Mat 18;1-5 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him among them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me
If we trace what is the greatest enemy for a man to be saved and for a saved man to grow in spiritual life, you will find, above everything, it is pride. Pride is not so easy to detect. We think only arrogant people are proud, but no; the man who thinks he is more humble is the man who is more proud! Our heart is deceitful above all things. Pride takes many deceitful forms, outwardly and inwardly, like a hydra with many serpent heads. Of all sins, it is the most secret, subtle, and insinuating into hearts. It is so deceitful that we think a few things are forms or signs of humility, but they are manifestations of pride. In some, it takes the form of self-confidence; in some, it takes a form of self-pity; in some, it takes the form of over-assurance about their salvation in self-righteousness; in some, it manifests as unbelieving doubting their salvation. Some offer just outward confession of sin before men’s ears and eyes, without any determination to kill and come out of sin. In some, it is fear of men; in some, seeking men’s applause; in some, it is being filled with worldly worries, with no trust in God and no casting our cares on God. Pride doesn’t allow men to trust God, or submit under the mighty hand of God. A proud heart keeps rising, rising. It is very subtle; only a lot of grace and maturity will help us detect pride. If we examine our own hearts today, the reason we don’t grow in grace is because of this sin—Pride. The reason God doesn’t use us as he wants is pride. Pride eats all roots of happiness in our soul. Pride is a root of bitterness, gives birth to all bitterness in the heart: anger, hate, revenge, envy, contempt of others. All that takes away happiness in the heart is because of pride.
It leaves no one. Pride can hide under a beggar’s rags, as well as under a king’s robes. There is no sin into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride, and yet there is no vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in Scripture.
It is not easy to remove pride. Some said that if God sends all the ten plagues of Egypt in our lives, all the sufferings of Job in our life, why, even all of eternal hell, it cannot remove pride from our hearts. Only the illuminating work and power of the Holy Spirit can remove pride from the heart and teach us true humble-mindedness. No matter how dear you are to God—if pride is harbored in your heart, He will whip it out of you! Humility is the first and mother of all graces. The grace of humility is given by God. Oh, may as we meditate on our Lord’s teaching on humility in Matthew 18, may the Holy Spirit illuminate our proud minds and baptize all of us with the grace of humility.
Humility Within the Kingdom
We are looking at Chapter 18:1-5 and trying to understand it in three headings:
- Humility needed to enter the kingdom.
- After entering, humility within ourselves in the kingdom.
- Humility in relationship to fellow members in the kingdom—There is a positive and negative lesson in that.
We saw in our last lesson, that the disciples, in their wrong understanding of the kingdom, were very sure that they were to be in the kingdom, and that the only question concerning them was how high up in it they were each to be. In that fleshly mind and ambition, they had an argument over who among them was the greatest and came and asked the Lord the question. As an answer to them, he places a child in their midst, and says:
Verse 3: “Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Christ’s answer is like pouring cold water on their heated argument. It is, in effect, “Greatest in the kingdom! First, make sure that you go in at all. So long as you keep your present wrong ambitious minds, you will never enter.” Christ saw how pride threw Satan from heaven, and says you will not enter that heaven unless you completely repent of this kind of pride.
Verse 3 teaches us the humility needed to enter the kingdom. Unless you repent and realize the depths of your depravity to an extent where it makes you like a child—completely dependent on God for everything—you will not enter. You must be sensible, like children, of our spiritual weakness, dependence, vulnerability, and helpless state, to an extent that, as children are led by the hand by parents, parents have to hold them or they will fall. So, if the regenerating grace of God has really worked in our hearts, whatever we may have thought of ourselves once, whatever were our former high exalted imaginations, yet now we shall be sensible of our weakness, helpless state, and feel like dependent children on God.
