It is Better that You Should Live

The world teaches us to pursue greatness through achievement, independence, and power, but Jesus turns our understanding of greatness right side up. In his kingdom, greatness is found in humble dependence upon the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost, saves sinners, and brings his people home.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I invite you to turn in your copy of the scriptures to Matthew chapter 18. You can find that on, I believe, page 772. Yes, page 772 of the Black Pew Bible in the rack in front of you. How is life in the kingdom of this world treating you? How is life in the in the kingdom of man going? I mean, some might say, you know, pretty well. I've got a nice home and a nice family, I've got a nice portfolio, I've got my health, etc. Others of us may say, well, life in the kingdom of this world is actually going pretty pretty poorly. You know, the roof leaks, the rents always do, and the rent never gets any cheaper. Maybe the family feels like it's held together by duct tape and gum, kind of MacGyvered together. Retirement seems like a dream. I suspect for many of us, though, life in the kingdom of this world is just. it's it's fine, right? That's kind of Sam's typical response anytime you ask him how he's doing. How's your day? That's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Most of us, life is fine. It has its pretty goods, it has its pretty poor, but kind of the the the that middle line is fine. The fine is not really what we aspire to, is it? That's not what we're we're we're journaling about or writing in our diaries, it's not what we've set our sight on, it's not the goal. The goal is not fine. What is the goal? Well, the goal is great. Exceedingly well. If we aspire to find, that means that we miss all of the benefits of greatness in this life. Or in the next life, we run the risk of being forgotten by posterity. Maybe remembered for one or two or three generations, but then no longer mentioned. That's why, you know, Alexander the Great is such a rare figure, because we remember Alexander and virtually no one else who lived in his place and in his day. Greatness, not fine, is what we're told to shoot for. It's what our lives are aimed at, which of course requires us to answer the question, what is greatness? And then the follow-up question, how do I achieve it? Of course, that's not unique to our generation. Every generation has aspired to greatness of some sort, which is why the disciples come to Jesus this day and they ask him that question. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Greatness was very much on their mind. Now, greatness is on their mind because they knew that there was a kingdom coming and there was a king to hand. You may recall just a few chapters earlier, uh Peter has kind of finally spoken truth rather than inserting his foot in his mouth when he confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and then almost immediately after that insert foot here. Oh, by no means, Jesus, will you ever go to the cross. You will not die. God forbid that should ever happen to you. Peter misunderstood what greatness in the kingdom of God entailed. And so now all the disciples are wrestling with this question. And in just two more chapters, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, they're gonna, well, they're not gonna go to Jesus, they're gonna send their mom to go to Jesus. And mom, can you go and can you ask Jesus when he enters into his kingdom if we can sit at his right hand and his left hand? The disciples are here jockeying for a position in the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom that they fundamentally misunderstand because they've only ever lived in the kingdom of this world. A kingdom where you get ahead by stepping over or stepping on others. A dog-eat dog world, a pull yourself up by your bootstraps world. And one of the things that we often say when we're talking about the kingdom of God is that the kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom. All the expectations and the virtues and kind of the tell-os, the end for which the kingdom of God comes, it's upside down compared to the kingdom of this world. But in Home Group a few weeks ago, summer, I think, very helpfully pointed out to us that it's not the kingdom of God that's upside down. It's the kingdom of this world that's upside down. And Christ, the king of the kingdom of God, he is coming to set this world right side up. Greatness in the kingdom of God, the right side up kingdom, comes from rejecting the kingdom of this world and humbling ourselves so that we might receive a kingdom from the one who possesses it by right. Let me say that again. Greatness in the kingdom of God comes from rejecting the priorities and the virtues and the mechanisms of the kingdom of this world, humbling ourselves, and then we might receive a kingdom from the one who alone possesses it by right. This morning we're gonna make our way through Matthew chapter 18, but we're not gonna go in sequential order. I want to look first at verses six through nine, then we're gonna jump back to one through five, and then we're gonna end up at 10 through 14. I just want to kind of give you a heads up about that so you're not thrown off. Verses six through nine, Jesus gives us this incredibly clear-eyed view of the kingdom of this world. He has to give us this clear-eyed view because most of us are walking around with world-tinted glasses, rose-colored lenses, so we don't rightly perceive the nature of this world around us. I was um I was up here uh for a meeting yesterday, and then I was trying to practice the piano a little bit and kind of getting some thoughts together for a sermon, and as I went to Random Chick-fil-a to grab some lunch, I was driving out of the parking lot and there was a car parked down there at the end. I guess they were at the grill getting ready to watch a football game or whatever. And the the license plate, the back license plate on that car said, up to me. Up to me. Which is, I mean, that is, if there is not a better summary statement of how you're going to get ahead and how you're gonna be great in the kingdom of this world than up to me, I don't know what is. And and