Who is the Greatest?

Introduction: The Disciples' Spiritual Blindness and Carnality

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 12, 1986, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you follow, please, in your own Bibles as I read this morning from the next portion in our consecutive expositions of the Gospel of Mark, and also one of the two parallel passages, specifically the one found in the Gospel of Matthew. So we read, first of all, from Mark chapter 9, beginning in verse 33 and concluding the reading at verse 37.

0:45 Mark, writing with reference to our Lord and to the Twelve, informs us, And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house, he asked them, What were you reasoning by the way? And they held their peace. For they had disputed one with another on the way, who was the greatest.

1:09 And he sat down and called the Twelve. And he said unto them, If any man would be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a little child, and set him in the midst, and put him in the midst of them. And taking him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my name, receives me.

1:39 And whosoever receives me, receives not me, but him that sent me. And now back to Matthew chapter 18, Matthew's Gospel, chapter 18, verses 1 through 5. In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except you turn and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this, this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me. Now let us again ask the help of the Holy Spirit, that he would give us understanding in this portion of his word.

2:56 And may that asking not be a form or ritual, but may it be the earnest plea of our hearts, that we shall all be taught of God the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

3:12 Our Father, your word informs us that only you can give us understanding in your own words. And yet there are times when you make us feel very keenly that reality, and your servant would confess again the sense of ignorance and bafflement that he has felt for many hours, hours before this passage. And coming with whatever light you have been pleased to grant, we would together pray. More light, Lord, even as we study the passage together.

3:50 O gracious God, we do not have the keys to unlock your word. You alone have that key. Grant us the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the spirit of wisdom in revelation, in the knowledge of Yourself, that we may come to grips with the vital lessons of this passage through the present and powerful tutelage of the Holy Spirit, even in this hour. Hear us for the sake of Your Son.

4:24 Hear us for the good of our own souls. Amen. As one gives himself to any serious study of the gospel, the gospel records, surely any thoughtful observer and reader of these records comes to an increasing conviction that they are what they seem to be, namely, unadorned factual accounts of events which actually transpired in a place in the Middle East nearly two thousand years ago. And in this section of Mark's book, presently under examination, we have some of the most striking examples of this fact. At this point in the narrative, while our Lord is making it more and more clear that He must go to Jerusalem, there to be rejected, there to be killed, there to be raised from the dead, it is in this very section that we are given an account of some of the most crass insensitivity, spiritual blindness, and blatant carnality of the inner circle of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.

5:52 You will remember that after the great confession recorded in chapter 8, Peter's objection draws forth the strong language of our Lord, get behind me Satan, for you are not thinking the thoughts of God. Shortly thereafter there is the great revelation there on the mount of transfiguration and yet on the way down from the mountain their minds are obviously still filled with a carnal perception of the prophetic scriptures and they raise a question about those very things. And then when they arrive at the foot of the mountain there they find the nine in the midst of their dejection and defeat unable to cast out the demon from the poor demon possessed boy who had been brought by his father into the presence of the nine. And then we saw last week that our Lord subsequent to casting out the demon from that demon possessed boy gives his second period of concentrated teaching about his forthcoming suffering and death and resurrection and yet the scripture tells us in verse 32 of Mark 9 that they understood not the saying and they were afraid to ask him. There they were in their dullness and non-perception of his repeated prediction

7:19 with reference to his cross and his subsequent resurrection. Now today we come to yet another account of their total lack of understanding of and sympathy with some of the most fundamental issues of the kingdom of God. In the paragraph read in your hearing we find the disciples filled with jealousy with rivalry with carnal ambition desperately needing both a sermon and an object lesson on the grace of humility. Now in spending many hours in this passage I found myself utterly unable even to begin to sort it out without constantly bringing to bear upon it the full light of Matthew 18 1 to 5 and occasional flashes of light from the other parallel passage in Luke 9 verses 46 to 48. And so in both the exposition and application this morning I will be leaning very heavily upon the parallel passage in Matthew's gospel and occasionally upon the parallel in Luke's gospel. First of all consider with me as we approach this vital section in the record of Mark the occasion and setting

