many of you may not have seen, I've seen it probably five or six times. All right? And that is the movie Top Gun Maverick. All right? I'm not the only one. I was a little nervous. All right? So, when I think of Top Gun, I think of college. I was 21 years old when the original Top Gun movie came out. I remember the theater I was at. I remember who I was with. And I remember thinking, I've seen that one probably 20 or 30 times over the years, but it was, let's see, 36 years since Top Gun came out, that Top Gun Maverick came out. In the first Top Gun series, we were introduced to Maverick, who's a fighter pilot going through the Top Gun school. And as we get into this particular movie, Top Gun Maverick, we see him instructing other pilots who have already completed the Top Gun school. They're already Top Gun qualified. But we're introduced to one particular character whose call sign is Hangman, and they explain what that means in the movie, and I won't bother with it. But we're introduced to this man who honestly reminds us a lot of Maverick when he was younger. The plot of the movie is basically these fighter pilots and their co-pilots or the people who do all the direction. I cannot think of the name. I could not think of it yesterday. I cannot think of it today. What is it? Navigators. Yes, the navigators. Not those navigators, but the navigator of the aircraft. They are going on this impossible mission to save the world, or at least save some part of it. And so early in the movie, Hangman says, what I want to know is who's going to be team leader. And which one of y'all has what it takes to follow me? So let there be no doubt in hangman's mind, he is the leader, and every one of those people are gonna follow him, because he's in the group of the best of the best, and he is saying, what I wanna know is, who's gonna follow me? I'm obviously gonna be the team leader. And as I think about this subplot, what I think about, Hangman's arrogance is just one part of his story within this larger story of the movie, but his arrogance is intended to make us uncomfortable as a moviegoer. And honestly, it succeeded for me. I'm always uncomfortable when you have these people just larger than life, just exalting themselves over others. And so the reason I think it succeeds is because it's believable. Do we not know people who are maybe quick to exalt themselves over other employees, over other people, maybe even in the home, maybe siblings, not being so kind to one another? But people who exalt themselves over others, those kind of people make me uncomfortable. And maybe they make you uncomfortable as well. So I think one of the other reasons I may get uncomfortable is I know I've exalted myself over others in the past. And maybe you would be willing to admit that's true in your life as well. But as disciples of Jesus Christ, we should never exalt ourselves over others. That's really the epitome of a disciple is one who can make a disciple who makes a disciple. And the act of disciple making is one that is characterized by love, compassion, understanding, grace, mercy, forgiveness. All these things go into disciples making disciples who can make disciples. But the disciple that exalts himself or herself over others is missing a large portion of what the gospel is all about. So disciples of Jesus Christ should be characterized by humble dependence on God. We're gonna talk about this idea of humble dependence as we go through here, but I would ask you to ask yourself even now, does humble dependence characterize the way you walk your Christian life? You don't even necessarily know what the text is gonna bring out about this humble dependence, but I would ask you, listen, we all know what the word humble means. We all know what the word dependence means. Are we characterized as individuals, are we characterized by a church body? In the eyes of those around us and the world around us, are we characterized by humble dependence upon God? And I think our desire would be to say yes. But this particular lesson for the disciples, this is what Jesus is trying to teach. As we get into Matthew 18, one through 14, we are going to study this idea of disciples of Jesus Christ should be characterized by humble dependence on God. And so the initial question probably come to your mind and come to my mind is, what does humble dependence on God look like? Well, just to give you a, it's really a two-part sermon. The first part's a little shorter, although I think we'll spend enough time on it for it to be worth your while. But it's broken really into two parts as we go through one through 14. And humble dependence, Jesus says, we see it in every believer. So if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, Humble dependence has been seen in your life. I'll explain how later, but I want you to understand we're gonna look at this part of it first, and then later in the sermon we'll see how Jesus says that we should see this humble dependence in every church community. So that's what we're gonna look at, both the individual and then the community. So let's see how this lesson develops. As we get into verse one of chapter 18, it says, at that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now you remember where we are in the context of the account. Jesus is getting ready to leave the area of Galilee up in the north. He's going to travel down to the city of Jerusalem where he's going to be betrayed, judged, crucified, buried, and rise again. That's the rest of the story from this point forward. And he has been engaging his disciples in the reality of his betrayal, death, and resurrection. And you remember that they have failed to see the resurrection part up to this point. They're a bit confused by that one. And they've been grieved over the idea that Jesus is gonna, he's saying he's gonna die. But in the midst of this, right, in the midst of Jesus teaching his disciples about his kingdom, their self-centered motives come to the surface. Because they ask the question, who is the greatest? And Jesus recognizes this and then he does what is