Sermon: Whose Side Are You On?

Julius: The Holy Gospel, which will also serve as the sermon text this morning, according to Matthew chapter 18, beginning at verse 1. At that time, the disciples approached Jesus and asked, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child, had him stand in the middle of them and said, Amen, I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little child. is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives a little child like this one in my name receives me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of temptations to sin. Temptations must come, but woe to that person through whom the temptation comes. If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to be thrown into the eternal fire with two hands or two feet. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to be thrown into hellfire with two eyes. See to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones, because I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." the gospel of the Lord. Praise be to you, O Christ. Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We pray. O Lord, awaken songs of praise for angel hosts that guard our days. Teach us to serve you and adore as angels do forevermore. Amen. The prophet of God and his servant were surrounded. The servant gets up early in the morning maybe to get some water and he looks out and around the city are horses and chariots and soldiers surrounding them all and he starts to count. Okay, there's one of me and there's one prophet, that's two. there are more with them than there are with us. Whoa! And so he runs back to tell the prophet that. He runs back and he says, no, what are we going to do? And the prophet counts. And he says, there are more with us than there are with them. And so Elisha prays so his servant can count correctly. He says, Lord, open his eyes so that he can see. And then the servant's eyes are open and he looks and he sees chariots of fire and horses, the army angels of God surrounding the enemy. and then he realizes too, there are more with us than there are with them. But today in Matthew chapter 18, Jesus leads us to wonder a little bit for ourselves, okay, if there's an us and a them in this spiritual battle that goes on every day all around us, who are we with? Us? God's people? Or them? God's enemies? Because in Matthew chapter 18 verse 10, it seems that He is speaking to people who might be with God's enemies. He said, to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones because I tell you that there angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Jesus is saying, don't mess with my people. Don't mess with the heavenly Father's little ones because there are more with me. Fiery angel armies. than there are with those who oppose my people. So what could put us on the wrong side of this war? Well, our text gives us a couple that we could look at. Things that put us on the wrong side of the war, on the side of the devil and his angels. And two of them that we see are temptation and pride. The reading started with pride. What do the disciples ask at the start of the reading? They come to Jesus and they say, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And you know they're kinda looking around, expecting it's going to be one of them. The inner circle, the 12 disciples, Peter the rock, John the disciple whom Jesus loved. One of us is the greatest, right? And Jesus takes a little child and puts the child in the middle of the disciples. and says actually this one. What? This one. Why? Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it. That's it, whoever does not receive. Who's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Well, it's someone who's like a child because children have nothing unless it's given to them. Nothing unless their parents love them and God sure does love them. in any little one, whether a child or an adult who comes to the Lord and says, Dad, I have nothing, I need everything, receives everything, greatness in the kingdom of God. Which means that anybody who walks into the presence of God as if they are already great are going to be thrown out on the wrong side with the devil and his angels. Why did the devil get kicked out of heaven in the first place? Pride. The Lord made everything beautiful, everything in its place, including powerful angels. And yet, He said, here's your job, powerful angels. In your position, you are sent to serve my little ones. Little people, those whom I want to save. And the devil and his fallen angels said, no, no, no, no, that's beneath us. And they rebelled and they left their positions of authority. And so God cast them out and threw them down. The Lord says, if we are proud, Especially if our pride leads us to look down on little ones, the vulnerable, God's people, then we too will be cast out of heaven by his angels. And so we repent of our pride. The other thing that puts us on the wrong side in this war that we'll look at today is leading others into temptation. Jesus says, anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me, can little ones believe? Jesus says so. Little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of temptations to sin. Temptations must come, but woe to that person through whom the temptation comes. Woe to the one through whom temptation comes. Who did temptation come through in the beginning? The devil. He came down and misery loves company, so he tried to make Adam and Eve miserable. God's poor, vulnerable little ones, tempted them and they sinned. And God says, woe to you, devil. Jesus will come and crush your head because of what you've done. And then Jesus turns to anybody else. And he says, we are all gonna be tempted in this now sinful world. But if you're the one through whom temptation comes, What God will do to you will make getting a millstone, a truck tied around your neck and being thrown into the heart of the sea and drowned. What God will do to you, if you tend to my little ones, will make that seem like the good option. We see that in the Bible. God's angels do oppose those who tempt His people. In Acts chapter 12, King Herod, during the time of the early church, he sets himself up in front of a crowd and they start praising him. They say, he is a god and not a man. And instead of correcting them, he embraces it, leading them further into temptation. And in that moment, an angel of the Lord strikes him down. He's struck with this horrible disease that starts consuming him literally with worms from the inside out. And we know from the histories that King Herod begged his soldiers to kill him before he died and they wouldn't. His suffering was prolonged and now his suffering is eternal in the hellfire prepared for fallen angels and people like them. In the Old Testament, the prophet Balaam, he would curse anybody for a few dollars. And so he's hired to go curse God's little ones, God's people. And he's riding his donkey down a path and the donkey stops. And he hits the donkey and he says, get moving! And the donkey won't move. And finally the Lord opens the donkey's mouth to speak and the donkey says, why are you hitting me? And the Lord opens the prophet's eyes and he sees ahead why the donkey stopped there. is an angel of the Lord. Numbers 22 says, He's holding a sword and saying, you will not harm my little ones. This is what Jesus is saying in verse 10 when he says, not look down on one of these little ones because I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my father who is in