First Baptist Church Litchfield
July 5, 2026

      • Psalm 71:1–5ESV

  • Nothing But The Blood
  • Mighty To Save

      • 1 Peter 1:3–6ESV

  • God Of Wonders
  • Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
  • His Eye Is On The Sparrow

  • Who gets to be somebody in the kingdom of God?

    In 1987, Steve Rash directed a movie called, “Can’t Buy Me Love.” It starred Patric Dempsy as a high school student named Ronald Miller, a teenager who desperately wanted to be somebody. Ronald was not athletic. He was not the kid everyone wanted to have in their group. He walked the halls unnoticed. He sat at the lunch table with the kids who spent much of their life on the outside looking in. He was not invited to the parties on Saturdays that the “in crowd” raved about on Monday morning in homeroom.
    Then an opportunity presented itself.
    The most popular girl in school, played by Amanda Peterson, found herself in a financial bind. Ronald had spent several summers mowing lawns saving every dime. He offered her a thousand dollars if she would pretend to date him for one month. During that month he would get to meet the her friends, go to their parties, and be seen as popular with the hope of becoming a somebody.
    At first, his plan worked. As soon as he started hanging out the with somebodies, everyone noticed him, and his popularity sky-rocketed. He met people who knew people who would open doors he never dreamed of walking through. And for a time, Ronald felt like a somebody.
    But as every good 1980’s movie does, conflict arises, and it all begins to fall apart. He found out that being popular is not only expensive, but it is exhausting. Becoming a somebody the world appreciates often costs you more than you were willing to pay and takes you further than you want to go.
    The movie resonated with millions of people because it exposed what a lot of us know in our heart. From the time we were children, we’ve figured out how to divide people socially into groups.

    The Nobodies

    There are the Nobodies. These are the kids that are easily overlooked. They are picked last in gym class. They eat at the lunch table in the corner by themselves. They live in the periphery of the social circle.

    The Anybodies

    Then there are the Anybodies. These are your everyday average kids. They have their friend groups. They do their thing and fit in for the most part. They are accepted but rarely noticed. They live on the inside of the circle.

    The Somebodies

    The last group are the somebodies. These are the elite kids everyone admires. They are attractive. They are athletic. They are successful, talented, influential, and most likely wealthy. They set the standard to be a “somebody.” They live in the center, and everything revolves around them. At some level, whether we want to admit it or not, you want to become like them. So, we spend most of our high school career trying hard not to be a nobody so we have the chance to be a somebody.
    You would think when we gradate high school that we would set aside this way of classifying people, but we don’t. We simply exchange the the classrooms for boardrooms, the cafeteria’s for cubicles, the popularity for promotions. And this problem is not only in the workplace. It is pervasive in every area of our life.
    For example, social media is a prime example of how we’ve just extended high school culture into the “real world.” Grown adults posts conversations on facebook that look and sound no different as when they were kids walking down senior hall between periods, talking the same nonsense with the same kind of people they rolled with in school.
    Look at your neighborhoods. In many ways, they are not much different than the social layout of your cafeteria at lunch time.
    Sadly, the church is not exempt from the culture’s influence. Unfortunately, in the Western church, too much of the high school culture is reflected in the the relationships of the body of Christ. We still compare ourselves. We still measure ourselves. We still wonder if we really matter. We spend an enormous amount of energy trying not to be a nobody and hoping, somehow, to become a somebody. You may ask, Why? Why do we this knowing it’s absurdity?
    Because, in a Genesis three world, we have a distorted understanding of identity, significance, and greatness. We do not naturally turn to our Lord to find out what he says about our worth. No, instead, the calloused eyes of our hearts seek to measure ourselves agaisnt one another. God has given us a worthy desire to matter. But under the rule of our flesh, we crave recognition. We compete and we will climb over each other to get it, and as it is for us, so it was for the disciples.
    By the time you read Matthew 18, Jesus had already taught how to live in God’s kingdom in the present moment (Matthew 5-7). He told them they are sons in the Father’s kingdom and has given them a new identity and freedom (Matthew 17:26). He has made it known that they belong to the kingdom. They are loved by the Father, and they have an inheritance.
    But instead of receiving what Jesus says about them, instead of resting in the identity Christ gives them, they begin to argue about status; “Who is the greatest in the kingdom?” they ask Jesus.
    In other words, they are still asking the same question that Ronald Miller was asking, the same question you and I are tempted to ask:

    “Who gets to be somebody in the kingdom of God?”

