Matthew 18:1-11
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! 8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. 10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. 11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. (KJV)
Through meditation, I found that there is a treasure in having a child’s mentality. In Matthew 18: 3, Jesus said, “…Verily (truly) I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus requires that all of us become converted and changed into little children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. You see, little children have an advantage. Children have a kingdom treasure, because they are already little children. However, it is important that children not lose their treasure.
It is important that we do not lose the treasure of being children of the king. Sometimes, we get distracted by grown people stuff just like the disciples were in Matthew 18:1. Matthew 18:1,” says that “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” What does this mean? This means that the disciples started comparing themselves with each other. You see, this is the grown folks stuff I’m talking about. The disciples wanted to know who was the greatest of the disciples. They were looking at themselves, and they were comparing themselves with their brothers. Sometimes, we do the same things. We want to be the greatest. We want the most money. We want the most power and influence. We want the best clothes, the best jewelry, and the best shoes. We want the best houses and cars. We want to be the best athlete. Boys want to date with the prettiest girl. Girls want to date the most popular boy. Even among preachers, we struggle with the dilemma of comparison, where we measure ourselves against our brothers in the gospel ministry. Not only do we want the best, but we want to make sure that what we have is better than what our neighbor has. But, when the disciples asked Jesus about who was the greatest, he responded by calling a little child and placing the child in the middle of them.
After he placed the child in their midst, he said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” He told them that they must be converted. The Greek word for converted is strepho, and it literally means to turn around and to reverse. In other words, Jesus told his disciples that they needed to reverse their perspective from the comparisons of the grown up world back to the mentality of children. Why is it is so important that one becomes like a child? Jesus gives us the answer in the 14th verse of our text. Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The reason Jesus said that we must become like little children is because children live their lives from a place of complete humility.
Children literally depend on their parents for everything. They depend on their parents for food, clothes, shelter, care, identity, self-confidence etc. This is a life of complete humility. As soon as they are born, children understand that they need help from their parents to survive. I can remember when my son Tobias was born. His Mom kept him during the day, and me and my oldest son, Titus, took care of him and fed him at night. I would lay Tobias on my chest. As soon as hunger struck his little belly, he would raise his little head and cry as loud as he could in my face, telling me that it was time to eat. Sometimes the hunger pains of life strike, and we forget to pray for daily bread. Sometimes we forget that it is God that supplies us with everything we need to survive. So, we fight for scraps. We fight for more money. We fight for high positions in the world, but that is not the way of God’s kingdom. In God’s kingdom we cry, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us for our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. In Jesus’s name, Amen. This is the way of the kingdom. This is the life of a child of God.
When we look at our text, we can understand that the disciples were comparing themselves with each other, trying to figure out who is the greatest. This is not the mentality of a child. For, the mentality of a child sees his father as his hero. I distinctly remember when I was a boy, my dad and my granddad were my heroes. I always looked up to them. They were always in great shape. My dad was a federal law enforcement officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He had big muscles. He was on the special response team as a law enforcement officer. Sometimes I would see him doing pushups in the living room. Naturally, I began to do pushups, because I wanted big muscles like my dad. My granddad was a farmer and a carpenter, and he had big muscles too. He would stand up with his biceps flexed, and he would let all three of us (my siblings and I) hang on his arms at the same time. He would swing us in the air, and we would land on the couch. These were my heroes as a kid. My gaze was on the power and the strength of my dad and my granddad. This is the mentality of a child. I know this to be true because, when I was growing up, many children thought that their dad was the smartest, the strongest, the fastest, and the toughest. In the mentality of a child, there is just no one who can compare to his or her dad. This is how kids should see their dad, and this is also how every one of us should see God. We should see God as the smartest, the strongest, the fastest, the toughest, and the greatest, because He is our father. This is how Jesus saw his Father. As we observe his life, we find that Jesus walked according to his father’s will (see Matt. 2:15-17). He talked like his father (see Jn. 12:49). He had eyes fixed perfectly upon his father (see Jn. 1:18; Jn. 6: 46). Jesus’s entire life was consumed with fulfilling the will of his Father (Lk. 22:42).
Just as Jesus’s life was dedicated to doing what was pleasing to the Father. As far as we are concerned, our eyes must also be perfectly fixed on the will of the Father and what Jesus did on the cross. With this posture, there is no room for for useless competitions and comparisons. There is no need to compare yourself with your brothers and sisters, because we have the same father. This is why it is wrong for us to hate and despise each other. It is wrong, because we have the same father. In Matthew 18: 10, Jesus said, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” It is the enemy who wants us to hate each other and despise one another, but we are not children of the devil. We are children of God. As the children of God, we must spend the rest of our lives loving God and serving God. As the children of God, we must spend the rest of our lives loving each other and serving one another. For, how can we love God and hate our neighbors that we see everyday. Rather, we must show our love to God by how we love and serve our neighbors.
This is what Jesus did for us. Jesus showed his love for God by loving us and dying for us. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he left all of humanity in a broken and sinful condition where we were separated from God. Not only were we separated from God, but we deserved the wrath of God. God is the righteous judge and king. And if God did not punish the evildoers, he would not be righteous. It is only right to punish the evildoers, and because of Adam, we were evildoers. And because we were evildoers, we deserved the punishment of God. However, God is not only a righteous God of justice, but He is also a God of mercy. In John 3:16, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And Jesus So loved God his Father and he so loved us, that he chose to suffer the punishment of God for us. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was praying to his Father for mercy. Jesus knew that he would soon have to die for our sins. He knew the pain he was going to have to endure for us. He knew that he was going to have to drink a bitter cup to save humanity from their sins. So, when Jesus was praying in the garden, he said, “Father, if it be your will, please let this cup pass from me.” Jesus did not want to die. When he was praying to God, he was asking God if there was another way that mankind could be saved.” In God’s silence, Jesus embraced the reality that there was no other way the humanity could be saved. Jesus knew that he had to die to save us from our sins, and indeed he died. But three days later, He rose from the dead. He rose with all power in his hands, even the power to make us the children of God. John 1:12 says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” It reminds me of a song the old saints used to sing called “Blessed Assurance.” The song says:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. I’m an heir of salvation. Purchased of God. I’m born of his Spirit. Washed in his blood. (Frances Crosby)
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Word. Thank you for sharing with us the mind of Christ. Thank you for sharing the treasure of your Son with us. Help us to live our neighbor and not compare ourselves with others. Help us to keep our gaze on You, your strength and your power. Help us to always see you as the greatest Father who will supply all of our needs according to your riches and glory. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen
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