The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: You’re a child. You have a sweet heavenly Father. We are to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven, Thy kingdom come." Lord, You come. You reign in me. You put Your love, Your joy, Your peace. Cleanse out all the evil and bring in all the purity. You are my Father. I’m Your child. Because of this, because of what He did, not because of what I did.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us for The Healing Word. The world often measures greatness by achievement, influence, recognition, and position. Jesus measures it differently. When His disciples asked who would be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus placed a child before them and taught a lesson about purity, trust, forgiveness, and humility. Today, Pastor Jack Morris challenges us to rediscover those childlike qualities in childlike greatness.

Pastor Jack Morris: If you have a sermon outline, if you’d like to open up in your bulletin and follow along, may God bless His word to us this morning. Questions are so important. Really, they are. Questions reveal so much of the person who is asking the questions. Now, answers are revealing, but questions are just about as revealing as answers.

The disciples had a serious question, and I know a little bit how they felt. I know when I was in class, I would hesitate at times to ask a question, thinking that I’m the only one that wants to ask that question and it might be a stupid question, so I would hold back. These disciples were talking among themselves and pondering and discussing. They had a question, and finally, they got up enough nerve and they asked Jesus the question. The question was, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" or the kingdom of God. We use that term kingdom of heaven and kingdom of God synonymously. It's fine hair splitting to try to split between the two. Both mean basically the same thing.

It’s a very revealing question, and a very revealing answer. The question that they asked revealed their misconception. See, that’s why I was always afraid to ask a question in class. I was afraid to ask it because I would reveal something of me that I didn’t understand, and I thought everybody else is so smart, they all understand this, and I don’t want to be the only one that does not understand it. But sure enough, they asked a question that revealed a misconception.

They thought Jesus was coming to establish His kingdom visibly, right now, on this earth, at that time. They thought He was going to take over the line of David, sit upon the throne of David, and make Israel a sovereign, independent nation, overthrow Rome, and make Israel sovereign. That’s why everyone shouted the great hosannas on the day of Triumphal Entry. They thought, "Here comes the king. He’s marching in. He’s going to take over Jerusalem, and we’re going to be a free people, and Rome, go back to Rome. We won’t pay taxes to you anymore."

The disciples thought that’s what Jesus was going to do at that time. So they wanted to know who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In Your kingdom that You’re going to establish here now, who’s going to be the greatest? Who do You like the most? Who has impressed You the most? We’re all going to graduate from the school of discipleship, but who’s going to graduate magna cum laude? Who’s average and who’s above average? Can You tell us who’s going to be the greatest?

You see, He had just the chapter before taken three of them up on the Mount of Transfiguration: Peter, James, and John. The disciples were wondering, are these the greatest? Are these His favorites? They revealed this misconception. What Jesus was trying to say was that when He was here, He was not going to establish a visible kingdom at this time. There will be a visible kingdom at a future date, but the kingdom of God at this time is within you. It’s inside you. It’s invisible. You can’t see it. It doesn’t come with ostentation.

The disciples missed it by a hundred miles. They completely missed it. But if they hadn’t asked that question, we wouldn’t have learned the lesson that we’re going to learn this morning from the Word of God. Notice if you have your Bibles open or the sermon outline, Point A: The disciples' question about greatness. You can write down the word greatness under Point A.

Look at verse one, Matthew chapter 18, verse one. "At that time." Jesus was approaching the time of the week of passion, and He was going to be crucified. Up until that time, He had been ministering to everybody, the Gentiles. Remember He said, "I didn’t come but to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The ministry had been turned outward. But now, at that time, He turns His ministry inward to talk to the disciples. He has to talk to these men. Everything depends upon these men, the future kingdom of God, the salvation of the world, the Great Commission mandate. It all depends upon these men.

