Little Ones

David Poland

Matthew: Kingdom Authority • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Matthew 18:1–14

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Sermon 56 in a series through the Gospel of Matthew

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Psalm of the Day: Psalm 149

Psalm 149 ESV

Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation. Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord!

Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 6:1-3

Deuteronomy 6:1–3 ESV

“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Sermon

Good Morning Church! I was glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord

Well this morning we are working our way into what is the fourth major discourse in the book of Matthew. Just for a review. the first was the Sermon on the mount, wherein Jesus laid the foundation for the kingdom of heaven. The second was the missions discourse, where Jesus instructs his disciples what it will be like when they go and proclaim the message “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand. The third was the kingdom parables. A series of parables tied together by theme and more importantly by the often repeated phrase: “The kingdom of heaven is like.” And this now is the fourth. it is, as the others focused on the kingdom,m but this one is more directed to believers, telling us how we ought to live, or what it is like to live life in the kingdom. And even more it is how we are to relate to one another. it is not how we would live individually, but how do we, as a we. live life in the kingdom. There will be some important messages, some lessons that we have maybe heard before, but put in this context I believe they help us to grasp what Jesus is getting at.

Our passage for today, we have made it all the way to Matthew Chapter 18, we will be looking at verses 1 through 14 this morning

Matthew 18:1–14 ESV

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. “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. 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. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, Lets begin with a word of prayer

Dear Lord we do thank you for today, for your grace and your mercy, we thank you for your kindness towards us, we thank you for your love. your redeeming, sanctifying love that calls us out of darkness. That does save us. WE thank you that you call us, that while we were dead in our sins and trespasses, you according to your grace and mercy sought us out. Then, in saving us you care for us you call us and you make us we read, your children. So I pray that you would speak to us. Speak to us through your word. Speak to us according to what you would have us hear. We do pray that the spirit that dwells within us would open our ears that we would hear and understand truly your words to us this morning. It is in Jesus name we pray. AMEN.

SO before we dive into this whole passage, i feel the need, and its not really a need, but I think it is right to explain why we would take such a large section when we usually take much smaller ones. and what in particular drives me to see this as one unit and not what it might at first feel like which is three. I mean, the ESV translators trying to be helpful have broken this into three sections. Verses 1-6 the call “who is the greatest” verses 7-9 is “temptations to sin” and verses 1-14 are the parable of the lost sheep. And I would agree that there are three SUB sections to this, but truly it is one thought. And my biggest clue and the thought that ties this together is the repeated thought and phrase: LITTLE ONES. We can note this all starts with a child being brought before Jesus and the disciples, then in verse 6 this phrase: Whoever causes one of these LITTLE ONES who believe in me to sin. Then skipping verse 10:” Do not despise one of these LITTLE ONES and then at the end, verse 14: So it is not the will of my father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

The thought of “little ones” unites this whole section, and I truly believe that there is then one message that Jesus is getting to the disciples. And it is two fold. For lack of a better way to put it he is teaching them that they are not as important as they think they are and YET they are infinitely more valuable than they think they are.

He is trying to draw them to see that they do not have this sort of great grandiose in and of themselves power and authority. but he is also driving them to see that because THEY are HIS little ones that is where they get the source of all that they need and that is where there value lies. So as we walk through this today, the thought that drives us to be united in understanding this as one unit is to see we are dealing with “little ones” and so the first section, the “who is the greatest” section teaches us the HUMILITY OF LITTLE ONES.

The HUMILITY of “Little Ones”

If you were to read commentators or even worse, if you were to just like look at free bible studies on the internet, like what does it mean to “become like children” you would have probably as many sort of thoughts as there are children in the world as to what Jesus is saying. For in verse 3 Jesus says “unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” And so often we try to think: OK what does it mean to be like a child. What does that look like. And they start to import a whole host of things that maybe the idyllic child has. We must be innocent and trusting, we must be sweet and kind, we must understand our place because kids understand that they are not the boss unless you have met my little one she sometimes seems to think that she is. And so many people try and dive into what does it mean to be a child but if WE are honest even children are sinners and all kids are different, so we might be left wondering. But If I am honest, I do not think that this has to be that difficult.

