Greatness In The Kingdom & Children's Ministry

This morning I am thinking about the following verses from Mark 9:30-37 NIV:

[30] "They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, [31] because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” [32] But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

[33] They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” [34] But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

[35] Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

[36] He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, [37] “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

There is a bunch of stuff happening in these few verses, and it all seems to be focused on trying to teach the disciples, drawing them slowly forward in their understanding and faith.  Sometimes, you just have to wonder at their apparent denseness, as Jesus is clearly speaking and they are just not picking it up.  We, of course, have the advantage of hind-sight, while they were walking through all these revelations and experiences in real time.  I am encouraged by their humanness, and by their failures, for that means the Lord has seen it all before and will likely treat me with the same heart.

The disciples traveled with Jesus for close to three years, and still did not pick-up everything He was trying to teach them.  He was working hard to establish a completely new paradigm in their minds and hearts.  They had grown up in a very religious, works based system, and the Lord was trying to replace that with a relational model.  They were used to a model where the  leaders had the power and authority and let everyone know it, and He was teaching them about humility, hiddenness and servant leadership.

Here Jesus spends time specifically teaching them, and working with them.  I think this is so important that we all take time to be with the Lord, for our own sake.  Sometimes the demands of ministry can make it almost impossible to spend much alone time with the Lord, but that is essential for remaining on track and establishing and maintaining a correct mind-set.

As I mentioned before the disciples seemed quite resistant to Jesus teaching, and one of the areas where this was specifically true is their own personal position in the Kingdom.  On this journey back to Capernaum they were arguing about who was the greatest.  Another time James and John had their mom ask Jesus to make them His number one and two assistants when He sat on the throne (Matt 20:20-22).  When Jesus had risen from the dead and returned to them and was just about to ascend to Heaven, they were still asking about the earthly Kingdom being restored (Acts 1:6) and were likely thinking similar thoughts of the glorious positions they would have in this Kingdom, under a King who could no longer die.

Taking a moment to reflect on the church of today and the pastor worship that is prevalent, it seems we have generally missed the same point that Jesus was teaching the disciples.  The goal of joining Jesus in continuing His ministry should not be personal glory, international recognition, adulation, personal wealth, or power over others.  I don't know the hearts of most famous pastors or teachers, and so am just observing externally that often they seem to be ok with the personal glory and power, certainly the riches and wealth.  The fancy suits, fancy homes, nice cars, huge staffs, huge churches were never the focus or desire of Jesus' ministry.  I think that having such a mindset clearly muddies the purpose and practice of one's ministry, as compared to Jesus. We can rationalize the need to connect to more and more people, and thus the celebrity position seems to be the answer.  Again, I can't judge anyone, I just know that in my life all of that would be very dangerous and thus I must reject any of that as it pertains to ministry.  I am seeking to emulate Jesus' statement in verse 35 - " Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all."

My last reflection has to do with Jesus' last statement in verse 37, the welcoming of children in His name is the same as welcoming the Father.  The Father looks with great favor on any that welcome Him, and any who welcome His son Jesus, and any who welcome little children in His name.  That puts a whole different light on children's ministry.  So often the children's ministry is one where the leaders have to beg others to participate, and here we have Jesus describing the personal favor that the Father has on such people.  If we grabbed hold of this mindset as a church we would have to turn children's workers away.  In Matthew's Gospel this thought is expanded a bit by Jesus, as follows - Matthew 10:40-42 NIV:

[40] “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. [41] Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. [42] And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Look at the logic of verse 41, if you welcome a prophet you receive a prophets reward.  It is clearly the Father who rewards the one who welcomes the prophet.  So what reward would be given to those who welcome the Son of God, following the same logic?  The answer is stunning - they would receive the Son's reward! Going back to Jesus statement in Mark 9:37 whoever welcomes one of the little one's welcomes the Son and the Father.  Wow!  We ought to be lining up to welcome and work with the little ones! Even more so, this is Jesus' response to the disciples arguing about who was the  greatest, in essence pointing the way to greatness in the Kingdom - namely welcoming the children.  Children's ministry might seem like a hidden thing in most churches, but the Father has His eyes clearly on those who are working and welcoming and serving in such a way, and there is great reward in this Kingdom reality!

Amen!