Title: The Truly Great Man / Matthew 18:1~4
Content: A truly great person / Matthew 18:1~4
“Then the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ” (Matthew 18:1-4)
Word: Everyone wants to become a ‘great person’ in the world. To this end, we spare no effort. But there are many problems here. It's a problem even if you become a big person, and a problem if you don't. If you become a great person, you will fall into the bog of pride, and if you do not become a great person, you will fall into a deep sense of inferiority.
In today's text, the disciples ask, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" What a beautiful question. It is important to become a great person in heaven, not in this world.
What do you need to be great in heaven? It is God who judges the great and the small. Therefore, if you want to become a great person in heaven, you must meet God's evaluation standards. In the world, people who have money and power are said to be great, but the standards for heaven are different. What kind of person does God see as great?
There is a case where you can get a hint about this. It is a scene where God sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David. It was Eliab, David's eldest brother, who first captured Samuel's heart. Because Eliab had a great appearance. But God's will was different. God says, “I do not look like men; man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Here we can definitely learn. Those who are pleasing to God are those who have a beautiful heart. In the text, Jesus says that those who are like little children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. A child is inexperienced and weak, but in his heart he has a beauty that an adult cannot match. Do you want to be great in heaven? Then, you should do your best to nurture the inner person, not the outer appearance.
Another important thing is that “the greatest in heaven” refers to our future self. Heaven is the place to go tomorrow. Therefore, if you want to become a great person in heaven, you must invest for yourself tomorrow.
Investing for tomorrow's me is to make an effort to 'minimize for today's me and maximize for tomorrow'. In other words, it is to live ‘minimum for me and maximum for the kingdom of God’. People strive to be great in the world, but we must strive to be great in heaven.