    Jesus recognized what his disciples were doing. They were trying to evaluate greatness through the lens of the world. All they knew was the “nobody, anybody, and somebody” way of thinking of people. Jesus was not having it. Jesus made it clear, the kingdom of heaven does not have a category for “nobodies,” “anybodies,” and “somebodies.” In God’s kingdom, greatness is measured by a completley different standard. In our text, Jesus is replacing the world's definition of greatness with heaven's definition of greatness.
    Do you want to be great? Good. That is a good desire. But to be great in God’s eyes, Jesus says you must lower yourself, the first must be last, you must become a servant. He will show us this morning that to be great you will need deal with your pride. You will need to turn to Christ. You will need to embrace a life of childlike humility. In other words,

    Christian, be somebody in the kingdom of God by putting your pride to death, turning to Christ in humble faith, and living with childlike humility.

    Kingdom Greatness Begins With the Death of Pride (Matthew 18:1-2)

    Jesus had just assured His disciples that they were sons in the Father's kingdom (Matthew 17:26). Yet almost immediately, they began arguing over which one of them would be the greatest. Thinking that the kingdom of God will soon be established, the disciples wanted to secure their spot at the top. Their argument, according to Mark and Luke, was so intense that Jesus asks them what they were discussing to their shame (Mark 9:33-34; Luke 9:46-47). Two chapters later in the Gospel of Matthew, James and John are bold enough to ask Jesus to sit at his right and left hand at his throne (Matthew 20:20-28). They are all jockeying to be a “somebody” in the kingdom of God. So, in verse one, they ask, “Who is the greatest?”
    Beneath their question lies a deeper longing. What they are really asking is, “Where do I fit in this new kingdom? Will I matter in this new community? Will I be recognized? At the end of the day, their argument about greatness exposes a heart searching for significance. It is what we are all searching for.
    Paradoxically, there is a mixture of pride and insecurity pouring out of their conversation. Pride and insecurity are often twin sins. Pride boasts because insecurity is fearful. Pride competes because insecurity lives among doubts. The disciples sounded confident on the outside, but underneath they were deeply concerned about their standing before Christ.
    Jesus doesn't answer their question the way they expect. He doesn't rank the disciples. He doesn't name a winner. Instead, He calls a little child into the middle of the room. The irony is striking. The disciples want Jesus to point to the greatest man in the room. Instead, He points to the smallest person in the room. Jesus wasn't being clever or facetious. He was confronting the the one thing that would keep them out of His kingdom: deadly sin of pride.
    Pride is never a small problem in Scripture. It is the root beneath countless other sins. The Puritan John Blanchard wisely reminds us that
    There is no spirit in man more opposed to the Spirit of God than the spirit of pride.
    John Blanchard
    The bible says,
    “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
    The disciples are standing deathly close the to edge of a great spiritual fall. Pride is inconsistent with discipleship in the kingdom. Consider those who’ve suffered great loss because their pride opposed the Spirit of God.
    Moses struck the rock in self-exaltation rather than honoring God's holiness. Nebuchadnezzar gloried in his own kingdom until God humbled him. Peter confidently declared he would never deny Christ before collapsing under fear. Satan sought God's throne and lost heaven itself. Pride has no place in God’s kingdom and therefore, it must be put to death.
    You might ask, “Pastor, why do use such strong language? Why do you say you must slay pride, or put it to death like a criminal? John Owen wrote a book called the Mortification of Sin. I read it earlier this summer. In the book he writes one of his most famous line, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” He speaks of slaying it like a beast because if you don’t it will overcome you. I would say, “Be killing your pride, or your pride will be killing you.” It is a dragon that stands before the gates of heaven. You must overcome it. Consider how close King Saul was to the kingdom of God and what his pride took from him.
    When Saul was first chosen king, he was hiding among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22). He appeared humble, but it was actually insecurity. Later, after becoming king, that insecurity grew into pride. He became jealous of David's popularity. He was obsessed over being a somebody, Israel’s king. He was so obsessed that he eventually spent years trying to kill the very man God had chosen, a man after His own heart, to be king.
    The women sang, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
    That one song exposed Saul's prideful heart. He wasn't secure in God's calling. He measured his worth against another man. Just like the disciples, Saul wasn't asking, "How can I glorify God?" He was asking, “Who’s the greatest in God’s king?" But it was a rhetorical question in Saul’s eyes because he already knew in his heart he was the greatest.
    Saul wanted greatness, but he refused to put his pride to death. In the end, the very pride he clung to destroyed him.
    Jesus teaches His disciples that the path to greatness is altogether different. If you would be great in the kingdom of God, you must first put your pride to death. How do you do that? Jesus explains with an object lesson that you must turn away from self-exaltation and embrace childlike humility. This requires a gospel transformation.

