Luke 18:15-17 The Call To Childlike Faith

Text - Luke 18:15-30

Subject - Discipleship

Theme - Kingdom discipleship

Thesis - Kingdom discipleship requires childlike faith, total surrender, and trust in God's eternal reward.

Principle - A Christian must follow Jesus with childlike trust and wholehearted commitment, valuing Him above all else.

Introduction:

I want to pick backup this morning by first zooming way out.

It has been a while since we began studying the book of Luke together, some of you were not here when we began.

Luke began by setting out to write an orderly account.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

The truths that Luke displays for us are of such a different nature that they can be hard for us to truly grasp.

As we are talking about the kingdom here, we are reminded that the Kingdom that Jesus has come to bring is one that is upside down from what we would expect or are used to.

It was certainly upside down as to what the religious leaders of Jesus day were expecting.

From start to finish Luke articulates Jesus’ story as accessible to the unknowns, the outcast, the lost, and the hopeless.

Luke’s Gospel truly shows that the good news of Jesus is meant to change lives, and to do so in a drastic manner.

Jesus didn’t come to make this world a better place, He came to turn the world on its head.

He came to assault the cultural norms.

He came to reorient, re-prioritize, to show people God’s way of living.

That’s why He gives new hearts, that’s why there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

Luke’s hope in writing is to see sinners actually respond and find reconciliation with God.

As a result, this return to God by outsiders

People such as Children (viewed as insignificant, dependent)

Women (often second-class in society)

Tax collectors (seen as corrupt traitors)

Lepers and the sick (ritually unclean, physically isolated)

The poor and beggars (powerless, voiceless)

Gentiles (outsiders to God’s covenant people)

Samaritans (ethnically and religiously despised)

Shepherds (looked down upon, socially unimportant)

Today some of those classes are similar -

The bar crowd, poor, homeless, those with disabilities and mental illness, people who have been in prison, people to deal with addictions, those who have been abused, the the lgbt community.

Jesus came to change lives.

When lives truly change it often causes waves.

In Jesus day, the insiders (think the religious elites, the pharisees, the scribes, they were upset because they thought they were doing everything right.

When the truth is they knew the truth, but they had not grace to go with it.

Today it is the pastors, good church going folks that often look down upon others.

Truth means nothing without grace, but the other is equally true, grace is worthless without truth.

Jesus meant for us to reevaluate the biblical story and examine what the foundation of our relationship with God ought to be.

This is the truth that the Pharisees missed in Jesus day, and that one that we cannot miss today.

Jesus came that we might be radically changed and brought into a relationship with Him.

That is the kingdom Jesus came to bring.

The kingdom that the Pharisees asked about in 17:20 but did not understand.

Jesus has been answering the questions who, what, when, where about the kingdom.

Jesus says what it will be like the kingdom of God comes.

It will be like the days of Noah, and Lot.

It is coming not in ways that can be observed as the Jewish people expected.

One reason the kingdom is coming is to bring judgment.

The when is up in the air, we don’t know the time or the hour, but it will be as clear as a bolt of lightning, lighting up the night sky.

Where will it come? Anywhere there are spiritually dead people - which is everywhere!

Who will enter the kingdom? Who will receive justice? The humble, those who are running to the God the Father because they know He hears them.

These verses have contained a series of contrasts.

There is a common theme running through these verses, it is a theme of division.

The the unjust judge and the perfect provisions of God

The Pharisee and the tax collector.

We see today a contrast between the children coming to Jesus and those who seek to keep them away.

The disciples were with Jesus, and they still missed what Jesus had to say.

It is not surprising that we do the same today.

Jesus wants to show us the proper posture that is required from us as His followers.

What I hope for us to see today is that true life in God’s kingdom requires childlike faith, total surrender, and trust in God's eternal reward.

Luke 18:15–17 ESV

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, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

I. The Heart of Kingdom Discipleship: Childlike Faith (Luke 18:15-17)

A. The Disciples’ Misunderstanding (v. 15)

It is obvious here as we continue in verse 15 that the disciples still had not gotten the message.

Our text tells us that people were bring their babies to Jesus that he might touch them.

This is a direct illustration of what Jesus had just talked about in his parable that he taught.

Look back at how the end of verse 14 reads.

Luke 18:14 ESV

14 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

When you think of a child, especially an infant/baby, what comes to mind?

They are needy.

They cannot do anything for themselves. Now I want for us to make the connection between these children here and the tax collector we saw last week.

Jesus had just been speaking of humility when entering the kingdom of God.

There are some differences in our minds of course.

We most often think of children as innocent.

