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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
and with desire th a t they might be con spicuous. They talked of it on the way to Capernaum and disputed as to who should be the greater. Now they bring the matter to the Master who gives them one of thè simplest and most searching of all His lessons. Before “who is greatest?” comes the question “who shall enter?” . Hé takes a little child to demonstrate His les son. Emphasis must be placed on the word “little,” for it occurs in this lesson seven times— the number of complete ness. The lesson can never be compre hended if we lose sight of that word. Not merely a child, but a little child. The gate of entrance is the child-like spirit. There are seven characteristics of the little child. A little child is simple, sin cere, gentle, generous, confiding, teach able, obedient,—and these'are typical Of Christ’s character. (Mark 10:15.) "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of heaven a s a little child, h e shall not enter therein/' (Luke 18:16, 17; 1 Peter 2:2.) Jesus took a child’s place in the fam ily of Joseph and demonstrated the king dom life. He said to Nicodemus “Ye must be born again.” That is, “You must become as a little, child and have a new nature.” To this Nicodemus re plied, “How can these things be?” The difficulty in entering thè kingdom is that men and women are not willing to become little children in their atti tude toward God. To become a little child means to surrender the will, to be helpless, to accept a gift. But men and women set their wills up against God, pride themselves upon their knowl edge and their morality. Across.the gate to glory is this bar: “Except ye be converted and become as a little child, ye shall not enter in.” Happy they who bow beneath it and pass in! Every allusion to the mode of becom ing a child of God is simple: “I am the door” (John 10 :9 ); “Receive”, (John
, 1:12 ); “Believe” (John 3 :16 ); '.“I am the way, the tru th and the life” (John 14:6). (2) THE GREATEST IN THE KING DOM, v. 4. . . Here we meet with the most natural question of the human heart,-—a ques tion Of preferment. The law of the natural life is selfishness, self-seeking. The disciples might well have left the question of position to the Master: The law of the kingdom is “If you seek emi nence, you forfeit it.” In the world, the greatest rule; in the kingdom, the great est serve:1 The kingdom characteristics are, (a) A lowly mind. “Love vaunteth not itself.” (1 Cor. 13 :4 ); “In honour preferring one another” (Rom. 12:10); “Be all of one mind” (2 Cor. 13:11); “Having compassion one of another” (1 Pet. 3 :8 ); “Love as brethren” (1 Pet. 3 :8 ); “With all lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another” (Eph, 4:2). (b) Unconscious merit. “For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6 :3 ). A man is not to “think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rom. 12:3). For “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things . . . weak things . . . base things . . . things which are not to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh 'should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:26-29). (c) Self-forgetfulness. Absorbed in the Master’s work, lilje Mordecai' a't the king’s gate, “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God” (1 Pet. 4:10); Experience fosters pride. Self-exaltation forgets the power Of God. Self-forget fulness acknowledges Him in everything. “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not” (Jer. 45:5). “Let him that glorieth, glory in this, th a t he un- derstandeth and knoweth me” (Jer. 9: 24). All personal pride, all denomina tional pride,- is distasteful to the Lord
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