A Kingdom of Children

Matthew 19:13-15

Children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.[1]

Jesus loves the little children; all the children of the world.

Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

C

hildren throughout Canada sing that song. Perhaps you even learned this song when you were a child. It teaches a great truth, but one which is too readily forgotten as we grow older. Christ the Lord loves children; He welcomes them into His presence and He welcomes their presence among His people. During His days in the flesh, the Lord joyfully received children that appear ubiquitous among the crowds that attended His teaching. Consequently, the congregation that reflects the Spirit of the Lord is a congregation that will seek out children and treat them with respect. The congregation that reflects the Spirit of Christ is a place that welcomes children.

Children seem to have been nearby every time Jesus encountered a crowd, and He appears to have delighted in their presence. He pointed to the children on several occasions, speaking of them as examples of the faith that pleases the Father, thus encouraging disciples to cultivate the faith of a child in order to please the Father. One such instance when Jesus honoured the children is provided in our text for this day.

Seeking Christ’s Blessing for Our Children — The pericope begins with an observation of parental concern for their children. Matthew takes care to note that children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. One cannot help but be impressed with the fact that parents were bringing their children to Jesus so that He would bless them. In Scripture it is customary that people place their hands on individuals as they pray for them, as a sign of blessing. Parents often brought their children to rabbis and the elders of the people to be blessed.

The pronouncement of a blessing included laying hands on the children as they were blessed.[2] This form of blessing children is first seen in Scripture when Israel blesses Manasseh and Ephraim, placing his hands on their heads as he pronounces the blessing [Genesis 48:14]. Laying hands on the head, accompanied by prayer, formed a typical Jewish “blessing.” One rabbinic tradition describes the custom of bringing a thirteen-year-old boy to the elders in Jerusalem at festival time “to bless him and pray for him that he may be worthy to study the Torah and engage in good deeds.”[3]

There is no thought here of baptism or even of salvation; one would need to read that into the account, for nothing of that nature is stated or implied here. Children who have not reached the age of accountability [e.g. Isaiah 7:16] are surely covered by the death of Christ [see Romans 5:17–21]. It is true that children are born sinners [Psalm 51:5]; but should a child die before he or she is accountable, the child is regenerated and taken to heaven [2 Samuel 12:23; Psalm 23:6].

The parents who brought their children to Jesus sought for Him to bless them. Laying hands on a child and praying for that child as a sign of blessing is essentially foreign to us in this day. Laying hands on an individual as one prays is a feature found in the New Testament. In other instances the act serves either to set an individual apart for specific ministry [Acts 6:6; 13:3], as a sign of acceptance of those coming into the Faith [e.g. Acts 8:17; 19:6], or it is associated with healing [e.g. Luke 13:13]. The concept of blessing, and especially blessing children, is largely forgotten in our day.

The children were certainly privileged to have Jesus pray for them. Our practice of dedicating babies finds support in the Master’s action when He blessed the children. Our Sunday School ministries and our youth ministries are likewise rooted in a natural desire to follow Jesus in blessing children. It may help you to understand how I can make such a sweeping statement if you know that the word translated children [paìs] is not restricted to “little children,” but rather the word speaks of any child, at least until that child had been received into the community of Faith at his bar mitzvah.

I suspect that the placement of this pericope is more important than we might imagine at first glance. You will notice that it follows immediately after Jesus’ teaching on the sanctity of marriage [Matthew 19:3-9] and His call for those who follow Him to treat the union of husband and wife with reverence [Matthew 19:10-12]. It follows immediately before the account of His call to the rich young man to devote himself to serving God [Matthew 19:16-30]. Perhaps we could make an argument that Matthew is not presenting a chronological account of Jesus’ ministry, but he is assuredly making a logical presentation of that ministry. Commitment of spouses honours God and ensures strong families. Strong families bless the children of those unions. Devotion to Christ is the basis for honouring God, and that will mean submitting your desires to His will.

What a blessing for those children whose parents are married in the will of God, and who seek to obey God, bringing their children to Jesus for His blessing. The formal dedication of a child here in our own congregation seeks a pronouncement of God’s blessing both on the child and on the family into which that child is born as the parents take a vow before God and His people to raise the child in the Faith of Christ the Lord. The congregation witnessing the dedication also vows to hold the parents accountable for raising the child. This is more than mere ceremony; it is a solemn vow both on the part of the parents and on the part of the congregation.

