Mateus 18

Mateus 18

Wuest - The word is found in an early secular document where it speaks of the Nile River in its low stage in the words, “It runs low.” The word means “not rising far from the ground.” It describes the Christian who follows in the humble and lowly steps of his Lord." Wuest adds that tapeinoo means "to make low, bring low, to bring into a humble condition, to abase, to assign a lower rank or place to, to humble or abase one’s self, to be ranked below others who are honored or rewarded, to have a modest opinion of one’s self, to behave in an unassuming manner.” (Eerdmans Publishing - used by permission) See lengthy discussion of tapeinoo in the NIDNTT (online). Older Articles on Humility - Puritans, et al Quotations on Humility TAPEINOO - 15X/11V - brought low(1), get along(1), humble(2), humble means(1), humbled(4), humbles(4), humbling(1), humiliate(1). Matt. 18:4; Matt. 23:12; Lk. 3:5; Lk. 14:11; Lk. 18:14; 2 Co. 11:7; 2 Co. 12:21; Phil. 2:8; Phil. 4:12; Jas. 4:10; 1 Pet. 5:6 Oswald Chambers - There are no experts in spiritual matters as there are in scientific matters. The spiritual expert is never so consciously because the very nature of spiritual instruction is that it is unconscious of itself; it is the life of a child, manifesting obedience, not ostentation. Our Lord describes the spiritual expert in Matthew 18:4—“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Borrow Baffled to fight better : Job and the problem of suffering page 62) ILLUSTRATIONS OF HUMBLING ONESELF AS A LITTLE CHILD: An Open Hand - A child holds their hand out for food, trusting their parent will fill it. Humility is like an open hand, trusting God to provide rather than clinging tightly to our own resources. A Low Door - Some ancient doors were deliberately low, requiring people to bow to enter. The kingdom of heaven is entered only by those willing to bow low in humility, acknowledging their need for God. A Shepherd and a Lamb - A lamb, small and helpless, stays close to the shepherd for protection and provision. Humility means recognizing that we are like lambs who need to follow the Good Shepherd to find safety and peace (cf Ps 23:1-5+). A Child’s Hand in a Parent’s Hand - Imagine a small child holding their parent’s hand, walking confidently even in uncertain terrain. The child doesn’t worry about the path ahead because they trust the parent implicitly. This depicts the kind of trust and dependence we are called to have on Jesus—willing to follow wherever He leads, knowing He cares for us. Matthew 18:4 TODAY IN THE WORD In his essay, “A Bible Fit for Children,” English professor Alan Jacobs asked his students what it means to “become like children. They responded that children are innocent and have a simple faith and a sense of wonder. “But,” commented Jacobs, “Jesus Himself employed none of these concepts.” Instead, he explained, Jesus was referring to the low social status of children. “After all, in most societies children do not have the full rights and privileges of adults; they are not free agents, they are under the authority of their elders. One can readily see how accepting for oneself such a status would be congruent with Jesus’ insistence that the first shall be last and the last first.” If we’re going to understand true greatness in God’s kingdom, we’re going to have to dispense with romantic notions and pay close attention to God’s Word. Today’s reading provides several important clues about how to be great in the kingdom of heaven. The first way is to live by faith. Genuine faith, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, can cast out demons and move mountains. That is to say, if faith is placed in the right Person–God–nothing inside God’s will is impossible (17:20). After giving this promise, Jesus kept His disciples from misconceptions about power by again predicting His death and resurrection. Against all human expectations, they were to put their faith in a suffering Messiah. Another road to greatness in God’s kingdom is to live in freedom. Jesus did not owe the temple tax. There was no duty to be done, no obedience required, in this situation. But freedom in Christ means the freedom not to put self first, so Jesus told Peter to pay it. He did not bow to the legalists, but simply avoided giving offense by working a rather humorous miracle. TODAY ALONG THE WAY In what ways can you choose a servant’s position? Perhaps your church has some behind-the-scenes ministries where you could serve. Or maybe you could assist some elderly people with necessary but unglamorous tasks like house cleaning or yard work. HUMILITY IS NOT AN IDEAL; it is the unconscious result of living in right relationship to God, centered in Him. The conscious eye of a humble person is not on his service, but on his Savior. There is nothing more awful than conscious humility; it is the most satanic type of pride. A person who consciously serves you is worse than the Pharisee eaten up with conceit. We will be humble if the center of our affection is God’s honor. Our humility will never be understood by someone who is not Christ-centered; but Christ will know the source of our attitude. Jesus Christ did not lift up humility as an ideal. He lived it. When we serve others only for the sake of Christ’s glory, and not for the purpose of being appreciated by them, we will be humble as He is. O FOR A CHILD'S PERSPECTIVE - A Little League baseball player was in right field when his dad arrived late to the game and called to him from the sideline to see how it was going. “It’s seventeen to nothing right now,” the little guy yelled to his dad. “But as soon as we get to bat, things’ll get better.” Ah, the optimism of youth. Maybe that’s why Jesus said adults need to be more like children—hopeful and unencumbered by pessimism and negativism. Could you use a little hope right now? The Bible is full of hope for those who will take time to discover it. Let God fill you with childlike hope and joy today. No matter what you’re facing, good days are ahead. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Mt 18:4 Chris Tiegreen - Unassuming Children The One Year At His Feet Devotional “Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:4 “For those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, humility is the second, humility is the third.” —St. Augustine IN WORD Most cultures love their children. Few give them any respect or honor. We look down on them. It’s a loving condescension, of course, but it’s a condescension nonetheless. Adults don’t aspire to have the status of little children or strive for their accomplishments. We spend most of our childhood hoping to grow up so we can do more and be more. We aspire to adulthood. This may be normal human growth, but it runs contrary to the kingdom of God, at least in terms of spiritual development. Our bodies grow, our intellects accumulate knowledge, our talents are developed, and everything about us matures upward. But to mature spiritually, we must go in the opposite direction. We must intentionally avoid seeking status. We must not try to earn spiritual respect. True spiritual maturity and respect in the kingdom of God are issues of humility. And in order to have them, we must become like society’s least impressive contributors—children. IN DEED Human beings can be quite ambitious. We admire that drive when it comes to athletics, art, business, and every other area of human achievement. We like the prestige and the honor that accomplishments bring us. But when we transfer such ambition to our spiritual life, it misses God’s purpose for us. He did not make us to be spiritually independent. We are entirely dependent creatures, who must learn that the way to grow up is to go down. Have you learned that status in the kingdom of God is an inverted version of status in the world? The first will be last and the last first (Matthew 20:16). Those who wish to rule must serve (Matthew 20:26). And the greatest in the kingdom of heaven has aspired to the humility of . . . well, just a child. It’s a hard lesson to learn, but it’s a solid principle. Aspire to greatness—the greatness of being discounted like a child. It’s the way up in the kingdom. Gems of Gold - “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:4.) O Lord, I’m but a little child who loves to walk with Thee, I like to sense Thy presence near, wherever I may be, I know that Thou art wondrous strong, and careth e’en for me. When I am tired, I like to know that Thou dost hold my hand, It helps me on o’er cragged rocks, and makes me feel so grand, And when I slip and fall, I know that Thou dost understand. Then, when I reach Thy home at last, upon the golden shore, I know I’ll find a welcome true through heaven’s open door, Then I will ever be with Thee, the One whom I adore. THE child spirit should always be prized. John delighted in addressing the saints as “little children.” And we are, no matter the number of our years, but children as we come into the presence of the Eternal. As a “little child,” we should confidently trust. As a “little child,” we should seek our Father’s face. Child-life is beautiful in the simplicity of its faith. A child delights in seeking the benefactions and blessings of his elders. He rejoices in pleasing those who are over him. O God, may I come to Thee with this same child-like confidence. May I find no greater joy than to nestle close to Thy side, than to bask beneath Thy smile. Keep me a child in the innocency of my yielding trust. He loves to feel me close to Him, to see I trust Him so, He’s happy when I run to Him, and tell Him all my woe; He says I’m all the world to Him; He loves me, this I know. He often holds me by the hand, and tells me not to fear, I feel secure from all alarms because I know He’s near; I know I’m precious unto Him, of all things else most dear. And so, I walk along with Him, and cuddle to His side, I place my feeble hand in His and trust whate’er betide, And soon I’ll go away with Him forever to abide. John placed his head upon the bosom of His Lord. There is the place for us, also. We grow tired and faint and we need to nestle up to Him. John Bennett - Matthew 18:4 GREATEST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN At the commencement of the chapter, Matthew is at pains to make us aware that this is a continuing narrative. Therefore, the relevance of the previous incident is very important. The Lord has just paid the temple tax and raised the issue of gathering tribute Himself. Clearly, as Lord of the temple, He had no obligation to pay the tax. ‘Then are the children free’, He says. But He then demonstrates how He acts in such circumstances and submits to the requirements ‘lest we should offend (margin says ‘stumble’) them’. This is the mark of true humility. ‘At the same time’, so the account continues, the disciples wish to speak about being ‘great’ in the kingdom of heaven. What is required of us, they ask, to have positions of greatness in the kingdom? Sadly, this was not the first time they had raised this matter, nor would it be the last. Place and position are ever the ambitions of our hearts. When we have them then we will do anything to keep the status that they bring. It all has to do with pride and our perceptions of things according to how it is here in our world. Now, enter the sphere of the