Mark:Such As These [Mark 10:13-16]

Mark: Such As These []

Stand for the reading of the word of God []

Jesus said, “let the little children come to me…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” The words of Jesus are being fulfilled today in our very church, through our children’s ministry and through out America as in many churches great emphasis is place upon children’s ministry, as it should be. I just want to insert here quickly, if you are not a part of our children’s ministry here on Wednesday nights…why not? Ask yourself that…I want to encourage you to strongly and prayerfully consider to start getting involved…if children are so important to Jesus then why would you not make them of great importance in your own life??? Let me give you some statistics to stress the importance of children’s ministry...

The George Barna group, a Christian survey group, surveyed young and old people alike, and based upon the survey the data showed that people from ages 5-13 have a 32% probability of accepting Christ as their savior. Young people from the ages of 14-18 have only a 4% likelihood of accepting Jesus as savior, that’s a huge difference. And those people from the ages of 19-death have a 6% probability of accepting Christ.

This study actually goes against the widely held belief that the teenage years are the prime years to reach children for Christ, the reality is the prime time to reach people for Christ is in their first few years of life. Younger children are much more pliable and have not grown hardened as older people tend to do. This is what makes young children ministry so so very important. If you don’t think it’s vitally important let me name a few pre-teen children that gave their lives to Christ.

Polycarp, a disciple of John…the early church father, was 9

Matthew Henry, the commentator, was 11

Johnathan Edwards, the great awaken(er), was 7

Isaac Watts, the great hymn writer, was 9

Henry Drummond, the Scottish evangelist, was 9

Earl Stanley Jones, the missionary, was 8

Corrie ten Boom, holocaust survivor and author, was 5

W. A. Criswell, the famous Baptist preacher, was 10 though stated he felt called to be a preacher as early as the age of 6

That’s quite a list of little kids who went on to do great things for the kingdom of God. So we can see the importance of early childhood ministry. Now we get this, the importance of ministering to children and we get how precious children are to Jesus…but is that all there is to this small section??? Or is there more?

Is the point of this section, Jesus loves the little children and is kind to little children, so we should be too? Is that it? While this is unavoidably true, Jesus does love the little children, and we should to…there is actually something of greater significance being taught here. This is a very theologically significant section. Two theologically significant points, I believe Jesus is portraying though the use of children is...

The kingdom of God is for the weak, the helpless, and the unimportant

Unless we receive the Kingdom of God upon that basis we will never enter it.

This section is more than just a lesson in having a proper care of children and having a good children’s ministry in place. As important as these are, this is not the only thing being pictured here, or even the most important. As a point of fact this section once again goes against our human way of thinking. Our significance is not what matters in the kingdom of God…that is often how we view things…on the outward or perceived significance or status of someone.

D.L. Moody once preached a revival service and later was asked by someone, “how many came to Christ tonight?” Moody responded, “Two and a half.” The man said you had two adults and a child. To which Moody replied, “No two children with their whole lives ahead of them, and one adult with only half his life left.”

Here again Jesus is challenging the way we think and view things…look at our outline. I have it broke down in three sections: (1) Description of the event (2) Instruction for the disciples (3) Application of the truth by way of illustration.

Description of the event []

1. The peoples expectation is understandable []: “Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them...” The parents, friends, or whoever was over the children in those parts, heard of Jesus fame and were bringing them to Jesus. They knew He was a holy man, a good man, a God blessed prophet, and they were bringing the children to Jesus for blessing. The “they” in “they brought little children” is in the masculine voice, which means or could suggest that it wasn’t just the mother’s bringing the children but the fathers or older mature male children bringing younger children to Jesus. “Little children” is used for ages from infancy to 12. Here is a quick point to men on this mother’s day, men should be the spiritual leaders of the home…and these men were bringing children to Jesus. I don’t want to get sidetracked by that, but it’s important to draw attention to. Christianity is not some sort of feminine thing where the women take the kids…men we should be the leaders.

