A "God's-Eye View" of Our Children

Prayer

General Info

How this class works is entirely up for discussion, but this is how I (Cameron) usually do lessons. Next week’s teacher could do things differently, and that’s absolutely fine!

Prayer

Brief Introduction

Look to the Bible

Reflect and Discuss

Find Application

Prayer

Administrivia

Release at 10:40 so we can get kids or volunteer at 10:45

We are in the church app!

Open the church app (Church Center)

Click “Home” if you are not already at the Home screen

Scroll down to “Bible Studies” and press it

Scroll down to “Seekers” and press it

Press “Join Group” (or “View Group”)

Messages - send or reply to messages visible to other classmates

Resources - find lesson downloads (like this handout)

Members - see who else is in the class

This lesson is from the LifeGuide Parenting book. It’s $11 on Amazon, but I’ll include the entire lesson in the handout.

Richard Patterson Jr., Parenting: Loving Our Children with God’s Love: 9 Studies for Individuals or Groups: With Notes for Leaders, A LifeGuide Bible Study (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Connect: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2006)

Introduction

Leader Note:

Purpose: To discover the high value that Jesus places on children and the reasons why.

There was a time, a generation or two ago, when children were to be “seen and not heard.” They were seen as mostly “potential” and supposed to listen and learn from adults. Perhaps we see our children somewhat differently today, but what does the Lord see when he looks on our children? Does he see just “potential adults,” “vessels to be filled” or something more? Do our children have anything significant to teach us? In the busyness and stress of daily family life, it’s easy to lose sight of just how precious and special our children are—or should be—and why. Let’s get a “God’s-eye view” of children from this passage in Mark’s gospel.

Group Discussion. If someone were to ask you what “value” your children are to you, what would you say? Think of some children (your own or someone else’s) that you admire. Why is that so? What makes children “valuable”?

Personal Reflection. Reflect on how you feel you were regarded by the important adults in your life when you were a child. Thank God for those who valued you and made you feel valued. Thank God for your own children and reflect on the ways your daily interactions with them reflect your love for them and the value you see in them.

In this brief passage, and similar passages in Matthew 19:13–15 and Luke 18:15–17, we get a rare glimpse of Jesus interacting with children and see just how special they are to him and why. Jesus had been teaching the crowds, first answering the Pharisees’ questions about divorce and then answering the disciples’ questions about his response. Read Mark 10:13–16.

Mark 10:13–16 (NIV)

People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant.

He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Synoptic Gospel Parallels

Matthew 19:13–15 NIV

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Luke 18:15–17 NIV

People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Discussion

Leader Note:

Group discussion. Although they might not realize it or want to admit it, some parents value their children because of their talents, achievements or appearance. Discuss how and why this may happen, and then probe for a deeper basis for the value of children as people made in the image of God and greatly loved by him—loved as they are, not as “potential adults” but as children.

1. In light of this passage, how would you describe Jesus’ attitude toward children?

Leader Note:

Question 1. If needed, you could follow-up by asking, “What makes them so special to him?”

Jesus is said to be indignant at the disciples for their attitude and actions toward the children. This certainly indicated a reaction of anger, scorn and contempt by the disciples. Later in the passage when the text says Jesus took them in his arms and blessed them, the Greek word there indicates he “blesses them fervently, again and again.” The children may have been in the house referred to in verse 10 and were brought to Jesus for a blessing before going to bed. In any event, this stresses Jesus’ fervent love for children (Donald Guthrie, J. Alec Motyer, Alan M. Stibbs and Donald J. Wiseman, eds., The New Bible Commentary [Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press 1970], p. 872).

2. How would you say the Lord’s attitude toward children differs from the general attitude of our society toward children today?

Leader Note:

Question 2. Throughout our society, we say we value and cherish our children very highly. Probe for any attitudes and circumstances in society that belie that profession, such as the easy availability of abortions, frequency of divorce (which has been shown to have negative effects on children), the pervasive coarseness and vulgarity to which children are exposed, etc.

3. How do you think the disciples’ actions and attitudes made the children feel?

How might they have shaped the children’s attitudes toward Jesus?

4. What makes your children special to you?

5. What would you have done (and felt) if you had been a parent of one of those children “rebuked” by Jesus’ disciples?

6. Why do you think the disciples rebuked the parents who wanted to bring their children to Jesus?

Leader Note:

Question 6. It’s likely that the disciples shared a common view of children still prevalent today: that spending time and energy on children is not nearly as important as with adults. “Jesus is a busy man. He doesn’t have time for children. He has important work to do.” These attitudes may still prevail among adults in churches today. Ask how these attitudes show themselves in churches and families.

7. How do adult Christians (other than parents) sometimes “hinder” children from coming to Jesus today?

What are some ways parents may (even unintentionally) hinder their children from coming to Jesus?

Leader Note:

Question 7. The group’s answers to questions 3 and 6 will be especially relevant here. You may note the example of Martin Luther who had great difficulty feeling loved by God because he had a cold, distant and harsh father. (Group participants interested in knowing more on this aspect of Luther should read Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther by Roland H. Bainton [New York: Penguin Books, 1995].)

8. How does a child “receive the kingdom” of God?

What might that teach you about receiving it yourself?

Leader Note:

Question 8. Try to avoid spending a lot of time on discussions of how much a child can understand about Jesus or when a child is “accountable” to God. Keep the discussion focused by reminding participants that Jesus clearly implied that children could receive the kingdom and that, in fact, their natural receptivity and dependence was to be a model for adults.

9. What do you think are the most important ways that parents can reflect to their children the attitude Jesus has toward them?

10. Jesus had an urgent mission to adults and had many demands on him, yet he made it a priority to take time to hug and bless these children. How do you show your children that they are such a high priority to you?

Leader Note:

Question 10. Ask the group how they treat other people and tasks that are high priority for them. How do they treat their children so as to make them a high priority? Try to have parents give you practical examples of making their children a priority, such as scheduling a weekly “date” with children, trying to listen to them carefully and so on.

11. Reflect specifically on your child’s faith and character. What would you say you could learn from your children?

Leader Note:

Question 11. Parents may be accustomed to thinking of themselves as the “teachers” and their children as the “taught,” not vice versa. Allow plenty of time for them to think about this question and seek specific examples of how they, as parents, have been taught by their children. Examples might be seeing their quick, unquestioning faith, seeing how children accept the supernatural easily, their colorblindness in racial matters, their compassion and so on.

Prayer

Pray that God helps you to show your children the same love, value and dignity in which he holds them.

Now or Later

Recall how your actions this week reflected (or didn’t) a “God’s-eye view” of your children. What are some specific ways you can more clearly see your children through God’s eyes? Look for ways to treat them accordingly.

What are some ways you can “let [your] children come” to Jesus this week and not hinder them?

Administrivia

Release

If we want to raise godly children, the best way to achieve this is to be godly parents. (Ray Comfort, 2005)

Ray Comfort. How to Bring Your Children to Christ (2005)