The Greatest Children

Read: Matthew 18:1-14

It is no exaggeration to say that this is the single greatest discourse our Lord ever gave on life among the redeemed people in His church. John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 94.

Introduction:

Psychologist Milton Rokeach wrote a book called The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. He described his attempts to treat three patients at a psychiatric hospital in Ypsilanti, Michigan, who suffered from delusions of grandeur. Each believed he was unique among humankind; he had been called to save the world; he was the messiah. They displayed full-blown cases of grandiosity, in its pure form.

Rokeach found it difficult to break through, to help the patients accept the truth about their identity. So he decided to put the three into a little community to see if rubbing against people who also claimed to be the messiah might dent their delusion—a kind of messianic, 12-step recovery group.

This led to some interesting conversations. One would claim, "I'm the messiah, the Son of God. I was sent here to save the earth."

"How do you know?" Rokeach would ask.

"God told me."

One of the other patients would counter, "I never told you any such thing."

Every once in a while, one got a glimmer of reality—never deep or for long, so deeply ingrained was the messiah complex. But what progress Rokeach made was pretty much made by putting them together.

It's a crazy idea, taking a group of deluded, would-be messiahs and putting them into a community to see if they could be cured. But it has been done before. "A reasoning arose among them as to who should be the greatest," Luke tells us about Jesus' followers.

John Ortberg, "Leader's Insight: Curing Grandiosity (Part Two)," LeadershipJournal.net (1-29-07)

Adults are always asking that question: who's important? Think about magazine covers: The 100 most-powerful people in Boston. Hollywood's hottest couples. The fastest-growing companies. The most-eligible bachelor. Adults always want to know: Who matters? Who's important?

Bryan Wilkerson, Teach Your Children Well https://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/2006/december/generation3.html

The biblical world was what anthropologists call an honor-shame society. The social status, and thus the worth of every person in the society, was established through an elaborate system of valuing and devaluing. Every conversation and social interaction was regulated by the relative status of each participant. People often engaged in one-upmanship and other ploys designed to increase their own honor or decrease the honor of another. Jesus persistently rejected both the devaluing of persons and the games played that were part of the honor-shame society. Roger L. Hahn, Matthew, (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2007), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 219.

Jesus and the Disciples were in Galilee and had been staying there for awhile. You might remember in the previous chapter Jesus, Peter, James, and John had been on the mountain of Transfiguration.

One of the greatest lessons we sometimes have to learn, is that we are all people. Being on the mountain does not entitle you to prestige.

The disciples have to learn that the hard way.

I can almost hear different disciples explaining why they are the “most likely to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”

doesn’t that just sound oxymoronic - “Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”

And yet, we still fight this battle today.

I can imagine Peter James and John on one side, John talks about the glory he witnessed on Jesus and the voice like thunder out of heaven, and how that alone should make him qualified.

Peter - speaks out and say, “but wait, you all just stood there, I’m the only one who offered to build tabernacles”

James replies- “Yeah, but then it all left, you probably interrupted Jesus again Peter. I stood there quietly and reverently like a good disciple is supposed to. I know how to be self-controlled that makes me most qualified.”

Other’s pitched in until finally the wisest of the bunch said, “Hey, I know how to solve this - lets go ask Jesus”

They rush in to the room where Jesus is sitting and teaching and interrupt him and ask,” Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?”

Then they waited with baited breath.

I almost wonder, if Jesus didn’t take his time in answering. Maybe walking around the group, pointing to different ones, as though he were going to choose them and then move on. Finally he just shakes his head in frustration and sits back down.

Then things get real---

Have you ever had God get real with you - well God is always real - but sometimes he gets real rough - that is what he is about to do.

... Jesus pulls a fast one on them. He grabs a kid from out of the crowd and says: See this little child—he's important. In fact, he's so important that unless you become like him, you're not even getting into my kingdom!

Bryan Wilkerson, Teach Your Children Well https://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/2006/december/generation3.html

Now the word “Child” used here means a very young child, sometimes its used for an infant.

This particular child was perhaps a toddler, just old enough to run to Jesus when He called him to Himself. Because the group was likely in Peter's house, the child may have belonged to Peter's family and already been well known to Jesus. In any case, he readily responded and allowed himself to be taken up into Jesus' arms (Mark 9:36). John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 95.

That wasn't the answer they were looking for, and it caught them by surprise.