Jesus clearly teaches us what exactly we are to become like a child in. and that is HUMILITY. Matthew 18:4 “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

The issue is that the disciples are going around: “Who is going to be the greatest? Is it peter, is it James and John, maybe from out of left field is is Andrew. Who is going to sit at the right hand of Jesus when he comes into his kingdom. Who is going to get these positions of power and authority? Who is the strongest and the greatest disciple, the most influential disciple. Who’s the boss here? I mean Peter might have the strongest resume here with that whole “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church” thing. but REALLY the disciples seem to be arguing about who is going to be greatest. And they are saying “OK Jesus who is greatest, we need to know” I mean maybe there was some sort of argument going on amongst them and they need to figure out, OK, Jesus what is the pecking order here. is it what Peter says then what James says then what John says or What Peter says, what John says then what James says. How can we figure this out? Lets ask Jesus. Asked this way it is not necessarily a selfish and inherently bad thing, but maybe they just want to know the order of things. So they ask: jesus, who is the greatest?

And instead of directly answering their question, instead of pulling out their organizational flow chart where James and John report to peter but Matthew and Judas report to Andrew and all of them are under the official “council of disciples” that includes a rotating member voted on by the others serving for a three month term. He calls to them a child.

I was reading an article and they sort of drew out something that visibly we don't SEE because we are reading it, but when we contemplate it is is rather apparent. Here is a group of 13 grown men arguing about who is greatest, who is most powerful, and I guess that's not fully right there is 12 arguing and jesus putting up with them, But then Matthew 18:2 “And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them” . SO here is 13 grown men standing around talking and a small child, a “little one” placed in the middle. WE can then sort of imagine this little child, placed here, feeling a little awkward, maybe a little nervous. Felling, hear’s the point of this lesson, a little humbled. And seeing that picture we realize that we must be humble. Like this little one thrust by jesus into the midst of these be humble.

WE noted this a little last week but understanding how these tie together gets this across. When last week the tax collectors came to Peter: Does your rabbi pay this tax and Peter says “OF COURSE HE DOES” in truth Jesus didn't have to. The reasoning why: because Jesus is greater than the temple that they are taking this tax for. This is the underlying thought: Jesus is greater than the temple. in fact, the temple is point to Jesus in fact, the writer of Hebrews gets to this, that one of the reasons Jesus is better is because instead of needing to go into this temple made by human hands jesus performs his priestly work in the temple of heaven. there he offers for us sacrifice for our sins. He had no real need for the temple they are collecting a tax for, but yet Jesus, to not give offence, pays the tax. he humbly pays this tax. and then immediately after Jesus humbly pays the tax here come the disciple arguing about who is greatest. Verse 1: At that time the disciple came to Jesus...

We are dealing with all this humility and tax and who Jesus is stuff and here they come: OK jesus who is greatest, it is as if Jesus says: you still don’t get it, be HUMBLE. It is not about you. Disciples you are not quite as important as you seem to think you are. The fact that you are arguing about this proves this, you need to think less of yourselves, and more of these little ones. In fat, verse 4:

Matthew 18:5 ESV

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

Whomever brings one of these little ones in and loves them and cares for them, whomever realizes that these little ones and their needs and their lives matter, to do in service that way is to serve the Lord. So be humble, count these little ones as more important than your self.

But then we get to the next section, and If I am being honest the next section is a bit difficult, at least it was a first to me, because as we get to the next section it feels different. Because the first section the first chunk of Matthew 18 here is clearly about a child and about little ones. And the parable of the lost sheep, we already read it but multiple times it is talking about little ones. But then there is this whole if your foot or hand causes you to sin cut it off, become a cripple because it is better to be a cripple here on earth than to have a whole body in Hell. It is better to rip out your eye, for it is better to be a one eyed person on earth than a two-eyed person in hell. Now what in the world does that have to do with little ones? I would argue everything.

