Grow To Be Like A Child

Mark 10:13–31 (ESV)

And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”

And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”

And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God!

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?”

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel,

who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Introduction

The Oscars on tonight.

If Mark were writing a screenplay, 10:13-22 would use a split screen technique.

They read in succession, but Mark is working to get these two interaction right next to each other

He’s drawing a contrast

The people who interaction with Jesus could not be more different

Jesus’ response to the one stands in stark contrast to His response to the other

One is getting it right. The other is getting it completely wrong.

Mark intends that as we watch these two scene play out side-by-side that we would allow the Holy Spirit to probe our hearts.

And in a moment of quiet transparency, Holy Spirit wants to ask each of us a probing question: WHY ARE WE SO DESPERATE TO BE LIKE THE PERSON WHO MISSED JESUS?

Human society - so badly degenerate because of sin - organizes itself around the goal of becoming the biggest and the greatest

We read this passage and we see this man miss Jesus and these little children receive His blessing…and we walk away from the text and in our hearts we still want to be like that man.

Not that we want to miss Jesus

But, we want to be rich.

Sermon: Grow To Be Like A Child

PRAYER

Children Have Not Learned Their Place

Get the scene:

One side - children coming to Jesus and disciples hold them back.

Other side - this man runs up to Jesus

The children are not violating protocol. The man is.

The protocol is that if you want to speak with the teacher, you request an audience through his intermediaries…in this case the disciples

Mark 3:31

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.

“They” are bring the children to Jesus

We don’t know who “they” is, but it is safe to say that “they” were some adults with some caretaking responsibility for the children

“They” were probably women…

The children did not instigate the interaction, but they didn’t opt themselves out. (WE LEARN TO OPT OURSELVES OUT)

The young man ran up to Jesus…WHY WAS HE NOT REBUKED?

He was young. (Matthew adds)

He was rich.

He was influential (Luke adds)

HE WAS EXACTLY THE KIND OF PERSON JESUS NEEDED TO HELP BUILD HIS MOVEMENT. (Or so his disciples thought)

Children do not come into this world understanding which people are significant and which people are insignificant.

They don’t recognize limiting factors like their gender, their nationality, or the color of their skin.

Children don’t come here knowing who they are supposed to love and who they are supposed to hate and who is supposed to love them and who is supposed to hate them.

Little children first understand themselves to be people and to them people are just people.

I am reminded of this excerpt from the autobiography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

From the age of three I had a white playmate who was about my age. We always felt free to play our childhood games together. He did not live in our community, but he was usually around every day; his father owned a store across the street from our home. At the age of six we both entered school—separate schools, of course. I remember how our friendship began to break as soon as we entered school; this was not my desire but his. The climax came when he told me one day that his father had demanded that he would play with me no more. I never will forget what a great shock this was to me. I immediately asked my parents about the motive behind such a statement. We were at the dinner table when the situation was discussed, and here for the first time I was made aware of the existence of a race problem. I had never been conscious of it before.

The world is constantly working either to over-inflate your ego or to depress your self-esteem.

The Kingdom of God does neither of these things.

The Kingdom teaches that by God’s grace Your are

The beloved of God.

The apple of God’s eye.

A royal priesthood and a holy nation.

And the Kingdom teaches that you:

Must not consider ourselves more highly than we ought.

And learn to put the needs of others before our own.

Children Want Relationship, Not Instruction

The contrast between these two interactions does not end with how the children and man approached Jesus. There is also a contrast in what they wanted from Jesus.

MAN: Good teacher, What must I do to inherit eternal life?

Why do you call me good? (Too many want Jesus to be good, but don’t want Jesus to God.)

The man was looking for some religious duty by means of which he could obtain for himself eternal life.

He was not a bad man.

He was disciplined.

He was moral.

He took care of his kids.

He did service in his community.

IT IS SO DANGEROUS TO BE JUST A LITTLE BIT OFF.

He was already doing everything he could do…

But, there is nothing that you can DO to inherit eternal life.

THE CHILDREN: Had no proposition for Jesus

They didn’t question Him, because they didn’t come to be taught.

The text says that Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them.

They didn’t want Jesus’ opinion

They wanted a hug from Jesus

They wanted Jesus to take them in His arms

WE ALL HAVE TO ASK OURSELVES WHAT IS THAT WE TRULY WANT FROM JESUS, DO WE WANT HIS TOUCH OR DO WE JUST WANT HIS TEACHINGS?

If the only reason you come to Jesus is because that’s what you think you have to do to get eternal life, there is a very good chance that you will build a life of empty religion that looks good from the outside, but is lacking one thing.

Heaven will not be filled with people who wanted to stay out of hell.

Heaven will be filled with people who love Jesus and want to spend forever with Him.

Children Cling To What They Love And Let Go Of Everything Else

Jesus loved the man and said to him. “You lack one thing…go sale your possessions and give to the poor.” The man walked away sorrowful because he had many possessions

What was the one thing?

The man didn’t have any room for Jesus in his heart

He was clinging so tightly to his possessions that he could not grab a hold of Jesus…the One who could actually give him eternal life.

Ex: COLE

Beyonce (Aziza)

POTUS (Me)

We desire so much to be rich like the man in the text. But, I pray that none of us ever come into wealth without recognizing the extreme danger that attends abundant possessions.

The wealthier you become, the more at risk you become of crowding Jesus out of your heart.

“It is very difficult for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God”

Not impossible, but very difficult.

THERE IS A NUGGET OF ADVICE FOR ANYONE If you even think that there is a chance that you may become a tiniest bit wealthy:

Incorporate generosity

The man didn’t have room in his life for Jesus, but Jesus gave him a strategy for making room…

Go practice generosity

Don’t wait until you’re very wealthy to give. You might be like this man…it might be too late. The riches will already have overtaken your life

Be generous on you way up.

Beloved, the upshot of the message is this: DO NOT BECOME AN EXPERT PLAYER OF THE WRONG GAME.

(Tell the story of the kids playing the game of “jump ON the cracks”)

We must keep a childlike disposition in the Kingdom

Never let this world teach you that you are less than the King says you are. And Never let this world teach you that you are more than what the King says you are.

Allow yourself to fall in love with Jesus where you love His touch more than His teachings.

Never hold on so tightly to the things of this world that you lose your hold on Jesus.

PRAY THIS PRAYER: “Lord, I want to grow to be like a child.”