And as a little child gives up its hand to be guided by a parent, so those who are truly converted and are real Christians will give up the heart, their understandings, their wills, their affections, to be guided by the word, providence, and the Spirit of the Lord. Hence it is that the Apostle, speaking of the sons of God, says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are (and to be sure he means they only are) the sons of God.”
I realize my depravity. If I don’t abide in Christ and don’t live in dependent faith, I am helpless and vulnerable; I will fall into the temptation and traps of Satan. So you are like a child who is completely dependent on their parents. That is how you enter the kingdom.
This is the humility needed to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the first humility. Unless this has happened, there is no way to talk about the other two. The reason the other two don’t exist in people is because this has not happened. Why we see so much pride, ambition, selfishness, and fighting in church—”you are big, me big” in the name of ministry, all a show off of talents to put others down, looking down on others—it is because this has not happened to them. When you see somebody proud in church, you have to ask them, could it be because this work of grace has really not happened to you? That is why in the name of humility, people try outwardly with voice, drama, in 101 ways to be humble, but your heart is still proud.
If you are sitting here with a proud heart, with subtle forms of pride, and don’t recognize your daily need of God, may these words give a strong warning to your heart. Make you cry out to God.
Verse 3: “Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Humility About Ourselves Within the Kingdom
Okay, now I have entered the kingdom of heaven. I am regenerated. Now, can I give room to pride in the church? What kind of humility do I need to see myself with? What is my status in my own eyes in the kingdom of God? How should I see myself in the kingdom of heaven? What should be my status within the kingdom of heaven? I believe Verse 4 talks about humility within ourselves in the kingdom, after entering. How will a humble person see himself?
Verse 4: “So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Notice what their question was: “Who is the greatest?” The Lord in fact answers the question in Verse 4. “I have said first, for entering you need a childlike humility. Then you want to know who is greatest…”
“So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Think of this in terms of the disciples. They were after “greatness” in Jesus’ kingdom, and Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for having that ambition. In fact, I would suggest that Jesus wants us to be great in His kingdom. Christ implies that there are degrees in the kingdom. He says there will be a greatest. Bible other places teach that there are different levels of rewards and eternal glory. Many places the Bible says God will reward each man according to his works. For example, Matthew 5:11-12: “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.“
There are levels of rewards and glories in the kingdom. Jesus would want us to have the greatest reward and glory, right? Don’t we yearn to be given the glory of “good and faithful servant”? I want to be.
But the problem was that the disciples were going in the wrong motive and direction to get there. It was a worldly, selfish, fleshly way, for self-glory, and not for the glory of God. That was wrong. They were engaged in a program of elevating themselves and of putting everyone else in the position of serving them. They were trying to crawl up to greatness upon one another’s backs. And yet, to achieve true greatness in the kingdom, they needed to turn around and go the other direction.
For God’s glory, who doesn’t want to be great in the kingdom? Don’t you want to be greatest in the eternal kingdom of God, rewarded eternal rewards as the greatest eternal inheritance? Don’t want greatest glory? I want to be.
The Lord shows how to be greatest in the kingdom: “So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus’ path to greatness in His kingdom is not self-ambition or upward-mobility, but rather self-humility, downward-humility. In His kingdom, the moral law of gravity states that “whatever comes up must first go down.”
Again, the object lesson is the child: “whoever will humble himself like this child.” You want to achieve great things in the kingdom of heaven. You want to achieve eternal greatness. Look at this child and humble yourself like this child.
While entering you have become like this child, and if you want to become greatest, you have to humble yourself like this child.
This is the humility about our status within the kingdom. How should I look at myself in the kingdom? How should I gauge myself in my own estimation to be greatest in the kingdom? What is our status here in the church? How should I see myself here? Our Lord teaches here that we should humble ourselves like this child.
What does it mean to humble ourselves as a child? Again, a child was a person of no importance in society, subject to the authority of others, not taken seriously, one to be looked after, not looked up to. A child should have an attitude of being nothing, of being considered nothing, of being thought insignificant and foolish. A child has no great view about itself, but thinks he is the least and lowest, weakest and dependent, right?