The expectation was this famous Rabbi would bless the children as they were brought to him. This was a customary thing in that day, children were often brought to the Rabbi for a blessing. As in Jewish culture to bear children was a sign that God’s favor was upon you, so parents would often return that thanks by bring the child to be blessed. So their expectation is understandable.

2. The disciples reaction is unacceptable []: “but the disciples rebuked those who brought them.” We’ve already seen the disciples just don’t get it. Jesus has taught them many lessons such as, if anyone would come after me they must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me. Jesus has taught them if you want to be first you must be last, if you want to be great you’ll be a servant. If you recall in the last chapter the disciples came across a man casting out demons in Jesus name and they stopped him because he was not with them, but Jesus said do not stop them. He used the same word in the “do not hinder him” as he did with the children, “do not hinder them.”

Later in chapter 10 we will see the story with blind Bartimaeus as he heard Jesus coming and cried out “son of David have mercy on me.” and those ahead of him, which most likely included some of the disciples said, be quite, Jesus is about important work He doesn’t have time for you. This is the same kind of thinking here with the disciples. The disciples are saying, stop bringing these kids to Jesus he has more important things to do than mess around with all these kids.

The people bringing their children wanted them to meet and be blessed by Jesus, but the disciples thought it was a waste of time. Which is your attitude? Are you like Jesus and love children and love bringing them to Jesus or are you like the disciples and think it’s a waste of time and do not want to waste your time babysitting a bunch of obnoxious kids? Are you willing to help with our kids program, work in the nursery, help with children sports, stand up against abortion, speak out against sex-trafficking and child poverty? Will you love children to Christ?

Well once Jesus saw what the disciples were doing, he was indignant and...

3. Jesus indignation was unmistakable [] read 14. [KJV says much displeased, that’s not strong enough] When Jesus saw it he was indignant [Greek, aganakteo] anger. i.e. Jesus wigged out! This is the only time where it is said of Jesus to have been indignant. His righteous anger was aroused and he rebuked the disciples openly. One commentator said, “the object of a person’s indignation reveals a great deal about the person.” That’s a great observation.

What do you get angry about? [that reveals a great deal about you] Do you get angry when someone doesn’t do what you ask of them? Do you get angry when someone wrongs you? Do you get angry when you lose money? You know what angers me? Angers might be a little harsh, how about bothers me…you know what bothers me? When people take their children out of church because they are a distraction to others…your children are not a distraction! They need to hear the gospel! They need to hear the word of God read, preached, they need to see God’s people pray, they need to hear the songs of the church.

Some of my earliest memories are from being a child in church. I recall being very young and noticing how some people were so moved by the songs we sang, I took note of how many times brother so and so said “Amen” to the preacher. My cousins and I would pretend to do the Lord’s supper together before we were old enough to take it ourselves. Kids need to be in church with adults! That’s why I’m not in favor of kids church instead of regular church. For the same reason Jesus uses the kids in this scene as an illustration for instruction.

Instruction for the disciples []

1. Do not for bid the children [] Why? Notice what Jesus did not say…he did not say, “OK, this is big boy time right here, right now, so take the children outside to play so the grown ups can talk about grown up things.” He didn’t say that, yet that’s what we often do in the church. Jesus didn’t say when they get a little older and have a better intellectual capacity of understanding the things I’m teaching then bring them back..no he says do NOT HINDER THEM FROM COMING TO ME!!! For one, your intellectual capacity has nothing to do with you coming to Christ. You think you came to Christ because you’re smart…no it’s only by His grace you came to Him. And also...

There is something about a child that is essential for entrance into the kingdom of God. It’s not because their cute and cuddly, even though they are cute and cuddly. It’s not because they pure and sweet. And if you’ll just be a little more cute and cuddly and sweet and stop doing the bad things you’re doing you’ll be good. It’s not because of the children’s innocence, for they are not innocent…if you think children are innocent…you don’t know any children. Children are sinners just like you and me, they have the same DNA of fallen man as the rest of us.