At that time, he turns the ministry toward the disciples, and it said at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He knew that with that kind of concept, the mandate of the Great Commission reaching the world for the gospel would never be fulfilled if they had jealousy and they were bickering among themselves. As a matter of fact, on one occasion, two of them came to Jesus with their mother. I don’t know whether they were too cowardly to come right out and ask themselves, they brought their mom along. She said, "I want one of my sons to sit on Your right hand, and the other one to sit on Your left hand." Jesus knew at that time that there’s this competition. They’re measuring greatness like the world measures greatness. Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

There is a kingdom. When I talk about the kingdom of heaven, what you need to keep in mind is all I’m talking about is Christian faith or Christianity, the church. Kingdom of heaven, Kingdom of God, Christianity. I think if you keep that in mind, you’ll know exactly what Jesus is saying. Who’s the greatest Christian in the world? That’s what they were asking. Who’s the greatest follower? Who’s the most dedicated to You? Who do You like the best? Who impresses You the most? Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Well, Jesus was King. He was born to be King. There is a kingdom. You and I this morning are part of that kingdom. That kingdom lives within our hearts. It’s invisible within us. You and I are His subjects. We bow before Him. You see, He was born to be King, and somehow even the Magi at the birth of Christ in Bethlehem came inquiring, "Where is He who is born King?" Somehow they knew that He was born to be obeyed, born to be loved, born to be served, that He is a King, and we are to be His subjects. I don’t know how they knew that. Intuitively, they knew that somehow. It’s a little vague, but they knew He was born to be a King.

The thief on the cross was, I suppose, illiterate concerning theology, knew very little about theology, but somehow, dying with his last breath, he knew Jesus had a kingdom. This crucified, broken, maimed body, and he turns to Him and he said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." He knew it. Now, the Holy Spirit wants you to know it today, too. He wants me to know it. He wants to impress upon you that He has a kingdom of love and joy and peace, and He wants you to be a part of it, wants you to be a member of it.

Pilate knew He was King. Now, Pilate wasn’t above mocking the Jews, not at all. But somehow Pilate’s heart was disturbed. His wife’s heart was disturbed. He turned to Jesus, "Are You a King? Come on, tell me, are You a King?" Somehow he knew. He just knew. When Jesus was crucified, Pilate became more convinced. When they were taking Him out of Pilate’s judgment hall, he had a placard written on it: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." I don’t care what you say, I’m washing my hands to this, but He’s a King whether you know it or not. I’m not even a Jew. Pilate was telling him, "I’m a Roman. I’m a Gentile. I’m a heathen. But He came to save you. I don’t know anything about your religion. All I know is He’s a King, and you’re going to kill Him. He’s a King."

These disciples knew that He had a kingdom. Look at verse one: "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'" He will not sit upon a throne in this world at this time, not even in this 20th century, this 21st century almost. The only throne that Jesus desires to sit upon is the throne of your heart, and you have the power to give Him your heart. He doesn’t come, He’s a swordless King. He doesn’t come with military might and power. He’s not going to force Himself. No, He comes with gentleness. Listen, look, He comes with brokenness. He comes with love. It’s a kingdom unlike any kingdom you’ve ever known before. But by the power of the Spirit today, you can know that kingdom. It’s a kingdom of love, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit, and He’s calling us into that kingdom, a kingdom founded upon love.

Now, look at Point B in your outline. The question was asked by the disciples, "Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" and Jesus answers the question with a child. Write down the word child. I’m going to read verses two through four from Matthew chapter 18. If you’d like to follow along, here’s how Jesus answers the question with an object lesson. He called a little child and had him stand among them, and He said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change, 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." The world never knew literature like that before.

Whoever humbles himself. You don’t go up in rank. You don’t get stars pinned on you. You don’t go up in rank in the Kingdom. You go down in humility. That’s greatness in the kingdom of heaven. We had a baby in here? Is there a baby back there somewhere? Did I see a baby? No, they took the baby out? Okay, I was going to maybe go get that baby. Jesus liked babies. He liked little children. One of the writers thought that this may have been, this little child that stood, this little boy—it was a little boy—that was the apostle Peter’s son. He stood him in the midst. The little boy must have been familiar with Jesus, but children loved Jesus anyway.

He just had a childlike smile and purity. They would go to Him. Mothers would give their babies to Him. He’d hug them and kiss them and bless them. I don’t know how you could bless a baby without hugging and kissing it, so He must have hugged it and kissed it. But He did put His hands upon the babies, and He took this little boy and He stood him in the midst, and He said, "Now I want you to look at this child. You guys that are aspiring greatness, I want you to look at this child. You get a transcript like this child has, and you will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Here’s characteristics of little children that you have under Point B, number one. Write down the word pure. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart." What blessing will they receive? That they shall see God. They shall see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Children are pure. Sometime between childhood and adulthood, we lost our purity. We lost our innocence. Jesus says you’re going to have to be converted back to a child. You’re going to have to be born again to a child, and then you’ll get into the kingdom of heaven, and then you’ll be great in the kingdom of heaven if you become converted and become like this pure little child.

