Greatness in the Kingdom

Matthew 11:7-15

July 13, 2003

 

It seems only natural that people look for someone to admire. It is a natural part of the psyche to look upon certain people with high impression or elevated thoughts, often to the extreme. Such personalities can run the gamut of any field of interest whether sports, music, the arts, finances, and even religion. One local sports writer recently wrote of his son's admiration - and somewhat devotion - to a certain well-known basketball player. But everything caved when this same player was accused of allegedly inappropriate behavior. All of us have probably had that same experience along the way with someone that we considered to be especially admirable or "great."

 

Admiration rises and falls. One figure plummets and we put our affections and admirations on another. All the while our concept of greatness zeroes in on how high someone can jump or how fast he can run or how physically attractive she is or how entertaining he can be or how much bravado he can spout or how many things she has accumulated. But what is greatness? How we define greatness, and what we admire in others, tells us much about the priorities of our own lives. I'm not simply concerned that our undue admiration falls occasionally upon seedy characters in the realm of sports or music or film. Sometimes it is an over-admiration for a preacher or religious personality that can cloud our thinking on true greatness in the eyes of Christ. We can become enamored with certain personality traits or achievements found in the one we admire so that we lose sight of reality.

 

It is significant that Jesus calls John the Baptist "the greatest." We would do well to discover what constituted greatness in our Lord's thoughts. And yet greater still, in the eyes of Christ, is that least person in God's kingdom. After applauding John the Baptist before the crowd, Jesus Christ moves away from this significant religious figure to an unknown and unnamed believer. In a most ironic statement, our Lord posits greatness, not in how many eyes find your approval, but in a solitary relationship. Jesus Christ measures greatness by one's relationship to Him as Lord. We may find the world's approval by some accomplishment or appearance or achievement, but it is only those who know the eternal King that are approved by God. How does Jesus measure greatness? Consider a new view - Christ's view - of greatness.

 

I. Seeds of greatness

 

To begin with, I do not think it wrong to admire others or even to consider someone to be "great." The problem, of course, is in what we are admiring and whom we are calling great. If the admiration leads to some subtle form of idolatry by undue attention or misplaced affections, then certainly it is inappropriate. When we begin to pattern ourselves after those we admire that lack the kind of character that pleases God, then we have fallen into a snare. You can admire certain athletes or musicians or actors in terms of how they have succeeded at their particular endeavors without trying to emulate their lives; no harm is done. But unfortunately, we have difficulty admiring from afar. We have the tendency to pick up mannerisms, phrases, attitudes, interests, and quirks of those that have caught our attention. And so we must check ourselves when it comes to admiration.

 

What did Jesus Christ admire about John the Baptist? Christ identified the seeds of greatness in John that gives us a good guide for directing our admirations. The discussion of John's greatness came about after John's disciples had questioned Christ about His identity as Messiah, and they had returned to John. Some in the crowd listening to the dialogue may have thought less of John. But our Lord corrects such thinking. John's momentary struggle did not diminish the greatness of his life and purpose.

 

1. Evident in one's convictions

 

There is something of a humorous idea in the words of Christ. "What did you go out into wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in kings' palaces!" Great crowds left the villages and cities of the Jordan River district to head for the barren wilderness just to listen and see this extraordinary prophet. So Christ questions them. 'Were you looking for a reed shaken by the wind? Did you have in mind that you would find a fickle, spineless, or unprincipled prophet in the wilderness?' John never catered to the crowd's approval, so he was not moved by the winds of approval or public opinion. He also was not a man wearing the soft clothing found among the courtiers of kings. It was customary for the king's friends to be rewarded for their loyalty by wearing the luxurious clothing of royalty. But such were the king's friends because they told the king precisely what he wanted to hear rather than what he needed to hear. They were his "Yes-Men" - stroking the kingly ego in order to live in ease and comfort. John wore no such clothing of kingly favor. He dressed in rough, scratchy camel hair and had a leather girdle about his waist. He knew nothing of the comforts of king's palaces but only about the king's dungeon. John was no politician, testing the winds of public or royal opinion before he preached. He was a man of strong convictions, so much so that he would face imprisonment and death to denounce the adulterous ways of Herod Antipas.

