The Lord’s Experience

When Jesus taught a group of adults that they had to ‘change and… become like little children’ (Matthew 18:3) he was speaking from experience. He himself went from being strong and powerful to becoming a child--even a baby!

Jesus was divine before he became human. He was powerful before he became weak. He knew all things, and then he renounced knowledge. He wiped it all from his memory and humbled himself, starting again with a clean slate. He became a newborn infant, knowing absolutely nothing!

When Jesus became human, he didn’t just descend from Heaven and float down in his kingly garments. He could have done that. It was within the realm of reason. But it wasn't God's will.

Instead of coming down as the Prince he was, Jesus became an infant. He sanctified the human experience by partaking of it. Now we know what a sacred privilege it is to be human.

The infant Jesus became a little child, then a boy, an adolescent, and a teenager. He passed through all the experiences common to mankind in the intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social development he had. Observe how the boy Jesus' four areas of development are described in the next verse. The verse identifies: 1) intellectual, 2) physical, 3) spiritual, and 4) social development.

Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).

And what of the discipline Jesus received? Well, he got a good dosis of discipline like all of us do. His teachers and mentors used a rod to punish him. (If you're surprised the boy Jesus got corporal discipline, look at it as God preparing him for capital punishment, the Cross).

I will be his Father, and he will be my Son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands (2 Samuel 14:7).

Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered, and he suffered punishment up until the day he died--and that means he learned a lot! It was all part of the process of development God designed for Jesus. It was Christ's curriculum.

Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8).

God With Us

Prior to the Cross, the most humbling decision the Word ever made was to leave his glory in Heaven and to become human. He abandoned Heaven to come to Earth--a much more drastic move than moving from Switzerland to Haiti, but who would do that?

In place of Heaven’s wide expanse, the Lord made a dark compressed womb his dwelling place. That was a humbling decision—and suitable preparation for the rough Cross he would carry one day.

Jesus ceased to be “the Word who was with the One God” and became “God with us.” The Word became Emmanuel. A new phase of his existence had begun—a phase which would last for approximately 33 years. We call those 'the days of his flesh' (Hebrews 5:7).

Jesus took on flesh—the human nature of sin. He became another descendant of Adam. And as a son of Adam, he reached out to all sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. His favorite title for himself was the Son of Man. He prided himself on having the same flesh that you and I have!

No Class

It’s an amazing thing that happened: A prince became a pauper.

The class systems which exist in every country of the World are based on the principle that people with power will cling to their power, aren’t they? Observe the class structure in your own country. It is subjected to the principle that the strong will not renounce their advantages.

But Jesus smashed that paradigm. He renounced the comforts, privileges, and advantages of Heaven in order to do the will of God, and to save humanity.

Become a Child to Enter the Kingdom

Jesus smashed the paradigm of class systems and social privilege. To please his Father, Jesus—who had equality with God—chose a lowly life. He became a child, and not just a child, but a poor child in an insignificant village in the hills of a small oppressed country, Israel.

The nation of Israel at that time was subjugated by the Romans. They were overcome by the military conquest of the Roman Empire. They weren’t a free people. They were oppressed by the most brutal and violent imperial domination the World had seen. That's the society Jesus grew up in!

Jesus demonstrated remarkable meekness. If you want to enter the Kingdom of God someday, you also must become meek and humble. You must take a low position. You must become like a little child.

… 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 the child among them.

And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matthew 18:1-4).

Never Means Never

Did you get that? Jesus insists that each of us must humble ourselves. In fact, if we don’t make the switch to humility, we will never enter the Kingdom. Never.

Never is a strong word. By employing it, Jesus meant to communicate to us that without a change of attitude, it will be impossible for us to enter eternal glory.

So, what is the attitude we need to have? Humility. Enough humility to repent and turn from our sins. We must recognize that we have been wrong! We need to admit that we know nothing and that God knows everything.

Here are the facts: We think wrongly and God thinks rightly. He’s right and we’re wrong. We're sinful and he is holy. Got that? It's easy. If you turn from your pride, it becomes easy.

When Jesus says that we need to convert and live dependent on God, the best example is being like children. They're so humble. The deal Jesus offers us is very strict: Either become a child, or you will never enter the Kingdom of God.

The Big Lesson: Humility

So the first lesson our Lord Jesus teaches us is to be humble. We are called to be as humble as the Lord Jesus was when he left Heaven. Remember: He left his divine nature, his glory, and his prestige to do the will of God. Will you also let go of your honor, glory, and social status? Most certainly. God also asks you and me to let go of riches, titles, and reputation.

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as he already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:5-7; NASB).

When the Son of God became a son of man, he did it so that the sons of men might become children of God! Jesus lowered himself to raise us up. He abandoned Heaven so that we might embrace it.

Jesus loved you. Won’t you love him? He gave his life for you. Won’t you give your life to him?

The Lord Jesus renounced honor, prestige, and glory and became small and helpless. But God was his Help, his shield, his buckler. The same God who protected the embryo Jesus in the womb also resurrected Jesus from the tomb. And with that resurrection, God returned to Jesus the glory Jesus had before he came to us!

Follow Me

Will you follow that same pattern of behavior? Will you humble yourself and become as a child? Jesus said that you must or you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So there's no choice A or choice B. There's only one choice: obedience or nothing.

If you will become as a child, then you will enter the Kingdom. That's the deal.

Follow the example of Jesus. He became a child. And that act of obedience to God which caused Jesus to become a child is what has generated for him the unmatched glory he possesses today.