Live humbly like a child

Matthew 18:1-4

Matthew 18:1-4 Matthew 17-20 chapters we find the Lord’s special instruction to the Twelve. He is giving them final preparation for the ministry that lays ahead of them. Jesus has given them a revelation of His person as King. He has given them a revelation of His program for the kingdom.

Now Jesus gives them a revelation of the principles for living in that kingdom. These lessons are rich, essential, and practical. These will be great lessons not only for them but for us.

Matthew 17:14-21, Jesus teaches them about faith.

Matthew 17:24-27, teaches them about citizenship. How to live in this world.

Matthew 18:1-5, teaches them about humility.

Matthew 18:6-9, teaches them about offending.

Matthew 18:15-20 teaches them about discipline.

Matthew 18:21-35 teaches them about forgiveness.

Matthew 19:1-10, teaches them about marriage and divorce.

Matthew 19:11-15 teaches them about children.

Matthew 19:16-22 teaches about wealth and rewards.

Matthew 20:20-28 teaches about position and serving.

Matthew 20:29-34 teaches about compassion. Matthew ²¹ is Triumphal entry to Jerusalem.

These are profound principles for the kingdom. In between those lessons periodically Jesus tells them about His death. So that Jesus constantly reminding them about going to the cross. Matthew chapter 18 becomes the pivotal chapter for the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew presents Jesus as the King to the Jewish audience. Matthew 1 Genealogy to Show Jesus is the King. Matthew 2 Magi’s affirm Jesus is the King. Matthew 3 John the Baptist affirms Jesus is the King. Matthew 4 Stan proves Jesus is the King.

Matthew 5-7, Jesus sets out the principles of the Kingdom. Matthew 8-9 Jesus shows His power as king 9 miracles. Matthew 10 Jesus sends out His disciples. Matthew 11-12 Jesus is being rejected as King. Matthew 13 Jesus tells us what will happen until He comes as a King 8 Parables.

Matthew 16 Jesus said I will build My Church.

Matthew 18 Jesus shows how to live in that Church as a Kingdom. Matthew 28 Jesus tells the What the Church should do. Matthew 18 becomes the cornerstone for the church. Jesus is building His church, but we need to know how to live in that Church Christ is building.

Matthew 18:1-5, Entering the Church.

Matthew 18:6-9, Caring in the Church.

Matthew 18:10-14, Protecting in the Church.

Matthew 18:15-20, Discipling in the Church.

Matthew 18:21-35, Forgiving in the Church. Before the Church should do it purpose it should know how to conduct itself.

Matthew 18:1-5, At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

A child becomes the object lesson. The people of God are called by many names in the Bible. But the most common name by which we are ever called is that of children. Beyond anything else, we are the children of God, the children of promise, the children of the day, the children of light, and beloved children.

Repeatedly, hundreds of times in the Old and the New Testament, the people of God are called children. We rejoice in that reality. When we hear that we are children, we celebrate the idea that that means we belong to God.

But the richness of the concept of being a child of God is not limited to the fact that we belong to God, and we are His children, and we are in His family. Like children we are imperfect. Like children, we are weak. Like children, we are dependent.

Like children we are simple, submissive, unskilled, ignorant, sometimes stubborn, and very vulnerable. The concept of children not only that which implies a relationship to God but with all the failings and weaknesses that children have.

1 John 2:12, I write to you, little children, Because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. Matthew 18th chapter describes the childlikeness of the believer.

This chapter is all about the childlikeness of the believer. We are not the high and the mighty. We are not noble. We are not the lofty. We are not mature. We are not adults, and the profound. We are children with all that that conveys. Lowly children at best.

The whole discussion of Matthew chapter 18 is triggered by verse 1. V 1, At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” “At that time.” As the preceding event.

What was the preceding event?

Matthew 17:24-27,

The tax collectors came to Peter after they had returned from many months of being gone from Capernaum. When they saw Peter, they went up to him and said, “Does your Master pay His tax?” They had in mind was the half-shekel temple tax that was due from every Jewish male every year.

Peter said, “Of course He pays his taxes,” and went to Jesus and said, “What about that?” The Lord said, “I have provided for both you and Me. All you have to do is go down to the sea and throw in a hook and pull out a fish, and the tax money will be in his mouth.”