Sin has tainted every one of us, and that’s why we so need the blood of Jesus. That’s why the blood of Jesus is absolutely essential. That’s why I need to keep coming to this table, keep coming to this table, keep reminding myself over and over again until I come into His presence that it’s the blood, the precious blood, and only by His blood am I cleansed back to purity again. My life, my thoughts, my actions, my attitudes, any desirable thing that my eyes see, the flesh wants. Jesus said it’s best to gouge it out or cut off your hand, any activity that is impure. We need the purity. We need the cleansing.

I pray this morning that there will be a cleansing, a washing, and that you’ll leave feeling new and refreshed, and I will too, because we’ve been to Calvary. We’ve been to Jesus, and we’ve experienced the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene was so impure when she came to Jesus Christ. She was a prostitute of the street. She was vile. She was vulgar. But she came to Jesus, and she came in contact with the purest of all.

The only difference today is that you can take the pure and the impure and you put the two together, and the pure becomes impure. The impure always taints the pure. But when you come in contact with Jesus, it happens just the opposite. Isn’t that wonderful? She became pure. When she opened her heart and the purity of Jesus came in, she became pure. And I know she was pure. Go to the cross. Let’s go to Calvary. Who’s standing at the foot of the cross? Come on, look. Imagine, see it. The Bible says Mary Magdalene standing there with Mary, the purest woman who ever lived, the Virgin Mother of Jesus. Side by side, purity and impurity. But now impurity has become pure. The pure in heart shall see God, and you must become childlike, a pure child in your attitude.

Jesus can do it. He says, "Ye must be born again." It’s essential that you be born again. You don’t go to heaven unless you’re born again. You’ll never see the kingdom of God unless you become like this little child. Little child, number two, you put down: trusting. How trusting a child is. A child will believe. Children believe. They are the best believers. You can get a child to believe in Santa Claus. You can get a child to believe in the Easter Bunny. Their hearts are so impressionable like soft clay.

I told you the story one time of my grandson. We were driving down the highway, a back road, and it was warm. I was talking to Billy. It was just Billy and myself. He was in the passenger seat, and I said, "Billy, let’s roll the window down and just holler out there into the woods and say, hello God." I was telling him God’s everywhere. God’s with us in the car. God’s in the woods. God’s everywhere, Billy. We rolled the window down and he looked out the window and he hollered out, "Hello God!" and I said, "You know, Billy, you can talk to God anywhere, anytime." I says, "Now you listen in your heart and He’ll talk back." So he said, "Hello God!" and he put his head down, and he looked up at me and said, "He didn’t say anything!"

I said, "You keep listening, He’ll talk to you. You’ll hear Him." But children are so trusting. Jesus took that little child and says unless you become trusting, unless you become a believer, you’ve got to believe. You’ve got to believe Your word. Belief must take precedence and priority over reasoning, carnal reasoning. There’s things that you can’t reason. There’s things that you just have to accept by faith. I don’t understand the universe. I don’t understand an endless universe. I don’t understand all the planets. There’s so much about creation I don’t understand, but I know it’s out there, and I accept it, and I believe it. The same is about Jesus Christ. There are things that we’ll never be able to understand, but we have to become like a child and just take it in and believe it.

Number three: forgiving. Write down the word forgiving. Have you ever noticed how two children sometimes can get into a quarrel and have a conflict, and I’m not kidding, 60 seconds later, not 60 minutes, I mean 60 seconds later, they’re playing again. They don’t hold a grudge. They don’t nurse a grudge. They know how to forgive. Unless you become like children. We need to. Some of us come to the altar today and we take communion, think how He has forgiven me. Undeserving of His forgiveness, but He has forgiven me. How did He ever find it in His heart to forgive me? What did I ever do to deserve His forgiveness?

Then I need to think of that person who wronged me. Oh, how many times I wronged Him! But I’m convinced He’s cleansed it all and it’s okay now, and He’s forgiven me. Children are so forgiving. The fourth one certainly put down: humility or humble. Write the word humble. He called a little child, and He said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself," it’s something you have to do for yourself. You have to humble yourself like a little child. This person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

On one occasion, Jesus prayed. I think it was more than just one occasion. I’m referring now to Mark chapter 14 because there are many places I’m sure where he was, other than in Gethsemane, when he prayed the prayer with the word Abba Father in that prayer. See, He took a child’s position, even Jesus did. See Him in Gethsemane calling out to the Father and calling Him Abba Father. It’s Aramaic. It was the dialect or a dialect of Aramaic. Jesus and His disciples in their common everyday language, they used Aramaic. They didn’t use the pure Hebrew, and Jesus called God Abba. Now, this is a term, a very intimate term, that the Hebrews would never call God Abba because it was just too familiar.

