Pastor Ralph Douglas West - Trading Places | Matthew 18:1-5

0:06 Thank you, choir. This is the day the Lord has made. We rejoice and we are really, really glad in it. Yeah. Amen. Thank you so much for your leadership. All of you who've read scriptures and prayed prayers today. What a real joy it is to be in worship. I was thinking, you know, I can't remember like I used to.

0:41 No, I can't. But I was thinking about the justices here. Now, didn't some of your incumbents sue y'all to keep y'all off? Which ones? Hold your hands up. Yeah. Yeah, I thought so. You know, it's rough enough in America to be black,

1:11 but to be black and female is tough. It's almost, yeah. Somebody said to me recently, does everything have to be race in America? And I told them, I said, it's amazing that nobody said that I want to say this right. I've asked the Lord to help me not. No, I'm serious. I've asked the Lord to, because I'm a religious historian, and I don't want to embarrass the institution that has trained me to think a particular way. I've been trained to be able to use the economy of language to express what I'm supposed to say, and I've asked the Lord, help me not get so prophetically passionate about it.

2:07 But it is always interesting that it becomes an issue of race when the uplift, old 60s term, 19th century and 60s term, when the uplift is pushing us up. When we start coming up, all of a sudden it becomes a real problem. And so when we talk about support and vote and fight, we're not talking about on individual levels. It's like when you say to people, when you say white folk, you ain't talking about a white person. You're not even talking about a group of white people, you're talking about institutions. Yeah, systemic, there you go. Yeah, you're talking about where the power lies. That's what you're getting to. So you sisters, keep fighting the good fight, is what I'm saying.

3:02 Keep fighting the good fight. You know you're doing something right when the incumbents are suing you to keep you off the ballot. Why wouldn't they want you on the ballot if voting is democratic and equitable? We ought to want a good, balanced fight. It seems like somebody don't want the books to be balanced for certain people. In fact, that's my sermon this morning. No, you'll see it. Matthew 18. beginning at verse 1. For those of you who are new here this morning and those of you who have not been involved in where we've been reading over the last weeks, we are looking at Matthew's kingly portrayal of Jesus, a royal road that leads to his resurrection.

3:58 And though time doesn't permit us to look at every verse and every line, I've selected our high watermarks for us to look at together as a church to see how Matthew is writing Jesus into the story of his royal, his regality. see if you can pick up his royalness in chapter 18 at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven he called a little child to him and placed a child among them and he said truly I say to you unless you change and become like a little children like little children you'll never 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.

5:20 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,

6:18 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. Who is the greatest? They come to Jesus and they ask him who is the greatest? it doesn't take long to figure out I don't know if this is the content of the argument but it could be because the A team has been getting all the play while the B team has been benched yeah so the the B team was powerless over a human predicament Jesus comes down from the mountain of transfiguration settles the dispute and the B team the remaining disciples asks them one question what happened on top of Mount Hermon and Peter said these words Jesus told us not to tell y'all and that's not exactly the way that's said it says not to tell anybody But you can imagine if it went that way, then it doesn't take long for you to pick up and say that could cause a particular issue.

8:02 Because it sounds like Peter, James and John are not just the inner circle, but they are privy to some insight that the other disciples don't know. and that could be. I did not say that it was. Do not leave here saying, Pastor Weston changed the story. I said there's the possibility that this could be what at least initiates some of the argument between the disciples over who is the greatest. Back to Peter. He's the big fisherman. He's the oldest. and Peter shows up in some significant moments. One moment, he takes the family to the in-laws' house where his wife, mother is healed.

9:01 Big deal. He's with Jesus when he goes to Jairus' house where the daughter who had been sick died. That's a pretty big deal. Peter is with Jesus when they cross the lake. And they go into the resort country of Gadara. There's a man who has 6,000 evil tenants held up in his human holiday inn. Jesus evicts him. And that's a pretty big deal. Peter is there. So you follow these moments and then you get to the confession, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. That's so big until whole churches have been built upon that confession. And the transfiguration, come on.