The reason Matthew goes here, and I hope we can see this, but the reason that Matthew Goes here is that now we are going to deal with the PROTECTION of Little ones

The PROTECTION of “Little Ones”

The introduction to this, and we need to see this and this is why I am not 100% on board with how the ESV chose to break this up, because the transition starts earlier than verse 7. All of 5 to 6 to seven sets the stage. he brings the child before the disciples, and he says: be humble, like this child. but you know, while this child is here let me tell you something. verse 5: if you receive this child you are receiving me. So this ties to humility because we are not better or bigger than this little child, be like the little ones, so receive this little one. but while were are HERE let me tech you this, verse 6: if you cause one of these little ones to sin then you might as well tie a huge millstone around your neck. It would be better to be drown with a rock around your neck than to cause a child to sin, for verse 7:

Matthew 18:7 ESV

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!

It is so important to not cause them to sin, to not tempt them. If your hand causes you to sin cut it off. The natural flow of this text shows us is that what Jesus has in mid is a lesson that took me probably the first 28 years of my life to fully learn,. and only then after causing much heartache and damage to the lives of the people around me. and that lesson is that my sins is not just MY sin. It in fact hurts and damages the people around me.

We like to justify and think we can justify our sin because it is only hurting me. I mean if you go and talk to the world this is what you will hear all the time: As long as it is not hurting anyone whats the big deal?

But what if you engaging in that sin causes a little one to think that sin is OK? Matthew 18:6 “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” WOE TO THE ONE BY WHOM TEMPTATION COMES.

On Thursday we will talk about where we might initially want to go here which is a sort of personal sanctification personal holiness, one of my favorite phrases the mortification of sin in the life of the believer, that is definitely HERE, but the POINT i would argue is a little different. The heart of what Jesus is getting at is the idea that we are not in this world alone. SO don’t go around sinning and stumbling, because you might be causing those around you to sin and stumble. The tie to the passage before about the little ones and this one is that here is judgement and our need to be mindful of the little ones around us. thematically we would say they are united in Opposing pictures, literarily we see it like this: judgement in faire and water.

You cause a little one to stumble, death in water. Cut off your hand and foot, rip out your eye so there is no death in fire. there is sort of a base level importance that we need to understand that we are not in this alone and that there are little ones all around us. So one of the reasons that we fight against temptation is, as I have said here the Protection of the little ones around us. Your sins are not just your sins, we are going to talk about us next week, but our sins may cause the people around us to stumble and fall. Our sins may harm them, in countless ways we may see but also in countless ways we may never know. But we are called to humble ourselves and then to serve and follow the Lord in HOLINESS. and in doing so our goal and our job and our duty and our privilege is to protect the little ones around us.

But I want us to remember that thought, lets become humble like little ones and let us protect the little ones around us as we move to the next section. and see the VALUE of little ones

The VALUE of “Little Ones”

Here is one of Jesus most beloved and one of his most famous parables. it is the parable of the 1 sheep and the 99 sheep. Don’t despise the little ones, cherish them, love the little ones, because the little ones have great value to the father. They have such value that verse 10: Their angels see the face of my father who is in heaven. that is a difficult section here is where I would land on this thought, this idea that the angels of the little ones see the face of the Father in heaven: God cares for them in a particular and personal and tangible way. Why can I say that, because that is what the parable teaches.

To drive the point home jesus teaches a parable. It is as if jesus is saying, you don’t think God values these little ones, or maybe you think I am overstating my case when I say that you need to be like a little one or maybe you think I am overstating that in order to protect these little ones you must go to sometimes DRASTIC MEASURES? well here is the truth, God will Go to drastic measures for them. SO shouldn't you?

Imagine there is a shepherd with a hundred sheep, and getting ready for sleep he is quite literally counting his sheep. And he knows them all by name. here is fluffy and blinky and Federico but wait, ONE is missing. Where is David. And so seeing that the other 99 are safe in the sheep fold the shepherd travels off looking for the one sheep that is probably not as smart, definitely more rebellious and yet loved and cherished all the same. SO he will leave those others for love and care and importance of that one. And when he finds it he rejoices. He doesn’t look at this one sheep and think: Who cares I got 99 others. He doest look at this one sheep now found and berate it and treat it with disdain, no he finds this one lost sheep and he rejoices! The loved and cherished sheep has been found. It has come back.

