COUNTER CULTURE | Week 1 | Full Service · Rewind

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 9, 2024 · 68 min watch · 3 min read

COUNTER CULTURE | Week 1 | Full Service

Big Idea

God measures greatness not by achievement or ability, but by humility rooted in repentance.

In Matthew 18, Jesus redefines greatness for His disciples — and for us — by placing a small child at the center of the conversation. While the disciples were consumed with status and rank, Jesus pointed to childlike humility and repentance as the true measures of kingdom greatness. The world conditions us to chase achievement, influence, and ability, but Jesus insists that the path to genuine significance runs through acknowledging our sin, turning back to the Father, and embracing the humble, unguarded dependence of a child — not as a one-time decision, but as a daily way of life.

Key points

1
1The disciples' debate over greatness was tone-deaf — asked in the very context of Jesus telling them He would die — revealing how deeply the world's definition of greatness had shaped them.
2
2The measurement you use determines who — or what — you consider great; most of our cultural metrics for greatness are ability- and achievement-based, not kingdom-based.
3
3Entrance into God's kingdom requires repentance — turning from sin and trusting Jesus — and no amount of achievement can substitute for it.
4
4Kingdom greatness is repentance over achievement: those who repent quickest and most consistently reflect what God calls great.
5
5Childlike humility — returning quickly to the Father without letting past failures break the relationship — is the posture Jesus holds up as the greatest in His kingdom.
6
6Unaddressed sin is never contained to the person committing it; Jesus calls His followers to take drastic action because unchecked sin eventually harms the people we love most, especially our children.
7
7Humility is not a muscle we can simply flex; it comes as a byproduct of pursuing repentance and forgiveness — and if we refuse, God will humble us anyway.

Application

Pastor Daniel's challenge is direct and personal: identify the specific places in your life where pride has taken root — with your spouse, your kids, a friend, or God — and pursue repentance and forgiveness there. He is clear that humility is not something we can manufacture on our own; it comes as a supernatural byproduct of the hard, humble work of saying 'I was wrong' and turning back toward God and others. He also calls us to be honest about the sin patterns we have convinced ourselves are 'not that big of a deal,' reminding us that unchecked sin does not stay contained — it will eventually touch the people we love most. The invitation is to stop measuring your life by the world's scoreboard of achievement and ability, and instead embrace the childlike posture Jesus celebrated: quick to repent, quick to return to the Father, and unashamed to declare who Jesus is regardless of the social cost.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“open them up to Matthew chapter 18. We're beginning a new series today looking at the one characteristic that I would say really is, if you had to summarize Jesus' kingdom”
From the transcript
“If you go back and read Matthew chapter 17, Matthew chapter 17 is a pivotal turning point in the life cycle of Jesus with his disciples”
From the transcript
“And this story in the gospel of Mark gives us a little bit of color that I wanna show you in this story. Mark nine thirty three records this same event this way. It says, After they arrived at Capernaum”
From the transcript
“The disciples, verse 34, they didn't answer because they had been arguing about which one of them was the greatest”
From the transcript
“Go with me back to Matthew chapter 18 continuing the story in verse two. Here's what Jesus says. Jesus calls a little child to him and he put the child among them”
From the transcript
“we get stuck in this this thing that Paul talked about of Romans seven. Why do I keep doing the things that I don't wanna do? The things that I wanna do, I can't do those things”
From the transcript
“What a wretched person that I must be. Where then Paul comes in Romans eight and says, but the good news is is that my relationship with sin does not define my relationship with God”
From the transcript
“I wanna remind you what Jesus said to us in Luke chapter five about this whole thing. Jesus answered them in verse 31. He says, Healthy people don't need a doctor. It's sick people who do”
From the transcript
“He's going to continue this illustration in this next verse. Look what he says, verse four. He says, so anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”
From the transcript
“There's a story that we'll look at in a couple weeks that's recorded in Matthew chapter 21 when Jesus makes his final entrance into Jerusalem”
From the transcript
“And in Matthew 21, it records this incredible couple verses where we see the power, the beauty, the simplicity of children in the middle of otherwise really tense moments”
From the transcript
“Look at these last couple of verses. Matthew chapter 18 verse five. Here's how he starts to wrap up. He says, and anyone who welcomes a child like this on my behalf is actually welcoming me”

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

The disciples had just heard Jesus describe His own coming death — and their response was to ask who would be the greatest in the kingdom. It's easy to read that and shake our heads, but if we're honest, we do the same thing. We can sit in a conversation about something serious and weighty, and our minds quietly drift to how we're coming across, whether we're being respected, or how we measure up to the person next to us. The disciples weren't bad people — they were shaped people. Shaped by a world that taught them to think in terms of rank and reward. Pastor Daniel made this point early and clearly: the measurement you use determines who, or what, you consider great. If your measuring stick is achievement, influence, or ability, then the people at the top of those categories will look great to you — and you'll spend your energy trying to climb. But Jesus didn't pick up that measuring stick. He set it down entirely. Before He even answered the question, His response reframed it. That reframing is worth sitting with today — not just as an idea, but as an honest look at which scoreboard you've been watching.

For reflection

What measuring stick have you been using lately to evaluate your own worth or success — and where did you pick it up?

Pray

Pray for honest eyes to see where the world's definition of greatness has quietly shaped the way you see yourself and others.

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Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message takes a question the disciples asked Jesus — 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' — and follows where Jesus takes it, which turns out to be somewhere none of them expected.

Discussion questions

1
In Matthew 18:1, the disciples ask Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom — and the sermon pointed out they asked this right after Jesus told them He was going to die. What does that timing reveal about how deeply the world's idea of greatness had shaped the way they were thinking?
2
Jesus answers the disciples' question about greatness by placing a small child in front of them (Matthew 18:2–3). What do you think He is communicating by doing that rather than just giving a verbal answer?
3
The sermon drew a contrast between two measurements of greatness — the world's scoreboard of achievement and ability versus the kingdom measure of repentance and humility. How does using a different measuring stick actually change who or what we end up calling great?
4
In Matthew 18:4, Jesus connects childlike humility to the picture of returning quickly to the Father without letting past failures break the relationship. What does that kind of posture look like in practice for people trying to live it out day to day?
5
Pastor Daniel made the point that unaddressed sin never stays contained to the person committing it — drawing from Matthew 18:5–10 — and that it eventually touches the people we love most. How might that reality shape the way a community of people think about honesty and accountability with one another?
6
Pastor Daniel challenged us to identify specific places where pride has taken root — with a spouse, a child, a friend, or God — and to pursue repentance and forgiveness there. He also said humility isn't something we can manufacture; it comes as a byproduct of that hard work. What might it look like, practically, for a group like ours to encourage each other in that direction without it feeling like pressure or performance?

Pray together

Thankfulness for a Father who welcomes us back quickly, and a request for the courage and honesty to turn toward Him — and toward the people we love — wherever pride has gotten in the way

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Go deeper

Continue the series

COUNTER CULTURE

Week 1 · 4 messages

Where these passages are preached

Matthew 18 Matthew 17 Mark 9 Romans 7

Explore related topics

Childlike Humility Kingdom Greatness Pride and Humility Redefining Success Repentance

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