The Occasion and Setting of the Lesson on Humility

8:47 of this great lesson on humility. The occasion and setting of this great lesson on humility. As we bring together the facts from the three witnesses Matthew, Mark and Luke I will set before you what appears to me to be a reasonable collation of the various elements in the three witnesses as given to us in their respective gospels. Returning from the mount of transfiguration and after the healing of the demon possessed boy Jesus in company with the twelve deliberately avoids the main thoroughfares as he makes his way back from this more northern region in Galilee down towards the city of Capernaum which was found on the northwest shore of the sea of Galilee. In verse 30 of Mark 9 we are told very clearly he would not that any man should know it. That is he would not that any man should know that he was making this trip through Galilee on his way to Capernaum. And so our Lord is in one of these seasons of isolation with the twelve.

10:13 He has just informed them for the second time by way of a concentrated period of repeated emphasis that he must suffer he must be rejected he must be handed over to the hands of men he must be killed he must be raised from the dead. But the twelve as we saw last week were unable to grasp his teaching. They had no comprehension of how his sufferings and death fit into the scheme of his messianic identity and of his messianic function. But while unable to grasp how suffering and death and resurrection fit into the scheme of things they are convinced he is Messiah. And as Messiah they are convinced he is a king. And as a king they are convinced he has and will have a further manifestation of his kingdom. And if he is to have a further manifestation of his kingdom what is a kingdom without a glut of royal tasks and royal power?

11:30 What is a kingdom without those to administer its rightful authority to carry out its various tasks? And how can that be done without an organized body politic with people in various grades and orders of authority and positions of influence? And so though they cannot fit suffering rejection death and resurrection into their kingdom mentality they sure can fit concepts of top dogs and lesser dogs and middle dogs in the structures of the kingdom. What is the result then? Well on their way to Capernaum while they apparently walk by themselves and I think the picture is pathetic Jesus allows them to be with themselves while he either lingers behind or most likely goes before shut in to the painful loneliness of a non-sympathetic context even with his most intimate circle and while he goes before on the road to Capernaum and they follow after there is one subject that absorbs their thinking

12:59 and that subject is verse 34 of Mark 9 Who was to be the greatest? Now I'm fully aware that in the original you do not have the superlative but the comparative the greater but various students of the Greek language tell us that the superlative was dropping out of Koine Greek at this time and in place of the superlative often you had the comparative in place of it and they cite first Corinthians 13 as an example but be that as it may it's but a technicality and I'm aware of it one thing is clear we are told in verse 34 for they had disputed one with another on the way who was the greater or the greatest now as far as they knew Jesus was ignorant of the subject matter of their heated discussion on the way to Capernaum they were carrying on what is called in a weaker word at the beginning a mere discussion but which later on is described by a stronger word by argument they were having a falling out and a fuss over who was to be the greater or who was to occupy the greatest place

14:27 and this is not the only time we find that attitude present in them later on it's even buttressed by the ambition of the mother of two of these disciples who wants to put in her word for her boys and try to help them get some place of key and crucial influence in the coming kingdom now according to Mark 9.33 they reach Capernaum and go into that special house in that city which had been their most frequent place of abode while laboring in the area of Capernaum now most likely as they reach the outer porch of that house they ask with a kind of what we would call cool intellectual objectivity what they think their Lord will hear as just a question of general concern no question notice Matthew 18.1 in that hour came the disciples unto Jesus saying who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven Lord we'd like to discuss with you a question of general interest and concern to us that question being who will be greater or greatest in the kingdom of heaven unknown to them Jesus knew