unexpected. They ask, Lord, who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus brings, it says that Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them. This object lesson of a young child, again, nobody knows exactly how old the child would be. For our purposes, old enough to respond to Jesus's desire to come, right? Hey, little one, come over here. But not so old that it wouldn't constitute a little one. So some people believe anywhere from maybe five to 10 years old. If I had had my grandson in here, maybe I would have brought him up in front of you. I thought about asking one of you, but then I thought that might be a little odd for that old child to be in front of all of you all at once. But can you picture a little one? Can you picture a little one and Jesus calling the little ones to himself? And he says, listen, come here. I just want you to stand right here. You don't need to say anything. In the midst of his disciples, all these grown men and women that are probably standing around him, he sets them in their midst and he's going to use this child as an object lesson. And he says, assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, right? So we're just gonna pause there on these words. Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as or like a little child, And this is part of the lesson. So let's just, he calls his disciples, he uses these words convert, unless you convert, this idea of convert is the idea to change or to turn from what you are to something else. Now, we use the word conversion loosely, when I say loosely, maybe not as intentionally as we should as Christians. I know when I had two of my brothers convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, my parents used that word as they had changed from being Roman Catholic to they had converted to Mormonism. That's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about converting from Presbyterian to Baptist, from Baptist to Lutheran, from Lutheran to whatever. We're not talking about that kind of change, although that change is a form of conversion in the sense of technically you're turning from something to something else. The idea of conversion here is Changing one's life. Jesus is telling his disciples right out the gate, puts his little child in front of him and says that you must convert, you must turn, you must change from what you are. Now in the context of the passage, we understand. All they've asked is, Jesus, who's greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he's saying, you've got to change. That's the first thing he says out of the gate. He says you have to convert in some fashion, and you have to become like this child. He's not saying you need to become immature. He's not saying you need to become childish. He's saying you need to become like this child. And so as we think of what children are, and I ask you to picture the little ones. And we know from the next verse, and let me just show you this, right? We know from the next verse that it says, therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. But I want you to understand, as we talk about this idea of humble, it's in the next verse. But as he's saying in verse three, he says, assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as a little child, right, you have to be humble, and I'm adding in this the word dependent. As we think of little ones, I think that part of what Jesus is trying to communicate is, first of all, I know plenty of prideful children. I was one, right? And I won't name any of my children, but I'm sure it was there too. But I will say I remember as a child. I remember, you know, listen, I'm 6'3 now. It wasn't like I went from 4'0 to 6'3 overnight. I tended to be tall. I was not big. But I remember, it's one of my, I share this frequently, I remember throwing my good friend all over the playground because I was told he was flirting with my girlfriend. in the sixth grade, all right? I wasn't so little. I was probably getting close to six foot even at that age. And I threw him all over the place. Why? Because I could. And then I found out, as I've told you before, they were lying to me and I lost a good friend that day and that's why it grieves me so much. I still remember it like it was yesterday. But listen, I wasn't humble in that moment. You've had times in your life where you were not humble, but as we talk about little children, it's not the humility of attitude so much as much as it is humility of position. They have no rights, they have no ability to survive. And that's why I add this idea of dependence on here because a little one, a true little one, cannot defend themselves, they cannot feed themselves, they cannot earn a living. Now we've heard stories of people, I've been orphaned since such and such an age, but listen, they depended on other people in some way. They are humble in their position within society. They're humble in their position within the family. They're just plain humble. They're of low estate. They have no power. They have no status. And as Jesus is talking to his disciples, he's basically telling them, listen, you need to change from this idea of thinking about greatness. And you need to be like this little one and understanding that pursuing status and power is only going to lead to hardship. He says, therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So when we think about coming to faith in Jesus Christ, becoming his disciple, He's teaching very clearly through this little one in front of these grown men who have been walking with him for at least a couple years now. He's teaching them, listen, something's got to change in your life, guys. and you better be like this little one, because if you want to enter the kingdom, and that's the point, Jesus says he wants to see his disciples demonstrate humble dependence like a child, but then he goes on, he's actually a little stronger, it's not that he wants to see it, it's the fact that he must see it. Jesus says his disciples must demonstrate humble dependence like a child, or they cannot enter his kingdom. These