But still, for some reason, Jesus says children are a better examples of how to enter the kingdom of God than adults are. Warren Wiersbe, who just recently passed away, said, “we tell children to act like adults, but Jesus tells the adults to model themselves after the children.”

2. For such is the kingdom of God []: What does Jesus mean? Jesus is making the point, it’s not about the subjective qualities of a child that matter. 1st century folks had a better understand of subjective qualities of children than we do today in the 21st century. They understood in Jesus day, that a little child can’t add to the community, they can’t go out and work in the fields, they can’t contribute intellectually to the community for decisions, they can’t even take care of their own needs…they are totally reliant upon someone else to supply and provide for them and keep them safe. We tend to make children the center of our own universe and that’s not healthy for them either. [Beau and the stairs]

The point Jesus is making is it’s about the objective qualities of a child that make them a great example of how to enter the kingdom of God. They are small, helpless, powerless, they have no clout or status that we should look up to them, and they bring nothing to offer only empty hands. Their lives are in the hands of another. Yet even at a tender age, they seem to be filled with hope and expectation. They don’t know all they need but they know they need the help of another. They come to Jesus through the help of others. You see the picture being painted for us?

We come to Jesus with empty hands, small, helpless, powerless, no status before a holy God, nothing to offer, our lives are totally in His hands, we don’t know what we need yet we know we need the help of another…the help of Jesus. You see how that’s a perfect picture of how to enter the kingdom of God. Next week we come to the story of the rich young ruler and he asks Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Not to spoil next weeks sermon, but Jesus doesn’t even address the man’s question because it’s the wrong question…the right question is what have you done that I might inherit eternal life…it’s not about what we do, it’s all about what Christ has done on the cross!

3. Don’t receive don’t enter [] and if we do not receive the kingdom of God upon that basis we will never enter it. What Jesus is teaching is entrance into the kingdom of God is not based upon your achievement of certain status, but it’s about receiving what Christ has accomplished on the cross and in the resurrection. It’s about God’s grace not man’s works. This is the heart of the gospel, not what I can do but what Christ has done! Entrance into the kingdom of God is not earned as a wage, it’s received as a gift, an undeserved gift.

Some boast about what they’ve done for God, I’ve done this and that, I’ve had this title, and that privilege…that’s nice, but I think we do well to take Paul’s stance on this one, Paul said, “I boast only in what Christ has done.” And if there was ever a man who could have boasted about what he had done for the Lord…it was Paul, but he did not because he knew it’s was only because of God’s great grace that he was able to enter the kingdom of God. The same is true of all of us…we are all on the same level…in desperate need of God to intervene in our lives.

while some are too proud to receive the gift others don’t believe they couldn’t ever receive such a gift, it’s not for me. You see this saying of Jesus humbles the proud while picking up those on the bottom. the two thieves on the cross on either side of Jesus picture this for us, while one ridiculed and insulted Jesus, the other said, we get what we deserve…Jesus remember me when you enter your kingdom…weak, helpless, powerless…and Jesus says what to the man? Today child, he came like a child, you’ll be with me in paradise!

Application of truth by way of illustration []

So Jesus applies this truth for the disciples by way of a tangible illustration as he, in verse 16, took up the child in his arms, laid his hands upon the child, and blessed them. Notice every action is initiated by Jesus, the children have nothing to offer, they are helpless, small, powerless, with empty hands simply receiving the blessing of Jesus.

We to come to Jesus in like manner, we have nothing to offer, helpless, powerless, unable to save ourselves, simply falling upon the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

What a picture of grace that is displayed by our Lord Jesus. Showing tenderness and affection to those who can not bring or offer him anything. Children have the capacity to enjoy a lot and explain a little. They live by faith and dependence. They must trust another to survive.

We to come to Jesus in like manner, we have nothing to offer, helpless, powerless, unable to save ourselves, simply falling upon the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Have you trusted in Christ like a child? Have you fallen upon and received the free undeserved gift of His grace for the forgiveness of your sins unto eternal life? Or have you been trying to merit you way into the kingdom?

Take a page out of the book of a child, for the kingdom of God is such as these!