The Lord Jesus leaves us in no doubt about the fundamental requirement for a place with him in the kingdom. On one occasion, the disciples came to him with what was doubtless a loaded question: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matt 18:1).
How did the Lord respond to this question? His response took initially the form of an acted parable He called a little child and put him in their midst This would arrest the disciples’ attention and they might well have wondered what was the relevance of what the Lord was doing to the question they had put to him Having focused their attention upon the child, the Lord declared “Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven” (v 3 RV)
The fundamental requirement
We should note that the Lord was not at first concerned with stating who is the greatest but with laying down the fundamental requirement which must be met if any place in the kingdom is to be obtained What the Lord effectively said is this “Forget about who will be the greatest in the kingdom, but get hold of this truth, If you do not show a child-like humility, there will be no place of any kind for you”
The Lord stressed the importance of what he said by the use of the “verily” and “in no wise” Having suitably stated and illustrated what he meant, the Lord replied directly to the disciples’ question “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”
If the truth be told, we do not like to think of ourselves as little children But what the Lord is emphasizing here is the teachableness of the child, his sense of dependence upon his elders and his faith in them There is in the little child no sense of achievement, no idea that he is better than others These are the qualities we have to develop They do not come easily.
The gifted should not be proud
As children grow and begin their education, their latent powers find expression Increasingly, they are part of a competitive world, first in school and then in society The differences between individuals, even in the case of members of the same family, can be enormous These differences can be reflected in our ecclesias Some have a great capacity for study and the accumulation of knowledge Some are much more articulate These are inescapable facts of life If our position in the kingdom was determined by these differences, then there would be no need for a judgment We have already, however, in these reflections been reminded by the Lord Jesus that the criteria of human assessment do not apply to the kingdom.
Paul has some excellent advice for those who might appear to be specially gifted It appears in a letter to an ecclesia where the spirit of competition was wreaking havoc Paul gave this warning to any Corinthian who might have an inflated opinion of himself “For what maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (I Cor 4 7 RV) This is truly magnificent Realistically, it takes account of the fact there can be great differences between one member and another But what of that? The difference should not be a subject for self-congratulation but of humble acknowledgment that the gift comes from God, and that it is therefore God who should be glorified, and not the recipient.
Paul thus said essentially the same as his Lord what exalts a person is not his or her achievements, but a child-like sense of dependence upon God This sense should accompany us all through life, and become a growing feature of our character.
Let us then ask ourselves In our prayers, how often do we ask our Father to create in us a truly humble spirit? Very frequently, in our prayers, we may ask God for a place m the kingdom There is nothing wrong in this, provided it is not taken too far, and m the process the conditions our Lord lays down are forgotten It has not been unknown for a prayer at the breaking of bread scarcely to mention either the bread or the wine, but to contain a request for a place m the kingdom If there is any time when we need to concentrate our wayward thoughts, it is when we are endeavoring to remember the price paid by our Lord for our redemption, and this applies with particular force to those who are seeking a blessing upon the bread or the wine
A difficult lesson to learn
If we are slow to learn the lesson of Matthew 18 1-4, we need not despair, for the apostles were obtuse in this matter It was after the incident we have considered that James and John made an approach to the Lord, using their mother as an intermediary (Matt 20 20-21, Mk 10 35-37) They wanted the most prominent position in the kingdom, the one at Christ’s right hand and the other on the left This self-seeking was the negation of what the Lord had sought to teach them m Matthew 18 The other disciples were angry at this inept maneuver by the two brothers (Matt 20 24) It is possible that Peter was particularly offended, as one of the most prominent of the apostles He might well have felt the two brothers were attempting to steal a march on him.
On yet another occasion the Lord found it necessary to state that self-seeking achieves nothing In the upper room, but a few hours before the Lord’s cruel death upon the cross, the apostles were shamelessly wrangling among themselves as to which was the greatest (Luke 22 24) This insensitivity may appear incredible, but it is nevertheless true and we should be under no misapprehension The apostles were not the last to have divisions among them because of their concern with personal prestige With regard to the situation described m Luke 22, the Lord reminded his apostles the greater among them should become as the younger, and the one who was chief, as he who served (v 26 RV).
In retrospect, after the ascension of their Lord to heaven, the apostles would think back upon those incidents where they had revealed their arrogance Indeed, how could they possibly forget? In his first epistle, Peter shows us repeatedly that he had in mind the teaching and example of his Lord This applies especially to the fundamental need for humility The younger members of an ecclesia are to be subject to their elders (I Peter 5 5) But one and all are to be girt with humility, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble The exhortation is then reinforced “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (v 6)
Humility a recurrent theme
In view of the overriding need to cultivate humility before God, it can be no surprise it is a theme which in various ways occurs and recurs in scripture Thus, in the sermon on the mount, the manifesto of the King, as it has been called, the Lord began by saying “Blessed are the poor m spirit for their ‘s is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt 5 3) Is it not particularly significant our Lord here said, “their’s is the kingdom of heaven?” The poor are conscious of their need They are aware of their total dependence upon their God They are the true heirs of the kingdom.
If then we have the loftiest of all ambitions, to be given by God’s grace a place in His kingdom, let us inscribe these words upon the tablets of our hearts “Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One