are strong words. Now, do we think that the disciples at this point aren't genuine believers? Well, we know of one, don't we? We know Judas is amongst this group, and we know that he is professing to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but we know because he betrays Christ and because he does not ask for forgiveness, he does not repent and come to faith in Christ, we know He's that son of destruction, son of perdition. He is that one who was appointed for such an event in his life and such a perspective. But we know that, now he may not have been the only one at this particular time of those listening. I'm not saying the other 11 aren't believers, but he's saying, listen, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must demonstrate humble dependence like a child. Now I have to wonder if there's people within this room who would say, listen, the whole illustration of a little child doesn't describe me. Uh-uh. No way. Not happening. I am confident. I am excelling in all areas of life to become humble and dependent. It really cuts against my grain. It's not something that characterizes me. Well, we need to understand that this isn't an option for us. If you call yourself a Christian, if you call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ, this had to happen in your life. If you desire to enter into the kingdom of heaven, this must happen in your life. You must have genuine, humble dependence like a child if you want to enter the kingdom of God. He uses this terminology at the end there, it says, you will by no means. It is the strongest way in the Greek language to, it's communicating never. We're told not to say never and always. God is allowed to use that. He says in his word, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven if this is not true of you. And I would like to encourage you, if you've never come to faith in Jesus Christ, you need to come to this humble dependence upon God. Jesus says we see humble dependence in every believer. And so how is humble dependence seen in every believer's life? Well, it comes from the time when they trusted in God for salvation. That is the time Jesus is talking about. He's saying you need to turn, you need to convert, you need to repent, you need to change who you are and come to me. You have to be a different person than you were before you knew me and then you are when you come to know me in faith. So every single believer is guaranteed an eternity with God in heaven, right? We celebrate that. And when we are walking through life, and this goes back to that book that I've mentioned a few different times, talking about how people change, he talks about the gospel gap. When we stand, we say we're a Christian, we look back at the time where we came to faith in Jesus Christ. And then we look ahead to the time where we will be united with him for eternity. But the gospel gap is called this life here and now, between the point of conversion and the point of consummation when we're with Christ forever, whether it's through death or His coming. This time in our life right now is a time where we are supposed to be living out our salvation. But just from the moment, I'm just saying, you cannot live out your salvation unless you've come to salvation. And that's what Jesus is saying. You can't enter the kingdom unless you've come to a humble dependence upon God. You have to recognize that your salvation, right, is all of what is based on what is founded, the foundation is all of what Jesus has done for you. There's no bringing your good works and mixing them with Jesus's. We have no good works. And listen, let me just pause because I got a text just before the service started and maybe I'll share this just off the cuff because it's meaningful to me and I know I've shared this with you a couple of different times. who has been on the road to salvation for decades. And I shared, I think, just a few weeks ago that she came to faith, Jennifer, my chaplain assistant when I was in the 82nd Airborne Division. And she just texted me this morning that both her and her husband, which is new now, I did not know he had come to faith, they're getting baptized this morning. All right, praise the Lord. Right? I have been talking with her and I'm not saying I did anything. All I did was answer her questions as best I could and kept pointing her to Scripture and pointing her to Scripture. And the church that she was involved in that is not a faithful church to the gospel kept drawing her back and drawing her back and she was living this confused life. And I have to believe there are probably people in this room that are confused about their faith. And Jesus makes it very simple. Trust in Him and Him alone for your salvation. You don't bring anything to the mix. It's all of Jesus. He did everything on the cross. And when you come to faith that Jesus is the Son of God and that He hung on that cross to pay for your sins, Because he was sinless. He was a sinless lamb who hung on that cross. When you come to faith in that, you are a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But that's what Jesus is talking about. You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless you humble yourself and you recognize you bring nothing to the table. And you throw your complete dependence on who Jesus is and what he's done. That's what he's talking about. And when you come to that faith, then you are a child of God. Then you are someone, you are a true disciple. Then you are someone who can enter into this text and really grow from it. Because he goes on to say, when this takes place, when salvation takes place, the road to greatness, which is the question that's in the air, right? Who's greatest in the kingdom of God? Well, he says, when this happens and you convert, you change, you become like this little child, this helpless, dependent one, right? The road to greatness is measured in continued humility and dependence. So we come to faith in Jesus through humble dependence, but we also live out our Christian lives in humble dependence because therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. You have to be that way to get in. And then once you're in, if you wanna have a competition amongst yourselves, if we wanna have a competition amongst ourselves, who the greatest looks like, it's the idea that all of us have the opportunity to humble ourselves and to be dependent upon God throughout our life. In that gospel gap, after we're saved, before we go to heaven, before we're in the presence, we are called to live a life of continued dependence continued humble dependence of every day in Jesus Christ. So we say that we see humble dependence in every believer, but Jesus also explains to us that we should see humble dependence in every church community. And really this is the bulk of the message that he's conveying. And actually this is gonna roll over into next week as we talk about how we conduct ourselves as a church body and how we interrelate with one another. But there are some very key lessons that we have to learn as we go through this particular text. So, we see every church is a community of disciples. First of all, let's get that established. It's not if you're a formal member of this body that we're talking about, although we do believe that you ought to be a formal member of the body of Christ. You ought to be joining a local expression of the body of Christ. Why is it important to join? Well, we'll make that evident as we go through the coming weeks and months as we talk about membership. But I just want to encourage you, don't just sit on the sidelines. Get into the game. He's saying, Jesus is saying, every church is a community of disciples. If you've come to faith in Jesus Christ, you're a child of God. And you're a member of the big C universal church of all time. But we would believe, and I think the New Testament teaches the importance of uniting with a local body for, even as we look at next week, for accountability, for growth. And so, but as we consider this truth that every church is a community of disciples, we're called to receive one another. And so on the Lord's Day, we usually take the time to, and by the way, we're doing the Lord's Supper. Excuse me, I said Lord's Day, I meant the Lord's Supper. We're doing the Lord's Supper next week. And part of preparation for that is for you to evaluate within the body, this particular body expressly, how are your relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is it healthy? Is there unrepentant sin in your life? Is there hard feelings? Do you believe someone sinned against you? Well, you're called to go make it right, whether you're the one who did the sin or the one you think you've been sinned against. Talk it out. We're going to talk more about that next week. But I want you to understand, we're called to receive one another. Jesus says in verse 5, whoever receives one little child, remember that little child was standing there, right? Whoever receives a little child like this in my name receives me. Now one of the things you have to point out in this particular text, that little child was a visual illustration, right? It's an object lesson. He's not talking about little children. He's talking about disciples. He's talking about genuine disciples in Jesus Christ. They only come to faith, they only get to the kingdom when they are in humble dependence upon God, right? But he's saying this continued humble dependence plays out in the rest of your life. Whoever receives one little child like this, the little children to this point are his disciples. You are a little child of God. Maybe that's why later on in the New Testament we hear the term Abba Father, that caring terminology of child to heavenly father and we're familiar with the, with God being the ultimate expression of the perfect father. You may not have had the perfect father, but God is the perfect father, and we're able to call out to him. But he's, what Matthew is saying here, Jesus is saying, whoever sees one little child like this in my name, receives me. I think we as disciples of Jesus Christ, we want to receive others in the name of Jesus. This means that we are called to live in a way that is where we practice reconciliation with one another. And we are reminded about it every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper. But you don't have to wait for the Lord's Supper to make your relationships right and healthy. live in such a way where you are receiving your brothers and sisters into your life and into the community. This is something that disciples do. This is what children of God do. We relate to one another. We receive one another. We don't keep people at arm's length and we don't ostracize people unless there's sin involved and that's what we'll talk about next week. But whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Isn't it beautiful to know that when we are living the Christian life and coming in community and receiving one another, God is pleased and Jesus said when we receive that person, we're receiving him. It's not some mystical reception. We are indwelled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We are children of God. We are followers of Christ. Nothing would make a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ happier than to know that you have honored Jesus Christ with your actions. We need to be that kind of church. He goes on to say that every church is a community of disciples, therefore we're called to care for one another. Now there's a couple different ways we care. As we look in this text, we see the negative. It says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me, let's read that again, whoever causes a disciple who believes in me, right, that's a disciple, to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. That's a stark picture, wouldn't you agree? I'm not one to go on sailboats, all right? I used to swim well before my knees went bad, my shoulders went bad, my elbows went bad. But I can still probably swim a little bit. It's a little more painful. But I don't think I could swim if I had this particular millstone hanging around my neck. Now