Matthew 18:10 Take heed that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you… 1. Think of His words, and you will see that Jesus isolates each of us, setting us man by man apart: "despise not one"; "if one of them be gone astray." He who counts our hairs, much more counts us. 2. Jesus measures the worth of each human being by God's special and separate care of him. Feebleness commends us to His care; much more does sin. He has more pity even for the "lost," more than for the "little ones." He seeks them. 3. Such teaching from the lips of Jesus was a new thing in the world, and wrought a revolution. How cheap men held human life till Jesus taught the equal worth of manhood. 4. It deserves special notice in what way it is that the teaching of Jesus has cut the roots from that self-valuing or self-praising which has always led men to undervalue and despise others. There are two ways in which to correct the boastful man's estimate. I may seek to sober his conceit by showing him man's littleness at his best. Christ did not lower the dignity of human nature; He came to cure contempt for the little and lost by making us think more. He came to put our self-esteem on its true footing; not on what is accidental or peculiar to one man, but on what is common to the race. In such an atmosphere as Christ lived in pride dies. 5. Let me show you one or two of these inward prerogatives which assert your personal value in God's reckoning to be as great as any other man's. (1) From each one of us God claims a separate responsibility. We have each a moral constitution of our own, as recognizable as the features of our face. (2) From the moment of birth God subjects each person to a separate course of training. (3) That God is Father as well as Judge to all, and permits each soul ready access to Him. (4) Perhaps you say, "can a man be of value to God after his soul is ruined." God's love is indestructible by human sin — He came to save sinners. (5) Let us embrace in a hopeful charity the worst of our fellow men. (J. O. Dykes, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. |
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