Greatness is Becoming like Children
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 42:03
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· 20 viewsPursue greatness in the kingdom of heaven by embracing childlike humility and receiving Jesus’ little ones.
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Call to Worship
Call to Worship
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.
Adoration
Adoration
Confession
Confession
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Message
Message
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
The fourth section of teaching in the Gospel of Matthew will focus on life under the authority of King Jesus.
Life together under the rule of King Jesus dominates this section.
It will dominate how a person should view themselves (Matt 18:1-4)
How they view others (Matt 18:5-6)
How they view themselves in the world (Matt 18:7-14).
How they view wrong being done to them (Matt 18:15-35)
Life together under King Jesus’ rule is crucial for our church body.
Recap of ‘Free, yet Bound’
Recap of ‘Free, yet Bound’
They’re back from doing ministry to spend time in Capernaum when the temple tax officials pay them a visit.
Jesus responds that as a Son in the house of His Father, He is free to not pay the tax but because of love He is bound to pay as to not give offense.
Jesus pays a tax He does not owe so that those who owe a debt they cannot pay may become sons.
Jesus equates Himself as a Son in His Father’s house.
But the disciples as being adopted sons in the house of His Father through faith in Him.
The disciples pick up on this concept of being in the kingdom that Jesus inaugurates.
Unlike other miracles, Matthew doesn’t tell us how it goes.
But you can imagine Peter paying their taxes from the mouth of a fish, thinks himself to be exceptional.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
What were the disciples talking about coming off of the Mount of Transfiguration?
Their greatness in the coming kingdom.
They were debating over who would be chief among them in Jesus’ kingdom that He is bringing.
And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”
But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
An argument which likely began on their journey down the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:33), comes to a cross-road.
When they heard that they will be “sons” in the kingdom of the Father, their question is immediately over which will be the greatest son.
Our self-perception in the Jesus community.
Our self-perception in the Jesus community.
I use the language “Jesus community” intentionally here.
The word “church” can make us numb because we think we know what that word means.
Some because we’ve been part of the church our whole lives.
We couldn’t recognize life without it.
But when I say “Jesus community”, it’s what a church is.
The church is not a building.
It’s not a social club.
The church is the blood-bought children of the Father worshipping the Son in the power of the Spirit.
A church is a community that lifts high the Name of Jesus in the world.
How do you perceive yourself?
What do you think of yourself?
Who are you in this community?
Personal identity can be described in two parts: perception and reality.
Perception is who I think I am.
Reality is who I actually am.
Learning to see the distinction between the two is part of maturing as a person and as a Christian.
Self-perception as ‘greatness’ or ‘nothing’
Self-perception as ‘greatness’ or ‘nothing’
Thinking of yourself as ‘great’
Self-love is a great enemy of the church.
Enemy to each one’s soul, but also that of the whole church.
What’s behind the conflict at hand?
The Bible tells us…
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
“Selfish ambition” or “rivalry.”
The problem in every conflict, including church conflict, are unmet and unfulfilled desires.
A twin problem is that of “conceit” or “exaggerated self-evaluation” or “thinking of yourself higher than you ought” (Romans 12:3).
If an exaggerated sense of self is the engine and unmet desires become the fuel to drive the car of division.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
When those who think too highly of themselves believe their way is best; division is not far off.
Thinking of yourself as ‘nothing’
Self-hatred is your heart’s attempt to condemn the person you are in preference for who you wish you were.
Who you wish you were is simply a summary of your own desires.
You form your opinion around these desires instead of forming it around God’s opinion of you.
Self-love inflate our ego; Self-hatred fixates our ego on our failures.
Both are self-obsessed.
It should not surprise us then after the disciples come off of the Mount of Transfiguration, that prayerlessness and division are their temptations.
We’re just like these disciples.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
The disciples are clearly thinking about “the kingdom of heaven” in earthly terms.
Jesus just told them that He was going to die.
But now they want to know who will be the lead disciple after His departure.
The disciples have already derived their own pecking order.
Now they want Jesus’ confirmation of their perceived pecking order.
“Tell us, who is the greatest?”
“Who is the greatest among us?”
“Who will be ‘top-dog’?”
Self-perception can bring life or destruction.
Self-perception can bring life or destruction.
This desire is a part of our fallen human nature.
It’s easy to observe this in young children…
They often want to know, “Who is older?”
Why do they care so much about age?
Children care so much about age in an attempt to feel superior (older children) to those who they deem inferior (younger children).
The same thing is seen in adults but typically around the topic of money, cars, sports teams, or many other topics.
The bottom line is always:
Who is the greatest?