I've seen pictures of millstones and I've seen pictures portray like there's a rope around a neck and it's a millstone maybe about this big, you know, something that they use for grinding and wheat and different things. They crush it on that little hand. But that's not what we're talking about here. This is a millstone the size that a donkey would move. This is the kind where you see it in the movies where a donkey is pulling this massive stone and it's just crushing the stuff underneath. If anyone, I might be able to survive with a millstone around this for a few minutes as I tread water. I could never survive if I had a millstone like this around my neck. That's the picture. Notice the extreme intensity that Jesus is bringing. Whoever causes one of his disciples If one of us causes another brother or sister to sin, that's bad. It is very bad. We're not talking about utter destruction of believers. I'm not saying if I lead one of you to sin, which I would not want to do, that I'm going to lose my salvation. It's not saying that. It's talking about the intensity of leading others to sin. But what we do understand now is the world is leading God's children to sin. and the world will receive the judgment of God. It is throughout scripture that those who live in opposition to God, in rebellion to God, utter rebellion, they will experience the condemnation of God. But we know as believers there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's not saying we're not capable of leading one other to sin. It's saying that we ought to be very cautious that we are not doing it. We ought to be very intentional that we are not doing it because little ones, sinning is a big deal with God and it should not happen. It says for that person in this particular context, I'm taking it as a person, an unbeliever, right, who causes another to sin, for that millstone to be hung around his neck and they were drowned in the depths of the sea. Another movie that I've seen, and maybe you've seen it, how many of you have seen the movie Midway? I like military movies, all right? A few of you may have seen Midway, all right? There's a particular scene in that movie where a character, two characters are found. Their plane was shot down, they survived, the enemy picks up the two of them, and they ask the question, you know, the intelligence questions, like, well, how many ships, where are you headed? You know, all the different, how many aircraft? intelligent type questions you would ask. And this enlisted person is standing there, and he asks for a cigarette, they give him a cigarette, it takes a puff or two, and then he just stands there and he's not gonna tell them. So what do they do? They wrapped his hands with rope, threw an anchor on it, and threw him overboard. And this is, by the way, some of this is based on, at least the movie's based on, true story, I don't know whether that scene is. I kind of think it is. But I want you to consider the pilot That guy was the gunner. The pilot who was standing there is now faced with the reality that if he does not share the information, he is going to share the same fate. But that person, that enlisted gunner who was thrown overboard, did it of his own free will. He was not going to betray his country or his fellow sailors and marines, and he paid with his life. There was no hope for that man to escape the death he was about to commit, that he was going to face. As we think about this picture, I want you to understand, make this real in your life, because we are called to treat sin seriously. In our life and in the life of others, not only are we supposed to receive others, we are supposed to care for others. And we are not to lead them to sin, but we are also to try to protect them from others who are leading them to sin. It's the idea of being a pastor. You have four pastors on your staff right now. That idea of pastor is shepherd. Shepherd protect the sheep. That's why we want to know what's being taught in the various ministries. We want to at least have an opportunity to look out for any wrong teaching that may go on. And so please understand, we try to do a good job of that, but we may fail from time to time and something may get said or done and we don't know about it and we're accountable to God foremost. Listen, we need to be doing this for one another. We need to be looking out for one another. It goes on to say, woe to the world because of offenses. The world is full of opportunities for people to fall into sin, for offenses must come. It's the idea here is they are coming. We live in a fallen world and offenses, the opportunities for people to sin are going to happen, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes. We are not to be living like the world. We are not to be looking to live out our lives exalting ourselves and thinking that we have somehow cornered the market on whatever it is or that we're living this perfect life. No, we are called to live in humble dependence upon God because God is the one who can actually protect us from all these things. But we must have our eyes on him at all times. The woe is it's a judgment and the world is heading to judgment. And if you're part of the world, you're heading for judgment. But you need to become a disciple of Jesus Christ by humbly coming and depending upon what Jesus has done for your salvation. So we are called as a community to receive one another, to care for one another, but we're also called to take extreme measures to avoid our own sin. Matthew has taught about this, Pastor Joe preached a message on it a few months ago. A similar text, it says, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. He goes on and says, and if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire. It is the idea that as a community of believers, we are supposed to take sin seriously from the community, but I'm supposed to look out for myself, you're supposed to look out for yourself. The ultimate responsibility falls upon you. And what Jesus is saying here is not actually pluck out the eye, cut off the hand, cut off the