Faith Like a Child

Introduction

When I was growing up, one of my favorite bands was Third Day. I listened to their Christmas album very frequently. One of their songs is called Christmas Like a Child

I want to feel Christmas, how it used to be With all of its wonder falling on me This season has felt so empty, oh, for quite a while I want to feel Christmas like a child

Some remember the excitement, the anticipation they felt as a child.

Did you ever count presents though? You know, how many presents did you get compared to your siblings? Maybe some of you still count presents.

Or, even worse, have you ever recieved a gift from someone you did not expect to recieve a gift from? And then felt terrible not being able to give anything in return?

Have you ever let someone slip your mind when buying Christmas gifts?

How quickly the season of generosity and giving can turn into a season of jealousy, figuring out who’s in and who’s out, and who’s going to get out ahead.

We’ve seen Jesus in the previous chapter announce that he was going to build his church on Peter. Then we just saw Peter’s temple tax being paid for. Jesus also proclaimed that while the others paying the tax were subjects, he and his disciples were sons. So the disciples want to know: who’s the best son. “I mean, come on Jesus, is it really Peter?”

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We like to know the pecking order, and we like to know our place on the pecking order. Furthermore, we like to know how to get ahead, and place “me” first.

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Jesus answers the question concerning who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. And the kingdom’s value system does not match the world’s or often our own value system for determining greatness. In these verses, Jesus gives the antidote for selfish ambition.

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Matt. 18:1- 4? Maybe

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Grasping for greatness, greatness in diapers, and giving up grasping

Move 1: Grasping for Greatness

Matthew 18:1 ESV

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Revelation

Matthew 18 is known as the family discourse because throughout you will see Jesus refer to his disciples as children, little ones, brothers, and fellow servant. Notice right at the beginning of the chapter it begins with “at that time.” What is “that time?” Remember the previous passage? Jesus paid the temple tax to not offend others and identified himself and his disciples as privileged compared to the people who had to pay the tax.

I hope the clear irony is not lost on us. Jesus’s main intention in teaching his disciples was to teach them to be willing to lay aside privilege for the benefit of others. Instead of laying anything aside, it seems as though the disciples want to find out who’s best.

The gospel of Luke makes this question even more precise when the disciples ask, “Who among us is the greatest?” Put on your speculative imagination and picture the scene: Jesus tells his disciples regarding tax, “Then the sons are free.” Then the disciples ignore the bit about not giving offense and begin discussing, “we’re sons? well, which of us is the firstborn?” “I bet it’s me” “No, it’s me. . .” and the bickering ensues until they go to Jesus and ask, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Relevance

When I graduated from college in 2015, I sent my resume out to a bunch of churches. I was met with a bunch of questionnaires to fill out. The process was tedious. I felt pressure to secure a position to support my family, but I also did not want to lie or anything else to get a position. The questionnaires were long, often 30 questions or more, spanning a wide variety of topics. I don’t think there was anything wrong with a church doing that, they should be thorough; however, having to answer all those questions on my end was a long process.

Several years later when I had prayed and considered with my wife sending my resume here, I went back and looked at those emails to find my resume. I also found some of those questionnaires and so I read through them. Immediately, what struck me was how arrogant I sounded. When I reread it, the tone came across as, “I know the Bible, you don’t, so hush up and listen.” I would not have hired me.

The disciples have been with Jesus now for a good while. We could estimate that by chapter 18, the disciples have been with Jesus for about two years. But even though Jesus instructed them and led by example, the disciples’ selfish ambition was still driving them.

Move 2: Greatness in Diapers

Matthew 18:2–4 ESV

2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Revelation

Jesus answers the question by bringing a little child. The disciples are concerned with placing themselves in the center of it all, and Jesus places a toddler in the center. The disciples are looking for status and Jesus points to smallness. The disciples are grasping for accolades and distinction, and Jesus gives them a kid in diapers.

There’s nothing glorious about diapers. I’m not even sure if they had diapers like that back then. But this is not an older child. One commentator notes:

Matthew Exegesis

The diminutive suffix on the Greek noun confirms that Jesus had little children in mind. He was not referring to adolescents resenting authority and demanding independence. He was referring to little toddlers who could only eat if someone else fed them, could only walk if someone else held their hand, could only survive if someone else protected them, and were very aware of how small and weak and needy they were in comparison to the adults who towered over them and cared for them

And notice some of the things that Jesus says. He begins emphatically in verse 3 saying “Truly I say to you.” That was Jesus’s way of saying “pay attention.” Then he says “unless you turn and become like children.” Consider that phrase. “Turn and become.” The word “turn” refers to a radical change. The word is used for turning water into blood in Revelation (11:6). What is this radical change into? It is to become like a child. Jesus is telling his disciples to turn into something that this child is an example of.