15:55 what their decision and argument was along the way for we are told in Luke's gospel that Jesus knew understood their thoughts he knew that they were discussing and arguing over this matter of who would be the greatest that there was carnal ambition oozing through that discussion and argumentation so apparently what our Lord does is this they come with the look of innocence Lord we'd like to ask a question who is the greatest in the kingdom there's a period of silence and as they enter into the house and now we pick up the reading in Mark and they came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he asked them he answers their question with a question they say oh Lord we'd like to discuss the issue of greatness and the Lord responds by saying what were you discussing in the way and notice what their response was verse 34 of Mark 9 but they held their peace and the form of the verb means they continued to be silent it was blushing embarrassed self-conscious silence who of them is going to speak up and say

17:23 well Lord we were having a heated argument about who's going to be top dog in the kingdom we were having a falling out based upon our own personal ambitions and our own carn oh no nobody was about to own up to that you see people will own up to almost anything but the sins produced by pride and so it says they held their peace why for who was the greatest so in the midst of their shameful silence they enter into the house and while their necks and ears are still red and while his holy heart is burdened feeling the weight of their carnal perspectives he takes the posture of an official teacher about to make an official pronouncement of the gospel and he sat down cross-legged on the floor and called them unto him and when the lord jesus took that posture and called his own they knew they were about to receive some valuable concentrated pointed teaching

18:52 the master in this setting was about the pupil and the student and they would know from his very posture and his more formal calling them to him for that's the connotation of the verb used for calling them to him it was more of a formal call to the disciples that some special lesson was about to be imparted i can remember growing up in my home when we had a little teacher and he would tell us to give a lecture or give us a lesson or a scolding or a word of encouragement off the cuff but whenever dad said somewhere early in the evening son after the rest of the kids have gone to school he would say to you well i knew that that wasn't going to be some off-the-cuff little word of unplanned encouragement or reproof or rebuke rather it was going to be some very vital lesson that they were determined to drive home to my conscience to my heart and

20:21 sometimes by means of my behind now my children remember it if other than a meal time dad ever said i want everyone to come down to the kitchen table there's something i want to say they knew that this was something of peculiar importance and their whole mindset was prepared to receive not an ordinary exhortation an ordinary encouragement but something of extraordinary importance now that's the setting of this vital lesson on humility given by our master can you feel something of the mingled spirit of expectancy and embarrassment of delight that the master is going to speak and yet shame that by his very question they suspect perhaps he knows what they had been talking about along the way well so much then for the occasion and setting of the great lesson on humility the heart of this great lesson on humility the heart of this great lesson on humility and jesus conveyed this lesson in two ways by word and by object lesson notice in verse thirty-five of mark nine and he sat down called the twelve and he set unto them he's going

Humility in Relationship to Entrance into the Kingdom

21:50 to convey the great lesson of humility and he does so in a form of words that we could call a cryptic and enigmatic a puzzling statement if any man wills to be first he shall be last of all and the servant literally the table servant the waiter of all but then not content to teach by word only he teaches by word and by object lesson and if we again take the three witnesses matthew mark and luke and try to put them together we come up with a picture that's something like this that in the beginning of the world there was a child that in the beginning the lord jesus called the child to him and either directed him or actually placed him down in the midst of the disciples but most likely by his own side is what luke tells us in luke's gospel

23:18 chapter nine and verse forty seven jesus speaks certain things then further on in that incident he takes the child from the midst of them and at his side and he actually embraces the child taking him up in his arms and then gives a further dimension of the lessons on humility the first two lessons with the child standing by jesus side our lord pointing to him visible before all of the disciples and then the third lesson with the child actually nestled in the arms of the lord jesus christ and what then does the child have to do with him in the kingdom well first of all he teaches something about humility in relationship to entrance into the kingdom he teaches them with

24:47 respect to humility and verse 2 and he called to him a little child and set him in the midst of them and said verily I say unto you except you turn and become as little children you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child now as we attempt to grasp the significance of the passage we must first of all sweep away all of the misconceptions we may have imported and brought to the passage whatever jesus is teaching by virtue of bringing this child into the midst and speaking of the relationship of humbling oneself as a child in order to enter the kingdom he is not speaking of any so-called inheritance

25:52 he is speaking of the of humility and humility centric creatures in all the world. Their whole world revolves around themselves. So not only does scripture know no doctrine of the native innocence of children, human observation knows of no such doctrine. So whatever the Lord is saying is not contradicting the universal testimony of scripture as to the nature of children viewed in the light of God's holy law, nor is he teaching anything that contradicts the obvious lessons we learn from our observation of children. What then is he teaching? Well, I believe none of the writers, and I consulted probably well over 30 commentators trying to get at the heart of this passage, and I believe none of them comes closest to it, even begins to come close to it, with the perception with which Benjamin Warfield does in his article on children.

