Becoming a Child

Becoming a Child

Mark 10:13-16

     Independence is a virtue. To be independent is to be self-reliant, self-sufficient, not relying on anyone for anything, or looking to others for their opinions for guidance.

     We want to teach our children to be independent. We want to teach them to stand strong, and to work hard and there is nothing they cannot do or become. We want to teach them to set their goals high and to strive to achieve them.

     On the other hand, grace is free. It is a gift of God. There is nothing you can do to earn it and there is nothing you can do to deserve it. To try and earn God’s grace is what we call self-righteousness, and it is appalling to God. Throughout the gospels we see Jesus calling out the Pharisees for their self-righteous behavior. What we learn as Christians we don’t work for our salvation; we work because we are saved. We don’t serve God for His forgiveness; we serve God because we are forgiven.

     Christ calls us to rely on Him like a Child for our salvation. Just like a newborn baby relies on it’s parents to meet it’s every need we are to rely on God’s grace to be saved. That is what we learn from this passage, God only accepts those who are fully dependent on Him. (Read Mark 10:13-16)

  13      And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.

  14      But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

  15      “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

  16      And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. (pray)

    In our passage this morning we see Jesus’ pronouncing a blessing on the little children. and He teaches us children have a special place in heaven. In fact, He says the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. There is a special provision made for children when they are innocent and blameless.  Jesus makes it clear to us in this passage children belong to God, and God belongs to children.

     And you see that flew in the face of 1stcentury Judaism. Because the Jews were convinced that you earned your way to heaven. That it was by good works that you go to heaven and children couldn’t do that. They couldn’t accomplish good works, they didn’t know right from wrong. They could not even be considered in the conversation of the Kingdom of God.

    So, what Jesus is doing here was shocking to the disciples. They saw the children as irrelevant and unimportant. What Jesus was doing was counter to conventional wisdom. Jesus was welcoming those into the Kingdom of God who couldn’t do anything to earn it.

     So, this becomes a powerful illustration for us that salvation is by grace alone. Meanwhile, at the same time it is an illustration of a rebuke of self-righteousness and legalism.

     So, babies are a part of the kingdom of God, and they are an illustration of all who will be in the Kingdom, because unless you come like a child; helpless, weak, and unworthy, you cannot come. What we learn from our passage this morning is: God only accepts those who are fully dependent on Him.

     The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the Appeal of the Parents. Vs. 13a. “And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them”

     The word “they” in this passage is referring to the parents of these children.  In Luke’s version of this story, he tells us these were babies being brought to Jesus, and not just children. And the verb tense of “bringing” tells us this was a continual action. So, there was a steady stream of parents who were coming to Jesus bringing their babies hoping He would lay His hands on them and bless them.

     Bringing children to a traveling rabbi to be blessed was a Jewish custom. It is very similar to our baby dedications today. So, this appeal by the parents to have Jesus lay His hands on their children and bless them is totally appropriate.

     However, it is important we don’t make more out of this than what it was. They didn’t believe in Jesus in some special way, this is parents who want what’s best for their children and they want the blessing of the Rabbi. We are not told that any of these children were sick or that He was healing them, so, this was just a religious exercise by the parents, nothing inappropriate.

     In fact, whether they realized it or not, there is nothing better these parents could have done, than bring their children to Jesus. And this is an example for us to follow today. Sharing our faith begins at home. We need to be bringing our children to church. We need to teach them about Jesus.

     John Wesley tells the story of a conversation with a friend who did not believe in making his children go to church. He thought it should be up to them to decide what they believe and to choose their own path. Wesley nodded that he understood. A little later he asked his friend if he wanted to walk out back and see his garden. And he said yes so, they walked out back where there used to be a garden.

     Now it was just overgrown weeds that were out of control. His friend look and laughed, and said that’s not a garden that’s just a mess, and Wesley said yea, I thought it should have the right to decide for itself how it should grow and choose it’s own path. Proverbs says, “to train a child in the ways of the Lord and when he is old, he will not depart from them.” There is no greater thing we can do than bring our children to Jesus and that is what these parents are doing in our story.

     The point of this passage is: God only accepts those who are fully dependent on Him. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the roadblock by the disciples. Vs. 13b-14, Vs. 13 ends with the phrase, “but the disciples rebuked them.”

     Mark is talking about the disciples rebuking the parents and children here. The word “rebuke” is a strong word. It is a powerful reprimand. It tells us the disciples didn’t want these parents bringing their children to Jesus, and they were doing everything they could to stop it.

     We are not told why they were doing this, so we are left to speculate. My best guess is it was because they were self-righteous and legalistic. They didn’t think these children were important enough to see Jesus. They thought these children were a waste of time. So, they were rebuking them.

     Rebuke is the same word used of Jesus in Mark 8:32, when He told Peter get behind me Satan. Peter was trying to talk Him out of going to the cross and dying for the sin of the world, and Jesus rebuked him. Rebuke is also the same word used by Jesus to cast out demons.  He would rebuke the demon and make it leave. And now the disciples are rebuking parents and making them leave, there is something wrong with that.

     It is obvious that after three years spent with Jesus, they still did not understand the heart of God. I cannot help but think that we do the same thing today. It doesn’t matter how long you have been a Christian; we can be just like these disciples, we can get caught up in self-righteous attitudes, we can hold grudges against people. We can become intolerant of our brothers and sisters in the church and become annoyed by disruptions in life.

     Interestingly, Jesus did not do that. He always welcomed disruptions to His life, and He did it with kindness and compassion. He welcomed people who were in need. He healed the sick, cleansed the Leper and opened the eyes of the blind. And He gives us an example here to follow.  Intrusions are opportunities to serve God, and not an annoyance. But that is not the way the disciples viewed this situation.