We concluded from that that there is much teaching there from our Lord relative to the believer’s responsibility in the world. This is not the believer’s relationship in the world, but the believer’s relationship in the family.

On the same day, they get a tremendous insight into how they are to operate as citizens of the world. How they are to operate as children of God? It’s at the same time that that happens. Matthew chapter 18 opens with other 11 disciples arrive. “At that same time came the disciples to Jesus.”

The rest of them have been walking on their journey. They were walking around, and discussing some things, and now they have arrived. The Lord teaches them this profound passage relative to their behavior as children in the family of God.

It is in the house in Capernaum, very likely Peter’s house. “Then came the disciples unto Jesus.”

Mark 9:33-34, Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. Even though Jesus wasn’t there, He knew exactly what the discussion was. He knew exactly what they had been talking about.

They fought. They were proud and self-seeking. They wanted to be in the greatest places in the kingdom.

Who is the greatest? Of all the greats in the kingdom, who is the greatest?

Who is greater than all the rest?

Luke indicates to us that they really wanted to know who had the highest ranking. The Lord has to deal with this with all of us. This inability to see things, though they have been stated over and they are stuck on the same issue.

How many times has the Lord told them that the kingdom is not yet going to come in its earthly fullness? All the parables of Matthew 13 should have given them some insight. The Lord has also confessed to them that He must suffer at the hands of the scribes and the Pharisees, that He is going to die.

We know the kingdom is coming, and we know You are going to set it up. Who is going to be the greatest in it? They were looking at the kingdom in its earthly definition. They were seeking self-glory, prestige, prominence.

Matthew 16:24, Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Jesus has been talking about self-denial and humility all along.

They are still self-seeking and desiring prominence. This debate doesn’t stop here, it still goes on.

Matthew 20:20-28, James and John send their mother to Jesus.

They say through their mother, “could my boys be the chief ones in the kingdom?” The Bible also tells us that all the rest of them were filled with envy and jealousy. They all were having the same problem. They just didn’t all have a mother around who would do what James and John’s mother did.

So, they were all in the same boat. The night before Jesus’ crucifixion, they were arguing about the same thing still. They just didn’t bother to get on the fact that Jesus was going to die. Demonstrate a little sympathy and comfort toward the one who would bear the sins of the world.

They never came to that. To the very night before He died, they were still arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom.

They were really stuck on that issue. Ambition, pride, selfishness, self-glory was behind the discord, the dissension, and the infighting among the Twelve. It is always the case. I don’t care what kind of team it is in ministry, or business, you get a team fighting on the inside for one or the other to be the greatest.

We see people who are seeking preeminence, and they will destroy everything. It goes on all these months, and it never even ends until after the cross. May be that in part their question is prompted because of Peter. They knew Peter was the most intimate with Jesus Christ, the one who was always there. They knew Peter was the object of the tax money miracle.

• Peter is the leader.
• Peter is the spokesman,
• Peter is the water walker,
• Peter was at the transfiguration, and
• Peter was the one who wanted to build the booths.
• Peter’s the one who got his tax money out of the fish’s mouth.

They could easily have concluded that Peter was the leader, but that was somewhat mitigated. The reason being Peter had been rebuked by the Lord to the extent that “Get behind me Satan.” Maybe they thought there was a little hope for them now.

Up to now, maybe Peter was going to be the greatest, but now that He had been shot down so devastatingly, maybe somebody else could rise to the top. The two most likely candidates would be James and John since they were in the inner circle.

Peter was disqualified by the rebuke.

Who is it going to be? They were looking into the kingdom to see if they could be great. The kingdom was not built by people competing at that level. But there are people who seek prominence. They are seeking glory, and that’s exactly what was happening here.

Jesus needs to deal with their delusions profound way. He launches into this entire chapter and talks about the childlikeness of the believer.

V 2, Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, Some people think it might have been Peter’s children. We know he was married because his wife’s mother was sick. Also, it is possible that he had a little toddler. We don’t know for sure.

Luke 9:47, And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him,

Mark 9:36, Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,

The Lord is in the sitting position. All the disciples are gathered around. Peter had come back by this time. I just believe the Lord wouldn’t give a profound lesson like this without him there. The Lord gathers into His arms this little toddler/infant.

