Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

A Sunday School teacher was giving her class an overview of the New Testament.

She was saying that the children of Israel carried all their possessions out of Egypt, and the children of Israel carried the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, and the children of Israel built a temple.

One little girl raised her hand and the teacher paused and asked if she had a question.

"Yes," she said, "Didn't the parents ever do anything in the Old Testament?"

We know, of course, that the children of Israel were not children but adults, just as the children of God in the New Testament are adults.

All adults are children from God's perspective, and they are even called new born babes when they are newly born into the kingdom and immature in the faith.

If God is our heavenly Father, then it follows that we are his children.

But this aspect of being children is not enough for Jesus.

He demands that we actually take on the positive character of a child before we can enter the kingdom of heaven.

The surprising thing is that Jesus is saying this to his own disciples.

These are his hand picked men, and they seem to feel justified in their feelings of pride.

Not everybody gets chosen by the Messiah to be a close disciple.

Like most everyone who gets selected for a noble position, they got a swelled head.

They spend a lot of their time arguing about who was the greatest.

After all, when the Messiah sets up his kingdom we will be in key positions in the new government.

Who will be the greatest was a logical question in preparation for their role in the new kingdom.

The problem was that everyone wanted to be the vice president.

James and John even got their mother to try and help them get the right and left hand chairs next to Jesus.

This power grab failed, as did all of the maneuvering among the Apostles for position.

Jesus refused to conform to the world and its power politics.

When they came to Jesus asking him to solve their dilemma, Jesus shocked them.

This had to be one of their most embarrassing moments, for Jesus did not select anyone of them, but instead, he called a little child and said to them that they must become like little children or they could never enter the kingdom.

What a slam to their male egos.

They are seeking status, and Jesus does not vote for any of them, but rather for some unknown kid who doesn't even know the score.

They were asking Jesus, who of us is the greatest in the kingdom?

Jesus responds by telling them that their question is premature.

They have to get into the kingdom before they start worrying about status in the kingdom.

Jesus was saying, "You guys won't even qualify to be the least in the kingdom unless you change your proud spirit and become like this little child."

Jesus pulled the rug out from under them and cut them down to size in a hurry.

They were being childish, and Jesus said to grow up and become childlike, and then you can all be greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Notice that Jesus refuses to have a system like that of the world where there has to be levels of greatness.

In the military you have the private, the sergeant, the captain, and the general, and the general is the greatest.

In the civilian world you have the manager, the vice president, and the president, and the president is the greatest.

The world system is based on the pyramid where somebody always rises to the peak and is the greatest.

The disciples were conditioned to think this way, for it is a universal practice.

But Jesus says it is not so in his kingdom.

In verse 4 he says, "Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

The top is not limited to one person, but any number of people can be the greatest.

If 100 million Christians become truly childlike, then all of them are greatest in his kingdom.

There is total equality, and every child of God has an equal opportunity to rise to the top.

All other kingdoms have limited room at the top, but his kingdom has endless room at the top.

The disciples were locked into the world view that says you have to compete with others for the top spot.

They were just doing what men have always done.

They were comparing their gifts, skills, and leadership abilities with each other, and trying to put a higher value on their own in order to rise above the rest.

This is the world's way of determining greatness.

Jesus says, forget it, for the kingdom of heaven does not operate on that value system.

It is not a kingdom of competition where you rise to greatness by being better than everyone else.

It is a kingdom where just the opposite is the case.

You do not try to be better than everyone else, but you, like a child, humble yourself and cooperate with everyone else knowing that you are all dependent on each other.

Those who cooperate for the good of the whole are the greatest, and not those who in pride forsake the body for their own glory.

Pride like that of the disciples says, I am self-sufficient and superior to others.

I don't need them, they need me.

I should be the greatest.

Childlike humility says, I need my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am sunk without the body, and I depend on others for encouragement and motivation.

I am just one part of the body, and I need the whole body to be at my best.

This dependent and cooperative spirit is what Jesus says makes a believer the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

If you get 12 men with this spirit, you have a powerful tool by which you can change the world for good.

If you have 12 men like they are here, asking who is the greatest, you will be fortunate if you accomplish anything that will not be soon undermined by their competitive and contentious spirit.

Show me a group of people where competition for status is prominent, and I'll show you the kingdom of man.

Show me a group where cooperation for the good of the whole in God's will is prominent, and I'll show you the kingdom of heaven.

The kingdom of heaven is where God's will reigns, and the fulfillment of his purpose and plan is the primary agenda.

It is possible for a Christian, or a church, to not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The disciples at this point were not in the kingdom.

They were not childlike, but were full of a competitive spirit to win status over each other.

They were not under the reign of God, but under the reign of their own ego.

Self was king, and where any other power but God is the motivating power of your life, you are no longer under the Lordship of Christ, and you are not in the kingdom of heaven.

You are in the world and of the world, and that is where the disciples were.

They were saved children of God, but they were not in the kingdom of heaven.

They were each building their own kingdom for their own self-exaltation.

A child of God, or a church, or a whole community can become so enamored of self and their own kingdom that they cease to be a part of the kingdom of heaven.

They are like the churches in the book of Revelation where Jesus threatens to remove their candlestick, for they no longer represent the kingdom of heaven.

All of this explains a lot about the negatives in the history of the church, and why Christian people often fail to represent the Christ who saved them.

The solution to the disciples problem, and the solution to the vast majority of the problems in the Christian life all revolve around a little child, and how we relate to children, and how we represent the childlike spirit.

The profound teaching of Jesus falls into two simple categories. 1.

The example of the child to us, and, 2. The example of adults to the child.

We only have time to examine the first one now.

I. THE EXAMPLE OF THE CHILD TO ADULTS.

The first thing we need to do is clarify the issue.

Jesus is not saying children are sinless, unfallen angels who never fight or show self-centered pride and greed.

The child is not our example in everything anymore than a serpent or dove just because Jesus said to be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

Paul said when he became a man he put away childish things.

Jesus is not holding up immaturity as a virtue.

In fact, he rebuked the Pharisees for being so childish.

John the Baptist came and didn't eat or drink.

They criticized him for being too conservative.

Jesus came eating and drinking, and they criticized him for being too liberal.

Jesus said they were like children who didn't want to play funeral or wedding.

They just didn't want to play along with any game where they did not make the rules.

Jesus said they were like spoiled brats, and so he knew the depravity of children.

He was not blind to the demonic potential of the little angels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record these words of Jesus, that the kingdom of God must be received like a little child to enter it, and all three have the words of Jesus, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

There is no escaping the fact that Jesus made the child a primary example to the adults, and to miss this example is to miss the way into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus demonstrated his teaching here.

He says that we must be humble like the child.

It is the same Greek word that Paul uses in Phil.

2:8 where he says of Jesus, "...he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."

The result was God exalted him and gave him a name above every name.

Jesus became the greatest servant in the fulfilling of God's plan of salvation, and the result is his is the greatest name in the kingdom of God.