The Care of God's Children
Matthew 18:10-14
We'd like you to take your Bible now, if you will, and look at the 18th chapter of Matthew. Matthew chapter 18. This great chapter has a single theme, really. The childlikeness of the believer. It deals with themes related to God's children -- those who are in His redeemed family. And as we've been saying in this particular series, the most common designation for the people of God is children. We are commonly called children; and I think God calls us that, not only because we are the offspring of God, but because we are dependent, because we are weak, because we are ignorant, because we are humble, because we are immature. All of those characteristics that are true of children physically are true of us spiritually; and every section of chapter 18 speaks to the issue of God's people as children.
For example, in verses 3 and 4, Jesus said, "We enter the Kingdom as little children." In verses 5 through 9, we are to be protected from sin like little children. In verses 10 to 14, we are to be cared for like little children. In verses 15 to 20, we are to be disciplined like children; and in verses 21 to 35, we are to be forgiven like children.
Now, we've already looked at the fact that we're to enter the Kingdom like children in verses 3 and 4; and we've also, last week, examined the idea that we are to be protected from sin like little children in verses 5 to 9. And this morning we come to verses 10 through 14; and just a note for some of you, there's a familiar statement in this passage. It's verse 11 in the Authorized. It says, "For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost." The earlier manuscripts of Matthew do not include that verse. We believe that some scribe put it in. Lemme add that it is true, and it does belong in Luke 19:10. We just don't know how it got in Matthew 18, because in all the early manuscripts, it isn't there. When something isn't in the early manuscripts and it appears in the later manuscripts, we figure somebody later on put it in; and so we're not denying the truth. It's in Luke 19:10, and it's true. It just isn't in this particular text, and we don't know how it managed to wiggle in. Some well-meaning scribe thought it enhanced what Matthew was saying. So just in case you wonder why I go right on by as if it weren't there, it isn't there...
Now, we focused last time on our Lord's very strong warning against anyone who causes His children to sin. A very strong word from Him in verses 5 to 9. Now, in the same general line of thought, we're looking this morning at the positive side to that negative. In other words, we are not only not to allow or to lead Christians into sin, we are positively to care for them; and I see that emerging out of this passage. Although it starts with a negative, it ends with a very positive approach; and so I like to think that verses 10 through 14 are all about the care of God's children. The care of God's children.
Now, keep in mind that the passage is not talking about physical children. It is not talking about infants and little children physically. It is talking about the childlike believer, the one who knows Jesus Christ, who has come as a child, who is the child of God; and the little child is simply an analogy to define the nature of one who follows God, who loves the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's talking about Christians under the analogy of little children...
Now, the text basically says to us that God cares for His children. That's the basic bottom line truth in this text. God cares for His children, and you can see it pretty well in verse 14. "Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Or should be marred, or should be ruined, or should be led into disaster. The Father, then, cares for His children. God is a God who cares for His own.
Another underlying principle is this: that God cares for them equally, that He cares for them equally. He says, "One of these little ones," in verse 14. He says, "One of these little ones," in verse 10; and both times that numerical one is put in there just so nobody gets eliminated. It is so very important that every single individual Christian be thought of as in the utmost sense important to the care of God the Father.
Now, with that in mind, let's look, basically, at the text. Verse 10, "Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father who is in Heaven. How think ye? If a man have a hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that sheep than over the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
The...the idea that the text keeps talking us as little ones, as children, emphasizes our humility. It emphasizes our weakness. It emphasizes our lowliness, our meekness, our dependence; and this is a very essential element in understanding the redemptive plan of God. For example, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 for a moment, verse 26. Remember Jesus said, "Nobody comes into the Kingdom except as a little child, one who is humble, dependent, weak, and meek, and so forth." The high and the mighty, the lofty, the proud, and all that just don't come in. They...they don't get in. They're not interested. They don't need the help. The person who comes in comes when he senses his own inadequacy and unworthiness and lowliness, childlikeness, desperate need for one to do what he can't do for himself; and so we find in 1 Corinthians 1:26, "You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called."
