Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ Once upon a time in mid winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood.

As she sewed, she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle.

Three drops of blood fell into the snow.

The red on the white looked so beautiful, that she thought, "If only I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as this frame."

Soon afterward she had a little daughter that was as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony wood, and therefore they called her Little Snow-White.

Now the queen was the most beautiful woman in all the land, and very proud of her beauty.

She had a mirror, which she stood in front of every morning, and asked:

 

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, \\ Who in this land is fairest of all?

And the mirror always said:

 

You, my queen, are fairest of all.

And then she knew for certain that no one in the world was more beautiful than she.

Now Snow-White grew up, and when she was seven years old, she was so beautiful, that she surpassed even the queen herself.

Now when the queen asked her mirror:

 

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

\\ Who in this land is fairest of all?

The mirror said:

 

You, my queen, are fair; it is true.

\\ But Little Snow-White is still \\ A thousand times fairer than you.

When the queen heard the mirror say this, she became pale with envy, and from that hour on, she hated Snow-White.

Whenever she looked at her, she thought that Snow-White was to blame that she was no longer the most beautiful woman in the world.

This turned her heart around.

Her jealousy gave her no peace.

Finally she summoned a huntsman and said to him, "Take Snow-White out into the woods to a remote spot, and stab her to death.

As proof that she is dead bring her lungs and her liver back to me.

I shall cook them with salt and eat them."

/The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven /

 

*/18/*/     //At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a little child and had him stand among them.

3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!

Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

8 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 maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

/

/ /

/The Parable of the Lost Sheep /

/ /

/10 //“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones.

For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.//a

//12 //“What do you think?

If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? //13 //And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

//14 //In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.//

//*[1]*// Matthew 18:1-14 (NIV)/

 

The scripture that we read this morning is the response of Christ to a “grown-up” question that in all likelihood was not a question and in all reality was not very grown up.

*/1.

/**/Kingdom Greatness/*

 

I’m sure that the heart of Christ was grieved at times to see the drive to succeed to be fully alive within the hearts of those who represented the greatest investment of his life.

It’s not so much that ambition alone is a bad or wrong thing but too often it aligns the world into self-proclaimed winners and losers and fosters pride rather than a heart of compassion.

/3 //Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

//*[2]*// Philippians 2:3 (NIV)/

 

Everything that ends in a question mark is not necessarily a question.

The devil tempted Eve with the suggestion that perhaps God was withholding something from the first couple when he said,  “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”[3]

It sounded like a question but it really was an accusation.

And this was certainly no question.

It was akin to the witch’s self-centred inquiry to the magical mirror.

Hers was no question either.

It was merely a desire to hear someone or something affirm one more time that she was truly the fairest.

/“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”/

The disciples, though they were not cut from society’s upper crust still manifested the desire to be in a primary position, to be the closest to Jesus, to be able to sit in a place of honour in his kingdom, to be specifically and specially recognised.

When they made this inquiry, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom?”, they wanted one of the following answers:

 

¨      You are the greatest group of people in this world and together we are going to rule.

We want to believe this at times also.

We desire to be victorious one day with Christ so that we can look at those who have wronged us and sneer at their plight.

¨      They were looking for the name of some well known spiritual figure, perhaps an Old testament prophet like Elijah so they would have someone to try to emulate and thus be remembered in the same way.

And perhaps they wanted some direction, a list of things that they might do as well to achieve greatness and recognition.

¨      Or they wanted to hear one of their own names.

Peter would have loved to hear his own.

It’s only natural.

He was the one who got out of the boat to try to walk on the waves as Jesus did.

The others cowered in the ship.

He had made his declaration of belief in the true identity of Christ and had been praised for his words.

Perhaps it was James or even John.

They had been on the mount with Jesus and had been privileged to see Moses and Elijah there with Christ.

Remember their mother’s request to have her boys sit at the right and left hand of Christ?

Jesus of course never failed to answer these types of questions in a way that caused people to search their hearts, to examine their motives.

He still does that today.

And so the answer that they hoped for was not what they received.

/“2 //He called a little child and had him stand among them.”/

This child had no name, just some beautiful innocent little one playing nearby, oblivious to their conversation.

He~/she wasn’t clamouring for a spotlight.

He~/she had no great aspirations, and perhaps didn’t even know who Jesus was.

I would imagine that Jesus would have picked the quiet one sitting and watching the others.

It would be like Jesus to pick the one who wanted most to be unnoticed and make them most noticed.

Not to embarrass or create discomfort, . . . in the child that is.

God uses children to teach us lessons that we never forget.

They have no political savvy that they are not taught.

They have no fear, they say what they are thinking, out loud and often embarrass adults with their innocent candor.

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Fishermen, a tax collector – they were jockeying for position with Christ.

It’s like the old fairy tale, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s greatest of them all?”

When you look in the mirror you see your own reflection.

As I remember fairy tale the lady wanted a pre-determined answer.

It wasn't a question – just a request to hear it one more time.

And Jesus forever refuses to play to people who are driven by ambition to become great.

It seems to me that the people that God uses most mightily are those who never seek to be used mightily.

It seems to me that God recruits out of obscurity.

He looks for people who seek Him first, and people who are content with Him alone.

He doesn’t seem to be impressed with the high and the mighty.

Those who hold worldly power and position are not potentially greater servants for God than those who are unknown.

Sometimes our successes can spoil us for God’s purposes.