March 04, 2025 | Be God's Family
Other People Matter to Christians
Scripture: Matthew 18:10-20(NIV)
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Devotional
Perhaps best known of these verses is the Parable of the Lost Sheep. A sheep may look out over the fields and think “Oh there’s some green grass over there,” and wanders off. Eventually he looks up to see that he is lost and vulnerable. The sun begins to set and the wolves begin to howl. The lost sheep is defenseless. Will there be a committed shepherd to rescue him back with the flock or will there be a careless shepherd letting him go?
The shepherd’s responsibility is to keep his herd close together for their protection from outside predators and to account for every one of his sheep because Our Great Shepherd tells us that every single one matters. Our Great Shepherd will never fail to love each and every sheep and always bring the lost back into the fold. God disapproves when no one will bother to go and search for the lost one and bring him home.
Sheep symbolically refer to God’s people who are easily influenced and misled.
The flock symbolically refers to the church or ecclesia.
One of your church community has wandered off and is on the horizon now. You recall not seeing him/her for some time. You may know of a lifestyle change your fellow brother/sister in Christ has made leading to a path of sin and destruction. If he/she goes behind that next bush, you won’t see him/her any longer. Is that person of any value to restore? What do you do? Who is responsible to act?
If we choose to look the other way, not confronting a lost or sinning member, we ignore the command of Jesus. If we allow sin to continually go unconfronted, we have despised our brother/sister in Christ. Pursuing and confronting someone can feel very uncomfortable, but whoever said that being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ is the easy way?
Did you know that all believers in the church community are called to understand themselves as shepherds like our Great Shepherd? Is there someone you need to reach out to who has wandered off and needs to be loved and embraced as God does us?
Poem
Nothing Worse And Nothing Better
Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1
There’s nothing worse than mean discord
When dialogue does stop
When family cancelations reign
When peace, goodwill is swapped
For gossip, slander, lies be told
When truth is twisted, slain
For ego’s pride and stubbornness
The sin of ancient Cain
Each nighttime brings a restless time
With pillows soak with tears
As anger haunts each dreaming dark
And bitterness appears
There’s nothing better than when love
Is served up at the table
When unity is the main course
And families are stable
When wrongs are done, approach is norm
Restoring separation
As truth, confession, peace embraced
Its balm, conciliation
Then bedtime prayers, full blessings pour
And kiss on foreheads sweet
Allow great dreams of visions bright
As bitterness retreats