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Our greatness redefined in the Jesus community.
Our greatness redefined in the Jesus community.
Jesus presents a paradigm shift of what it means to be great in the kingdom of heaven.
It’s not that we should want to be the biggest loser.
Christianity is not some weirdly inverted game of “how to become the biggest loser in the room.”
No!
Jesus redefines what greatness is all about.
It’s not that we shouldn’t pursue greatness!
It’s that we should pursue the greatness that Jesus advocates!
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them
The ancient world viewed children so lowly that there weren’t different pronouns for different genders of children.
So instead of “he” or “she” this could have been translated “it.”
We live in a day that the shock of what Jesus says here isn’t apparent to us.
Our society is child focused.
Marriages suffer from being child centered.
Families are driven by child focused.
Churches are governed by the children.
Even society at large is primarily focused on children.
“In the modern West, we have inverted the traditional order. Where previous cultures looked to the wisdom of elders and the authority of history, our culture looks to the emotive authenticity of the young. We no longer ask children to adapt to the adult world; we remodel the adult world to serve the desires of the child." —Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self
Or take a non-Christian voice on the matter…
“We have moved from a culture where children were seen as dependent members of a family community to a culture of child-worship, where the child’s happiness is the primary spiritual project of the parents. In doing so, we have made the child an icon of self-fulfillment rather than a lesson in lowliness.” –David Brooks
We have to enter into the world of the NT in order to catch what Jesus is saying here.
If we have some overly sentimentalized, child-centered view of the world we will miss His point.
Children were not viewed positively in the ancient world.
They were despised.
They were viewed on the same level as a slave.
They were the bottom of the social rung.
Our modern era thinks of children…
“You’re the most important person in the room!”
Unfortunately what we hear is:
“Don’t be so rigid, just have child-like faith, be a ‘free spirit’!”
“Don’t take your faith so serious, just have child-like faith!”
“Don’t study too hard, just have child-like faith!”
“Don’t worry too much about theology, just have child-like faith!”
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
Jesus advocates humility of mind, not childishness of thought. —D. A. Carson
The ancient temperament toward children was…
“You have no seat at the table!”
Children were known for their helplessness, dependence, and non-status.
So when Jesus takes a child and places that child in the midst of them and tells them that…
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
It was an insult to the disciples.
Jesus pointed to a “non-person” person in their society and said,
“Become like this unimportant child.”
Children know nothing of the rankings within our society.
The sons of this age long for distinctions amongst them, but the sons of the kingdom desire no such thing.
Childlike humility is essential in the kingdom.
Childlike humility is essential in the kingdom.
And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The KJV here uses the language of “be converted” (KJV), but the sense is that of a 180° turnaround.
Jesus reorients these disciples to become like a child.
Without turning to become children, there is no salvation
It’s that the turning itself makes one new, but the regenerating power of God that makes one new.
We have strawberry plants on our back porch about head height for our littles.
They love to pick flowers.
And we often have to remind them,
“If you want the strawberry, you cannot pick the flower because it won’t grow!”
What Jesus is describing here is like that plant.
You want the kingdom, but if you do not become like little children, you won’t have it.
As Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3…
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
You and I need a new nature.
We need a childlike nature that comes from above.
Humility is a chief marker of the new birth.
Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 18:1–14: Necessity of Conversion and Humility,—Reality of Hell
It is easy to be a convert from one party to another party, from one sect to another sect, from one set of opinions to another set of opinions. Such conversions save no one’s soul.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
The Pharisee is thankful that he is not like other men.
But it’s not that he is mourning his own sin.
He is just grateful that he is not like other people.
This is not a man who is poor in spirit or mourns his sin (Matthew 5:3-4).
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Expository Thoughts on Matthew Matthew 18:1–14: Necessity of Conversion and Humility,—Reality of Hell
What we all want is a conversion from pride to humility—from high thoughts of ourselves to lowly thoughts of ourselves—from self-conceit to self-abasement—from the mind of the Pharisee to the mind of the Publican.—A conversion of this kind we must experience, if we hope to be saved.
It is possible to pursue Jesus as an attempt at making a name for ourselves.
To strive in the kingdom of heaven, in such a way that moves you further from Jesus than toward Him.
A Christian is NOT one trying to make a name for himself.
A Christian is fundamentally about lifting High the Name of Jesus.
Jesus clarifies exactly what He means by becoming a child…
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Childlike humility is greatness in the kingdom.
Childlike humility is greatness in the kingdom.
It is “humbling himself” or “to make oneself low.”
Where they were jockeying for position in Jesus’ kingdom, He flattens their ambitions.
