Become As Little Children

Part 1- “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

In Matthew 18, the disciples came to Jesus asking Him a question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) Did you ever wonder why the disciples were debating over this question? They were all Jesus’ chosen disciples so why were they asking Jesus this question? Jesus had just begun to explain to His disciples in Matthew 16:21-23 and 17:22-23 of how He would be killed and raised the third day. He was beginning to prepare them for what was to come. Then, they heard Jesus scold Peter and refer to him as Satan for simply saying that he would defend Jesus and not allow Him to be hurt. (Matt. 16:23-24) Imagine what they were thinking at this point! I’m sure they were confused. Why would Jesus not want them to defend Him and save Him from harm? Wouldn’t you be confused if you were them? I know I would. After this happened with Peter, they heard Jesus say those famous words, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:24-27) Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall when the disciples were discussing these words of Jesus? I bet the part about God “rewarding every man according to his works” is the part where they got into a debate about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In their human minds, they all wanted to be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom. It was a human reaction. They may have each been saying all the good things they had done for Jesus, and trying to see who had done the most for him. Or maybe they were comparing what each of them had done for others or how many people they had told about Jesus. Who knows what they were thinking? My question to us is, “don’t we do this today?” 

To relate this to us as Christians today, don’t we look at ourselves sometimes and think that we are not doing as much as someone else. Or…. maybe we complain that we are the only ones doing the bulk of the work. This reminds me of the infamous sisters, Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42) Maybe we start thinking that we are “greater in the kingdom of heaven” (the church) than someone else, like the disciples did in Matthew 18. Or….. equally as bad, we start thinking less of ourselves because we think someone else is doing more than us. Maybe we feel like we aren’t “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. Also, do we sometimes feel like we aren’t as good as someone else in the kingdom, a.k.a. the church, because of our past or our upbringing? Maybe you were raised in the church, but you don’t have as pristine of a past as others for one reason or another. I have to admit, this would be me! Maybe you weren’t raised in the church at all, and don’t have the Bible knowledge that someone else has. You simply didn’t get the opportunity to learn those precious Bible stories that children who are in Sunday school their whole lives have the opportunity to learn. Or vice versa, do you feel better about yourself, because you were raised in the church and were always well-behaved, and didn’t get into any mischief while you were growing up. Maybe you are a Christian who has had to go forward for prayers and forgiveness often over the course of your Christian life, for things that you did that brought shame on the church. Maybe you have had to rededicate your life to Christ over and over because you struggle to stay faithful to the church and keep God first in your life. Can I just say that God/Jesus doesn’t care about any of those things? He doesn’t care about our past or how we were raised. He doesn’t care about our level of Bible knowledge at any given moment. He doesn’t care how many times we have allowed ourselves to be caught up in sin or fallen away from the church. He only cares about the fact that we are doing something about our situation now. He only cares about the condition of your heart and my heart right now. He knows if I am truly trying to overcome my past. He knows if I am giving it my all in my personal Bible study no matter my level of knowledge. He knows if I am trying to apply it to my life. He knows all of my struggles, because He walked on this earth and was tempted in all points just as I am. The only difference is, because He is God, He walked this earth without committing a single sin. (Hebrews 4:15) God definitely wants all of us to grow in our knowledge of His word, but He doesn’t keep a graph of everyone’s Bible knowledge. All He asks is that we study and grow at our own true pace. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God….” It does not say that you need to make sure you study as much or more than anyone else! God does not compare us to others!! So we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others!! Now let me be clear, looking at other wonderful Christians as examples is fine. We are all supposed to be Christian examples for each other and the lost in a positive way. But we can’t cross that line and turn it into a competition to try and be better than someone else. At that point, the good that we do becomes all about us and not God. The Christian life is not a contest to see who is the “greatest in the kingdom.” Let that sink in friends!! 

And let me just give us this reminder, it is not always about how much of the Bible we can recite or Bible facts that we know. It is more about application. Do we know enough about the Bible to understand how to truly be saved? This is the most important question. If you need this information, you will find it at the bottom of this post with scripture references. Also, for we who are Christians, do we apply what we know about God’s word to our everyday lives? It does us no good to know it and not apply it. Knowledge without application is useless to us. All the Bible knowledge in the world will not help us get to heaven. We have to apply that knowledge to our lives if we want that heavenly home.

So what does God look for in us? What will he be looking for when we stand before Him on that wonderful and terrible day? I say “wonderful and terrible” because it will be both……wonderful for some and terrible for others. When we stand before God on judgment day, He isn’t going to compare us to others.  2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” He is going to look directly at our lives and our hearts. No one else’s life or heart will be on our Father’s mind except for ours in that moment. Each of us will have God’s complete attention. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says that when the Lord comes, He will “bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts.” So what is our motive for the things we do? What will our life and our heart show God? Will it show a life and a heart of devotion to God and His purpose of saving souls and serving others? Or will it show a life and a heart of us worrying about whether we are as good as someone else? Will it show a life and a heart of thinking we are doing “better” than most of the other people around us? Do we have the “I’m good enough” syndrome? Or the “I’m ok” syndrome? Friends, we can never be “good enough”? What is our mindset? The bottom line, my Christian friends, is that God is only going to be comparing us to one person, and that is His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The only person we need to be concerned with being more like, is Him. Are we making every effort to be like Him? My friends, this post is certainly making me look long and hard at myself. I hope this helps all of us realize that we are all special in the eyes of God and we all have so much to offer His kingdom here on earth. The challenge for the week? You guessed it! Let’s not compare ourselves to others in a negative way. Let’s simply work on being more like Jesus. 

So…..with all that being said, let’s go back to the disciples’ question for Jesus, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” How did He answer them? I will continue with this study next week. I hope you all have a wonderful Lord’s Day tomorrow and a wonderful week ahead! Thank you for reading!

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)