Jesus rules over an upside-down kingdom. The values of the Kingdom of God are directly opposite from the alternative kingdom that humans set up on earth. When Jesus addressed the questions from his disciples about how to be the greatest, I think his disciples were shocked!
Jesus tells us the most important core values of His kingdom.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 18:1-4 (NIV)
The curious thing about Jesus using the humility and posture of a child was that children in the first century had no rights. They were completely dependent upon their father for protection, provision, and their future.
“… whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave.” Matthew 20:26-27
About one half of the Roman Empire’s population were slaves (about 60 million). Slaves, like children, didn’t have rights and were dependent upon their masters.
The striking similarities between these two classifications of people and the posture of dependency and trust, is what Jesus is highlighting in these and other passages of the gospels. Jesus is pointing us to be more like the humble and lowly. He is referring to the tremendous amount of trust that is required in these relationships.
When we live trying to lead others in our own selfish ambition, to be greater in the eyes of others, God will resist us, not promote us.
The humility of a child meant the inability to advance your own cause apart from the help and resources of the Father. If you take a posture of serving others, you depend upon God to promote you instead of striving to arrive at a place of self-righteousness and pride.
“…all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” I Peter 5:5-6
Peter is saying that God is the one who promotes us when we humble ourselves. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this life who run around trying to promote themselves, and it can be nauseating. The way forward is to put on an apron and take the posture of one who serves.
- In our leadership, we must learn to serve others first, instead of looking to be served.
- In our parenting, we must learn to posture ourselves in a place of humility and ask our children to forgive us when we blow it, and work to listen to them and ask questions before jumping to conclusions that will cause more harm than good.
- In our conversations about politics, we must not assume that all the information we have on a subject is accurate. We must humble ourselves and seek to understand another’s point of view instead of trying to “correct” people by blasting them.
- In our efforts to understand all of the strong feelings about racism, we must posture ourselves to be more informed, ask more questions, read more, seek the truth and begin to understand why people feel the way they feel.
- In our interactions with businesses and as a consumer, humility looks like not blasting the poor person on the other end of the phone – but calmly advocating for what is right.
- A posture of humility doesn’t ever look like entitlement.
Humility summed up in the concept of meekness- having strength under control.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 (NIV)
The world says that you are weak if you are humble. The truth of the Kingdom of God is that you are not weak if you are humble. Moses was called the most humble man, and he was incredibly strong.
My prayer today is this,
“Lord Jesus help us to take the posture of a servant today. Nudge us when we get in front of your plans and try to push our own agenda. Teach us how to trust you more for our provision, protection and our future. Purge in us the need to be right and understood. Father, help us find our identity in you. Teach us to be truly meek, by the power of the Holy Spirit, showing restraint in our words and our actions. May your Kingdom come, and your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven! Amen.”
Sunday Morning Service options:
- 9am: In-person OUTDOOR service on the Island. Please bring your own lawn chair.
- 11:00am: Livestream on our Neighborhood Church of Chico Facebook page and YouTube channel.
If you missed last Sunday's message "The Kingdom, Kingdom Value #1: Humility Like A Child, click here to click here to watch the video or listen to the podcast.