The word there “little child” means infant. We can imagine this little infant looking with wondering eyes into the face of the very one who created him.

Matthew 14 and 15, and now Matthew 18. Again, in Chapters 19, 21, and 23. Children loved to be in His presence, and He in theirs. Jesus begins to teach with infant in His arms. The people of the kingdom enter like little children.

V 3, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” There is only one condition in this verse for entering the kingdom: becoming like a little child.

Do you know what that means? The kingdom of heaven. Matthew uses the phrase 32 times. V 1, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. V 3, Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

V 4, The one who’s greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Three times it mentions the kingdom of heaven.

What is the kingdom of heaven? Means the sphere of God’s rule. It is synonymous with the phrase “kingdom of God.”

Matthew 19:23-24, Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴ And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

We know in the parable that Jesus is referring to the same thing. Calling it the kingdom of heaven in V 23 and the kingdom of God in V 24.

Why the different titles? ➢ The kingdom of God emphasizes the ruler. ➢ The kingdom of heaven emphasizes the character of His ruling. It is God who rules that kingdom, and He rules it with heavenly principles, heavenly power, heavenly majesty, and heavenly blessing.

The concept of kingdom of heaven simply means God’s sphere of rule. When you see the phrase in the Gospel of Matthew, you must carefully look at the context to help you to understand what facet of that kingdom is in view.

✓ Jesus is not talking here about entering the millennium. ✓ Jesus is not talking here particularly about entering the eternal state. ✓ Jesus is not talking about the true and the false existing within the sphere of Christian influence and the kingdom.

✓ Jesus is not talking about its influence on the world externally. Jesus is saying, “If you want to genuinely enter into God’s kingdom, if you want to become one of His subjects, one of His followers, a child of God, a son of God redeemed and saved and born again.”

The aspect of the kingdom of heaven in view here is personal appropriation. Entering the God’s kingdom by believing, receiving salvation. V 3, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

If the Bible tells us we must enter the kingdom of heaven, what does it assume? They were born outside. We are born outside of it. Entering it is an act which we must do.

All men are born outside of God’s kingdom and are called to enter that kingdom. The Gospel is presented that men may enter the kingdom.

2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

God wants people in His kingdom. Jesus looked at the city of Jerusalem and cried.

Matthew 22:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Jesus wanted to call men to His kingdom, and He did preach the kingdom. ➢ John the Baptist preached the kingdom. ➢ The apostles preached the kingdom. ➢ They called men into the kingdom. ➢ Today that is exactly what our Lord is doing here through me. ➢ Jesus is talking about entering the kingdom.

Matthew 7:21,

Matthew 18:3,

Matthew 19:23, All the three times the same phrase is used by our Lord. Means to become saved, to become redeemed, to become regenerate, to be born again, to come into God’s kingdom, God’s family, God’s influence, God’s rule, God’s dominion, God’s world. Men are called to enter by the narrow gate.

We are called to enter, which assumes we are outside and must come in. To come under the rule of Jesus Christ, of God in His kingdom. Matthew of all the Gospels most systematically and carefully presents the message of entrance into the kingdom.

If you were an unbeliever, and wanted to know how to get into God’s kingdom, what would you do? Assume that you picked up the New Testament. The first place you start is Matthew. Reason that God put Matthew first. Matthew calls men into the kingdom and tells them specifically how to get in there.

Matthew chapter 1 about Jesus Christ’s genealogy and His birth. You come into chapter 2, you read about the homage paid Him at His birth and the wonderful visit of the mag. Son of the highest, God in human flesh, Jesus saves people from our sins.

Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist preaching. V 2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” What is the first thing you need to do if you are going to get into the kingdom? Repent. You don’t really have to be that scholarly to figure it out.

Matthew 4, suddenly Jesus comes along to pick up where John left off in V 1, and from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent means basically to turn from your sin.

Matthew 9:13, But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

The first element of entrance to the kingdom is repent. Recognize your sin and desire to turn from it.

This is where salvation begins, in a recognition of sin and a desire to turn from it. Matthew chapter 5, “He opened His mouth, and He taught them Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Another element of entrance into the kingdom.

