Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God?
Who are we to be like?
Who did the religious leaders want to silence?
Open your eyes…and see the children.
In Matthew 18 verses 1–4, the disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the Kingdom of God. His answer surprised them very much! Instead of pointing to John or James or Peter, Jesus called a young child to come and stand beside Him. “I am telling you the truth: if you don’t change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus said, “The person who humbles himself like this little child is the most important one in the Kingdom of Heaven. The person who, in My name, welcomes a little child such as this one welcomes Me.”
What is it about children that the Lord Jesus likes so much? This is a question I have asked myself over and over again during the past 25 years as I have worked in children’s ministry. I have wondered if my role is to train children…or, rather, to be trained BY them? I have wondered why we adults spend so much time teaching children about the Kingdom of God when Jesus stated very clearly that children are actually the greatest and most important members of that Kingdom! And, as the years have passed, I have realized that what the Lord wants me to do is to teach the children who they ARE.
Children have faith. They have a wonderful, spontaneous ability to run into the throne room of God and experience His Presence. Children are very capable of fulfilling the greatest commandment in the Bible: to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. If you were to make a list of the requirements needed to serve God, you would find that children meet the criteria. Yet these valuable, capable, energetic, faith-filled little people are usually the most overlooked members of the Body of Christ.
God’s ways are higher than our ways; His perspective is often exactly opposite to our natural thinking. Throughout Scripture, whenever God had something very important to do, He chose someone little to do it— someone who depended on His bigness in them! In 1 Samuel 15:17, the prophet said to King Saul “when you were little in your own eyes”—that is when Saul had been useful to the Lord. First Corinthians 1: 26–31 tells us that God deliberately chooses what we might consider to be weak, foolish, and lowly so that HE will be glorified.
Children—those seemingly unwise, weak, foolish, unnecessary members of your local church—could very well be the people God will choose to bring His glory to the nations of the earth.
For many years I have taught children Psalms 8:2 where it says the praise of children SILENCES the enemy; but only recently have I stopped to consider what that means. The voice of the enemy has been entirely too loud and too persistent in this generation! Could it really be that the praise of children has the power to silence that voice? Could it really be that if children lifted their voices to the Lord, from their mouths would come praise so powerful it would silence the voice of the enemy in their nation?
When Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem, Matthew 21:15 and 16 tells how the religious leaders were indignant and upset because the children were praising Him. Jesus quoted Psalms 8:2, asking the leaders if they had ever read it. He commended the children and said their praise was perfect! (Something to consider from this passage of Scripture is the fact that the children recognized who Jesus was. The leaders of the religious community, however, did not. When Jesus comes to His people in this generation, will we recognize Him?)
God loves the praise of children, He loves their faith, and He wants them to come to Him. Matthew 18 contains many verses where Jesus emphasized the importance of children, and the importance of how they are treated. But then, in the very next chapter, some children were brought to Jesus so He could lay His hands on them and pray for them.
What did the disciples do? Knowing the way Jesus felt about children, did they hurry to help the parents bring their little ones to Him? Did they help clear a path through the crowd so the children could easily get to Jesus? No. Matthew 19: 13 says the disciples “rebuked” them! The disciples told them not to “bother” Jesus.
Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Jesus who said children are greatest in the Kingdom, the Jesus who very clearly stated in Matthew 19:14 that He wants the children brought to Him—is the same Jesus today. He has not changed. I wonder if His disciples have changed much either? Are we still holding the children back, thinking that Jesus is only interested in ministering to adults?
Please let me tell you how the Lord changed this disciple’s attitude toward children.
When I began to work with the children at our church, I thought my job was to teach them Bible stories and entertain them while the adults were in the more important meeting in the sanctuary. I liked the children and thought they were “cute.” During one meeting, I was teaching the children from the Book of John where it describes Jesus as the Shepherd, and we are sheep. The sheep know and recognize the voice of the Shepherd. Hearing God’s voice should not be unusual for Christians. I said to the children, “Let’s all be very quiet and listen for God’s voice. If He speaks to you, please come to the front and tell us what He said.” I was prepared for them to give prayer requests or testimonies. I never really expected them to actually hear God’s voice! What happened that day changed my life forever.
The children were very, very quiet, trying to listen for the Shepherd’s voice. After a few moments, a little girl, Karen, came to the front. “Did God speak to you?” I asked. She nodded and I handed her the microphone so everyone could hear her. Karen took a deep breath and then said with great confidence, “The Lord just told me that my spirit is just as big as an adult’s!” She walked back to her chair and sat down. I stood there with my mouth wide open in shock. We went on with the meeting, but I could not forget Karen’s words.
My spirit is just as big as an adult’s.
How big is a spirit? If we could see ourselves the way God does, how big and mature would we be? I realized that when we ask Jesus to come into our hearts and we are “born-again” our inner spirit man comes to life. If we feed that inner life, as 1 Peter 2:2 instructs, we will grow. So, I reasoned, if a child reads God’s Word and nurtures their inner spirit-man, they will grow. They have the potential to be bigger and stronger inside than adult who neglects to feed their inner spirit man!
From that time forward, I looked at my work among the children much differently. Instead of entertaining and keeping them quiet during the more “important” adult meetings, I prayed and asked the Lord for messages. I carefully prepared tasty and nutritious spiritual food for the young of the flock. And as I searched God’s Word for what He had to say about children, I came to realize, as I stated earlier, that my job was not so much to teach them to “become” but to teach them to BE.
Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God? Who are we to be like? Who did the religious leaders want to silence? Whose praise will silence the enemy in this generation?
Who can be powerful ministers because of their seeming weakness and insignificance? Open your eyes…and see the children.
Dian Layton, also known as “Hugga Wugga” of Mercy Place Ministries is based at Destiny Image Publishers in Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband and their two young sons. She has ministered internationally in a wide variety of settings for over 20 years. Children of all ages have enjoyed Dian’s sense of humor and anointed storytelling and music.
Visit the catalogue store at www.reapernet.com to get information on Dian’s book, “Soldiers With Little Feet” as well as the author of the new children's church curriculum, "The Young God Chasers."
Also visit Dian at www.seeker.org
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