Matthew 18:1-4

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Introduction

Who Is the Greatest?

18 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.

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,

Chapter 18 is the fourth of five major discourses throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The first was Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5-7, the second was in chapter 10 concerning discipleship, the third was Jesus’ famous collection of parables in chapter 13, the fourth, again, fills all of chapter 18 (which we’re looking at today), and the fifth will come in chapters 23-25 with Jesus’ famous Olivet discourse.
This fourth major teaching, recorded here by Matthew, is largely concerning the church, and specifically what it means to be a Christian and how Christians are intended to relate to one another. That we are humble, that we protect one another, love one another, restore one another, and forgive one another. Author and pastor, John MacArthur, once described this chapter as “the single greatest discourse our Lord ever gave on life among the redeemed people in His church” (MacArthur, Matthew 16-23, 94).
This chapter is also very fluid as Jesus connects one subject to the other without much pause, so unless you’re willing to tackle everything in the chapter all at once, it can be challenging to decide where to divide the text up, in order to teach it piece by piece. I encountered this when deciding whether to end on verse 4 or verse 5 for the message today, however, as long as we strive to follow Jesus’ continuity of thought while we make our way through chapter 18 we’ll be fine.

Parallel Accounts

Like in so many other texts there are parallel accounts in the other synoptic Gospels (Mark & Luke), so we’ll be jumping to Mark 9 and Luke 9 a little bit to get a better picture of the scene that precedes and sets up this chapter long discourse.
Jesus’ teaching here can also be divided into two sections, each section is prompted by a question from the disciples. The first, of course, is there in verse 1 and the other is in verse 21. In many respects, this first section follows well what we learned at the end of chapter 17 concerning the humility of Jesus.
So, let’s get started by jumping to Mark chapter 9, verse 33, to begin building this scene,

Who Is the Greatest?

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Now, let’s jump to Luke chapter 9, verse 46,

Who Is the Greatest?

46 An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. 47 But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side 48 and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

Harmonizing the Gospels

One the aspects of the Gospels that I never get tired of is the challenge of putting all of the parallel accounts together in order to paint a fuller picture of an incident or a teaching. On one hand it can sometimes be frustrating to have to work so hard to harmonize the Gospels, but like most hard work, it’s very rewarding in the end. And I’m often reminded of Proverbs 25:2 that says,

2  It is the glory of God to conceal things,

but the glory of kings is to search things out.

In other words, it’s our job and ultimately our joy to search out what God has done, and while such work can be wearisome to the flesh, it’s worth it.

Sketching the scene

Okay, so, let’s sketch this scene out based on what we’ve read, according to Mark this was a discussion that the disciples were having on their way to Capernaum, and when they finally reached Peter’s house Jesus asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” Now, Luke tells us that Jesus knew all along the reasoning of their hearts. And Mark says, at first, that they were silent, because they had been arguing with one another about who was the greatest.
You even get the impression that the disciples were embarrassed to admit what they had been arguing about, and I suspect they realized that their arguing was an even greater indictment against them. Not only were they swollen with pride over their imaginative status in the kingdom of heaven, but they had even gone so far as to argue over it. No wonder they hadn’t included Jesus in on the conversation on their way to Capernaum.
But eventually, the disciples respond and asked, as Matthew records it, “[Jesus], who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Mark records that Jesus sat down and called all of them together, and said, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” Then Jesus called a child to himself and gathered him into his arms, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. [And] whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” And, “whoever receives this child in my name receives me.”

Leading up to their argument

Now, a multitude of incidents have preceded this argument between the disciples. Jesus has repeatedly made it clear that his time on earth is short, that he will soon go to Jerusalem and be delivered up to the chief priests to be killed. I sure they wondered what they might do if that happened. Matthew also seems to hint that Peter may have a certain leadership role within the group of twelve when he lists Peter first back in chapter 10, verse 2. Peter is certainly the most vocal of all the disciples, and he also received a glowing commendation from Jesus in chapter 16 when he confessed that Jesus was the Christ (not to mention his repeated rebukes over those previous chapters). The other disciples may have also wondered what Jesus meant when he told Peter that on this rock he would build his church. And finally, he was a part of a select group of disciples who joined Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration to witness Jesus’ unveiled glory. Who knows what exactly is going on in the minds of the disciples, but all this talk of a kingdom and what their role is in this kingdom, and what they might do if Jesus is killed, has undoubtedly played a major part in generating their discussion, so their conversation essentially boils down to, “Who’s the top disciple?” “Who has the greater status in this kingdom of heaven?”

