THE LEADING OF A LITTLE CHILD
J. Wright
Isaiah 11: 5, 6; Matthew 18: 1–7; Mark 9: 33–37; Luke 9: 46–48; Acts 13: 1–13
I feel encouraged, beloved brethren, to speak of the leading of a little child. I felt confirmed in this in the reading that preceded by the references to what Paul says of himself in Ephesians 3, that he was, “less than the least of all saints” (Ephesians 3: 8). That is true moral greatness. The thought of a little child in these scriptures is not something immature, it is not what our brother was referring to, of being childish and being babes, it speaks of a finished product of divine work; something that is reached in persons now. I suppose Paul would be the most outstanding example we have of one who was a little child. I feel tested in speaking of this because I feel how little I am marked by the features of a little child. The moral features of a little child are simplicity, humility, guilelessness and confidingness.
The scripture read in Isaiah speaks of the millennium. It speaks of a time when the Lord Jesus will come into His rights, when He will reign. I trust we are all looking forward to that day when the Lord Jesus will reign. It will be a benign rule, and it will affect the creation, even the animals will be affected by it. Adam, when he was set up, was intended to be head of the creation, to have dominion over it, dominion over the animals, but we know that sin came in and he failed in that. But the whole creation will come under the rule and influence of Christ.
What the Lord is going to effect will be through righteousness and faithfulness. What the Lord Jesus will introduce in that day will be based on these moral features as seen in Himself.
Righteousness will reign. God is not effecting things in the animal creation today, their ferocious features remain; some of them may become domesticated but the ferocious
feature is still there. What God is effecting today is in men. What God is effecting in men in testimony now will be displayed in that day. It says here, “a little child shall lead them”. That is what God is effecting in some men now, and it has been said that what He effects in one or more He can effect in many. He can secure this feature of a little child.
We have read of an incident that is recorded by three of the gospel writers; each has its own beauty and distinctiveness. It is the same incident, but the writers bring out different lessons.
Men have tried to amalgamate the gospels and put them together, but the whole beauty of the gospels is spoiled in that way. Each gospel writer has his own distinct impression of Christ.
The disciples, in these gospels, were under the Lord’s hand; the Lord was making them, they were in the making process. The finished product was not yet present in the disciples. It is intended, beloved brethren, that the finished product should be reached and known while we are here, not put off to the future. If persons take up a trade, for instance, they go through an apprenticeship and come to a point where they qualify. It is not that they do not learn more through experience, but they have reached something. The disciples here had not yet graduated, they were still in the divine school. Of course we are always in the divine school, but a point comes when we should graduate, something should be arrived at with us. Paul speaks of when he became a man, when he put away childish things. We shall not be much use in the testimony or in the assembly until something of that character is reached. So that the instruction of the disciples, their failings and what they went through, is written for our instruction and education, as showing how they were under the Lord’s hand.
In Matthew, it says, “In that hour”. It is a great thing to take account of what has proceeded; the height of things in this gospel had been reached, spoken of by
the Lord Himself. He spoke in chapter 16 of “my assembly”—think of that! What was on the Lord’s heart, what joy He had in speaking of My assembly, and saying that hades’ gates should not prevail against it; and speaking of Peter as a stone, as material for His assembly.
Peter showed himself to be a stone through the confession he made of the Christ as the Son of the living God. Then three of the disciples had the experience of being with the Lord Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. What a sight they had there as seeing Jesus transfigured; seeing His face shine as the sun in its power and glory. We spoke in one of the readings of the kingdom and the glory of the kingdom. Think of the glory of the King who gives character to His kingdom. It says, “his face shone as the sun, and his garments became white as the light”, Matthew 17: 2. The glory of what was shining in Jesus was the glory of the kingdom, overcoming evil with good; its benign character was shining in the face of the Lord Jesus.
Peter says later, We were eyewitnesses of His majesty (2 Peter 1: 16). These were experiences they had in the making process. The experiences we have in the making process are not all negative experiences, they are not all corrective experiences; there are positive experiences through acquaintance with Christ. There are negative things to be faced, they both go on together in the making process.
Then we have the glory of sonship brought out; the way that the Lord Jesus associates Peter with Himself in the dignity of sonship. That is true greatness, it is greater than any service here; the greatness and dignity of being consciously in sonship. The Lord Jesus was in that in manhood Himself here, and, in the power of the Spirit, we can be in the joy and gain of that too. Then it says, “In that hour the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of the heavens?” They would not have said that if they had been in the gain of what the Lord had taught them. Beloved brethren, if we are in the gain of sonship we would not
speak like this. Who then is the greatest? “And Jesus having called a little child to him, set it in their midst”. He set it there as an example of what He was about to achieve, what He would work out in the disciples. Paul was like this in Corinth. He sent Timothy to Corinth to put the saints there in mind of his ways as they were in Christ. Timothy was like the little child in Corinth, bringing in moral power and influence. It is open to us, for the feature of the little child is not a question of gift. Paul was the greatest gift, I suppose, the church has had, and yet he was marked by the feature of a little child. The gift does not enhance what there is in a brother or sister, but this moral feature of a little child enhances the gift. Paul was a distinctive vessel, yet in his spirit and manner he would be as a little child. So he sent Timothy to Corinth to put them in mind of his ways as they were in Christ.