Did your parents introduce you to the Faith of Christ the Lord? How blessed you are if your heritage includes godly parents who introduced you to the Faith early in life. This does not depreciate those who come to faith later in life, nor does it disparage the individual who has no heritage of Christian training—we rejoice that you are in the Faith. To be born again is the richest blessing imaginable. I am adamant, however, in saying that the child who has been raised in the Faith, who is trained in the way of Christ the Lord from childhood, has a great advantage in life. Paul speaks of the children in a home where even one parent is a believer as blessed [see 1 Corinthians 7:14].

I am thrilled whenever the children come to the front of the auditorium for prayer. We invite them to the front of the auditorium as they prepare to go out for instruction in the Word of God. Here at the front of our auditorium the pastor prays for the children. I rejoice as we witness these children here in the House of God because I know that as the people of God provide loving instruction in the Faith of Christ the Lord, many of those children will be kept from a life of dissipation. Some of these children have already found the Faith of Christ the Lord and they are now being taught to walk in that Faith. I rejoice for the children because I know that they have a greater chance of glorifying the Saviour if they know what pleases Him than if they are left to guess what is pleasing. Each of us should rejoice in the knowledge of the blessing they are receiving each week.

It may prove helpful for us to review a parallel passage in which this same incident is reported. Mark’s Gospel provides an account of this particular moment in the life of the Master. 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 [Mark 10:13-16].

Conflating the two accounts, one of the first things to notice is the persistence of the parents who were trying to bring their children to Jesus. They would not be deterred. Each parent seems focused on obtaining a blessing for his or her own child; they made every effort to introduce their own child to Jesus. They were demonstrating concern for the eternal welfare of their own children. Nothing much has changed over the years.

Have you noticed that even when parents do not themselves attend church, they often want their children to attend Sunday School? It is as though there is an innate recognition that people who understand the Faith are blessed—and parents what their children to be blessed. I cannot tell you how often I have received phone calls from parents who have no active relationship to any church wishing to have their children baptised so they will “be safe?” We should dismiss the thought that performing a ritual can be somehow salvific, but we cannot say that parents who send their children to Sunday School or that parents who seek baptism for their children are acting out of anything other than genuine concern. Though the request of these parents is unbiblical, their intent is honourable and natural. Parents want the best for their children.

Again, contrasting the two accounts, I notice that Mark states that Jesus was indignant. Mark, more than any of the other Evangelists, notes Jesus’ emotional response to situations. It is interesting to me Jesus expressed anger with religious leaders that censured a man seeking wholeness [Mark 3:5] and His actions in cleansing the Temple [Mark 11:15-19] revealed anger at the sacrilege perpetuated by self-centred religious leaders. Here the Master was indignant; and though we would not say that He was angry, it is evident that He took umbrage at the action of His disciples.

Let me make an immediate application, then. If we neglect bringing our children to Christ, we may be assured that the Master is indignant. When we hinder those who seek to bring children to learn of Christ, we must know that Jesus is indignant. When we fail to train children in the Faith, we cause divine indignation. Responsibility to bring a child to Christ rests upon that child’s parents. If you are not teaching your children about Christ, you bring upon yourself the indignation of the Master. Likewise, hindering those who are trying to bring children to Christ merits His indignation.

Parents are not given the dubious luxury of shifting responsibility for instruction in the Faith to the elders, or even more generally to the church; parents are responsible to bring their children to Christ. Perhaps it is our victim-oriented society, but I observe a tendency to blame the church for our own failure, charging that if only the church had a youth ministry, if only the church had a Sunday School ministry, if only the church had a Vacation Bible School, our children would be kept from sin. We accuse the church of not doing enough for our children when they turn their backs on the Faith and embrace the tawdry thrills of this dying world, though they have never known the excitement of new life in Christ. However, parents must not imagine that they can shift blame to the church, for we who are parents are responsible to bring our children to Jesus.

I am not suggesting that the church may neglect ministries to the youngest members of society; rather I insist that we must seek to work together with parents to ensure that children are introduced to Jesus from earliest days. What I would have you grasp is that we must determine to work in concert, each member accepting responsibility for the unsaved children and the unsaved youth surrounding our church, and especially for the youth and children that have not yet professed Christ as Lord.

If we are Christians, we must each be prepared to inconvenience ourselves for the eternal welfare of our children. When our own children are grown, our responsibility does not cease. At that time we must accept responsibility to introduce the generation that follows to the glories of Christ and the excitement of following Him. We must each determine that we will make children welcome here, not complaining because they are children, but rather rejoicing that God has entrusted them to our care.

