Child-Like Faith

We aren’t going to have time to cover every verse as we go through this time, so we are jumping over a section where Jesus reminds us to take drastic measures to battle sin. Then, he puts the Pharisees in their place, proving their ignorance, and again turning the tables.

That leads us to where we are picking up this morning.

Jesus is continuing to turn everything upside down.

Here, he is going to do it by contrasting two different types of faith: the faith of a child, and the faith of the proud.

As he does, he makes it very clear that the faith you and I need is the faith of a child.

In fact, you could sum up this week’s message by saying, “Fight to keep a child-like faith.”

Let’s look at what the Bible has to say this morning.

Start with me in .

Let’s start unpacking this by examining...

1) The faith of a child.

Go back to verses 13-16.

This is the second time in two chapters that we see Jesus explaining the kingdom using children.

Last week, we saw that children represented the lowest, weakest members of society.

Jesus challenged us to welcome even the lowest if we wanted to be great in his kingdom.

Now, he is taking this a step further.

It’s one thing to welcome a child, it’s another to say we should copy them.

You can see that the disciples clearly didn’t understand what Jesus had taught them, because they are doing the exact opposite of what he commanded in the previous chapter!

Instead of welcoming the children, they are pushing them away and rebuking their parents for bringing them.

Look at Jesus response in verse 14.

He got upset at them!

Why? Because they were rejecting the ones who give us the clearest picture of how we come to Christ.

The kingdom of God, a right relationship with God, is only attained by those willing to come to God like children.

Think about kids for a minute.

We have three in our house, and this week, we have lots of togetherness because of the snow.

When you are around young kids for a while, you notice certain traits.

You see that they are trusting, almost to a fault. They believe what you tell them is true, often without question.

They aren’t yet jaded to the harsh disappointments in life, and in their eyes, mom and dad can do very little wrong.

One example of this: We were out at a restaurant recently, and a family friend did the “quarter in the ear” trick to our two-year-old son.

About a week later, he caught the sinus crud that was going around, and it stopped up his ears.

He asked his mommy to check to see if there was another quarter in his ears stopping it up.

Cute, isn’t it?

Why do we think that is cute? Because our heart longs for that innocence that has been lost by all the pain and heartache we have experienced in life.

Man, to be that trusting, to simply believe without doubting.

You see it when a child jumps into your arms. They do it, knowing you are going to catch them whether you want to or not.

Not only are they trusting, they are also bold.

J.D. Greear, a pastor in NC, recently highlighted this in a message on prayer.

He pointed out how bold our kids are when they ask for things.

Ever been in a store with a child?

Friday, we had to run to the store before school, and I made it crystal clear to the kids that we only needed a few items, and then we were getting out.

As we are standing their, looking at one of the things we needed, what starts happening? They start asking for things.

Ever been cooking dinner and had your kids come ask you for something to eat since they are hungry now?

Listen, when mommy has been home with you all day long and answered 10,000 questions from the kids, or she and dad are both worn out from a long day at work and you don’t have the patience to wait 5 minutes to get something to eat, that’s boldness!

So what does that have to do with entering the kingdom of heaven?

Only those who are willing to simply put their faith in Christ, trusting him completely and boldly, will find entrance into the kingdom.

We can see that clearer when we see the contrast in the next section.

Look now at...

Jesus is continuing to turn everything upside down.

2) The faith of the proud.

Pick back up in verse 17-20.

Here is a man who, on the outside, has it all together.

In fact, he seems like his heart is even in the right place.

Jesus was getting ready to leave, so he ran to him, which was culturally unacceptable for an adult male.

Not only that, he kneels before Jesus with an honest request.

This is one of the most masterful interactions in the Gospel.

Jesus doesn’t beat this man over the head with his sin.

Instead, he lovingly exposes the pride in his heart.

In pointing the man back to the commands of the law, he is exposing his pride.

The man acknowledges it in verse 20.

In his eyes, he is perfect!

Is that what you think this morning? You have tried really hard all your life to do the right thing, so you should be good to go?

Are you willing to be honest with me and say that you have made at least one mistake? You have told at least one lie or dishonored your mom and dad at least once?

Here’s what the Bible says:

James 1:20 CSB

for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

James 2:10 CSB

For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.

This man had to sense that, right?

Even though there was a part of him that thought he had done everything right, he still wasn’t sure he had done enough to earn eternal life.

Maybe that’s where you are this morning. The reason you keep coming to church is because you are hoping that you can come enough to quiet that nagging voice that you aren’t right with God.

Slow down and reread verse 21 again.

Jesus looked at him. He didn’t casually glance over this young man; he looked at him.

The gaze of Jesus goes deeper than our appearance.

We see in a couple of verses that this man was wealthy, so he was well dressed. He probably was articulate and intelligent and appeared to all to be a good man.

Yet, Jesus could see down to the core of the man’s heart to see his pride.

How did Jesus respond to what he saw?

He loved him.

Isn’t that incredible?

He could have said, “Wow, you are so wrong. You haven’t kept these commandments and you and I both know it. In fact, you just broke the ‘false witness’ one when you told me you had kept them.”

