13  The Care of God’s  Children  (18:10-14)

See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] 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? And 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. Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. (18:10-14)

An essential element in understanding the redemptive plan of God is the truth that only those who come to Him through Christ in childlike faith can enter His kingdom. Only those whom the Lord humbles in complete dependence on Him will become His children and therefore joint heirs with Jesus Christ (Matt. 18:4; Rom. 8:17; Eph. 1:11-14). That is why, as Paul points out to the Corinthians, the church does not include “many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (1 Cor. 1:26-27). It is not that those who have great fame, high position, wealth, intellect, or other human status or achievement cannot come to God but that, because of their worldly recognition and power, they are often inclined to think they have no need of Him.

The “wise according to the flesh” to whom Paul refers are the intelligentsia, those whose learning is far above that of the average person. The “mighty” includes those who have political, military, or financial power and who thereby exercise control over the lives of many other people. The “noble” are the social elite, those who have inherited or achieved elevated social status. Feeling proud, superior, and self-satisfied, most such people feel no need for God, especially if coming to Him would demand childlike humility and surrendering confidence in their human abilities, accomplishments, and positions.

It is tragic that many Christians are eager to win the rich, famous, and powerful to Christ, not so much for the Lord’s sake or for those persons’ own sakes as for the supposed boon their testimonies would give to the cause of evangelism. Yet it is not a person’s human greatness but his spiritual humility that the Lord honors and blesses. It is God’s power alone that draws and wins men to Himself, and the human instruments He desires to use in that work are not the great but the humble. A human witness who attracts attention to himself draws attention away from Christ.

Until a person is willing to become one of Christ’s little ones (Matt. 18:6, 10, 14), he can have no part in God’s kingdom or God’s work. That is why “the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God” (1 Cor. 1:28-29). And that is why, as Isaiah prophesied, God anointed Jesus “to preach the gospel to the poor, . . . to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden” (Luke 4:18; cf. Isa. 61:1). It is not that the outcasts of the world—represented by the poor, the captive, the blind, and the downtrodden—are the only ones who have need of the gospel but that they are often the ones who are most willing to recognize their need.

As He continues to teach the disciples about caring for one another as believers, the Lord first states the rule and then the reasons for the rule.

THE RULE

See that you do not despise one of these little ones; (18:10a)

As explained in the previous chapter, little ones does not refer to physical children but to Christians, those who believe in Christ (v. 6). The young toddler whom Jesus perhaps still held in His arms (see v. 2) was a visual illustration of God’s spiritual children.

See that you do not despise is a warning, a negative command that strongly implies God’s displeasure with disobedience of it. The Greek use of the negative with a subjunctive verb intensifies the prohibition. Jesus had already made clear the seriousness of mistreating any of God’s little ones: It would be better for a person who commits such an offense to have “a heavy millstone . . . hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea” (v. 6).

Despise is from kataphrone, which has the literal meaning of thinking down on. To despise someone is to look down on him as inferior and not worth consideration or care. It is to disdain a person and treat him with contempt as being worthless. To despise one of these little ones is therefore to treat one of God’s own precious and beloved children with disdain and contempt.

Little ones included the Twelve themselves. And in the context of what had just happened, Jesus was telling them that their bickering about who was greatest in the kingdom was a form of despising God’s little ones, in this case each other. When one of them pushed himself up, it was at the expense of pushing the others down. Instead of their proud, self-seeking attitudes that created jealousy, envy, and resentment, they should have been showing concern for each other’s welfare. They should have been building others up rather than themselves.

Paul exhorted the Philippian believers:

Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:2-8)

It is natural for the world to resent Christians and to look down on them. But it is not acceptable for Christians to look at each other in that way. Yet, still fearing the fallen flesh, the church has always been tempted to mimic the ways and attitudes of the world, which it does when any of God’s people feel superior to others.

Christians despise each other in many different ways. We despise one another when we flaunt our liberty before weaker believers, causing them to go against their consciences or to overreact and fall deeper into legalism. “Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has accepted him” (Rom. 14:3). To use one’s liberty in Christ in such a callous way is to use it “as a covering for evil” instead of as a servant of God (1 Pet. 2:16).