Have you noticed that in Christianity? First of all, look that it says not many wise men, not many high class intelligentsia...Now this is a great intellectuals. There aren't many intellectuals. Oh, there are a few, but not many, not many; because they often are satisfied by their own intelligence. And then he says, "There are not many mighty." That has to do with the great, the powerful, the famous, the influential. And then he says, "There are not many noble." That has to do with the well-born, the high-ranking, the royal. That the high-class people basically aren't the ones who dominate the Kingdom of God. It's amazing to me that there are always those people who wanna be out there, thinking they can win those people to the Lord. "Oh, if we could just win these intellectuals, or if we could just win these influential, famous, powerful politicians, athletes, movie stars or leaders, if we could just get over here to the...to the royal people, the high-class people, and so forth, and win those people to Christ, boy, just thing what God could do in the world." And they forget that it's always been this way. There aren't many wise, and there aren't many mighty, and there aren't many noble.
Instead of the wise, verse 27 says, you get the foolish; and instead of the mighty, you get the weak; and in verse 28, instead of the of the noble, you get the base or the common folks. Now this is very important, because what it tells us is that God cares for common people. God cares for the little ones. That's why in Matthew 25 He says, "Whatever you do unto the least of these, My brethren, you've done it unto Me." And I think that there's a very clear reason why God has done this. It's in verse 29. "That no flesh should glory before God." And then verse 31, "He that glories, let him glory in the Lord."
You don't come into God's Kingdom by your intellect. You don't come into God's Kingdom by your power and influence. You don't come into God's Kingdom by your birth or your birthright. Those people just seem somehow to be so disinterested. They seem to lack the kind of humility and desperation of a little child that is necessary for anyone to enter the Kingdom. God has chosen the humble.
When Jesus came to preach in Luke 4, He got up, and He took the text, Isaiah 61, and He said that He had come and been anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor. To the poor...It's hard for rich people to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. It's easier for camels to go through the eye of needles. It's mostly the poor; and so what you have then, keep it in mind, is a whole lotta lowly people in the Kingdom, a lotta little ones, a lot of insignificant folks. There are still stratas, and there are a few of those upper echelon folks, but most are just common folks; and the text is saying we are to care for the common folks, every single one of these little ones, because every single one of these little ones, verse 14 says, is the special care of the Father...
Now, remember, the disciples were arguing about who was gonna be the greatest, who was gonna be the most exalted among them in the Kingdom when it came to earth; and Jesus is really giving them more of an answer than they expected. He's telling them the greatest is the humblest, the greatest is the lowliest; and He says to them, "You can't even get in My Kingdom unless you're humble; and if you wanna be great in My Kingdom, you must be humble. The humbler, the greater; and instead of provoking each other to pride and ambition and selfishness and jealousy and envy and leading each other into sin...now we come into our text 10 to 14...you oughta be leading one another into righteousness; and instead of looking down on each other and thinking yourself to be worthy of elevation, you oughta be looking up at each other as God considers each to be equal.
In other words, though it stands alone as a teaching passage, its context enriches its immediate impact. These disciples needed to know that, if they were gonna push themselves up, they were gonna have to do it at the expense of pushing someone else down; and that was in violation of the heart of the Father Himself. For all in His Kingdom are great. For all in His Kingdom are humble; because if they weren't humble, they never woulda gotten in His Kingdom. So instead of their proud self-seeking which created jealousy, envy, and pride and led each other to sin, and instead of their care-less attitude that says, "I want what I want whether you get it or not," they should've been seeking the welfare of one another. That's the heart of this text; and lest you think it's some new...new lesson to us who study the New Testament and hasn't been given heretofore, we've given it many times. Every time we allude to Philippians chapter 2, we see the same truth, where the Apostle Paul says to the Philippian believers, "I wish that you had the same love." What do you mean by that, Paul? "Simply I miss...I wish that you loved everybody the same, the same care for one another."
How do you do that, Paul? "Well, you look not on your own things, but on the things of others. You let each man esteem others better than themselves," Philippians 2 says, "For that's the mind of Christ, who, when He was God, thought it not something to hold onto that kind of thing, but humbled Himself and became a Man and died for us." In a sense, He looked on us as better than Himself. He was willing sacrifice everything He had: all the honor, all the glory, and humiliate Himself for our sake; and that's the spirit of this text. Paul is saying, in Philippians 2, "Don't look down on one another. Look up at one another. See yourself as on the bottom." And, here, our Lord is saying the same thing in verse 10. "Don't look down on these little ones...God looks up to them in terms of being underneath them to consider their needs." Very important principle.
