You May Enter
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Matthew 17:22-23; 18:1-14
Matthew 17:22-23; 18:1-14
One of the things that I love about studying God’s word is that no matter how many times you read it there is always more to learn. For example this past week I was reading through Matthew’s Gospel and I got to a very familiar passage. Matthew 18:1
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
When I have read this passage I usually think about the selfishness of the disciples. I think about the time where James and John ask Jesus for the privilege of sitting in his left and right side in his Kingdom. Mark 10:35ff. I often times wonder why would the disciples ask questions like who is going to be the greatest. I think cant they just be happy to be a part of God great kingdom.
But this week as I made myself slow down and pay attention to exactly what is taking place in this text to me it makes perfect since why the disciples would ask Jesus the question; who then is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
To see what I believe the reasoning for this question is we must look at the larger context surrounding this question.
To do this we need to back up to chapter 17. In Matthew 17:22- 23 Jesus tells his disciples that he is about to die.
And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.
Jesus the very person who they believed was about to establish his Kingdom on earth in order to over take the Romans. Just told his followers that He was not the person that they thought that he was.
Because you see a person who was about to usurp his authority and power as king would not be someone who was about to die.
Can you imagine the emotions and thoughts that were running through the disciples head? Here they thought that Jesus was going to be the greatest king and person ever in this new kingdom that was about to over take Rome. No wonder the text says that the disciples were deeply grieved or sorrowful after hearing these words.
Have you ever recieved horrible news, and because of that news you became so fixated on that news that no matter what anyone else says to you or no matter what is going on around you. You don’t have anything else on your mind other than the bad news that you just recieved.
I think that is what has happened to the disciples. Because after Jesus tells them that he is not going to be the next King becasue he is about to die, Jesus and some people have a conversion about taxes. And then the disciples come back to Jesus and they don’t ask him a followup question about taxes but rather listen carefully to the question that the disciples ask.
They say Matthew 18:1 “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Matthew 18:1 (NASB95)
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
In other words, Jesus if you are not going to be the greatest because you are about to die then who is?
You see this conversation isn't about selfish ambition its about who is going to be the king that they had been longing for.
So maybe I have been a little to critical of the disciples because honestly I would have wanted to have known the same thing. But I love how Jesus responds to this question.
He calls a little child over to him and put him in his lap. Now if the Disciples weren't confused already about who was going to be the next King. Can you imagine how confused they must be now. They are waiting for Jesus to tell them who is going to be the next great king and he brings over a little child.
So Jesus places a child in his lap and and says...
And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me;
Jesus says, know this for sure, you must become like children in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven. In other words don’t worry so much about who is going to be the next king. You instead need to worry whether or not you will be a part of my Kingdom.
And he says to them if you want to become like children so that you may enter the Kingdom of Heaven than you must do two things.
Number one, you must humble yourself just like a child and number two you must be willing to receive a child in my name.
Jesus completely turns what it means to be great on its head. The world says if you want to be great, you must be famous, rich, and have authority over others. Jesus here says that none of those things matter. If you want to be the greatest than you must become like a child.
As I slowed down and read and reread the words of Jesus here, not only did I better understand why the apostles asked Jesus the question who then is the greatest but i also realized that Jesus is not done answering their question.
If we base are reading on the subheadings in our Bibles it would seem that Jesus is changing topics to the dangers of temptation and to that of seeking after the lost.
One may think that he is done talking about the importance of caring for and being like children.
So lets keep reading and see what else Jesus has to say.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
Jesus says if you want to be the greatest than you better become like a child but just as important you better not cause them to stumble.
Jesus says that you are better off drowning yourself than you are if you go around causing these humble children to sin. But he doesn't stop there.
Jesus says in the world there are many stumbling blocks but woe to the man through whom stumbling blocks come.
In other words shame on the man who place stumbling blocks in this world for these humble children to stumble on.
So that his disciples understand the importance of what he is communicating he goes on to tell them that what ever it is in their lives that causes these children to stumble than they better get rid of it. Even if it means that they must enter his kingdom crippled.
