Lesson 59L Children and the Rich Ruler Luke 18: 15- 30

All in The Family 18:15- 17

English Standard Version Chapter 18

15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “

In an age where we have a particular heinous crime such as child trafficking, we are in great sorrow to know that children are hindered from coming to the Lord Jesus in any way. Jesus wants to touch children, bless them and their entire life and He rebukes those who stand between Him and them. The Book of Matthew puts this teaching in more grievous state. Here Jesus says if you offend one of His little ones, you are better off drowned with cement around your neck: Matthew 18:1- 6.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 18:1–6.

If we in the church are talking about kingdom work, perhaps the greatest place to start is with little children. That is, if we are to take the Lord’s words at their full weight. But one may ask today, “Where are the children?” Most churches are not full of them. People do not even arrive to drop their kids off and then leave. Today it is necessary to find that where children are plentiful, there are tremendous safeguards put around them for their safety. Even public schools have found children to be in short supply. Our city schools are being shuttered one after another because of the declining enrollment. Perhaps the last couple of generations have not only been amiss in their treatment of children to just not even caring to have any family whatsoever. The least we can do is minister to children, whatever it takes. Children are our priority and they are loved.

Luke puts it in perspective that one of the places to start is making sure children get to Jesus while they are infants- vs.15. It may take a few years for them to digest salvation’s story, but they cannot be too young to be in church or go to a nursery very early on, every single Sunday! Jesus is saying if you want to know what the kingdom is really like, take a look at a child. I know children that have made professions of as early as four years old. Vacation Bible school was a main instigator of those professions.

Children are not a side ministry, but a mainline thrust. I might add that we be a ministry where women will bring their infants so they may learn of Jesus. The Greek wording and structure would allow for the children in this passage of Luke to have been brought by men and women both. We are not told where they came from. There was an old song when I was growing up that went something like this: “Don’t send your kids to Sunday school, go ahead and take them!” Let’s just make children feel welcome, protected and not “used.” Children are excellent examples of trusting God unconditionally.

The Rich Young Ruler 18:18- 30

English Standard Version Chapter 18

18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “

Those of us who know, would not ask how do you inherit eternal life. God does not have grandchildren. We do not pass down eternal life by family line. The question may have been valid in the asking phase but we see the flaw in his thinking. Jesus did not call him out on this because the complete story on Salvation has not been written as of the scene of this story. Jesus is the Good Teacher. Perhaps he is trying to say to the man, “are you calling me good because I am God? Why?” He responds to the man saying that he should know what the commandments say! They say “Do, do, do.” These are all very good, but you must do one more thing. You must sell all you have and give it to the poor. It is at this juncture we find the young man is very rich and very sad. Chances are, he is not going to take this last step of selling all and following Jesus.

The “eye of the needle” is talking about a gateway to a structure. It usually held tremendous spiritual symbolic importance. The idea being that the camel is the largest of the unclean animals and it’s movements are not usually made in closed quarters. These gateways were usually restrictive so as to keep animals from coming in. While it is not impossible for a camel to go through a certain gate, it is definitely difficult for the animal to perform. Again, possible, but not likely. A rich person can enter the kingdom of God, but they must be willing to ignore the cost. The it sounded impossible to the people listening as they did not have much of a spiritual opinion of the rich.

Jesus makes a statement in verse 27 that we have made our very own promise for many occasions: “What is impossible with man is possible with God!” at this point Peter get involved in the teaching because it is striking right at the heart of the matter for the disciples. “We have left our homes and followed you!” Actually, it’s not the act of leaving. It is the act of believing in the one you are following. You would not go after Jesus if you had not placed your faith in Him. You would not follow if you did not trust. You would not follow if your eyes were darkened to the future. You would not follow if your burdens had not been lightened. You would not follow if your things seemed more important. Following Jesus tells us as much about Jesus as it it does about you. Once you belong to Jesus, you are now a part of a very special family.

Jesus ends this subject with a promise of His care in this world and beyond. There is not mentioned here a particular amount other than many times more. In the “unlabeled” age to come, eternal life is promised. Technically, even when it’s bad, it’s good. Life as a follower of Jesus can mean you will miss some very important life points, such as old age. You may be martyred and die early. You may sell all you have only to follow Jesus and wind up in jail for street preaching. But Jesus has you covered. You may leave behind a very strong family system only to find yourself alone in a strange culture that wants no part of you. Then there’s the promise of more of that to come. For the sake of the kingdom, we are good with that. There is never a time when Jesus has not got me covered. In the end, I’ll have eternal life with Him. Like I said, we are good with that.