Honor In Humility Part 3
Humble As A Child
Matthew 18:4
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Intro: Jesus is
making a very clear statement here; the path to greatness is through the
humility of a child. What is it about a child that illustrates humility?
I. Children are
Touchable
·
Mark
10:13 And they brought young children
to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought
them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much
displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not
receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his
hands upon them, and blessed them.
When it comes to being touched, most people are
uncomfortable. They put up walls. We call it “personal space”. We are very
selective in who we allow in our “personal space”. We are reserved and
skeptical.
Children are willing to be held, touched.
Children are permissive of others showing affection, love
and attention.
This word “touch” here does not mean a casual, simple
contact. It is much more involved than that.
In fact, the word “touch” here is the Greek word – haptomai (hap’-tom-ahee) which means to
fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to
It is the same word found in II Cor. 6:17 -
·
2
Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing; and I will receive you,
It is also found in I
Corinthians 7:2 Now concerning the
things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless,
to avoid fornication,
This word speaks of an intimate, ongoing, touch.
I believe what Jesus was saying here was this: If you want
to be great, you must be willing to let me touch you; hold you; make myself
real to you; not have up walls and not be uncomfortable with me invading your “personal
space”.
·
James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh
to you.
II. Children are
Teachable
·
Luke 2:46
And it came to pass, that after three
days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both
hearing them, and asking them questions.
Children are amazing. They are so hungry for knowledge.
They ask a million questions – about everything.
They ask everybody. They assume that everybody knows more than
they do about everything.
Their questions are so sincere and so honest.
They are not worried about looking dumb or ignorant.
It never occurs to them that asking questions indicates a
lack of knowledge.
To them, asking questions is normal behavior. They do not
hesitate to ask questions.
They don’t sit there and debate with themselves whether or
not they should ask the question.
They want to know the answer, so for them, it is a normal
thing to simply ask someone that they think knows.
As a 12 year old boy, Jesus was found in the temple, in the
midst of the doctors – both hearing them and asking them questions.
·
HEARING
THEM: to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not
deaf; to hear; to attend to, consider what is or has been said
·
ASKING
THEM QUESTIONS: to accost one with an
enquiry, put a question to, enquiry of, ask, interrogate
The path to greatness is to humble yourself as a child.
Do you ask questions? Or do you pretend to know the answer?
The normal behavior of many Christians is to CRITICIZE,
DEMEAN, FEAR or IGNORE things they do not understand, rather than to ask
questions and LEARN.
III. Children are
Tender
·
2
Chronicles 34:27 Because thine heart
was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his
words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst
thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even
heard thee also, saith the LORD.
Children are sensitive.
They are very aware of their surroundings.
They are sensitive to rebuke, reproof, correction,
instruction.
They are tender to changes in their environment, more alert
to hot and cold.
They are alert to people’s tone of voice, facial
expressions, etc.
Children are more apt to cry.
Children are more susceptible to pain. They respond quickly.
Children are quick to respond to potential danger. (spiders,
ants, etc.)
Children are quick to please. They get excited quickly.
Jesus said that the key to greatness is to humble yourself
as a child.
Children are not normally calloused and out of touch.
There is no honor in being:
·
unemotional in your praise
·
unmoved by preaching
·
unaffected by truth
·
unbothered by your sin
·
unrepentant in your wrongdoing
·
unchanged by rebuke
·
approachable by the Holy Spirit
·
unafraid of the chastening of the Lord
That means becoming more tender.
Quick to cry over things that should make us cry.
Quick to rejoice over things that should make us rejoice.
Quick to notice when something is wrong.
Quick to pick up on danger and harmful elements.
