[In last Sunday’s sermon, we looked at Matthew 18:1-4 to see how Jesus speaks of humility, and to learn how we can balance the biblical injunctions to be ambitious for God with that humility. We’ll continue to discuss those issues this Sunday. Here are three key questions about the Matthew 18 text – Coty]

Matthew 18:1-4 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.

1) What does Jesus mean by telling us to “turn and become like children”?

The disciples are asking who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven – clearly thinking that one of them is the greatest. They want Jesus to say, “James – I pick you as the greatest because of all you’ve done. You’re number one!”

Instead, Jesus says this: “Your entire conception of greatness is wrong! You think in terms of your qualifications. You desire to get positions of power and privilege. You keep comparing yourselves to each other, with each of you trying to exalt himself over the others. You have to turn! You have to change your mindset completely! Look at this little two-year-old. Become like him! This child is not seen as great by anybody. He is completely dependent on his parents. He has no influence. He is weaker than every adult. He cannot make money. He has no exceptional abilities. He has no authority and no power. He just loves his Daddy; he knows he is dependent on him, and delights in him. He doesn’t even think about himself compared to others. He just thinks about how wonderful his Daddy is. You must change and become like THAT if you are to enter the kingdom of heaven.”

That is Jesus’ point.

2) Why must we turn and become like children to enter the kingdom?

This is the Gospel! God created man to glorify Him by delighting in Him. But each of us has rejected that purpose, choosing to delight in ourselves and in the things of this world rather than in God. Having failed to fulfill the purpose of our creation, we deserve to be rejected by God, thrown out by Him. Yet He sent His Son into the world to become man, to live a life of rejoicing in the Father, delighting to do all that He commanded, fulfilling our purpose. He then willingly died the death we deserved on the cross, taking on Himself our punishment. God raised Him, showing the sacrifice was sufficient, the penalty was paid. The benefits of that death accrue to every person who confesses his sin and believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord. And God then promises that He will create a new heavens and a new earth, the final, complete kingdom of heaven, in which all the redeemed will dwell, together fulfilling the purpose of humanity: Rejoicing in the greatness of God (Philippians 2:9-11; Revelation 7:9-12). Here no one will seek greatness for himself. No one will argue about who is the greatest. Instead, we will all rejoice in the greatness of God, and of His Son. We will all see that greatness comes only from God Himself.

This is the goal of the Gospel: The joy of all people in the greatness of God. If we understand the Gospel, it makes no sense at all to jockey for a position of greatness. Jesus is great! Rejoice in His greatness! And then rightly be humbled. As the 19th century Anglican bishop J.C. Ryle says, “The surest mark of true conversion is humility.”

3) Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Clearly Jesus is the greatest. God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the greatest.

I can imagine the disciples (and myself!) at this point saying, “Sure, of course. But what about among resurrected mankind? Which of them is greatest? Could it be me?”

So Jesus says in Matthew 18:4: “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Note that Jesus says in verse 3 that unless you turn and become like this little child, unless you become humble like a 2-year-old, you will not even enter the kingdom. And then He says in verse 4 that if you humble yourself like this child, you are the greatest in the kingdom.

So do you see the implication? Everyone in the kingdom of heaven is the greatest! For everyone has the righteousness of Christ credited to his account. Everyone has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. Everyone is perfected by God for His glory

So look around you. Across ages. Across ethnicity. Across the ability to speak English. Across levels of theological training. Across length of time as a Christian. Across differences in giftedness, in education, in income. For those who are in Christ, for those who have faith in Him: ALL are made perfect. ALL are great. You are no greater than anyone else. You are not less than anyone else. Because every believer has the righteousness of Christ – and that is what matters.

Note: In eternity, there will still be differences among those who are saved. But there will be no differences in status, in position before God, or in moral perfection. There will be no difference in greatness.

For greatness consists in humble dependence on Jesus Christ. And no one is saved apart from that very greatness.