The Lord takes a little child here and sets it in their midst, and says, “Verily I say to you, Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. They were saying, Who is the greatest? The Lord Jesus says,
“Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom”. We often need more than one conversion. Saul of Tarsus had a remarkable conversion; all that he trusted in, all that he boasted in was brought down. He speaks in Philippians of the things in which he trusted in flesh, and how he had come to count them as filth; he had come to an end of himself; how deep and thorough was his conversion. I feel for myself that it is through shallowness in conversion that I have to have more than one conversion. Peter had more than one conversion. The Lord says here, “Unless ye are converted and become as little children, ye will not at all enter into the kingdom of the heavens”. Think of Naaman, the great man that he was, how he plunged himself seven times in the Jordan, and his flesh became again as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2
Kings 5: 14). Then the Lord says,
“Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens”. The Lord Jesus humbled Himself. He came here in fashion as a man, in a bondman’s form; He humbled Himself becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross (Philippians 2: 8). The Lord Jesus has gone lower than any, He humbled Himself.
Can we humble ourselves? I believe there is nothing like entering into the truth in its positive features to humble us, or to enable us to humble ourselves. Through God’s ways and His discipline with us He humbles us, but we should enter into the truth. Think of how Paul entered into it, he did not just have a knowledge of it. These meetings are not intended just to give us a greater knowledge of the truth, for knowledge puffs up, but they are to bring us into the gain of the truth substantially. That will bring about with us a suited humility. “Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens; and whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receives me”.
The Lord then goes on to speak of offences; the enemy would be out to offend a little child; the enemy would be against a person exhibiting these features. He would use anything he can, anything in the world, or anything else he can use, to bring in an offence to stumble such. But think of the Lord’s regard for it. How is a little child really secured? The Lord speaks later of the one sheep that went astray, and how the man left the ninety and nine on the mountains to go and seek the one that went astray. Then, if he found it, there was a cause for rejoicing. We have had that experience of going astray. We were going astray as lost sheep, but we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. The Lord went after us and found us. Does that bring about humility in us—that we went astray but the Lord found us and brought us back? We should never lose the sense of these things. Paul never lost it; a sense of mercy grew with him; he brings it in in the highest epistle, the epistle to the Ephesians. I believe it
is as this feature marks us that we can have part rightly in the administration in the assembly.
These matters that come up as to a brother offending us, a brother sinning and going to see him. What is the use of going if we cannot go in the spirit of a little child? We would do more damage than good; but going in the spirit of a little child we can effect something.
I want to go on to Mark’s gospel. Mark is the servant’s gospel, and a certain severity marks the Lord’s dealings with His own in this gospel, because of the place they were to have in service. In Malachi 3 it speaks of the One who sits as a refiner, “For he will be like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ lye. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he will purify the children of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah an oblation in righteousness” (Malachi 3: 2, 3). In this gospel, in the presentation on the mount of transfiguration, it speaks of the Lord’s garments becoming shining, exceeding white as snow, such as fuller on earth could not whiten them. You see the moral purity in the Lord Jesus shining out. There is no one who can be put alongside of Him in that sense; the absolute purity in the Lord Jesus Himself. But then the Lord Jesus is working that His own might be purified. Beloved brethren, the Lord is working in view of securing that feature. There are humbling experiences gone through in this chapter, but in the verse we read it says, “And he came to Capernaum, and being in the house, he asked them, Of what were ye reasoning by the way?”. The Lord raises the question with them. He sees their state, He sees the condition, and He raises the question, “Of what were ye reasoning by the way?” The Lord would do that in His faithfulness. “And they remained silent, for by the way they had been reasoning with one another who was greatest. And sitting down he called the twelve; and he says to them, If any one would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all”.
I have been affected the last few days in looking over what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, where he is dealing with the state and condition of things in Corinth, when he says, “For I think that God has set us the apostles for the last” (v.9). It is very affecting to read the things that the apostle Paul went through, he says, “For we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye prudent in Christ—we weak, but ye strong—ye glorious, but we in dishonour. To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are in nakedness, and buffeted, and wander without a home, and labour, working with our own hands. Railed at, we bless; persecuted, we suffer it; insulted, we entreat—we are become as the offscouring of the world, the refuse of all, until now”, 1 Corinthians 4: 9–
13. Not only did Paul have a very humble attitude in regard of himself, but he was prepared to be thought little of by others. These are very challenging and exercising things. In speaking of these things we need to be preserved from having ourselves before us. I think Mr. Darby’s remark is a very challenging one when he says that, True humility is not thinking little of oneself, but not thinking of oneself at all. How can we arrive at that? It is by having one object in Christ. That was Paul, he had one object in Christ; He was his object, He was his goal.
