Greatness and Humility
Part 1: The Advantage of Being “Little”
Matthew 18:1-10
June 3, 2007
We all like to be looked up to, don’t we? Sure we do. We like recognition for a job well done, we like having titles, position, and status.
I don’t think anyone goes around thinking, “You know what? I think I’m going to go around and do all I can to make sure no one appreciates what I do and never compliments me on doing my job. And I’m going to change my name to “Worm” just to remind myself and others of how unworthy I really am so I don’t get a big head.”
Nah. We like to be looked up to. And I think that that’s part of the fact that we need significance in our lives. That’s the way we’re wired. And as long as we don’t go about it in sinful ways with sinful motives, it’s okay.
Proverbs tells us that we should work in such a way that the quality of our work is noticeable.
Not to gain glory, but to show what a life lived for God can be all about in the workplace.
I’m of the opinion that everyone struggles from time to time with the idea that unless we do something for ourselves in terms of getting recognized or gaining status, then we’ll live the life of the unimportant.
Shuffled and shoved aside, always wondering if anyone will think we’re worth anything.
How about you?
Do you struggle with the idea of being important?
Really, the question is, “WHEN you feel that way, what do you about it?”
And if you’re a believer in Jesus, is your struggle related to the question in our passage today – in other words, you wonder if you are important in the eyes of God?
I’ve shared about my desire early in life to be a big-hair rock star – back when big-hair rock stars were cool. Now have you noticed who the cool rock stars are? The bald ones.
Speaking of hair, listen to this story from Reader’s Digest:
A friend of mine who teaches Bible school had her straight hair permed in to a curly style. One morning she noticed that 4 yr. old Jack, who was usually cheerful, looked sad and bewildered. "Is something wrong, Jack?" Jenny asked him.
"Your hair," he mumbled.
"You noticed!" said Jenny. "I just had a permanent and I love it!"
"You do?" whispered Jack. "Have you seen it?"
(SermonCentral.com. SOURCE: Jeff Strite, Church of Christ at Logansport, IN. Citation: Reader’s Digest January, 1986. p.102.)
Talk about being deflated in a hurry!
Since becoming a pastor, by struggle in this area of “greatness” is along the lines of looking for ways to be recognized in the community as the pastor of this church.
And when considering involvement in some of the activities I get invitations for, I have to ask God to help me decide if taking it is really for my own benefit instead of the benefit of this church and the kingdom of God.
And I’ve had to decline some things because they would feed into the pride that I have to fight just like everyone else.
So how do we combat on one hand a need to know we’re important in some ways, and pride on the other hand?
One answer to that is in our passage for today, as we discuss the issue of childlikeness.
Matthew 18:1-10 (p. 695) –
(Note-taking guide says 9, but reading through 10)
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
10 "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
There are a number of things that can be discussed from this passage. And it seems that Jesus has connected them in this passage, so I think that it would be wise for us to look at this passage as a whole.
He starts by discussing the idea that greatness has nothing to do with stature (greatest in the kingdom), but rather an attitude of childlike humility; then moves on to talk of how accepting “little ones” reflects our acceptance of Him; then He shows His indignation toward those who cause “little ones” who believe in Him to sin, and even discusses how to avoid getting into sinful situations in the first place.
Today we’re going to focus on verses 1-4, and next week we’ll dive a little further into the issues that relate to God’s care for the “little ones.”
“Little ones” does not just mean children, as we’ve observed in other parts of Matthew. Jesus uses the term to describe His seemingly insignificant followers – those who have humbled themselves under His Lordship.
So Jesus isn’t just addressing kiddos, but also how we should treat those within the family of God.
There is a difference between “childlike” and “childish.” If there is something that I’d like you to remember today, that’s it. There’s a difference between childlike and childish.
Let me give you some examples of “childlike” behavior that I think we can put into our own lives. And I want to contrast them with childish behavior.
First, children aren’t into titles a whole lot. Have you noticed that? You usually don’t see a kid coming up and saying, “Dad, I want to be the Executive Vice-president for Toy Distribution,” okay?
Titles don’t mean anything in the overall picture of life. Can you imagine God impressed by our titles?
“You were the head deacon in charge of grass-mowing and doorknob polishing at your church? Whoa! You get an extra-big mansion up here. Wow! Gabriel – make sure this gentlemen gets the best of everything up here!”
Or, “Oh, you were the pastor. Ooooooh.
Childlike humility isn’t concerned with titles.
Childish pride, on the other hand, is all about titles. They look at Rick Warren’s statement in The Purpose Driven Life that “It’s not about you,” and they think, “What planet are you from, bub? Of course it’s all about me. What else is there?”
So they look to get all the titles and recognition they can because that’s the only way they find any sense of importance. They need people to look up to them.
The disciples battled this as well. In fact, Mark tells us that they were arguing about which of them was the greatest, which is why Jesus had to bring this up to them.
