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COUNTER CULTURE | Week 1 | Full Service · Rewind

Rock Point Church

68 min

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 9, 2024 · 5 min read · 68 min listen

The big idea

God measures greatness not by ability or achievement, but by humility — and humility comes as a byproduct of repentance.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7The world's definition of greatness is always tied to some agreed-upon measurement, and we rarely question what measurement we're using.
Point 2 of 7The disciples asked Jesus a tone-deaf question about who was the greatest right after He told them He was going to die.

Point 3 of 7Jesus doesn't rebuke the disciples for wanting to be great; He redefines what greatness means.
Point 4 of 7Jesus uses a little child to teach that entrance into the kingdom comes only through repentance, not achievement.
Point 5 of 7Kingdom greatness is repentance over achievement, and repentance is meant to be a lifestyle, not a one-time event.
Point 6 of 7Kingdom greatness is humility over pride, illustrated by how children simply return to relationship without overanalyzing the past.
Point 7 of 7Jesus warns that our unrepented sin doesn't just affect us — it bleeds out onto the people we love, especially our kids.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Matthew 18
Matthew 17
Mark 9:33
Mark 9:34
Matthew 18:2
Romans 7

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 9, 2024 · 68 min watch · 2 min read

COUNTER CULTURE | Week 1 | Full Service

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Matthew 18
Matthew 17
Mark 9:33
Mark 9:34
Matthew 18:2
Romans 7

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

God measures greatness not by ability or achievement, but by humility — and humility comes as a byproduct of repentance.

Jesus offers a completely upside-down definition of greatness than the one the world hands us. Instead of ability, achievement, and status, God measures greatness by humility — the kind of childlike repentance that stays connected to Him no matter how badly we've messed up.

Key points

1
1The world's definition of greatness is always tied to some agreed-upon measurement, and we rarely question what measurement we're using.
Pastor Daniel opens with the endless sports debates over who is the greatest of all time in basketball, golf, and football, showing that whoever you crown as 'greatest' depends entirely on what statistic you choose to value. He applies this to life: we all use some measurement to decide if we're succeeding, and most of the time it's a measurement the world handed us rather than one God gave us.
2
2The disciples asked Jesus a tone-deaf question about who was the greatest right after He told them He was going to die.
Pastor Daniel walks through Matthew 17, where Peter, James, and John witness the Transfiguration and hear God the Father speak, then walks down the mountain hearing Jesus predict His death — and immediately the disciples start arguing about which of them is greatest. He also brings in Mark 9:33-34, where Jesus asks what they were discussing and they're too embarrassed to answer.
3
3Jesus doesn't rebuke the disciples for wanting to be great; He redefines what greatness means.
Pastor Daniel notes that Jesus reserves outright rebukes for other moments (like telling Peter 'get behind me, Satan') but here He simply redirects them, because the desire to live a significant life is God-given. The danger isn't the desire itself but letting the world define how to satisfy it — through degrees, houses, bank accounts, and status.
4
4Jesus uses a little child to teach that entrance into the kingdom comes only through repentance, not achievement.
Pastor Daniel unpacks Matthew 18:2-3, where Jesus calls a toddler and says no one enters the kingdom without turning from sin and becoming like a child. He explains that the gospel has always been the same message: none of us can earn our way in, only repent and receive Jesus by grace through faith.
5
5Kingdom greatness is repentance over achievement, and repentance is meant to be a lifestyle, not a one-time event.
Drawing on Romans 7 and 8, Pastor Daniel explains that even after salvation we wrestle with sin, but our relationship with sin no longer defines our relationship with God because we are in Christ. He points to Luke 5:31 (Jesus saying the healthy don't need a doctor) to show the church is a hospital for broken people learning to repent again and again.
6
6Kingdom greatness is humility over pride, illustrated by how children simply return to relationship without overanalyzing the past.
Using stories about his nieces and reflecting on Matthew 18:4, Pastor Daniel shows that children don't connect this morning's relationship to last night's tantrum — they simply come back to their parents. He says our default is pride, digging in and being right, when the path back to connection with God and others is simply humility: admitting we were wrong.
7
7Jesus warns that our unrepented sin doesn't just affect us — it bleeds out onto the people we love, especially our kids.
Working through Matthew 18:5-10, Pastor Daniel explains Jesus' warning about causing little ones to sin and the call to cut off whatever causes us to stumble. He applies this directly to fathers, urging them to wage war against sins like pornography or drinking before their children bear the consequences.

