Striving for Humility

Matthew chapter 18, verses 11 through 14. We'll

Matthew 18:11–14

read through these few verses and then we'll

pray and get started. For the Son of Man has

come to save the lost. What do you think? If

a man has 100 sheep and one of them goes astray,

won't he leave the 99 on the hillside and go

and search for the stray? And if he finds it,

I assure you, he rejoices over that sheep more

than over the 99 that did not go astray. In the

same way, it is not the will of your Father in

heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you

for a good day today. We thank you for your good

words. I pray, dear Lord, that you would free

us of the distractions and the worries and the

thoughts of this world. I pray that in these

few moments that your Holy Spirit would speak

to us, Lord. There is no good word that I can

speak today, God, if it does not come from you.

And so I pray that you would just... Take away

any fear or pride that is within me today, dear

Lord, that I would humbly preach and teach your

word. I pray that you would help us to be able

to understand it and to live it, dear Lord. God,

perhaps if there are some today who have gone

astray, that they would humble themselves before

you, dear Lord. That they would be found by you

and that they would find you. And I ask these

things in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus! used this

illustration a couple of different times, and

I believe it was probably different occurrences

in which this took place. We see it also mentioned

in Luke chapter 15, the story of about someone

Luke 15 · chapter mention

who has a shepherd who has 100 sheep and one

goes astray. We see a similar story in Luke 15,

and that story is followed not long after by

the story of the prodigal son, but In that instance

and in this instance, Jesus is using this illustration

in a little bit of a different way. In some way

it's similar, but I believe it's probably two

different occurrences of Jesus using this example

of a lost sheep. But to really understand what

Jesus is saying, we need a little bit of context.

Now that's always important. I will always encourage

you when you read the Word of God. Always try

to read the verses before it, maybe even the

chapter before it or the chapter after it. We

really need to understand kind of what's going

on in the whole of chapter 18 at the beginning

here to really understand what Jesus is saying.

So why is Jesus speaking this parable about the

lost sheep? Well, he gets to it in kind of a

roundabout way. What we see at the beginning

of Matthew chapter 18, verse 1, is this. At that

Matthew 18:1

time, the disciples came to Jesus and said, who

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now,

I don't think they were just asking this question

for knowledge. I don't think they just had a

curiosity. Oh, we just love to know who's the

greatest in heaven. No, when we begin to look

at the disciples on other occasions, their concern

was not just who was the greatest, but Am I going

to be the greatest? I want to be the greatest.

I want to be seated at your right hand in heaven.

And the disciples, they probably were not so

unlike us. We kind of like to think we're the

best. We like to be the teacher's pet. We probably

are a little better than the one sitting next

to us. I mean, they might be pretty good, but

we probably pray a little more. We probably know

the scripture a little better. And we're probably

a little smarter and a little faster. And there's

something in us. We kind of seek that greatness.

It's just part of our human struggle, and maybe

some of us struggle with it more than others,

but I suspect all of us, to some degree, we struggle

with that idea of wanting to be the greatest,

to want to try to outdo everybody else just a

little more. I'll give you a good example of

this. Yesterday, I went and played golf with

my dad and my uncles. Man, you get out there

on the golf course, and you're waiting for them

to take their shot, and a couple of them hit.

And they hit a good long drive off the tee, long

and far. And then you get up there and you say,

I want to hit it further than them. I want to

be greater than them. And so you swing a little

extra harder in hopes that it'll go right down

just a little past them. But usually it goes

off in the water, left or to the right, in the

woods. But there's this desire in us that when

we see somebody do something, there's a part

of us that wants to outdo them a little bit,

to show them up a little bit. We want that affirmation

that we're... a little better, that we are the

greatest. And that's kind of what started this

whole conversation. It's his disciples said,

well, who's the greatest? Who's the greatest?

And Jesus took this as a teaching opportunity.

And Jesus took it as a teaching opportunity to

say, you need to understand what you're asking.

You need to understand what really matters. And

it's not about striving to be the greatest. It's

about striving to be And that's what Jesus is

trying to teach us throughout this passage and

ultimately with this parable of the lost sheep.

They said, who is the greatest in the kingdom

of heaven? Who's the greatest in the kingdom

of heaven? And Jesus is saying here, I believe,

you want me to tell you about the kingdom of

heaven? You want me to tell you about the kingdom

of God? Well, let me tell you who's going to

be in the kingdom of God. It's not going to be

those who... who strive to be great in themselves.

