For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
The Son of man came to save those who were lost, as shown by the shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine to seek the one gone astray and rejoices more over finding it, for it is not the Father's will that one of these little ones should perish. The lost are sinners who have wandered from God and the fold, and the little ones are the weakest, inexperienced and struggling believers who are precious to Christ and in the special charge of angels whose faces behold the Father. He saves by seeking the erring tenderly instead of condemning them, having left the glory of heaven to come to a cursed world and giving His life as a ransom by bearing the world's sin so eternal life is within every person's reach. Every soul is precious as God's property bought by Christ's blood at infinite cost, so heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents, and to despise or cause a believing little one to stumble is a grave offense that may bring that soul to ruin. Therefore every believer without exception is to be a co-laborer with Christ in persistent, personal, tender effort to seek and restore the perishing, laying aside self-confidence, contempt, striving for supremacy, and criticism that wounds God's children.
Meaning and Immediate Setting
The Son of man came to save that which was lost. He came to save sinners who had strayed, and He gave His life to rescue every person who seeks Him with the whole heart. His saving purpose is explained by a man having a hundred sheep who leaves the ninety and nine and goes into the mountains to seek the one that has gone astray. If he finds it, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety and nine which went not astray. Like that shepherd, Christ seeks each wandering person and gives special care to the weakest of His flock, interceding for them and not neglecting them.
Even so it is not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. God does not will that even one erring person whom Christ values should be lost, but that each should be dealt with tenderly and helped. Their angels in heaven always behold the face of the Father, showing their value in heaven's sight. A soul rescued from Satan and from Satan's triumph brings joy in heaven and joy among the heavenly angels.
The chapter is Christ's lesson on humility and on the tenderness and care to be shown to the erring and to those who need sympathy and love. Entering heaven's kingdom requires conversion and becoming as little children, laying aside self-confidence, self-righteousness, harshness, contempt, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, self-exaltation and dignity. It forbids striving for supremacy and for being first, whether inward concealed strife or outward manifest strife, and teaches that in Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority, but spiritual excellence manifested in true conversion learned from Christ in submission and obedience. Its instruction gives principles for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus to act upon in all cases and under all circumstances, calling for humility before God, turning from self, and loving sympathy for others.
The Lost and Little Ones
The lost are sinners, not saints, who have wandered from God as sheep stray from the fold, dead in sin and estranged from Him. He came to save sinners who were lost, not those already good and righteous. That includes the degraded, the fallen, and the outcast, as well as those who have sinned and strayed until they are distressed and nearly hopeless.
The little ones are the weakest believers, weak and trembling souls with many defects and objectionable traits. They are inexperienced and may make mistakes, easily led into harm, struggling against discouraging circumstances and their own inclinations. They are precious to Christ, for whom He intercedes, and they are the special charge of the angels of God and must not be despised, neglected, harshly treated, or abandoned.
The little ones include people newly come to the Christian faith and little children in Christ rather than children in years. They may not know as much as they should and need to be taught the way of truth by instruction and by Christlike example, given opportunity to understand rather than being despised or led astray. Misleading their feet by word or wrong course so that they stumble in crooked paths is forbidden, and those in fault are to be helped by prayerful, kind effort.
The little ones are also Christ's disciples changed in outlook and character, made meek, lowly, teachable, and submissive. God cherishes every one of His children, including the weakest and feeblest, and it is not His will that even one of them should perish. Children themselves belong to God and are among those needing salvation, and therefore are to be cared for and sought rather than neglected or mistreated because they are not one's own.
Manner of Christ's Saving
He seeks the erring instead of condemning them, for as Chief Shepherd He diligently seeks the wandering sheep and does not rest while any means remain to bring it back. He does not drive the erring one back with scolding or harshness, but carries the sheep tenderly and rejoices as it returns. He does not abandon wounded, weak, or tempted believers to Satan, but strengthens and delivers those who trust in Him and rely on His love. Those who have been forgiven must do this same work of seeking the one gone astray and rejoicing when he is found, rather than standing rigid toward a brother's wrong while their own record stands charged with unconfessed sins.
