you a story to show what the kingdom of heaven is like. A king wanted to check how much money his servants should give to him because of their debts. 24So the king began to check. His men led a servant to him who had a big debt. He must pay back 10,000 gold coins to the king. #18:24 This was a very large amount of money. No man could ever pay all this money to the king.
25The servant could not pay his big debt to the king. So the king said to his men, “Sell the servant and his wife and his children and all his things. Then I will keep the money to pay his debt.”
26Then the servant went down on his knees in front of the king. He said to the king, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will pay you everything.” 27The king felt sorry for his servant. He forgave him for all the debt and let him go free.
28But then that same servant went away and he met another servant of the king. This other servant had to pay back a debt of 100 silver coins to the first servant. The first servant took hold of the neck of the other servant to hurt him. He said, “Give me the money that is mine.”
29The other servant went down on his knees in front of the first servant. He said, “Please, please give me some more time, then I will give you the money.”
30But the first servant would not agree. He put the other servant in prison until he could pay his debt to him. 31The other servants of the king saw what had happened. They were very upset about it. So they went to see the king. They told him about everything that had happened.
32When the king heard this, he told the first servant to come to him. “You are a very bad person,” the king said to the servant. “I forgave you the whole of your big debt to me. I did this because you asked me very strongly. 33I was kind to you. You should have been kind to that other servant in the same way.” 34The king was very angry with the first servant. He told his men to put him in prison. They punished the servant there very much, until he could pay all his debt to the king.’
35Then Jesus finished the story and he said, ‘You must forgive your friends completely. If you do not agree to forgive them, then my Father in heaven will do like that king did. He will not forgive you.’
Currently Selected:
Matthew 18: EASY
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
MissionAssist 2018
Matthew 18
18
1 In that hour the disciples came to Yeshua, saying, “Who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2Yeshua called a little child to himself, and set him in the middle of them 3and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, 6but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea.
7 “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! 8If 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. 9If 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 Gehinnom#18:9 or, Hell of fire. 10See 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. 11For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.#18:11 NU omits verse 11.
12 “What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? 13If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 14Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. 16But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.#Deuteronomy 19:15 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. 18Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 19Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 20For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”
22Yeshua said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven. 23Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he had begun to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.#18:24 Ten thousand talents (about 300 metric tons of silver) represents an extremely large sum of money, equivalent to about 60,000,000 denarii, where one denarius was typical of one day’s wages for agricultural labor. 25But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26The servant therefore fell down and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ 27The lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred denarii, # 18:28 100 denarii was about one sixtieth of a talent, or about 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of silver. and he grabbed him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
29 “So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ 30He would not, but went and cast him into prison until he should pay back that which was due. 31So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told their lord all that was done. 32Then his lord called him in and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?’ 34His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors until he should pay all that was due to him. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
PUBLIC DOMAIN