It's going to be those who humble themselves

and recognize their need for God, who recognize

their need for a Savior. See, there's a problem

in our life. When we strive to be the greatest,

there's some pride often that comes along with

that. And we kind of become consumed with being

the greatest and being the best and being the

greatest and outdoing everybody in what we do.

And Jesus teaches us throughout the scriptures

that's not a good heart for us to have. Because

that heart leads to pride. And man, that pride

leads us to not treat people in love and to treat

people in the way that God desires for us to

treat people. And so Jesus says, look, it's not

about being the best. It's not about whether

somebody in this world pats you on the back and

tells you how good you are. Or the rest of your

golf mates say, man, that was the greatest drive

I've seen all day. You really smoked us. It's

not about that affirmation. Jesus says the kingdom

of God is worth so much more than that. And Jesus

teaches us that the kingdom of God is entered

into. Not by those who seek to be great, but

by those who seek to be humble. And so when they

ask Jesus this question, the scripture says that

he takes a child that is nearby. And he said

if anyone wants to enter the kingdom of heaven,

he has to be like a child. Now there's a certain

beauty and innocence to a child. Man, a child

is just there to just kind of... They just kind

of do what you say, however you lead them, whatever

you tell them, they just accept it. There's a

certain innocence and a certain purity, and that's

a beautiful thing. And they don't question anything.

They just see a mother, they see a father, and

what you tell them or what you do, they just

believe it, and they just follow you. And Jesus

says this is the type of faith that we need to

have, that we need to have a childlike faith.

That we are those who hear the word of God, that

we are those who hear the teachings of Jesus

Christ and we accept those teachings and we live

on those teachings and we just trust that God

has our best interests in mind. You notice he

doesn't say have faith like a teenager. He doesn't

say those who are like a teenager are learning

the kingdom of God. Because, man, kids are so

good and they're so fun and you can have a good

time and you can laugh and cut up and you can

tell them what to do and they're like, yeah,

let's do it. And a teenager, like, all of a sudden

they have a mind of their own and he doesn't

say those who are like teenagers will enter the

kingdom of heaven. He says those who are like

this child, who are innocent and who are humble

and who are pure in some way. And he uses this

example and he continues on with this illustration

about... This little one. That those who are

God's children are like children of the world.

That there's a certain purity and a certain innocence

and a certain humility and a certain dependence

that we learn that we have on God. You know,

when a child is born, they are completely and

totally dependent on an adult. And that's how

we are with God. We need to recognize that. That

we are completely and totally dependent on God.

That everything that there is has been created

by God. That God is the one who takes care of

us. That God is the one who strengthens us. That

God is the one who will be with us. That God

is the one who will encourage us. That God is

the one that through His Son, Jesus Christ, will

forgive our sins if we would trust in Him. We

are completely and totally dependent on God,

not just for help in this life, but for salvation

in the life to come. So we need to look at our

life today. And we need to say, man, am I like

a child? And my desire to just follow God and

be dependent on Him and to humble myself before

Him and just to allow God to be the Lord of my

life? Are we those who are seeking greatness

on our own, in ourself? Because it feels good.

When you can be really good at something in this

world, and you can be great at something, whether

it's a sport or whether it's your job or whether

it's singing or whether it's playing an instrument,

it feels good to be great in those ways. It feels

good for people to tell you how great you are.

But those things lead to pride. And those things

can become our God. Our own desire for greatness

can become our God. And Jesus says, look. It's

not about who is great. The kingdom of God is

made up of those who are humble, who are like

that child that Jesus gathered to him. Now, I

think certainly in the context, he's probably

talking about children, physical, literal little

children. But I also think that Jesus is probably

making a connection there. That when he talks

about the little ones or the little children,

he's not just talking about kids that we see.

I think he's talking about his followers. Those

who enter the kingdom of God have to become like

a child. We see similar language in the letters

of John. I believe in 1 or 2 John. I don't remember

the exact verses, but I believe it's 2 John.

He refers to little children many times. Little

children, little children, little children. And

he's talking about Christians. He's talking about...

followers of Jesus Christ. And I believe in some

way that Jesus is using this phraseology, this

term little ones, not just talking about the

children, but also those who are his followers,

those who are going to enter the kingdom of God.

So we kind of begin to see what Jesus is working

on here. And he gets to this parable of the sheep

kind of in a roundabout way because they're asking

who's the greatest. And Jesus says, no, no, no.