It is the man who knows himself like a little child in a world of men, utterly dependent upon God and his grace, Christ and his salvation—that man and only that man can become greatest in the kingdom of God.
It is lowliness of heart, humility, not stature in the eyes of other men, that makes you great in the kingdom. How should I see myself? In my own eyes, I am not important. I am nothing in my own eyes. Not a big thing at all.
This true understanding of one’s place opens up the possibility of right thinking about everything. The disciples had asked who was greatest. Now Jesus answers by saying that the humblest who sees himself as nothing is the greatest.
He meant that every one of his followers must become little in one’s own eyes, in one’s own estimation: “I am nothing.” Not just saying, but really. Many say “I am nothing,” but their minds and hearts are filled with only cares and worries about themselves. They are the center of their world. That is not what he talks about. Real humility is that which thinks “I am nothing,” in fact, as if invisible. How can such an attitude make you greatest in the kingdom?
See, in the kingdom of God it is all by works of grace. Since we are fully depraved and incapable creatures, if there is something God achieves in the kingdom, it is only when God works through us. Through whom will God work in a greatest way, a mightiest way? Only through them who have a humble view of themselves like a child.
The deeper our consciousness of our own unworthiness and weakness, inability, and dependence on God, the more capable are we of receiving the divine grace workings, spiritual gifts, and power, and therefore the more fully shall we receive them.
Rivers run in the low valleys/hollows; the mountain-tops are dry. God works with broken reeds. Who is the greatest in this kingdom? This kingdom is different. The king of this kingdom works only through empty, broken vessels. In such a kingdom, don’t you think only those who are more empty, poor in spirit, and humble will be the greatest, because they will receive more richest measures of grace than others? The princes in His realm are beggars taken from the dunghill.
Also, when the king works through such broken vessels, the vessels, because they are humble like a child, never become proud and destroy themselves in pride, but give all glory to the king.
It is not people who show a false humility, saying, “Oh, I cannot do anything, I don’t have talents,” and slip away. It is a form of subtle pride. But men and women, who realize “I am absolutely an empty and broken vessel, if God has given me a work, and I will give myself to my king and depend on him for all,” he will use them.
This is true humility: not for any name or greatest status. A lowliness which made itself lowly for the sake of eminence would miss its aim, for it would not be lowliness. The desire to be foremost must be cast out, in order that it may be fulfilled.
So who is the greatest? He that humbles himself as a little child. Though he may fear that hereby he will render himself contemptible, as men of timid minds who thereby throw themselves out of the way of preferment, yet “the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Doesn’t scripture and history prove this? Who has been greatly used in the kingdom in every generation? The humblest Christians are the best Christians, and most like to Christ, and highest in his favor. The man who sees himself as lowest, empty and broken, useless, and last of all, is best positioned for the communications of divine grace, and fittest to serve God in this world, and enjoy him in another.
Apostles are all fighting here who is the greatest. If we ask now, who will we say in terms of ministry was greatest? Paul. Why did God use Apostle Paul more than anyone? 1 Corinthians 15:9-10: “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” In another place, he goes on to say, “I am chief of sinners.” That is how he saw himself.
What is your view about yourselves? By God’s grace, the lower view you have of yourself, the more grace will flow in your life, and you will be more greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Do you see how the pride of our hearts is the greatest hindrance to spiritual ministry? Those who humble themselves, have a low view of themselves; they are the greatest means through whom God works in the kingdom. Not only history; does scripture teach us this?
Isaiah 57:15: “For this is what the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, says: ‘I dwell in a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.’“
Isaiah 66:1-2: “1This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?’ 2’Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.'”
Those who humble themselves like this child and are contrite are greatest in God’s kingdom, for God overlooks heaven and earth, to look on such. And certainly those are to be most respected and honored in the church that are most humble and self-denying for, though they least seek it, they best deserve it.
