Kid Living

Well here is number three.  Bit if a break for a couple of weeks now.

“Red Letter Living” – Living lives by the words of Jesus

Kid Living - Living lives like children.

Matt 18:1-9

The Herald Sun has been running a feature recently on the “Greatest”. It has been publishing a series of small magazines of the Greatest, so they have done the greatest medical discoveries, the greatest entrepreneurs, and the greatest athletes. We live in a world that is fixated on being the greatest. We constantly have debates in the media about who is the greatest footballer or cricketer. Who was the best ever motor car racer? Who is the greatest band? We are all striving to be the best you can be, this is a good thing and one I would challenge you in! You need to ask yourself what I am doing that is making me a better person. Also you need to ask am I the same person that I was. If the answer is no then you need to address that! So here in the passage we are going to be looking at today we see the disciples come to Jesus and ask who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s have a look at this passage, it comes from

Matthew 18:1-9 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come! If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

This is a strong response! When Jesus addresses issues of character he is at his strongest! I believe that this is still the same today! We spend a lot of time waiting on God’s word for our lives. We invest a lot of energy to hear God’s heart in the areas of Work, marriage, houses and many other things; however, I am absolutely convinced that Jesus most wants to speak deeply into the issues of character. It is these issues that are of the greatest significance. Who you live with, where you live, what you do for a job pale into insignificance in relation to how you live! Your attitudes to people, how you apply yourself to your work, how you use the stuff you have... these are the issues of character and it is character that matters! In this passage we see the disciples come to Jesus and as about greatness! Jesus however sees the issue of character!

Here they are, the disciples are gathered around Jesus and he is teaching them. As the conversation goes on the disciples ask, Jesus, who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Jesus response, is to get a child to stand amongst them, he then states that this is the kingdom of heaven!

What could Christ have been saying? You are old so don’t stress it will not be you?

There are bunches of character traits that can be found in children that we need to model.

Kids are trusting, honest, faithful, short, often innocent, thinkers, creative, sponges (wanting to learn), they are observant, fun loving, loud and proud (That is my Daddy!) Kids are all these things and more, are these things that Jesus wants us to be? Well yes we are meant to have some of these traits. Is this what Jesus was saying to the disciples? Hey, want to he top in the kingdom of God then be like a kid? I do not believe that this is what he was talking about. What Jesus was talking about was; that we need to be like the children in the sense that they held no position in society. Kids in the times of Jesus had no position at all. They had no rights. What Jesus said was, if you want to be the greatest in the kingdom of God then be the least in this world!

Now don’t be too hard on the disciples, they were still thinking that Christ came to over throw the Roman Empire. They still longed to see this happen, what they were wondering was when they over throw the empire who will be the greatest, who will hold the places of honour? However, Jesus plans were not what they thought. Jesus was not there to over throw the Romans; he was there to over throw the darkness, to defeat Satan fair and square. His kingdom was not of this world, well not yet! So Jesus takes the chance to teach them. To teach them the value of the kingdom.

Jesus said, unless you turn around, change, become new, convert and become like one of these children you will not enter the kingdom. Until you stop wanting position, and get your character right the kingdom of heaven is not going to happen for you!

If we are to enter the kingdom of heaven we need to change! We need to change completely! There is no area of your life that can remain the same! This is child likeness. A child is in a state of complete change! They grow taller, stronger, and wiser, their entire world is in a state of change! What Jesus is asking is that we change! We need to turn around Intellectually, Emotionally, Psychologically, ethically, and relationally! Now Jesus is not asking that we change all at once and under our own steam! What Jesus is asking is that as children we change through life and through the guidance of the creator! It is about a journey of change! Imagine if a child were to grow up in an instant! Would not work would it!

The biggest change that we in the western church need to make is to lower ourselves! We need to humble ourselves in so many ways!

A recent survey of Young Adults gave these results:

81% had "getting rich" as their "most important or second-most-important life goal";
·        51% had "being famous" as their "most important or second-most-important life goal";
·        Twice as likely to admire an entertainer as a political leader.
·        55% "dream about getting rich," according to a Gallup Panel survey.
·        "Developing a meaningful philosophy of life" dropped in importance from 85.5% in 1967 to 45% in              2005, according to an annual survey of college freshmen by the Higher Education Research Institute.
·        Those who say it is "essential" or "very important" to be "very well off financially" grew from 41.9% in                    1967 to 74.5% in 2005, according to the same annual survey.

Personally we need to be humble! We need to change from the world’s way, getting what ever we can for ourselves and start to give all we have for others! It will only be when we take a position lower than others that we will be in a position to give respect to others.

I believe that this is an issue not just individually but corporately! I believe that the west needs to humble itself before the third world. A term that is growing is actually the two thirds world. In that the west is the minority. We have placed our selves on too high a pedestal and we need to step of it and humble ourselves! It is the church that must lead this! We need to be the ones to start this process! Now humility is not about weakness, but it is about respect and character!

Perspective is a wonderful thing if we lower our selves those around us will appear to grow! Now this is not about false humility! We don’t need to appear humble, we need to be humble.

“Christianity is not a self-gaining industry, but a movement of people following Jesus in giving the best of our selves to others.” Ash barker, The Australian Christian. (Online magazine of the Church of Christ)