THE GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM
Matthew 18:1-6
Read at beginning of service:
Mark 9:33-37 (NIV)
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all." 36 He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."
INTRODUCTION
Last week we began to take a look at a phenomenal phrase found in the Bible – a phrase that is very significant in the life of the believer and a phrase that is very challenging for one who does not know Christ. The "kingdom of God" is the message of Jesus Christ and as we started with last week – there are secrets about this kingdom that Jesus wants to reveal to those who will hear, to those who will see, and to those who will seek to understand.
One of the biggest secrets about God’s kingdom was revealed last week and that is that the kingdom of God is not something that you can point to and say, "Here it is" , or "There it is" for it is a kingdom that is found wherever God rules in human hearts, and wherever His will is done. It is a kingdom that is very much an internal reality in the life of the believer and is manifested through the church of Christ. We also found that while this is the case in the present, the kingdom of God is also something that is coming – a literal kingdom that will be established in a very real external sense on our planet when Jesus Christ (the KING!) returns in the last days.
So in our previous message we began to gain a sense of "where" this kingdom is. But this merely provides a starting point for our understanding of the kingdom of God. As we continue this series we’ll begin to uncover some of the secrets that describe what this kingdom is all about.
And so today we will begin with a subject that appears to be one of the most important question in the minds of Jesus’ disciples. For they heard Jesus talking about His kingdom – but they wanted to very much be a part of His kingdom and not only that but have an IMPORTANT part of His kingdom – after all they gave up much to follow Jesus!
Matthew very transparently records this question in… Matthew 18:1-6 (NIV)
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.
One of the things that make children so much fun is their unique way of seeing the world. Their misunderstandings can sometimes tell us more than we want to know. . For example:
At church one morning, my friend Gwen was about to start her 4-year-olds’ Sunday school class when a little boy showed up without any identification. Gwen managed to get his first name, but couldn’t find out his last name. "Brian, what’s your daddy’s name?" she asked. "Daddy," he replied. She tried again, "Brian, what’s your mommy’s name?" "Mommy," he answered. Suddenly she realized exactly how she could get the answer she needed. "Brian, what does your daddy call your mommy?" His face lit up. With a grin and a deep voice, he replied, "Hey, Babe." – (Susan Boatright, Savannah, GA)
My four-year-old granddaughter, Amanda, went to the doctor’s office with a fever. The doctor looked in her ears and said, "Who’s in there? Donald Duck?"She said, "No." He looked in her nose and said, "Who’s in there? Mickey Mouse?"Again she said, "No." He put his stethoscope on her heart and said, "Who’s in there? Barney?"Amanda replied, "No, Jesus is in my heart. Barney is on my underwear."
(Carol Leet, New York. Today’s Christian Woman, Vol. 18, no. 4. )
In the car my four-year-old granddaughter asked me why I was wearing the brightly colored scarf I had on.
"I thought it would make my blue suit look much prettier," I said.
After a moment’s consideration, she replied sympathetically, "It didn’t work, did it?"(Eileen Munro, Rocanville)
Our 7-year-old daughter had just won $2.00 for her memory work in Sunday school. After the morning service, the pastor’s wife congratulated her.Our daughter proudly announced, "And I put it all in the morning’s offering!""My, how wonderful!" the pastor’s wife exclaimed. "I’m sure God will be pleased.""Yes," the child replied. "Now maybe God will let me do some of the things I want to do!" – (Genia Obal, Montrose, British Columbia)Bill Cosby & Art Linkletter were right- kids do say the darnedest things.
But Jesus said that there was something more to the people we call children than just their entertainment value. He makes the claim that children are actually models of what it means to enter and grow in the kingdom of God. In fact, Jesus said that there is truth that only a child can teach us about the conditions for entrance and greatness in the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was not joking when He took a child and told His disciples that they had to become like a child before they could enter, or grow up in God’s kingdom. In fact, Jesus makes it very clear: The key to spiritual life and growth is a child-like humility.I invite you to look more closely at His words found in Matt. 18:1-6.
GREATNESS IS NOT MEASURED BY HAUTINESS OR PRIDE.
People are strange: they want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center of attention.