Let me use this as an opportunity to teach you

about humility. And that God loves those who

humble themselves, not those who hold themselves

as something great. And that's where he says

in the verse that we looked at this morning,

For the Son of Man has come to save the lost.

Now that's a beautiful verse right there. That's

a beautiful verse that Jesus Christ has come

to save the lost. Now that's good news for you

and I. Maybe you don't even know it's good news,

but I want to tell you it's good news because

every one of us in here today, we are lost on

our own. Now, we may be successful in some way

and we may be good at something or we may have

good health and things in our life may be going

pretty good. But at the end of the day, the Bible

says that we are all sinners. We are all lost.

We are all separated from God and there's no

path back to God. based on anything that we can

do. There's nothing we can do that's going to

get us on the path back to God on our own. It

doesn't matter how successful we are, how great

we are. The only way that we get on that path

that leads us to God is through Jesus Christ.

He is that narrow path that leads us to the Lord.

And praise the Lord, Jesus said that he came

to save the lost. That's you and I. That's everybody

in this room. That's everybody that's ever walked

this earth because we all see and we all do and

say and think and act in ways that just are not

good, that are against the will of God. But Jesus

said that the Son of Man has come to save the

lost. And then he gives us this parable. What

do you think? If a man has 100 sheep and one

of them goes astray, Won't he leave the 99 on

the hillside and go and search for the stray?

This is a beautiful, simple story. We can understand

this. We can picture that there's a shepherd

somewhere out on the hillside. There's a shepherd

with his flock there, taking good care of them,

protecting them. Got a hundred sheep. That's

a pretty good flock of sheep. And if one goes

astray, maybe you look for a little while and

you say, I got 99 more. I'm doing okay. I can

afford to lose this one. But that's not what

Jesus says in this story. He says, no, if a shepherd

has a hundred sheep, then he wants to protect

all of his sheep. He doesn't want to lose a single

one. And if that one sheep goes astray, what

does the shepherd do? Jesus says the shepherd

goes and looks for that sheep. Now, this is good

news. Because we are those who have gone astray.

We are the lost that Jesus came to save. And

we are lost because we have gone astray. God

has created humanity. He's created everything.

And it would be fantastic if all of God's people

always would have tried to seek him with all

of their heart and live in obedience to him.

But you know as well as I do, man, we go astray.

There are temptations and there are things of

the world. And whatever that temptation is for

us, sometimes those desires, And those sins in

our life, they lead us astray and we find ourselves

in a bad shape. Because as long as we're in the

presence of the shepherd, we'll be protected.

We'll be provided for. But once we leave the

protection of the shepherd, we're in harm's way.

I was reading about a sheep this week. The sheep's

name was Shrick. And the sheep escaped one day.

And this farmer had a lot of sheep, and they

tried to find Shrek, but they never did find

Shrek. And they found Shrek like six years later.

They finally found this sheep. He was still alive.

He had been hiding out in caves in the area for

six years, and nothing had attacked it. But its

coat had just kept growing and kept growing and

kept growing, and you couldn't even hardly tell

it was a sheep. It was just like a giant ball

of wool. And eventually the sheep would have

died, but... Praise the Lord, they found the

sheep and they sheared the sheep and even the

sheep that had been gone for that long, the farmer

was still looking for it. And if the farmer hadn't

found the sheep, that sheep would have died.

Maybe we're not so different. Maybe today we're

not so unlike Shrek, not the green ogre, but

the sheep. Maybe we've gone astray. Maybe some

of us, it's been years that we've gone astray.

And maybe we see the effects of that in our life.

We see how it makes us feel. We see how it makes

us act. We see that our life has fallen apart.

We have the struggle in our mind and the struggle

in our heart. And life is hard. And we've made

some really boneheaded decisions. And we find

ourselves in a place that we're in a bad shape.

And if the shepherd doesn't come for us, then

we're not going to make it. But I got news for

you today. The shepherd has come for you. The

scripture says that Jesus Christ is the good

shepherd. And he has come for you. When he came

and died on a cross, he came for you. Even if

you would have been the only one, he would have

come for you. If you would have been the only

lost sheep, he would have come for you. He knows

your struggle. He knows what you're dealing with

today. He knows the sin in your life. And he

died on a cross so that you could be forgiven

of that sin. But we have to humble ourselves

before that Savior. You can come today and you

can hear these words and you can even acknowledge

in some way that you believe that they're true.

