Ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven

Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.


Be converted and become as little children.
Whosever therefore shall humble himself as this little child.
Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name.


All our young lives we are told to 'grow up'. It's offensive when someone tells us to 'grow up' when we are already physically mature. Here Jesus is telling us to be as little children and IF we do not become as little children we shall NOT enter the kingdom of heaven.


Jesus didn't just leave it there in telling us to become as little children, first He says- be converted. He knows that we are not naturally going to be as little children that some sort of conversion has to take place first so we can become as little children.


Conversion-


Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.


People who aren't converted have dull spiritual hearing, they're spiritually blind, their hearts are unable to be spiritually clean. People who aren't converted are spiritually sick and in need of spiritual healing that can only be found by being converted.


Mar 4:12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.


Conversion results in the forgiveness of sins.


Converted - to be converted means to turn about again. When Jesus tells us that we need to be converted He means we need to turn from our sin-filled life back to God.


Be converted and become as little children.


Be converted - be turned about… and become little children.



Mat 13:15 ...and should be converted, and I should heal them.


Should be turned about again and be healed by Jesus.


Mar 4:12 ... they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.


Should be turned about again and our sins will be forgiven.


The turning, the conversion that takes place is changing from one thing to another it is an action.


We have to be converted, we have to experience this turning about so we can become little children. Jesus didn't leave it there either…


'Whosever therefore shall humble himself as this little child.'


Jesus adds that we have to HUMBLE ourselves as the little child is humble. Just how is a little child humble? The word meaning here is this--


G5013
ταπεινόω
tapeinoō
Thayer Definition:
1) to make low, bring low
1a) to level, reduce to a plain
1b) metaphorically to bring into a humble condition, reduce to meaner circumstances
1b1) to assign a lower rank or place to
1b2) to abase
1b3) to be ranked below others who are honoured or rewarded
1b4) to humble or abase myself by humble living
1c) to lower, depress
1c1) of one’s soul bring down one’s pride
1c2) to have a modest opinion of one’s self
1c3) to behave in an unassuming manner
1c4) devoid of all haughtiness


With all that in mind when we attribute this to a child it can mean attaining a lower rank, it could mean to have the pride of a child which by no means is ever like that of an adult consumed by pride, it could mean to be unassuming- most children do not take on great airs. If we think about how children are raised today we might not understand this as much because today with all the corruption children seem to be nasty and full of self, full of pride. Then too we have to try to imagine the age of a child- a little child would be a very young child 1-3 years old perhaps. We have to remember that 13 years old was the age a boy became responsible as an adult to follow God's law. So young child, older child, young adult, adult in the realm of spiritual responsibility leaves us with this as a possibility- 1 to 3, 4-7, 7-10, 10-13. Truly to understand this we have to have some idea of the age of the child we are to become. Because the older the child the more self involved they are. The younger the child the more innocent they are, the less filled with self they are.


Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.


Unless we are converted and become as little children we will NOT enter the kingdom of heaven. This is important, very, very important. We can't continue to pride ourselves on our *grown up* lives in respect to losing the humbleness of a child. We can't lose our understanding that we are CHILDREN of God. We could be 100 years old and we are still CHILDREN of God. We have to live with a humbleness in that knowledge. We have to be converted from our selfish, sin-filled natures to a selfless, humble, forgiven nature in Christ. No one who holds tight to their pride will enter the kingdom of heaven, no one.


Mat 18:2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.


As we learn more and more of the kingdom of heaven we can't ignore any aspect of it, not a single bit. We know that the kingdom of heaven is something we have to seek above all and that is seeking our Savior above all. Our Savior wants us to understand and this part about being converted, being as a little child, about being humble is something we need to keep in our hearts by the grace of God or we will not enter the kingdom of heaven. We need Jesus fully in our lives and this is what we are being taught. We need to turn again to our God, we need to seek Jesus as a child would seek a parent, trusting in Him, humble knowing He is our all in all.


In His amazing love!


Amen.