The humility of a child

So, Jesus, perceiving this dispute, this argument, asks them what they were talking about. And eventually, they break their silence and ask there in verse 1,

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

Then Jesus responds by placing a child in their midst. Now, some speculate that this may have even been Peter’s own son, who knows, but remember, they’re back in Capernaum at Peter’s house, probably living with his mother-in-law. And Jesus uses this child to illustrate his response. He says there in verse 3,

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, one thing that marks chapter 18 more than most other texts in the NT is how often it’s abused. What I mean is that many of the scriptures within chapter 18 are used out of context, they’re interpreted without the immediate context in mind, and verse 3 is a great example of how this often happens.
Jesus uses a child as part of his illustration and says to his disciples that they must turn and become like this little child. Now, if we’re not careful, we can easily import all kinds of meaning here. What about a child should the disciple emulate, in what way should they become like little children? Over the years of conversations that I’ve had with fellow Christians I’ve heard all sorts of interpretations. Some think that Jesus is saying we should be as innocent as a child, or as pure as a child, or have faith like a child, or be ignorant like a child, or even be childish. There are a multitude of analogies often made here, but the question is what analogy was Jesus making?
Well, verse 4 should help us answer that question,

4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

So to be like a child in the way that Jesus intends for us to be like a child, is to be humble. Jesus holds this child up as an ideal, not of innocence, purity, or faith, but of humility (D.A. Carson, Matthew Commentary). However, I think further clarity is still needed. In our modern minds humility communicates a lot, in other words, humility can be very broadly defined. And based on a couple of factors here I think we need to define it carefully.

Lowest status

One of the reasons some analogies like innocence and purity don’t work here, is not only because it doesn’t fit the context, but also because children aren’t any more innocent or pure than adults. These aren’t attributes that are unique to children, and, actually, neither is humility of mind. Children are just as prone to pride as any adult, just ask a parent or a teacher!
So in what way are children uniquely humble? Well, I think there are at least two ways, 1) children are inherently dependent upon others, and dependency is a trait of humility, and 2) children are naturally born into a humble estate, they have the lowest social status, in other words, they have no authority over anyone. They live in an adult world, there self-determination is completely limited, and they must submit to the will of adults who are supposed to know best (R.T. France, Matthew Commentary, p. 678).
My wife and I were talking about our kids the other day and she mentioned how our youngest really feels the reality of this, that he’s even under the authority of other children older than him, that he’s lowest of the low on the scales of social status and authority.
And I think this gets at what Jesus is talking about here. The disciples were all wrapped up with what status they would have in the kingdom of heaven, arguing over it even, and so Jesus tells them that unless they are willing to become like little children, that they will never even enter the kingdom of heaven. That their pursuit for status is contrary, and incompatible with God’s value system. While the world attributes greater value to those who have a greater status, Jesus says “whoever humbles himself like this child [will] be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” The value system of the world is contrary to that of God’s kingdom. And if the disciples can’t get that, if we can’t get that, then we’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven. So Jesus tells his disciples that they must turn and become like children. That their pursuit is incompatible with his kingdom.

The danger of seeking status

This is one of the unique aspects of Matthew’s account concerning this incident. He not only focuses on the importance of becoming a servant and humbling one’s self, but he highlights the danger of not heading Jesus’ words, that unless they course correct, unless they turn and change their ways and become like children, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Their behavior is not merely unbecoming of a Christian it completely antithetical to being a follow of Jesus.

Placing an enormous value on status

And as fallen humanity we put an enormous value on status, on our own status and the status of others.
I have a friend who’s always very concerned about the status of his ministry, that his ministry efforts would always appear professional, that he appears effective, and that his reach is global. He puts a lot of effort into the image of his ministry. You can see it even in how he names is organization and his programs.
I have another friend who is always wanting to do big things for the kingdom of God, and on one hand we should all desire to give our lives for the sake of Christ and his kingdom, but this friend is always trying to prove to others that he’s onto something big or that he’s doing big things.
And, of course, I’m not at all immune to this either. I too feel the desire to be seen as someone having a high profile status. A status that causes others to want to follow me. There’s always this lurking desire to pursue a greater status, even within the church at large, to be seen by others as important, to play a vital role that can only be accomplished with me and my gifts.
It’s easy to forget that God can raise up from stones children for himself. God does not depend upon me, I depend upon him. And it’s important to realize that as Christians we will typically be seen as having the lowest status within society, and we have to be willing to embrace that. In fact, if we aren’t willing to embrace our low status then we won’t ever embrace Christ, because to us he would otherwise be foolishness.

The humility of Jesus

What marked Jesus’ life on earth, likely more than anything, was his willingness to humble himself, to take upon himself a low estate. He even washed his disciple’s feet, and served them. The Apostle Paul intended to flesh this out when he described Jesus’ humility in his letter to the Philippians, he said about Jesus that,

though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

In other words, even though Jesus was God, he did not count his equality with God something to be held onto, not that he became less than divine, but that his divinity didn’t hinder him from humbling himself, the fact that he is the creator of the universe didn’t stop him from being born in the likeness of men, obeying men’s laws, and permitting himself to be unjustly murdered at the hands of lawless men. His status didn’t get in the way of his mission. Therefore, don’t let any desire for status prevent you from entering the kingdom of heaven. Instead, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and enter as little children.

Prayer

Not to be concerned with titles or status
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