friends, you know where our church is and where we live, right? And is there, is there not a place that that kind of embodies that up to me attitude more than these golden isles of Georgia where we live? The world says greatness and getting ahead is up to me, and we have just kind of onboarded that notion because this is these are the only waters we've ever been swimming in. We've lived our entire existence in a it's up to me kind of world. This world though is not neutral. It's not neutral ground that we're we're playing on. This isn't whatever the st I don't even know what the state in Jacksonville is called or Florida and Georgia play. It's not neutral territory, this world. In reality, though, the world is this, as Jesus says, woe to the world for temptations to sin. This world is fraught with temptations that are all perfectly designed and intended to pull you and me away from a relationship with the God who loves us. That word temptations that we find, or calls to sin that we find in Matthew chapter 18, this is the same word scandalon that Jesus uses when he refers to Peter. Get behind me, Satan, for you are a scandalon, you are a hindrance, you are a stumbling block, a snare to me. So Jesus says, this world is full of temptations, snares, traps. Friend, friends, every day east of Eden, in as we have lived in broken bodies with broken minds and broken hearts, traversing a world we broke, Satan, that crafty serpent of old, has been studying you and me, and every generation of humanity, so that he might go and lay scandal on temptations, stumbling blocks, traps, so that when we are caught in his trap, he might come and slay us and consume us. He is that roaring lion prowling about seeking those whom he may devour. So Jesus says of this world, woe to this world for temptations to sin. These temptations, you know, St. John is going to call them the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Satan, of course, is prowling around like a roaring lion. He has been studying us and crafting temptations and snares, but there are also those that are captive to him already. And they themselves are setting snares and traps. It's those who stand in pulpits, even, and abuse the authority of their office, or politicians who abuse the authority of their office, or those sitting in C-suites who abuse the authority of their office and position. And what does Jesus say about them? Those who would take advantage of children, those who would take advantage of those who are destitute and are needy. What does Jesus say about them? He says, it would be better for them to have a great millstone tied around their neck and for them to be thrown into the sea. What we see here is a glimpse of God's perfect justice. God's care for his children and the justice that he will ensure for all those little ones. It is deeper than the sea itself. And just consider how how severe this justice of God is that will be meted out to those who are a scandal and a rock of offense, the children and the little ones. Jesus says it is better for them if they're hurled into the depths of the sea. That's best case scenario in God's perfect justice. We don't just see in this passage kind of God's perfect justice, but we see God's better longings for his children, for his little ones. Here we are, right? And I don't think any of us have succeeded, much less attempted, to lop a hand off or a foot or gouge out an eye, because it caused us to sin. And yet Jesus uses such vivid language because he knows just how deceptive and alluring and ultimately deadly sin is. And what do we do? We have this habit of toying around with sin. Sin of all sorts. But the reality is we think we're toying around with sin, but sin's actually toying around with us. Jesus says, if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, lop it off. If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. Because it's better that you should live, walk into eternal life, hobbling, make your way into eternal life, unable to offer a firm handshake because you lop that hand off, not seeing clearly, better for you to enter life that way than to make your way into an eternal judgment whole. Jesus says this because he longs for better things for us than we long for ourselves. Jesus is the only man who sees clearly the reality of the world around us and the danger that sin presents to us, not just in eternity, but in this life as well. And he pleads with us don't play with sin. But lopping a hand off or a foot off or an eye out doesn't actually accomplish the purpose, right? Because when we sin, the issue, this is why we're all here with our hands and our feet and our eyes. The issue with sin is not the eye or the hand or the foot. What is it that leads us to sin? It's our hearts. We could lop every hand and foot and gouge every eye, and still our hearts would cause us to sin because we love sin more than we love righteousness. Of course, the wonder of the gospel is that Christ promises to give us new hearts, to change our affections, so we can love Him and His kingdom rather than the kingdom of this world. When we're rightly seeing the kingdom of this world, we realize that it is wrought and fraught, wrought in and fraught with all manner of injustice, that there are snares and temptations and traps, and Jesus says, You need corrective lenses so you can rightly see where you're going. Then in verses 1 through 5, we get this picture of what greatness is in the kingdom of heaven, over against the greatness that the world is constantly alluring us to. And so, as the disciples ask him, who is the greatest in the kingdom? Jesus doesn't begin by giving an explanation, but he, I'm sure, very gently picks up a child and sets that child down in the midst of them. You want to know who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is? It's this child. What does this child have to offer? A kingdom? Can he wield a sword in battle? Can this child go and drive an ox and plow a straight furrow so at least he can plant a field and with that field he can feed the armies of the kingdom? What does this child have to offer the kingdom? Nothing. The reason that Jesus takes a child and sets a child there in the midst of them and says to these disciples, you must turn. Turn away from the path of your