Jesus and His disciples are probably in Capernaum, probably at Peter’s house, when they begin discussing among themselves a question that came up all too frequently: who then is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven? Jesus Himself had used this phrase in Matt. 5:19 referring to those who obeyed His teachings. Why did they ask this question, and what did they mean by it?
The word greatest here literally means = greatest, largest, eldest, strongest. It was a term that implied a higher position as a result of age, ambition, or just sheer power. By adding the words in the kingdom of Heaven (or kingdom of God) they were asking Jesus which one of them was the most spiritually mature, and thus the most worthy of occupying the highest position of power next to Christ.
The parallel passage in Mark 9:33 tells us that they were actually arguing about this, and we can be sure that each had their reasons for thinking that they were the most spiritually mature.
Peter was the spokesman, whom Jesus had nicknamed Rocky. He would surely be the greatest. John protests that even if Peter did have a big mouth, John was His favorite, because he usually called himself the disciple that Jesus loved. Matthew took this opportunity to point out the fact that he had left a very lucrative position as tax-collector to follow Jesus. Andrews reminds them that he was the first to follow Him. And Judas, the man with the money, no doubt mentioned his trustworthiness.
Now they all waited for Jesus to settle this dispute for them. And with a sigh, He was going to try to teach them that the way to climb the ladder in the kingdom was not up, but down.
But human pride always wants to clear its own path to greatness. Pride is a dangerously deceitful attitude, that can even poison the pure water of spirituality. It is too easy to think that our service to God earns us some special place of honor with the Lord, as if the more we do, the more valuable and important we are to Him, and the higher and better we are than those around us.
When will we learn that we do not have to earn God’s love? God loves us now, and though He certainly will reward our devotion and service to Him, what we do for God does not make Him love us any more or any less. To be sure, we must be saved if we are going to go to Heaven, but even salvation does not come to us by our works, but by our faith. All of the struggling that we do to earn His love only feeds our pride, and tends to make us pat ourselves on the back for how good we are. Jesus says that our spiritual life and growth in His kingdom (our greatness, if you will)is not based on our goodness, but on His grace. And He will show us how that grace becomes real in our lives in what He says next.
A young woman went to her pastor and said, "Pastor, I have a besetting sin, and I want your help. I come to church on Sunday and can’t help thinking I’m the prettiest girl in the congregation. I know I ought not think that, but I can’t help it. I want you to help me with it."The pastor replied, "Mary, don’t worry about it. In your case it’s not a sin. It’s just a horrible mistake." (Haddon Robinson, "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Us Guys,")Beware of making the mistake of thinking that you can be great with God just because of what you do. Greatness lies on another path, which Jesus shows us in vs. 3-4:
GREATNESS IS MEASURED BY HUMILITY.
The disciples meant to use the word greatest in the sense of being most important, but I believe Jesus wanted to use it in the sense of being grown up.
That is what makes His choice of an illustration for what constitutes true greatness in God’s kingdom so astounding. Jesus is using this child as an object lessons to these self-seeking men. He is going to use a child to teach them how to grow up spiritually.
As the child stands there among the startled disciples, Jesus drops a bombshell. He says "Truly I say to you... except... ye shall not". All of these words/phrases in the original language are emphatic, stressing the importance Jesus is placing on the truth He is telling them.
What He tells them can be divided into two parts: the necessity of humility to enter the kingdom, and the necessity of humility to grow in the kingdom.
First Christ tells them that unless we be converted and become as little children , they will never even enter the kingdom of Heaven, much less be great in it. To be converted here literally means to turn and carries with it the picture of turning around in a road and facing the other way. Although Jesus may have been gently reminding the apostles that they were headed in the wrong direction in their thinking, His main point is that for a person to receive, there must be a turning away from sin to Christ. This is what is called in the Bible repentance, and is a necessary aspect of saving faith that produces the new birth Jesus spoke of in John 3:3 when He told Nicodemus,
John 3:3 (NIV)
3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
Also, Jesus tells them that the key to growing in the kingdom involves another important attitude, which He describes as becoming humble ... as this little child. With the little child still standing there before them, Jesus says that they have to become like a kid before they can grow up in God’s kingdom. What did that mean to them?