Children weren't very important in that culture. They had no rights, no status, and no economic value until they could work. Sometimes parents would leave an unwanted newborn out in the elements to die; it wasn't a crime. While boys could be educated, girls never were. Distinguished rabbis wouldn't think of wasting time teaching children. That's why on another occasion, when mothers brought children to Jesus, the disciples turned them away. Jesus was an important person. He couldn't be wasting his time with children when there were so many adults waiting to see him.

But on that occasion and this one, Jesus changes the rules.

Both times, he brought those children to the front of the line.

Both times, he said: These are the most important people in the crowd, and unless you become like one of them, you will not enter my kingdom.

Bryan Wilkerson, Teach Your Children Well https://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/sermons/2006/december/generation3.html

In this passage Jesus tells us how to be Great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

1. You Must Be Changed Matt. 18:3a

Jesus says in Matt. 18:3 “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted...”

Now I always thought that “converted” meant - “Get saved” in the evangelical sense. And perhaps that is what Jesus is implying. There have already been proofs of their “being in the Kingdom of Heaven” however entrance into the Kingdom depends on these two actions.

What does it mean?

Well a word study of that word “Converted” shows that it means “To turn (change) - to undergo a transformation or a change in position or action.”

Jesus is saying you must change the way you think - it’s not about who is the greatest, it’s about who is following Jesus. Who is uplifting Christ.

You must turn from change from the view of status, and valuing and devaluing people.

It’s not what you get - its what you give - how you serve, how you trust.

It’s not living high as the greatest - its what you leave behind.

You must be - you must become as a, and I can almost see him pointing to the little child on his lap and saying, “You must become as a child.”

A gasp and murmur probably went through the crowd gathered there that day.

2. You Must Be As Children Matt. 18:3-4

Scripture describes and identifies the people of God by many names. But more frequently than anything else we are called children—children of promise, children of the day, children of the light, beloved children, dear children, and children of God. John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 93.

Teachable

Vulnerable - Mentioned earlier how they were thought of in this time.

Dependent

Devoted/ loyal

3. You Must Be Congenial Matt. 18:5-20

By congenial I mean accepting - Jesus shows us three ways to do this.

By being receptive not offensive - Matt. 18:5-9

Now we need to understand that Jesus is giving us a double sermon. He is teaching the importance and value of children - but he is also talking about citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and us becoming like children. So these teachings can be applied to both actual children, and to believers. I want us to apply it to one another this morning. TO believers.

By receiving he means welcomes

Think of this - Jesus is teaching and calls a child to him. Have you ever been around children? I imagine a loving grandmotherly figure there that day had carried an extra sugar stick in her purse just in case a child might be there. He had been licking and sticking that candy stick every where. His hands were sticky, his face was sticky, smudged with dirt and grime. His feet were probably covered in dirt and filth, and when Jesus picked him up in his arms, he probably left his fingerprints and foot prints all over Jesus garment. And yet the child knew he was welcome, knew he was loved.

This is the image that Jesus is trying to get us to see - If we receive one such little one such little child in my name receiveth me. -

Now the becoming is not on becoming a child, but becoming welcoming to children. - Oh God Help Us.

But its not just welcoming - it is not offending -

Now we need to understand - offend does not mean to never make upset - it means we should never be the cause of someone else’s sin.

If we cause someone else to sin - it would be better to have a millstone hung on our neck and cast into the sea.

My wife was trying to teach me to float and I just can’t give up control yet. I can’t imagine having something tying me down and no hope of escape. Jesus says it would be better to drown than to cause someone else to sin.

By Prizing not Despising - Matt. 18:10-14

Jesus next warns against despising or devaluing children or citizens of the kingdom. I think this would include the unborn - I’m just going to put that in here and leave that for now.

But not looking down on them devaluing them or not recognizing them for who they are.

Jesus says, you shouldn’t do this because “their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 18:10

While no one knows for sure what this means - the most widely held opinion is that children and citizens have what is termed a “guardian angel” While this passage doesn’t say anything about guarding - it does indicate reporting - If you despise an angel who has immediate access to the Father reports on you. That is a frightening thought. God help us.

Then Jesus goes even further showing us the importance by likening these children or citizens of the Kingdom to sheep. And how It is the Father’s will that not one of these little ones perish.”

Who am I, and what am I doing? I had been asking myself these questions relentlessly, day after day...