27:19 In which, commenting on this passage, he writes as follows, There was another occasion on which, even more formally, Jesus proclaimed to his disciples childlikeness as the essential characteristic of the children of the kingdom. And then he cites Matthew 18 and Luke 9. The disciples had been disputing among themselves who of them should be greatest. Jesus calls to him a little child, placed it in the midst in their hands, and said, Except you turn and become as little children, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. There could not have been uttered a more pointed intimation that the kingdom of heaven is given, not acquired, that men receive it and do not deserve it. As children enter the world, so men enter the kingdom, with no contributions in their hands. We are not indeed told in this narrative in express words that the child thus made the type of the children of God was a newborn baby, the Greek word brephos, but is called only a little child, paideion. But its extreme infancy is implied when it is said that Jesus took the child up in his arms, Mark 9.36, when he presented

28:43 it to the observation of his disciples. We must accordingly think of it as a baby. I, would say, at least a small toddler in its state of helplessness and dependence. We do, to be sure, find in our Lord's further words a requisition of humility. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself like this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. To become like a little child may certainly involve humility in the one who is not a child. And it is very comprehensive. It is reasonable that our Lord should therefore tell those whom he was exhorting to approach the kingdom of heaven like little children, but they could only do so by humbling themselves. But this

29:33 is not the same as declaring humility to be the characteristic virtue of childhood, or intimating that humility may ground a claim upon the kingdom of heaven. What our Lord seems to tell his followers is that they cannot enter the kingdom he came to establish. They turn and become like little children. And they can only become like little children by humbling themselves. And therefore, when they quarrelled about their relative greatness, they were far from the disposition which belongs to children of the kingdom. Humility seems to be represented not as the characterizing quality of childhood or childlikeness, but rather as the attitude of heart in which a little child is born. Humility is the characteristic quality of childhood, or of childlikeness, but rather as the attitude of heart in which Which alone we can realize in our consciousness that quality which characterizes childhood. That quality is conceived here also as helplessness.

30:34 While child likeness consists in the reproduction of the consciousness of the objected state of utter dependence on God. Which is the real condition of every sinner. Now what is he driving at? Simply this.

30:50 And to me this is a key to understanding this in every similar and parallel passage. Jesus is not setting the child in the midst saying the child is natively humble. Therefore if you would enter the kingdom get off your high horse of talking about greatness and become humble like the little child is humble. No, what he is saying is this.

31:14 You are filled with notions. Of greatness and promoting yourself. You are filled with notions of position and praise and influence. And he sets a child in the midst.

31:29 And the child not in terms of any subjective virtue but in terms of its objective condition is the very picture of vulnerability. Dependence. Helplessness. And weakness.

31:46 The child must have its food provided. For it. The little child must be helped in and out of the car. The little child must be helped on with his clothes.

31:56 He must be assisted when he is taken to the little room. The child is dependent. The child is vulnerable. The child is helpless.

32:08 And therefore when the Lord Jesus as a grown man invites the child into his nearness. Takes the child up into its arms. Its very responsiveness to those acts indicates its condition of helplessness. Dependentness.

32:28 Vulnerability. And he says to people who have little consciousness of that. Who are filled with thoughts of ambition and pride in their own plans and grandiose schemes. You must be converted and become as little children.

32:46 You must not be filled with notions. Of your own importance. But of your own utter destitution of any virtue to commend you to God. You must be filled with the awareness of your vulnerability.

33:02 Of your weakness. Of your dependentness. That you are to receive all as the gift of grace. And to receive nothing as the fruit of your own climbing over one another in carnal ambition.