Now we must understand this analogy correctly otherwise we can misinterpret it. We want to use the context to help us understand the image. Sometimes the stock phrase “faith like a child” is used to refer to inexperience, gullibility, or simplicity. But the issue that Jesus is addressing is not unbelief. Jesus is not trying to make his disciples into simpletons who are willing to believe anything Jesus says and ignore common sense or observation. “Turn and become like a child” does not mean become gullible, ignore your doubts, ignore your feelings, or ignore what you can observe and learn.

Jesus was addressing the disciples’ arrogance, their selfish ambition. The disciples are trying to put themselves at the center of everything and Jesus puts a toddler there. Selfish ambition says, “I depend on no one but myself to get ahead and take what I want.” Humility says, “I depend on God to be satisfied in my soul.”

Jesus’s point was not that toddlers cannot be selfish. Rather any selfish ambition that a toddler may have is thwarted by his inability to feed himself, walk by himself, talk, or even go to the bathroom properly. Selfish ambition says, “Who can I walk on to get ahead.” Humility says, “I can’t even walk unless God takes my hand.”

Selfish ambition tries to take everything I’m given and use it to get out ahead. When selfish ambition is given some wood and nails it begins to build a tower to heaven. But Jesus shows that selfish ambition can build no sucessful tower. Notice what Jesus says. The disciples are concerned with greatness in the kingdom of heaven. But, Jesus tells the disciples that if greatness is their concern they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Look in v. 3, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never (emphatic) enter the kingdom of heaven.”

But there is a way into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” And I hope you see, especially in the season we are celebrating now, the significance of that statement. Who is the greatest in the kingdom? Well the king of course. The king in heaven who humbled himself to be born on earth. The omnipotent king of glory taking on human likeness in the form of a tiny newborn, doing all this willingly—not for his own sake, but for us. This is the heart of selfless ambition that Jesus himself lived. That Christ became manifest in the lowliest and humblest way in order to live, not an easy life, but a life of suffering under the curse in order to defeat the curse. And then in order to die in our place the very death we deserved. This is the heart of selfless, humble, and childlike dependence upon God.

Relevance

The question of course becomes how do we develop that same attitude in our hearts?

Perhaps it can be accomplished through a good education?

I want to just say a big thank you to the church. Thank you for your abundant generosity. Thank you for allowing my family and me to attend my graduation. Thank you for all the cards of encouragement. I’m so grateful to be done.

It is an awesome thing to graduate from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is one of the earlier institutions of higher learning in our nation. It is one of the largest seminaries in the world. It has top notch faculty. It pursues excellence. The classes are demanding, not easy. When I hold that degree in my hand I know it was a lot of work, a lot of strain, but it was worth it.

But guess what that degree doesn’t do. It does not form childlike humility in my heart. In fact, it can easily be fuel for selfish ambition.

Application: Giving up Grasping

So how do we form childlike humility in a world where everyone lives to get out ahead?

Jesus gives the antidote for selfish ambition. Selfish ambition is defeated when we yearn, believe, trust, and live childlike dependence toward God. We deepen that dependence with gratitude toward God.

So we must confront postures of selfish ambition and develop in its place humility. This humility is formed by understanding just how dependent we are upon God.

Just yesterday at work I had a posture of selfish ambition. I was just boxing our little chicken minis. My screen was full of 4 counts and 10 counts. I just finished a small mini tray, and was about to make a nugget tray when someone came in and ordered a large mini tray. My GM asked if I wanted help, and I said, “I don’t know. . .” And my friend working beside me said, “Help? Jake never needs help. . .” There my pride grew, my selfish ambition grew. I knew I needed to do it all on my own. My actions displayed my drive to build myself up rather than displaying any childlike dependence upon God.

The Christmas season is a perfect time to practice living what Christ demands in this passage.

This Christmas season have you been consumed with what you will get? Maybe you’ve already given up on the notion of anyone else actually getting you anything, so you decided to treat yourself. Maybe you’ve been working out a list of things you could get. There’s nothing wrong with making a Christmas list or telling people what you want. Nor is there anything wrong with buying yourself something. But there can be a fuel in it that, if we aren’t careful can further ignite our selfish ambition.

Maybe not even the gift itself, but have your thoughts been, “Who really cares about me this year? Who is going to get me something? Who will even think about me?” There’s nothing wrong with feeling loved and cared for, of course. But when we depend on other’s concern for us rather than on God, it fans the flame of selfish ambition. It drives us to live to get others attention rather than a humble dependence upon God.

Selfish ambition is consumed with what will I get and who will give to me. Childlike humility is dumbfounded with gratitude that a gift was even recieved. Selfish ambition carefully calculates who to give a gift to in order to get ahead. Childlike humility puts together a trite gift and willing to give it to anyone.

So what is your focus this Christmas season “Who is the greatest?” Hoping the answer is , “Me.” This meditation fuels the attitude of selfish ambition.

Instead we should meditate on just how dependent we are on God for every little thing. If it weren’t for God, I could not give or receive anything at all. This cultivates the attitude of childlike humility—one that it fully dependent upon God and reflective of our incarnate savior.