Wandering Sheep

Introduction

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What occupies your thoughts more? The fear of man or the fear of God? “Fear of man” is ironic it how it sounds because it sounds as if one is consumed with the thoughts of others. But in reality, it is a lot more self-focused. When someone operates on the basis of the fear of man, he is not consumed with general thoughts of others, but whether others will accept or reject him. Operating on the basis of fear of man is not others focused, but self-focused.

An American Psychologist recounts an experience he had when meeting a classmate at age 15. It was sort of an epiphany for him. He writes:

I suddenly realized that for the entire then-minute period from when I had first seen my acquaintance until that very moment, I had been totally self-preoccupied. For the two or three minutes before we met all I was thinking about was the clever things I might say that would impress him. During our five minutes together, I was listening to what he had to say only so that I might turn it into a clever rejoinder. I watched him only so that I might see what effect my remarks were having upon him. And for the two or three minutes after we separated my sole thought content was those things I could have said that might have impressed him even more. I had not even cared a whit for my classmate.

This, I think, is the sort of mindset that the disciples had when they came to Jesus and asked “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

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Like the disciples, we have a tendency to have our greatness as our main focus. We can be really good at building relationships with others, all the while using all those people as a litmus test to measure our own greatness. Take social media for example. It’s designed for you to do things to gather followers and count how many followers you have to determine how great you are. We live our lives on the basis of the reception or rejection of others.

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Jesus wants to shift his disciples’ away from being self-focused to being others-focused. When the meditation of the disciple’s heart was, “Am I great?” Jesus wanted it to be, “Does the least among us feel respected?”

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Matt. 18:10-14

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Jesus Forbids Contempt of Fellow Disciples (v. 10a), God Assigns Heavenly Dignity to the Least of Believers (v. 10b), The Shepherd Who Refuses to Lose One (vv. 12-14)

Jesus Forbids Contempt of Fellow Disciples

Matthew 18:10 ESV

10 “See that you do not 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.

Revelation

Jesus begins this passage with a command. “See” or “pay close attention” or “be careful.” He directs this command to “you.” “You” in the context is the group of disciples. He commands them to not despise one of these little ones. Remember that “one of these little ones” refers to people who believe in Christ. Jesus is trying to get his disciples to reflect on how they see one another. “Despise” is a word that means to “Think low” about someone, or we might put it, “look down” upon, to ultimately reject.

Because God assigns infinite concern to every disciple, followers of Jesus must refuse contempt and actively pursue the wandering among them.

Relevance

We typically value a person for what they can bring to the table.

This is how we operate when it comes to our work life. When a company hires, they want someone who will be competent at the job. If a company wants to hire someone who will answer emails and create spreadsheets they will be less likely to hire someone without computer experience. If the job requires physical labor, the company will not hire someone who is incapable of doing it.

Imagine someone who does not care about their job. They do the bare minimum, and even that they do as slow as possible. They not only have poor performance, but also are vocal about it. “I’m not going to break a sweat doing my job.” And, “Everyone know that I’m just lazy.” Such a person will not get promoted and will often face reprimands and perhaps even termination.

It’s easy for coworkers to despise such a lazy person, especially since they often have to pick up the slack.

The business world values based on utility. It’s easy for us to allow that to become our mindset in the church as well. People are only valuable if they serve or volunteer. You may even believe your worth in Christ is determined by how much you serve. But let me just assure you that your worth in Christ has never been determined by what you do or what you have done, it is determined by what Christ has accomplished on the cross. The infinite worth of Christ’s blood was spilled on your behalf, you who trust in him, and so your value is in the old, rugged cross.

The business world values based on utility, but you may have noticed a subtle shift in how popular culture says value is determined. Media, entertainment, pop culture want to shove another value system down our throats. This is the idea that value is determined by affirmation. People are valued insofar as they affirm my inner sense of self: i.e., If you validate me, you are good; If you question me, constrain me, or challenge me, you are oppressive.

We have slowly morphed into a people who crave affirmation. We want people to come to us and say, “wow, you are spiritual, you are so mature, you are so independent, you are so strong.” But here comes the little one who does not affirm me, but affirms God. They prove to us that we are not sufficient, but God is sufficient. And so we despise them for exposing the hole in our lives that we are not as God-dependant or mature as we like to think.

The church-goer shaped by business asks, “How will this person be useful to me.” If they won’t, well, who needs them?

The church-goer shaped by affirmation asks, “How will this person make me feel great and important?” If they won’t, well, who needs them?

The church shaped by business asks, “How will this disciple serve the product/program we want to create?” (church is the programs/product)

The church shaped by affirmation asks, “How will this disciple affirm the performance of the worship experience?” (Church is the experience)

Jesus asks, “How will this disciple treat every single person who trusts in me? Will you receive or despise them?” (Church is the people)

If that person is too needy, too annoying, or too different, too irreverent, it’s easy for them to become a target of our disregard. But Jesus says, “See that you do not despise one of these little one.”

Jesus gives two major reasons why such little ones (our humble fellow believers) should not be despised.

God Assigns Heavenly Dignity to the Least of Believers

Matthew 18:10 ESV

10 “See that you do not 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.

