Living Little
Pastor Mathew Magera – 9/10/17 – Sermon 243
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Live big! Go succeed, live
large, be on top, bigger is better. These sound like familiar phrases that we
hear on a weekly basis. But, there's more. Aspire achievement. Dream it, do it.
Desire greatness. Work hard. Accept nothing but the best. Get your foot in the
door. No excuses. Plan big, set goals. Don't delay. Act now. Time is running
out. If you don't do it, somebody else will. Be popular. Hide your weaknesses.
Dress for success. Create your opportunity. Never quit. Be fearless. Never
accept no for an answer. No one can stop you. Be louder. Never let them see you
bleed. You can do it. Dress like you own the bank. Don't let anything or
anybody get in your way. Surround yourself with successful people. Know what
you want and take it.
I've easily painted a
picture of everything you've ever been told in terms of success in life. It's
different for everyone but at some point you have heard one of those phrases,
attempted to live by them or still hold to it as your ambition in life. What do
I have to do to be the greatest fill in the blank? You've had these motivations
literally swimming around your mind, directing your thoughts, changing your
actions, digging their way into and becoming who you are.
The ambition for greatness
is not new. And this morning we see that very ambition sneaking its way into
Jesus' disciples and Jesus has a very important message to give about our
ambitions. I want you to just imagine what might be going through their minds
as they walk with Jesus, hear him teach, see the great following that he has. Surely,
this thought of greatness has entered their minds. So, today we are prepared to
ask three questions... Who is the greatest? What makes them great? and How can
I be great?
Who Is The Greatest?
Matthew 18:1 says, "At
that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who, then, is the greatest in
the kingdom of heaven?'" The disciples are concerned about their standing.
Just how good are they? Who is superior to all others, how do you reach that
level of seniority?
Judaism wondered that very
question too so it was not out of the question for Jesus' disciples to ask it.
Is it the person who exhibits the most righteousness? Is it the person who is
deep in the Holy Scriptures on a daily basis? Is it the person who has deep
knowledge of the world? Or those who can skillfully teach? Is it the person who
is rich in good works? Is it the person who literally gives their life for
their faith? Who is the greatest, Jesus? Because I want to be that. I want to
have that honor placed on me. The disciples were anticipating one of those
answers, most likely. But, knowing Jesus, we can never expect him to give us
what we are expecting. More likely we can expect Jesus to offend us. Jesus
doesn't even have to answer, but he does. And he does it just like this.
Verse 2 says, "[Jesus]
called a little child to him, and place the child among them." Who's the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? You're looking at them. This person is your
goal. They are your rightful ambition. This person is what you are seeking to
become. Now, as I stand here with this child, I know what you're thinking. Aww.
How cute. Isn't he/she just adorable? You chuckle at him/her being shy and
looking away. You are mesmerized. Cuteness is off the charts. It's everything
you can muster not to smile. But, this is not the reaction Jesus received. This
doesn't make Jesus' point. It doesn't show us how important this action is. So,
while this child is Jesus' example, I need to give you a different illustration
to perhaps give you the feeling the disciples likely had.
Snickers! Come here, puppy! No,
my dog is not in the sacristy. But, if you just felt your blood pressure spike because
I might’ve had my dog in worship and felt offended enough to say something or
walk out of worship entirely, you now understand the monstrosity of Jesus'
illustration here in Matthew 18. It’s offensive. Jesus bringing a live child
into their midst would have been as out of the box and unexpected as me
bringing out my dog and saying the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is this
beagle right here. That's what I want you to feel right now.
Reading the verse as it is
written doesn't give us nearly half of the feeling as it would have for the
disciples or anybody else in Jesus' day. Jesus grabs a child? Yay! Youth
ministry! Our culture has a much easier time placing children at the center of
our lives but we don't understand just how bizarre of a response by Jesus this
truly is. Children had little, if any, standing in the world. They were not
honored. There was no TV show about kids saying the darndest things. Children
had no rights. They were purely at the mercy of an adult who told them what to
do. Yet, a child was the one Jesus said was the greatest.
What Makes A
Child Great?
Jesus says, "Truly I
tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never
enter the kingdom of heaven." While Jesus is saying that being like this
child makes you great in the kingdom of heaven, perhaps more importantly, Jesus
is saying that being like this child just gets you in the door. Not only are
children the illustration Jesus uses to answer their question but Jesus is
saying they are the only ones that are getting in. So, now we’re even more
curious what it is about children that makes them great.
I mean, how do you imitate a
child? In an article in USA Today written back in 2006 I learned about
something called Camp Getaway. Journalist Kitty Bean Yancey writes this,
"When stress at work gets to be too much, many executives are finding new
ways to escape. Instead of retreating to the beach, to the mountains, or to a
golf outing, many adults are, well, acting like kids. At California's Camp
GetAway, an adult can participate in sing-alongs, water balloon fights,
kickball, s'mores around the campfire, and sneaking out of the cabin to toilet
paper the cars and cabins of other campers." This is a real place, folks.
I went to their website. While it is called Club GetAway now it is still the
same as this article implied. But, is this why children are so great? Maybe
that all sounds fun but it doesn't quite get at what Jesus is getting at.
What do we know about kids?
They jump around from one thing to the next, from one place to the next, from
one game to another and they have almost no rhyme or reason for doing what they
do. Yet, while their attention may be diverted from one task to the next, if
you've never seen a child dedicate themselves to what they are doing, you need
to watch them at work. Children give themselves completely to their little
projects. When a child gets working on a project they are passionate about you
cannot tear them away from it because that is all their minds are focused on.
