God loves the little ones

Psalm 103:1-22 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!”

INTRODUCTION

This is going to be a two part message about relationships in the church.

This morning we are going to talk about the ‘little ones”.

Next week we will discuss church discipline and forgiveness.

The church was never intended to be like the world. What makes a church so unique is not the building, or the music, but the people. That is because God calls us to live by completely different principles than this world lives by.

And those principles should be evident in the church

They should be evident in the leadership

And they should be evident in our own personal lives

This sermon about humility

And it is desperately needed in our churches today

There is something truly great about a man or woman who lives in true humility

And the reason it is so hard for us is because it goes against everything we have learned from this world

A great church is a humble church. A great church member is a humble church member. A great pastor is a humble pastor.

Lets look at “the little ones” together and see what God has to say to us this morning!

Matthew 18:1–4 (NASB95)

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Explanation

The disciples have a question for Jesus, because they are convinced he is the Messiah and are beginning to think about heaven

They ask, “who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”

And how does Jesus respond to this question?

He calls a child over to Him and uses him as an example to teach the disciples a lesson

What does a child have to do with the kingdom of heaven?

This is not a lesson about children going to heaven

Jesus is speaking to adults here and uses a child as an illustration

Jesus says WE must “become like children”

The disciples had lost their child-likeness

And its not the child’s age that Jesus is speaking of, but their lack of interest in power and prestige and position.

Jesus is saying they must becomes like little children again in their relationship with God

BENTLEY ILLUSTRATION

Every morning we get here and begin to set up

Sometimes Nick already has the whole service set up

And Bentley Comes to me and he has one hung on his mind: serving me coffee

He loves to make people coffee

And even if I don’t really want it, I say, “yeah get me some coffee”

Why does he do that?

Why doesn’t he go and have a seat and expect someone to bring him hot chocolate?

Because he sees everyone else in the church as more important than himself

Because he knows his place and it is an honor to get to serve adults because in his mind they are more important than himself

Jesus says, “unless you are converted and become like children”

The word converted means: “to turn around”

The disciples were only thinking of status, power, and authority. They were interested in advancing up the ranks and getting bigger and better crowns with more jewels on them and more power to rule over more people.

That was backwards thinking in God’s Kingdom.

Their thinking was aligned with what the world had taught them:

Being superior is better than being inferior

Being served is better than serving

Do you can to end up on top!

AND Jesus drops this truth bomb on us and says, WE WONT EVEN MAKE IT TO HEAVEN WITH THAT KIND OF THINKING

It’s not just that God hopes that some of us will be LIKE THIS, (as if it’s optional) IT IS AN ABSOLUTE NECESSITY if we want our names written in the Lamb’s Book of life.

Principle

Only those who humble themselves like children can be a child of God

To enter he kingdom of heaven, people MUST possess the humility of a child.

People are not humble by nature. We are self-seeking, selfish, and driven by pride.

What the church so desperately needs is to become humble, trusting what God has done for our salvation and not what we can accomplish for ourselves.

We need to “turn” or “be converted,” in our thinking.

We need to recognize that our way of thinking is wrong, regardless of what our flesh says, regardless of what the world says, regardless of what we have been taught growing up.

The word humble means to be lowly

It means that we have an accurate view of ourselves.

That doesn’t mean we look down on ourselves.

The one who says: poor poor me, I’m just a no body. I’m just an old sinner who’s not worth anything. I’m just a waste of breath.

This is false humility

That’s pride in disguise.

A humble person knows who they are in Christ, because of Christ, and lives to glorify Christ not themselves

A humble does not exalt himself

It means we do NOT promote ourselves

It means that we DO treat other people as more important than ourselves

It means that we have a submissive attitude

Application

The church should never be about power or greatness, or position, or self glory

If our idea of serving in the church is to have a position of power then we need to be turned around in our thinking

The greatest position in the church should be the most serving position in the church.

If our idea of a great church is a big building with lots of money then we need to be turned around in our thinking.

Jesus is far more concerned with our selves being transformed than He is about worldly status

And far too many churches see those things as the goal in a church.

GOD IS FAR MORE CONCERNED WITH OUR OWN SPIRITUALITY.

Imagine how much different our church be, if we all had a heart like that of a child who came in and saw EVERYONE in here as more important than ourselves

Imagine coming to a church service where everyone was serving someone else.

I do believe God would call that church A GREAT CHURCH

Matthew 18:5–7 (NASB95)

“And whoever receives one such 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 to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!

Explanation

Jesus says: “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea”

I have always thought these verses were primarily talking about misleading children.

And it certainly includes children, but not just children

What is Jesus referring to as the: “Little ones”

Jesus tells us a “little one” is anyone “who believes in Him”.

So if you have humility like a child then you are a “little one”.

