Like Jesus--Mark 10:13-16

The lesson about children is that they are welcome in God’s kingdom. He is available to them. God’s care for them shows that he cares for all. The kingdom is not only for adults.

The lesson for disciples is that children are good models for a disciple. Children trust their parents and rely on them. So disciples should rely on their Father. To be a part of the kingdom, we must receive it in the way a child walks through life. Entry is blocked to those who do not trust the Father. God accepts those who run into their Father’s arms, knowing that he will care for them.

In our day, children are seen as a priority. It is normal to hear, children are our greatest resource. So when we see a passage like the one we are looking at today we get warm fuzzies because of course Jesus wants the children to come to him, the disciples were simply child haters. They disrupt the service and Jesus is a busy man.

Trust

In most of human history children were viewed as potential adults. It is only since the 1840s that laws came into play that protected children in the workplace didn’t take them out of the work place, and started moving children towards mandatory education. In 1924 we were given the Geneva Declaration on the rights of the child. The first international human rights document that addressed children’s rights.

Dependence

The etymology of child comes for the Latin infans which means “the one who does not speak” During the Roman occupation that age was 0-7 years.

During the industrial revolution children were seen as a cheap work force that was small and agile for the mines and machinery.

With the exception of a few cultures, children were at worst free slaves and at best they were potential adults.

In the nation of Israel, children had a little more value if they were able to survive past the age of eight. Then they at least had the potential to live to the average age of 37 and could contribute to society. Infant mortality was so high that it created a culture of distance from young children especially by the Father.

Children were seen to have not much to offer up to a certain age.

Some of us think we have something to offer the world or even God. Some of us feel like we are just taking up space. Some of us today wonder why no one recognizes us or our achievements. Some of us wonder if we will achieve anything.

I played competitive baseball for a total of one season. the team I was on was called the Subaru Bratts after the car. In total I has able to hit two pitches in my career. One was a pop fly and my friend Brad caught it. The other was an epic swing. Some hitters when they swing hard end up catching the catcher with their bat. My swing was so hard and fast that it spun me around and I hit the ball as the bat came around the back of my head. It was a fair ball but no one really knew what to do about it. All you need to know is I never made it home. I had nothing to offer the sport of baseball.

Who are you when you have nothing to offer?

This is one of the greatest questions you can answer in life. In our society we are seeing the devaluing of human life. In Canada we see this happening on either end of the age spectrum. In 2017 their were over 90000 abortions performed in Canada. Since the legislation was passed for Medical assistance in dying over 7000 procedures have taken place. The value on human life is diminishing while the value of human choice is increasing, even if those choices do not benefit life. More and more, those who don’t contribute to being human are seen as less than human. In the name of not being a burden we lose people to the right to choose and the right to die.

In ancient Rome it was normal to abandon unwanted babies especially girls. Early Christians were known for rescuing these children and providing for them.

Who are you when you have nothing to offer?

Today's account in our series like Jesus is in .

Without a doubt, Jesus valued children. Before the passage we are looking at Jesus had a few interactions with kids.

Delivering the demon possessed boy:

Mark 9:

Mark 9:27 NIV

27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.

When Jesus was talking with his disciples about his upcoming death the disciples were arguing about who among them was the greatest. Sitting down with them in a house Jesus, took a talked with them about who was greatest.

Mark 9:36–37 NIV

36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Mark 9:36 NIV

36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them,

Mark 9:35–37 NIV

35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” 36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”

Causing a “Little One” to stumble

Jesus reminded his disciples of the dangers of a belief system based on works alone. About those who promoted such a system he said,

Causing a “Little One” to stumble

Mark 9:42 NIV

42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.

Mark

Which brings us to the passage we are looking at today.

Mark 10:13–16 NIV

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Before we deal with the event lets address in brief, God’s Kingdom:

Child: A prepubescent human thought of with endearing notions.

Indignant: Being angry with something unjust or wrong

In most of human history children were viewed as potential adults.

hinder: stop someone from doing something or being in a certain state

Before we deal with the event lets address in brief, God’s Kingdom:

This has the idea of something that is right now and not yet attached to it.

Christ is building his kingdom through the lives of his Followers, God is active in the world and calling people to him (That is the right now) He has promised to return some day and set everything right (That is the not yet).

Colossians gives us a great picture of what it looks like.

(NCV) And you will joyfully give thanks to the Father who has made you able to have a share in all that he has prepared for his people in the kingdom of light. 13 God has freed us from the power of darkness, and he brought us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

God’s Kingdom: A place to belong, a place to be fully known, a place to find forgiveness, and love, a place to be delighted in, in place of truth and purpose.

