Matthew 18:1 “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
Winston Churchill was a great world leader who guided England through the dark days of WWII. But Winston Churchill was also a bombastic, arrogant man, known for his braggadocio and his sharp, cutting remarks. One day, Churchill had a verbal tiff with one of his servants. He unloaded on the servant with a barrage of abusive language. Finally, the servant had all the abuse he could take. He fired back at Churchill with same tone of voice that was being directed at him. Churchill was stunned and somewhat taken back. He said, “Who do you think that you are, talking to me like that?” The servant answered, “Sir Winston, that’s the way you talk to me.” Churchill replied, “Ah, but I am a great man!” Churchill had a very high view of himself, calling himself a great man. Yet, in the kingdom of God, greatness is not found in pride and arrogance. It is found in humility. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). It seems the disciples have a touch of Churchill in their question to Jesus in Matt. 18:1 when they ask Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of God. Luke’s account tells us they were arguing about who would be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom (Luke 9:46). The disciples’ question really is quite amazing, when we stop to think about it. Jesus just told the disciples for the 2nd time about his mission and what awaited him in Jerusalem: suffering and death (17:22-23). Now, they are clamoring about who will be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus responds with an object lesson. Matthew 18:2-3 “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.” The disciples had been asking about greatness in the kingdom they believed Jesus was going to establish. They had assumed that they were going to be in the kingdom, but Jesus turns the tables on them. Unless their pride disappeared and their humility grew, they wouldn’t even enter the kingdom. To enter the kingdom of God, we must be radically changed. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humility is the virtue of Jesus we need the most, and it is the one that comes least naturally to us. We are not humble by nature; we are prideful by nature. We are self-seeking, and we are self-serving. Jesus gave us the perfect example of humility. Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Jesus, the eternal Son of God, rose from his throne of glory in order to take on human flesh and come to this earth. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He did not consider his divine prerogative as God to be greater than the mission of redemption given to him. That mission was to save prideful sinners who cannot save themselves. By laying aside his heavenly glory for a time, Christ naturally became a servant. The Sovereign Lord of all became the servant of all. Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). If it wasn’t below the dignity of Christ to humbly serve, it certainly shouldn’t be below the dignity of his servants. If humility is the proper attitude for the King of glory, how much more should it be ours? Humility is the proper response to grace. John the Baptist’s attitude needs to be our attitude. “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Pride is our greatest enemy. Humility is our greatest friend. Muhammed Ali was the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. And he was not afraid to let anyone know about it. Ali once said, “I’m not the greatest. I’m the double greatest.” On another occasion he said, “It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.” Ali was not known for his humility as recognized by these words: “Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.” But the greatest man of all time was also the most humble man of all time, and his name is Jesus Christ. In Jesus, we see that true strength is found in humility.