The top leader should consider himself to be the slave of all. That is the mindset that Jesus says leadership should have. Jesus himself was willing to stoop to do whatever is necessary to save us.

Here we see Jesus for the third time telling his disciples that he is going to be killed. Twice before He had told the twelve about his impending death in Jerusalem, and that He would rise from the dead. (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23.) He had also predicted His resurrection to Peter, James, and John on the mount of transfiguration. (Matthew 17:9.) Why did Jesus tell them so many times? Well, why do students study before final examinations? Because we forget things and need to review. Even though Jesus told the disciples about His impending death three or four times, they still did not understand.

Instead, the disciples are fighting over who will get the top spots in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus had already assured them that they would be sitting on thrones. But they wanted to be seated directly next to Him. James and John figured they had an inside track, being members of the three closes disciples. So they had their mother request Jesus to give them the top spots.

While the disciples are thinking honor and glory, Jesus is thinking about suffering and death. He indirectly asked James and John if they could suffer and die like Him. They said they could. I don’t think they really understood what Jesus was asking. But they did find out that they were going to go through similar experiences as Jesus.

The two disciples, James and John, became the bookends of the disciples. Tradition tells us that James was the first disciple to die (Acts 12:1-2), and John was the last. All the other disciples were executed. (Except, of course, for Judas the betrayer, who killed himself even before Jesus died.) They tried to execute John by putting him in a vat of boiling oil, but God spared him. So John was exiled to a lonely prison island to live out his last days. It was there that God gave him the visions recorded in Revelation. (Revelation 1:9-10.) All followers of Jesus should expect persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12.)

Like I said, I don’t think any of the disciples understood what Jesus was talking about. But I think they understood after His resurrection when they started to suffer persecution. But at the time Zebedee’s wife asked for favors for her sons, all the disciples were vying for the top spot. Jesus said that He was not able to award the top spots. They had already been reserved for whomever His Father had chosen. He would not reveal just who they were reserved for. We will find that out when Jesus comes again.

Finally, Jesus enunciates the principle I stated at the beginning—the higher up you move in leadership, the more of a slave you should be to those under you. Jesus demonstrated this by leaving His place of honor and giving all He had to save mankind. (Philippians 2:5-11.) He also demonstrated it when He washed His disciples’ feet. (John 13:3-17.)

The point for me today: I should do all I can to serve others and bring them the message of salvation. I should leave it up to God to worry about whether I receive honor or suffer persecution.

Jesus had just told the rich man to sell all and follow him. The man turned away sad because of his riches. Now Peter points out that the disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. He wants to know what their reward will be.

Jesus assures Peter that the disciples will have a good reward in heaven. He also says that everybody who has to forsake something or somebody to follow him will have a good reward not only in heaven, but on this earth as well.

Then Jesus goes on to address the selfishness that was at the root of Peter’s question. He tells a parable to demonstrate that we should not worry about what our reward is compared to anybody else’s reward. In the parable, a farmer hires day laborers. Throughout the day he goes back to the marketplace to hire more day laborers. Finally, he hires another group of day laborers one hour before quitting time. At quitting time those who were hired last are paid first—and they get paid the same amount as those who were hired first.

The day laborers hired in the morning are those who came to know Jesus Christ as Savior during their childhood. Those hired in the middle of the day are those who came to Christ during mid-life. And those hired at the eleventh hour are those with deathbed conversions. All will enjoy the blessings of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. But none are to compare their reward against the reward given to another person. I think we will all be too overjoyed with the blessings of heaven to have any thoughts of jealousy about somebody else’s position in God’s kingdom.

Jesus said, "It is necessary for the scandals to come." (Matthew 18:6, my translation.) That is not to say the Jesus wants scandals to come. Only that He knew it would happen.