This is a play-on-words that uses the term “little one” to refer to those who are humble and lowly

Do you remember what humility is? To be little

To be insignificant in our own eyes.

What this passage is teaching is a great warning to anyone who leads a “little one” or a “believer” into sin

“whoever causes one of these “little ones” who believe in Me to stumble”

The word “stumble” is used to illustrate someone falling away from Christ

So anyone who causes a believer to fall away from the Lord can expect to be punished severely

It doesn’t say he will have a millstone tied to him and thrown into the sea (as if that wasn’t bad enough) He says, it WOULD BE BETTER if he had that done to him than the punishment that awaits him

In other words, to be drowned like this would be an act of mercy on the one who leads a believer away from Christ

Principle

#1) God takes it personally how people deal with his children

“He who receives one such child in My name receives Me”

There is a special kind of protection over the children of God

He does not haphazardly watch over His children

He protects His children like an earthly father would protect his children from harm

Like a hen would watch over her chicks (Jesus’ example of Jerusalem)

How often we forget how much God loves us

How often we forget that He is a good good Father

How easily we forget about God’s protection over our lives

How often we are fooled into believing that God is against us, rather than for us?

We should be encouraged by this!

There is no safer place to be than in the hands of God!

That makes me feel special!

BUT this is also a warning of judgement

#2) We must make sure we are not guilty of this same sin

What is one thing that turn so many people away from the church?

Hypocrisy

What is hypocrisy?

Those who claim to follow Christ, but do not live according to God’s principles!

Those who claim the name of Jesus, yet live just like the world!

Hypocrisy kills the fellowship of God’s church

Hypocrisy kills the spirit of evangelism

Hypocrisy kills the Spirit filled worship

Hypocrisy is like cancer that rots the soul and corrupts the joy that God desires for a body of believers.

This is why Paul said, “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump”

And Jesus said, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees”

The Pharisees were hypocrites!

And specifically in this context, Jesus is referring to the SIN OF PRIDE!

Putting ourselves over everyone else

Seeking to be first

Seeing ourselves as more important than everyone else

Seeking self glorification

It’s the opposite of how God wants a church

7 things that God hates and first on the list is PRIDE

So what do we do if this is us?

Application

we must do whatever is necessary to get this sin out of our lives

Matthew 18:8–9 (NASB95)

“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.

We must take drastic action!

We must get serious about our pride and get rid of it!

The danger is too great!

The chances of pulling someone away who is trying to follow Jesus will have severe consequences upon our souls!

We must always keep in mind the way we live will impact other’s

Life in the church is never just about us

It always has others in mind

If something in my life is a stumbling block to others it must be dealt with NOW!

We all have a responsibility to go after straying sheep

Matthew 18:12–14 (NASB95)

“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Explanation

The parable of the lost Sheep

In this parable a man has a hundred sheep but loses one. So instead of ignoring that one lost sheep because he has 99 more, He leaves the 99 to go out and find the one. And if he finds that 1, He rejoices more over that one than he does the 99 that never left.

This is a powerful picture of God’s heart for every “little one”. God loves His people to such an extent that he would leave the entire flock to go out and search after one of his missing children. This does not mean He has no love for the faithful, highlights the importance of restoration.

The question is: what is a lost sheep?

Does this refer to a believer who has fallen into error, or to people who have never been believers?

I think the key is in verse 14, Jesus refers to them as “little ones”. And we have already seen that a little one is one who believes in Jesus.

Why is that important?

Because there are people in churches who come but do not really believe.

And they will not last, because their faith is superficial, unless they are converted

And so if we read into this that our responsibility is to chase down and track down everyone who comes through the doors we are going to find ourselves frustrated.

We cannot restore someone to something they were never a part of

A church is a fellowship of believers that can only be made possible by redemption

But that fellowship is hurt when one of THE REDEEMED wanders off into sin

Bridge

Who is responsible for lost sheep?

All of us

This is not just a pastors job

This is not just a deacon job

This is a responsibility of the entire church

Principle:

If God so loves all the little ones, then if one of our little ones wanders off, we must show that same compassion and seek them out with all diligence

If God so loves the church, we MUST HAVE THAT SAME LOVE AND COMPASSION FOR THE CHURCH

If we are God’s children, we must seek the welfare of our brothers and sisters

CONCLUSION

What makes relationships in the church so unique? It is the humility that the redeemed share. It is the child-like spirit we share to have an accurate view of ourselves, our God, and one another.

What makes us all equal is not what we do, but who has called us into His family. And the perfect blood of Jesus cleanses us all the same.

If pride has crept into your heart, then you must deal with it now before it grows and becomes deadly to the body of Christ.

And if you want to join in God’s family, you must become with child-like submission and trust. Turn from this world, and submit to Jesus.