The tax collector was certainly not.

Children are not innocent for that matter either.

The greater connection we are to make is the manner of approach.

Jesus provides a concrete illustration of just what it means to be humble through His treatment of little children.

All of the stories in the bible are significant but some are recounted in multiple gospels.

I think these should be given some extra consideration as to what we are supposed to understand a take away from them..

This story is also found in Mark 10:13-16 and Mt 19:13-15.

Mark 10:13–16 ESV

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 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. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Matthew 19:13–15 ESV

13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.

Matthew and Mark help to make a little more clear here as to what was happening exactly adding the note that he was laying hands on them and pray and taking children in his arms and blessing them.

Being considered a rabbi, Jesus touch was associated with blessing.

We see this with the women suffering from a discharge of blood for years. Her thought was if I only touch the hem of His garment.

There is a difference though, that women could and did consciously choose to come to Jesus.

These families were bringing their children to be blessed by Jesus.

The verb "blessed" in Greek means to "ask God to bestow divine favor on.

While the children were in His lap, he took them in his arms.

He brought them close.

He prayed for them.

This entire scene demonstrates the submission and trustfulness of the child.

Brought by their parents, handed to a strange man.

It is a touching picture of Jesus’ tenderness and love for children."

It shows the loving care of God.

On another level Jesus wanted His full grown disciples to have that same "child-like" trust and dependence of these children.

The way Luke writes this it appears as not much time has passed between Jesus speaking of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

Remember he is writing an orderly account.

But they have already forgotten the lesson, or perhaps they weren’t paying attention thinking it was directed towards others and not themselves.

Not placing themselves in the category of trusting in their own righteousness.

When we look to these different passages there are some differences.

Matthew and Mark use the Greek word for children but Luke goes further here using a different word that specifies more younger children.

Think babies to toddlers.

The difference here is likely stylistic, but also Luke was a gentile, Greek was likely his first language.

Matthew and Mark were both Jewish.

Luke often uses different words in his retelling and it provides a little more clarity.

In this case, the word narrows down the age range of children to newborns to 3 or so years of age?

How does a child of these ages approach someone they love?

Before they are mobile they have to be brought.

Once mobile it is a different story.

I walked into the food pantry Friday and Broderick comes running up to me, arms up in the air, smile on his face.

I picked him up and in 5 minutes or so, he was asleep on my shoulder.

This is humility, that is trust.

That is how Jesus wants you to come to him!

Initially, God draws us to Himself.

He brings us in like a newborn baby.

He gives us the safety to come and rest in Him.

He also wants for us to throw up our arms though and fully trust in Him.

The disciples though, as I mentioned, missed the point, they missed what Jesus had been teaching.

They rebuked these people bringing their children.

But Jesus challenges their thinking.

He does so because God values the humble and dependent.

B. The Requirement for the Kingdom (vv. 16-17)

Let’s look again at 16-17

Luke 18:16–17 ESV

16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

William Barclay - It was the custom for mothers to bring their children to some distinguished Rabbi on their first birthday that he might bless them.

That is what the mothers wanted for their children from Jesus....It is one of the loveliest things in all the gospel story

that Jesus had time for the children even when He was on the way to Jerusalem to die!

It was most unusual for a rabbi though to take time for the little ones.

The mindset of the day would have been to not bother with the children.

Teachers were too busy to waste time on them. 

Jesus uses this event to teach that only those who receive the kingdom like a child will enter it.

Jesus is not saying that you have to become a Christian as a child to be saved.

No person is saved by their parents bringing them to church and having a pastor or a priest say a blessing over them.

He is also not saying that you must have childlike innocence.

Children are certainly not innocent - Children are born in sin and they need Christ as their Savior as much as any adult does.

What Jesus does is He reflects God’s loving nature.

Children loved to come to Jesus, and it says something about our Savior that children loved Him and that He loved children.

Jesus was not a mean, angry man because children don’t love mean, angry people.

Jesus is making statement of attitude.

A statement that ought to cause us to ask ourselves the question, how am I approaching God?

Am I approaching God as a child would?

With full trust and dependence upon Him?

Or am I approaching God out of my self reliance?

Only going to God when I feel like I can’t handle the situation on my own.

If we look around our church right now, we can see the number of kids here in church.

We certainly can’t be accused of keeping the kids away from Christ.

But I think what we need to consider, each one of us, is whether we have lost the childlike faith that our children have.

A child is usually humble and forgiving.

They are not interested in importance, fame, power, wealth, or position.

No one has achieved less morally and religiously than a child.

