99+1

by Pastor Bob Rasmussen

Some sermons are borne of prayer, from reading, from listening, and sometimes they are borne out of conviction. Let me start by saying that I love all of you and I love this church. 

Now, we have been making a lot of upgrades to the building in the last year. New signage, new video, we have fireplaces in the fellowship room that have also been repainted and have new blinds – and God willing, a new floor!

This month, Diana and I will be celebrating our anniversary. We were married here in this church in 2008 – it’s been a wild ride, to be sure. Many should have known that because when we were married here, it was a Baptist church. A SOUTHERN Baptist church, very traditional.

They were not ready for all the spirit-filled worshippers we invited because when it came to the music, people were praising and raising their hands – – I think many got the “what you doing side eye”. We had our reception down in the fellowship room in the basement after the ceremony. On the same flooring that is down there now. That was 2008!

I think after the multiple flooding, wear, and tear, heck, even a tornado, it is time to release that flooring; it’s tired, and it needs to be retired, amen? But with all of these upgrades to the building, it is just still a building. It is beautiful, and we are certainly blessed to have it to gather.

When Jesus said that He would build His church, the word that He wasn’t talking about 2300 S Jackson, was He? He was talking about each and every one of us who came to Him and believed, who loves and adores Him, amen? This body, all of us are His church, amen?

Let’s pray, “Sovereign Lord, Jesus, we love you, Lord. We thank You for all the blessings in our lives. We thank You for Your Word that we have it to learn more and more about You. We thank you this day for the blessing of providing this very place of worship, this upper room where we can gather and praise Your Holy Name. Lord, we are your body in this world; lead us and guide us to bring glory to You. Let us be the salt and light in this ever-darkening world. And Lord, help us to encourage each other, to love one another. I ask all of this in Your Mighty name, amen”

I am going to be in Matthew Chapter 18 this morning. Lately, I have been thinking about some things. Maybe it is because I am growing older, or maybe it’s all the meds I am on, who knows?

And I thought about some of the less stellar moments of my life, when I had failed Jesus and I had failed the church. And I really just wanted to run, to take my shame and my guilt and wallow in it. I was ashamed, I was embarrassed, it was times like this that I even thought about ending my life – because the pain was seemingly too much to bear.

I ran from God, which I know is impossible, but we can still try. I ran from the body of Christ. If I saw someone from the body, like at a store, I would go the opposite way. Or even just leave. Running away.

I felt unworthy and useless, like there was no point. And then, there was a man who cared enough to find me in my distress. Who took time out of his life to pour life into mine. Who could be with me enough to show me that God had not taken His hand off me.  Contrary to what I felt –  God still loved me. That I had value. That I was still valuable in the sight of God. And thinking about all of that, I was drawn to Matthew 18 and the absolute desire of God and His love for each and every one of us.

Matthew 18:1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

I have said this before, but sometimes I think Jesus must have been like, seriously? I am going to the cross soon and you guys are worried about what position you will have.? You are worried about who is the VP of this and the VP of that? You are concerned about who will have the power? So Jesus responds in verse 2.

2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

This is some pretty significant language the Lord is using. Verily is a trigger word for pay attention! This is important! This verse is pretty convicting. You can go to church your whole life, but unless you like a little child – meaning lowly, meek, you’re missing the mark.

It reminds me of the sermon on the Mount and traits like meekness, hunger and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, and peacemakers. Jesus is telling us, unless we are like that we might be in a little trouble. You can read all the books, go to all the conferences, be super churchy, but Jesus says “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. “

 I have known some atheists in my life, and I feel bad for them. But I feel worse for someone who calls themselves a Christian who has no relationship with Jesus. And when I think about the bible in its entirety – no where does it say “adults” of God, does it? He always calls us His children. He is reinforcing the message that we, His children, need to have all of those traits, humble, meek, merciful, and peacemakers. If not, we are left out. But when we do that, become all those things, hallelujah, He says this.

