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Luke 9:46-56 Key Verse: 9:48 "Then he said to them, 'Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all--he is the greatest.'" The Greatest in the Kingdom of God "Who would be the greatest?" That burning question was on the hearts of Jesus' disciples in this passage. It was such a hot issue that they began to argue with each other about it. Jesus did not rebuke them for their arguing each other. Instead, he taught the paradoxical nature of true greatness. We all want to be great. A person, created in God's image, must be great, as God is great. God told Abraham, "I will make your name great." God wants to make his children great. We should not be petty; we should be great! But how can we be great? The way to true greatness is hidden from sinful man. Those who try to make themselves great often makes things worse even harassing others like King Saul. However, there is a way. We can learn from Jesus how to be truly great. Then we can please God and be really happy. Through this passage, may God help us to learn about what is the true greatness in our life and how to be great. Part 1. What is the greatness in the kingdom of God. Look at verse 46. "An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest." There seemed to be some reason for the outbreak of this argument. Right before when Jesus was transfigured in glory at the mountain, he took only Peter, John and James with him. These No.1, No.2, and No. 3 must have felt privileged, trusted, and acknowledged as leaders. But the other nine disciples who were left behind felt that they were becoming second class. Besides, when they failed to drive out the demon, they fell into a sense of failure. As the time comes for Jesus to be glorified, each one felt desperate to prove himself. They felt the need to take decisive action to put themselves forward. It was urgent because the kingdom of God seemed to come upon them sooner or later. Under this pressure, their inner hearts were revealed. They began to boast of their greatness one by one. Maybe Matthew went first, tweeting through his I-phone that he would be the greatest because he is the most intellectual man among Jesus disciples. Although he had been a notorious tax collector, he asserted that he left the huge wealth and followed Jesus. John also may have challenged this, saying that he would be the greatest, for he had personally been loved by Jesus. Annoyed with the empty talk of the intellectuals, Andrew may have claimed that he was the greatest, for he knew Jesus' heart and took action instead of just thinking and talking. Then, to everyone's surprise, Bartholomew spoke up. Although his argument was ambiguous, he boldly claimed that a hidden greatness in him would emerge someday. As Peter listened, he was shocked, then became angry. Was it not clear that Jesus made him the leader of the twelve? Especially, he pointed out his nickname as rock of church, which Jesus gave him before. In this way, tempers began to flare and an argument broke out among them. Actually we can understand them well. Competition in this society seems to be a must to survive and succeed. As no one remembers No. 2, people always struggles to become No. 1. So, wherever people gathers and makes a community, there are always competitions and struggles to become No. 1 as from the childhood. Every Sunday, I find the children arguing each other at BBF room about who arrived first at the room. They are arguing each other saying like 'I first, I first come here'. The old days in our fellowship, I remember that we also competed each other to write the best testimony or deliver the most graceful message in summer bible conference. Shepherd and shepherdess were acknowledged when they had many 1 to 1 bible study with students. That kind of spiritual challenges for the glory of God is always good. However, for the glory of ourselves, that kind of sense of competition can make us hard-hearted with plastic smiles to each other. When we study the gospel books carefully, it seems that Jesus had a clear order among the disciples in his own mind. However, Jesus did not try to impose a leadership structure on them appointing Peter. as No. 1, John No. 2, James No.3. That kind of leadership structure would not help them. Instead Jesus taught them God's words to help them grow in their inner being. At that time, Jesus used a visual aid. He took a little child and had him stand beside him. This must have made the disciples stop arguing and think. In that society, children were usually disregarded. So this little child must have suddenly felt very special. All of the disciples were looking at him. Jesus said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all--he is the greatest" (48). Jesus turned their concept of greatness upside down, challenging them to welcome a little child in his name. That would be great in Jesus' sight. Let's consider what is involved in this. Little children need to be cared for in many ways. They need love; they need care; they need to be fed; they need to be trained in basic humanity and basic knowledges, and so on. Their needs cannot be put aside. They want immediate care. So, one who welcomes a little child accepts a great responsibility, requiring sacrifice. What is more, investing in little children does not yield immediate results. It takes years for a child to become productive. There is no human glory