A sense of unworthiness. This is a beggar. You are not earning your own way. You are begging. You have no resources. I want to turn from my sin. I repent. I am sorry for my sin, but I am unworthy to enter into your kingdom. I am a beggar. I have nothing in my hand. I have to cry out for anything.

The same beggar in verse 6, and he is hungry and thirsty. He wants to be filled, and he wants to be quenched, but he knows that he doesn’t have any resources. This is the second thing that strikes you strongly in Matthew about getting into the kingdom. There’s a sense of inadequacy triggered by the conviction of sin, and a bankruptcy of personal character.

V 4, mourn for the kingdom. V 5, meekness. That’s lowliness and humility. V 7, that can show mercy to other people. V 8, the kind of meekness that seeks purity in heart that makes a peacemaker. You must repent. To get into the kingdom, there is a poverty of spirit that must be recognized.

You are not offering to God some great thing when you come to enter His kingdom.

Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

There is a willingness to submit to God in obedience. Repentance, a sorrow for sin, and a desire to change. Then out of that comes a sense of unworthiness. Knowing you don’t have any resource for that, you can’t change. You are personally bankrupt.

You can’t do anything to deserve it. You feel humble before such an awesome God. You will learn that you got to do more than just say you want that.

Not just saying you belong to the Lord. It is not external but something deep inside, and it is obedience to the will of God. You have submission to Lordship.

Matthew 8:19-22, Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” ²⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ²¹ Then another of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²² But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Jesus talking about submission. Dropping the things of the world. Coming and following in obedience. Letting go of the world. If you want to be in His kingdom, you can’t be fussing around with the stuff that doesn’t matter. You have got to be willing to follow Him at any cost.

Matthew 10:32-33, “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

There is that heavenly kingdom with that heavenly Father.

If you want to have a relationship with Him, you have got to confess Him before men. There must be an outward confession. There must be a public taking your place with Jesus Christ.

How does someone enter the kingdom? Repentance, turning from their sin and desiring to have a change, realizing they are unworthy of such a change. Being left with meekness and humility. Out of that a willingness to submit obediently to Christ’s lordship no matter what it costs, and then to outwardly confess Jesus as Lord and be willing to state that He’s your Lord before men.

Matthew 10:37-39, He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

• You are abandoning yourself to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
• You are outwardly confessing Him. You are sacrificing everything.
• You are selling everything to buy the pearl.

• You are selling everything to take the treasure out of the field.

Matthew 15:22, And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

Matthew 15:28, Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. She wanted a kingdom blessing. She wanted to receive from His hand. What was necessary was a sustained faith in the sufficiency of Christ. Persistent.

The people who entered the kingdom pressed their way in it. They go through that narrow gate. They walk that narrow way. There is a price. But they are persistent in their confident faith that there’s sufficiency in Jesus Christ.

They can’t be distracted but they pursue it. Like the guy who keeps knocking and knocking, and the Lord responds. Matthew has laid it out for us very clearly.

If you had read his gospel then you would see that to enter the kingdom, ➢ There must be repentance. ➢ There must be a sense of unworthiness. ➢ There must be humility. ➢ There must be a willingness to submit obediently to the lordship of Christ.

➢ Confession. ➢ Self-sacrifice. ➢ Persistent, pursuing faith. All the elements are there. Here our Lord captures the essence of all of those. He distills the truth in this one statement. V 3, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Simple, childlike, humble trust. The requirement for entrance into the kingdom. “Until you are converted.”

What were the disciples right now? Proud, arrogant, self-seeking, selfish.

Were they repentant of their sin? No. They were flaunting it among each other.

Did they have a feeling of unworthiness? No, they had a feeling of worthiness.

Were they humble? No, they were proud.

Were they submissive to the lordship of Christ? No, they wanted to be in control of their destiny.

Were they self-sacrificing? Hardly. They were an antithesis of all the elements of salvation. Lord says to them, “Unless you turn around” – and it implies that you have got to be turned around by somebody other than yourself.

“Unless the Lord turns you around in the opposite direction.” It takes us right back to the idea of repentance. Conversion and repentance are really two sides of the same coin.