 

Convictions are strong, unbending positions that one holds because of his understanding of truth and law. It seems that we scarcely see convictions these days. Many politicians are known for flip-flopping on their promises and positions. Many of the media stars seem to be conviction-less, being moved like the tall river grass in the wind by gales of rationalism. But Christ honored the convictions demonstrated by John the Baptist. John did not dampen his finger to check the winds of popular opinion before declaring his positions. He stood firmly upon truth - even if it cost him dearly. That, my brethren, is what it means to have convictions. And that is a seed of greatness.

 

2. Evident in one's message

 

Everyone has a message. By this I mean, each of us stands for something, and before long, it will come out in our conversation, pursuits, and affections. John's message was prophetic. "But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet." There had not been a prophet in Israel for several hundred years. In an oral society like Israel, public proclamation of God's revelation was essential for keeping people honed to following after the Lord. John's message was having an impact on the nation. Countless numbers came into the wilderness to hear his message of repentance, and foretelling of Messiah. He spoke with authority when he called upon people to stop their complaining and extortion and religious fakery. But his purpose was found chiefly in announcing the Messiah. This is where we understand that John's greatness was not seen in his choice of words or metaphors - of which were lively - but in the One to whom his whole life and lips pointed. John's message was Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world - the Messiah. And he was satisfied to point to Christ while he decreased in public view.

 

To use more current lingo, John's worldview was centered in Christ. Jesus Christ was his message. The seeds of greatness are found in those having a worldview centered in Jesus Christ rather than the passing fancies of the world.

 

3. Evident in one's purpose

 

Jesus declared John to be "more than a prophet." He was a prophet in that he had been set apart by the Lord as His messenger to speak a specific word to a specific people. In true prophetic sense, he spoke with authority and called for repentance among his hearers. He did not understand the color gray or straddling the fence. But he was "more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, 'BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER AHEAD OF YOU, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU'." John had a distinctly divine purpose as a prophet but he had a unique purpose among the prophets in that earlier prophets had foretold of John. Four hundred years earlier, Malachi had prophesied, "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me, ...says the Lord of hosts" (Mal 3:1). That was John, who understood his purpose, and laid down his life to follow the Lord faithfully. He would be like a comet that streaked across the sky to give warning and announcement, but faded soon in the light of the supernova of Jesus Christ. John was the last of the prophets before the Messiah. "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come." Again, Malachi foretold, "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse" (Mal 4:5-6).

 

Greatness is not found in how big of a splash you can make or how much attention you can receive or how much admiration you can garner. It is found in following faithfully the purpose of God in your life. The measurements of success and greatness in our day do not bode well in economic downturns or depressions or global wars or persecutions. Vertical leaps, platinum records, and Oscars mean very little when all of life is caving in about you. When you have set your attention upon that kind of perishable thing it is because your life purpose is faulty. Even though he'd spent the past 12 months in prison, Jesus affirmed John's greatness because John understood his purpose in life and followed faithfully. That familiar first question of the Shorter Catechism states it clearly. "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." Do you have that kind of life purpose? That, my friend, is the seed of greatness in Christ's eyes.

 

II. A new view of greatness

 

To understand greatness in the kingdom, Christ contrasts the greatness of John with that of the least member in God's kingdom. "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!" That was stunning to the hearers! Many of them had listened to John. He baptized some of them in the Jordan River. And now Christ declares his greatness exceeding Abraham, Moses, David, and Daniel due to his position as the Messiah's forerunner. But the next clause shocked his audience. "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." They did not grasp the reality of the kingdom. The crowds admired the miracles of Christ, and certainly wanted to be on the receiving end of His good work. But they did not see the power and significance of living under the rule of the eternal King. They were still so earthbound, so entranced by political and military rule, that they failed to see an eternal kingdom ruled by the great Sovereign before them. This is critical in understanding the next verse (12). If they had grasped what it meant for a sinner to become part of the kingdom of heaven, then the words of Christ would make sense. Otherwise, they would have decried His words as folly (which they may have done in light of 11:16-19).

 

1. Not by the world's standards

 

Christ's standard of greatness is unlike that of the world. 'I know that, Pastor,' you say. 'That is a no-brainer.' Then why do you find the world's standards to still be appealing to your senses? Why do you spend more time, attention, and money on what the world considers great than you do on those things that Christ considers worthy? All of us as believers must be weaned from the world's standards of greatness. Weaning takes place only when we stop long enough from the frantic pursuits of the world's pleasures to realize how incredible it is that sinners are brought into the kingdom. "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

 

The contrast between the kingdom of the world - in all its opposition to God and its temporal nature and its path leading to destruction - and "the kingdom of heaven" - in its ongoing and eternal rule of Christ over all - is meant to arrest our attention. The kingdom of heaven is no place for the sinful and rebellious, and yet by God's mercy shown in Christ, we have been made part of this kingdom!