To do this He left His home in the kingdom of glory among beings that had never fallen, where He was loved and could have remained. He left the royal courts to bear the reproach of sin outside the camp, and came to a world marred and seared by the curse to save the lost sheep, gathering into His bosom all who would come to Him. He lived as a Man of sorrows acquainted with grief and trod the rugged path of self-denial to set an example. Without this work humanity would have been left to perish without hope in God, including the degraded, fallen, and outcast for whose sake He came.
Though sinless He made an infinite sacrifice and gave His life as ransom, bearing the world's sin and suffering its consequences as if guilty. His suffering reveals the Father's love for a world perishing in sin, and through that sacrifice eternal life is within reach of every person. His saving mission is grounded in this giving of His life so that people may believe in Him and rely on His love. Bringing wanderers back to the fold means returning to God and ceasing to sin so they may live without sin, and His care is not only for those already in the fold but for sinners who have wandered away from God like sheep away from the fold.
Rescue is for every person who seeks Him with the whole heart and submits to be rescued, for no straying sheep is overlooked or left without help. Those who want to be rescued must be willing to be rescued in the Lord's appointed way and not in a way of their own choosing, by living faith, and the same redemption, love, light, and power is promised to all alike who seek it. The free grace of God is man's only hope, and God is in earnest with every person about this. The verse gives each sinner reason to have courage and trust in Christ's power to save because He gave Himself at infinite cost, so that doubting the possibility of salvation doubts that saving power.
The aim of correcting one doing wrong is to save that person from being ruined by sin. The whole teaching gives relief and courage and hope, for taking the case to Jesus in prayer in faith brings pardon, because He hears. When sins are confessed with repentance and humble walk with God, forgiveness is found, for He corrects in order to purify and save.
Worth of Every Soul
Every soul discloses its true worth in the light of the cross of Calvary, for each person purchased is precious as God's property bought by Christ's blood at infinite cost. The lost whom He came to save are sinners, not saints — weak brethren, weak and trembling souls with many defects and objectionable traits, little children in Christ rather than children in years — and Christ identifies His interest with them so that injustice done to them is as done to Himself. Therefore no believer is to be despised, disrespected, treated with partiality, harshness, envy, jealousy, or unkind words and actions that push souls onto Satan's ground, but is to receive compassion, earnest labor, and persevering effort instead of selfish neglect, contempt, unforgiving and exacting judgment, condemnation, and discouragement. No straying sheep who submits to be rescued is overlooked or left without help, and because He gave Himself at infinite cost each sinner has reason for courage and trust in His power to save, so that to doubt the possibility of salvation is to doubt that saving power. Turning anyone away from Christ dishonors the Saviour and may bring that soul to ruin, since every soul cost Him an infinite price.
One soul is very precious in God's sight, for Christ died for that soul that he might live through eternal ages, and work for the lost is not in vain even when only a few accept grace. God, Christ, and heaven's angels are concerned for the salvation of sinners, and as the shepherd seeks the one strayed sheep Christ seeks each person, with heaven rejoicing when one is rescued. There is greater joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance, for it is not the Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish. Their angels always behold the face of the Father in heaven, and one soul redeemed from Satan's triumph causes joy among the heavenly angels, while heavenly beings join human disciples so that heaven's power combines with human effort to draw people to Christ. That saving work is carried on by workers who seek the lost and care for them with practical acts of love, feeding, cleansing, and clothing even society's outcasts through medical missionary work, so that many poor outcasts whose moral image of God was destroyed will have that image restored, will then restore it in others for whom Christ paid with His blood, and will be called the elect of God, precious, standing next to the throne.
Because Christ values every soul His disciples must not show less regard for others than He does, and entering heaven's kingdom requires conversion to become like a child, with humility rather than pride or self-importance marking true greatness. Causing a believing little one to stumble or turning someone away from Christ is a grave offense and grave wrong, making the Saviour's love, humiliation, and agony vain for that person, dishonoring Him and possibly bringing that soul to ruin. The warning not to despise the little ones is serious, and those who are easily provoked must heed it or they will not be among the redeemed.
