The Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of His teaching on humility and stumbling blocks in Matthew 18, delivers a word of alarming severity: “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having...

When the Lord Jesus paid the temple tribute and then set a little child in the midst of His disciples, He painted a portrait of His true assembly. Matthew 17:24-27 shows the Son who, though free, humbles Himself to give no offense by paying tribute with a coin from a fish's mouth. Matthew 18:1-9 then sets that same humility as the entrance requirement into the kingdom: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven" (18:3). A true church...

When the collectors of the tribute money asked Peter, “Doth not your master pay tribute?” (Matthew 17:24), they posed a question with wider implications than a single tax bill. In answering it, Christ revealed a principle found all over scripture: the people of God are to render their civil obligations faithfully, and in so doing, bear witness to a greater kingdom. Jesus, acknowledging that “the children are free” (17:26), nonetheless directs Peter: “go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and...