Matthew
Greatest in the Kingdom
Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. Matthew 18:4
Greatness or rank does not come from your world experience
It starts by humility and being teachable
Children are not great because they have no accomplishments with their hands or experience with their eyes
Be careful how you criticize the “born again”
Be an encourager, not a discourager
As a child, the influence of others is critical to development
Don’t let your accomplishments with your hands
Or vision with your eyes get in the way of others
"Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven? Matthew 18:10
Greatest in the Kingdom
Imagine you are at Peter’s house
and the room is full of disciples.
Luke tells us…
An argument started among the disciples
as to which of them would be the greatest.
Luke 9:46-47
All these men felt special…
After all, they were hanging out with
the greatest of all, the Son of God.
There were the three, Peter, James, and John
who were the inner circle
and among them was John, the beloved.
Peter, the natural leader, quick to act and speak.
Some were out spoken and others on the quiet side.
There was Matthew, the tax collector.
Thomas, who wanted proof for his beliefs.
Simon, the Zealot.
And Judas Iscariot, the trader.
These men had struggles with each other.
We, too, have struggles over positions in life.
What can we learn from Jesus…
As He dealt with the problem of striving for greatness?
Jesus does not say you cannot be great.
Jesus is going to turn upside-down what we think greatness is.
Jesus calls a child to His side to illustrate His point.
Start over…
"I'm telling you, once and for all,
that unless you return to square one and start over like children,
you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in.
Jesus made a point to Nicodemus
in John 3 and says…
"I tell you the truth,
no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again.
John 3:3
This rebirth seems to be harder than our first birth.
We have to unlearn in order to relearn.
They say…
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
As a child you have a fresh start, everything is new.
You cannot just add the Kingdom of Heaven
to your list of accomplishments.
Paul puts it this way…
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17
The old has gone, the new has come!
So just to see this Kingdom principle
or any Kingdom principle…
You must be born again,
become a new creation,
start learning life all over again.
Whoever becomes simple and elemental again,
like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom.
Matthew 18:4
Greatness or rank does not come
from your world experience.
It starts by humility and being teachable.
Children are not great...
They have no accomplishments with their hands
or experience with their eyes.
Be careful how you criticize the “born again”.
Be an encourager, not a discourager.
As a child, the influence of others
is critical to development.
Don’t let your accomplishments with your hands
or vision with your eyes get in the way of others.
"Watch that you don't treat a single one
of these childlike believers arrogantly.
You realize, don't you, that their personal angels
are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?
Matthew 18:10
If you become like a child,
as valuable as that may be…
Remember God has given you an angel to watch over you.
If you are striving for greatness on your own
and you are trying to get ahead of others, look out.
You are not just belittling a child…
You are messing with that child’s angel.
This lesson on becoming great
needs to be repeated throughout our life time.
This lesson on greatness
needed to be repeated later in Matthew 20 when the…
Mother of Zebedee’s sons came to ask Jesus
to let one son sit on His right and
the other on His left in the Kingdom.
When the other disciples heard about this
they were indignant so…
Jesus called them together and said,
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Matthew 20:25-28
Scripture Reading
Matthew 18:1-10 NLT
18 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?"
2 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, 3 and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. 4 Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. 5 What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.
6 "But if you give them a hard time, bullying or taking advantage of their simple trust, you'll soon wish you hadn't. You'd be better off dropped in the middle of the lake with a millstone around your neck. 7 Doom to the world for giving these God-believing children a hard time! Hard times are inevitable, but you don't have to make it worse — and it's doomsday to you if you do.
8 "If your hand or your foot gets in the way of God, chop it off and throw it away. You're better off maimed or lame and alive than the proud owners of two hands and two feet, godless in a furnace of eternal fire. 9 And if your eye distracts you from God, pull it out and throw it away. You're better off one-eyed and alive than exercising your twenty-twenty vision from inside the fire of hell.
10 "Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly. You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
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