He who humbles himself like the child, thinks he is lowest of all in his own view. How can we find such a one in the church?
Mark’s parallel passage, Mark 9:35: “And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.’“
If any one wills to be first—you want to be greatest in the kingdom—he shall make a deliberate choice, to take the posture of being last of all. You want to be first? Go and stand last in the line. It means my view of my status in the kingdom is not that I should be on the top, and other people have to serve me, but I become lowest of all so I can serve them.
He that would be first shall be last of all in that position—a servant, a table waiter of all. Such a one who has a low estimation of oneself, sees himself little in his own eyes, will be a servant of all. That will be first and greatest. He will be willing to be a servant, a slave to do any work for anyone, even the meanest work, to receive orders, and minister to the needs of others, not always thinking you are one notch up and others beneath you, and that others meet your needs.
In the kingdom, this is the man who has true spiritual humility. This humility gives him a determination with the realization that “I am nothing and others are much above me, and it is a blessed thing to live at the end of the line and serve others.” “I want to be a table waiter,” in our language, “do the lowest work for them, take the eaten plates/leaves.” Only then we will know true greatness in the kingdom.
Not just here, but the Lord will keep repeating this lesson again to the disciples in Chapter 20 and other chapters:
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to be become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28).
What a lesson for the disciples! They all must be intently staring at that child. Peter may never forget if it is his own child. Somewhere I read Ignatius wrote about Christ holding him in his arms. By tradition, it could be him, we don’t know.
The itch in somebody to have position, a high place in the church, will consign you to the lowest rank in the kingdom, for “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”
This is a principle richly expanded in Philippians 2:3-5: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” He goes on to take the example of how Christ, being equal to God, humbled himself and became a slave.
Humility in ourselves in the kingdom of heaven: We must view ourselves, we humble ourselves as a child and in our own view see ourselves as nothing and as last and servant of all.
Humility in Relationship to Fellow Members
Verse 5: “And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me.”
He teaches with an illustration. The first two lessons were with the child in the center, and they are staring at the child. They could plainly see the living example of humility He was calling them to. Now for the third lesson, if you see Mark 9:36, it says: “And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me’ (v. 36).“
With the first act—that of bringing the child and placing it in the midst of the disciples—Jesus was illustrating how we should with childlike humility enter the kingdom, and within the kingdom, see ourselves. And with the second act—that of taking the same child up in His arms—He was illustrating how we should receive and welcome those who come to Him in such humility of spirit.
Verse 36: Taking the child in his arms he preaches. Maybe there are times we should use some live illustration. With that child resting in Jesus’ arms, He says these words: “Whoever shall receive one of such a little children in my name, upon my name receives me.” Mark 9 says He receives the one who sent Me—that is, the Father.
This shows the kind of humility we should display in relationship to fellow members in the kingdom. See the progress: humility in relationship to getting into the kingdom; humility in relationship to our status in the kingdom; humility in relationship to fellow members in the kingdom.
“Pastor, he talks about receiving, where is humility here?” It is implied. This receiving talks about how we receive, love, care, protect, and treat other brothers in church.
You cannot do that selflessly without true humility. The main problem in the church relationships—why problems come in between men, why problems come in between women, why don’t we show love and care, forgiveness, forbearance, patience with other brothers and sisters’ weakness—it is because of pride and lack of humility. Is it not because we think too highly of ourselves? We don’t receive weak and poor brothers and sisters in Christ.
You will have noticed the way in which the Lord moved so effortlessly from thinking of oneself as a child—the humility of a true Christian disciple—to treating others kindly, graciously, generously, compassionately, and carefully, treating them so as to advance their welfare. The truly humble spirit in a person’s heart leads, it must lead, to a concern for others. This is inseparable. If you have a low view of yourself as a child, you will treat others wonderfully in church. The reason you are careless about others in the church is because of pride.