But even if you believe that these words are

true, but you don't humble yourself before the

shepherd Jesus Christ today, then you'll leave

that door when you walk out today and you'll

be just as lost when you leave as you were when

you come in. But there's a good shepherd who's

been looking for you, who gave his life for you,

who wants to pick you up and he wants to throw

you over his shoulders and he wants to bring

you back home. He wants to bring you back to

pastors. He wants to bring you back to still

waters. He wants to bring you back to a place

of safety. He wants to bring you back to a place

where he can provide for and take care of you.

And Jesus says in this parable, it's not about

being great, it's about being humble. That God

loves the weak. He loves the helpless. If they

would just humble themselves before him and they

would just seek him, if they would just call

out to him, he's there. He wants to bring you

back into the flock. In verse 13. And if he finds

it, I assure you, he rejoices over that sheep

more than over the 99 that did not go astray.

Now that doesn't mean that he doesn't love the

99. Of course. He rejoices over the 99. But he

wants the 100. He wants everybody. The scripture

says that God doesn't want anybody to perish,

but all to come to repentance. Jesus doesn't

just want all of, just a few of us to be saved.

Today, he wants all of us to be saved. He wants

all of our sins to be cleansed. And so there's

rejoicing when a lost sinner puts their faith

and trust in Jesus Christ. Maybe there are some

here today. Maybe there are some of you that's

in the flock. God loves you just the same. There's

rejoicing over you. Man, there's rejoicing when

a lost soul puts their faith and trust in Jesus

Christ. In verse 14, In the same way, it is not

the will of your Father in heaven, That one of

these little ones should perish. It's not God's

will that anyone should perish. But that they

would trust in Jesus Christ. That's what God

desires for our life. He does not want anybody

to perish but all to come to repentance. To humble

themselves before him. So what about us today?

What are we striving for in our life? Are we

striving for greatness? Or are we striving for

humility? Now the world will teach us to strive

for greatness. To be the best you can be. To

make sure everybody knows that you're the best

that there can be. That you're better than everybody

else and that you can step on everybody else

on your way to the top. That's what the world

will tell you. But Jesus tells us something totally

contradictory to that. Jesus said it's not about

you and it's not about your greatness. It's about

your humility. His disciple says, who's the greatest

in the kingdom of heaven? And he says, hold up.

Those who are going to enter the kingdom of heaven

are not going to be those who are the greatest,

at least not in the sense that the world talks

about. But those who are going to be in the kingdom

of heaven are going to be those who are... What

about us today? Jesus wants us to humble ourselves

before Him. He's the good shepherd who's looking

for the sheep who's gone astray. We see this

beautiful illustration throughout Scripture that

Jesus has become the Lamb of God, but He's also

become the shepherd of the flock. That as part

of the flock of the Lamb of God that he became

the sacrifice on our behalf. That Jesus Christ

was crucified and died and nailed to a cross

so that you and I could be forgiven. He was the

sacrificial lamb for us. He died so the other

sheep could be saved. And he has become the good

shepherd. And he is the good shepherd today who

is looking for those who are lost. And he wants

to save you and he wants to bring you home. Would

you humble yourself before Jesus Christ today

and trust in him? Let's pray. God, we come to

you today. We thank you for your good word. And

I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us not

to be those who are proud and who seek greatness

for ourselves, dear Lord. God, I pray that you

would help us to humble ourselves before you

this morning. That whatever sin may be in our

heart, That we would lift it up to you, dear

Lord. That we would ask for forgiveness today.

That we would repent of that sinfulness, dear

Lord. God, maybe there are some in here today

that are struggling and they're yours. And maybe

they've gone astray. Maybe they know the truth

of your word, but they hadn't been living by

it, dear Lord. They hadn't been trusting in you.

I pray today that they would know that you still

love them. Even if they've been astray for years,

dear Lord, if there's anything in their heart

this morning, God, that you're working on, I

pray that they would just come to you and that

they would pray and that they would repent and

that they would seek Jesus Christ. Maybe there

are some here, dear Lord, and they've never been

part of your flock. Maybe they've never realized

just how much you love them. Maybe they've been

trying to do it their way. Maybe they've been

trying to survive based on their greatness. But

God, I pray today that they would humble themselves

before the greatness of Jesus Christ. God, I

pray that you would help our attitudes to be

that of a little child, dear Lord. That we would

become dependent on you and humbly seek you and

listen to you and follow you wherever you lead

us. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.