“The Lost Sheep and the Lost Brother”

(Matthew 18:10-20)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

February 23, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 18:10-20

10 “See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven. 12 What do you think? If someone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go and search for the stray? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over that sheep more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established. 17 If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

Introductory Comments:

In parenting, there is a method called “redirecting.” Redirecting is a process by which the parent will draw a child away from something that may lead them down a path of disobedience or danger, and redirect them to something else. Sometimes redirecting works. When my son Samuel tries to stick his finger in an electrical socket, I try to redirect him. However, sometimes redirecting does not work and the only thing that proves effective is discipline. 

Today, we’re going to see Jesus speak to us about how to handle situations involving our brothers and sisters in Christ. We’re going to see that God pursues those who are wandering, He calls the church to redirect those in sin, and sometimes He calls the church to discipline those in sin for the sake of the holiness of the church. 

We’re going to learn three actions we must take as we pursue God’s plan for life in the church. Before we do, let’s go to God in prayer. 

(prayer)

In this passage today we will hear a famous parable concerning a sheep, as well as hear from Jesus about a popular aspect of church life, one that has been spoken of much throughout church history, and that is church discipline. 

Before we get to that, we actually have two noteworthy verses: Verse 10 and 11. 

Verse 10 is noteworthy because it speaks of angels. Anytime angels are mentioned people get interested. 

Well, remember from the previous passage that Jesus is speaking of “little ones” as He transitions from little children to speaking of “little ones” as His followers. Little ones are those children of God who follow after Jesus. 

Verse 10 says, “See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven.”

So, Jesus is continuing His discussion about those little ones who follow Him and are children of God. Jesus says not to despise them because there are angels in heaven that are somehow tied to them and these angels are in the presence of God. 

Well, there’s a lot to unpack in this one verse, and this will not be where we spend the bulk of our time this morning. For now, let’s acknowledge these truths:

First, there seem to be angels that are assigned in some way to look over or protect the children of God. This does not necessarily mean that we have personal guardian angels but that there are SOME angels who look over the children of God. One angel or one group