He talks of humbleness like a child and then goes to one who receives such a child, which is the natural result of humbleness. The Lord does not even explain that connection here. He doesn’t tell us why humility leads to compassion and a commitment to others. That is clear.
When one sees himself as without worth and insignificant in himself—chiefly because of his sin and his sinfulness, because there is so much in him and about him that is unworthy and ugly: his selfishness, his impurity, his pride, his evil desires—and when such a person realizes that in spite of what he is and what he has done, God has loved him and Christ has redeemed him, that person must forsake all thought of his own stature, status, prestige. And from that moment he cannot think of himself as better than others. If he does that, he must either be not truly regenerated, or he has forgotten what love God has shown him. To look down on others, as if you were better than they, more important, more significant, at least for a Christian, amounts to a vicious kind of hypocrisy.
He who receives a child like this. It is the habit of the world to receive and serve the great and the popular. See, that is how people are in the world. That is what we have been taught. Whom do we generally invite into our heart and the house and show care and love, feast, hospitality? Whom do we generally want to show respect, receive? Little facility, decent in the worldly standards, people who can maybe invite us back into their homes, our levels, anybody from whom we can benefit.
But our Lord here, shows the kind of humility we need to show towards all the brothers in the kingdom is not to see any worldly level or standards or selfish motives, but because they are made like children by the work of the Holy Spirit. In the sight of the world, they be low, insignificant, poor, even before their own eyes, they are nothing. We receive them, accept them, love them, care for them, without any kind of selfish motives or expectations. The least of the brothers. When we do that, we do it to Christ himself.
Living example of Christ receiving that child in the arms of love and care. Christ says we should demonstrate this kind of humility, irrespective of worldly status, because they are being made like a child spiritually, we need to wholeheartedly receive them. “Whosoever receives one such children upon my name,” that is whosoever shall receive not a literal child, though it could be one of the applications.
The emphasis is on who, upon the revelation of the gospel of Jesus, is brought stripped of pride and broken to the posture of a helpless, dependent, weak, vulnerable child, who has fled to Jesus for mercy, and entered the kingdom in the context of humility of a true work of grace. When you see such a spiritual child, anyone who believes on His word, and rests in Him, and who trusts in His grace with childlike faith—no matter what their age, worldly state—Jesus says whoever receives one of these, receives Me!
And notice Verse 5: “And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me.” He says that this is true, even if it is only one such child. He values each and every one of those who trust in Him with simple faith. Note, the tender regard Christ has to his church extends itself to every particular member, even the meanest/least, not only to the whole family, and watches carefully to see that they are treated rightly by others. The special care Christ takes for those that are humble, protects them, so cares for them, sees that they are rightly treated by others, interests himself in their concerns, and will see that they are not wronged, without being righted.
The reception includes all forms of sympathy and aid, love, care, welcome to heart and home, helping them to grow in grace in every way, teach them truth, strengthen them, support. “In My name” is equivalent to “for the sake of My revealed character,” and refers both to the receiver and to the received.
He has already spoken of this to His disciples, when He said,
“And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).
See what motivation to treat believers in church with care and love. “Oh, nobody calls me, why should I call anybody?” No, no. Without any expectation, when I treat my brothers for Christ’s sake, what a blessedness!
Whatever kindnesses are done to such, Christ takes as done to himself. He goes beyond and says it is in fact done to the Trinitarian God. Just like Abraham invited three heavenly guests, you have an opportunity to invite the Trinitarian God through receiving, loving, and caring for your brothers, not looking at their worldly condition, but just what God’s grace has done in their hearts.
Receive them, love them, take him into his love and friendship, and society and care, and study to do him a kindness, and do this in Christ’s name, for his sake, because he bears the image of Christ, serves Christ, and because Christ has received him. This shall be accepted and recompensed as an acceptable piece of respect to Christ, even the Father.
