The Lost Sheep

Please open your Bibles to Matthew 18:10-14

Read Matthew 18:10-14.

Matthew 18 is known for being a chapter about church discipline.

It’s going to teach some hard truths, that scare many Christians.

It’s going to talk about sin.

It’s going to talk about confronting sin.

It’s going to talk about excommunicating people, kicking them out of the church.

It’s going to talk about forgiving those who have hurt us deeply.

I’ve been wanting to preach on that section for a while.

But I don’t want to rush into it.

Because some of those actions are difficult.

And they are dangerous if they are misapplied.

They are used like a sledge hammer.

They are abused.

They beat people into submission.

So before we jump into the section on church discipline, I wanted to ease our way into it, and teach it the way Christ did.

That’s why we began at verse 1 of the chapter.

We are laying a foundation for how to approach other believers in their sin.

Because if we are going to be a church that is obedient to Scripture, and practices church discipline, we need to have a church that loves the church the way Christ does.

It begins with a reminder of who Christians are in God’s Kingdom

Remember the setting.

At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus called a child, a toddler, over to Him.

He’s just old enough to respond to his name and come when he’s called.

Jesus said you must become like a child.

And this describes our approach to Christ.

As Jesus continues in this passage, he is comparing His people to weak things.

We are compared to children.

Dependent upon God.

Completely helpless without Him.

We are to be humble like a child.

To place your life at the mercy of God.

Recognize His authority over your life.

We are those who believe in Christ

We are fragile like a child.

The reality is that we are weak.

Christians are weaker than we let on.

Maybe it’s an American thing, maybe it’s just an affect of the fall, but we hide our weaknesses.

We are afraid of letting others know what our weaknesses are.

We try to have it all together.

And put on this front of strength.

But we have weaknesses.

You have weaknesses.

There are some things that I’m not good at, and that’s okay.

There are some things you’re not good at, and that’s okay.

I have strengths that you don’t have, and you have strengths that I don’t have.

We have to recognize that.

We don’t have to be ashamed of that.

And as we grow together, we should know these things about each other.

Christ knows that we are weak.

Verse 2, we are called children.

Verse 4, we are humble.

Verses 6-9, imply that we are vulnerable.

Verse 10, we are called little ones.

Jesus is describing all Christians.

This is me.

This is you.

This is the person who sits next to you at church.

This is the person who sits across from you in the room.

This is the loud person.

This is the quiet person.

I’ll tell you what, we forget this about ourselves.

And it damages us.

Because when you pretend that you have it all together, then you expect others to do the same thing.

And what happens when weaknesses are exposed?

You are shamed.

The other person is shamed.

And we are belittled.

We forget that the church is filled with people who are weak.

Christ called us children.

None of us are perfect.

None of us are finished products.

Yet sometimes we expect each other to be further along then we are.

We expect others to be completely sanctified.

Completely perfect.

We forget that we are these little ones.

Christ is describing us.

So let’s go backwards and remember something.

What are children?

They are little people.

And there are certain things that you know about kids.

Amanda and I have a son.

He’s 8 months old.

He wears a diaper.

And he dirties those diaper.

But imagine if Amanda and I didn’t treat Ben like a baby.

“Ben look what you did in your diaper! You should be ashamed of yourself!”

I’ve known Ben now for 8 months and he still can’t form a sentence.

Imagine, if I refused to feed him till he politely asked for a bottle.

“Please - Thank you.”

The boy would never eat.

There are certain things I know about Ben.

I want him to grow up.

I want him to mature.

And if he’s still wearing a diaper in 5 years, then we’ll talk.

Until then, he’s a child.

I expect certain things of children.

Unfortunately, we aren’t so patient with God’s children.

We forget this.

We view others, and we forget that they are children.

And being children they are on different levels of maturity.

Some of them are infants in the faith.

Some are toddlers.

Some are middle schoolers.

All these different levels, but we expect them to be full mature, spiritually developed, who have it all together.

How are we to respond to Christians who are on different paths of maturity?

How are we to view Christians who act like children?

Verse 10, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones.”

That’s a negative statement.

Don’t despise them.

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Literally, don’t look down on them.

Don’t be haughty.

Don’t be arrogant.

Don’t show favoritism.

Don’t expect an infant to behave like an adult.

Some say that we live in a cancel culture.

Cancel culture is what you see with celebrities and politicians.

People try to dig up dirt on someone that he or she did in the past, and then they’re cancelled.

Some past mistake is revealed.

Something that was acceptable in culture 15 years ago is now anathema, and the person is booted from culture.

He’s fired from his TV show.