When I baby-sit for my minister’s 3-year-old, one of our favourite games is Go Fish. One evening, after winning several rounds, she kept bragging about how good she was. Jokingly, I said to her, "I’m going to have to teach you a little humility." Immediately she looked up and asked, "How do you play that?" (Orla C. Shup, Albion, PA. Today’s Christian Woman, "Heart to Heart.")To the Jews, a child was not despised, but loved. However, they were the most powerless members of ancient society. It was only as they grew in age and stature that they became able to be heard and given rights as members of the community. Apart from the love of their families, they had no power or privileges. Which points out some of the qualities of the humility of children that would characterise those who were part of His kingdom:
Humility
Without power or rights, children were low in more than just stature; they had no voice in the home, the city, or the nation. Their primary duty was to respect and obey their parents and elders.
Trust
Another aspect of their humility was the trust of a child. Even today, children will believe what most adults say to them (until they learn that some will lie!) This is especially true of a parent, whom small son or daughter will trust implicitly unless that trust is violated.
Dependence
The final aspect of the humility of children was seen in the fact that they are utterly dependent on their parents for even their basic necessities of life, as well as the emotional support and education that they needed to survive.
Jesus is saying here that spiritual life begins with a change in direction in our hearts and minds. We cannot keep going in the direction of our own choosing and expect to meet God at the end of our journey. If we are going to come to know God, we must turn around and go the other way. We must turn from the path of sin, and face the direction of righteousness.
But when we turn, we find that we are no longer walking alone. Like a child, Jesus says that we begin to trust Someone higher, Someone stronger, Someone Who loves us to help us, to lead us, to provide for us, essentially Someone who wants to be our life! Salvation is not just a humble turning from sin, but a constant trust in a Companion Who will walk with us. It’s not just receiving the forgiveness of sins but acknowledging the new life that God has given through His Son! We humbly begin to trust this Guide and Friend, this God Who allows us to call Him "Father." Our journey becomes an adventure of trusting and depending on Him to guide us and provide for us as we walk by faith day to day. We have no strength or power to keep us going, but we can trust that He will feed us, He will clothe us, He will keep us healthy and clean, if we will hold His hand and follow Him – even more if we will let Him live His life through us.
Can you see here that Jesus is telling us that all of the authority, all of the strength, all of the provision for salvation does not come from us, but from Him? He alone is able to teach us to obey. He alone is able to able to teach us to trust Him. He alone is able to give us what we need to sustain us spiritually. We are born again as helpless spiritual babies, who must be cared for, must trust Him completely to guide us and provide for us, or we will live a very fruitless life. Our spiritual life and growth depends on our willing to be humble enough to obey Him, humble enough to trust Him, humble enough to look to Him to provide for us.
Robert Fulghum wrote in the Kansas City Times, "Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
"These are the things I learned: Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. ... When you go out into the world watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together."This writer has captured part of what Jesus meant when he said, "Unless you become like little children you won’t enter the kingdom of heaven." - Hugh Duncan, Moses Lake, Washington. Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 2.Truly, the only way for us to grow up spiritually is to become as humble as a little child. But with that humility comes a derived greatness that Jesus also wants us to understand.
GREATNESS IS MARKED BY HIM
Jesus’ words here connect Himself with those who enter the gates of salvation through humility. . He says that He will take the treatment of these little ones personally (not referring to children, but to those who exhibit the child-like humility mentioned in vs. 3-4). Whoever welcomes them with love, will be welcoming Him. But whoever offends one of these little ones will have a different response from the Lord.
The word offend here literally means to cause to stumble, and carries with it the idea of causing someone to sin, either by enticing them to do wrong, or hindering them from doing right. Either way, Jesus is describing someone who leads a believer, by example or neglect, into sinning against God.
The punishment Jesus promises is severe. In those days, the Jews were horribly afraid of the sea, and did not execute people by drowning, as the Romans were known to do. As a matter of fact, to the Jews, being drowned in the depths of the sea was a symbol of utter destruction, and Jesus’ words had been chosen carefully to bring the full horror of leading someone astray.
In effect, what Christ was saying to them was that one way we could show love to Him was by showing love to His "children.", and that if anyone did not show love to them, but instead tried to lead them astray, they would face severe punishment at His hand.