Every several years a scandal involving Christian leaders is reported in the national media. The current scandal regards Ted Haggard, who just resigned as President of the National Evangelical Association. It is not entirely clear exactly what his sins are. (There is apparently only one accuser.) But he has apparently confessed to adultery and false witness. (Like most Christian pastors, he is probably also guilty of breaking the Sabbath and teaching others to do the same. His church holds worship services on Sunday.) It does not really matter which commandments he has broken. The Bible says breaking any one of them makes him guilty of all. (James 2:10.)

"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11.) The Bible says that God saves people who are fornicators, adulterers, abusers of themselves with mankind, etc.

God can save Pastor Haggard. He may even restore him to some sort of church leadership. (See Psalm 51.) Pastor Haggard will undoubtedly suffer grievous consequences as a result of his sin. When David sinned with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, God forgave him, but David repaid fourfold. Four of David’s sons met premature deaths. David himself was incapacitated and unable to disciple his children or run the government effectively. Only after the revolt of Absalom did David again take firm control of the government. (See 2 Samuel chapter 11 and onward.) Pastor Haggard may well suffer similar consequences. I understand that he has already lost his church. Like David, He will undoubtedly suffer other consequences as the natural results of his sin.

This day on which Pastor Haggard's confession was read publicly is a sad day for Christians. As God said to David, "...by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme...." (2 Samuel 12:13.) People are already using this as an occasion to excuse sin. But sin is inexcusable.

My posts on Matthew 18:6-10, Matthew 18:11-35, and Relation To and Respect For the Pastor also apply here. I hope that those dealing directly with Pastor Haggard's case follow these Biblical principles. It appears that they are.

I normally would not blog about something like this, especially if it is being dealt with appropriately. But this case has been so widely reported that I felt I should point out these Biblical principles. I thought I should also point out that this is no surprise to God. He is prepared, and He can save Pastor Haggard.

My prayer for Pastor Haggard is that he will be forgiven, and will be sanctified so thoroughly that he willingly keeps all of God's commandments. That is also my prayer for myself.

Jesus says that rich people have a hard time entering heaven. But it is possible.

Jesus had just finished blessing the children and had left when a rich man caught up with Him and asked Him a question. The man apparently felt an unfilled void in his life. He thought he was going to heaven, but he was not sure. Jesus seemed to have a gentle heavenly spirit that he admired. He wanted to know what to do to get it.

The man asked the wrong question. He asked, “What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” It was like he thought there was some deed that he could do that would be like a charm. Something he could do that would make up for any sins he had committed. The Bible gives only one thing a person could “do” to have eternal life—never, ever sin. (Galatians 3:12.) But all have sinned, so nobody can have eternal life by doing anything. The only way to be saved and have eternal life is to accept, by faith, the righteousness that Jesus gives us. Jesus did everything right. (Romans 3:20-25; 2 Corinthians 5:21.)

Jesus did not directly confront the man, but indirectly led him to see that his heart was not right. Jesus first called him to follow the last six of the Ten Commandments, which are summed up in the commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” The commandment Jesus did not directly mention is the greatest commandment, “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God [supremely].” The man thought he was keeping all the commandments.

Jesus’ next command to the man showed that he did not really love his neighbor or God. Jesus called him to give to the poor and to follow Jesus. Jesus wanted this man to be one of His disciples! What a privilege! But with the privilege would come the hardships of constant travel, sleeping on the ground in the open air, ridicule of the Jewish leaders, and no money in the bank to fall back on. However, he would have had God’s approval. And he would have had large sums of treasure in God’s heavenly bank. This man found that he would rather trust himself then through himself upon the mercy of God.

The man went away sorry. Not sorry for his sins. But sorry that he could not have both his worldly riches and eternal life. Sorry that he could not ignore the poor. What he needed was a change of heart. Nothing he could do would change his heart. He needed to as Jesus to change his heart. (Ezekiel 36:26.) I hope he came to Jesus later and asked for a changed heart.

