46 An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.” 49 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” 50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” ~ Luke 9:46-50
Our text today stages the age old struggle between pride and humility. God resists the proud because the proud resist God. The heart of pride does not confess, does not repent, and does not ask for forgiveness. Pride is the hidden reef that shipwrecks the soul. God opposes the proud but He gives grace to the humble.
In v.46 an argument breaks out among the twelve disciples about which of them is the greatest. And, in v.49, John tries to hinder a person who is casting out demons in Jesus' name because he doesn't belong to their group. So, today's text is about individual and group pride.
Pride inaugurated sin and it is at the core of our corruption. Self-worship is what real fallenness is all about. Every other sin rises out of the soil of pride. Every kind of rebellion and all sin is lawlessness. All sin is rebellion against God, all of it produced by pride. Pride seeks to dethrone God. Pride grips the sinner's heart, and that's why it's so hard to believe. This is why it is so hard to be saved, this is why it is so hard to repent from our way to God's way.
Even though we have entered into a personal relationship with God through Christ, this does not mean that pride is no longer an issue for us. In fact, the presence of God in our lives has heightened our awareness of the pride which is yet in us. Through the cross of the Lord Jesus pride has been severely wounded, it has been given a death blow but it's still kicking in the throes of death.
Now, the setting of today's text is Capernaum, a city in Galilee at the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee where the Lord Jesus had made His headquarters during His Galilean ministry. It was also the home of Peter. This happens in a house that may have been Peter's house.
The disciples had just come off the road. They had been walking on the road where the Lord Jesus has been teaching and doing miracles. While they were on the road, they were arguing about which of them is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of the Lord. It was as if His statements about suffering and death had just gone right on by. He had taught them that if they were going to follow Him, they would have to deny self, take up their cross, and be willing to die to self.
When they get into the house, the Lord Jesus asked them what they were discussing. According to Mark 9 they kept silent. They had made their commitment to Christ, but they still struggled with sin, particularly pride.
In v.46 we read of these first generation believers who had been given the commission to preach and empowered to preach, they had been given the ability to do signs and wonders, to raise dead people and to give healing to sick people and to cast out demons. Yet, division festered among them.
Pride destroys relationships. Since relationships are built on sacrifice, service, and giving oneself away, proud people destroy relationships. Pride is indifferent to others, it is self-absorbed and it is ultimately judgmental and critical and divisive. Pride destroys because it makes us artificial. The answer is humility which makes us real and trustworthy.
In v.47 we read, "Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him." The Lord Jesus picked up a little child because a little child was the lowest ranking person in their society. He sets that little child before them and then He picks that little child up in His arms because that little child is going to become an illustration for His lesson on humility.
In v.48, the Lord Jesus graciously uses a child to teach the disciples about true greatness. According Matthew 18:1, the disciples had asked, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" After calling a child over to Him, according to Matthew 18:3 the Lord responds with, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted.”
Unless we do a one eighty and go a different direction, and become like children, we are not even going to be in the kingdom. We have got to realize that we are nothing. We have no rank before God. We have no achievement that would rank us over anybody else. It is only the Lord Jesus who earns favor with God for us.
So, in Matthew 18:4 He then says, "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he's the greatest in the kingdom." Greatness in the kingdom is not relative, it is absolute. Everybody in the kingdom is the greatest. We are great because our greatness is seated in Christ's righteousness. When God sees us through the lens of His Son, the Lord Jesus, we are the righteousness of God in Him.
In Luke 18:15, they were bringing even their babies to Him. In v.14 the Lord Jesus said, "Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, he who humbles himself shall be exalted." All who exalt themselves are going to end up being humbled. All who exalt self, He's talking about the religious leaders of Israel, the self-righteous, are going to be humbled by God in judgment. But all of those who humble themselves are going to end up being exalted, co-heirs with Christ Himself.
Then, when the disciples saw the people were bringing their babies to the Lord Jesus, the disciples rebuked them. It was at this point that the Lord Jesus said, "Permit the children to come to Me. Don't hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever doesn't receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all." Humility is so difficult to lay hold of because we most often learn it through humiliating circumstances. It is only when we see ourselves as valueless, that we grow in humility and are favored by God.