God’s kingdom is a place of pure freedom. Yet we often see it as a world of does and don’ts. It is a place of freedom, where I am free to know and be known. Where I am free to learn to love well. Where I am free to discover a purpose for my life that isn’t based on my paycheck. Where I am free to live content with less while the world strives for more.

So many followers of Jesus in our country are tired. Tired because we are living in two kingdoms. Trying to please two masters.

In my time I think the master competing for the hearts of believers was our children. We were pressured to provide them with every opportunity possible. Sports, music, arts, school, church. There was a pressure for us to be out every night of the week for the sake of our kids. Kids had become the idol of our time. parents who wouldn’t sell out for the sake of their kids were seen as cruel and withholding. Rather than seeking God’s kingdom the pressure was to build a kingdom for our children. We were pressure to worship our kids instead of God. It is something that makes this passage so pertinent.

Now, I see one of the idols being social media. It is easier to interact with people online then it is in person. Did someone like my post, how many? What were comments? What does my online kingdom look like. It creates a kind of bondage to a false reality.

What are you in God’s kingdom. What is your rating. “Loved by God. Adored by him. Freed by him to be who he created you to be.”

I can’t earn this kingdom, I can only receive it.

Yet, we say. That is to restricting. We’ve got it upside down and backwards folks.

How to I get in to this kingdom? Like a little child. Here Jesus might even be referring to an infant.

There are many people who are dead in their sins, separate from the one who can show them real love. What does it mean to pray your kingdom come?

The sense of the word belong here is the idea of being made up of. The kingdom of God is made up of such as these.

Blessing children was something that Rabbi’s would do at certain times of the year. But it was on the Rabbi’s terms. Jesus was called Rabbi by those who interacted with him.

At this point in his public life Jesus has been with his disciple for three years. They know him. Jesus is heading to Jerusalem for his final showdown with the religious leaders and impending execution. The disciples know that something is up. Prior to this Jesus was even trying to get away from the crowds so he could tech his disciples.

belongs: Is made up of

It could not have been easy managing the crowds trying to get to Jesus, then these folks with children show up. Thanks for bringing your almost adults to us. We really appreciate it. Now go away.

The word rebuked here was the same word Jesus used to calm a storm cast out demons and even towards his own disciples when the tempted him to not complete the work of the Father.

It was harsh words. When you consider how the people of that time viewed children, you might forgive them. But they had seen enough of Jesus life to know this isn’t something he would have wanted from them.

So Jesus becomes indignant with them. The Amplified translation of this verse says indignant and pained. You know the feeling you get when you’ve been working with someone for sometimes years. You think that they have adopted the values you present and then see them doing something that is the exact opposite of what you desire. And you are deeply hurt, troubled, pained by it? That isn’t what I had in mind for you to do. I wanted this for you. Jesus is pained because his disciples are doing something that they know does not reflect the character of Jesus, and he is pained that little children are being kept from him.

Then we have this beautiful phrase.

They came to Jesus because they had nothing to offer.

Mark 10:14–15 NIV

14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

When I first heard this passage I was taught that I have to be like a little child, playful, innocent. But really Jesus is saying:

These children belong to the kingdom because the have nothing to offer.

Right from the start of his ministry, Jesus was after those who were helpless, who recognized they couldn’t save themselves:

Mark 2:17 NIV

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Isaiah 61:1 NIV

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

Isaiah 61:

Who is being talked about here? Those who recognize that they can’t save themselves.

This is where God’s ways diverge completely from our ways. What kind of people make up the kingdom? Childlike ones. What can an infant bring to you? Nothing. How do I come to Jesus? With nothing. God deals with the powerless ones, the helpless ones, the ones easily forgotten. Who are these individuals. the ones who recognize their need for a savior.

We don’t win the attention of Jesus by what we have to offer with power, not with influence, not with wealth. Even Satan tried to tempt Jesus with authority and splendor, Jesus responded with .

Not with power, not with influence, not with wealth.

And it leads us to what we need to know today.

Luke 4:8 NIV

8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Luke 3:8 NIV

8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

So what do we do with this. We look at who and how Jesus welcomes people into his kingdom.

Luke 4:

He welcomes those who recognize they have nothing to offer him but desperately need him. Leave a young child alone and how long will that child survive? A few days maybe.

In a somewhat healthy home, children trust their parents and rely on them. Children are dependent for life itself. Children are honest and humble. I’m talking the really little ones here. We soon learn that these traits don’t always work in this world and we become jaded and calloused.