Christians also despise one another when they show partiality. We are never to hold “faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism” (James 2:1). God loves and cares for His children equally. He “is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him” (Acts 10:34-35). That has always been the Lord’s attitude and it has always been the attitude He expects of His people. The believer who pleases the Lord and who sincerely honors Him is the one who honors all others who belong to Him (Ps. 15:1-4). He never looks down on God’s other children, however insignificant they might seem to be.

By the same token, the believer who pleases the Lord does not give special honor to a fellow Christian because of wealth, high position, or influence. That, too, has always been a temptation for Christians. James warned believers in the early church:

If a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. (James 2:2-8)

A third way believers despise fellow believers is by withholding help from those in need. When Paul confronted that problem in the Corinthian church he rebuked them with the words, “When you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you” (1 Cor. 11:20-22). That situation would correspond to a church today having a potluck supper before a Communion service, with those who brought food eating it all and not sharing with those who had none. To do such a thing is to show contempt for God’s church and for His poorer children.

The exhortations of James 2:15-16 and 1 John 3:17-18 are valuable additions to this same point, warning against withholding from fellow believers any basic necessity of life.

A fourth way believers despise fellow believers is by ridiculing their physical appearance. Such insensitive, heartless criticism was directed against Paul by some of the haughty, worldly members in the Corinthian church who said that “his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive, and his speech contemptible” (2 Cor. 10:10). Although they admitted his teaching was sound, they had the meanness and stupidity to despise him merely because of his physical looks. Paul commended the Galatians for not despising or loathing his “bodily condition,” perhaps a serious eye infection related to malaria, when he first preached the gospel to them (Gal. 4:14). To mock another person because of physical, mental, or cultural deficiencies not only is contemptible in men’s sight but in God’s.

During one of Dwight L. Moody’s British campaigns he was repeatedly mocked in the press for his lack of proper English and his homey style. When asked to speak at Cambridge University, the epitome of British intellectualism and sophistication, Moody apparently decided to capitalize on that image in order to gain the attention of the audience. His comment no doubt also had the effect of pointing up the superficiality and irrelevance of the criticism of his grammar. He opened his message with the words, “Don’t let nobody never tell you God don’t love you, cause He do.”

Believers despise other believers when they are indifferent to or judgmental of a fellow believer who spiritually stumbles. When a brother or sister falls into sin, especially if the sin is public and well known, there is a temptation to write them off, saying in effect, if not in words, “He knew better and he made his choice. Let him live with the consequences. Until he changes, I’ll stay at arm’s length.” But Paul’s counsel is otherwise. “Brethren,” he wrote the Galatians, “even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:1-2). Christ’s way for His followers is that they humbly help a sinning brother, realizing that they, too, could fall into the same or equally bad sin and that it is only by God’s grace if they do not.

Believers also despise other believers by resenting a fellow Christian who confronts their sinfulness. Instead of facing and repenting of a sin that is brought to their attention and being grateful to the one who confronts them, the old self often makes them strike back and charge the other person with being judgmental, self-righteous, legalistic, and hypocritical. Even when church discipline is carried out in careful conformity to Scripture and is done graciously and in love, it is often resented. Paul warned the Corinthian believers not to resent and despise Timothy if he came to them (1 Cor. 16:10-11), no doubt because he would confront them about many of the sins for which Paul had often, including in that letter, confronted them. The apostle also counselled Titus not to allow those under his care to disregard him for exhorting and reproving them (Titus 2:15).

A seventh way believers despise other believers is by taking advantage of them for personal gain. Although Paul was referring specifically to sexual immorality, his warning to the Thessalonians applies to taking advantage of a fellow believer in any way—financially, socially, or any other. A Christian is not to “defraud his brother” in any regard, “because the Lord is the avenger in all these things” (1 Thess. 4:6).

THE REASONS

for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. ] 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? And 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. Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. (18:10b-14)

After stating the negative rule regarding care for God’s children, Jesus gives three reasons for the rule: believers’ relation to angels, their relation to Himself, and their relation to the Father.

BELIEVERS’ RELATION TO ANGELS

for I say to you, that their angels in heaven continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven. (18:10b)

The expression I say to you is emphatic, pointing up the importance of what the Lord is about to say. The idea is, “With all My authority I solemnly affirm to you.” He then gives the first compelling reason Christians should never despise other Christians: their relation to their angels in heaven.