4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Greatness is humility. That is so very different in this world, isn’t it? They did not have all the media and technology we have now.  Do you know what the most viewed YouTube video is of all time? Baby Shark – Pinkfong Kid’s Songs and Stories. 15,672,167,037 views. I would have played it but once was enough for me….

In this day and age, it is about prestige; it is about views, and people value those who have many followers. It’s about money and airtime – screen time might be a better word.. Greatness in the Kingdom of God isn’t about that, it is not about all these platforms, it’s about humility. Not microphones, or books, or conferences. It is about Jesus and living our lives as He says. Verse 5 says

“5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.”

I have to pay attention here because He is not just talking about children, He is talking about anyone who repents and becomes one of His followers. He is talking about you and me as well.

6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

That word offend in Greek is “skandalizo” – kind of sounds like what it means: to trip up, to entice into sin. So anyone who causes any of these little ones to sin, it will be better to have a millstone fastened around their neck. Yikes! A millstone was used to mill wheat. I looked up how heavy it was and I found a bunch of variations. I did find a picture of one.

Let’s call it 1600 pounds. If they take you to the deepest part of the water and drop you with that, you are going straight down, fast! Drowned, killed, dead….in the depths of the sea!

⁷ Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

This is Jesus us telling us today you better not be taking someone that is His body and causing them to sin. Yes, it includes all of the things you can think of, like sexual sin, or perhaps drugs, or fill in the blank. But it also sowing discord in the church, in the body. It is slander, it is gossip, it is cutting one another down.

8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Jesus is telling us this because He knows that sin is destructive. He is the one who said if it causes you to sin, cut it off or pluck it out. That is some radical imagery, but it shows the seriousness of His conviction and teaching that sin is not to be played with. We need to deal aggressively with our sin, not coddle it. And it is even more important so that we don’t take anybody down with us and put a millstone around someone else’s neck!

Jesus is saying you would be better off dead than playing around with sin and causing someone to sin.There is a phrase about sin that goes like this; 

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

But take heart, God has a promise for us to cling to!

 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Hallelujah and amen! God will make a way! There is a way out!

10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;

To be clear, Jesus is talking about His children, His followers and He is not asking, He is commanding us – Take heed is like a verily moment, amen? Take heed, pay attention, look, do not despise, look down, scorn, or show contempt or disrespect these children, these people, these brothers and sisters who are trying their best!

If you see someone going through a hard season, when they made a mistake – don’t despise them. Despise is like saying they are not valuable to Jesus. That guy messed up again, he is not valuable to Jesus, he is worthless. She had another baby out of wedlock, she is not worth the time, she has no value to God. We cannot assign value or value someone more than another. In these times, we have celebrities and all of that, but even in the church, we should not place more or less value on someone.

Is Pastor Jeff more valuable than Gordy? Is Pastor Mike more valuable than Brother Kim? Because I have a microphone this morning, am I more valuable than Ardell? No, absolutely not!

for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Man, this part is exciting! Jesus is showing something that is going on in heaven. He is showing us what is happening in the heavenlies that we cannot see. He says that they, meaning His children, means that we, you and I, have angels in heaven. Yes, Lord! And why am I encouraged about the angels? It’s in the Word, Acts Chapter 12.

King Herod was a real jerk. He killed James, brother of John with a sword. Because that made people happy, he took Peter. Peter is in prison. Herod plans to kill him.

Well, Peter did deny Jesus 3 times, I heard about that one. Maybe he is unworthy; maybe he deserves it. Maybe he has no value to God. That’s what some of us would do. He was a traitor to Jesus! That is what I expected would happen to him.

But, but, but…

Acts 12:5 but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

Let us pray more for one another than we judge. Pray more than our criticism of each other. Let us pray for another when we go through things. We all need grace and to be graceful to each other. Peter is in prison, sleeping between 2 guards and chained up. Guess what, not for long!

7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

Anybody have chains fall off? Thank you Lord! God comes on the scene and He is the chain breaker!

8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

Just follow me; you don’t know the answer. Follow the Holy Spirit, follow God’s lead. Peter follows the angel, goes through a couple of areas, and comes to an iron door, opening its own accord, the bible says.