Matthew 18:14 ESV

So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

SO yes, this parable illustrates the value of the little ones but here is the thought I would like to give us: WE are the little ones. YOU are a little one. This parable is in one sense very personal. I would argue that one of the reasons this is one of the favorite parables for many Christians is that we just inherently realize that We are that one sheep. We all like sheep have gone astray and so when we see the love of our good shepherd coming our heart rejoices. But context makes this even better because we are not just a lost sheep, but we are his little one!

SO as we bring this full circle it becomes like this: because you are his little one, be humble. It is who you are IN CHRIST. You are his little one. When I used to teach this thought and this lesson to a bunch of Middle and high Schoolers this is How I would teach it. Jesus is our king, our Lord, our savior, and our GOD. he chose to humble himself, to come down to earth to become a servant of all. If our king our God our lord and our savior is servant of all and placed himself on sort of the bottom of the totem pole,. Should’t we find humility rather easy to come by. It it really easy on an earthly level to look around and think i am more important than everyone. That is really the sinful heart within all of us. but when I realize that I am less than Jesus and he is everyone's servant Then I too am your servant.

And then we come to the protection of the little ones and I realize that MY duty is to protect all of you. And immediately you start thinking: Well yeah, you are the pastor, and an elder, you are the shepherd of this church of Of course you have to protect us. But I am not going to let you all off the hook so easily, that's not what I mean here. we all have a duty to one another to care for and protect one another. This is your preview for next week’s sermon, so I will just say this, if you disagree come back next week and I will prove it, but you have duty and a responsibility to one another to exhort to rebuke to lift up one another in prayer but also to say to each other: What you are doing is sin, STOP”. We have a duty to one another to not sin so much that our sinning causes problems in each others lives and in the life of the church. Because I am a little one but we are all little ones. SO will we protect the little ones all around us?

But here is the hope. I opened this sermon by saying that Jesus’ twofold goal here is that one one hand he wants to teach the disciples that they are not as big and as important as they think they are, they need to be humble. but he also wants to teach them they are more valuable than they might think. So here me now, if you are in Christ you are the little one of God.

John 1:12–13 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

I once heard a teacher say, one of the reasons Our world is so messed up is that they care so much about self esteem and self worth. he said the bible never once teaches self esteem and self worth. But before you get up in arms what the bible offered is better. Because what the bible DOES teach is God’s Esteem and God’s worth. And here is the message of this parable. God loves you. We can sort of download or biblical theological doctrines of salvation and stuff into this parable and it holds up.

Not only did your savior leave the 99 on the mountain to find the one, we know truly he came down from heaven. he, this world will sound familiar, we have talked about it already this morning, he HUMBLED himself. And in order to save us, to make us his own, to call us into his family, to make us his children, to make us his little ones, he was willing to die on the cross. Bear the wrath that our sins deserved. We were lost in every way conceivable., Lost and DEAD in our sins and trespasses, rebels each and every one of us. Worthy of, deserving the wrath of God. Deserving of not just death, but this hell of fire that Jesu talked about in this passage. We deserved it and YET our savior came. For God so loved the world that he sent his only son! he values us as his little ones.

the thought, the message, the thing we must hear in all of this: This lesson does not go “Be humble, be holy, so that you can be his little one”. This lesson goes like this: “YOU ARE his little one, so be humble, and be holy.” We have been called to live in the kingdom. So become like children not naive and innocent or rambunctious or foolish or whatever else we want to import here, just be humble like a child. Protect the little ones, the ones around you but also protect yourself. Realize how vile sin is and flee from it. take drastic measures to root it out of your life, because we are his.

As his children, as his little ones he has called us to these things as our good and gracious heavenly father. Lets PRAY