Followers Seek the Lost
Christ came to save the lost, and that coming sets the work for all who have been saved, for the same redemption, love, light and power is promised to all alike who seek it by living faith. Every believer with no exceptions, not the minister alone, is to go forth as Christ did to rescue the lost and perishing as co-laborers with Christ. A heart that remembers being saved from sin proves itself by active labor for souls instead of indifference and neglect, for believers are not placed here merely to seek their own gratification when sinners to be saved are all about them. Those who already have the truth and know God's requirements should keep the way of the Lord and heed the light given in the Word, so that labor is not consumed in warning and reproving them but can be given to the salvation of souls ready to perish. Those who see the preciousness of the Saviour's love shown on the cross and understand its value will be earnest and eager to join that work of sharing truth so others may join the faith.
The lost sheep will not return without special, persistent, personal effort to recover those who have strayed. Believers are to draw near to anyone slipping away from truth and endangering the hope of eternal salvation, learn that person's needs, pray with them, share truth by instruction and example, and help them kindly, patiently, tenderly, with sympathy, meekness, mercy and love, and never give up on helping them. The erring, weak, trembling, and even apostate are to be sought and brought back into the fold, for those who belong to the fold have a special duty to search for them, and people newly come to faith are to be treated tenderly and taught the way of truth rather than despised or led astray. This saving work is carried on by followers as they seek those gone astray and help bring them to repentance to win souls, and it is done with the help of Christ and the angels, so that heaven's power combines with human effort. Neglecting this work leaves souls exposed to Satan and makes the neglectful responsible for them, for the Chief Shepherd diligently seeks the wandering sheep and does not rest while any means remain to bring it back, not driving the erring back with scolding or harshness but carrying tenderly and rejoicing at return.
That seeking is practical love that relieves suffering and teaches righteousness, rescuing souls from Satan's hand and from the depths of human woe and misery. It lays a burden to feed, cleanse, and clothe the lost through medical missionary work, with angels cooperating, and work for the lost is not in vain even when only a few accept grace. Christ's example brought Him among the afflicted, poor, distressed, needy, and despised, and His heavenly majesty, purity, and refinement did not keep Him from humbling Himself to do the work they most needed even when unpleasant, which rebukes those who consider helping the helpless beneath them. Many poor outcasts whose moral image of God was destroyed will have that image restored, will then restore it in others for whom Christ paid with His blood, and will be called the elect of God, precious, standing next to the throne, because it is not the Father's will that one of these little ones should perish. One soul rescued from Satan brings joy in heaven, for one soul is very precious in God's sight and Christ died that he might live through eternal ages.
No straying sheep who submits to be rescued is overlooked or left without help, which gives each sinner reason to have courage and trust in Christ's power to save at infinite cost. The same mission brings encouragement to one who has been discouraged and treated unjustly, calling others to care for and help rather than bruise or abandon a soul in need. Children are included among those needing salvation and belong to God, so every church member should care for them and cooperate with Christ in seeking their salvation rather than neglecting or mistreating them because they are not their own.
Humility Unity and Care
Because the Son of man came to save what was lost, not one of the little ones is to be despised, harmed, neglected, or treated as worthless, for their angels always behold the face of the Father in heaven and it is not the Father's will that one of them should perish. Like the man with a hundred sheep who leaves the ninety and nine to go into the mountains after the one gone astray and rejoices more over finding it than over those that did not stray, Christ values, intercedes for, and seeks the erring, especially the weakest believers who may not know as much and need opportunity to understand. Misleading their feet by a word or a wrong course so that they stumble in crooked paths, making an erring brother's case more hopeless, or standing off to criticize those who are reaching them grieves the Holy Spirit and violates the lesson of the chapter. Instead the erring are to be received, pitied, and sought with tenderness, courtesy, sympathy, mercy, and love, dealt with tenderly and helped, never stood off from in self-righteousness like the Pharisee who thanks God he is not as other men.
All professed Christians must be converted in spirit and become as little children, learning Christ's meekness and lowliness rather than seeking supremacy or creating strife. That conversion lays aside self-sufficiency, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-exaltation, dignity, harshness, and contempt, and turns from self to humility before God with loving sympathy for others and personal effort to help those outside Christ. The unsanctified element of inward concealed strife for supremacy and outward manifest strife to be first in the ranks must be cleansed from the soul temple, with no standing back on dignity when not specially requested, no satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, and no hindering words that Satan uses instead of building up the Redeemer's kingdom. Until this is cleansed the Saviour's Spirit is grieved, those who ought to be a blessing become a curse retarding instead of advancing the work, and the Lord cannot manifest His power and grace.