foot, whatever. He's saying we must go to extreme measures to protect ourselves from sin. if it's sin in your life. Now listen, I have sin in my life. When I say that, I'm saying I'm a human being and I have particular sins like you do that I'm drawn to. And so in my particular life, and I'm not gonna go into detail, but I'm gonna say, listen, I have put safeguards in my life, right? I have made myself accountable to other people, primarily my wife. I have made myself accountable to other pastors and other brothers in Christ. As we think about this reality, you are called likewise in whatever area of sin you are drawn to. Maybe it's gossip. That's not something that happens in Christian churches, certainly not this church, right? No, gossip happens. And gossip is subtle. Gossip just kinda, it just kinda comes out of nowhere. Because it's all related to the tongue. And we know that the tongue is an unruly evil, right? That's what James tells us. Listen, I don't know, maybe it's gossip, maybe it's some other, whatever sin that you are prone to. I love the hymn, prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the one I love. We are all prone. to be tempted by sin, but we do not have to submit to that temptation. Whoa, because temptations and offenses are going to come. But listen, we can take measures to protect ourselves. Foremost, are you in God's Word? Are you reading God's Word? This isn't a simple read a couple of verses and call me in the morning. No, it's the idea are you drawing Scripture in as your life breath? Are you engaging in Scripture with the intent of being intentional about protecting yourself from sin? Is your devotional life measured by minutes in the morning? Or is your devotional life characterized by a life that says I want to please God in every area of my life? I want to live in humble dependence upon Him with every breath I breathe, with every step I take. That's what we're called to as disciples. And so when we see the possibility of sin at our doorstep, we ought to take great measures, immediate measures, vast measures to avoid that sin. And so I invite you today, don't think you have to walk this alone. Don't think you have to figure it out alone. First of all, there's plenty of good books out there on the market today that will probably target the area of sin that you struggle with. But there's also brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, going back here, we're called to receive one another. That reception is not based upon being sinless. No, we're supposed to receive fellow sinners who've been saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, right? We're supposed to care for one another. That means we share what's going on in our life. Now, you have to be close enough to someone to feel safe to share the areas of sin that you struggle in, but get close. Be purposeful, be intentional. and then take extreme measures to avoid sin. That's what Jesus is asking us to do. He goes on and we see that every church is a community of disciples called out by God and always in the care of God. This is beautiful. It says, take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. This is talking to you, not about little children. This is talking to me, not about a child. This is talking to me about you, you about me, you about each other. Make sure, take heed. Note that there's a couple different wording sections here where Jesus brings an immediate attention, a heightened attention to something. This is one of them. Take heed. Take heed that you do not despise. What is that idea of despise? Well, to look down upon, to treat with malice. Don't treat your brother or sister wrong. Take heed, do not despise another disciple, for I say to you that in heaven there angels always see the face of my Father who's in heaven. A lot of people get caught up in this idea of, well, what does that mean? Well, we ought to ask what that means. Does it mean we have guardian angels? I'm not saying we don't. But I think we have to be careful that there's not a doctrine of guardian angels. There is a doctrine of angels, angelology, right? The study of angels, what God says about angels. And he is saying very clearly in this text that we ought to be careful how we relate to one another. We should not despise one another. Why? Because God says his angels are there in our midst. Do we believe in angels? Do you believe in spirits? Do you believe in demons? You ought to. It didn't, demons did not go away when Jesus resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven. No, demons are alive and well in our world today. They are doing their work as they are wired to do, but so are God's holy angels. And if you've ever experienced something where you either should have died or something bad should have happened and it didn't happen and you're thinking the only reason that this didn't happen is because of God, maybe there was an angel involved. But it's not really about the angel. It's about God. He says, listen, be careful. Don't look down upon your brothers and sisters in Christ, for I say to you, my father sees. My angels are there. They get to see the father, right? They're in his presence. But I'm just saying that God cares. That's just what he's saying. We are called out ones. We have been called to the Father. Nobody comes to the Father except through the Son, right? So called out by God and always in the care of God. And part of God's care is His angelic watch over us. It ought to bring comfort, but don't get so focused on angels you forget who they represent. They represent God the Father. It says, for the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. I'm going to just reference this verse. And again, if you have the ESV, this verse is not, and maybe another translation, this verse is not in yours. It's a footnote. It was brought over from Luke. And again, I'm not going to get into it. It's true. It's in Luke. But again, in our text, it's probably not original to Matthew. It is somebody brought it in to flesh out this idea. It's still true. The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. Right, that's