What do you think will be the blessedness of receiving the Son and the Father? Oh, greatest eternal rewards in the kingdom as in Matthew 25, in judgment when he says “whatever you have done to the least, you have done to me: when I was hungry, you fed me, naked, you clothed me, in jail, you visited me.”
See, oh the blessedness of recognizing and welcoming Christlike, lowly believers. The blessedness of such reception enlarges our hearts for more grace. This is the humility we show with other brothers and sisters. By this kind of humility of receiving Christ like a child, I do thereby enlarge my capacity for my own possession of Christ—more grace of Christ, more presence of Father and Son, spiritual manifestation in our lives and family. More riches in grace because he dwells in His child, and He comes with him where He is welcomed.
There is no surer way of growing in the manifested presence of Christ and grace than the loving reception of His children. “Whoso lodges the King’s favorites will not be left unvisited by the King.” To recognize and reverence the greatest in the kingdom is to be oneself a member of their company, and a sharer in their prerogatives. By displaying this kind of humility, I become greatest in the kingdom.
Think of it: where did the lesson start? They were disputing over who was going to be the top one. When people get involved in disputes over who is greatest, what will happen in any church? Disputes that grow out of jealousy, pride, and rivalry—stalking for the same position—will ruin interpersonal relationships.
What happens in the office where two men are coveting the same position? They don’t greet one another in the canteen and hug. No, no. They begin to look at one another with an envious eye: “You are my enemy.” Every chance they get, they tear down the other guy to promote themselves and bring them down on the rubble of a ruined reputation.
What happens in the house? Sibling rivalry, where there is ambition and envy, prevents the unreserved, open-heart reception of one another. “Oh, they will think bad of me, wrongly talk about me. I cannot be open with them.” There is alienation, division, and friction. Is that the reason we don’t mingle with one another—“Oh, they may wrongly talk about us, what will they think, backbite us?” But where there is humility, they bear with one another in Christ’s love, and sympathize with one another.
Proverbs says, “Only by pride comes contention.” Why was there fighting on that road leading to Capernaum? Because in unmortified pride, each one was seeking to promote themselves. How will there be love and unity among themselves with fighting for position? Is this not the reason for divisions and fights in the church? Christ’s name is dishonored by self-ambition.
Isn’t it interesting that the clarion call for unity in Ephesians begins with these words? Ephesians 4:1-3:
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
There will never be unity and peace in any church that is not living in a constant baptism of the grace of humility.
Receiving one another in all our mutual defenselessness, helplessness, and vulnerability—receiving one another as Jesus received that child, in its objective dependence, helplessness—now we are to receive one another.
All those who are brought to the state of a true child, we receive one another. When we receive such, we receive their Lord Jesus Christ. When we receive Christ, we receive the Father.
The way we treat the true believer is the way we treat Jesus Christ and even the Father. That is how Christ takes it in this verse. Do you see it? What an incentive to mortify pride in the midst of any church!
Anything that puts distance between you and your brothers, puts a distance between you and your Lord and heavenly Father. You have a notion that you can be in a great relationship with Jesus and the Father when there are walls between you and your brother is to live in self-deception.
Humility is the glue that holds any church together, each person esteeming the other better than himself, better to serve him for the Master’s glory.
So we learn the humility for entering the kingdom, in the kingdom, humility on how we see ourselves, and humility in our relationship to one another.
Verse 5: “And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me.”
This is the positive motive for humility. If this is not enough, he concludes this thought in Verse 6—the negative motive for humility. Our Lord speaks some of the most frightening words we find Him speaking in the Bible. He says, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (v. 6).
If in your pride and arrogance you mess with any of these little ones, the greatest punishment is for you. We will see that next week.
Applications
The first lesson of humility again: those of you who still have a proud heart, it is a great warning to examine and see if you really have the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and has that work made you like a child. A lot of people call us and many come to Pastors’ Conference, but somehow, even in the call, sometimes we recognize this is a regenerated person. I don’t know how—this is someone different, just like a child recognizes a child. Do you have that kind of conversion? Examine yourself.