The same saving purpose forbids lack of love that hinders and represses one doing a good work, accusing brethren, seeking to remove a fellow worker, devising separation, thinking and speaking evil, dissension, self-esteem, strife to be highly esteemed, and criticism and faultfinding. Such accusation and evil thinking and speaking gives place to the enemy, grieves the Spirit of the Lord, and must be refused, met, and condemned, with the Word given in strong portions to mischief makers who know not what they do, and the verse itself read to any who begin criticism to trace out the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences. For criticism and faultfinding is expressly the devil's work begun in the heavenly courts, when he claimed he could do wonders if not hampered by God's law, suggested change in God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, put his own thoughts into angels' minds and then repeated them as their disaffection, covered his tracks while spreading suspicion and distrust of God and of one another, until strife grew into rebellion and God expelled him and the disloyal for the good of the loyal and true.
Its lesson for saving the lost must be learned with full purpose of heart to heal dissension and alienation, by turning to the Lord, repenting of self-glorying, perversion of righteousness in words and acts, and weakening ministers' hands, and by receiving reproof instead of building up a wrong course and being converted in speech and action. Christ looks with sorrow upon the wayward course of those given precious encouragement, yet for His cause and His name's glory He bears long with them when they are an offense, encourages them, and sends helpful messages of kindness and love lest enemies of truth triumph. Taking the case to Jesus in prayer in faith brings pardon, for He hears, and when sins are confessed with repentance and humble walk with God forgiveness is found, because He corrects in order to purify and save; but refusal of reproof brings judgment and being cast aside to share the fate of transgressors of the law, breakers of the covenant, and despisers of warnings. The instruction of the chapter gives principles for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus to act upon in all cases and under all circumstances, teaching that in His spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority but spiritual excellence in true conversion, submission, and obedience. Those who handle sacred things must therefore be transformed in spirit so they represent Jesus rather than wound and bruise God's children.
The Son of man came to save those who were lost, as shown by the shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine to seek the one gone astray and rejoices more over finding it, for it is not the Father's will that one of these little ones should perish. The lost are sinners who have wandered from God and the fold, and the little ones are the weakest, inexperienced and struggling believers who are precious to Christ and in the special charge of angels whose faces behold the Father. He saves by seeking the erring tenderly instead of condemning them, having left the glory of heaven to come to a cursed world and giving His life as a ransom by bearing the world's sin so eternal life is within every person's reach. Every soul is precious as God's property bought by Christ's blood at infinite cost, so heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents, and to despise or cause a believing little one to stumble is a grave offense that may bring that soul to ruin. Therefore every believer without exception is to be a co-laborer with Christ in persistent, personal, tender effort to seek and restore the perishing, laying aside self-confidence, contempt, striving for supremacy, and criticism that wounds God's children.
Meaning and Immediate Setting
The Son of man came to save that which was lost. He came to save sinners who had strayed, and He gave His life to rescue every person who seeks Him with the whole heart. His saving purpose is explained by a man having a hundred sheep who leaves the ninety and nine and goes into the mountains to seek the one that has gone astray. If he finds it, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety and nine which went not astray. Like that shepherd, Christ seeks each wandering person and gives special care to the weakest of His flock, interceding for them and not neglecting them.
Even so it is not the will of the Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. God does not will that even one erring person whom Christ values should be lost, but that each should be dealt with tenderly and helped. Their angels in heaven always behold the face of the Father, showing their value in heaven's sight. A soul rescued from Satan and from Satan's triumph brings joy in heaven and joy among the heavenly angels.
The chapter is Christ's lesson on humility and on the tenderness and care to be shown to the erring and to those who need sympathy and love. Entering heaven's kingdom requires conversion and becoming as little children, laying aside self-confidence, self-righteousness, harshness, contempt, self-sufficiency, self-esteem, self-exaltation and dignity. It forbids striving for supremacy and for being first, whether inward concealed strife or outward manifest strife, and teaches that in Christ's spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority, but spiritual excellence manifested in true conversion learned from Christ in submission and obedience. Its instruction gives principles for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus to act upon in all cases and under all circumstances, calling for humility before God, turning from self, and loving sympathy for others.