kingdom, and all is changed. Unless you are converted, that is, recognize what you are before God and repent of it, and ‘become as little children’, that is, humble yourself and helplessly cast yourself on God’s mercy, then you won’t even get in! See verse 3. The Lord then goes on to deal with ‘greatness’ in the kingdom. You only get on if you are prepared to go down, He says. The promise of ‘greatness’ only comes to those who continue to live lives on the same basis as they entered the kingdom, that is, to ‘become as little children’. This, alone, is the road to true greatness before God. This spirit of lowliness is one where there is no thought of self, just total dependence and trust in the Father. It can only be worked out in daily, unsophisticated submission to the will of God. The true child of the kingdom starts each day casting his needs upon the Father and yielding all to Him in a total sense of dependence. It is that joy of ‘simply trusting everyday’. Pray for such a spirit today. True greatness is found in simple surrender to God’s plan for our lives. - Jim Cymbala A W Tozer - MATTHEW 18:4 My Daily Pursuit: Devotions for Every Day - Page 37 Jesus desires that we be as sincere as little children, especially when it comes to our worship. This sincerity must be cultivated in our life, and we must cultivate it prayerfully if our worship is to be accepted by Almighty God. Our preparation and coming into His presence has to do with cultivating the simplicity of our lives. That is, getting rid of everything in our lives that hinders our sincere devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. If we would just stop and begin to believe that anything that hinders this is sin, and then deal with it as sincerely as is called for at the time, we would be on our way into the presence of God. What a terrible thing to spend a lifetime making offerings to the Almighty and find out all of them have been rejected! How many people will come to the end of life and realize nothing they have ever done is acceptable to God? Each day, we must strip ourselves of anything hindering our coming acceptably into the presence of God. I hear the Savior say, “Thy strength indeed is small; Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all.” ELVINA M. HALL (1822–1889) Oh, God, I come before Thee as simply as a child, knowing that, before Thee, I am as nothing. Be Thou my all in all today, I pray. In Jesus’ name, amen. J I Packer - If we are not constantly growing downward into humility, we shall be steadily swelling up and running to seed under the influence of pride. CHILDLIKENESS by George MacDonald The disciples had been disputing who should be the greatest, and the Lord wanted to show them that such a dispute had nothing whatever to do with the way things went in His kingdom. Therefore, as a specimen of His subjects, He took a child and set him before them. It was not to show the scope but the nature of the kingdom. The child was employed as a manifestation, utterance, and sign of the truth that lay in his childhood, in order that the eyes as well as the ears should be channels to the heart. It was essential—not that the child should be beautiful but—that the child should be childlike. He told them they could not enter the kingdom save by becoming little children—by humbling themselves. For the idea of ruling was excluded where childlikeness was the one essential quality. It was to be no more who should rule, but who should serve; no more who should look down upon his fellows from the conquered heights of authority—even of sacred authority, but who should look up honoring humanity, and ministering to it, so that humanity itself might at length be persuaded of its own honor as a temple of the living God. It was to impress this lesson upon them that He showed them the child; therefore, I repeat, the lesson lay in the childhood of the child. Matthew 18:5 “And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; receives: Mt 10:40-42 25:40,45 Mk 9:41 Lu 9:48 17:1,2 receives Me: Mk 9:37 Jn 13:20 Ga 4:14 Related Passages: James 1:21+ Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive (dechomai - aorist imperative middle) the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. Matthew 25:34-40+ (EPITOMIZES WHAT JESUS IS SAYING IN OUR PRESENT PASSAGE) Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ WELCOMING THE LEAST, WELCOMING CHRIST Other titles could be "Welcoming a Child, Welcoming the King" "Receiving One, Receiving Him" "When You Welcome a Child, You Welcome Christ" And whoever - Notice as in the previous passage this pronoun means that what Jesus is getting ready to say has universal application and relevance. Receives (dechomai - aorist middle) one (smallest number = even one) such child (paidion) in My name (onoma) receives (dechomai - present tense) Me - Receives is a term of hospitality meaning that one in essence puts the "welcome mat" out for someone, in this case a child. While He illustrates the principle with a little child, He is referring to not to literal children but to those who exhibit the childlike qualities of humility, trust, and lowliness that He had just highlighted in Matthew 18:2-4. By nature, all of us are rebels who want to be celebrities instead of servants. --Warren Wiersbe In My Name carries profound significance meaning all that the Name Jesus implies, so in My Name is as His authority, as His representative. To receive someone "in My name" means to act under His authority, representing Him and His mission, our actions mirroring His character. The way a person, believer or unbeliever, treats Christians is the way he treats Jesus Christ. -- John MacArthur John