He loses his job.

He is removed from the scene.

He no longer has a voice.

15-20 years ago we called it being politically correct.

Today we say you are cancelled.

Christians generally are opposed to the cancel culture, but sometimes we do that to each other as well.

Only perhaps it’s even worse, because of who we are.

Jesus calls us little ones.

And when one of these little ones doesn’t behave like an adult, we cancel them.

We wipe our hands of them, and move on.

To despise them is to look down on them, judge them, and treat them as nonChristians.

Only that’s not how Jesus teaches us to treat one another.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones.”

So instead of getting angry when a Christian acts like a young Christian what should we do?

Ephesians 5:29 says that Jesus nourishes and cherishes the church.

Nourish.

This is the word that describes a mother feeding her child from her breast.

Giving him sustenance to grow and mature.

Jesus knows what you are.

You are children.

And in the same way, instead of writing each other off when we act like our development level, we are to support one another, and encourage obedience and maturity in Christ.

A baby can’t walk far.

You put him in a stroller.

In the same way, Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

This doesn’t mean you ignore sin, or call sin good.

We will talk about that next week.

But this means we do have a responsibility to each other.

What Jesus is doing, is He is doing is teaching His disciples how to care for the church.

And in the same way He is teaching us how to care for the church.

In this passage, we get a glimpse into the heart of God.

We get to see what motivates God.

And if we can get this into our hearts, then we can do better at caring for one another.

Do not despise these little ones.

In order to do that we must develop a love for the church, like Christ has for us.

Develop a love for God’s children, the way He has for us.

You’ll see in this text, that God has plans for these weak saints.

Why don’t we despise God’s children?

Jesus gives us 5 truths about the children of God, that motivate us not to despise Christians.

The first truth of God regarding His children is they are Guarded in Heaven.

This first reason has to do with association.

This brings with it the reality of what it means to be loved by God and cared for by God.

When I was in middle school, I spent a day with my childhood hero, Tony Gwynn.

He was in a golf tournament in my hometown.

I followed him throughout the day.

He even gave me a ride in his golf cart, which was the highlight of the day.

At the end of the day, someone saw me with him, and assumed that I knew him.

That I was more than some obnoxious kid that Tony Gwynn couldn’t shake.

This person asked if I could get an autograph from Tony.

He thought that I had connections.

I was treated differently, because this stranger thought that I knew Tony Gwynn.

This first reason that Jesus gives means that Christians are to be treated differently because of who they know.

Jesus begins with a very pragmatic reason to not despise the saints, it’s because they are guarded in heaven.

There is someone in heaven who knows about them and cares about them, and fights for them.

Let’s get into the revealed mind of God here.

The world is quick to look down on Christians.

We are hated because of Who we love.

Currently, Christians are mocked for our desire to worship God within the community of a church body, that gathers together.

And the world sees this as irresponsible.

The world sees this as strange to want to be with other believers.

The world sees it as strange to want to worship God with the body of the redeemed, to not be satisfied with internet church.

We are hated because we love what God loves.

If a Christian speaks against homosexuality, it’s condemned as hate speech.

These are just a couple examples.

The world around us is suppressing truth.

They are suppressing truth that God has given.

And then suppresses, silences, and condemns those who embrace God’s truth.

May we never look at one another so atheistically!

May we view one another the way God does.

Jesus calls his church “little ones”.

As we spend time together you will see the evidence of Christians and their weaknesses.

You will see my weakness.

You will see Jason’s weakness.

You will see Randy’s weakness.

The same with you.

It’s just the truth, we are all different.

And when you start realizing that I’m a human, and the elders are human, and that we still sin, you may be quick to want to cancel us.

Call us hypocrites.

Move on.

Despise us.

To do the very thing Jesus forbids.

And why shouldn’t you despise Christians when you see their sin, or their unsanctified areas, because they’ve got friends in high places.

Jesus says, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

Some use this as a text to prove guardian angels.

As if, we each have a guardian angel sitting on our shoulder.

A Jiminy Cricket, who follows us and fends off demons.

That’s not what this is about, nor is that what this is even about.

What are angels?

Hebrews 1 says that angels are “ministering spirits.”

They exist to serve us.

Angels served as messengers.

Often bringing messages from God to men.

Think of Gabriel, giving Mary the message, that she would give birth to the Son of God.

Angels serve as the army of God.

They are described as a host.

And they are continually in the presence of God the Father in heaven.

Verse 10 says, “their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

They are ministering spirits, in the presence of God, awaiting orders from the God on high.

When we meet Gabriel, in Luke 1:19, he says, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

Gabriel stood in the presence of God, awaiting orders from Him.