And it leads us to what we need to know today.

(Holman NTC Luke)

If Jesus can love a child, he can love anyone.

If Jesus can love an immigrant, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love a billionaire, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love a meth addict, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can (Insert those who repulse you here), Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love me, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love you, Jesus can love anyone.

(Holman NTC Luke)

Jesus went one shocking step further. You must be like a little child to enter the kingdom, he said. Childlikeness is not just one possible way among others to be part of Christ’s kingdom. Being like a child is the only way to kingdom living. If you cannot do away with your pretensions, your greed, your claims to fame, your need to dominate and control, your grasp for identity and power, you cannot be part of Christ’s kingdom. Christ constantly seeks those who have no hope of power and position: the poor, Samaritans, women, children, blind, crippled, lame, tax collectors. These lack the vanity and self-assurance that keep a person from entering the kingdom.

And it leads us to what we need to know today.

If Jesus can love a child, he can love anyone.

If Jesus can love an immigrant, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love a billionaire, Jesus can love anyone.

Holman New Testament Commentary: Luke C. Dedication to Childlike Faith: Possessing the Kingdom (18:15–17)

Jesus put a stop to their action. He held out his arms to the children. Bring the children here, he declared. The kingdom belongs to such as these. Did you not hear me say not to cause a little one to sin (17:1–2)? Here are some of the little ones. This marks off God’s ways from men’s ways. God deals always with the little ones, the unknown ones, the powerless ones. The world seeks people of power, influence, and wealth. God seeks the children. God builds his kingdom on childlike characteristics: trust, love, innocence, lack of power, lack of pretension, lack of credentials. God wants children whom he can make into disciples, not power brokers whom he has to steer away from political and military expectations.

18:17. Jesus went one shocking step further. You must be like a little child to enter the kingdom, he said. Childlikeness is not just one possible way among others to be part of Christ’s kingdom. Being like a child is the only way to kingdom living. If you cannot do away with your pretensions, your greed, your claims to fame, your need to dominate and control, your grasp for identity and power, you cannot be part of Christ’s kingdom. Christ constantly seeks those who have no hope of power and position: the poor, Samaritans, women, children, blind, crippled, lame, tax collectors. These lack the vanity and self-assurance that keep a person from entering the kingdom.

If Jesus can love a meth addict, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can (Insert those who repulse you here), Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love me, Jesus can love anyone.

If Jesus can love you, Jesus can love anyone.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Luke Receiving Children and Childlike Faith (18:15–17)

The lesson about children is that they are welcome in God’s kingdom. He is available to them. God’s care for them shows that he cares for all. The kingdom is not only for adults.

What are we promised if we come to Jesus in humility, trust and dependence.

After a meeting with a rich man who didn’t know if he could part with his great wealth to follow Jesus. One of the disciples, Peter, said,

Mark 10:28–31 NIV

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Mark 10:28

Unless I recognize my sinfulness, my inability to do anything to earn eternal life, I will never want Jesus. I will try and make this life the best it can be, the most comfortable it can be, the easiest it can be, and ultimately I will fail.

We can say, look what I bring Jesus and Jesus says, Look what I bring. And even eternal life.

I am being called to come to Jesus in:

Humility

Trust

Dependence

Honesty

Then a way can be made for me to enter into God’s kingdom. This is only possible through the death of Jesus for my sin and yours. and it can only be entered into because Jesus was raised from the dead and is still alive to this day.

rarely do we experience this kind of love on earth and never do we experience it as fully as with Christ. Imagine.

Romans 5:6–11 NIV

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

A step I can take this week:

Remember who I am in Christ.

Live out of that.

Over he next month we will be starting a couple of courses that can help us mature into who Jesus says we are. One is the Equip course taught by Jake Wiens. Jake will take folks on a journey of discovering the reality of Jesus and the different ways we can integrate following him into our lives, or work, or home and our world. And we’ll be starting Emotionally Healthy Spirituality which will help us develop the child like faith and learn to live out of our identity in Christ and love God and others well.

The way Jesus received those children, is the same way he wants to receive us. With open arms to bless us.

Children are a constant reminder of how we come to Jesus:

Mark 10:

Not proud/in humility/ willing to trust/willing to admit my need.

Then once we are securely in his arms Jesus, show me what you can do, an he takes delight in us, and our small accomplishments, and says, “Well done my child.”

If what Jesus says is true about children, then reaching children with the good news of Jesus has to be on our hearts and minds. So today we have some special guests with us from Ness Lake Bible Camp to chat with us about what is happening just down the road a bit.