Matthew 18:1-14

Matthew 18:1-14 – The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven

This passage is as follows:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And 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 crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man came to save the lost. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

(End of passage)

This passage begins with “At that time.” What time was it? When was this?

This was after they came back from Caesarea Philippi and came to Galilee at Capernaum. This is after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and the transformation on the high mountain. And, this is right after Peter paid the taxes for himself and Jesus from a coin found in the mouth of a fish.

So the disciples want to know something. What do they want to know?

Verses 1-6,

Why do the disciples want to know who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

I can imagine that they were arguing which one of them was the greatest. One disciple may have said he healed more people. Another disciple may have bragged that he brought in more disciples. Another disciple may have bragged that he cast out more demons. Another disciple may have bragged that he prayed more. Yet another disciple could have bragged that he knew the scripture better and memorized Jesus’ sayings. They apparently all thought that they would be the greatest because they were all doing great things. So, they came to ask Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

We can see that this is what the disciples are thinking because he addresses them directly about this by saying, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Wow! Jesus even says, that unless they become like children they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. The word for turn here is translated as “converted” in some translations. The disciples weren’t even headed for the kingdom of heaven at this point! The disciples needed to do a turnaround. They needed to do a 180. They needed to repent. They were off track. Instead of acting like grown men counting their good deeds, they needed to be more like children.

All other religions are centered around a system of works or deeds. I can think of a couple of them that teach that it is a good thing to kill people of other religions. The disciples at this point would have done well at some of these other religions. They had a long list of good deeds to boast about. Peter even got the theology right. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and he was still headed in the wrong direction. At this point, Peter was not headed for the kingdom of heaven.

So what about being like children did they need to do differently?

They needed humility. Jesus said, “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

What is humility like?

Do you have an example?

Here is a story from Erin Sonier:

When I was much younger my dad came home from work one lunch hour covered in soot. He didn't say anything about it but changed his clothes and got ready to go back to work for the afternoon.

We found out the next day that on his way home for lunch he passed a house down the street that was on fire. No one was around so he stopped to see if anyone needed any help.

As it so happened, an elderly woman with a walker was trying to get out of the house and needed help. Dad went into the house and carried her out, effectively saving her life. Then she asked him to go back in to the burning house to get her dog and he went back into the still burning home to find and rescue the little dog who was not at all happy about a stranger picking him up.

By the time my dad had retrieved the dog from the house the fire trucks had arrived and the woman was being taken care of.

On the way back to work after changing his clothes dad saw a news crew there interviewing a man outside of the house. Thinking nothing of it, Dad continued on to work to carry on with his day.

The next day when the newspaper arrived at our door we saw an article about how a brave man had rushed into the burning house and gallantly saved an elderly woman and her dog…

The man in the picture was the man my dad saw being interviewed by the news crew. He took all the credit for saving that little old woman even though he hadn't even helped.

My dad just laughed and said that it didn't matter. All that mattered to him was that the woman and the dog were safe.

To me that is humility.

Here is a story from Dibakar in China:

In 1987, a 74-year old rickshaw puller by the name of Bai Fangli came back to his hometown planning to retire from his backbreaking job. There, he saw children working in the fields, because they were too poor to afford school fees.

Bai returned to Tianjin and went back to work as a rickshaw puller, taking a modest accommodation next to the railway station. He waited for clients 24 hours a day, ate simple food and wore discarded second-hand clothes he found. He gave all of his hard-earned earnings to support children who could not afford education.

In 2001, he drove his rickshaw to Tianjin YaoHua Middle School, to deliver his last installment of money. Nearly 90 years old, he told the students that he couldn't work any more. All of the students and teachers were moved to tears.

In total, Bai had donated a total of 350,000 yuan to help more than 300 poor students continue with their studies. In 2005, Bai passed away leaving behind an inspiring legacy.

If a rickshaw-puller who wore used clothes and had no education can support 300 children to go to school, imagine what you and I can do with the resources we have to bring about positive change in our world!

We all know of the greatest act of humility, when the Son of God became a man and obeyed God even to the death on the cross.

Then there are the stories about the apostles. Paul suffered a stoning and several beatings before he was finally executed for his faith.

Peter was crucified upside down. John was thrown into a vat of hot oil. They all suffered for their testimony.

Moses, who wasn’t a very good speaker obeyed God and became the spokesperson for the Israelites.

Isaiah said, “Here am I, God, send me.”

Now back to the little children. Jesus says, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

Why does Jesus say this?

The word here for sin is skandalizA, the word that we get the word scandal. It means to cause to stumble. Jesus is concerned that his own disciples might cause the little ones to stumble. They might lead them down the wrong way. Jesus says it would be better if they had a great millstone tied around their neck and drowned in the deep sea.

From here, Jesus continues to talk about stumbling blocks.

Verses 7-9,

The word here for sin again is the word for stumbling blocks. Jesus is not talking about temptations that come naturally. Jesus is talking about stumbling blocks that come by way of another person. He is drawing a parallel between his disciples and the other stumbling blocks that may cause you to sin. He isn’t saying that we should literally tear out our eye or cut off our hand or foot. He is saying that his own disciples should be cut out of his plan if they are going to continue on this idea about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus then focuses on the purpose of the gospel using the child as another object lesson.

Verses 10-14,

Remember that Jesus said that whoever humbles himself like the little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is only logical then that the littlest ones should not be thought of as less than oneself. The disciples should not be thinking of themselves. They should be thinking of those that are lost. They should be leaving all else on the mountainside to go and find the lost. That is the whole purpose here. That is Jesus’ purpose and that should be their purpose.

Logic tells us that if there is a God, he would reveal himself to mankind, and his revelations would be consistent. God would not give us many different ways to find him. He would only give us one way, and he would authenticate that way. Only Christianity has this.

The teaching of the Messiah is consistent from Genesis to Revelation. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus’ message was authenticated with miracles and his resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is proven historically, through the records of eyewitnesses, through logical examination of all the claims, and through science. The earliest Christians called themselves “Followers of The Way.” As Christians, we have an exclusive and urgent message to bear. At this point, Peter had believed in God, was doing all the right things, and even had the right Theology. This was not enough. Peter needed to repent, be humble, and root himself in his relationship to Jesus and the gospel.

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