Just itching to be used by God to serve those who are created in the image of God.

There the angels are.

In the presence of God.

Waiting to be used by God for the service of the saints.

Think about that?

Think about that when you see a fellow believer.

Here is a Christian.

Showing a weakness.

That weakness could be a sin.

Could be immaturity.

Could be he’s just not very good at something.

But you see this weakness.

And you become offended.

You begin thinking insults.

You call him the hypocrite.

You’ve despised the person.

Now there may come a day, when the person is proven to be a hypocrite.

Matthew 7 says that many will say Lord, Lord, and prove to be false converts.

I John 2 says that there are people hiding out in the church who are in fact not converted.

And yes, they need to be called out.

But there is a process to reaching that conclusion.

You’ll see that next week.

But you don’t be quick to jump to that level, to condemn them, to despise them.

Do you really want to despise one of these “little ones”?

One of these little ones who God is protecting them with an army of angels in heaven.

Is that really what you want to do?

The fact that there is an army of angels, waiting to serve you on the Lord’s behalf shows you the value that God has placed on His beloved.

To despise a believer in Christ, is to despise God himself.

That’s why it’s atheistic to despise, a fellow believer.

You are going contrary to the will of God.

You are making yourself an enemy of someone that God has sworn to defend.

The second truth of God regarding His children is the Shepherd Watches Them.

Jesus goes on to tell a story in verses 12-13.

It’s a simple story.

“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? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.”

What do you think?

A man has 100 sheep.

One of them goes missing.

Does he not leave the 99 and go look for the one that is missing?

This shepherd has 100 sheep, and 1 goes missing.

You see the gentle spirit of this shepherd.

He knows his sheep.

He knows them all by name.

John 10:3, “… he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

He has 100, but he knows them as individuals.

This tells us about the care of the Shepherd.

The way this is phrased, it’s as if the shepherd knows all His sheep.

He knows where His sheep are.

He knows when one is gone, before it even calls out for help.

This is a testimony to the omniscience of God.

Someone may seem lost.

Someone may feel lost.

But the omniscience of God means He knows exactly where he is.

We can’t despise ourselves, because this puts us in our place.

Don’t ever get ahead of yourself.

We are the creature.

We are the little ones.

We are the sheep.

He is the Shepherd.

There is a desire for us to be the shepherd.

Sometimes we want to tell the shepherd where we are going.

We want to be in control of our life.

But that’s not the order of things.

We are the sheep.

Think of Psalm 23.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

The good shepherd provides all we need.

He leads.

He leads to still waters.

He leads in paths of righteousness.

He will never lose you.

And this is our confidence regarding all of God’s elect, He will lose none of them.

I know this about myself.

And I know this about all God’s sheep.

John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

I cannot despise those that God will raise up.

The third truth of God regarding His children is the Shepherd Pursues Them

Jesus asks a rhetorical question in verse 12.

It looks like a question.

It is a question.

But it demands a positive answer.

“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?”

If the man has a sheep go astray will he search?

It’s an obvious answer, of course he will.

The 99 are left in a safe place.

They are not abandoned to harm.

And Shepherd pursues the wayward sheep.

And when one goes astray … He pursues them.

The Pharisees and the scribes looked down on people.

They looked down on the poor.

Remember the rich man and Lazarus?

Lazarus was a beggar.

He was forgotten in life.

He was despised.

Tax collectors were seen as the worst of the worst.

They were looked down on and despised.

Yet, Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost.

Look at the truth in this passage.

Christ loves all these little ones.

He loves His saints.

And He doesn’t love you because you’re perfect.

He doesn’t love His sheep because of their obedience.

His love for you is not based on how holy you are, or how many good works you do.

Christ is a shepherd to true believer - no matter how:

Young.

Immature

Unfaithful.

Unattractive.

Deprived

Every true believer is loved by Christ.

Purchased by Christ.

Therefore to look down on a Christian, and consider him worthless and useless is to despise that which Christ loves.

As you look at the church.

You may see someone who:

Is not the brightest or sharpest.

But Christ has given His all for that person and will keep him safe.

In fact this may be you.

You may feel like you’re the black sheep of the family.

You look at other Christians, and think them better.

You need to hear this.

If you are a little one.

A believer who trusts in Christ.

Who Christ has purchased.

He does not despise you.

Is this not the message that our culture needs to hear?

You have people within our culture who think their lives don’t matter.

You have the lost wondering if their lives matter.

People contemplating suicide, because they don’t think their lives matter.

You have people depraved sexually, and questioning their own body, and if lives bodies matter.

