Sermon Tone Analysis

To live above, with saints we love

Will certainly be glory.

To live below, with saints we know—

Well, that’s another story!

I. Become Like Children (1-4)

M

A. The Childish Quarrel (1)

B. The Illustration of a Child (2)

Small child - small enough to hold in his arms.

C. The Conversion a Child (3)

(1) First and foremost, there is the quality of humility (verses 1–4).

Only the person who has the humility of the child is a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.

Personal ambition, personal prestige, personal publicity and personal profit are motives which can find no place in the lives of Christians.

Christians are people who forget self in their devotion to Jesus Christ and in their service to other people.

(1) First and foremost, there is the quality which is the keynote of the whole passage, the child’s humility.

Children do not wish to push themselves forward; rather, they wish to fade into the background.

They do not wish for prominence; they would rather be left in obscurity.

It is only as they grow up, and begin to be initiated into a competitive world, with its fierce struggle and scramble for prizes and for first places, that this instinctive humility is left behind.

(2) There is the child’s dependence.

To children, a state of dependence is perfectly natural.

They never think that they can face life by themselves.

They are perfectly content to be utterly dependent on those who love them and care for them.

If men and women would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives.

(3) There is the child’s trust.

Children are instinctively dependent, and just as instinctively they trust their parents that their needs will be met.

When we are children, we cannot buy our own food or our own clothes, or maintain our own home; yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed, and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home.

When we are children, we set out on a journey with no means of paying the fare, and with no idea of how to get to our journey’s end, and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there.

Don’t worry about who is the greatest in the kingdom, unless you are like a child you won’t even make it!

(1) First and foremost, there is the quality which is the keynote of the whole passage, the child’s humility.

Children do not wish to push themselves forward; rather, they wish to fade into the background.

They do not wish for prominence; they would rather be left in obscurity.

It is only as they grow up, and begin to be initiated into a competitive world, with its fierce struggle and scramble for prizes and for first places, that this instinctive humility is left behind.

(2) There is the child’s dependence.

To children, a state of dependence is perfectly natural.

They never think that they can face life by themselves.

They are perfectly content to be utterly dependent on those who love them and care for them.

If men and women would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives.

(3) There is the child’s trust.

Children are instinctively dependent, and just as instinctively they trust their parents that their needs will be met.

When we are children, we cannot buy our own food or our own clothes, or maintain our own home; yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed, and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home.

When we are children, we set out on a journey with no means of paying the fare, and with no idea of how to get to our journey’s end, and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2 The Mind of a Child ()

(1) First and foremost, there is the quality which is the keynote of the whole passage, the child’s humility.

Children do not wish to push themselves forward; rather, they wish to fade into the background.

They do not wish for prominence; they would rather be left in obscurity.

It is only as they grow up, and begin to be initiated into a competitive world, with its fierce struggle and scramble for prizes and for first places, that this instinctive humility is left behind.

(NASB95)

(2) There is the child’s dependence.

To children, a state of dependence is perfectly natural.

They never think that they can face life by themselves.

They are perfectly content to be utterly dependent on those who love them and care for them.

If men and women would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives.

(3) There is the child’s trust.

Children are instinctively dependent, and just as instinctively they trust their parents that their needs will be met.

When we are children, we cannot buy our own food or our own clothes, or maintain our own home; yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed, and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home.

When we are children, we set out on a journey with no means of paying the fare, and with no idea of how to get to our journey’s end, and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there.

D. The Humility of a Child (4)

9 But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.

10 For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?

11 For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died.

12 And so, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.

13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.

D. The Humility of a Child (4)

children are humble.

What do we mean when we say they're humble?

They have no achievements.

They have no accomplishments.

They have no personal means to achieve or to accomplish.

They have no ability to chart their own course, they have no wisdom to face the world.

They have no ability to protect themselves, to provide for themselves.

They are weak.

They are dependent.

They are immature.

They are ignorant.

They are simple minded.

They are vulnerable.

They are in desperate need of care and that's exactly how it is for those who enter the Kingdom.

We recognize that we have no achievement, no merit, no accomplishment.

We are weak, ignorant, dependent, immature, ignorant, simple-minded, vulnerable.

We can't defend ourselves.

We can't achieve anything by some accomplishment.

We have no ability for those kinds of things.

We have no credentials.

We have nothing to offer.

need of care and that's exactly how it is for those who enter the Kingdom.

We recognize that we

have no achievement, no merit, no accomplishment.

We are weak, ignorant, dependent, immature,

ignorant, simple-minded, vulnerable.

We can't defend ourselves.

We can't achieve anything by some

accomplishment.

We have no ability for those kinds of things.

We have no credentials.

We have

when we say they're humble?

They have no achievements.

They have no accomplishments.

They

nothing to offer.