Moment of Fame
Notes
Transcript
When I was in high school, I went to a political activism camp just outside of Washington, D.C. I loved it. I learned about how to influence politicians. I learned about the legislative process. I also learned how to bring down the house in a talent show.
I cannot believe that I am sharing this story.
Every evening, two of the dorms would provide entertainment for the meal. Normally a girl dorm and a guy dorm. Our dorm leaders rigged the system so that we would be the last night. So, we had all week to perfect our rendition of Jan and Dean’s “Surf City,” which has the line: “Two girls for every boy.” Incidentally, the demographics of this camp was exactly that. We’re goin’ teen camp gonna have some fun.”
I have never experienced the reaction. The place erupted with cheers. Girls were screaming. We were the best act all week. I was on top of the world. There was no more room for improvement.
We were the greatest. Then I came home, and my sisters did their best to show me that I in fact wasn’t the greatest.
I look back on that memory and shake my head. My perspective was completely off. But, I was being a normal human being, seeking the wrong position, with the wrong perspective, and completely the wrong passion.
Just like the disciples in this passage, but their focus wasn’t singing a song to cause girls to scream. I cannot believe I shared that story.
Let’s read the passage.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, 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. And if your eye causes you to stumble, 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.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
In this passage, we will see the position of the kingdom follower, the perspective of the kingdom follower, and the passion of the kingdom follower.
Before we jump in, will you pray with me?
1. The Position of a Kingdom-Follower
1. The Position of a Kingdom-Follower
The kingdom follower embraces a specific position.
The disciples had been arguing, for some reason, about who was the greatest among them. I mean, I guess there could have been some confusion. Jesus had just exalted Peter, calling him the rock, and then he called Peter Satan. So…
Then, there is Judas who was trusted to take care of the money. John was considered the one whom Jesus loved.
Which one was the greatest?
So, they ask Jesus. Great idea, right? I don’t think they expected Jesus’ response:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
The position of the kingdom follower is not the normal position that everyone wants to aspire to. We want to be the best. We want to have everything in order. We want to not have mistakes. We want to be dependable. We want to be the type of person, like Job, that God can look at and stake his entire salvific reputation on. “Have you seen my servant, Job? What a guy.”
But, that’s not the position of the kingdom follower.
Jesus said: Unless you change from that perspective you will never enter the kingdom. Are we confident in our own kingdom standing or are we confident in the goodness of God?
Lots of people will look at this passage and say that Jesus’ focus is on the child’s innocence or in his humility. But, children are not innocent or selfless. I’ve substitute taught kindergarten. I know.
The focus is on position. Status. In Jesus’ society, children had no status. They were at the mercy of adults.
And Jesus says: become like a little child, someone who has no status in and of himself in the kingdom, solely dependent on the love and mercy of his father.
The simplicity and power of Rom 6 23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God gives us a gift in the person and work of Jesus Christ, because we could not arrive in the kingdom on our own.
So many people have a hard time with this concept. They want to be good enough. They want to be worthy. To have skin in the game. They don’t want to admit that they can do nothing. That left to themselves they have no status. No position.
But, until we admit that position, that we have no bargaining power, that we cannot ever be good enough, we are lost.
In the words of Jesus:
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
But, the moment we change and become like little children, admit our position, that we have no status and we are completely dependent on our Father in Heaven, seizing hold of that gift which he offers in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, saying this is the only thing I have: then we are in the kingdom.
children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Have you grasped this position? Have you seen your desperate need of a savior, so that you are willing to change and admit your lack of status, your brokenness, your failure, your unworthiness, and crawled to Christ begging him to save you?
If you haven’t, do it today.
The position of a kingdom-follower.
2. The Perspective of a Kingdom-Follower
2. The Perspective of a Kingdom-Follower
The kingdom-follower embraces a specific perspective.
Jesus continues to speak about children, as a way of illustration. Children are those who are in the kingdom.
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, 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. And if your eye causes you to stumble, 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.
This is a rather drastic passage. Anyone who says that the Bible is PG hasn’t ever read it. Millstone, and this isn’t a pebble, but a man-sized circular boulder that was used to grind grain into powder, a millstone dragging someone alive to the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. I believe that is in my top 10 worst ways of dying.
Jesus moves on to self-amputating arms and legs, gauging out eyes. Drastic. Caustic. Uncomfortable.