9:59 That you see Jesus in bodily form play a lightning game at the apex of a mountain. you ain't seen nothing like that that's big deal and then to see that and the disciples at the bottom of Hermon ask you what happened and you clear your throat and say Jesus told us not to tell y'all No wonder the kingdom of God has to deal with reversals of values and roles. at that time verse 1 the disciples came to Jesus.

10:56 And there's nothing humble about what's going on. Somebody came to D.L. Moody and asked him, what did he think about humility? what do you think about it? Is it the denial of oneself? No, I don't think that's what it really means. I mean, you don't think about yourself at all. Humility.

11:35 I figured you wouldn't like that, so let me give you a picture of some chickens. You ever heard of pecking order? This is the pecking order. A Norwegian inventor and doctor, Dr. Eddie, coined pecking on it. What he did was he selected 60 chickens, banded them, and put them out in a barnyard and observed them for over a series of weeks and months. He discovered something about destination. He noticed that when two chickens would come together, a fight would break out, a squabble, or some act of intimidation that would make one back away. And if they ever came back in the second meeting, the one that left always comes in order.

12:44 Maybe that's why we say, you chicken. He noticed this throughout the yard and then when the top ones got together, the same thing happened until the number one, the alpha chicken, pecks the chicken and he pecks all the chicken and all the others fall in order.

13:12 Pecking order. and it didn't just stop there he looked at it in birds and other animals and noticed that in all of it it's a pecking order Jesus says, now some of y'all want to do that in my kingdom.

13:37 When you ask who is the greatest, you assume that I have a picking order that who's the most powerful, who's the most prestigious. But in my kingdom, I want you to know that seats are won by service. There's a reversal in the order. in doing so Jesus would pick this up in several other places where he says let me show you how this reversal works back to chapter 16 now verse 24 one of Jesus favorite lines that he used he says you want to follow me hey hey you want to follow me because they all these people talking I'm a Christian, I want to be a Christian.

14:30 Are you really? Maybe a name only. Jesus says, if you are willing to follow me, to say that I take the life of Christ on me, what you're really saying is that I will deny myself and that itself in this self-determination to agree that I will make me second in life. is a reversal of order because we are taught in America, we are taught as people, we are taught, look out for number one. And Jesus says, let me tell you something now.

15:15 You're gonna be in my kingdom and what you have to learn how to do is to deny yourself and follow after me. Take up your cross and follow me. you know what taking up your cross means I see you getting tired with this I understand I understand I wouldn't want it either you know what it mean to take up your cross Jesus, I'll follow you. He said, well, take up your cross. He said, I'm wearing my cross now. He said, now bear it.

16:08 You know what it means. I'm glad you asked. Imagine this morning, you say, I'm taking up my cross. I'm going to bear my cross. And you go to the finest jeweler and says, make me an image so that people when they see my jewelry, they'll know that I follow Christ. And this is what the jeweler would do. Say, what are you fashioning? He said, oh, this is a needle and I'm going to shape it in platinum and diamond. Say, well, what are you doing that for? He said, well, this is a shape of the needle that is used to execute people who are on death row.

17:02 No, I'm a Christian. He said, well, that's what I'm saying. When you identify with Christ, the cross is the symbol of somebody going to be executed. You didn't get that. And that's what we miss about what it means to follow Christ. Following Christ says that you're willing to offer up your life as a sacrifice for service. And that's one reason it's so hard to get people to serve because it costs you to be a servant. Anybody can be served. But it costs something to be a servant. To serve, to be a servant means that you give up pieces of your comfort. You give up some of your conveniences.

17:58 And that's the one thing that we're not really, really willing to do is to give up that kind of comfort. I like the way I live. Thank you. And I start thinking about people who are real servants. I'm just going down, I'm just sitting in the back, meditating on who are people who have really given up more what they could have been to serve or use that position to serve, not themselves, but a greater good of people.