Humility is the prerequisite of entering the kingdom of God.
The second lesson: Christ says he who humbles himself like this child will be greatest in the kingdom. This is one of the places in the Gospels when Jesus as much as defines true humility. It is thinking of oneself as someone who is little, so little as to be virtually invisible. How much we lack this! How much we are filled with ourselves! We are the center of our lives. “We are so little, we are nothing.” Oh Lord, teach us to humble ourselves as this child.
True humility. Many great saints have prayed and desired to have this true humility. Thomas à Kempis desired, “Desire to be unknown.” Jeremy Taylor, in spiritual classics ‘Holy Living’ and ‘Holy Dying’, prayed, “O teach me to love to be concealed.” “Be ambitious to be unknown,” advised the saintly Scot Robert Leighton.
That is the Lord’s idea here. Sometimes children are unnoticed unless they make a big noise or trouble. No one sees the child; he is not large enough. When you humble yourself like a child, and if and when you do, it will change the way you think about and treat others.
This comes in the working of grace. When a man realizes his emptiness, his wretchedness, and to think: “If the living God humbled himself for a nothing like you, then a nothing like you is in no position to think himself something in comparison to others.” So when a man or woman comes to think of himself or herself as a little child whom the living God has loved, he will come to think more graciously of other people.
Watson said, “A humble soul thinks better of others than of himself: ‘let each esteem other better than themselves’ (Phil. 2:3). A humble man values others at a higher rate than himself, and the reason is because he can see his own heart better than he can another’s. He sees his own corruption and thinks surely it is not so with others; their graces are not so weak as his; their corruptions are not so strong. ‘Surely,’ he thinks, ‘they have better hearts than I.’ A humble Christian studies his own infirmities and another’s excellences and that makes him put a higher value upon others than himself. ‘Surely I am more brutish than any man’ (Prov. 30:2). And Paul, though he was the chief of the apostles, still calls himself ‘less than the least of all saints’ (Eph. 3:8).” (‘The Godly Man’s Picture’)
In the church, do you humble yourself like this child? What is your view about yourselves? Do you recognize you are a broken, useless, empty vessel saved by the grace of God? If such is how you see yourself, how can competing thoughts rise in your hearts about who is big and who is small?
See, I foresee that when we work together—men as a group, women as a group, young people—there will be silly selfish conflicts. “Oh, I don’t like the way that brother talks.” “That sister said something so bad, how can she say that?” All these come and Satan may try to use that to spoil church unity and work. That is why many times we don’t get closer to each other, to avoid conflict. No, conflicts have to come, but the way to deal with that is not by avoiding, but by humility.
We all have to learn to clothe ourselves with humility.
Christ says in the kingdom, every Christian must have such a small and low view of himself—then, in the nature of the case, he will not look down on other believers, on his fellow Christians. He cannot. True humility looks up to others, not down. The faithful follower of Christ never asks or imagines that he might be the greatest, for he sees himself as a little child, and such humility prepares him to be a servant of others.
Realize it is not like the work place and world you become great in the church of Jesus Christ. If you want to become greatest, we all should aim to be greatest. You become a servant, the least slave of all. By God’s grace, the lower view you have of yourself, the more grace will flow in your life, and you will be more greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Do you see how the pride of our hearts is the greatest hindrance to spiritual ministry? Some of you have a pride, saying, “Oh, I cannot do this and that.” Some of you have overconfidence. Those who humble themselves, have a low view of themselves, but at the same time, in great humility, try to do great things for God. They are the greatest means through whom God works in the kingdom.
This has application everywhere. He who should be greatest should be least, and humble himself as a child. This runs right against what the world has taught, thundering into us from every direction since childhood.