Instead, he pushes past the man’s defenses. Like a skilled surgeon, Jesus cuts right to the core of the problem.

“Go, sell everything, give it to the poor, and come follow me.”

Don’t miss the point here. Jesus isn’t saying that this guy was just one act of obedience short of making it to heaven.

Instead, he was penetrating this man’s defenses and objections, pointing him to the source of the problem: his faith was in himself and his possessions, and he wasn’t willing to give them up to follow Christ.

That’s the faith of the proud.

A proud heart says, “I can do this on my own. Just tell me what I need to do.”

There is a great picture of this in the Old Testament, in .

A powerful army commander named Naaman contracted leprosy, which was a debilitating skin disease that would eventually kill him.

A young servant girl in his household told him about the prophet Elisha, so Naaman went out to find him.

When Naaman and his entourage come to Elisha’s house, Elisha won’t even come out to greet him.

Instead, he sends his servant out to meet him. The servant tells this powerful general to go bathe in the Jordan River seven times and he would be cleansed of his leprosy.

Naaman becomes furious. Not only did the prophet offend him by not meeting him personally, he now has to go bathe in the dirty Jordan River instead of the beautiful rivers in Damascus where he was from?

He left Elisha’s house, livid with rage.

Here’s how it played out from there:

2 Kings 5:13–14 CSB

But his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more should you do it when he only tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the command of the man of God. Then his skin was restored and became like the skin of a small boy, and he was clean.

2 kings 5:13-

Was there something magical about the river?

No—Naaman was cleansed because he was willing to simply and boldly put his trust in the God of Israel and do what he said, even if it sounded ridiculous to him.

In that moment, God broke through his pride and drew him to himself.

Unfortunately, the rich ruler wouldn’t do the same.

Jesus had, in the most loving way possible, exposed the sinful pride in his heart, and yet he refused to stop trusting in himself and place his trust in Christ.

Look at how Jesus responds. Start in verse 23-27.

The proud, especially those of us who live in places like the US where we have more than we could ever need, often choose to trust themselves instead of trusting Christ.

After all, I have the money I need, and I can make more. I am an American, and I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps.

You will never get to heaven, never find peace with God, and never quiet the nagging voice in your soul as long as you are trying to do this on your own.

You might as well try to shove a camel through the eye of a needle!

(By the way, preachers have tried to make some analogy about a gate in Jerusalem called the Needle’s Eye that a camel had to kneel to get through…Great story, likely isn’t true).

Here, Jesus is saying that those who trust in themselves cannot be saved, just like you can’t shove a camel through a needle.

The disciples are understandably confused at this point.

After all, this guy looked like a good guy, and you said he can’t be saved. He had just finished putting the Pharisees, the religious leaders, in their place, so then who in the world can be saved?

Look back at verse 27...

You are right! You can’t be saved on your own, which is why you have to be like a child.

You have to recognize that you can’t do it, and you need to cry out boldly for God to save you!

You need to surrender everything you have and everything you are, trusting that God will take it and use it and save you.

If you have been trusting in yourself for salvation, stop it! You are just like this rich man who thought he was good enough and wealthy enough to earn eternal life.

You aren’t, and you can’t!

Instead, you have to run into the arms of Christ.

You need to come to him, expressing the same faith that Jesus demonstrated for us in going to the cross.

Didn’t he show a child-like faith in the Father?

Before he was betrayed, how did Jesus pray?

Mark 14:36 CSB

And he said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will.”

Isn’t that child-like prayer? Father, I trust that you can do this, and I will do whatever you say.

In a matter of hours after praying that prayer, Jesus was arrested, beaten, and hung on a cross to die for your sins and mine.

Luke records this phrase among Jesus’ final words:

Luke 23:46 CSB

And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” Saying this, he breathed his last.

If Jesus, the God of the universe, would pray with that kind of child-like faith, then what makes you think you are good enough to get to heaven without it?

As he walked obediently in faith, he opened the door for you and I to come to God as a child. Although we can’t fully unpack everything in this passage, here’s an incredible explanation:

hebrews 5:7-

Hebrews 5:7–9 CSB

During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

Jesus’ obedience opens the door for your salvation.

In just a few minutes, I want to give you an opportunity to come talk with me about how to come to know Christ.

Before we do, though, I need to talk to those of us here who know Christ.

“Well, Sean, that’s a great evangelistic message. I’ve been saved and I know it, so I’m good, right?”

Wrong.

Let me ask you, honestly and sincerely: if I looked at your life this week, would I see pride or child-like faith?

You know you have been saved

Do you feel like you are right with God because you have done your quiet time this week or gave something in the plate when it just came by?

Or, is your sense of closeness with God based off the unchanging, incredible promises of the grace of God, who draws you to himself through the sacrifice of his son and not by your merit?

Maybe we are like the church in the city of Galatia. We have been saved by faith, but we think it is up to us to keep ourselves saved.

Here’s how Paul rebuked them:

Galatians 3:1–3 CSB

You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?

If you have been trusting in anything other than the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as the source of your relationship with God, stop it! Go back, sell everything, and simply trust him!