in caring for little children. It looks like an insignificant job and an one-sided investment. Therefore, those driven by selfish ambition cannot do it. They usually try to avoid little children because it's time consuming and laborious. To welcome a little child, the disciples needed to lose their selfish ambition. They needed to stop thinking about their own greatness. They should learn compassion for a helpless young child. Mere education can not help them. It requires a new spiritual birth. The words "in my name" are important. Jesus was not trying to make the disciples good baby-sitters. He wanted the disciples to accept weak and needy people, share the gospel with them, bear with them patiently, and raise them as useful people to God and man. We can find a good example in the Paul's letter to Philemon. Paul was a great spiritual leader with a worldwide ministry. He met Onesimus, a runaway slave, who was in prison for theft. From a human point of view, Onesimus looked worthless and Paul seemed too great and busy to take care of him. However, Paul welcomed Onesimus in Jesus' name. Onesimus accepted the gospel through Paul and was changed. He became a useful man to his master Philemon, to Paul, and to the work of God. According to tradition, he became the bishop of the church at Ephesus after Timothy. God established our fellowship to take care of the wandering campus students. We lead them to Jesus and help them to grow for the salvation. However, it costs a lot. Our time, money, energy in our life are consumed to care for the sheep. Shepherd and shepherdess are like a spiritual babysitter caring for the child. We can not do that with our selfish ambition. When we welcome little ones in Jesus, we welcome Jesus himself. When we takes care of his little ones, Jesus fills our hearts with love, listens to our prayers, provides for our needs, and gives us divine wisdom to live by. So those who welcome little ones in Jesus' name are greatly blessed. They learn Jesus' mind and heart deeply and grow to maturity. Those who mature in Christ are not necessarily the professors with complicated theology. Rather, they are those who care for Jesus' little ones from their hearts. To be great in Christ, we should care for one person with Jesus mind and prayer. When we care for one person in Jesus' name, Jesus is honored. Where Jesus is honored, the Father God himself comes to dwell. When God comes to dwell with a person, that person becomes truly great. God dwelling with Abraham changed him from an old man to a source of blessing to the world. God dwelling with the people of Israel changed them from a nation of slaves into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Though the disciples were weak and immature at that time, God was with them through Jesus. God made them great, great enough to preach the gospel to all nations. God makes people or nations great. So the secret of the true greatness is to have God with us. To have God with us, one thing is essential. It is to be humble. The Bible says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (1 Pe 5:5). When Jesus said "the least among you all is the greatest," he meant the most humble person is the greatest. Part 2. How to be great in the kingdom of God. How can we sinful human beings be humble enough for God to be with us? We become proud so easily. It is possible when we accept Jesus as our Savior and learn of him. Again, St. Paul is a good example. When he was driven by selfish ambition to make himself great, he became an enemy of God and a destroyer of the early Christians. Then Jesus met him on the road to Damascus, saying, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Paul found that he was a terrible sinner. He deserved to die. But Jesus loved him one-sidedly. In his great mercy, Jesus died on the cross for his sins. Jesus forgave him and called him to Gospel preacher. Paul accepted this grace with all his heart and began to follow Jesus. He wanted to learn everything from Jesus, especially his humbleness. He wrote the humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:5-8. Let's find the verses and read together. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross." This verses reminds me of the missionary, Abraham Koo in MSU, USA. When university students, I had a chance to live with him in tent. At that time, the tent was so humble when compared to the ones nowadays. The Korea-type traditional toilet was next to the kitchen where only one cooking burner was placed on the table. The room was heated by briquette boiler. Every winter, we could see our white breath coming from our mouths in the room. During summer, there appeared Dino-cockroachs and rats every morning and night. I did not consider seriously when I heard shepherd Koo decided to live in tent. In a later date, I found that shepherd Koo had lived at a luxurious apartment in Gangnam. His father was a branch manager of a huge bank. He had never lived such a humble and unsanitary life before. However, he managed well to live at the tent as a good disciple of Jesus. Now I think that he wanted to learn about the humbleness of Jesus at that time. Jesus is God himself, the creator full of glory and honor in heaven. But he came down on earth as one of human beings, a baby in a manger, a son of poor carpenter and he lived the most humble life. The reason for Jesus to do that is only to love and save the ugly sinners. Learning