Repentance is being sorry for sin and wanting to turn. That’s the emotion. Conversion is the will that does it. So, entering the kingdom begins with a repentant heart and a will that turns to God. The word “converted” used in the New Testament 17 times, always translated “turned.”

This is the only time it isn’t. “Unless you be turned around and become like little children.” You have got to be the opposite of what you are. You are proud, arrogant, self-seeking, boastful people. You have got to turn around.

There is no salvation without repentance or turning.

1 Thessalonians 1:9, For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to

God from idols to serve the living and true God, They turned.

Acts 3:19, Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 3:26, To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” You don’t just go down the same road, going the same way, and add Jesus to our activity. There is an abandoning of all of that and a turning.

Acts 11:21, And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Acts 15:19, Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

Acts 26:18, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

Acts 26:20, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

It is a turning always. Theological definition. This is the doctrine of salvation.

Psalm 19:7, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

Psalm 119:59, I thought about my ways, And turned my feet to Your testimonies. As a man begins to look at his own life in the light of the Word of God, he will draw himself to God.

Psalm 78:34, When He slew them, then they sought Him; And they returned and sought earnestly for God. Conviction leads to repentance. Conversion is the turning to God prompted by the repentant heart. Following that is obedience. A willingness to submit obediently.

The disciples are the very opposite of all of this. Self-seeking, self-willed, proud, egotistical. Wanting to run their own life, call their own shots, be the masters of their own fate. If you don’t turn around, you will never even get in the kingdom.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom? When don’t you even know how to get in to start with?

How do you turn around? You turn around in becoming as little children.

What is a little child like? A little child is humble, simple, unaffected, without hypocrisy, unambitious. A little child. Meek. Children don’t have great thoughts of personal greatness, grandeur, and glory for themselves.

They are not even conscious about what they wear. They get irritated when you try to dress them up. They are not self-seeking in that sense. They are a simple, little, tender infant in Jesus’ arms. So open, without hypocrisy, content to be held, directed, and fed.

So, content to be dependent, willing to submit, and natural. It is all bound up in one word. V 4, Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It is humility.

• It is the humility of repentance that says, “I am wrong. I have got to change from my sin.”
• It is the humility of unworthiness.
• I have nothing.
• It is the humility of meekness that sees himself as lowly.

• I will follow the lordship of Christ.
• It is the humility of confession that says, “I don’t care what the world says I confess Jesus is my Lord.
• It is the humility of self-sacrifice that says, “I don’t want anything from my life except what God wants.”
• It is the humility of persistent faith that doesn’t care how it looks. Keep pursuing.
• It is that childlike humility: dependent, meek, trustful.

A child doesn’t want to push himself forward, a little infant. He just wants to have his needs met and is content with that. No great ambition, seeks no grandeur, wants no fancy wardrobe, fancy room. Just meet the needs, just give love and care. That’s a child. And they’re so open.

Right requirements

Who is the greatest in the kingdom? Jesus gets to their question in verse 4. Very simple. V 4, Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If you came in by humility, then humility is the standard. The humblest is the greatest.

You people are all messed up because you are arguing about who is the greatest, and therefore, you are all disqualified.

Matthew 20:26-27, Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. ²⁷ And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— In His kingdom, humility is the issue. You came in in humility, and you rise to greatness by going down in humility.

There is no place for me seeking the elevation of myself. That’s disqualification. The word “humble” is a verb form. It means to lower yourself. The one who keeps lowering himself is the one who keeps rising.

Do you know who humble people are? The humble are usually the people who aren’t even aware of the issue. They don’t even think about it. No claims, no demands, no rights, no honors, bows low, humble, seeks nothing. I don’t deserve that.

I am better than that.

I don’t need to take that. They don’t know how good I am. They don’t know how good I am. They don’t know how well they have it.

Philippians 2:5-11, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Humbled Himself.

The child in Jesus’ arms looked up and depended on Jesus totally. The child couldn’t do anything for himself. Childlike, humble dependence that the Lord honors here. You rise higher within His kingdom as you go lower.

Who is the greatest in the kingdom?

Everybody’s great. Everybody in the kingdom’s great. But the least in the kingdom.

Matthew 11:11, Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

But the greatest in the kingdom are those who are the humblest. As we humble ourselves, He exalts us. God gives grace to the humble. Great promise.