    Kingdom Greatness Requires Gospel Transformation (Matthew 18:3)

    Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matt 18:3
    Those words kind of push back on you. The disciples are asking, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom?" Jesus answers, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn..." If I were a disciple in that moment, Jesus would have my attention. He told me to turn around, which means, I’m going the wrong way. I’m not following Jesus.
    The word turn means to change direction, to reverse course, to make an about-face. Jesus is telling His disciples that they are heading in the wrong direction. Their pursuit of greatness has been shaped by the values of this world rather than the values of His kingdom.
    But notice that Jesus does not merely tell them what to turn from. He tells them what to turn toward. They must become like little children. That would have shocked the disciples.
    In the first-century world, children were not admired for their moral innocence or celebrated for their importance. They possessed no social standing, no authority, and no claim to greatness. As R. T. France observes, Jesus' point is not that children are morally innocent but that they occupy a position of low status in society. Greatness in the kingdom comes through accepting the place of the lowly rather than seeking places of honor, turning the nobody, anybody, somebody system upside down.
    Furthermore, Jesus is calling for far more than improved behavior. He is demanding a radical reorientation of your heart. The kingdom of God requires you to abandon the world's obsession with status, recognition, and comparison and to receive the kingdom with the humble dependence of a little child.
    That is what repentance looks like.
    Repentance is turning away from self-exaltation and turning toward complete dependence upon Christ for salvation.
    The world's question is, "How do I become somebody?"
    Jesus' question is, "Will you humble yourself enough to admit that apart from Me you can do nothing?"
    Pride cannot enter the kingdom because pride refuses to bow it’s knee to the Lord. Childlike faith enters the kingdom because it gladly depends upon Another, Someone who is greater, the way a small child depends on his father.
    In effect, Jesus is saying, "As long as you are trying to become somebody by the world's standards, you will never understand My kingdom. My kingdom belongs to those who gladly become nobodies in the eyes of the world because they know they are already somebody beloved by the Father."
    Notice the force of His warning. Jesus says, "Unless you turn...you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This is the same kind of kingdom language He used with Nicodemus in John 3:3: "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." In both passages, Jesus speaks of a radical transformation that marks those who truly belong to Him.
    Jesus is not suggesting that humility earns entrance into the kingdom. Rather, He is teaching that childlike humility is the evidence of a heart that has truly turned to Him. Those who continue to pursue greatness through pride, self-promotion, and comparison reveal that they have not yet embraced the values of His kingdom. Let me illustrate this for you.
    Jesus told another story in Luke 18 about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee. The other was a tax collector.
    The Pharisee stood confidently before God and began listing all of his accomplishments. "I fast. I tithe. I'm not like other people, the nobodies."
    The tax collector would not even lift his eyes toward heaven. He beat his chest and simply prayed, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
    Which one entered God's kingdom?
    The man who humbled himself.
    Jesus concludes, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
    The Pharisee wanted to be somebody. The tax collector knew he was a nobody apart from grace. The Pharisee needed a gospel transformation that humbled him to be more like the tax collector if he wanted to truly enter the kingdom, and be great in the kingdom of God. That's exactly what Jesus is teaching here in Matthew 18.
    Christians become somebody in the kingdom of God by killing their pride, turning to Jesus, and living with childlike humility. Church, the world spends its life asking, "How can I become somebody?" Jesus asks a different question: "Will you humble yourself enough to become like a little child, a nobody?" Stop chasing significance through the world’s comparison of who’s who and definition of achievement. Turn to Christ, rest in your identity as a beloved child of the Father, and pursue the kind of humble dependence that marks every true citizen of His kingdom. If you are killing your pride and have turned to Christ, then your life will display childlike humility.