The writer of Hebrews explains that the holy, elect angels are “all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). Their purpose is to serve God by attending to the care of His people. These angels in heaven live in the very presence of God, where they wait attentively for His commands to serve the people of His love. “They continually behold the face of My Father who is in heaven,” Jesus said. The implication is that the holy angels never take their eyes off God, lest they miss some direction from Him regarding a task they are to perform on behalf of a believer.

Neither of these texts, however—nor any other Scripture—teaches the idea of an individual guardian angel for every believer, as Jewish tradition in Jesus’ day taught and as many people still believe and teach. When Peter knocked at the door of Mary’s house after he was miraculously released from prison, a servant girl named Rhoda answered. Upon seeing Peter she was so overjoyed she forgot to open the gate. When she reported his presence to the believers gathered inside, it was probably the notion of individual guardian angels that was behind their insistence that she had only seen “Peter’s angel” (Acts 12:12-15). But that superstitious belief is merely reflected in this text; it is neither taught nor substantiated here or anywhere else in Scripture.

In Matthew 18:10 Jesus speaks of believers and their angels in a collective sense. These angels, whether a distinct group or the whole body of holy angels, are responsible for the care of God’s little ones, those who believe in His Son (v. 6). It is in part because of these angels who live in the presence of the Father who is in heaven that believers are warned not to despise one another.

The fact that Almighty God is so concerned about the care of His beloved children that He has hosts of angels in His presence ready to be dispatched to their aid demonstrates clearly how valuable believers are and how unthinkably wicked it is to look with disdain on someone whom God so highly prizes.

As indicated by brackets in the NASB text, verse 11 (For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost) is not found in the best early manuscripts of this gospel. The almost identical phrase, however, is in Luke 19:10, where “to seek and” is added before to save. Because there is no question about the authenticity of the Luke text, there is no question that Matthew 18:11 teaches a genuinely scriptural truth. The phrase was probably picked up from Luke by a well-meaning copyist and added to Matthew. But because it is not a part of Matthew’s original gospel, it will not be discussed here.

BELIEVERS’ RELATION TO CHRIST

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? And 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. (18:12-13)

As implied, though not stated, in this passage, a second reason believers are not to despise each other is their relation to Jesus Christ. The Lord had just said that “whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me” (v. 5). Every true believer—no matter how young, immature, unfaithful, unattractive, or deprived—is one with Jesus Christ, purchased with His own precious blood. Therefore, to look down on any Christian and consider him to be worthless and useless is to despise Christ Himself. “The one who listens to you listens to Me,” Jesus told the seventy when He commissioned them, “and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me” (Luke 10:16).

The Pharisees and scribes considered the uneducated and lower classes to be morally and religiously inferior and worth little, if any, of their attention. Jesus, on the other hand, would not break off a battered reed or put out a smoldering wick (Matt. 12:20; cf. Isa.42:3), both of those figures being pictures of treatment given to afflicted and helpless humanity. He would not further break someone who was already broken and suffering, nor would He further quench someone whose remaining life and hope were already about to be extinguished. Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus demonstrated just the opposite concern as He fed the hungry, healed the sick, encouraged the hopeless, and offered forgiveness to sinners. He did “not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56).

It is that gracious, divine concern that Jesus illustrates here in the parable of the lost sheep. What do you think? was a common phrase used by teachers to get their students to ponder carefully about what was being taught.

Although none of the Twelve is identified as a shepherd by trade, every Palestinian Jew was familiar with shepherds and their ways. In this hypothetical story, Jesus told of a man who was a shepherd and who had a hundred sheep, one of which went astray. In the rugged terrain of Palestine there were many ravines, gullies, caves, and crevices into which a sheep could wander or fall. “When the shepherd discovers a sheep is missing,” Jesus asked, “does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?”

The idea seems implied that the shepherd sensed the straying sheep’s absence without having to check the entire flock. The shepherd knew his sheep intimately, both as a flock and individually (cf. the analogy of John 10:1-18). He therefore instinctively knew when something was wrong or when one of them was missing. He was also an expert at tracking lost sheep, and love for his defenseless and utterly dependent flock would not allow him to give up until he had found and rescued the one that was missing. The loyal shepherd would fight off wolves, bears, lions, thieves, or any other threat to the sheep. When an errant animal was found, the shepherd would pour olive oil over any wounds or scratches and he would bind up a broken leg. He would then tenderly place the sheep on his shoulders and carry it back to the fold.