11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

Peter was delivered or God rescued is a better word. Would God have done that if Peter was not valuable? Would God have sent that angel if Peter had failed too many times and had no value in the kingdom? It is the same for us and all of his little ones. We have value, and when I think of the many times I have known God to have his hand in my life.

Diana and I had an accident on the interstate.How many times has God rescued, saved, and protected you? When you look back on your life and see all the times He intervened? You all have value, and when we mess up, we do not lose our value. And neither do our brothers and sisters, the little ones.

Jesus is about to share one of the most famous parables in the bible, but it is in 2 places. The parable of the lost sheep is in Luke, but the language there is for the lost, those who have yet to follow Christ. Here in Matthew, it is for the believer. The believer who has strayed, who is struggling, who is hurting.

Matthew 12:12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 

Amen, amen, amen. I am not proud of it, but when I did wander away from Jesus, I’m sure no one else in this room has wandered, right? When we wandered, He came after us personally for himself. Thank You, Lord!

Now sheep, unlike being called children, are a little different. Sheep are not the brightest creatures in the world. When they do not follow the Shepherd, they get into trouble. When they are alone, they can get stuck in a bramble – shrubbery. When they are alone they can just wander, getting weak from no food or water. And watch this – they become prey for predators. Who is our predator so to speak?

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Follow the Shepherd! Jesus also uses the imagery of sheep for another reason. Sheep had quite a bit of value back in the times when He was preaching, and we need to always consider this when we read His Word. Amen? Not only did sheep provide meat, but they also provided milk, and they were used for their wool and skins.  If someone loses a sheep, they will be in trouble. I read that it could be as much as one month’s salary to three months. 

13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

The point is what? That they have value – so losing one, the Shepherd would get all the other sheep together, safe, and go after the one. It doesn’t matter how that sheep went astray, it is still His will to go off and bring that sheep back to the 99. But there is a warning here as well.

13 And if so be that he find it, – 

Some will not want to be found. Some will choose to continue to live in Sin and listen to the other guy. They are going to hang around the wrong sheep in sin right into the time they die and face eternal judgment.

14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

God does not want to lose any of us; God values us even when we mess up. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to reach out and love those who wander. He does not want even one to perish! They still have value to God up until the day they take their last breath, and every breath they take is time for the opportunity to get them back to the Shepherd.

We can pray. We can call. We can knock on the door. Whatever it takes. They have value. Let us be the body, the church that loves one another more than we love to gossip. Let us be the body that prays and encourages more than we cut down others. Let us be the sheep that follow the voice of Jesus so that the 99+1 becomes 100. 100% devoted to serving Jesus and loving as he did in humility, in meekness,  seeking righteousness and justice. We were all lost!

Ephesians 2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Thank You, Lord, for your grace! We were all lost at one point. We were all that one sheep! I alluded to someone when I started preaching this morning about a time in my life. As I said, Diana and I have an anniversary coming up, which kind of blows my mind. There was a time back then when things were not always perfect. Can you believe it?

And sometimes, when we love someone, we can love them, but there may still be hurt, and there may still be a little anger in one person. And if you are the person who did stupid things, there is all that embarrassment, self-loathing, and feeling like you have no value, amen?

And that may make us feel like we have no value to Jesus, to anyone. Depression can set in, and things start to spin. But then someone steps in with the presence of the Lord. Sometimes, it does not have to be profound words and scripture. Sometimes, it is merely presence. Just being there lets that person know they still have value to not just Jesus but to them and the body of Christ.

For me, at that time, that was Pastor Jeff. He went with me on some jobs. Partially to make sure I went to some jobs. But he hung around, he encouraged me, he prayed for me, he prayed with me, and he prayed with us. If it were not for that moment, I probably would not be here today. Thank you!

If you have messed up and don’t feel valuable, I hope I have proved that you are wrong. Come back to the 99, come back to the body of Christ. We have all messed up, and we have all fallen short of God’s glory. His will is that not even one would perish, and that means you – stop excluding yourself from that 99+1 equation. Come home.

The altar is open.