Who is the greatest? We like to compare ourselves with others. Many popular television shows focus on identifying who is the best singer, the best dancer, baker, or cook. It is hard to play a friendly game of pick up basketball without comparing who is better than me, who am I better than, and most importantly, of all of us gathered who is the greatest.
Have you ever been at a dinner party and found yourself comparing the furniture and the feel of the home you are visiting with your own? Maybe you even think about who is the better cook? Sometimes we can’t help but ask: ‘Who is the greatest?’
“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” The disciples wanted to know where they stood, how high up were they on the rankings for the hall of fame voting committee? They wondered how does their fasting and prayer compare with others? Perhaps they wanted reassurance that the purity of their hearts, the devotion they had to their LORD was above average and healthy. Or maybe they just wanted to feed their pride.
Jesus turned their expectations upside down in the moment the child Jesus called appeared next to him. No doubt the child now in their midst was smaller, less learned, and far less versed in good manners. In the ancient world it was unheard of to look at children as the model for excellence. They were less educated, far less rational and logical, and far less independent and self resourceful. It wouldn’t make sense to people to see children as role models for faith.
Jesus was emphasizing not the innocence of children, nor the virtue of children- because children like adults are corrupted by sin. Instead Jesus emphasized the complete dependence children have on their parents. The greatest in the kingdom of heaven are the ones who are most dependent on their Heavenly Father for every need.
I once saw a Peanuts comic strip where Linus describes to Charlie Brown that some of the most secure moments in life are when you are a child in the back seat on a long summer night ride home. As children you don’t have to worry about if the car is going on the right highway, or if there is enough gas in the car or anything like that. You are secure and content because you are part of a family.
We have this same security and peace throughout our lives in God’s kingdom, we do not need to know all of the details of how God is working in the world. We trust in faith we will arrive safely to our final destination with Jesus. And Jesus gives us this reassurance as He nurtures us with his body and blood throughout our lives- reminding us, you are forgiven, I have made you my own.
“Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The greatest are those who turn away from self reliance, self pride, and spiritual self sufficiency. The greatest are those who trust in faith in what God provides.
We trust in Jesus completely dependent on him, we seek to be like children who just take it for granted that our parents will care for all of our needs. This is not easy for us. Everyday we need to repent of our own sin and remember that Jesus provides. We need to accept this amazing truth that Jesus is indeed the bread of life.
Earlier when Jesus gave the sermon on the Mount he already gave a preview of this important teaching about childlike dependence on God with the first of the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor is spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” Poor in spirit are those who have little to say to defend or justify themselves, it is a position of humility, it is faith like a child.
Holy Baptism helps us to see the folly of trusting in our own spiritual strength. We receive baptism as a gift, nothing that we have earned. Jesus comes to us even as infants and makes us His children.
Those Christians who make Baptism about their own decision to follow Jesus are caught in the trap of viewing the dedication and character they have toward following Jesus as what carries them through. They are not depending on God’s promises but instead on their commitment to be faithful.
The greatest among us can never be those who are proud of how accomplished they are in the faith or in the church. Those new to the faith, those uncertain in the faith, have the greatest honor among us. When people visit our church, we do not look down on them as being less because they are less familiar with Lutheran theology or the history of our congregation. They are greatest priority for they are more vulnerable to the attacks of Satan, less secure in God’s Word.
And just as Jesus warns about the grave danger of causing one of the little ones who believe in Jesus to sin, we also do not want to cause others to sin through how we interact with others. If we talk about our faith in a way where we come off as though we think we are better people we can cause people to have a negative view of church participation, as if it is all about having a higher status compared to others and trying to be the greatest.
Divisions within a congregation can cause people to sin. Sins of pride and selfishness no doubt have played a role when conflict has occurred in the congregation where people no longer wish to attend because of misunderstandings about how decisions are made in a congregation or as to why a pastor has not continued in the pastoral office here.
The role of spiritual mature believers is to weather through difficulties and model to those who are newer in the faith what it means to continue to trust in God’s promises even through a storm such as occurred here with pastors leaving or mishandling their duties of the pastoral office.
We may be tempted with the warning that we should not let little ones stumble to the point where we become cautious about how we practice our worship service or how we talk to visitors who may not have grown up in the Lutheran church.
Our culture today has a common sentiment that we should go out of our way to make sure we do not offend others and make them feel accepted no matter what. Often this amounts to the idea that everything starts with being nice to others.
We might wonder if starting the worship service with confession of sins would be intimidating for a visitor unfamiliar with what confession is. We might wonder how we can talk about the gifts of baptism, even for infants when many Americans have grown up in churches that portray infant baptism as a strange tradition.
Some have wondered whether we are causing little ones to stumble simply by being Lutheran, by practicing closed communion and telling people they are not welcome to commune with us if they are unfamiliar with the meaning of the Lord’s Supper and do not share in our confession of faith. Do we cause others to stumble by being Lutheran as opposed to a non denominational presentation that a church like New City might use?
Living out our faith with conviction is never a contribution to the spiritual harm of others. If we were to take a position of apologizing for how we follow God’s Word, we are doubting the power of God’s Word working through us. We are sharing God’s Word whether in the practice of Confession, or Baptism or practice of the Lord’s Supper, or in the hymns we sing, and in the liturgy- we are sharing God’s Word to the world. We are called to play the role of watchmen to the world, telling the full counsel of God’s Word to the world, the truth of sin, and the truth of Jesus’ victory over our sin.
We must always chose proclaiming the truth of God’s Word over the belief that we must be nice at all costs and never confront sin in others. Jesus never demonstrated in his earthly ministry the approach of being nice to the pharisees and scribes.
Last week the church received a letter from Lutheran High School asking our partner churches to not overreact to any media stories with negative press toward the school. It turns out our own Lutheran High School was in a position where it was necessary to terminate employment with a teacher due to that teacher’s lifestyle which was contrary to God’s Word. This is not a popular position to take in our culture, but it is the position of God’s Word which we follow without hesitation.
In our Old Testament reading Ezekiel is made a watchman for the house of Israel, he is to give Israel warning from the LORD. Think about what watchmen do in the ancient world. They are up in a tower spending their time watching for signs of danger. When they see danger they report right away what they see- otherwise they would not be serving any benefit. The advance warning of danger can make all the difference in giving people enough time to seek safety or enter into fortifications.
Ezekiel was to serve as a spiritual watchmen. While some people were assigned to watch for danger from enemies attacking the camp, Ezekiel watched for signs of the enemy from within- sin and disobedience of God’s Word.
We are warned in the same way by Jesus that we must turn and be like children. The danger is ever present in our world today to fall into sins of spiritual self sufficiency. The advance warning goes out to the whole church to be aware of the trends in our culture that would tempt us to put our trust in ourselves instead of the LORD.
But Jesus does not just warn us from a distance about impending dangers. He is here with us in the encampment, in the church. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.” Knowing He is with us, we don’t need to ask and wonder who is the greatest among us. Instead we proclaim, “How great are your works O LORD!.” Amen.