why Jesus came, but it doesn't necessarily fit the context that we're in, so we're just gonna keep moving. So every church is a community of disciples. They're called out by God and always in his care, but notice, we are a community of disciples relentlessly pursued by God when we wander away. And I don't know about you, but in my younger life, when I became serious about my faith, wandering really started to diminish. I'm not saying I don't wander. I'm not perfect. I haven't arrived, neither have you. But my younger life was characterized more by wandering than it is today. I think that's part of the maturing process that takes place in our lives, in our Christian lives. But we as a community of disciples, as Jesus is saying that we are supposed to be characterized by humble dependence. We are supposed to be humbly dependent upon God and we can take comfort in the fact that we are relentlessly pursued by God when we wander away. And here's this great text. Jesus says, what do you think? Talking to his disciples. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the 99 and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? This is good news. And if he should find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that did not go astray. Well, let's just pause for a minute and rejoice in the, how did I phrase it? The relentless pursuit of God for when we wander. Now, we shouldn't take joy in wandering, but we can take joy that God relentlessly pursues us when we are wandering. And he uses this, now it's not a little child, it's a story. And it's a story they're all familiar with, a shepherd and his sheep. But God is willing to leave the 99 who are in safety to go get the one who's in danger. And when that's you or maybe a prodigal child of yours, that's good news, that we can take comfort that God is pursuing us. And then when God finds us, notice verse 13, it says, and if he should find it, there is this question mark there that should cause us to pause. He says, if should find it, surely I say to you, God rejoices more over that sheep than over the 99 that not go away. It's not that God's not happy with those who are obedient and consistently following him. God just finds great joy in bringing his children back to him. He finds great joy in seeing the restoration of a believer. Not that they lost their salvation, but they're back in close fellowship. Listen, folks, we have many people in our lives who have wandered, and God may use you to draw them back. And then they'll wander again, you might draw them back. Or the wandering ones who have been drawn back, they might be acutely aware of others who are wandering and say, listen, I've been where you've been. I've walked the path you're walking. Let me encourage you as I seek to receive you to myself, as I seek to love you and care for you as a community of Christ is called to do. Let me help you come back into the fold because it brings great joy to God. And then he finishes this section, it says, It is not even in the thought of God. If I had more time, I thought about fleshing out, and maybe I'll do this next week, fleshing out how often in scripture we are told that God holds us in his hand, that God will never let others, allow us to be plucked out, how God will do something within our own hearts and minds, Isaiah 32, 40, how he will put within us, he will stop us from leaving him for good. We will wander, but we will never be lost. And that's what Jesus is saying. As we seek to be disciples who are characterized by humble dependence upon God, we are not worried about being the greatest. We're not worried about being lost. We can take comfort that we are his children and that we are being cared for by his body, you and me. and by himself directly through his angels and through his ultimate plan for all his children, which is to be in his presence for eternity. So as we close today, I just want to encourage you that if you call yourself a disciple of Jesus Christ, your life should be characterized by humble dependence on God. And that means if you feel like you're not, then why not take this moment to pray, Lord, help me. You know what area of sin that you may be struggling with. Lord, pray, I mean, excuse me, pray to the Lord and pray for this childlike, humble dependence upon God. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for just the encouragement of Your Word. It is full of woes and judgment and proclamation of consequences to actions, but it also is full of love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, all those things that we so desperately need. We're thankful, Father, that we can come to a text like this and be encouraged that we need to reject the way that we have lived our lives in the past, dependent upon ourselves, trusting in our own ability, and simply humble ourselves and come to you, and cast all our cares upon you, because you care for us, to come to you and take joy in your will for our life. Lord, I pray if there's anyone here this morning that has not come to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ, or that you would, in the power of the Holy Spirit, draw them to yourself, point out their sin. Lord, show it to them and may they see it for what it is. It is rebellion. It is rejection. Father, may we be a body of Christ that is willing to receive them into our family as they have become your family through faith in Jesus Christ. Lord, may we be a church family that cares for one another and receives one another. May we not look upon the outward appearance, but on the heart, and the heart that's been redeemed by you is a heart that needs to be received with joy. Father, give us the passion to see our brothers and sisters mature in their faith. Give us a passion to see them come back to an active fellowship with a church body and with your people as we confront them lovingly in their sin, but also are willing to walk the path of restoration. Father, may you be glorified as your Holy Spirit works in your people, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.