33:18 To be high. And to be selfless. And to be humble. And to be humble.

33:22 And to be humble. And to be humble. And there our Lord teaches the first great lesson of humility. In relationship to entering the kingdom.

33:29 And he says in essence to these people. Look. You are discussing who is going to be greater and greatest. If there is not a radical fundamental transformation of that whole mentality.

33:43 You won't enter the kingdom. Talk about relative positions. I'm talking about even entering. the kingdom until you turn and become as little children don't even think of entering the kingdom now he's going to expand that lesson further and in more graphic detail in chapter 10 verses 13 to 16 and i do not want to go ahead and turn to that passage but suffice it to say at this point if you if i have never been brought down stir of self-importance that makes us think in terms of promoting ourselves seeking things for ourselves accumulating influence and power and we've never been brought to the place where we see ourselves as helpless as dependent as vulnerable as a little child we never know the stripping humbling work of the holy spirit essential to entering the kingdom of heaven

35:01 it's but another way of the truth of the first beatitude blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven my friend have you been stripped brought low have you been converted that is turned from that course into which all of us goes by nature because of our own corrupt hearts in which you think you can make it under your own steam you can make yourself acceptable to god you can build your order to heaven you can climb it in your own strength or have you been converted have you turned and become like a little child standing before a holy god and his inflexible law acknowledging oh god i am nothing i have nothing i can do nothing to turn away your wrath i'm vulnerable i'm liable to its the wrath and to the judgment deserved because of my sin

36:18 oh lord i am utterly dependent upon you and upon your grace if i am ever to find acceptance if i'm ever to find acceptance Ichabod Ichabod Ichabod pardon if I'm ever to have an entrance into the kingdom. It must be on the basis of the work and the virtue of another. That's the first great strand of the lesson of humility that Jesus taught in that house in Capernaum that day. But then there was a second strand with the child still standing there as part of his object lesson, and it's this. Humility in relationship to our status within the kingdom. You see, our Lord not only teaches something about humility in relationship to entering the kingdom, but he goes on to teach a vital lesson regarding humility in relationship to our status within the kingdom. The latter part of Matthew 18, 4, the one who humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest or the greater of all. In the kingdom of heaven, our passage in Mark gives a fuller account. Our Lord said,

Humility in Relationship to Status Within the Kingdom

37:36 if any man would be first, if any man wills to excel in my kingdom, he shall by deliberate choice and the disciplines of grace take the posture of being last of all. And what does that mean in practical terms? It means instead of thinking of being top dog and having people do for me, I become low dog and I do for them. You see the language? He that would be first shall be last of all, and in that position and posture, the table waiter, the servant of all. Oh, how their necks must have got even more red. Here they've been arguing, disputing about rank and status, and now a little child standing in the midst. Does that child have any previous intimation from Jesus, what he wants when Jesus calls the child by name? And if it was a child of that particular household, it's

38:53 my own conviction it was not only a child that Jesus knew and that knew Jesus, but a child that had perhaps, as some of the children in this room have said, had a child that had had a child that had a child that had a child that had a child that had a child that had a child. This very church family manifested in an unusual way certain qualities that endeared that child to Jesus and to the rest of the disciples. Some have suggested it may have even been one of Peter's children, if that was Peter's house. There are other traditions and that's all they are, for scripture gives us no record and we cannot say for sure, but this much is clear. With the child called into the midst, there's no indication that the child dictates that, in essence, he walked with us into the midst. The child's the king. The water is water. The water is the king!

39:42 Fr. Clark's what is appropriate for the passage of Св. Eleanor's record by whose understanding he was teacher. Fr. No, he didn't want the child in the midst or his execution, we have to have those words for the first time in passage. Fr. I see. He is the view.