18:36 People have said to me years ago, they said, You are crazy to use the gift that you have to stand up and preach. You could be so many other things. I ain't never wanted to be but one thing, and I'm doing it now. And I use my gift to serve other people. That's what I do it for.

18:58 But I know how they feel. You running for justice? Man, I wouldn't do it for nothing. You have to have a calling to do stuff like that. You have to feel like a greater call is calling you up to do something like that. To put yourself in a position of abuse and misuse and to be derided and marginalized, you have to believe that what I'm doing is more than a paycheck. I'm doing it because God has called me to do something and make a difference in the world.

19:41 I don't care if y'all don't like it. I made up in my mind that when I end my journey, I don't care nothing about you saying, oh, he can preach, who cares? I want somebody to be able to say that he passed away and went this way and he went by helping somebody with a word, maybe a song, showing somebody that they have been traveling wrong. I don't want my living to be in vain. Thank you. You ain't got to be a pastor or a politician to do that. You can ask God as a servant in your kingdom, how do I use what I have? And I started thinking of these people. A little lady who would leave family behind from Ruleville, Mississippi.

20:37 to be beaten and sexually assaulted. And she becomes the voice at the Democratic Convention, fighting for representation in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer. That's what it means to serve somebody. You ain't got to have a college degree to serve somebody if I can help somebody. We sit around and we talk about the SELC and all that kind of stuff, but you can't have that without Ella Baker.

21:20 You can't shout on her because you probably don't know her name. But there she is in them old dark glasses sitting around and she's telling Martin King and Rab Abinati and Y.T. Walker and Fred Shuttlesworth and Sean Randolph and all of them. There's a better way to make all of this happen. Nobody may know your name. It may get lost in history, but that don't stop you from serving. Who's the greatest? That's what they wanted to know. Some of you remember some years ago, Robert Ringel wrote this book, Winning Through Intimidation. and then the Ohio State dropout wrote another book, Looking Out for Number One.

22:24 And once that book, the first one reached 1.7 million, that's when he wrote the next one and people fell in love with that. Listen to the words, winning through intimidation. Looking out for number one. That is American Christianity. that's the world we live in and now that we make more than two nipples we live in the same way off of this kind of foolishness saying things like this well if they just did this if they just did that it ain't no reason why they that there are some factors that are involved that keep a whole lot of people from achieving some of the things that you have achieved. Yeah, you like the first part.

23:23 I'm done now. Let me give you the last thing. Jesus just simply saying one thing when it comes to this there's no middle ground brother there's no middle ground sister so not only are the values reversed get you some values then the second thing is the role is reversed Jesus could have picked anything or anybody to convey this message you know who he got?

24:08 a child You know why? I'm glad you asked. children were not valued in this book. I didn't say the Bible promote the inability to die. That ain't what I said. The scripture is written in a time in this world, this world Thank you. of these apostles where children were not of value. Empire didn't value the children. Same thing about patriarchy. It's the world that they lived in. It's no secret that women are not plastered over every page. And so you have to hear for the voices of those that are mute.

25:10 they speaking you just got to listen closer a mother is not mentioned but you know if the baby is there the possibility mama is there somewhere it's not stretching too far and so Jesus selects a child So, we are here. and then what is it bring the child to me now Matthew Mark and Luke preserve this story if you stay with me I can help you Mark says it this way Jesus put the baby in his arms it's a child just just come near to me Luke says come sit next to me so Jesus is about to use this baby this child seven, eight years old maybe I don't know as an illustration an ocular demonstration of what the kingdom looks like because what you hung up over is over position you want to know where you going to sit in the kingdom Thank you.

26:23 keep me there I'm coming back to it that's going to be a big argument in about two chapters we might get there a big argument where a mother comes along and said Jesus could you let my two sons sit in the kingdom one to your right and one to your left and Jesus knew who James and John was they are the son of Bionerges you know what that is? Thunderstorm boys, they were hell raisers Jesus said you want me to turn my kingdom over to some people that when they saw some poor people they said heaven fall down and burn them up, he said that's who you want me to leave my kingdom to my kingdom is in the hand of those that understand what it looks like to act like a child.