heaven. In other words, the Lord says that if any of us set ourselves up in pride and lead others into temptation, we should open our eyes to see that the angels are scrambling before the throne of God, strapping on their swords. They are coming. Terrifying. And it's a message that needs to be heard for all of us. Jesus is talking about little ones. It can be any believer, but we can think about the children, the vulnerable today. And Jesus does have a very harsh message today for those who abuse children. Often those who abuse children think they're getting away with it, or they try to cover it up, or they justify it. They go, it's not that big a deal, I can't turn myself in, that'll just make things worse. The Lord says to those who abuse children, repent and report yourself right now. Turn yourself in. Sure, that might turn your life upside down socially. It might throw you in jail, but that's gonna seem like the good option. compared to what the Lord is going to do to you if you hurt my little ones anymore. The Lord speaks to all parents. We can't escape this judgment today because we all have original sin. And so what do we pass on to our children? Sorry kids, original sin. I'm not just gonna pass on to you my hairline. I pass on my flaws. And it's not just that they're corrupt from birth, it's that they start imitating us, don't they? And they pick up our bad habits and they see our thoughts and actions that don't put God first and don't trust him and his angels above all else. And the Lord says, Woe to those who lead my ones into sin. There's a word here for all of us, of course. All of us can lead other people, other Christians, other little ones into sin with the things that seem so small, leading people to gossip, leading people to complain and be ungrateful, to be judgmental, leading people away from the good things God gives and towards bad, sinful pleasures. And the Lord says, you think that my angels aren't ready with their sword? They cast Satan out of heaven. It'll be easy to take care of you. Jesus is serious about his little ones. And so yes, we need to know today that there's a thing that angels hate. Angels hate when little ones are led astray. Angels hate when little ones are led away from God, because that's what God hates. But there is comfort, because that's not the angels' favorite thing. They're not beings made to punish and destroy and hate. They're beings who love something. And Luke chapter 15 tells us what that is. It says, is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Angels rejoice over every single sinner who repents. And why do they rejoice in that? Because that's what God rejoices in. Just a few verses after our reading today, Jesus says, even one. And you know what that means? Not even you. What Jesus' words today do is they set us up in that middle of that circle at the start of the reading when we think, man, I am in trouble for siding with them, for siding with the devil. I've got nothing to bring to the kingdom of God. And that's when God says, look where you are. You're right with that little child in the middle of the circle, the one who has nothing to offer God and can only receive. and every sinner who comes like a little child with that repentant heart saying, Lord, help me. receives the kingdom of heaven. Every little one who is brought into God's kingdom, not because they're so great, because God's forgiveness is so great, is a little one whom God loves and whom his angels love to protect and serve. That is you. God's angels watch over you. They're not interested in destroying you. They're interested in your salvation. In fact, that's their favorite thing. You can tell because they're always there when something exciting happens in salvation history. Where are the angels on Christmas when Jesus comes into the world not to destroy us but to save us? They're there. They're singing. Thousands of them. Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. Where the angels when Jesus is stumbling and sweating drops of blood? As he heads to the cross, they're there, holding him up, strengthening him, saying, keep going, you're going to save them. Jesus willingly cut off not his hand and not his eyes, that wouldn't solve the problem. He had his whole body cut off for us on the cross. to take the hellfire we deserve and to promise us heaven. And so when on Easter morning Jesus rises from the dead to prove it, where are the angels? They're rolling away the stone to point and say, look, Jesus is alive and because he lives, so will you. Where the angels, when Jesus goes up into heaven to rule on high all things for your good, including his armies of angels, the angels are looking down at the disciples saying, go, go tell others about our favorite thing, salvation, the salvation that Jesus gives to you. And so yes, the angels are on your side because God has made you a little one and brought you to their side. Did you know the angels were there when you were baptized? Having a party? As you were granted repentance and forgiveness of sins and brought into the kingdom of God, they put away their swords and they started singing. Do you know they're here today? The Bible tells us when we worship, they're here and we join their song before communion, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of heavenly hosts. They're here. They're so interested to see the Lord saving you. And they're out there. When you look around in life and you wonder, how can I be safe? When there is so much evil around me, when there is so much temptation, when the devil and his angels are fighting against me, when I'm fighting against my own sin, how can I survive? And you remember the Lord's promise. God has commanded his angels concerning you, yes you, to guard you in all your ways so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You cannot be harmed. And that's true even if you can't see them and count them. You know, the royalty over in Britain, they've got Crown Prince William and Crown Princess Kate. They have three little children who have an incredible amount of protection. They've got police. They've got bodyguards. Around their little normal-looking home is six miles of barriers and fences and cameras called the Ring of Steel. Nobody in the world is protected physically like those three royals. And yet, they don't really know it. because their parents want them to have as normal a life as possible. And so they don't see the bodyguards hiding in the trees. They don't notice the fence. They don't notice the cameras. But that doesn't mean they are any less safe. The Lord has given you a wonderful, blessed life. More than you know, more than you see, there are angel armies around you protecting you every last second until they take you to your Heavenly Father's side. And only one servant of God got to see those whole armies one time, so we don't expect to see them with these eyes. But our prayer today is that we will see them with the eyes of our heart. That more and more we will believe when our Heavenly Father says, am protecting you, yes, with armies of angels. And more and more we then will take up our sword, the sword of the Spirit. the Word of God and say, yes, angels, and I will fight with you. Let me, let me fight with you, fight for salvation, fight for the little ones until they, yes, rejoice in the presence of God and their angels. Amen.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention Matthew 18 · chapter mention Matthew 18:10 Acts 12 · chapter mention Luke 15 · chapter mention