But, Jesus presents this drastic message for a reason: we should not view our actions and our influences on others lightly.
Jesus presents two dangers of stumbling, of turning away from the position we have in the kingdom. The first is from someone else. Because of their actions, because of their influence, we turn from the straight and narrow way. We stop pursuing holiness with our actions and our words, with our priorities and our desires.
As Paul writes:
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
And Solomon observes:
Walk with the wise and become wise,
for a companion of fools suffers harm.
Who we are with can pull us away from following Christ.
And, we have just observed Jesus’ viewpoint of those who do this. If Jesus says that it would be better if they were violently drowned without any hope of resuscitation, we should have a better viewpoint of those we allow to influence us. We would have the perspective of Jesus.
The second danger is from within, because moments of stumbling will come. We are sinners who are driven to sin because of our flesh.
James points out:
but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
No amount of limiting our friendships, and insulating ourselves from the world will keep us from stumbling. The culprit is within us. And if we understand the seriousness of our sin, we will take drastic actions against that sin.
Drastic actions that would feel like cutting off limbs and gauging out eyes. Not that we would actually do that. Jewish society at this time would be appalled by Jesus’ teaching. Self-mutilation was a horrible thing, and they actually taught that one entered the afterlife with your mutilations.
But, that would be better than missing the kingdom.
The kingdom is better than all those other things that we are holding on to, like our pride, our image, our privacy, and so many other things that we are not willing to give up to rid ourselves of our sin.
One might ask, how in the world can we have such a perspective, a drastic war against that which pulls us away from the holiness of God. That perspective is found only before the throne of Jesus.
Paul lamented his sin and how he was not able to turn away from it.
For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
He cries out:
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Our position is dependent solely on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our perspective is his viewpoint of the sin within the world and within ourselves, empowered by his person and his work.
3. The Passion of the Kingdom-Follower
3. The Passion of the Kingdom-Follower
The Kingdom-Follower embraces a specific passion.
Jesus told a parable to his disciples:
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
I am going to briefly touch on this concept of angels in heaven. There are many Scriptures which speak of the ministry of Angels to God’s people, such as
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Angels are protectors. Angels are messengers. Angels, ultimately, exist to bring glory to God. Which brings me to this point:
The goal of Jesus’ sermon, and the goal of the entire message of the Bible, is not angels. The goal is the position, perspective, and passion of a kingdom follower. Jesus said that the angels see the face of our Father in Heaven and they do his bidding, no matter the human status of the individual. Will we as well?
Jesus tells the parable about the man who is more concerned with one unruly, disobedient, sheep with a death wish, than the ninety-nine that stayed in the group.
I’ve been around farmers and ranchers. I know what the reaction normally is to a critter that has gotten out. And many times, the word choice directed at that critter isn’t the most godly.
But, Jesus doesn’t have that problem. He is the good shepherd.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—
I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
And so, he joyfully leaves the flock and pursues that sheep. He pursued me and brought me in. He pursued you. And he is pursuing others. He doesn’t sit around and wait for us to come in on our own. We can’t. We are little children, unable to save ourselves. He must do the saving, the searching, the bringing.
As he does it, he reaches out to those he has already brought in, and tells us to have that same passion.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
We should know how the lost feel. We were that:
For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Knowing what we were, realizing our position in the kingdom as completely dependent on the grace of God, having Jesus’ perspective on the sin in the world and the sin within us, we should pick up his passion of saving as many people who are lost and away from the fold.
This is hard, because so many of those lost sheep are messy. They’ve been in the mud, rolled in the manure. They have cut their legs, their bodies. Blood is everywhere, mixing with the mud and the manure. Their coats are torn. They can’t walk. They are malnourished. Looking at them, we probably don’t want to touch them. We know that if we bring them back to the flock, we have to wash them, tend their wounds, spoon feed them, carry them until they get their strength. And that’s a lot of work.
But Jesus did that for us. And truthfully, he is the one doing it for them. He’s just choosing to work through us. So, why do we complain so much? Oh, because of the sin trying to lead us astray from our passion. Perspective. Another reminder of my position, a sinner completely dependent on Christ.
What’s your position? Has it changed your perspective? Has it affected your passion?
Or are you still living where I was, singing renditions of Surf City, and missing out on the purpose of everything.