Application

Pastor Daniel frames the whole message around one question: where have you become prideful and stubborn enough that you need to ask for forgiveness?

Name where pride has taken root
Ask honestly where in your life you've become really prideful or dug in, refusing to admit you were wrong to your spouse, a friend, or God.
Go ask for forgiveness
Take the concrete step of seeking restoration with the person you've wronged, rather than justifying your behavior and staying disconnected.
Treat repentance as a lifestyle, not an event
Recognize that turning from sin isn't a one-time decision made at salvation but something to keep returning to, the way a child simply comes back to a parent.
Take drastic action against hidden sin
Especially for fathers, wage real war against things like pornography or drinking before the consequences spill onto your children, rather than convincing yourself it's not that big a deal.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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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”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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.

Day 1

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.

Day 2

Mark's account gives us a detail Matthew doesn't linger on: the disciples had been arguing along the road, and when Jesus asked what they were discussing, they went silent. They knew. There's something painfully relatable about that silence — the moment you realize the conversation you were just having doesn't hold up well in the light. They weren't arguing about theology or strategy for the mission ahead. They were arguing about themselves. What's striking is that this argument happened on the road, in the middle of following Jesus. These men were literally walking with Him, and the status competition was running in the background the whole time. Pride doesn't always announce itself. It often just quietly narrates — scoring moments, nursing slights, keeping a running tally. The disciples' silence in front of Jesus is instructive. They didn't defend the conversation; somewhere they already knew it was off. That kind of quiet recognition — when something in you knows before you've fully admitted it — is actually the beginning of the humility Jesus is about to describe. The question is what we do with that recognition when it comes.

For reflection

Is there a conversation, attitude, or comparison you've been carrying that you'd go quiet about if Jesus asked you directly what it was?

Pray

Pray for the courage to stop defending the internal conversations that you already know don't belong.

Day 3

Jesus didn't answer the disciples' question with a lecture — He reached for a child. In first-century culture, children held no social status. They weren't impressive. They hadn't accomplished anything. And yet Jesus placed this child at the center of the conversation and said: unless you become like this, you won't even enter the kingdom. That's not a soft suggestion — it's the sharpest possible reordering of the disciples' entire framework. Pastor Daniel was careful here. The entry point to God's kingdom is repentance — turning from sin and trusting Jesus. No amount of achievement earns it, and no level of ability substitutes for it. The child in Jesus' arms is an image of someone who comes with nothing to offer but themselves. No résumé, no record of accomplishments, no leverage. Just need, and trust. This is where the kingdom begins — not at the top of something, but at the bottom of yourself, turning back to the Father. That turning isn't a single moment buried in your past. It's a posture. And it's one worth returning to today, wherever you've drifted from it.

For reflection

Where in your life have you been trying to earn your way rather than simply turning back to God with open hands?

Pray

Pray for a fresh awareness of your need for Jesus — not as a formula, but as a genuine recognition of where you are without Him.

Day 4

Jesus doesn't just describe humility as the entry point — He calls the humble person the greatest in the kingdom. That's a direct answer to the disciples' question, and it must have landed strangely. The greatest is the one who humbles themselves like a child? Not the most gifted, the most experienced, or the most influential? Pastor Daniel drew out something important here: childlike humility isn't primarily about personality or temperament. It's about how quickly and consistently someone returns to the Father when they've gone wrong. A child who falls doesn't analyze the fall for weeks before going back to a parent. They just go back. They don't let past failures redefine the relationship or keep them at a distance. That quality — quick to repent, quick to return, not paralyzed by shame — is what Jesus is holding up as greatness. It's not that repentance is easy or painless. It's that the humble person doesn't let pride build a wall between themselves and God, or between themselves and the people they've hurt. The path back is always open. The question is whether pride is the thing keeping you from walking it.