39:58 He knows more of the kingdom, not just a few words, but he understands what the legs of the high priest will be, everyday. to the needs of others instead of always thinking in terms of being one notch up and having others beneath you to minister to your needs. And again, our Lord will expand this lesson in the 10th chapter of Mark beginning at verse 35 and following. Both of these initial lessons are expanded in the next chapter and I don't want to run ahead, but again, suffice it to say,

40:31 that itch to be somebody, to have influence, position in a high profile will consign you to the lowest rank for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. And it's only when we've been brought to the place where all notions and desire to be noticed, appreciated, served, and fawned over gives way to a determination to live and to be loved. At the end of the line, serving others, that we shall know any true greatness in the kingdom of Christ. Here is, as it were, a preview of the rich teaching of Philippians 2. Look not each of you upon his own things, but each of you upon the things of others. Be not high-minded. Condescend to men or to things of love, low estate.

41:34 Now listen to me. This runs right across the grain of current pop psychology. Current pop psychology is thundering into our ears from every direction. Assert yourself.

41:50 Be your own man. Be your own woman. It says to housewives, don't demean yourself by being buried under the sea of your husbands and your children's identity. Break out of all that and have your own independent identity.

42:09 Isn't that what it's telling you, women? Isn't that what it's saying? You've been at the end of the line,

42:17 husband and your family and your children ahead of you, serving them. Stop it, women!

42:28 Isn't that what it's telling you?

42:31 Yes or no, women? Isn't that what it's telling you? Do you hear it? Isn't it in women's day?

42:40 You listen to Jesus. Would you be great in his kingdom? Then you deliberately choose the end of the line. That from the posture of the end of the line you can look up and see whoever has need and you can run to serve them and when you've served them go back to the end of the line again.

42:59 And when you see another with need you run up and serve them and go back to the end of the line. You find your delight living at the end of the line in loving service to others. That's greatness in his kingdom.

43:16 You men aspiring to the ministry, you better come to grips with this.

43:22 There is of necessity a higher public profile to a man who labors in the word and in doctrine. But if that profile is nothing more than unnecessary evil, a sort of incidental attendant and occupational hazard, if it's anything you crave and love, you know what you are? You're a Pharisee to whom Jesus will say, beware of these people who love their clerical titles and their clericalness. Their clerical positions and their clerical profile.

43:58 The ministry rightly understood is living at the end of the line in service to the people of God.

44:08 That's why it is called one perpetual diaconal service. The word deacon or minister is the very word Paul uses again and again in describing the nature of the ministry. Yes, it is perpetual service because Jesus said, if any man would be first in my kingdom, he isn't first because he's climbed over others in carnal ambition by putting down the gifts and graces of others, making sure that they aren't cultivated and developed to show up his own. Oh no.

44:45 He comes to greatness in my estimation, Jesus says, only when he deliberately, volitionally chooses to go to the end of the line and take the lead. Take the posture of a table servant.

45:02 Rather than looking at people as objects to feed your ego, promote your pride, look at those around you as those worthy to be served in self-giving love. So that's the second great lesson on humility Jesus teaches. Humility in relationship to entering the kingdom except you turn and become as a little child you'll never enter. You're not going to enter.

45:29 You're not going to enter. You're not going to enter. You're not going to enter. You're not going to enter.

45:29 You're not going to enter. You're not going to enter. You're not going to enter. You must take the posture of dependantness, the posture of weakness, the posture where you receive all and bring nothing, the posture of a humble penitent.

45:43 But then humility in relationship to our status within the kingdom, unlike so much that passes off for Christian leadership in our day that is nothing but self-promotion and ego trips by men full of themselves and by men full of themselves and by men full of themselves and 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. But then the third strand he teaches when he takes the little child and no longer standing in the midst and before the disciples embraces him in his arms. Look at verse 36 of Mark 9. And he took a little child and set him in the midst of them and taking him in, he set him in his arms and with that child in his arms he preached. There are times when I've wondered if we were not more fastidious than our Lord. I know this was a more intimate setting and in a sense we're in a more public and more formal setting but I've wondered if we ought not occasionally to bring living object lessons right into the pulpit. It seems we have some precedent and with that child apparently resting on the bedside, on the very shoulder of the Son of God relaxed and comfortable in his arms.