They are absolutely dedicated.
Children will also allow
themselves to be given things. Who knows a child that would say no to receive a
present? There are not many out there. Kids love to be given things. They are
the happiest receivers in existence. To see their faces light up when you give
them something whether they deserve it or not is beyond comprehension. Children
love to receive. Adults, on the other hand, don't want to be indebted to
anyone. My grandmother, who is going to be 102 in November, is notorious for
refusing to be given something. If you try to sneak around paying for her meal
at a restaurant, you can expect money in the mail in a few days after she finds
out you were the one who paid for her.
So, Jesus is showing us this
child because a child was his way of showing that the ambitions of the
disciples were backwards, that our ambitions are backwards. While we live in a
world that wants us to live big, Jesus wants us to live little. He's not
telling us that we need to be innocent like a child or be pure like a child or
cute like a child. Instead, Jesus wants us to live in a way that we are at the
mercy of another, to live in a way in which our very status doesn't matter, to
limit ourselves to listening and obedience, to give ourselves to the little
tasks that we are given. He is taking that which would otherwise be rejected in
this world and he is lifting it up as a way of living. Jesus is instructing us
to live little. That's what makes a child great.
How Can I Be
Great? How Can I Live Little?
We seek greatness because we
see greatness honored. Greatness is given attention. Greatness is given glory.
We want that. "According to Jesus it is not the significant one, the
important one, the esteemed one who 'in the world' is considered great, but it
is the little one, the unimpressive one, the one standing in the background and
in the shadow of the mighty ones who is the person Jesus considers great"
(Bruner Commentary). Jesus wants us to be servants. He wants us to remember how
little we really are in his sight and yet how much he gives to us, we who are
not deserving of it. Jesus called a child out of the crowd and placed them in
his midst as an illustration of greatness, a child who didn't deserve
greatness, who had no rights, who had no status, who was ignored, rejected and
forgotten. Jesus gives us that same greatness, he calls us out of a crowd, we
who did not deserve to be called, we who had no right to be called, who had
nothing to exchange for that calling, we who because of sin were destined to be
ignored, rejected and forgotten. He called that child to himself and raised
that child up by calling them great. Jesus calls us to himself and through his
death and resurrection raises us up and calls us great too. Jesus wants
humility. He wants us to turn from greatness to service, to those little tasks
and to little people and he promises a greatness far beyond that which this
world can give.
So, then not only does Jesus
invite us to live little and promise the kingdom in return but he gives us a
method in which to start if we don't know our way. Jesus says, "And
whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." I was talking to
Bob and Maxine Hansen this week and Maxine and I got talking about her
involvement with the kids in church and how much she loved her work and her
interactions with children. She said how she would be grocery shopping and
someone would run up to her saying, "Look, it's Mrs. Hansen" and she
would smile and greet them, sometimes being unable to even remember their name,
but never admitting it. Welcoming a child in the way Maxine did is one way in
which she welcomed Jesus. How do you welcome children? How can you welcome
children? Think about those who have welcomed children through adoption, foster
parenting, Big Brother Big Sister programs, hosting exchange students, parenting,
grandparenting, teachers. These vocations are highly honored by Jesus.
Jesus is giving us an
opportunity for new life. Again and again. Jesus wants us to abandon the quest
for status and the only way we can do that is if we really believe in the truth
of the other option. If we don't believe what Jesus is telling us, making that
leap away from what we know is difficult. If we do believe what Jesus is
telling us, we will believe there is an eternal kingdom and we will embark on
that journey to live little. If we recognize what we mean to Jesus, if we
recognize that he is our motivation we will see the truth of what he is saying.
Jesus reached out to us and received us as if we were somebody and this
inspires us to receive others in the same way. God's way is downward, not
upward. Take a look at how that plays out in Jesus' life. Born in stable, with
no comforts of home. He was baptized by John in the Jordan and immediately
driven to the wilderness where he was tempted. His ministry slowly became more challenging
as others pushed against him and his own 12 abandoned him. Finally, being in
the lowest of the low he died on a cross and descended into death itself. But,
only through that could he given the crown of glory that he so deserved.
It's not easy to believe
that in aiming downward we are setting our sights on things above, that the
quest for lower status is actually the way to authentic, profound living both
now and in the kingdom forever. It's not easy to humble oneself willing to
insignificance, powerlessness, weakness, living in risky situations and
rejecting the honors of this world. Yet, it is what Jesus is calling us to do.
Jesus is telling us that this is where true greatness lies. Jesus is telling us
that this is the true way and that because he endured death we will not have
to. He is telling us it is safe and that he will not let us go.
Even when we stray from this
way Jesus is waiting again with a child in our midst. Anytime you see a child you
are seeing a little reminder of what Jesus is calling us to be. And Jesus
didn't snap at the disciples for asking about who is the greatest, he simply
showed them like he is showing us today. He wants what is best for us and he
shows us the way and welcomes us into it each time we find ourselves asking
about greatness.
Greatness in the kingdom is
not fame and status in this world. Greatness in the kingdom is not recognition
for achievement or high salaries. Greatness in the kingdom is being humble and
being a servant. Greatness in the kingdom is about being willing to lose it all
and to be at the very mercy of God who lifts you up. Greatness in the kingdom
is about being powerless and totally dependent on His power to make you great.
So, live little. Give yourself to little people and little tasks and remember
this is the way Jesus lived in order to save you from your sin. He lived little
for our sake, and now we, forgiven and renewed, live little for the sake of
others. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.