...“Why put my family through any more of this?” I thought. “My father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters?” I don’t know when exactly I came to the decision. But when I did, I made it firmly and calmly: A quiet exit will save my family any further shame. And it will spare me any further failure. Was I depressed when I made my decision? No. Was it impulsive? No, I had seen it coming for some time, perhaps always lurking in my mind as the final escape. Some cultures lend themselves more to the thought than others. My culture was definitely one of them. When I arrived at the university that morning, I walked into the chemistry lab. No one was there. I did not hesitate in my mission. Somehow I got into the locked cupboard where the chemicals were stored. I pored over shelf after shelf until I came to some packets marked “poison.” I grabbed several of them and stuffed them into my pockets....

Once it went down, I filled the glass again and clumsily poured in more of the chemicals. Fighting back nausea, I took another gulp. But I could no longer suppress the saltiness of the poison welling up in me. I began to throw up. I did not realize that, once the gag reflex had set in, I wasn’t throwing up just the poison but also every bit of the moisture from my body. I was dehydrating fast. Soon I collapsed to my knees. I tried clutching on to the sink, but I could barely hold on. I could feel my strength leaving me. Impulsively, I called out for our house servant. I had no idea whether he heard me. With all the noise coming from the kitchen, I gave up that he would hear me. Suddenly, the door banged hard behind me. It was the servant, pushing against it. Another bang, and another. Finally he burst through, snapping the door off the hinges. He looked at me on the floor, then at the opened packets on the sink. He was completely unnerved. “Take me to the hospital,” I whispered. I was rushed to the emergency room at Wellington Hospital. Much of what followed is a haze to me. But I do remember lying in a bed with needles in me while the doctors tried desperately to get fluids back into my body.

As I lay there, with all the activity to revive me going on, I began to drift off. “If I am to survive,” I wondered, “have I made myself an invalid? Will I need sustenance forced down my throat?” I didn’t know what was going to happen to me, and suddenly I was fearful. I hadn’t known how to live, and now I’d proven that I didn’t know how to die. I had failed at both, and I feared where that might leave me. When I awoke, my mother was beside me. I realized I was in the intensive care unit. Fluids were still dripping into me, and I sensed that a lot of time had passed, perhaps an entire day. A doctor stood by my bed, holding up my arm to insert a needle. As he let go, my arm flopped back down onto the bed.

A day or so later, a man named Fred David came by to visit. He was one of the directors of Youth for Christ, whose rally I had attended with my sister Sham and whose meetings I had just started attending. As Fred stood over my bed, he could see I was in no shape to talk. So he turned to my mother and handed her a Bible. “I’ve brought this for you,” he said, opening the book. He flipped through the pages until he came to a certain spot. “Here,” he said, pointing to a spot on the page and showing it to my mother. “This is for Ravi.” They talked for a while as I drifted in and out. I was uncomfortable with any visitors, but I was glad Fred was there; his presence seemed to bring my mother some reassurance. Once he left, my mom decided to read the passage to me.

“He brought this for you,” she said, showing me the Bible. She opened it to the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel: It told of Jesus in conversation with the apostle Thomas. She looked down at the page and began with this sentence: “Because I live, you also will live.” The words hit me like a ton of bricks. Live? “Mom,” I interjected, “please read it again?” This “life” sounded very different from ordinary life. I had no real idea about what it all meant, and no idea of the context of the words. All I knew was that it spoke of something beyond what I had experienced. She read the verse again. “Who is that speaking?” I asked. Later I found out the words were those of Jesus as he spoke to the disciples. He was responding to Thomas’s question about where Jesus was going. I didn’t know the full ramifications of the verse. But to me, Christ’s words in John, chapter 14, verse 19, were the defining paradigm: “Because I live, you also will live.” “This may be my only hope,” I thought. “A new way of living. Life as defined by the author of life.” “Jesus,” I prayed inwardly, “if You are the one who gives life as it is meant to be, I want it. Please get me out of this hospital bed well, and I promise I will leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth.” It was a simple, pragmatic prayer. Yet it would have immense ramifications.

Ravi Zacharias. Walking from East to West: God in the Shadows (Kindle Locations 1681-1694). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

This morning there are a couple of applications I want to get across

Are you like a little child?

How do you treat the little children or citizens of the Kingdom

Do you have a Ravi in your life that you need to take God’s Word to? You have no idea the impact you might have.