God does not call everybody to sell everything they have all the time. But he does call us to use everything we have to spread the gospel and relieve suffering. If your house (or apartment) has an extra room, take somebody in. Or sell the house, buy a smaller house, and give the money that you saved to the poor. If you have things around your house that you don’t use, sell them and give the money to the poor. If somebody needs help and you can help them, then help them. There will come a time just before Jesus comes back when Christians will be able to neither buy nor sell. (Revelation 13:17.) Before that time comes, Christians will need to sell their houses and possessions and use the money to spread the gospel and relieve suffering. If they wait too long to do this, they will not be able to sell or use these assets, and everything they have will go to waste.

Nicodemus was another rich man who came to Jesus. (John 3:1-21; 19:38-40.) The Bible does not say what happened to Nicodemus. But tradition has it that Nicodemus used all his wealth to spread the gospel. He died a poor man in worldly riches, but a rich man in the treasure of heaven.

The point for me today: I need to ask God to give me a loving heart. Only then will I know how to use the possessions He has given me to His honor and the good of my neighbor.

Jesus says that blessing the children is just as important as teaching the adults—maybe even more important.

Jesus was just having a discussion with the Pharisees and His disciples about marriage and divorce. The disciples apparently still had unanswered questions. Maybe other adults were also trying to get Jesus attention. Amid all this some mothers come to Jesus with their children. Initially, Jesus let His disciples handle the situation to see what they would do.

Unfortunately, the disciples exhibited some attitudes that are all too common today. (1) It is more important to pay attention to the wants and needs of adults than those of children. (2) Children are too young to benefit from spiritual instruction. Both of these attitudes are wrong.

(1) In Matthew 18 we saw that Jesus said we should be careful not to offend the little ones. This by no means says that adults are to let children rule their lives. But it does mean that adults should take into consideration the needs and wants of children. Jacob displayed care for his children when he encountered his brother Esau on his way back to his homeland. (Genesis 33, especially verses 13-14.) Adults should take charge and leadership over the children. But people of all ages should be treated with kindness, courtesy, and sympathy.

(2) In Matthew 18 we also saw that Jesus said that unless we become as little children, we will not enter His kingdom. Apparently there is something about little children that allows them spiritual insight that many adults have lost. Those who regularly work with Children have known for centuries that the most effective way to spread the gospel is to teach it to children. Moses often wrote about the importance of teaching children. (For example Exodus 12:25-27 and Deuteronomy 6:6-9.) Saint Francis Xavier is quoted as saying, “Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterward.” Ellen G. White wrote: “It is still true that children are the most susceptible to the teachings of the gospel; their hearts are open to divine influences, and strong to retain the lessons received. The little children may be Christians, having an experience in accordance with their years. They need to be educated in spiritual things, and parents should give them every advantage, that they may form characters after the similitude of the character of Christ.” (The Desire of Ages, p. 515) More recently, George Barna found in his research that “[f]amilies, churches and parachurch ministries must recognize that [the] primary window of opportunity for effectively reaching people with the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection is during the pre-teen years. It is during those years that people develop their frames of reference for the remainder of their life – especially theologically and morally. Consistently explaining and modeling truth principles for young people is the most critical factor in their spiritual development.” ( Evangelism Is Most Effective Among Kids, Barna Group.)

Several years ago my wife and I worked in the young children’s Sabbath School division of a small church. There was a particular brother and sister in the Kindergarten class who never knew their lesson or their memory verse. Their parents were good Christians, and I was sure they would instruct their children if they knew how to use the lessons. So one Sabbath I talked with the father. I showed him the weekly and quarterly lesson papers. I pointed out the daily lessons in these papers and explained how to use them. From then on, his children always knew their lesson and memory verse. A few years later we moved away. A few years after that we got a phone call inviting us to the baptism of those children. Of course, we attended the baptism.