From this parable we see that Christ’s love, illustrated in that of the shepherd, is personal and individual. It does not matter which sheep goes astray. The Lord is equally concerned for any one of them. He is just as much aware and concerned when a poor believer in the slums wanders from Him as when a respected church leader stumbles into sin.

The parable also illustrates the truth that the Lord’s care for His people is patient. He is infinitely patient with their self-willed, sinful foolishness and He will not give up on a single one, even though that person might be the least promising and the least faithful of all His children.

We also see here God’s seeking care. He does not wait for a lost sheep to return on its own but personally goes as far into the wilderness as necessary to find and rescue it. The Savior is infinitely more anxious and determined for restoration than is even the most repentant believer.

If a human shepherd can exhibit so much concern for each sheep under his care, how much more does the Lord Jesus Christ, “the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant” (Heb. 13:20), care when a single one of His people spiritually goes astray? And when He finds it and restores it to Himself, how much more heavenly rejoicing is there over it. . . than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray?

On another occasion, Jesus used the same parable to teach God’s concern for unbelievers. “I tell you,” He explained, “that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:3-7).

There is special joy expressed for the sheep that is found not because it is more valued or loved than the others but because its danger, hardship, and great need elicit special concern from the caring shepherd. In the same way, when one child in a family is ill, particularly if it is seriously ill, a mother will devote much more time and attention to him than to the other children, often more than to all the rest together. And when that child finally gets well, the mother does not rejoice for the children who have been healthy all along but for the one who was sick and suffering. And if the brothers and sisters are loving, they, too, will rejoice in the restoration of their sibling.

For several days in the fall of 1987, the whole world had its attention and compassion fixed on a little girl, not quite two years old, who was trapped in an abandoned well shaft in west Texas for three days. When, after much strenuous work, difficult drilling, and painstaking excavation, she was finally rescued, there was rejoicing all across the land, and she was sent thousands of cards and presents as she recuperated in the hospital. It was not that she was more precious or worthy than countless other little girls, but that her need at that time was so great.

Because the Lord Jesus has such tender compassion on all His needy little ones, so that their well-being brings Him great joy, we should find ourselves in holy fear of ever looking down on such ones.

BELIEVERS’ RELATION TO THE FATHER

Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. (18:14)

A third reason believers are not to despise each other is their relation to their Father who is in heaven, who joins the Son and the angels in rejoicing over a believer who is restored.

Although apollumi (perish) often carried the idea of total destruction or death, it sometimes, as here, referred to nonpermanent ruin or loss. In Romans 14:15 the word parallels lupe, which means to cause pain or grief: “For if because of food your brother is hurt (lupe), you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy (apollumi) with your food him for whom Christ died” (cf. 1 Cor. 8:11).

The perish of which Jesus here speaks relates to spiritual progress in the Christian life. God the Father does not want a single one of His little ones to be spiritually wounded or marred, even for a brief time. When His children fall into sin it destroys their usefulness to Him and to the church and it undercuts their happiness and their right relationship to Him and to one another.

Peter tells believers that they should cast all their cares on God, because He graciously cares for them (1 Pet. 5:7). Like the shepherd who searches for the lost sheep until it is found, the Father individually cares for each person who comes to Him through the Son and will see to it that every one of them who becomes wayward eventually will be brought back into the fellowship of His family and kingdom.

William Arnot makes the beautiful observation that, “If it did not please [God] to get me back, my pleasure would be small.” It should be great comfort to stumbling believers to know that, when they repent and return, their angels, their Lord Jesus Christ, and their Father who is in heaven will all be overjoyed.

For one believer to wound another is to attack the will of God and set himself up as God’s antagonist. The Lord seeks the spiritual well-being of all His children, and we had better not do less.

This section of Matthew speaks powerfully to the church today. The Body of Christ is filled with believers who look down on their spiritual brothers and sisters, treating them with disdain, indifference, and rudeness because they consider them unworthy of special care and ministry. It is at that very point of the church’s sin that it sets itself in opposition to the holy angels, to the Son of God, and to the Almighty Himself.