And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me,And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me:
5 sermons cite this verse
… takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Jesus was always addressing some dilemma That had taken place along the road In one way or another I need you to get the sound adjusted for me Yeah, get it ready Look up, don't keep your head down Pay attention to me Yeah, there you go, let's start over again So Jesus was always dealing with some dilemma along the road. Questions were always being thrown at him in one direction or another. and he was always being challenged to answer something that he had already answered months and probably a year earlier particularly about the role of the kingdom and where you are situated in that kingdom he was always trying to explain it sometimes he did it by saying the kingdom of God was like a sower that sows seed Or sometimes the kingdom of God was like a mustard seed that grew into the largest plant in the garden. …
… Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, It would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin. Such things are bound to come. But woe to the one through whom they come. Truly I tell you Unless You change And become Like children You will never Get through the door Whoever becomes Humble Like this child Is the greatest in the kingdom Of heaven Whoever welcomes one such child In my name welcomes me another translation verse 6 if any of y'all cause one of these little children to stumble, to be harmed, to sin. It would be better if a great millstone were wrapped around your neck and you were thrown into the depths of the sea. …
… enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whoever welcomes one such as this child in my name welcomes me. This is the word of God. You may be seated. I want to tag this text, trading places. Trading places. Now, this is chapter 18. In chapter 16 A great confession has been made Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God It falls from the lips of the old fisherman Simon Peter In chapter 17 is the transfiguration Where Jesus' resplendent glory is revealed atop of Mount Hermon. And then there is a disputation at the bottom of Hermon and this leads us to the last episodes of Jesus in this particular part of the region. So you have a confession, the second prediction, third, you have this transfiguration confession, transfiguration, prediction and now we come to this big disputation. The question is surrounded by one thing. Who is the greatest? This is the question that falls from the lips of the disciples. …
Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, look at this. It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. That is mafia, bro, right? What are we talking about here? It's so intense. He chooses the most intense language available to him to try and get this point across. And if you kept reading verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, he even says, like, do anything to keep yourself from drifting from this mission. Cut a hand off. Pluck an eye out. Cut a foot off. Whatever it takes, make sure you stay focused in my kingdom on what's what. As though that weren't enough, he now takes our attention to heaven to show us how the priority of youth evangelism is like paramount in heaven. He says, verse 10, take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones. …
… is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. Then a stern warning in verse 6. But whoever calls as one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for offenses must come, but woe to the man by whom the offense comes. He's still referring to children, to offending children, to hurting, abusing, harming, and even leading children in the wrong direction. Verse 8, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed. And it's so interesting to me that this text is attached to how we treat children. In a time when children are being abused, in a time when children are being molested, in a time when pornography is flooding and we're seeing a pandemic of child abuse and molestation, he says it would be better for you to cut off your hand and it be cast from you. …