For reflection

Is there somewhere — with God or with a specific person — where pride has been quietly keeping you from taking the first step back?

Pray

Pray for the humility to take one specific step toward repentance today, and for the grace to not let shame be louder than the open door.

Day 5

Pastor Daniel drew on Romans 7 to put words to something most of us feel but struggle to admit: we do the things we don't want to do, and we don't do the things we know are right. Paul's honesty here is striking — this is not a defeated confession, but a realistic one. Paul isn't saying he's hopeless. He's saying he's human, and that apart from Jesus, sin has a pull that self-effort alone cannot break. This matters for how we approach repentance. If you've ever tried to white-knuckle your way out of a sin pattern, you know how exhausting and ultimately unsuccessful that tends to be. The sermon's point about unchecked sin is connected here — the patterns we convince ourselves are 'not that big a deal' rarely stay contained to us alone. They have a reach. Romans 7 is not an excuse for that reach; it's an honest accounting of why we need more than willpower. What Paul is building toward — what the chapter is pointing to — is the rescue that comes through Jesus. Repentance isn't just about stopping something. It's about turning toward the One who can actually change you from the inside out.

For reflection

Is there a sin pattern you've been managing rather than bringing honestly before God — something you've convinced yourself you have under control?

Pray

Pray for honesty about the places where you've been relying on your own effort rather than genuinely turning that struggle over to God.

Day 6

The conversation about childlike humility takes a sharp turn in these verses. Jesus moves from celebrating the child to issuing one of His most sobering warnings: causing a child — or any vulnerable, humble, trusting person — to stumble carries a weight He does not minimize. The word He uses is severe. And the instruction that follows is equally unsparing: if something is causing you to sin, deal with it radically. Don't negotiate with it. Pastor Daniel's point here was direct: unchecked sin is never truly private. It doesn't stay contained within the person committing it. It spreads outward — to spouses, children, friends, communities — often in ways we don't see until the damage is already done. The call to take drastic action isn't about self-punishment; it's about loving the people in your life enough to stop letting unaddressed patterns quietly erode what matters most. This is where the week's theme becomes very practical. Humility isn't just a spiritual posture — it shows up in whether we're willing to make hard choices, have uncomfortable conversations, and stop tolerating what we know is hurting the people closest to us.

For reflection

Is there a pattern in your life that you've been treating as personal but that the people closest to you are already feeling the effects of?

Pray

Pray for the clarity and courage to take seriously what you've been treating lightly — and for the love for others that makes that seriousness possible.

Day 7

Across this whole passage, Jesus has been answering one question: what does greatness actually look like? And His answer, beginning to end, points the same direction — away from achievement and status, toward humility, repentance, and childlike dependence on the Father. The world's scoreboard rewards the polished, the capable, and the impressive. Jesus reached past all of that and held up someone with nothing to prove. Pastor Daniel closed with a challenge that's worth carrying into this final day: identify the specific places where pride has taken root — with a spouse, a child, a friend, or God — and pursue repentance and forgiveness there. Not as an abstract spiritual discipline, but as a real, named, concrete act. Humility, he said clearly, is not something we can manufacture on our own. It comes as a byproduct of the hard work of actually saying 'I was wrong' and turning back. That's the invitation the whole passage has been building toward. Not a guilt trip, but a door — one that is always open, always wide, and always leading back to the Father who is more ready to receive you than you are to return.

For reflection

Looking back over this week, what is the one specific step toward humility and repentance that you've been most resistant to taking — and what would it look like to take it today?

Pray

Pray for the grace to move from seeing the open door to actually walking through it — and for the people in your life who need you to.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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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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