27:25 Come here and bring that baby to me. Jesus is sitting there with that baby there holding that baby. And he said, you want to be great in my kingdom? You want to be big in my kingdom? You want people to know who you are in my kingdom? You want people to call your name in my kingdom? You want to sit at the right side of me in the place of honor in my kingdom. What I need to know is, can you function like a baby? Because babies have a demonstration to show you how you get great inside the kingdom of God. How do babies function? I love the questions you ask.

28:11 How do babies function? And that's why we got to bring our babies to Jesus early because bad behavior is a learned behavior. Whenever you find a baby that hates somebody, now we know we always got one little somebody. In the group that's a little bit different that you got to work with shaping that bow a little more. But the average baby don't come out being a racist, a bigot, a white supremacist, or a black supremacist. In that case, it's a learned behavior. You got to teach them how to be nasty and rude and disrespectful. Ain't nothing nice about you teaching your baby how to cuss. and be nasty as a baby.

29:10 that while you want to bring babies to Jesus early and we let a generation plus get past us that don't know nothing about Jesus, nothing about the church. I must admit, I'm still in shock when I meet somebody and they say, I ain't never been to church one time in my life. I said, you ain't never been to a funeral, never been to a wedding, never been to a baby blessing, never been to a picnic. Something wrong when you haven't been at the most dominant institution in our community and you ain't never been there. Lord have mercy.

29:56 How does a baby act? I'm done. I'm done. Bring the baby to me. Because babies, babies, they respond. Try it. He has the baby and I'm done. Come here. If you're the baby's daddy, granddaddy, mama, even maybe uncle, auntie, come here. Baby, run up there to you. now sometimes I know babies you say come in they run in the other direction which are our normal circumstances come here come here the babies come come here.

30:51 And they come that way. I'm through. We used to have in Houston a couple of stores, Cresses and Grants, you would go shop. And this is in the 60s and they had, you shopped in the basement. I used to think escalator meant basement.

31:14 But like most good children as I was, I was my mother's nicest child. the escalator would be coming up. And you know what I would always want to do? Run down the up escalator. And I would take off trying to get down. And between stepping down, my motion would stop, but the escalator never stopped. so I would get tired trying to run down I would hold on the balance and do two but I didn't know when I was doing that I was still being pulled up and the more I would try to run down, the escalator kept pulling me up, and I learned something that day, and I'm done, about the role of reversal, and the role of value, is that the more humble, that is the further you can go, down in humility, down in service, the more God can pull you up, to a place where he can use you, for his service.

32:34 That's all I was really trying to say for the whole day. Is that you run down or should I say we humble ourselves. As God's sons and daughters, we humble ourselves. And through humility, it is God who pulls us up. so Jesus says so you want to know who the greatest is in the kingdom the greatest in the kingdom is not about the title that you hold the position that you're in that's not what it is the greatest in the kingdom, I'm talking about the kingdom of God now,

33:24 are those who can humble themselves. And didn't Jesus say it this way? Whosoever humbleeth themselves shall be exalted. But those who exalt themselves shall be humbled. I really want God to be able to use me as a person that loves his creation because through his redemption he's made me a son and you a son and daughter in his kingdom. So today after the benediction let's get up go out into the world walk in humility and watch God change the lives of the people that are around us.

34:28 I believe the Lord can change it. What about you? I know he can. He changed you. He can change somebody else. Come on, let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today and we thank you for worship and the word. We ask of you now that you would help us truly to love you aright, that we can love others aright.

35:02 Help us. to make the kingdom on earth reflect your kingdom in glory. we need a lot of help, a lot of work. But in doing so, we know that you have gained the real glory that you deserve. Strong name of Jesus. We thank you. Amen. Give God praise today, church. Come on. Celebrate this good.