Most of us probably understand how important faith is to God, but I wonder how many of us understand how important the people who have this kind of humble faith are to God. In some way that is not easy to understand, Jesus Christ identifies Himself with anyone who cast themselves humbly at His feet in faith. Jesus says that when you welcome one like this, you welcome Him; when you hinder them from walking by faith with Him, He takes it personally- so personally that He promises severe punishment.
This should make us tremble, both with joy and with fear.
We should tremble with joy knowing that our Lord is not some fickle friend that does not care about us. His love is loyal and willing to claim us as His own. He shows us how special we are to Him how concerned He is that we be welcomed in His Name as His children.
In the town of Stepanavan, Armenia, I met a woman whom everyone called "Palasan’s wife." She had her own name, of course, but townspeople called her by her husband’s name to show her great honor. When the devastating 1988 earthquake struck Armenia, it was nearly noon, and Palasan was at work. He rushed to the elementary school where his son was a student.The facade was already crumbling, but he entered the building and began pushing children outside to safety. After Palasan had managed to help twenty-eight children out, an aftershock hit that completely collapsed the school building and killed him.
So the people of Stepanavan honor his memory and his young widow by calling her Palasan’s wife. Sometimes a person’s greatest honor is not who they are but to whom they are related. The highest honor of any believer is to be called a disciple of Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for all people. - L. Nishan Bakalian, Beirut, Lebanon. Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2.He also wants to be sure that no one hinders us as we walk with Him, and warns those who might cause anything to come between us that they can expect dire consequences of those who lead those who love Him away from following Him.
Yet we should also tremble with fear- the fear of knowing our responsibility to fellow Christians. Of course, there are many who are strangers to Christ, who try to corrupt the relationship of trust that exists between believers and their Lord. But they are not alone, and we should be careful of leading these little ones away by a bad example or neglecting to help those who are weak. Jesus promises to punish those who lead others into sin, whether they are part of His family or not.
There was once an old man who knew he was about to die, but seemed to be greatly troubled. Someone finally asked him why he was so upset, and he replied, "When I was a young boy at play, one day at the cross-roads, we reversed a signpost so that its arms were pointing the wrong way, and I’ve always wondered how many people were sent in the wrong direction by what we did"How careful we must be to keep from sending someone the wrong way!
Ken Blanchard retells the story of a little girl named Schia When Schia was 4 years old, her baby brother was born.
"Little Schia began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that, like most 4-year-olds, she might want to hit or shake him, so they said no." Over time, though, since Schia wasn’t showing signs of jealousy, they changed their minds and decided to let Schia have her private conference with the baby.
"Elated, Schia went into the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack--enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Schia walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, ’Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.’"Have you grown older and forgotten God? It’s not too late to return to the one who created you. Jesus taught that to enter the kingdom of God, we must simply receive it like a little child.
In these verses, Christ wants to remind us what God is like, and what we must be like if we want to know Him. God wants to be your Heavenly Father, but the only key that will unlock the door of salvation is found in becoming humble as a little child- turning away from sin and self to the Savior, and trusting Him, and Him alone, to save you. He promises that if you do this, He will adopt you into His family, and make you a brand new person, with a new destination- Heaven! You can come to Him this morning and become a child of God today! But more than that, the scriptures promise that immediately you enter the kingdom of God – I’m going to save what that fully means for a future message in this series.
Let me also remind you that if you are already a child of God this morning, that you will never outgrow your need for child-like humility. I don’t mean that you never mature as a child of God, only that the only way to grow up is to stay humble. Those who grow great in God’s kingdom are those who most depend on Him to work in them. Maybe it has been awhile since you humbled yourself before the Lord and admitted anew how much you need His strength, guidance, and provision in your life. You can come this morning and renew your declaration of dependence on Him in prayer. And this declaration of dependence on Him MUST include total surrender of dependence on your self!
This sermon was preached by Darren Ethier at Hanover Pentecostal Church on July 1, 2001. This message is Part 2 of the sermon series: Secrets of the Kingdom of God: Revealed!. This particular message contains material found within a message by Mike Crews entitled: "God’s Gateway to Greatness" All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright © 1873, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