He says its better to go on living crippled than it is to cause another to stumble because eternal punishment is what you will receive if you continue to live a life that causes humble children to stumble.
So up to this point we have seen that in order to be thre greatest in the Kingdom of God we must be people who:
Humble ourselves like children
Receive Children
Do what ever it take to keep these humble children from stumbling
And if that wasn't enough he share one more thing with his disciples.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. “What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? “If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. “So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
Normally when I read about the lost sheep I think about going after an adult who is lost in sin. But on this occasion Jesus isn't talking about adults, he is still talking about children.
Jesus ends this discussion about how to be great in his kingdom while holding a child he says do not despise one of these little children. In fact you better do what ever you can to make sure that they do not perish.
Not only must you not be the reason why they stumble but you better do what ever you can to keep them from stumbling.
So here in this section of scripture when the disciples are worried about who is going to be the next king Jesus says don’t worry about who is going to be the next king, instead worry about who is in and who is out.
As we have quickly read through Jesus response to his disciples this morning. We have been reminded that in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven in Jesus says that we must be people who do four things:
Humble ourselves like children (Vs 4)
Receive Children (Vs 5)
Do what ever it take to keep these humble children from stumbling. (5-9)
4. Do not despise children. (10 - 14)
When we look at this list are you in or are you out? On this occasion these are the core things that Jesus says one must do in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We don’t have time this morning to talk about all four of these things in depth. Each of these could be a sermon in themselves.
So in the time that we have left I want to consider the one that Jesus ended this topic on. Jesus says to his disciples see that you do not despise one of these little ones.
What does it mean to despise someone? It means to look down on them. Or it can mean to consider a child as not worthy of noticing. Or to see them as not worthy of taking an interest in.
As we think about the importance of being humble like a child and not despising others, I am convinced that the best way to learn to be humble in this way is to learn from children.
I was reminded about the humility of a child while I was on vacation a few weeks ago. When we go on vacation all my kids care about is being able to go swimming. Its the highlight of vacation for them.
Every day when we went swimming my kids would immediately go over to all the kids that were present and try to become their best friend. They didn’t know these kids. They didn't know their background here they were from, they didn’t know if their parents were Christians or atheist. They didn’t know anything.
But even if they did know it would not have mattered. To them all that mattered was spending time with whom ever was present.
They began playing with one little girl on the beach and as we were leaving they were saying their goodbyes and they said to each other that they look forward to seeing them that night at the hotel pool. Now none of them could comprehend that there are over 4600 hotels in Florida so there is 0 chance that they would be swimming in the same pool that evening.
My point is at a young age our kids see no reason to despise anyone. But yet unfortunately overtime through their observations of adults they too learn look down on other people. They learn to ignore other people.
Shame on us for teaching them to ever despise anyone. You see not only will despising a child keep us out of the Kingdom but it can also cause a child to stumble. It can cause a child to not want to participate in the gathering of the saints.
Often times when we talk about caring for children we often times think about caring for those in our community but have you ever thought about how we care for the very kids that live inside of a church building.
Do we ever despise them to the point that they don't want any part of what we are doing? Are there kids that come into our assemble and go unnoticed. Meaning that nobody acknowledges them. Their peers ignore them.
Are there kids that come from difficult situations and they see so many other kids being well taken care of and loved but yet maybe they don’t feel that same love.
Do you think if that is the case that it could cause a child to stumble and not want anything to do with the church.
One of the times when I was the most disheartened was when there was a young child who was attending with his parent. And this child was lets just say a hand full. Because of that very few people would even speak to him or their parent. Rather the majority of the conversation was about how difficult the child was rather than about how precious he was.
Not only did it break my heart that this child was being ignored but what was the most disheartening was when a member asked me if this was the kind of people that we were going to start inviting to church.
Church this morning I am asking you to take a look at this list and see where you can improve to make sure that no child ever goes unnoticed. For me personally I have room to improve in all four of these areas.
Let us all this morning make a decision that no child will ever go unnoticed or unloved in this congregation. Let’s make a conscious effort that no child ever sits alone or is not included in with everyone else.
Let’s be people who strive to practice humility like a child so that we can be part of the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