    Kingdom Greatness is Displayed Through Childlike Humility (Matthew 18:4-5)

    “4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me,” Matthew 18:4–5
    Humility is not thinking poorly of yourself. It is thinking of yourself less. It is no longer demanding recognition. It is no longer needing the last word. It is rejoicing when someone else receives the praise. It is serving when no one notices. It is apologizing first. It is admitting you were wrong. It is gladly taking the seat in the back of the bus because your identity is in your Beloved, not your social status.John captures the epitome of humility when he says of Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease.” (John 3:30)
    Now that is hard for us, and Jesus knows it. So he did not leave us to ourselves to choose humility on our own. He empowers every believer with his Spirit to choose humility (John 16:7-11; Acts 1:8). Paul made sure to encourage the church to rest in the ministry of the Holy Spirit who, helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26) and who can do far more than we ask according to his power within us (Eph 3:20).
    But do notice, however, Jesus puts the responsibility on you; whoever humbles himself. Christ followers make the conscious choice to see that true greatness is in being small, unimportant, having no more social status than that of a child. You find genuine satisfaction in being unimpressive.
    That is what the kingdom of heaven does to the world’s scale of values, says R. T. France. Humbling yourself does not refer to an arbitrary asceticism or a phony false modesty; it does not describe a character-trait, but the acceptance of an inferior position, the same way Jesus did when he came to earth as a human being.
    Paul says in Philippians 2:1-10, that Christ "humbled (emptied) Himself." Think about that. The King of Kings became a servant. The Creator of heaven and earth became a man. The Righteous Judge washed dirty feet. The Lord of glory died the death of a criminal. Jesus said,“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).” If anyone had a right to exalt Himself, it was Jesus. He is the ultimate Somebody! Instead, He humbled Himself. That is greatness.
    Then Jesus says something astonishing. “Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me." Jesus is no longer simply talking about a little boy standing beside Him. He is talking about every humble follower of Christ. Every believer who gladly embraces the world's lowliest believer becomes precious to Jesus. And Jesus says, “If you welcome one of Mine...you welcome Me."
    The church should be the place where everybody is a somebody. Its the place where we all sit together at the lunch table, where everyone plays in gym class, and where the Ronald Millers of the world freely receive the eternal love of the Father.
    Our church should be filled with the rich and the poor, black and white, abled and disabled, the autistic and the athletic, the intellectual and the outcast who love Jesus. Do they know they are welcome here?

    Who do you overlook?

    Who sits alone every Sunday?

    Who never gets invited?

    Who has nothing to offer you?

    Who can never repay your kindness?

    Who do you avoid because they are annoying or not "important"?

    Jesus says,

    "The way you treat the least important Christian is the way you treat Me."

    The gospel tells us that Jesus did not merely welcome important people. He welcomed spiritual beggars. He welcomed tax collectors. He welcomed sinners. He welcomed people who had nothing to offer Him. He welcomed the Ronald Millers of the world, and he did not require them to pay him a thousand dollars to pretend to love them. No, God so loved the nobodies of the world that he gave his one and only Son so that anybody who believes in him will not perish but will become a somebody in the kingdom of God for all eternity (John 3:16). Brothers and sisters, that is our story. We were the nobodies. Christ received us and made us somebodies. Therefore, we gladly receive others.
    People who know they have been welcomed by Jesus no longer need to be important; they are free to welcome those the world overlooks.
    I want my life to matter. I want to do great things. I want to be great: a great husband, a great father, a great pastor, a great headmaster, a great brother in Christ, and a great neighbor. If I am going to be great, then I must daily cooperate with the Holy Spirit to slay my pride, turn to Jesus for gospel transformation, and fight to live everyday in Spirit-empowered childlike humility. I would encourage you, brothers and sisters, toward the same greatness. Amen

      • Matthew 18:1–5ESV

      • Matthew 18:3ESV

      • Matthew 18:3ESV

      • Matthew 18:4–5ESV

  • Who Am I
First Baptist Church Litchfield
pastorjason.fbcl@gmail.com
217-324-4232
http://www.firstbaptistlitchfield.org/
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