 

2. Measured by relationship to the King

 

The least is greater than the greatest! That does not make sense in the world's thinking. Would the world say that a little six year old performing his first solo in a school play is greater than Pavarotti? Or would the world even consider that a middle school basketball player could compare with Michael Jordan? Yet it is those kinds of comparisons that we need to get in mind to help us see what Christ is saying. "Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." Here the incomparable life of a kingdom citizen surpasses all that the world admires as great.

 

Let us ponder that for a moment. How can we place greater value on kingdom citizenship than the accolades of the world? First, being a kingdom citizen is due wholly to the grace of God. That means that God has Himself worked out of His eternal love and kindness for the most insignificant person in the earth. Unworthy as he might be, the insignificant sinner has become particularly significant in the eyes of the eternal God!

 

Second, being a kingdom citizen means that Christ died particularly for you. When we speak in generalities - Christ died for the world - we lose something of the force of what took place on the cross. You and your sins were on His heart on the cross. "I am the good shepherd," Christ declared, "and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:14-15). If you were being attacked and a stranger jumped between you and the bullet speeding toward your chest, you would be very pleased that this stranger laid down his life particularly for you and not for you in a general way. If the stranger had said he was willing to lay down his life for you but he in fact did not, then all of the potential of his sacrifice on your behalf would mean nothing. But because he laid down his life for you, you live - so you find that you owe everything to him. Do you see that your eternity is due to Christ's sacrifice in particularly for you?

 

Third, a kingdom citizen's greatness is found by virtue of Christ's rule over his life. He is no longer under the domain of the devil or the bondage to the world. He does not even belong to himself. He is Christ's - and Christ's is his. Christ is the master - the believer is the servant. But even more, Christ is the heir of God - the believer is through Christ a joint-heir, sharing in all the inheritance of Jesus Christ. And so the believer has a new purpose and new disciplines found under the rule of Christ.

 

Finally, a kingdom citizen's greatness is found by the reality that he lives unto Christ by the grace of God. The grace offered by God's love and secured by Christ's death and applied by Christ's gift of the Spirit enables the kingdom citizen to live as though he is a stranger and pilgrim in this world. That relationship to Christ is misunderstood and even hated by the world, but treasured above all else by the kingdom citizen.

 

And so we see that the greatness of the kingdom citizen is not found in some achievement of that particular believer but it is found in the greatness of the King, who has bestowed His great love, favor, and relationship upon the most insignificant person. Can we find the world's applause to count anything in light of the greatness belonging to a kingdom citizen through Christ?

 

III. Christ's call to greatness

 

But the great problem is that so many are seeking greatness in the world's eyes and contentment by the world's approval. The call of Christ - the message of the kingdom - bears little attention in the thoughts of the masses. Even many involved in some degree in church life are fixed upon certain perishable things, and they do not want the Christian gospel to get in the way. So they will toy with Christ and the gospel lest they appear irreligious, but they know nothing of the soul desperation and urgency found in Christ's gospel call. The gospel, in their thinking, is something nice for a latter period in life, when all the success and greatness and pleasure the world offers has been achieved; but no sooner.

 

Jesus characterizes kingdom citizens quite differently. He issues the call to greatness in the gospel - not the greatness of the world or the world's applause but the favor of God for all eternity. "He who has ears to hear," Christ commanded, "let him hear." In light of John's ministry as the Messiah's forerunner as predicted by the prophets, in light of the value of kingdom citizenship in God's sight - take heed to the call of the gospel to become a kingdom citizen. Our Lord sets this forth in a most unusual way.

 

1. Triumphant kingdom

 

Verse 12's translation is much debated. "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." Where all this "violence" fits into the beauty of Christ's kingdom seems strange at first glance. The word "violence" can be translated as "applying force" or "burning zeal" or "being violently treated" or "triumphant force" [BAG, 140]. The context will have to help us determine its meaning. Added to this is the voice of the Greek verb "suffers violence." If it is a passive verb, then the translation of the NASB is correct, for it would describe the kingdom of God being acted up - in this case, suffering violently by what others are doing to it. It is true that God's people have suffered violently through the centuries. But I think we have to question whether the kingdom itself suffers violence. It has no walls that can be stormed by mere men. The sovereign reign of Christ cannot be diminished by the threats and attacks of men. So for this reason, I disagree with the NASB's translation.