The Lost and Little Ones
The lost are sinners, not saints, who have wandered from God as sheep stray from the fold, dead in sin and estranged from Him. He came to save sinners who were lost, not those already good and righteous. That includes the degraded, the fallen, and the outcast, as well as those who have sinned and strayed until they are distressed and nearly hopeless.
The little ones are the weakest believers, weak and trembling souls with many defects and objectionable traits. They are inexperienced and may make mistakes, easily led into harm, struggling against discouraging circumstances and their own inclinations. They are precious to Christ, for whom He intercedes, and they are the special charge of the angels of God and must not be despised, neglected, harshly treated, or abandoned.
The little ones include people newly come to the Christian faith and little children in Christ rather than children in years. They may not know as much as they should and need to be taught the way of truth by instruction and by Christlike example, given opportunity to understand rather than being despised or led astray. Misleading their feet by word or wrong course so that they stumble in crooked paths is forbidden, and those in fault are to be helped by prayerful, kind effort.
The little ones are also Christ's disciples changed in outlook and character, made meek, lowly, teachable, and submissive. God cherishes every one of His children, including the weakest and feeblest, and it is not His will that even one of them should perish. Children themselves belong to God and are among those needing salvation, and therefore are to be cared for and sought rather than neglected or mistreated because they are not one's own.
Manner of Christ's Saving
He seeks the erring instead of condemning them, for as Chief Shepherd He diligently seeks the wandering sheep and does not rest while any means remain to bring it back. He does not drive the erring one back with scolding or harshness, but carries the sheep tenderly and rejoices as it returns. He does not abandon wounded, weak, or tempted believers to Satan, but strengthens and delivers those who trust in Him and rely on His love. Those who have been forgiven must do this same work of seeking the one gone astray and rejoicing when he is found, rather than standing rigid toward a brother's wrong while their own record stands charged with unconfessed sins.
To do this He left His home in the kingdom of glory among beings that had never fallen, where He was loved and could have remained. He left the royal courts to bear the reproach of sin outside the camp, and came to a world marred and seared by the curse to save the lost sheep, gathering into His bosom all who would come to Him. He lived as a Man of sorrows acquainted with grief and trod the rugged path of self-denial to set an example. Without this work humanity would have been left to perish without hope in God, including the degraded, fallen, and outcast for whose sake He came.
Though sinless He made an infinite sacrifice and gave His life as ransom, bearing the world's sin and suffering its consequences as if guilty. His suffering reveals the Father's love for a world perishing in sin, and through that sacrifice eternal life is within reach of every person. His saving mission is grounded in this giving of His life so that people may believe in Him and rely on His love. Bringing wanderers back to the fold means returning to God and ceasing to sin so they may live without sin, and His care is not only for those already in the fold but for sinners who have wandered away from God like sheep away from the fold.
Rescue is for every person who seeks Him with the whole heart and submits to be rescued, for no straying sheep is overlooked or left without help. Those who want to be rescued must be willing to be rescued in the Lord's appointed way and not in a way of their own choosing, by living faith, and the same redemption, love, light, and power is promised to all alike who seek it. The free grace of God is man's only hope, and God is in earnest with every person about this. The verse gives each sinner reason to have courage and trust in Christ's power to save because He gave Himself at infinite cost, so that doubting the possibility of salvation doubts that saving power.
The aim of correcting one doing wrong is to save that person from being ruined by sin. The whole teaching gives relief and courage and hope, for taking the case to Jesus in prayer in faith brings pardon, because He hears. When sins are confessed with repentance and humble walk with God, forgiveness is found, for He corrects in order to purify and save.
Worth of Every Soul
Every soul discloses its true worth in the light of the cross of Calvary, for each person purchased is precious as God's property bought by Christ's blood at infinite cost. The lost whom He came to save are sinners, not saints — weak brethren, weak and trembling souls with many defects and objectionable traits, little children in Christ rather than children in years — and Christ identifies His interest with them so that injustice done to them is as done to Himself. Therefore no believer is to be despised, disrespected, treated with partiality, harshness, envy, jealousy, or unkind words and actions that push souls onto Satan's ground, but is to receive compassion, earnest labor, and persevering effort instead of selfish neglect, contempt, unforgiving and exacting judgment, condemnation, and discouragement. No straying sheep who submits to be rescued is overlooked or left without help, and because He gave Himself at infinite cost each sinner has reason for courage and trust in His power to save, so that to doubt the possibility of salvation is to doubt that saving power. Turning anyone away from Christ dishonors the Saviour and may bring that soul to ruin, since every soul cost Him an infinite price.