Speaking in a practical manner, I recommend that we pray by name for the children of our church. Ask the teachers of our children for a list of names and pray daily for those children. Each of us must determine that we will model godly lives for the benefit of our children. We must urge our own children and our grandchildren to look to Christ, and not quit urging them to openly confess Him, believing that He is the Son of God who died because of their sin. Each teacher in this church must make it her or his goal to bring the children of the church to Christ the Lord. If we do not do this, we cease to be a blessing to our children and we fail to secure Christ’s blessing for them.

Busyness Precludes the Business of the Faith — The disciples rebuked the people. Jesus’ disciples acted in a manner that is unfortunately too common among the churches. I will think the best of the disciples and assume that they were concerned for Jesus’ time. He was doing important work—He was teaching, and they decided that He did not have time for the children. So, they began rebuking those who were bringing their children.

It wasn’t that children were not loved in Judean society. They were loved just as much as we Canadians love children. However, children were (and are) socially powerless. A high infant mortality rate meant that they were physically powerless as well. Often, children in this day are ignored or treated as though they were a nuisance. Jesus, however, both loved the children and considered it important to bless them.

Apparently His disciples had already forgotten what Jesus had said earlier about the worth of children and the seriousness of causing them to stumble into sin. Calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 18:2-4].

You will no doubt recall that Jesus seized that precise moment to caution His disciples against giving offence to the vulnerable children who were seeking Him. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 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 [Matthew 18:5, 6].

The business of a disciple is to become like the Master. When we become so busy in our work that we no longer have time for people, we have forgotten our business. Children are demanding, and because they are demanding they often require our full attention. However, those same children who are so demanding are the future of the church. If we fail to bring the next generation to Christ, we will have failed in our mission and the work of Christ will be jeopardised.

When He became aware of their actions, Jesus rebuked His disciples, telling them to let the little children come and not hinder them. The kingdom of heaven is not limited to adults who might be considered to be worth more than children. Anyone who comes to the Lord in faith is a worthy subject for the kingdom. In their busyness, the disciples had forgotten their business as citizens of the Kingdom of God.

We Christians often become a hindrance to children, whom Jesus loves. We tell ourselves how busy we are doing the work of the Kingdom, conducting this activity or attending to that activity, and we imagine that the Master is pleased with out activity, even though we are neglecting His lambs. We attend Bible studies and enjoy potluck dinners, but we are far too busy to share in children’s ministries. If we are neglecting to welcome children, to make the church a place that receives them and instructs them in righteousness, then we are ensuring that there is no future for the church.

How do we hinder children from coming to Jesus? When we complain about the demands that children place on us, we hinder the children. When we fail to instruct our own children in the truths of the Faith, we hinder the children. When we fail to insist that our own children join us in prayer and in reading the Bible, when we neglect holding our own children accountable to righteousness, we hinder the children. When we fail to offer ourselves to work with the children of our church, we hinder the children. When we fail to provide training, even for the youngest among us, we hinder the children.

Throughout the years of my service before the Lord, I have observed too many churches that hindered the children from coming to Jesus. I don’t suppose that any of them intended to be a hindrance, but they had become a hindrance, nevertheless. At one point in my ministry I was invited to pastor a church in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. It was a staid old church that had once been a lighthouse for the Faith, but had lost vigour and was at last populated with grey-haired people. There were more members in nursing homes than were present on a Sunday morning. I was asked if I thought I could rebuild that church, and in my youthful enthusiasm, I accepted the challenge.

One of the first steps of building a ministry there was to ask the deacons to fund a nursery. The chairman of the church said, “When the people bring children, we’ll build a nursery. There is no need to spend all that money when there are no children.” Of course, it does not work that way. Quietly, my wife and I began to prepare a nursery. Lynda took the lead and cleaned out a room that had once served as a nursery. Much of the furniture had to be discarded since it was old and unsafe. She scrubbed and repainted the walls and we equipped that nursery. Together, she and I took a “baby-saver” course to prepare ourselves to provide a safe environment for the children.

I visited the homes and apartments in the neighbourhood around the church, inviting parents to church, telling them that we had a nursery for their children; they could know that their children were safe and well-cared for. I assured those parents that we loved children and would welcome them in our church. Almost immediately, mothers began to come to the services, each one bringing her children. Soon, the nursery was full of children and Lynda found it necessary to recruit others to help her.

Within a couple of weeks people began to respond to the messages preached and at the invitation we witnessed people coming to faith in Christ the Lord at the conclusion of each service. Some of the deacons began to grumble because some of the older members felt that all the children were a distraction and they couldn’t “worship.” These older saints were a hindrance, and they were ignorant of their hindrance. Almost all the Sunday School teachers began to complain because there were too many children. These servants of Christ were a hindrance, and they failed to recognise what they had become.