 

Instead, I believe that the verb is in the middle voice, which means that the subject itself is involved in doing the action. The NIV correctly translates it in this way: "the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." Or we might say, 'the kingdom of heaven has made its way with triumphant force, and zealous men lay hold of it.' It places emphasis on the power of the kingdom and the urgency found in kingdom citizens.

 

Keep in mind that until the dawning of John the Baptist's ministry, Israel was still looking for the kingdom. But John declared the nearness of the kingdom, so that the imminence of judgment was good reason to repent and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Jesus declared the kingdom to be right in their midst - it had arrived in Him. And so His point is to emphasize that after hundreds of years, scores of prophets, temporal judgment, and anticipated promises, the kingdom had arrived with a vengeance! It had come in full force "from the days of John the Baptist until now," that is, until that time of the preaching of Christ. The kingdom was "forcefully advancing," making its way with great force, and conquering stubborn hearts all along the way. And yet the dullness of the people kept them from recognizing what was happening before their own eyes. What caused this forceful advance of the kingdom?

 

First, it came due to the preaching of John the Baptist and his call to repentance. He was a man with a mission, and in all his language was the sense of urgency. "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees," he cried. "His winnowing fork is in His hand," he warned (3:10, 12). There was sudden kingdom awareness because of this urgent preaching.

 

Second, the declaration and revelation of the Messiah brought on more urgency. "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!" Christ had come - the kingdom had arrived. And with it the kingdom of this world was perishing. So people were urged to repent and believe the gospel.

 

Third, the message of Christ in the gospel calls for urgent response. It is found in Christ's words, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt 11:28-29). Weary and heavy-laden people, those who have felt the deep desperation of their own sinful condition before God, do not dally when there is relief in sight. Bunyan pictured this in Christian as he carried the burden of sin upon his back, seeking 'yonder wicket gate' where he would find a cross and empty tomb to lay down his burden. He moved with haste. Any obstacle in the way caused the greatest grief and shame for him, and it caused fear that he would miss entering in and finding relief from his sin. The kingdom advances forcefully "and forceful men lay hold of it" [NIV].

 

2. Kingdom zeal

 

The language Christ chose was very intentional. It depicts what it is like to enter the kingdom. You do not enter the kingdom passively or yawning or by having a 'ho-hum' attitude or with an unwillingness to lay down your life for Christ. "Violent men" laying hold of the kingdom refers to those with burning zeal, those that feel the urgency in their own hearts by reason of their sin and Christ's offer in the gospel. Christianity is not for spiritual wallflowers that can take or leave the gospel propositions. It is for those who must have Christ. Nothing else will satisfy or fill the ache of one that desires the rule of Christ in his life.

 

Charles Spurgeon offers two particular reasons why our Lord uses such terminology for those that are kingdom citizens. First, "poor sinners take the kingdom of heaven by force ...because they feel they have no natural right to it; and therefore, they must need take it by force if they would get it at all." This is no retreat to a work's orientation at all. Instead, it shows the attitude, the zeal, the enthusiasm, and the desperation found in all that have come to know Christ. Some among us have not come to know Christ because you've felt nothing of the desperation that Jesus speaks of in this passage. If you were in a burning house and were awakened by the flames, you would not procrastinate getting out the door. How much more so should any among us that have come to realize your own sinfulness and God's certain judgment, flee to the only refuge - Jesus Christ?

 

Second, "there are so many adversaries to oppose us, that if we are not violent we shall never be able to overcome them" [MTP, vol. V, 220-221]. Just like Christian in Bunyan's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, we face obstacles of procrastination, worldly-mindedness, slothfulness, and pliability with the world. So we must not rest. We must give no pause until we know that we are forgiven, and that Jesus Christ is our King.

 

Conclusion

 

Greatness is found in kingdom citizenship. And kingdom citizenship is found only for those that are desperate for Christ and all the provisions that He has wrought in the gospel. Have you been careless with Christ and the gospel? Then see that Christ's kingdom will escape you, and you continue to head for eternal destruction, unless you heed Christ's call to repent and believe the gospel. Be quick about it! Do not tarry at the place of apathy or excuses. Come to Christ and find Him to be a sufficient Savior and Lord.

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