Become As Children

One day Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1). As Jesus often did, He did not answer the precise question, but instead raised a deeper issue behind the question. The disciples simply assumed that they were part of the kingdom, and all that remained to be decided was who was going to be the greatest (who would get the most), who would be most honored and respected.

Jesus called their attention to a young child, and then He told the disciples, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). The word “change” means to turn or repent, and it is in the passive voice. It could easily be understood as “unless you are changed, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So Jesus said, in effect, “forget the argument about who will be the greatest, let’s talk about being there in the first place.”

The message of the gospel is consistent, unchanging, always insisting that humans can do nothing to earn God’s favor. We cannot earn salvation. We can do nothing to influence God to love us more. We cannot change our spiritual status any more than we can add a single hour to our lives (Matthew 6:27). We do not qualify for God’s kingdom, for as Paul tells us, “…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Colossians 1:12).

We are not active parties in the circumstances of our human birth. We don’t choose our parents or our gene pool. We don’t choose when and where we will be born. We are born. Further, when we are born we are poor and destitute, in need of everything. We don’t birth ourselves physically any more than we bring about, through our efforts, our spiritual rebirth.

When God transforms us and re-births us, from above, from heaven, because of Jesus and by His grace, we come into His kingdom naked and helpless. We don’t arrive in the kingdom of God with an accumulate treasure chest of good deeds we are ready to plunk down before God so He will be so impressed. When Jesus called for us to be changed and become like a little child, and when He said that we must be spiritually reborn to inherit God’s kingdom, He was not calling for a return to the virtue and values of childhood and childish thinking. He teaching was far more spiritually significant and meaningful.

Think of what Jesus’ original audience to whom He spoke these words must have thought. No one in first-century Palestine idealized childhood. Childhood was hard, often bitter, a time of powerlessness. Children were exploited and even abandoned throughout the Roman Empire. They were victimized, just as much or more, than they are now. And yet, within all of that, the message of the vulnerability we have, in Christ, comes through loud and clear. Jesus told us that we would enter the kingdom of God only by being reborn, only by God changing us, only by God’s grace. He was teaching us about a second birth, not “from below” (not from our human values and virtues) but “from above” – a radical new birth that transforms us into God’s own dear children.

Belief in Jesus does not take us back to childish, immature behavior, but it does transcend so much of what our culture tries to teach us about success.

OUR RADICAL NEW BIRTH, TRANSFORMING US INTO GOD’S VERY OWN CHILDREN, TRANSCENDS THE POWER-GRABBING, SUCCESS-ACHIEVING PYRAMIDS AND HIERARCHIES OF BECOMING THE VERY THING THE DISCIPLES WANTED TO BE – “THE GREATEST.”

The kingdom of God tells us that those who would be greatest among us would be like the youngest (Luke 22:26) and the greatest will be your servant (Matthew 23:11).

Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? That would be Jesus, for no one has ever or will ever humble themselves and serve others as Jesus has and does.

Who will be the greatest in the kingdom? That’s not the question. The question is –WHO IS IN THE KINGDOM, AND BY WHAT RIGHT ARE THEY THERE? The citizens of the kingdom are those who have chosen to accept Jesus as Savior and to make Him the Lord of their lives. This involves a dependence similar to a little child who follows the directions of his parents accepting the fact that they know more than he does. Compared to Jesus, we are all immature children.

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