Kingdom Priorities
Joining Jesus On His Mission Through Matthew • Sermon • Submitted
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My Favorite Illustrations Achieving Kingdom Greatness
Achieving Kingdom Greatness
A child is helpless and unable to reward the one who renders a favor or service. Thus to serve a little child who cannot enhance a person’s stature or opportunity for recognition is to serve with no expectation of reward (see Luke 9:47–48). The apostles thought of ruling masses of people; Jesus spoke of serving one little child. In effect Jesus said that if you forget self-glory to serve in His name one whom the world regards with little importance, you will achieve kingdom greatness.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 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.
I wonder whose child this was, and what he was doing when Jesus called him into their conversation. In those days, children didn’t get into grown-ups’ faces, or insert themselves into grown-up conversations. He might have been as surprised as the disciples were. Jesus didn’t call him into their midst because of anything profound that he was doing.
In fact, that was what caught Jesus’ attention. That little boy was just being a little boy, living out the life of a child. That’s what brought him before the disciples. I’ve heard people claim that they wanted God to use them, sometimes quite enthusiastically and forcefully. In this case, Jesus indicates that He will call you when He needs you - you had just better be ready for when He calls. But how?
Seeking to be great is the first thing that Jesus corrects. Asking “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” - if Jesus would have replied, “You’re looking at Him,” they couldn’t have gotten mad at Him. After all, they had seen the things that Jesus had done up to that point. They knew the kind of power that He had. So maybe, what they were really asking wasn’t the question that they put forward. Maybe, what the disciples wanted to know was actually, “which one of us is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” I know that they didn’t think that any of them would top Jesus, but they might be able to get a spot sitting next to Him, “the man standing next to the man, as it were.”
I can relate to that - After all, I know that there is no way that you would confuse me with Jesus. My hair isn’t that long, I don’t have that stately presence… wait, that isn’t what made Jesus stand out. What made Jesus stand out was that He knew who He was, and yet He never seemed to feel the need to promote Himself. Never felt the need to have people remind Him of how great He is. He was too busy living out His vocation to have time for applause
Jesus’ greatest passion is to bring us to the Father, without blemish. His desire is that we would be fruitful unto every good work. He wants us to stand in the evil day, resist the wiles of the devil, and walk in the light.
7 “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!
People use the words of Proverbs 4:23 to justify keeping others at arms length in order to avoid getting hurt, but in context, it means something different:
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. 24 Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 25 Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. 26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. 27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.
It isn’t the people on the outside of you that you need to worry about, it’s the Old Adam on the inside who will get you into trouble.
8 And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.
If only it were as easy as that.
Sin is not a physical problem, or we could treat it medically, nor is it a psychological problem, else we could address it through therapy. It isn’t a social problem, else we could deal with it politically. Sin is a spiritual problem - we cannot deal with it at all.
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Karl Menninger, one of the founders of the famed Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, opened his 1972 bestselling book, Whatever Became of Sin?, with a funny but very significant story.
On a sunny day in September, 1972, a stern-faced, plainly dressed man could be seen standing still on a street corner in the busy Chicago Loop. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, he would solemnly lift his right arm, and pointing to the person nearest him, intone loudly the single word ‘GUILTY!’
Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his still stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, the inexorable raising of his arm, the pointing, and the solemn pronouncing of the one word ‘GUILTY!’
The effect of this strange accusatory pantomime on the passing strangers was extraordinary, almost eerie. They would stare at him, hesitate, look away, look at each other, and then at him again; then hurriedly continue on their ways.
One man, turning to another who was my informant, exclaimed: ‘But how did he know?’
Of course, he didn’t know. He didn’t have to. I don’t have to. You don’t have to. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” For that reason, we need to take heed to Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep:
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
You are the one - maybe not at this very second, by the grace of God - but as sure as you take your next breath, sooner or later, God will need to rescue you because you will go astray. So will your brother:
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
To borrow from Gen. George Washington in the musical, “Hamilton,” judging is easy - forgiving is harder. On our own we choose the easy way out: condemning one another, rejecting one another, destroying one another. That’s what’s happening in places like Kenosha, WI and Portland, OR., where people think that guns and mobs will solve their problems. Jesus tells us how to address sin so that it doesn’t become the death of our relationships, but there is an even bigger point to be made here. God is so desirous that we be reconciled, both to Himself, and to one another, that He promises us that we can pray for one another, both for forgiveness and for strength to persevere in the faith, and when we pray for one another, God will hear and respond “Yes!”
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
God is committed to you as a member of the Body of Christ, His Church. He is committed to your sanctification, to your being conformed to the image of His dear Son, to your growing in grace and in the knowledge of Him. So when those moments come when you feel lost, cry out to Him, don’t try to “make the best of it” like the prodigal son did, don’t try to survive by adapting to the darkness in which you find yourself. Cry out to the Lord, call upon His name. He will shine the light of His glory and grace in the preaching of the Gospel and in the call to repentance. He will restore your soul through the gift of the sacraments and the communion of the saints.
Wherever you are, the outstretched arms of Christ can reach you. No matter how deep the pit, or how you happened to fall in, Jesus’ outstretched, nail-scarred arms reach out to you with love, with pardon, with grace, and with a community that is waiting to welcome you home.
That’s what the Kingdom of Heaven is - it’s the home that you never knew you had run away from, with a Father whom you thought had forgotten you, a Brother that you never knew you had, and a Protector who is ready to be there for you the moment you call to Him. Jesus is here for you, and you can see Him, if you allow His Word to open your eyes. So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.