I want to thank you parents. You parents have done so well by your children. You know, I’ve never had a child that I know of, in all the years I’ve pastored this church, who’s ever come up and called me Jack. They always come up and call me Pastor Morris or Mrs. Morris. Now you fellows, you call me Jack, we’re brothers. You ladies can too. But I think that is so respectful. I think you’ve just done beautifully by your children, and I commend you for that. But Jesus became very familiar, very close, and he called out Abba. It’s a term that basically, Daddy, you know that to be so. He was humbling Himself. He was so dependent. He knew He was the Son of God. He knew He was the child of God. It was so impressed upon Him.

I used to always call my dad Daddy. We grew apart when I was just a young, very young boy, and I grew up into manhood still calling him Daddy. Now if I had stayed home, I’d have more than likely changed and called him Dad. I remember the day, I can still remember the day, my daughter came to me, and she called me Daddy all the time. Daddy, Daddy this, Daddy that, Daddy. She came in one day, and she said, "I’m not going to call you Daddy anymore." Oh? Well, what are you going to call me? King? Lord? What are you going to call me? She said, "I’m going to call you Dad." Daddy sounds too juvenile or too baby-like. "I’m going to call you Dad." And you know that from that day to this, she’s always called me Dad. She just switched over.

Here is the Son of God, Jesus, there before the Father. The pressure was on Him so great, the Scripture says He fell to the ground. He literally fell under the burden. He collapsed. Sin was so upon Him, and he cried out, "Oh, Daddy!" He knew that he was related to God in a most unusual way. See, that’s the way you are to be related, the way I’m to be related. We’re not to be related to Him as the great creator or the power behind the big bang or in that respect. People say, "I believe in God," well, they believe in God as the power behind the big bang or something like that. No, you’re to be related to Him. You’re a child. You have a sweet heavenly Father. We’re to pray, "Our Father who art in heaven, Thy kingdom come." Lord, You come. You reign in me. You put Your love, Your joy, Your peace. Cleanse out all the evil and bring in all the purity. You’re my Father. I’m Your child. Because of this, because of what He did, not because of what I did.

I’m going to come to this table, and I’m going to invite you to come to this table. We have plenty of time. We’re getting out real, real early. We have plenty of time. I want you to come, and I want you to say, "I’m so dependent. I so needed what I’m coming to receive, but I didn’t even know I needed it, and yet You provided it before I needed it: His body and His blood." And when you take this in today, I want this to be symbolic of you taking in the kingdom of God into your heart. It’s a kingdom, you can’t say His kingdom is there or the capital of Christianity is there. It’s here. Here’s where the capital is, in your heart. There’s where He rules and He reigns from your heart.

You’re taking in the kingdom of God. You’re allowing yourself to be His child through faith in Him and what He purchased for you at the cross. Do you know Him? If you do not know Him this morning, please give your heart to Him. He loves you so much, and His kingdom is a kingdom of love, joy, and peace. The actual words is righteousness, joy, and peace. It means He’ll make you right with yourself, right with God, right with your fellow man. He’ll just make everything right. And then you’ll know love, joy, and peace. What a God! What a God we serve. What a wonderful God. Let’s come as little children coming to our Heavenly Father, bowing before Abba, Abba Father. Sometimes I pray, and all I can say is just Abba, and then just be quiet. And somehow there comes a sensation, a warmth, a newness. I know my Father has come to His son, His child. He’s here to bless you and to come into your life.

Guest (Male): Jesus turns the world’s definition of greatness upside down. In His kingdom, greatness begins with a heart that is humble, trusting, forgiving, and willing to become dependent upon our Heavenly Father, like a little child. Visit thehealingword.com for more messages from Pastor Morris and resources to encourage your walk with Christ. Tomorrow, we’ll hear a message for anyone carrying fear or uncertainty. Pastor Morris turns to Isaiah 43 with God’s reassuring words, "Don’t be afraid."