Now, let's look at the...the text with just two thoughts, the rule and the reason. The rule and the reason. The rule's in verse 10. "Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones." Stop right there. That is the rule. That's the principle, the standard, the statute, the commandment. Take heed is simply a...phrase meaning be careful. See that you don't. Be careful. A very important command and, again, you get the feeling that this is a warning. That if you're not doing this, you're in some trouble. Last time He said, "Don't lead a Christian into sin. You'd be better off if a millstone were put around your neck and you were drowned in the deep...in the deepest part of the sea." And here He is saying, "Take heed," and it is a strong warning that would imply some similar kind of thing might be better than to do this.
"Take heed that you despise not." The word despise in the Greek is very interesting. Kataphroneho, phroneho has to do with the mind and thinking, and kata is down. Don't think down on people. Don't put yourself up here and look at them as if they were below you, as if they were beneath you. Looking at them with disdain, looking at them with indifference, as if they were valueless or useless or worthless, holding them in contempt...not worth your consideration...
So the command is very simple; and if you take the subjective verb with a negative prohibition, it could say this: "Be warned. This should never, ever, ever happen, that you look down on one of these little ones as if he were without value." That's what it said. Don't ever do that. Notice it says "One of these little ones," and, again, I remind you that little ones has to do with Christians, not with little babies. We know that because of verse 6. "One of these little ones who believe in Me," and that is the key that interprets the little ones for us, because babies can't believe in Jesus Christ. They don't know Him. So the little ones to whom He refers is the...is the group of believers. So don't look down on one believer, not one. That numerical addition is very important. Don't look down on one, not one.
You know, the world has done this. The world has done this. The world has looked down on the Christians. It is enough that the world looks down on Christians. It is enough that they are looked down on and ridiculed and despised and disdained and held in contempt and thought to be worthless and useless and of no value. "It is enough that the world does that to these little ones who belong to Me. You should not do that."...
The Lord is primarily concerned here with how Christians treat Christians. Now, I think the church has caught the spirit of the world, unfortunately. We seem to get the world's diseases so easily. And in the world, you see, you...you despise the simple, and you despise the humble, and you despise the meek, and you inevitably exalt the great, and you lift up the stars and the heroes, and the Lord in Heaven cares for the little ones...the very least of them, and He cares for them -- get this word -- equally. Equally. So the words of Jesus are emphatic. He sets a constant warning in motion against looking down at one single one of God's little children no matter how seemingly valueless, he or she might appear. Don't do it.
The psalmist in that monumental Psalm 15, which talks about the heart of the true worshipper says, "The true worshipper...I love this...honors those who fear the Lord." And so should we honor all those who fear the Lord, no matter where they are on the social strata. Never be guilty of looking down at God's children no matter who they are. You know, we're...we're very good at criticizing. We're very good at laughing at peoples' foibles, laughing at their weaknesses, ridiculing their failures.
Lemme just describe to you, for example, the ways we look down on other Christians; and now we'll know what to avoid. Okay? I give ya few ways in which we tend to look down on other Christians. First, by flaunting our liberty. By flaunting our liberty. We studied this a little bit in Romans last week, when we alluded to chapter 14 and 15; and the implication of chapter 14 is that there were some Christians who had been Christians for a while, perhaps were rather mature, and had long ago cut the cord with Judaism. They weren't hung up on the...on the Sabbath anymore. They weren't hung up on certain dietary laws. They were free, and they were eating pork, if you will, and they were living in violation of the old traditional Sabbath law. They really weren't bound by that anymore. They felt very free. The first part of Romans 14 says that.
And then there were a group of new Christians coming along, and they...they had just come out of that, and they were still bound in their conscience because of years of loyalty. They were bound to the Sabbath, and they were bound to the festivals, and they were bound to certain kind of dietary laws; and Paul says, "Don't you, that have been freed from that...use your liberty to oppress those other people...and to cause 'em to stumble, and to grieve them, and to injure them, and to wound them." And that's exactly what I'm talking about. We look down on other Christians when we flaunt our liberty with the attitude, "Well, I don't care what it does to him. Who cares how he feels about it. This is my liberty. I'm free to do it. What do I care what they say?" We may not quite say it that boldly, but we may often act in that way; and that's what Peter says in 1 Peter 2:16 is using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. In other words, the person who says, "Look, I don't care what those people over there think. I'm free to do this if I want. It's not forbidden in the Bible. I'm gonna do this, even if it does make 'em stumble. They're not gonna make me conform to their standard."