     It is important we understand children were not held in high regard in Jewish culture the way they are in America. I was in urgent care last week waiting to get a covid test and I was amazed at the parents in the lobby who followed their children around like sheep. The lobby was full of  Little girls and boys were screaming and yelling and getting away with whatever they wanted to do. I couldn’t help but think to myself, somewhere in the last forty years things have changed. We have lost our grip on our children, but it wasn’t that way in the Hebrew culture. We are told in the book of Proverbs to spare the rod is to spoil the child.

     However,  Jesus didn’t want the disciples stopping the children from coming to Him. They were important enough to Him, He wanted to see them. and we are told in Vs. 14 “when Jesus saw this, He became indignant.”

     The verb tense here, “when He saw this” suggests that this was taking place for some time before Jesus knew of it. But when He realized what was going on He was indignant. To be indignant means He was more than disappointed, it means He was angry. It is the same word used of the disciples in Mark 10:41 when James and John asked Jesus for places of honor in the kingdom. The other ten disciples became angry or indignant.

     This is the only place in the Bible where the word “indignant” is used of Jesus, so this was a rare occasion when He became frustrated, and He snaps at them and says, “Permit them to Come, and do not hinder them.” In other words, He forbids them from forbidding these children and their parents from coming to Him.

     Why? “For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” In other words, The Kingdom of God is for those who are just like these children.

     It is important that we understand what the Kingdom of God is. Certainly, the kingdom of God is a reference to heaven. And Matthew, in his version of the story calls it that, he calls it the Kingdom of heaven. But this also speaks of our salvation which takes place right here in the world, the moment we begin a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

     From the moment Jesus arrived on the scene in Mark 1:14, He preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand. He didn’t say the Kingdom was coming. He didn’t say you could one day enter the Kingdom, He said it was at hand, repent and believe.

     The Kingdom of God is a spiritual Kingdom that is alive and well in the world. It exists in the hearts of a believer who is surrendered to Jesus as their King. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the question is not “are you a citizen of the Kingdom, the question is what kind of citizen you are?”

     I want to get back to the idea of infant salvation here for a moment because of what Jesus says in Vs. 14 He says, “The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” He is not talking about just these children, but “such as these.” In other words, the entire category of babies belongs to the Kingdom of God. I also want you to recognize he doesn’t say anything about infant baptism here or any other religious ritual, and if that were important to Jesus what a better place to teach it, but He doesn’t. In fact, you will not find one example of an infant baptism in scripture. They don’t need it.

     One further passage I want to share on this thought, 2 Samuel 12:22-23. He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” David knew that Child was going to be in heaven waiting for him when he got there. This should bring healing and hope to anyone who has ever lost an infant child.

     The point of this passage is: God only accepts those who are fully dependent on Him. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is the Expectation of the King Vs. 15-16. Here Jesus lays out the requirements for entrance into the Kingdom of God.

     Vs. 15 says, “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” This phrase “truly, I say to you,”  is exclusively used by Jesus in the bible. He is the only one that uses that. And wherever you see this phrase you can be sure the most important part of the passage will follow. Because what Jesus is saying is listen, you need to hear what I have to say.

     And that is what we see in this passage. Jesus says, if you want to receive the Kingdom of God, you must become like a child.  He is talking about relying fully on Christ to go to heaven, the way a child relies on a parent.

     I want you to notice these children could not even bring themselves to Jesus. Their parents had to carry them to Him. They were not capable of doing anything for themselves. A baby must be fed, carried and cleaned by their mother and father or it will not survive and that is how we must depend on God for our salvation.

     I am reminded of Nicodemus, a Jewish leader who came to Jesus by night. Jesus told him you must be born again to go to heaven and Nicodemus didn’t understand. He said “how can a man be born again? How can he enter into his mother’s womb a second time? And Jesus said you must be born of water and of the Spirit. You must be redeemed; you must be made new with a full understanding that it is not about you and what you can do, but it is about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross.

     The Apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved by grace through faith it is a gift of God not of works so that no man may boast. If you rely on anything other than Christ alone for your salvation, you cannot go. He is the one-time sacrifice for the sin of the world and our only path into the Kingdom of God. Without Him we abide under the full wrath of God for forever.

     The Bible says the road is wide that leads to destruction and the gates are narrow that leads to life. If you are here today it is because the Spirit of God has drawn you to Him and made Himself known to you, and you can choose the narrow path.  Receive Christ like a child today. Salvation is not by works. There is no scale in heaven that is going to measure you against anyone else. Christ is the standard that all men are measured by, and we all fall short.

     Finally, I want you to look at Vs 16. It says, And He took them in His arms and beganblessing them, laying His hands on them. Certainly, this talking about the children in our story and Christ was kind to the children but, this is also an illustration of the life of a believer in the arms of Christ.

     He becomes personal and compassionate toward us. He welcomes us and He longs to bless us. He is our God, and we are His people. He wants to dwell among us and fill us with His presence. His desire is that you be made whole in your spirit. That you are full of love, and peace, and joy, and kindness. The fruit of the Spirit of the living God.

     We must be fully dependent on Him and not on ourselves. Christ will not share His glory with another and there is no room for the self-righteous, arrogant, and rude. There is no room for the egotistical, self-promoting. For if you want to be first you must be last and if you want to be great you must be a servant.

    That is the gospel, and you may think that you have a better way, and you are wrong. There is no other way for Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life that no man comes unto the Father but through me.” For there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved. Become a child. Receive Jesus and enter the kingdom.