Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

In our passage tonight from Matthew 18, Jesus says that we must change.

Change.

It’s not a four letter word, but maybe it should be.

I think it’s normal that we don’t like change.

For the most part we like things to stay the way they are.

However, change is inevitable.

Change comes to all of us whether we want it or not.

Our lives are in a constant state of transition.

Life is always moving forward; nothing ever remains the same.

To move forward, you have to leave the past behind.

There is no standing still because time is moving forward.

To a greater or lesser degree, we are continually being changed – whether suddenly or gradually – into the new, the different, the unexpected, or the untried.

Everything in this world is liable to change.

It’s the law of life.

If you don't change your life your life will change you.

The only constant in life is change.

If you don’t believe it think of the aging process.

No matter how hard you try, or what anti-wrinkling creams you use, you will not look the same, at 60-years-old, as you did at the age of twenty.

Health may give place to sickness

Pleasure gives place to pain

Strength gives place to weakness

And life may give place to death

The process never ends until we die.

We are always changing.

Paul wrote to the

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

SERMON

We are in Matthew 18 this evening and our video will begin with verse 1.

Who said this? I’ll give you several quotes and see if you can guess who said them.

SLIDE 1 I'm the greatest thing that ever lived!

I'm the king of the world!

I'm a bad man.

I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived.

SLIDE 2 It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am.

SLIDE 3 I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.

SLIDE 4 My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am.

SLIDE 5 It's not bragging if you can back it up.

Muhammad Ali said them all.

We don’t usually talk like that even if we think it.

SLIDE 6 In our passage tonight, the disciples come to Jesus with this question.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Here is the answer Jesus gives.

Video

SLIDE 1 Imagine what it must have been like to have walked with Jesus as one of the twelve.

There were others who were following Jesus.

At the end of the first chapter of Acts, when the apostles are trying to decide who will replace Judas from among the followers of Jesus the one prerequisite was that he had followed Jesus since his baptism.

Two men met that qualification: Justus and Matthias.

You have to wonder how many others there were that hadn’t been with Jesus from the beginning.

So among those who followed Jesus there were the twelve, the chosen chosen apostles.

They had times with Jesus the others didn’t have.

Then, even among the twelve we remember there were three – Peter, James, and John – who had an even closer relationship with Jesus than the twelve.

Jesus took them some places even the other nine weren’t invited to attend, such as the transfiguration.

But even if you weren’t a part of the three or even of the twelve, it must have been a great privilege and an awesome experience to have walked with the Lord Jesus Christ during the three and a half years he carried out his public ministry two thousand years ago.

Imagine if you can, hearing Jesus preach and teach with such great command of the scriptures.

Imagine the boldness, the urgency, and the passion with which he must have spoken.

How wonderful it must have been to have seen him raise the dead, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, make the lame to walk, calm the raging storm, or multiply the fishes and loaves.

Can you imagine the awe that must have overcome the twelve as they witnessed Jesus walking on the water, or for the three that witnessed him during the transfiguration?

We can only wonder at the amazing things those men saw and heard that were never recorded.

It is no wonder that as the disciples and the multitudes at large followed Jesus and listened to his teachings about the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, that they fully expected him to establish that kingdom at any time.

In their minds Jesus was the King who was about to set up his kingdom right here on earth, and even better – they were his right hand men who were going to run this kingdom.

In fact, Jesus had just told them that he was giving to them the keys to the kingdom and that they would have his authority to conduct kingdom business.

They just knew that Jesus was grooming them to run his kingdom when he threw off the shackles of governmental and religious oppression.

He had been slowly turning over to them the responsibility of teaching and preaching and they were even performing the same miracles as Jesus.

The disciples must have been greatly enamored with their own greatness and importance.

As time went on they began arguing over who was going to be the greatest in his kingdom.

Who was the most important?

Who was the greatest?

That kind of talk wasn’t new and it continues even today.

Today we talk about who’s the greatest basketball player, baseball player, golfer, quarterback, pitcher, and the list goes on.

Unlike Ali, we may not think we’re the greatest, but we talk about who is the greatest.

The disciples want to know who will be the greatest in his kingdom.

They weren’t sure when Jesus would start his kingdom, but they were sure it would be soon and they wanted to play an important role.

They wanted to be the greatest.

When we read Matthew’s account we may not be sure if they are talking about themselves – “Which of us is going to be the greatest” – or if their talking in general and mentioning names like Abraham, Moses, and Elijah.

The gospel of Luke makes it clear though, that they were talking about themselves.

SLIDE 2

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.

(Luke 9:46)

They were concerned about making themselves look good.

Who would sit closest to Jesus?

Who was going to be sitting at the head table?

Jesus keeps trying to tell them he’s about to die and all they can do is jockey for position in some physical kingdom that isn’t even going to exist during their lifetime.

Their thirst and quest to be the greatest blinded them to the things Jesus had been trying to tell them for months.

SLIDE 3 How does Jesus respond to their question?

I guess he could have pointed out those great heroes of the faith and even to John the Baptist.

He even could have pointed to himself.

“If you want to know what greatness looks like, look no further.”

But instead Jesus points to a small child.

I think it’s interesting how people have tried to figure out just who the child was.

Over the years some have speculated that it was a child of Peter’s since they were probably in Peter’s house at the time.

Some have said that it was Ignatius, who was a leader in the church years later.

In the writings we have Ignatius he never claimed that though.

The truth is we don’t know because we’re not told.

We’re not given a name, an age, or even a gender.

There’s no reason to think it couldn’t have been a girl.

Jesus simply calls the child to come to him and uses the child as an example.

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said, “unless you change. . .

.” (Matthew 18:3a)