Unless a person becomes like a child, they will not be able to be a part of the kingdom of heaven.
This is not so much about inner humility as it is of “status-disregarding embrace of lowliness” (W. Olmstead)
Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke Matthew 17:22–23, 18:1–5; Mark 18:1–5; Luke 9:43–48
That man is truly humble who neither
Modern man loves the concept of humility.
“Who am I to judge?”
“I must be humble enough to admit my truth isn’t truth for everyone!”
Our modern age loves the word “humility” but they strip it of all biblical meaning.
“I’m still learning…”
“I don’t have all the answers…”
The modern age uses humility as a way to advance.
Modern humility helps you climb the ladder of worldly ambition with a smile…
But it’s still climbing the ladder.
Jesus calls us to something much different and humility for Him isn’t another form of self-improvement project.
Get off the ladder and see yourself as the bottom rung, with Jesus as the Head.
What does a humble person look like?
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity discussed…
“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call ‘humble’ nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody….He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
Modern humility is arrogance with a smile filter.
Humility in the home looks out for the needs of others.
Fathers, if we use our authority to gain from our family without trying to use our authority to serve our family, we are not humble fathers.
Mothers, your joy is often stolen by thinking on all the things that you have missed out on.
All the ways that life is hard for you.
But a humble mother is one that looks out for the interests of those in her home.
The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down.
Children, it is easy to think that your home revolves around you.
But especially you children that have siblings, Jesus is calling you to serve your family.
Jesus gives a test of how we know a person has become a “little one”
It’s not just an internal posture, it will manifest itself in external testing as well.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
Our treatment of Jesus’ little ones.
Our treatment of Jesus’ little ones.
I could hear a person reasoning within themselves,
“Loving children is great!”
“I love children! Therefore, I must love Jesus.”
Our society loves children.
Does that mean they love Jesus?
No!
That would mean every social worker was a Christian.
Merely because a person receives a child, doesn’t make them good with Jesus.
So what does Jesus mean by this?
I’ve heard untold number of people say something like, “I love Jesus, but I can’t stand the church.”
There is actually a church in our area that has the subtitle, “a church for people who hate church.”
What are they saying?
In practice, they’re saying that Jesus is all good, but I hate his people.
This is antithetical to the gospel.
Those who have been received by Jesus, should be the most receptive of others who have also been received by the Lord.
Reception of them corresponds to receiving Jesus.
Reception of them corresponds to receiving Jesus.
Think about how friendship is maintained in the world…
I’ll receive you when you add a benefit to my life.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,
The word “receives” brings with it the sense of “welcoming” or “accepting them.”
Jesus will address all children later in Matthew 19, but here he applies the title of “child” metaphorically to capture the true believer.
Whenever we receive or welcome those who have believed in Jesus’ Name, we don’t do so for our sake.
We don’t do it for their sake.
We receive and welcome them for Jesus’ sake.
They receive the “little ones” because of Jesus’ high-priority on them.
Application
But often we are embarrassed by other Christians.
We’re embarrassed by their oddities, convictions, actions, or even their weak consciences.
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.
One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.
Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
How dare a person hinder fellowship to one that God has welcomed?
If God has indeed welcomed them in the gospel.
May we never lay a hinderance between the two.
Despising and passing judgment is to hinder fellowship in some manner.
For the strong to despise the weak for their sensitive consciences, it only hinders fellowship.
For the weak to pass judgment upon the strong for their freedom, also hinders fellowship.
On the contrary to the example Jesus gives…
Tripping them up brings great condemnation.
Tripping them up brings great condemnation.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.
A millstone was the huge stones used in mills to crush grain by having a donkey crush grain by being yoked to the stone.
In almost cartoon fashion, Jesus describes the consequences of those who make “little ones” stumble.
The wrong doer has the heaviest stone placed around their neck and tossed in the deepest part of the ocean.
But this warning is actually meant to be a comfort to the believer as much as it’s meant to be a warning to the unbeliever.
Comfort for the little ones.
Comfort for the little ones.
Jesus is not talking about other true “little ones” causing other “little ones” to stumble, though this is a serious warning.
It’s likely that Paul is thinking about Jesus’ words here when he prescribes…
And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Now this is a serious offense and like we saw last week, we should beware of causing a brother to sin by using our freedom in Christ (Christian liberty).
Warning for the wicked.
Warning for the wicked.
Pursue greatness in the kingdom of heaven by embracing childlike humility and receiving Jesus’ little ones.
Pursue greatness in the kingdom of heaven by embracing childlike humility and receiving Jesus’ little ones.