And what do people need to hear?

They need to hear of the one who went to the Cross.

They need to hear of Christ who paid for sin.

Though guilt tears them down.

They need to hear that Jesus Christ died for sin.

That Christ redeems us.

Jesus paid a heavy price for sheep.

John 10:11 says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

How can we despise sheep that Jesus died for?

The fourth truth of God regarding His children is the Shepherd Rejoices Over Them

A sheep goes astray.

The shepherd searches for the missing sheep.

And when he finds the missing sheep?

Verse 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.”

Do you know that God has emotions?

He has emotions, real, genuine emotions.

God can be angry.

God also has joy.

He has true joy.

What makes God joyful?

When He is reunited with His sheep.

You see a parental affection with the Father.

He wants to be with His sheep.

This brings God joy.

Luke records this same little story in Luke 15.

It’s part of a collection of 3 parables about something being lost, and then found.

The final of the 3 parables, there is the Prodigal son.

The prodigal son, left his father.

Wasted his inheritance.

Finally, in great embarrassment and shame, he returned to the father.

What did the Father do?

He ran to the son.

Embraced the son.

Kissed the son.

Gave him a robe, ring and shoes.

Then killed the fattened calf and they had a feast, to celebrate his return.

Do you remember the other son?

What did he do?

He despised his wayward brother.

He hated him.

If you love what God loves, then you will love the saints.

All the saints.

Even the weak ones.

Even the little ones.

God’s love is so great that He gave His only son.

Don’t look down on the saints.

It goes against what brings God joy.

What brings God joy?

When they return.

I want to be someone who brings God joy.

Instead of cancelling, despising other weaker believers.

They may be in sin.

They may just be immature.

What do we do?

We pursue them.

The Great Commission says to make disciples, and to teach.

We do biblical counseling.

We open up God’s Word.

We disciple, we shepherd.

Maybe you see yourself as one of these little ones.

You are immature.

You compare yourself to other Christians, and you see yourself as a child.

As being incomparable to them.

And you wonder how you could ever make God happy.

Do you see that what makes God happy, what makes God joyful, is us being redeemed by His Son and having fellowship with Him.

By returning to Him.

Repenting of Sin.

Living humbly as a child of God, who trusts in Him alone.

God wants His sheep with Him.

Christ died for the sheep.

If you’re afraid of punishment … Christ has already suffered for you.

Your return won’t be a return to the anger or judgment of God, but of joy.

There are some who think they are lost sheep, and they can’t come back.

But here we see the Father’s desire, it’s to be united with His Sheep.

Have you been away?

Has something happened that caused you to drift off?

Let this morning’s message be a comfort and a call to you.

The Lord rejoices when His sheep are returned.

Is this you?

Then return to Christ.

The fifth truth of God regarding His children is the Father’s will.

When you see a weak saint, a struggling saint, how do you respond?

This whole passage is describing the will of God.

The desire of God.

The plan of God.

Remember, they are little children.

But children do not stay as little children.

Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

If you are despising weaker saints -

Shunning them.

Wanting to get rid of them.

Then you are acting as an opponent to God’s will because His will is that none of them perish.

You see His will in verse 14, “None of these little ones should perish.”

This is something that I take great confidence in.

All those who are Christ’s sheep, will be saved.

II Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

He’s writing to the church there.

God is patient towards His elect.

He is patient to His sheep.

And the will of God -

The sovereign, eternal decree, is that every single one of His sheep will be saved and not perish.

To speak against a fellow sheep, places you in dangerous territory, because you are going against the will of God.

To you wounded and hurt sheep, I hope you see the gentle Father, who loves His children dearly.

His will is for you to live.

The will of God is to care for you who are His.

I Peter 5:7 says to cast "your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.”

God cares for those who are His.

This passage is important because it sets up the rest of the passage.

Are you in sin?

Are you weak?

Are you stumbling around?

The solution is to turn from your sin, and turn to Christ.

You can’t disqualify yourself.

God finds joy especially when the wayward Christian, returns to Christ.

This also serves as a reminder to the saints.

Welcome the weaker Christians.

When they are grieving over sin and repentant, don’t turn them away.

Rather, help.

Carry them.

Bear them.

Are you in sin, and wondering what God’s will is?

You’ve heard it this morning.

To be found and cared for by Him.

The good news is that Jesus died for sin.

If you are in Christ, He died for all of your sin.

This means nothing can separate you from Him.

Are you burdened with sin?

Then turn to Christ.

Are you guilty from sin?

Then remember Christ.

Resist being so proud to think that Jesus can’t die for you.