The Greatest In The Kingdom Of Heaven      9-10-06

When thinking about going to Heaven, what do you think about? Do you visualize a big beautiful Manson which will be your home, the beautiful streets? Do you ever think about what kind of person you want to be up there; a servant, an ordinary person, someone charming, or someone great? Jesus’ disciples thought about who they would be in Heaven and asked Jesus about this: Read Matthew 18:1-4 :

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? He, Jesus, called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever becomes like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom Of Heaven.”

According to my Asbury Bible Commentary, Jesus in reply indicates that the greatest in the Kingdom involves childlike humility. A child was the perfect model for the kind of humility Jesus advocated, since children had virtually no rights. Even as children (because of their status) were forced to submit to others and were unable to claim any rights or prerogatives, so disciples must choose to submit to others and willingly wave any claim to personal rights.

I’m not going to ask you if you want to go to Heaven; but I do ask you, “do you want to be the greatest in Heaven?”

Malcolm Muggeridge said, “Jesus is not a prophet to the winners but to the losers, proclaiming that the last shall be first, the weak, strong, and the fools, wise. It is the lowly, not the proud, who shall inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Prayer: Father, thank you for our church, Sunday school, the many blessings you give us every day, our very start in life as a little child. When we see a child today, Lord help us to see who You want us to be. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Luther McCollum