One soul is very precious in God's sight, for Christ died for that soul that he might live through eternal ages, and work for the lost is not in vain even when only a few accept grace. God, Christ, and heaven's angels are concerned for the salvation of sinners, and as the shepherd seeks the one strayed sheep Christ seeks each person, with heaven rejoicing when one is rescued. There is greater joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance, for it is not the Father's will that even one of these little ones should perish. Their angels always behold the face of the Father in heaven, and one soul redeemed from Satan's triumph causes joy among the heavenly angels, while heavenly beings join human disciples so that heaven's power combines with human effort to draw people to Christ. That saving work is carried on by workers who seek the lost and care for them with practical acts of love, feeding, cleansing, and clothing even society's outcasts through medical missionary work, so that many poor outcasts whose moral image of God was destroyed will have that image restored, will then restore it in others for whom Christ paid with His blood, and will be called the elect of God, precious, standing next to the throne.
Because Christ values every soul His disciples must not show less regard for others than He does, and entering heaven's kingdom requires conversion to become like a child, with humility rather than pride or self-importance marking true greatness. Causing a believing little one to stumble or turning someone away from Christ is a grave offense and grave wrong, making the Saviour's love, humiliation, and agony vain for that person, dishonoring Him and possibly bringing that soul to ruin. The warning not to despise the little ones is serious, and those who are easily provoked must heed it or they will not be among the redeemed.
Followers Seek the Lost
Christ came to save the lost, and that coming sets the work for all who have been saved, for the same redemption, love, light and power is promised to all alike who seek it by living faith. Every believer with no exceptions, not the minister alone, is to go forth as Christ did to rescue the lost and perishing as co-laborers with Christ. A heart that remembers being saved from sin proves itself by active labor for souls instead of indifference and neglect, for believers are not placed here merely to seek their own gratification when sinners to be saved are all about them. Those who already have the truth and know God's requirements should keep the way of the Lord and heed the light given in the Word, so that labor is not consumed in warning and reproving them but can be given to the salvation of souls ready to perish. Those who see the preciousness of the Saviour's love shown on the cross and understand its value will be earnest and eager to join that work of sharing truth so others may join the faith.
The lost sheep will not return without special, persistent, personal effort to recover those who have strayed. Believers are to draw near to anyone slipping away from truth and endangering the hope of eternal salvation, learn that person's needs, pray with them, share truth by instruction and example, and help them kindly, patiently, tenderly, with sympathy, meekness, mercy and love, and never give up on helping them. The erring, weak, trembling, and even apostate are to be sought and brought back into the fold, for those who belong to the fold have a special duty to search for them, and people newly come to faith are to be treated tenderly and taught the way of truth rather than despised or led astray. This saving work is carried on by followers as they seek those gone astray and help bring them to repentance to win souls, and it is done with the help of Christ and the angels, so that heaven's power combines with human effort. Neglecting this work leaves souls exposed to Satan and makes the neglectful responsible for them, for the Chief Shepherd diligently seeks the wandering sheep and does not rest while any means remain to bring it back, not driving the erring back with scolding or harshness but carrying tenderly and rejoicing at return.
That seeking is practical love that relieves suffering and teaches righteousness, rescuing souls from Satan's hand and from the depths of human woe and misery. It lays a burden to feed, cleanse, and clothe the lost through medical missionary work, with angels cooperating, and work for the lost is not in vain even when only a few accept grace. Christ's example brought Him among the afflicted, poor, distressed, needy, and despised, and His heavenly majesty, purity, and refinement did not keep Him from humbling Himself to do the work they most needed even when unpleasant, which rebukes those who consider helping the helpless beneath them. Many poor outcasts whose moral image of God was destroyed will have that image restored, will then restore it in others for whom Christ paid with His blood, and will be called the elect of God, precious, standing next to the throne, because it is not the Father's will that one of these little ones should perish. One soul rescued from Satan brings joy in heaven, for one soul is very precious in God's sight and Christ died that he might live through eternal ages.
