Kingdom Greatness - Matthew 5:19 Series

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Introduction: You are on trial

Ever since God gave us His Law people have been passing judgment on it. Every year the ultra-liberal wing of Bible scholars gets together in what they call the Jesus Seminar and pass judgment on all the various things Jesus taught. And they let us know whether a particular statement is worthwhile or not. There are people who say the Bible is outdated, or irrelevant, or too violent, or too intolerant, or too judgmental, or boring, etc. And what those people do not realize is the Bible is not on trial.

There is an old story of man who went to a museum and looked at the great works of art and said, “I don’t think much of these paintings” And the curator responded, “These paintings are not on trial, you are. The paintings have already been found to be great. That is not up for debate. If you don’t like them that just shows you don’t know anything about great art.” That may or may not be true about various works of art, but it is most certainly true of Scripture. The Bible is not on trial; we are. What you think of the Bible says nothing about the Bible – it just reveals what sort of person you are. The Word of God is the ultimate standard against which our worth is measured. A great man, who does not think much of the Bible, is an absolute oxymoron. There is no such thing because greatness and smallness is determined by your relationship to the Word of God.

The Goodness of Greatness

Before we look into this verse let’s just take a moment and ask ourselves a question. What kind of impact does this verse have on you when you hear it?

Matthew 5:19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Do you ever obey a command of God out of a desire for greatness in the kingdom? We have a lot of reasons for obeying God. We do it because we love Him, because we want to please Him, because we know His way is the best way, because we want to avoid the consequences of sin, because we hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. But do you ever obey because you are working toward becoming great in the kingdom?

Greatness defined

That term “great” refers to rank. Someone who is great is someone who is of high importance, has great power and authority, who is dignified, famous, honorable – someone who is eminent. A great person is someone who is distinguished, who surpasses others in excellence or station, and who is worthy of high esteem. So is that what is motivating you? Are you out there obeying God because in your mind you are thinking, I want to rise to eminence and high rank and great fame and honor and dignity in the kingdom of God?

Self-seeking?

It just does not sound quite right, does it? We have a name for people who seek that kind of greatness in this world – we call them megalomaniacs, and being called that is never a compliment. I looked up megalomaniac in Webster and it said, “a delusional mental disorder that is marked by feelings of personal grandeur.” There is something in us that recoils a little bit from this – especially since such a major part of godliness is humility.

So it does not seem quite right to seek personal greatness. And yet, Jesus is offering greatness as a motivation. He is warning us about being least and offering us greatness as a carrot. So if that does not motivate us, that is a problem. We might as well throw that verse right out of the Bible. If the King of kings offers me some great treasure as an incentive, and I do not see that treasure as having any real value, I have got a real problem, because that means I do not see things the same way He sees them.