I've had people say to me, "Well, listen, I can't go through my whole life trying to adjust to everybody's problem. I mean they're just gonna have to get over mine." I've had people say to me, "You know, I know it bothers so and so for me to drink, but that's their tough luck. I'm free in Christ, and I'm gonna do it." Paul says in Romans 14, "Don't destroy the Kingdom of God in the life of that person for the sake of something you drink or something you eat."...I mean there's a sense in which you are despising that person. You're saying, "Look, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do, because I'm more important to me than you are." Be warned, folks. You don't wanna live like that, because you don't wanna live with the consequences of living like that. You certainly don't wanna violate the principles of the Savior you say you love.
So one way we despise other people is by flaunting our liberty. There's a second way. I believe we despite other people, not only by flaunting our liberty, and I think that is so important. I would stress it more. Just lemme remind you of Romans 14:3, "Let not him that eat despise him that eats not." And there he uses the very same term. You despise someone when you use your liberty against their conscience.
But there's a second way, and I see this in James chapter 2. Look at it there. James 2, "Brethren, don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory with respect of persons." In other words, if you're a Christian, and you're in the faith, don't hold that faith, and be a part of the family of God and have in your heart respect of persons. In other words, think of some people as better than others. "And if there comes into your assembly a man with a gold ring, in fine apparel, and there comes in a man in filthy, vile clothing, and you have respect to the one that wears the fine clothing, and you say, 'Sit thou here in a good place,' and say to the poor, 'Stand thou there,' or 'Sit here under my footstool. Get outta the way, will ya?' are you not partial in yourselves and becoming judge with evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren: Hath not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him? But you have despised the poor. Do you...do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by which you are called?"
I mean, you certainly wouldn't wanna cater just to the rich. They've been a problem to the church for a long time. "If you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' you do well. But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin." Verse 6, "you have despised the poor." There's a second way you despise people -- by looking down on the lowly, by looking down on the lowly people... Considering people under your social station in life as unworthy of your concern or attention...We do that. Boy, we do everything we can to pad the seat of the one above; and we just don't like the ones below to even interrupt us. That's despising one of the little ones.
There's a third way we despise Christians. First Corinthians chapter 11...1 Corinthians. I didn't know there were so many of these in the Scripture until I got to looking them all up and going through the Scripture, and 1 Corinthians chapter 11, the church come to...had come together regularly for a love feast and the Lord's Supper; and in verse 20 of 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, "When you come together therefore into one place, this is not the Lord's Supper which you eat. You may think you're eating the Lord's Supper, but it isn't the Lord's Supper. You have really messed it up." And here's how, verse 21, "For in eating, every one taketh before the other his own supper." Now, how would you like to go to a potluck like that? Where all the people who brought the food came an hour early; and by the time the crowd came, it was all eaten by the people who brought it.
That's why Paul says in the next verse, "Don't you have a house to eat in? If all you wanna do is eat a meal, stay home." The result of this is that one is hungry. In other words, the people who didn't have anything, the poor of the church, they came hoping to find some food brought to them by those who had the food; but the people who had it all ate it all up. In fact, they got drunk, so you have half the group drunk, and half of 'em hungry...And he says to them in verse 22, "Do you despise the church of God and shame them that have not?" You despise a person by withholding what he needs. We despise people by flaunting our liberty, looking down on the lowly, and withholding from those in need...by consuming everything without a thought for those who do not have by overindulgence, materialism, consumption...
There's a fourth way. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Wish we could spend more time on each of these. First Corinthians...or 2 Corinthians 10 is a very, very fascinating chapter. These self-styled egotistical, proud...self-appointed representatives of God were condemning Paul. They really despised him...and they despised him for an interesting reason. Verse 10, 2 Corinthians 10, "'For his letters,' say they, 'are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.'"...
Here's a fourth way -- by ridiculing someone's physical features. By ridiculing someone's physical features, mocking their appearance or their way of speech; and we can do this. The high-class, you know, we want all the rich and beautiful and lovely people; and the media just continually pumps a stream of that stuff out, that they're the only people worth talking to. They're the only people whose opinions matter.