One of my heroes in the Faith was Doctor J. Frank Norris. Norris was the Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Fort Worth, Texas throughout most of the first half of the Twentieth Century. He had a powerful impact on the North American Christianity and his work continues to influence the Faith to this day.

One of the great ministries of the congregation he pastored was an outreach into housing projects that sheltered many poor families. Literally hundreds of children were coming to the services, and many of them were bringing their parents with them. It is an observation worth considering that children are the best visitors we have. Children almost always bring mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and even friends. Those coming to the church were, however, children from poor families. Their dress and their manners reflected the lack of wealth and perhaps even a lower culture than the good folk of the church felt worthy of their station in the community.

At one point, the Ladies Aid Society of the church had carpeted the auditorium. This was quite an accomplishment during the thirties, and the ladies were justifiably proud of their work. However, they dispatched a delegation to Doctor Norris to inform him that the unkempt children attending the services were dirtying the carpet. They issued a demand that Doctor Norris debar the children from attending services in the auditorium so the carpets would stay clean.

During the week following their demand to the Pastor, Doctor Norris visited throughout the projects inviting every child he could find. As each child showed up on Sunday, the child was given an ice cream cone and invited to sit near the front of the auditorium. Imagine! Hundreds of children, each armed with an ice cream cone. The ladies of the church were incensed and horrified at the indignity their carpets suffered. The message that Sunday spoke of the blessing Christ gave to the children.

Ask yourself, what is more important to God? The carpet of a church auditorium? Or the soul of a child? Which has greater worth in the eyes of the Lord? The flooring of a building? Or the children that grace that building? Norris was not simply being mean; he was giving an object lesson that would not be soon forgotten. A beautiful building that never sees anyone saved is an offence to Holy God. A quiet service that fails to bless the children God gives is an offence to the Risen Son of God. A church where children are treated as though they were a nuisance is an offence to the Living Christ. A church where children are not regularly brought to faith in Jesus the Saviour is an offence to the One who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Jesus Seeks Childlike Faith — Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. Kingdom faith is childlike faith. Jesus is not saying that the Kingdom is made up of children. “To such” shows that all children are not automatically saved but rather all those of any age who come to God with a childlike attitude—recognizing their utter dependence on their Heavenly Father. He focuses on the present aspect of the kingdom; people enter it as they become his followers.

As we grow older, we tend to complicate the issue of faith. We want to understand all the implications of a statement or an action, looking for wiggle room. While anticipation of consequences can be a good thing, it can also prove a detriment to spiritual maturity. We cannot understand every aspect of the physical world. Should it be a surprise that we continue to discover the spiritual world as we walk with the Lord?

Most of us are unable to explain how an atom may be split. Few of us are truly conversant with the process of bioenergetics in the mitochondria necessary for cellular function. Nevertheless, we can enjoy the electricity produced through splitting an atom in a controlled fashion, and we still manage to carry out the various metabolic functions necessary for continued life. Nicodemus could not tell where the wind came from or where it went, but he could hear the sound of the wind blowing past his ears, and he undoubtedly could feel the gentle zephyrs on his exposed skin [John 3:8].

The faith to which Jesus calls us is faith that rests secure in Him. It is confidence that He will not do wrong, and that while we may not know the precise details of what will happen next, we know who He is and we rest confident in Him. Children believe those they love. Their trust is seen in action.

When we first arrived in Canada, my children were enrolled in school to complete the school year. What an education for those poor children as they had to learn a new language—they had always spoken Texan to that point. It didn’t help that their Daddy had a drawl so thick it could be cut with a knife. It also didn’t help that I loved to tease them, laughing heartily as we shared many jokes.

My eldest daughter came home from school one afternoon, telling me that the class was learning about Anthony and Cleopatra. I casually said, “You mean CleOPatra,” emphasising the second syllable.

“No, Daddy,” she said. “The teacher says ‘CleoPAtra.”

“Well, honey,” I said. “Your teacher is just wrong. It is CleOPatra. After all, I taught English in college, you know.”

Susan returned to school the next day, corrected her teacher about his pronunciation, and the entire class learned about CleOPatra. It never occurred to her to doubt her Daddy, and she acted on what she trusted.

Children walk in faith toward those they love and trust. When my daughter Rochelle was a child, she enjoyed fishing with her daddy. Actually, by the time she was ten or eleven, she was a better fisherman than most of the men I fished with.

For her sixteenth birthday, she asked that I take her on a two-day retreat so we could spend our time together fishing. We retreated to a cabin on Chilliwack Lake and fished for Chum salmon, Coho salmon and rainbow trout on the Chilliwack River. We had so much fun. We each caught a lot of fish and laughed and enjoyed being together. As we were driving home, she said, “Daddy, I won’t be going fishing with you again.”