So it says, “If any one would be first, he shall be last of all, and minister of all. And taking a little child he set it in their midst, and having taken it in his arms he said to them, Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my name, receives me”. Think of this little child in the arms of the Lord Jesus. He is presenting it to His disciples in this way, as in His arms, in His affections, one who was lovable to Christ. What a way for us to move among the people of God, as in the embrace of Christ. I would like to know more of these things myself. I do not speak as chiding the brethren, because I feel the need of it myself. Then He says,
“Whosoever shall receive one of such little children in my
name, receives me; and whosoever shall receive me, does not receive me, but him who sent me”. The Lord Jesus could identify Himself with this little child. The Lord Jesus was in the place here of being sent, and He traced that back to God Himself.
I just want to refer briefly to Luke who brings out his own presentation. A reasoning came in amongst them “who should be the greatest of them”. A reasoning came in here and later there was a strife among them after the Lord had instituted the Supper. Things were getting worse.
Did the Lord give these persons up? No, they were in the making process. We have to learn what our own hearts are, what they are capable of, and the Lord will serve us that we might learn what we are. Then it says, “And a reasoning came in amongst them, who should be the greatest of them. And Jesus, seeing the reasoning of their heart, having taken a little child set it by him”. I think that is beautiful. In this gospel the Lord sets the little child by Him, as if there was in that little child that which was in accord with Himself. In referring to this section, Mr. Darby says somewhere, We are exhorted to take the lowest place, yet we cannot take it because One has already taken it. The Lord Jesus Himself has taken it, He has taken the lowest place. It is brought out in this gospel in a remarkable way, the lowly place that the Lord Jesus took. He came in as a babe at Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling-clothes and lying in a manger. In Luke 14 He speaks of when you are invited to a feast, to take the lowest place. The Lord Jesus, as coming into this world as man’s guest, took the lowest place. In speaking to His disciples, when there was a strife among them, He says, “For which is greater, he that is at table or he that serves? Is not he that is at table? But I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”, Luke 22: 27. He is regarding the saints as greater—I am in the midst of you as the One that serves. In this gospel the Lord Jesus Himself has taken the lowest place; yet He puts this little child alongside Himself, as if there would be in that little child
what is in accord with Himself.
I want to speak finally of Paul himself. In Acts 13, Saul’s name is changed, “But Saul, who also is Paul”. When this took place there was the finished product there as the result of the Lord’s instruction. Think of the exercises he had gone through; of his conversion; of the exercises he had gone through in Arabia; what exercises they were. The Lord had taken him up sovereignly as an elect vessel, there was no one else like him in that sense, yet there is the finished result as seen in Paul in this chapter. In the beginning of the chapter we have what was in the assembly at Antioch, in the assembly which was there; there were prophets and teachers, a variety of persons, and Saul is the last on the list; he was prepared to take that place. There were good conditions in that assembly where Barnabas and Saul had laboured, but he was recorded last.
I just want to refer to the fact that the Spirit was free in this locality, free to say whom He was going to set forward, Barnabas the man who was head of the list and Saul who was at the end of the list. So it says, “the Holy Spirit said, Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid their hands on them, they let them go”. Then a situation arises that had to be met, and it was met by Saul. It says, “But Saul, who also is Paul”, he was not called that, he was that, “filled with the Holy Spirit, fixing his eyes upon him, said, O full of all deceit and craft”. I do not want to go into the details of this magician, I just want to emphasise what there was in Paul. His name means little, he was that, and the Lord was able to use him. He was able to bring him forward at this point. We shall not have the place that he has, but there is a need for leadership in a moral sense; moral power and moral influence. That is open to brothers and sisters, but it can only be as we go this way, not in any desire to exalt ourselves.
Then in verse 13, we have Paul and his company mentioned for the first time. I do not think any brother at the present time, however gifted, could be spoken of as having his company.
Here it was “Paul and his company”. I believe they would come under the influence of Paul in a right way, they would be congenial companions to Paul. They would be humble-minded persons; persons who are prepared for the path that Paul was on. The list of things we mentioned in 1 Corinthians 4 is challenging, but Paul and his company would be such persons. But it says here, “John separated from them and returned to Jerusalem”. John Mark was not prepared for this path here but later he was recovered to Paul’s company. Paul said to Timothy, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry”, 2 Timothy 4: 11. He was recovered, but at this point he was not prepared for it—it was easier in Jerusalem. There were conspicuous men there too and he went back to Jerusalem.
I just leave this with us that we may be exercised on this line. The more the truth has its way with us, the more it will produce this feature with us. Let us be under the Lord’s hand. It has been said that whilst we should not forget John’s ministry, let us cleave to Paul. Paul’s ministry is a great test at the present time; the character of manhood seen in Paul, the littleness is the test. It is a question whether we can go on in this way, beloved brethren. I think this is the way the truth in its Pauline character, the height of the truth, will be maintained amongst us, as this spirit is found amongst us. May we be helped in it for the Lord’s name.
Address at Barbados
11 October 1997