Revelation

The first reason Jesus gives is that their angels always see the face of God. It’s easy to get bogged down in sensational details of this passage and miss the point. Every commentary starts to debate the idea of guardian angels based on this passage. But Jesus was not trying to argue for such a thing. These angels are not earthly guardians, but heavenly representatives. In other words, these representatives are always ready to go to God on their behalf. So Jesus is saying that if we despise a fellow believer, we are despising someone who has access to the throne room of God. Our disrespect of this little one will leave us with God to contend with.

Relevance

Jesus says that the little ones have representatives who always see the face of the Father. In other words, heaven is not indifferent to how we treat one another. God does not overlook our disregard simply because it looks small, justified, or reasonable to us. The problem is that most of our despising feels too ordinary to seem dangerous.

We don’t think of ourselves as despising anyone. We just stop engaging. We stop listening carefully. We stop making room. We explain our distance as discernment. We’ve told ourself that we have done our duty to God by attending the Sunday worship service. We call that worship service church and feel like we served it well all while neglecting the people in the service. Don’t you know the people, you, each little one in here, you are the church?

Ah, American churches have done so much on preaching tithing, attendance, and serving. You’re not giving enough, you’re not regularly attending, you’re not serving? Well, we will put your feet to the fire. But we neglected that the word church does not mean worship service, it does not mean bank. The word church means people, a local gathering of believers.

Jesus does not say that there are accountants always before the face of God. He does not say there are Sunday school directors always before the face of God. He said the little ones, the fellow believers around you, they have heavenly representatives.

You might say, “I’m too old, preacher, people should take care of me now.” Or, “I’m not a deacon or a pastor here.” Or, “I just don’t have the time.” Or, “Don’t you know how draining that person is?” Whatever excuse you have come up with to neglect Christ’s church let me remind you that these little ones have heavenly representatives. You’re not contending with me to neglect God’s people. You’re not contending with the text. You’re contending with God.

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A heavenly representative really means nothing if God himself has disregard for such a little one. But Jesus argues the exact opposite.

The Shepherd Who Refuses to Lose One

Matthew 18:11–14 ESV

12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Revelation

You may have noticed that, depending on your translation, v. 11 was skipped over. V. 11 does not appear in the earliest manuscripts and most agree that it was added later to harmonize with Luke’s account. Luke tells this same parable, but to the Pharisees. Luke’s thrust is evangelistic: Jesus is willing to leave the fold of Israel to find the lost sheep. Here in Matthew, Jesus is telling this parable to his disciples. The thrust here is not so much evangelistic as it is pastoral.

Luke talks about the sheep that was “lost.” The sheep in that parable is a sinner who needs to repent. This is an unbeliever who needs to hear the gospel and believe in Jesus.

Here, in Matthew’s version of the same parable, the sheep is not “lost” but one who has “gone astray.” You see that phrase used of the sheep three times. This is someone who is already believed in Jesus, already identified as a disciple, already repented of sin, and is now beginning to wander.

It is not as though this shepherd would leave the 99 unprotected. That’s not the focus. Rather, the shepherd is personally going after that one that went astray. He is not sending a hired hand. He is not sending a sheep dog. He personally cares for that sheep. His care and concern is so much that he rejoices when he finds the sheep.

Jesus gives the main point of this parable in v. 14. God’s desire, his yearning, his concern is for every one of his little ones.

And if that’s God’s concern, how much more should that be our concern?

Relevance

Let me ask you, now. What do you think God’s greatest concern for Goshen Baptist Church is? Is it the budget? Is it the governance? Is it the leadership? Is it the sermons? Is it the worship service? Is it the volunteers? Or is it, as we see in this text, that not one of these little ones here will perish. Oh, dear brother and sister, his concern is for you and for me. Yes, worship is important and should be done reverantly, yes budget is important and should be exercised with great stewardship, yes sermons are important and should bring God’s word center, yes, governance and leadership are important, yet God’s radical concern is for you, each little one in this gathering.

So now, let me ask you, what is your greatest concern when you enter the doors of this building? What is your greatest concern when you consider Goshen Baptist Church? Is it your appearance? Is it that other people perceive you as spiritual? Is it that other might make you seem great? Is it the songs that are sung? Is it the business meetings? Is it making sure the preacher says the right things?

When we say that Jesus died for his church, we don’t mean just the volunteers, the building, the budget, the worship service. When we say Jesus died for his church we mean the people. You, dear brother and sister, Jesus died for you and me. How much concern do you show for the people that are gathered with you here in this congregation?

Application

Did you notice that Jesus spoke these words not merely to shepherds, leaders, or the spiritually mature—but to the entire flock? This command belongs to every disciple.

That means the care of the little ones is not delegated. It is shared.

There are likely some in this congregation who are wandering—not because they have joined another faithful church, but because they have quietly drifted while still calling themselves believers. Some may even be sitting among us this morning.

And here is the question Jesus presses upon us: Will we reflect the heart of the Father, or will we quietly accept their absence?

The Shepherd does not wait for the sheep to return on its own. He goes. He pursues. He rejoices when the wandering one is restored.

So let me ask you plainly: who is the one God is calling you to pursue?

Not to fix. Not to scold. But to love, to listen, and to remind them that they are seen and valued.

This week, take one intentional step. Make the call. Send the message. Start the conversation. If they are here today, don’t leave without speaking to them.

Not because the church needs to grow, but because God refuses to lose one of His own.

The little ones matter to Him. Do they matter to us?