I was astounded, because I knew how much she enjoyed time together with me. At last, I managed to stammer out one question, “Why?” to which she answered, “Because I am now a lady.”

So, mercenary child that she was, she hatched a scheme to generate capital by “selling” me all her fishing gear. Never mind that I had given all that she had to her. As I counted out the sum she asked for the gear, I queried her again. “What if you change your mind and decide to go fishing again in a couple of years. What will you use?”

“Oh,” she assured me, “I know my Daddy. He’ll loan me whatever I need.”

Now, that is childlike faith!

Stephen, seeing how well his sister had done and overhearing our conversation, decided that he would “sell” me his fishing gear as well. We were planning on going up country to go fishing that next week, and he would sell me his gear on the condition that I would lend him what he needed to accompany me the following week. Ah, children!

While it is vital that we believe truth, we need to realise that salvation rests upon believing a Person and not merely holding to a specific set of doctrines. We are called to enter into a relationship, and not merely to memorise a set a data. I have no doubt that if we know Christ, we will be led into truth. His Spirit will take up residence in our life at the point of salvation and He will guide us into all truth, just as He has promised to do [John 14:15-17; 16:13].

This is precisely what the Apostle to the Gentiles meant when he asserted that everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved [Romans 10:13]. This was the message delivered to the Philippians jailer: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved [Acts 16:31]. In faith, believing that Jesus the Lord will receive us and believing that He has already provided a sacrifice for our sin, we must come to the Risen Son of God, receiving Him as Master of life. We must walk in confidence, knowing that He loves us and seeks what is best for us and leads us to do those things that strengthen us and enable us to serve Him.

While those of us who are mature nod knowingly, and while all of us who are saved share this knowledge, we did not always know this truth. There was a time when we were dead in trespasses and sins. At that time, we lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind [Ephesians 2:3]. However, the Spirit of God made us alive with Christ as we believed Him. Therefore, we are able to say with confidence that it is by grace we have been saved. This is not our own doing, it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast [Ephesians 2:8, 9].

What is easily forgotten is that we are saved to serve. Certainly, we are appointed to make disciples of all nations [Matthew 28:19], but we are also to reveal the Spirit of Christ through bringing our children to the Faith. In the text that is before us today, we read that Jesus gave His blessing before continuing on his journey. Jesus’ special concern for the children suggests that Christians should highly prize their young people. Child evangelism should remain a priority, especially in light of children’s particular openness to the gospel. Believers ought to treat their children as special recipients of God’s love even prior to their conscious commitment to Christ rather than emphasizing their lostness. The spiritual health of a congregation is reflected in great measure by how they treat their children, and whether they realise the worth of a child. When we read that Jesus laid His hands on them [19:15], we understand that to mean that He had time for all the children, for He did not depart from the region till He had blessed them all.

This leads me, then, to issue a call for renewed ministry to our children. Our youth are moving into adult years, and our little children are growing more rapidly than we could have ever imagined. Our ministries are inadequate and in need of additional workers. We have need now for youth sponsors willing to provide wholesome recreation and sound counsel for youth have a role to play now. We need to be developing youth workers and those willing to instruct our youth in the truths of God’s Word. Teachers who are willing to provide loving instruction to our children in the truths of God’s Word on an ongoing basis are needed now. Godly men and women willing to provide relief for our overburdened leaders in the children’s church ministry are needed now. Our nursery is not presently providing the ministry necessary to permit us to bring in more new families with little ones.

If we become complacent about blessing our children through bringing them to faith in the Living Son of God, we will have become a hindrance and bring upon ourselves the censure of the Saviour. We cannot wait until youth come to provide training and ministry for them. That will be too late. We cannot wait until more children come to recruit teachers. Teachers must be readied now so that more children will come. We cannot wait until the babies are here to try to staff the nursery. Parents with babies will not come if there is no nursery. These ministries must be provided, now.

Are you a Christian? Where is your place of service? What are you doing, for Christ’s sake? What ministry of eternal value are you providing in the assembly? There is a place for you to serve, and the time is now. Listen again to the words of the Master. Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. Let us determine to receive the children. Let us determine that they shall be welcomed, even as Christ the Lord welcomed them and held them close to Himself. Amen.

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[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers, 2001. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] D. A. Carson, Matthew, in Frank E. Gæbelein (ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI 1984) 420

[3] Cited in Craig Blomberg, Matthew: The New American Commentary, Vol. 22 (Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville TN, 1992) 295