Humility in Relationship to Fellow Members in the Kingdom

47:07 Jesus then says these words, Whoever shall receive one of such little children in my name or upon my name receives me and whosoever receives me receives not me but him that sent me. What in the world is he saying? Well, let me be honest at this point and tell you it's that question that nearly drove me to distraction and brought me to one of those times that I come to periodically in the ministry when I come down out of my study I confess to my shame irritable, tense as a drum and I say to my wife I want out. I don't want the responsibility anymore of having to be an official expounder of the word I've come to a passage for the life of me I don't know what it's saying I can't see the connection and I read all the parallel passages read every commentary at my disposal looked up the indices in my Puritan works to see if they'd written on the text and after I was weary and cross-eyed and irritable I said, Honey, these are the times I want to quit. Yes, there are times I feel I want to quit. I don't want the responsibility

48:33 of expounding the word. It's one thing to read it devotionally and come to a passage and say, Lord, I don't understand and maybe next time through but Sunday morning was coming quickly and I had to stand and attempt to expound it and I was at the point where I had to say, well, Lord, I'll just tell the people I don't know what it means and conclude but I think the Lord's given a little light and I believe it's this. Here our Lord is teaching humility and respectability in relationship to fellow members in the kingdom. You see the progression?

49:07 Humility in relationship to getting into the kingdom. Humility in relationship to our status in the kingdom. Now he teaches a lesson on humility in relationship to fellow members in the kingdom. What has he just done?

49:23 He has taken the child who is the living example of the disposition that marks the heirs of the kingdom and what has he done? He hasn't stood there with a suspicious eye saying, is this kid going to upstage me? Are they looking at him more than me? There's no rivalry.

49:42 There's no being threatened. Jesus wholeheartedly, unreservedly, demonstrably receives the child without reservation and clasps him to his bosom. And now with the child clasped to his bosom he says, whosoever shall receive one such little children upon my name. That is, whoso shall receive one not literal child.

50:17 That's not the emphasis though it's one of the applications.

50:22 But the emphasis falls upon receiving one who upon the revelation of the person and work of Jesus is brought stripped and humbled and broken to the posture of a helpless, dependent, vulnerable child and who has fled to the Lord Jesus for mercy and entered the kingdom in the context of the humility of a true work of grace. Jesus says, whoever receives one of these upon my name receives them because of the revelation of my person and work in the gospel and receives them because of what I have become to them. Receives them as a fellow member of that kingdom the door of which is low and narrow through which only the stripped and the broken and the humbled enter. Whoever receives such a one upon my name receives me and in receiving me they receive the Father. Now how does that fit into the whole picture?

51:35 Well, think for a minute. Where did the lesson get its genesis?

51:42 They were disputing about who's going to be top dog. Now let me ask you something. When people get involved in disputes that grow out of ambition, jealousy, envy, bribery, jockeying for the same position, what happens to their interpersonal relationships? What happens in the office where two men are coveting the same position of advancement?

52:16 Hmm? Do they greet one another in the hall and oh no. They begin to look at one another with a jaundiced eye. You're my enemy.

52:26 I'm your enemy. I want that job. Every chance they get they throw out little seeds to tear down the other guy to promote themselves on the rubble of his ruined reputation. Isn't that what happens?

52:40 Isn't that what happens? What happens in a household where there is, quote, sibling rivalry? Just a fancy way for saying you've got fusses and fights among your kids.

52:52 Yes, where there's ambition, where there's envy and jealousy, there is not the unreserved, open-faced, wholehearted reception of one another. There is alienation. There is division. There is friction.

53:08 That's why, the writer of Proverbs says, only by pride comes contention.

53:17 Only by pride comes contention. Why was there contention on that road leading to Capernaum? Because in unmortified pride he was seeking to promote himself.

53:33 Isn't it interesting that the clarion call to unity in Ephesians 4 begins with these words, I beseech you, he says, I plead with you to walk worthily of the Lord with all what? With all humility and lowliness endeavoring 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.