Another example of childlike behavior is simple trust.
Children trust their parents, especially when they’re younger. Obviously this changes between the ages of 13 and 25, but younger kids tend to trust their parents.
They just understand that one of the jobs of parents is to keep them safe.
Those of you with children remember the times when your little one would get you up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
It’s not that they don’t know where it’s at, and in a lot of cases, it’s not because it’s too far away. In our house, the bathroom is only about 5 feet away from the little girl’s room.
But they need Dad or Mom to hold their hand and walk them to the bathroom. And when their little hand is in your big hand, all is well. Right?
When you take their little hand you’re saying, “You’re safe – I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry, child.”
And that’s exactly what God is saying to us as we go through life, in all of its light and dark times.
Childlikeness means trusting, especially trusting in the Heavenly Father.
Childlike behavior, on the other hand, isn’t trusting, it’s controlling. They have to have everything just their way, or they’ll throw a tantrum.
Kids throwing tantrums is bad enough. But it’s even worse when adults do it, and especially bad when people who call themselves Christians do it.
As in the previous example, even the disciples had to deal with this one from time to time.
There’s a story in the Bible about how Jesus was getting rejected from a certain town, and John and James got in a big huff about it.
“Should we call down fire from heaven, Jesus? That’ll show’em!” Jesus told them to calm down, because incinerating people wasn’t the best course of action at the time.
Nowadays, people who would call themselves Christians don’t usually try to call down fire on folks.
Usually the way it works is that they’ll yell and scream, or they’ll work quietly behind the scenes, spreading gossip and rumors about the person or persons they’re upset with.
They would rather sin by spreading gossip and dissension then be mature and work it out with the person. That’s childish.
In about three weeks we’re going to look at how Jesus says adults should handle conflicts with one another.
If you’re not interested in how a grown-up should handle that stuff, don’t bother coming, okay?
Here’s another example of childlikeness, and the last one we’ll look at today: obedience to parents.
All you parents know what it’s like to send a child to do something, and after some fussing, they do it. Their heads are hung low, and they might be muttering under their breath, but they do it.
That is, unless they get the idea that they run the show, which is dangerous. But that’s another message for another time.
A childlike attitude says, “Okay, God, You’re the boss. And I’ll obey, trusting that You know what’s best and that You have my best interests at heart.”
A childlike attitude says that I will obey what the Father says, even when I don’t like it or even when it’s not convenient for me.
But a childish attitude is rebellious against parents and against God.
A childish person says, “No thanks, God. I want to run my own life. I want to enjoy life on my terms, and if that’s not good enough for You, then that’s just too bad. Go be somebody else’s boss and leave me alone.”
Unfortunately, that’s the attitude of lots of Christians when God requires something of them that’s uncomfortable or against what they had planned.
They know what God’s Word says about something, they know what they should do, but they go against it. They sin, either by doing something they’re not supposed to or by not doing something they should do. Either way it’s sin.
And then they wonder why God doesn’t bless them.
Well, do you reward your children for disobeying you? Not if you’re a good parent!
Folks, Jesus praises childlikeness, not childishness. Got it? Okay. Learn to tell the difference by asking yourself and God, “Is this being childlike or childish?”
Well, it’s fine and dandy to talk about this stuff, but unless you’re willing to actually take action about it, we’re just blowing hot air, and Lord knows there’s enough of that going around.
So let me give you two very simple suggestions to make this passage live in you.
This first one takes guts:
1. Ask God to show you where you are childish instead of childlike.
Psalm 139:24 –
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Commit to shedding these, with the help of God. And believe me, He wants to help you and me do that.
2. Ask God to help you develop a godly humility.
Romans 12:3 –
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.
Here’s how it sounds from the Phillip’s translation of the New Testament:
Don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all.
I love that – “don’t cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance…”
We all fight that from time to time, don’t we?
Tony Campolo said, "If you ever start to feel proud, just remember that soon after your body has been lowered into the grave, your family & friends will be eating potato salad & telling jokes, & you’ll be history." (SermonCentral.com.)
Folks, one of my passions in life and ministry is to show the world that Christians are supposed to be different, that we operate on a different level than the rest of the world. That living for Christ is the best thing out there.
But if all the world sees is Christians operating on the same plane as the rest of the world, then do we really have anything to offer anybody?
“Come to Jesus so you can be just like the rest of us…since we’re just like the rest of the world…”
Is that really good news? I don’t think so.
I want people to look at you and me and see that we’re different. That we find our importance and significance, not in the things and priorities of the world, but in Christ.
And that as we follow Him in childlike faith, then experience the blessed full and abundant life He promises.
There are plenty of prideful Christians around, people.
What do you say that you and I commit to not being part of that crowd.
God help us to be childlike in our relationship with Him, so we can shine the light of Jesus all the more brightly to a world that needs Him so desperately.
Let’s pray.