own. You must turn, and you must become like a child. It's because children are utterly dependent. We're going to sing here in just a little bit. Rock of Age is cleft for me. Nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I claim. Jesus says, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is this child. And anyone who becomes like this child. Humble yourself and be like children. Because, friends, in the kingdom of heaven, there is only one self-made man. And it's not you and it's not me. It's the man who climbed a tree for our sake. Greatness in the kingdom of heaven looks radically different than greatness in this world. Greatness is marked by recognizing our absolute dependence and then going low. Humble. Humbly caring for the little ones and for the children around us. And then in verses 10-14, we have this picture of the king's heart to bring his people home. What does this shepherd do when he finds out that one of the sheep that he knows by name has gone astray? He leaves the 99 there on the mountains and he goes and he seeks and he finds that one lost sheep. Now, if you're if you're doing kind of a profit and loss analysis, this is not a wise decision, right? Now, of course, granted, the shepherd could have could have gone and gotten other shepherds to come and to tend for those other 99, but Jesus doesn't say that. He just says that he leaves the 99 and he goes and he finds the one. So in terms of economics, this doesn't really make sense. And yet, Jesus' love, the king's love, is so great for his people, Jesus' love is so great for his sheep that he will go to the ends of the earth to find that one that has gone astray. So that he might lift him up on his shoulders and bear him rejoicing all the way home. So when the prophet Isaiah says, We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. We can read that as a as a as a condemnation and as a rebuke, which it is, he continues, and the Lord has laid on him that promised good shepherd, the iniquity of us all. Friends, your strainess is an opportunity for the Lord to exercise his heart to save and his long arm to save. The strainess of those you love, don't stop praying for them because that is a that is a canvas on which the Lord can paint his picture of his heart to save his lost sheep. His heart to save the lost is greater than the heart of any lost sheep to be found. It's easy for us to kind of make our way through this fallen kingdom and this world and think that when the circumstances of life come crashing into us, that God is angry with us and is pleased. But friends, if you if you've ever doubted God's love for you or God's love for those lost sheep who are straying, you only have to look at the cross. And of just how far he was willing to go to save sinners like you and me. When he was asked what he looked for in an ideal missionary candidate, the long-term field missionary had said they must be willing to take the lowest place to be the least of all, and the servants of all. Willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake without being proud of it. Did you catch that last little bit? Willing, you know, serving the least of these, willing to suffer all things for Christ's sake without being proud of it. There's this really insipid way that sometimes, even in our suffering, Satan comes and he tells us just how proud we ought to be, that we've suffered so very well, right? But but this missionary he says, we'll have none of that. Fifteen years after leaving Massachusetts, that missionary, Aden Aram Judson, he had to show this for his labors in Burma. He had a handful of Of converts. He had a partly translated Burmese Bible, and he had four graves, his wife and three of his children. And although Adonairam Judson would one day become a bit of a celebrity in the United States for his missionary work, those four graves, and the rest of the graves that he would dig in Burma for his second wife and their children and his third wife, those graves were still occupied. And eventually Adenairam himself would be committed to the sea. He didn't have the pomp and circumstance of a feigned missionary funeral back in the United States. Just after, six months after his first wife died, Adonairam buried their young daughter Maria in a grave beside her, and he wrote these words Enjoy or sorrow, health or pain, our course be onward still. We sow on Burma's barren plain. We reap on Zion's hill. Friends, Adaniram, Judson, he entered glory, crippled and lame, his body racked by years in the jungles of Burma and the mission field. More than that, he entered glory with a heart shattered for all the loved ones that he had buried, commending to the Lord until that resurrection day came. But Adon Raram Judson knew that the reckoning, the accounting of the kingdom of this world, as it reckons greatness, is not worth a hill of beings. But the accounting of the kingdom of heaven, that's what's worthwhile and worth living and dying for. He knew, though his body and his heart and his mind had been broken, he knew it was better that he should enter life. Even hobbled and lame. Because he knew the promise of Christ that one day all the hobbledness and all the lameness, every broken body and every broken heart and every broken mind would be mended and put right. As the kingdom of God comes and turns this world right side up again. That same hope and promise that Adaniram had, that same hope and promise stands here this day. That same hope and promise comes this day and meets you at this table. So I invite you this day. Trust and rest in the promises of that good shepherd who leaves the 99 to save the one, who tells you how the world actually is, but invites you not to be great in this world, but to be great in his. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that your word comes and it resets our vision so we can rightly perceive this world and all its temptations and allurements. And we pray that your spirit would come as well. That, Spirit, you would change not our hands or our feet or our eyes, but that you would change our hearts. That we would come repenting, knowing that you, God, long to forgive. That we would come and find in you life and health and peace. We pray these things, Christ, in your name and for your sake. Amahead.