A few years ago the Andrews University undergraduate theology department’s “field school of evangelism” came to the city where we were living to conduct evangelistic meetings in partnership with our church. They brought in an experienced evangelist from the conference to conduct meetings for the adults, and they tapped my wife to conduct children’s meetings. The evangelist and the local Bible worker convinced the theology faculty to train the students in both adult and children’s evangelism. During one of the training meetings my wife gave a presentation on the principles of children’s evangelism. All the students were required to participate in both the adult and children’s evangelistic meetings. (One student absolutely refused and managed to be exempted. Unfortunately, he never did see the importance of working with children.) All of these students gained an appreciation for working with all ages, and a few found that they had a special gift for working with children. The children enjoyed the attention from the evangelism students. Even the adult evangelist from the conference made several appearances in the children’s meetings.

I was unable to attend most of the meetings because of my work and family commitments. (I put our own children to bed on time in the evening while my wife was teaching everybody else’s children.) But I was able to attend the Saturday afternoon meetings. The first Saturday I met a family in the parking lot before the meeting. There were two children, two parents, and two grandparents. The children were excitedly telling the adults how much they enjoyed the children’s meetings. The parents were Kurt and Michelle whom I wrote about yesterday. When Kurt and Michelle joined the church and changed their lifestyle to God’s ways, there was no resistance from the children. The children already knew all about it and believed it was the right thing to do. They learned about it in the children’s meetings.

No age is too early to bring children to Christ. Matthew says that the children who were brought to Jesus were “little children.” Luke called them “infants.” (Luke 18:15.) Children can receive instruction during daily family worship even before they are born. During the first few weeks after birth, the mother might stay home with the baby. But within a few weeks, the baby is ready to start attending church with the family. The baby should be presented to the pastor or elder to lay hands on the baby (hold the baby, if possible) and pray God’s blessing on the baby. The church should have an age-appropriate class for the baby (actually, for each age group) with a lesson that the parents can read to the baby during daily family worship.

A few years ago our family joined a little church that had only two children’s divisions. The young children’s division was appropriate to Kindergarten age, but not for babies. After a few weeks my wife said, “We are going to have to do something because the baby is losing all interest in church.” I told her, “Start a babies’ class.” Later we ended up combining the babies’ class with the Kindergarten class. But we maintained age-appropriate elements for both age groups. I was also blessed to reap some of the results of other people’s work in that church. I taught a special baptismal class for children and their parents. I asked all parents who had children in the class to attend with their children. I wanted to make sure the parents took an active part in the instruction of their children. Five children and one parent were baptized. (The other parents were already baptized.)

Later we moved and joined another congregation. This time there was only one children’s class. The teacher had geared the class more towards older children. So, with the church elder’s blessing, we started a class for younger children. A grandmother who had not been attending church for several years heard that we now have a Sabbath School class for very young children. She started her granddaughter Sabbath School. Now she regularly attends Sabbath School with her granddaughter and sometimes stays for the worship service.

In granting the mothers’ requests to bless their children, Jesus also honored the position of motherhood. He honored the mothers’ desire to raise their children with a knowledge of God. Society has not always honored the position of motherhood. But the woman who stays home to instruct her children is occupying the highest position on earth. There is no position on earth of greater importance than that of a mother who faithfully instructs her children. The world may not notice her trials, struggles, and triumphs as she attempts to faithfully instruct her children. But the world will reap the benefits for generations to come. Just so, these unnamed mothers in the time of Jesus have brought courage to parents and affected the instruction of children for nearly two thousand years.

When a child comes to your church, is there a class for him to attend where he will be introduced to Jesus in a way a child understands. Working with a child might take several years. But in the end, it is the most effective means of evangelism.

By the way, when Jesus was done blessing the children, He left. He did not stick around longer to talk with the adults. Perhaps He was just waiting all along for the children to get there before He left. Just a thought.

The point for me today: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14, NKJV.) I will do my best to open the way for people of all ages to come to Jesus.