Jesus' humbleness made person truly great. Paul became truly great in the sight of God. He was changed from a legalistic Pharisee to a gentle shepherd; from an arrogant Jew to a man of love. Now Paul is known as one of the greatest men of all times. But Paul did not seek this at all. He only wanted to know Christ better, including his humbleness. Learning Jesus' humility is the way to true greatness. We can be humble when we welcome Jesus. May Lord Jesus come into our hearts and make us humble like you! Look at verse 49 and 50. John revealed his tendency toward exclusiveness. He thought that only he and the chosen disciples had the right to work in Jesus' name. Those who had not been called and trained like them, and who did not follow Jesus in their group, had no right to work in Jesus' name. So they tried to stop a man who was driving out demons in Jesus' name. But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you" (50). Jesus taught them to accept and recognize those who worked in his name. The disciples should see the big picture, the advance of the kingdom of God, not just the success of their own group. Since the Protestant Reformation, many Christian organizations have risen. Important theological issues differentiate them, and it is prudent for us to be aware of these. However, arguments over these have often led to unhealthy divisions. This does not please Jesus and discredits Christ's name to the world. We should welcome those who work in Jesus' name even though they are not part of our group. This is a greatness in Jesus' sight. Look at verse 51. It marks a turning point in Jesus' ministry. It says, "As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." The word "resolutely" tells us that Jesus was firmly decided, and had made an absolute commitment to suffer, die to fulfill God's will. As Jesus set out for Jerusalem, he took the most direct way, which was through Samaria. However, people in the village did not welcome Jesus. The Samaritans were prejudiced toward the Jews and Jews toward Samaritans. So they missed the chance to welcome the Messiah. Prejudice makes us spiritually blind and causes us to reject others due to nationality, culture, socioeconomic status, gender, religious beliefs, skin color, hair color, clothing style, or musical taste. Upon receiving the rejection, James and John burned with anger. They wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy them. Wow!, what a great faith they had to call fire down from heaven. But Jesus rebuked them and went on to another village. Through this, we can see Jesus' great humbleness. In actual, Jesus was going to Jerusalem to save the sinners like the Samaritans. Nevertheless, they rejected and expelled Jesus and his disciples. However, Jesus did not burst out anger, rather chose another way to Jerusalem. Ultimately, Jesus responded to their prejudice through the cross. Jesus laid down his life for them. After his resurrection, he sent his disciples back to Samaria. Jesus' cross solves prejudice from the root. A truly great person resolves human prejudices through the cross of Jesus Christ. While preparing this message, I think about a greatness before God. In my case, I wanted to live a life of greatness in this world. After one and half years of jobless period, in 1999 I started my career at the insurance company. At that time, I was very grateful of God's mercy to get a job and I had a humble mind before God. As time goes by, however, I came to know what is considered as greatness in this world. The person's greatness was evaluated by their salary and which company they work for. The person in a high position with high salary at a big company was considered as a high class. Money, social position and personal ability became a yardstick of a greatness in this society. Sometimes, I felt depressed when I found myself in a low class. I wanted to be great and influential. So, whenever time was allowed, I tried to upgrade my social position by changing job within the same field. However, it was not available although I had some opportunities. To my thought, it seemed not good to leave the company and my longtime colleagues just because of the salary and the company name. Among all things, it seemed not right to leave the company which God gave me to do something for the glory of God. As a result, I grew old and promoted to manager at the same department of company. At my age, there will be little chance to receive job offer from other company. Sometimes, I thought that if I had accepted the job offer and moved to a big company, how my life went? My life would become great? Instead of a greatness in terms of high salary from a big company, now I am working in a small team as manager. My staffs do not have such excellent specs and careers as the ones of big company. However, I am in a position to be influential to people who might have life problems. If I can welcome those and lead them to Jesus, that would be great in the kingdom of God. Thought today's passage, I find that the true greatness is rooted in the humility of Christ. Who is the greatest? Jesus is the greatest. We can share his greatness when we welcomes a little child in Jesus name. May God help us to learn about Jesus' humility in our life. Especially, while caring for sheep in our campus, in our company, May God lead us to live a great life before God. |
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