“If you bend, bend, they will make you a doormat. Assert yourself! Fight for your rights! Be your own man/woman!” It says to wives, “don’t be buried under your husbands’ and children’s identity. Don’t be the last in your house washing vessels. Break out of all that, live your life, make a name for yourself. Don’t waste your life with that. Break out all that and achieve big things in the world.” Is that not what the world is telling you? “You have been at the end of the line too long, serving husband and children. Stop this, women! Run to the front of the line, make an identity and name for yourself!” Do you hear it? Women’s Day shows. That is not how you become greatest in the eyes of Jesus.
Listen to what Jesus says. Would you want to know true greatness in the kingdom, eternal greatness? You have to be at the end of the line. From the posture of the end of the line, you can look up and see whoever has any need and run to serve them, and after serving, again go back to the end of the line. When you see another with need, serve and go back. You find your delight serving at the end of the line, in loving service to others. That is greatness in his kingdom. With respect to your status, you have to have a real view of yourself as the least among them, and unfit to be there in the kingdom, and it is only God’s grace you are there. And in gratitude to that grace, you will manifest it by selflessly serving others.
Do you have that low, humble view of yourself? If there is any good in you as a saved person, it is because of God’s grace. It’s a sad fact that, whenever we experience the riches of God’s grace toward us, we so often start to think about how wonderful we must be, rather than on how wonderfully gracious God is.
A few men now we are training to preach. I keep telling this to myself, you should tell that to yourself: if you have to become really great and want God to use you mightily, learn this lesson. God uses empty vessels. It is not your weakness, or lack of knowledge that will be a hindrance. It is your arrogance and pride. After you preach a few sermons, people appreciate you. You think the talent is yours. You put so much effort. Pride rises. You think you are better than so many. You are a gone case.
You have to come to grips with this. There is a necessity of a higher profile standard for laboring in the word. The Bible tells the church to give high place of respect and double honor to those who labor in the Word, but it is an incidental attendant and occupational level. That respect is not to be taken to our head personally, but given for the job we do by God’s grace. But if it is anything that you crave and love, “I should be respected. People call me Pastor, admire me. When I am preaching, all look at my face,” if you crave for such things, you are a Pharisee, a hypocrite, to whom Jesus would say “beware of these people who love their clerical titles and clerical positions and want to be called as Rabbi, seek important places in meetings, to be greeted by all with respect.”
Ministry rightly understood is serving at the end of the line in service to the people of God. If required, like Christ, ready to wash each one’s feet. The word “deacon” or “minister” is a word Paul uses again and again to describe the nature of the ministry. It is perpetual service with a servant heart. If any man is first in the kingdom, he is not first because he has climbed over others in carnal ambition, by putting down the gifts and graces of others, making sure they are not cultivated and developed so they all become smaller, so he can be a big shot. No, no.
He comes to greatness in his own estimation: “I am a servant and called to serve and [have the] lowest status in the kingdom.” Only when he deliberately and volitionally chooses to go to the end of the line and takes the posture of a table servant. Rather than looking at people as objects to feed your ego, or promote your pride, look at them around them as those worthy to be served in the name of Christ in self-giving love.
What a horrible Christianity we are living in, calling Pastors, Bishops, Senior Pastor in the name of ministry—nothing but self-promotion and ego trips by men full of themselves! True status in the eyes of Jesus comes when we choose to go to the end of the line and take the place of a table servant.
What a wonderful church it will be if it is filled with people who have repented to an extent that they have become like children, and who have a low, humble view of themselves, see themselves only as servants of others, and who receive others in love as if they receive Christ. All of us must be zealous for one thing only: that is to outdo and serve one another in self-giving love, driven by the wheels of humility and true self-effacement.
We all must study the path of humility. If we have to become great, take that posture, be a servant of all.
It is in this way that the Christian who is most like the little child is the truest and the most mature adult. The Christian who thinks himself the smallest is the greatest. Let us be very honest with ourselves before God. Have you turned from your sin and in humble trust, cast yourself and all of your hope upon Christ alone?
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 