No straying sheep who submits to be rescued is overlooked or left without help, which gives each sinner reason to have courage and trust in Christ's power to save at infinite cost. The same mission brings encouragement to one who has been discouraged and treated unjustly, calling others to care for and help rather than bruise or abandon a soul in need. Children are included among those needing salvation and belong to God, so every church member should care for them and cooperate with Christ in seeking their salvation rather than neglecting or mistreating them because they are not their own.
Humility Unity and Care
Because the Son of man came to save what was lost, not one of the little ones is to be despised, harmed, neglected, or treated as worthless, for their angels always behold the face of the Father in heaven and it is not the Father's will that one of them should perish. Like the man with a hundred sheep who leaves the ninety and nine to go into the mountains after the one gone astray and rejoices more over finding it than over those that did not stray, Christ values, intercedes for, and seeks the erring, especially the weakest believers who may not know as much and need opportunity to understand. Misleading their feet by a word or a wrong course so that they stumble in crooked paths, making an erring brother's case more hopeless, or standing off to criticize those who are reaching them grieves the Holy Spirit and violates the lesson of the chapter. Instead the erring are to be received, pitied, and sought with tenderness, courtesy, sympathy, mercy, and love, dealt with tenderly and helped, never stood off from in self-righteousness like the Pharisee who thanks God he is not as other men.
All professed Christians must be converted in spirit and become as little children, learning Christ's meekness and lowliness rather than seeking supremacy or creating strife. That conversion lays aside self-sufficiency, self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-esteem, self-exaltation, dignity, harshness, and contempt, and turns from self to humility before God with loving sympathy for others and personal effort to help those outside Christ. The unsanctified element of inward concealed strife for supremacy and outward manifest strife to be first in the ranks must be cleansed from the soul temple, with no standing back on dignity when not specially requested, no satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, and no hindering words that Satan uses instead of building up the Redeemer's kingdom. Until this is cleansed the Saviour's Spirit is grieved, those who ought to be a blessing become a curse retarding instead of advancing the work, and the Lord cannot manifest His power and grace.
The same saving purpose forbids lack of love that hinders and represses one doing a good work, accusing brethren, seeking to remove a fellow worker, devising separation, thinking and speaking evil, dissension, self-esteem, strife to be highly esteemed, and criticism and faultfinding. Such accusation and evil thinking and speaking gives place to the enemy, grieves the Spirit of the Lord, and must be refused, met, and condemned, with the Word given in strong portions to mischief makers who know not what they do, and the verse itself read to any who begin criticism to trace out the cause of disaffection and its evil consequences. For criticism and faultfinding is expressly the devil's work begun in the heavenly courts, when he claimed he could do wonders if not hampered by God's law, suggested change in God's government for the advantage of the heavenly family, put his own thoughts into angels' minds and then repeated them as their disaffection, covered his tracks while spreading suspicion and distrust of God and of one another, until strife grew into rebellion and God expelled him and the disloyal for the good of the loyal and true.
Its lesson for saving the lost must be learned with full purpose of heart to heal dissension and alienation, by turning to the Lord, repenting of self-glorying, perversion of righteousness in words and acts, and weakening ministers' hands, and by receiving reproof instead of building up a wrong course and being converted in speech and action. Christ looks with sorrow upon the wayward course of those given precious encouragement, yet for His cause and His name's glory He bears long with them when they are an offense, encourages them, and sends helpful messages of kindness and love lest enemies of truth triumph. Taking the case to Jesus in prayer in faith brings pardon, for He hears, and when sins are confessed with repentance and humble walk with God forgiveness is found, because He corrects in order to purify and save; but refusal of reproof brings judgment and being cast aside to share the fate of transgressors of the law, breakers of the covenant, and despisers of warnings. The instruction of the chapter gives principles for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus to act upon in all cases and under all circumstances, teaching that in His spiritual kingdom greatness is not position, outward splendor, or authority but spiritual excellence in true conversion, submission, and obedience. Those who handle sacred things must therefore be transformed in spirit so they represent Jesus rather than wound and bruise God's children.