No one has less knowledge of or obedience to the law, or less devotion to God.

To be a true disciple of Jesus in the Kingdom of God it means we must have a humble, childlike faith.

Childlike is not childish though.

An unspoiled child illustrates humility, faith, and dependence.

A child has a sense of wonder that makes life exciting.

Have you lost that wonder about our Lord? (Have you ever really had it?)

We all have to grow up, but we don’t have to lose that sense of wonder and amazement about God.

No one will receive the Kingdom of God without this helpless dependence and humility.

English Standard Version Chapter 18

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

How can you be more like a child in the presence of Jesus?

If you are parent or have formed a bond with a small child, you know the feeling of having that child come to you and throw up their arms to have you pick them up.

I only imagine that is a fraction of the feeling that God gets when we run to Him in such a way.

Children have the full-minded faith to believe whatever you tell them, at least when they are very little.

As they get older, of course, they start to question everything; but it is not that way at the beginning,

when they take what people give them on total trust.

God wants us to have the same kind of confidence in him.

Little children also have a wholehearted love.

We cannot know God in any other way except with the wide-eyed wonder,

full-minded faith,

and wholehearted love of a little child.

Yet when Jesus talks about little children coming into the kingdom, the most important word is “receive.”

This same word is used to describe someone grasping a cup.

Taking something that is offered.

Jesus says that it is specifically in our reception of the kingdom that we need to be like little children.

If anything is characteristic of children—especially babies like the ones people were bringing to Jesus—

it is their total dependence on other people for what they need.

Children come into the world utterly helpless.

It takes years before a child is able to look after his or her own daily needs.

Parents have to dress their children, feed their children, change their children, hold their children, and help their children in all kinds of ways—

then they have to do it all over again, day after day after day.

And what do the children do?

They simply accept the care that they are given.

Babies are so needy in their dependency that all they can do is to receive whatever food or clothing or protection anyone offers.

Touch the cheek of a nursing infant and immediately the child will open her mouth, rooting around and sucking for the milk that gives that child life.

That child never says “Oh, you shouldn’t have!” or “Let me do it myself!”

This is how we must come to God, if ever we would come into his kingdom.

To enter, we need to receive.

We must make a declaration of our dependence, offering God nothing except our need and hungrily receiving the grace he gives to helpless sinners.

Somewhere along the way we lose that -

We begin to think - Oh, I don’t need God today, or next week.

Maybe I will need Him the week after.

“Once upon a time,” writes Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., “we knew how to receive something uncritically and then live off it.”

But now we are so reliant upon ourselves and so critical of others that it is hard for us to receive anything from anyone.

If you have slipped into a position of thinking that you don’t need God every moment of every day of your life, I pray God wakes you up!

If you have never had that, this is your wake up call.

Luke 18:17 ESV

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

We need to receive God with all the needy dependency of a little child, or else we will not receive him at all.

The trouble, of course, is that over time most of us have learned to depend on ourselves in life.

All of this is setting us up for what we will look at next time with the Rich Young Ruler.

But today I wanted to end our time together with a time for us to come before the Lord a reflect upon our own relationships with Christ.

We are going to take time out this morning to remember the Lord as He commands us to in sharing the Lord’s supper together.

Luke, not surprisingly gives us the fullest account and description of the institution of the Lord’s Supper in chapter 22.

Paul though in his writing to the Corinthian church, helps us to see clearly and concisely what it is meant to do for us as a church.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This act that we now do together is a unifying act as a church.

We gather together, we remember what Christ has done.

We remember Christ suffering and death on our behalf.

We understand that His work was complete and finished.

His death was the final sacrifice for sin.

By His death He fully accomplished redemption.

Because of all of this we can receive the kingdom as a little child.

We can become children of God through what Jesus has done.

We also look forward as the writer of Hebrews says.

Hebrews 9:27–28 ESV

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Richard Pratt in his commentary on 1 Cor. writes

I & II Corinthians IV. Life Application: Bored to Tears

I grew up in the church, and I remember those first Sundays of every month—Lord’s Supper week. I hated it. It meant that the worship service would last even longer than usual. When I think about it, I believe a lot of adults around me felt that way too. The looks on their faces told me they had lost sight of the wonder of the Lord’s Supper. They were bored to tears.

Have you lost that wonder this morning?

If so, use this time, admit it freely to the Lord.

Lord I have lost my childlike faith, help me to regain the wonder I once had.

Let me run to you with arms held high that you might scoop me up in your loving embrace.

English Standard Version Chapter 11

the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Pass

Pray

Eat

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 ESV

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Pass

Pray

Drink