I remember someone was telling me when Moody went to Cambridge. Cambridge, the most educated spot on the earth. He was to speak, and he said at the beginning of his message, "Don't let nobody never tell you God don't love you 'cause He do."... Man, did he get their attention. See, he had been mocked in the press for his lack of proper English...We look down on people so often because of their physical appearance or because of their simple vocabulary or their simple clothing, their simple lifestyle, their modest living accommodations. We're not to do that. That's wrong.
Lemme give you another one, Galatians 6...Galatians 6 verse 1..."If a man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he's nothing, he deceives himself."
You know what? There's another way we can...we can look down in disdain on people. By looking with indifference on a Christian who has fallen. By looking with indifference on a Christian who has fallen. Just wanna push him outta the way. "Well, I mean he had his choice. He made his choice, and that's the way he chose to live." And we're just gonna tell him, "You're gone, fella, and that's it." We wipe our hands clean. That...that's wrong. That's not the way to treat that person. You're to restore him in meekness, humility. It takes humility to be willing to do that. You gotta come down off your thing. "Well, I'm too good to soil my hands with this guy who stained his life in this way," and you're saying, in effect, "I'll come down there, my brother, and I'll lift you up, and I'll carry your burden, and I'll fulfill the law of Christ." And what is the law of Christ? That you should love. That's the law of Christ. If you're too good for that, verse 3, who are you kidding? Not God, just you.
How do we despise others? By flaunting our liberty, by looking down on the lowly, by withholding from those in need, by ridiculing someone's physical features, by looking with indifference on a Christian who has fallen. You know, sometimes we say, "Well, he's getting the judgment of God." Back in the 4th chapter of Galatians, Paul had this happening to him. He says in verse 13, "You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the Gospel unto you at the first." And he had a tremendous infirmity of the flesh. He had a severe illness; and he came there and preached; and, apparently, it was a problem for them, because verse 14 says, "And your trial, which was in my flesh, you despised not."
"I mean you didn't look down on me then when I was preaching you the Gospel, even though it must have been difficult for you. You didn't despise me, and you didn't reject me, and now you're rejecting me." Verse 16, "Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?"...Now, he says, "You didn't despise me when I gave you the Gospel. Now, when I come back to you and say, 'Get your life straight. Shape up spiritually.' Are you gonna despise me?"
This takes me to a sixth principle. We despise people when we reject those who confront our sinfulness. We despise another believer when we reject the person who confronts our sinfulness. We decide, "Who does he think he is...confronting me?" In the process of discipline, that's happened many times when I have approached a person and said, "You know, your life is out of line, and this is what you need to do to get your life right," and their reply has come, "Well, just who do you think you are?" And they despise the one who seeks to help.
Paul had the same situation in the Corinthian church -- 1 Corinthians 4:10. He says in...in sarcastic terms, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honorable, but we are despised." He had come to the Corinthians with a message of repentance and a message of get things straightened out, and...they despised him. At the end of 1 Corinthians, look at 16:10, 1 Corinthians 16:10, He says, "If Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear. Don't scare him to death." Corinthians were a tough bunch. "For he works the work of the Lord, as I do. And let no man therefore despise him...Don't look down on him. He's gonna come and confront you. He's gonna come and tell you what you need to know. Don't look down on him. Don't despise him."
You know what Paul said to Titus in Titus 2:15? "These words speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority, and let no man despise you." And he said to Timothy, "Let no man despise you or...what?...your youth. Just because you're young, don't let 'em look down on you if you speak the truth of God." Listen, we look down on other Christians. If they come in love, and they come in care, and they confront us about our sin, and if we don't accept that, we are despising them. That's wrong.
Give you one other way -- 1 Thessalonians chapter 4...We despise a believer when we use him for our own selfish gain. This goes on a lot. When we use him for our own selfish gain. First Thessalonians 4:6, "That no man should go so far as to defraud...Literally means to take advantage of his brother in any matter." Not sexually, not economically, not socially, not anyway should we ever take advantage or, in other words, profit by his loss...in any way; "Because the Lord is the avenger of all such." Now, here we are, folks. When we despise another believer by taking advantage of them, the Lord will pay the account. "For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness; and He therefore that