54:14 Receiving one another's in all of our mutual defenselessness, helplessness, vulnerability, receiving one another as Jesus received that child in its objective dependence, vulnerability, defenselessness, helplessness. And now he says, so we are to receive one another, all who upon his name are brought into the disposition of the little child. They are the true sons and daughters of the kingdom. And therefore we receive one another and wonder of wonders.

54:59 When we receive such, we receive their Lord. And in receiving their Lord, we receive the Father. Oh, dear people, what an incentive to mortify pride. In the midst of any congregation.

55:20 Anything that puts distance between you and your brethren puts distance between you and your Lord and your Heavenly Father. And for you to have any silly notion that you can go on with the warmest, deepest, most intense, fervent, devotional relationship to Christ and to the Father, irrespective of the walls between you and your family, and to the Father, and your brethren, is to live in a realm of self-deception. For the Scripture says, if we say we love God whom we have not seen, and yet fail to love our brother who is made in his image, who reflects restored likeness through redemptive grace, and we can see him, John says, uh-uh, you're fooling yourself.

56:13 And that's why John is bold enough to say, he who hates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer hath eternal life, abiding in him. Dear people, in many ways, it's accurate to say that humility is the glue that holds any given assembly of God's people together, each esteeming other better than himself, not esteeming the other a rival to the promotion of myself, but better than myself,

56:47 therefore prepared to serve him for his good and his master's glory. What a wonderful thing it is to live in the midst of a visible community of saints where people are jealous for one thing only, and that is to outdo and excel one another in the grace of self-giving love driven by the wheels of humility and true self-effacement. And so the Lord in the third strand of this great lesson on humility speaks of humility in relationship to fellow members of the kingdom. Let me say in conclusion this morning, do you see how vital it is that we learn the lesson of that household? How vital it is that we ask ourselves the question, do I know anything of what it is to be made like a little child? Do I this morning stand in the posture without embarrassment of defenselessness, dependantness, vulnerability, acknowledging that all of my hopes for anything that is worth anything in this life or the world to come rest upon another?

Conclusion: The Vitality of Humility

58:15 And have I come to see that the way of advancement in the kingdom of Christ is not by promoting myself and dropping little hints about my gifts and my virtues and wondering why in the world people don't wake up and see how marvelous a person I am and give me some usefulness commensurate with my greatness? No, I must always be studying the path to the back of the line and from that posture to be servant of all and then always remember that anything of promoting myself that keeps me from wholeheartedly receiving of all who are His people is regarded by the Lord Jesus as disruptive of our relationship to Him. May God grant, though there are so many areas of application into which this can go, that we'll grasp the fundamental principles of the passage and that we with those disciples may learn well the great lesson of humility taught in the house at Capernaum. Let us pray.

59:35 Our Father, we would confess with shame in Your presence that pride and self-importance are as native to us as breathing,

59:51 natural to us as the very beating of our hearts within our breasts and that it's only by Your grace that we shall ever know, experiment, what it is to be a humbled people. May Your Spirit take the word and apply it with power for those who have never stood, stripped, helpless, defenseless, broken before You, looking only to the cross of Your Son. O Lord, humble them this morning. May the words of Jesus fasten themselves upon their hearts, giving them no rest until they turn and become as little children that they might enter the kingdom.

60:36 We pray for any who today are conscious of unmortified ambition. We think of these men preparing for the ministry. O God, may none of them be at heart a Pharisee, looking upon ministerial positions and titles as a means to promote themselves, but give them a true view of the ministry, that view of service, of service to others. We pray that You would teach us that humility that gladly receives all of Your people.

61:11 And we know that You've called most of them from the poor and the despised of this world. May we never be guilty of a subtle form of class distinction that is prepared to receive those who have the marks of greatness in this world, but are utterly devoid of that true greatness of the greatness of humility. O Lord, speak to us. Write this word upon our hearts.

61:39 May the blessings of Your grace seal it to us and give us grace to walk in its light. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.