Luke 18:15-17 - Like a Child
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Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Luke 18:15-17]
15 And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. 16 But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
[PRAYER]
The Kingdom of God refers to the place where God rules, but why should you want to be apart of the Kingdom of God? Why should you want to receive it or enter it at all?
The children in Luke 18:15-17 are important but they aren’t the point. The point is that in order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must become like them.
We will talk about what it means to become like children in respect to Jesus but there’s no point in talking about that unless we want to enter the Kingdom of God.
Or to put the other way around: if we don’t want to enter the Kingdom of God, there’s no need for us to understand what Jesus means when He tells us to receive the Kingdom like a child.
So, why should we want to belong to the Kingdom?
Well, for one thing, God created us for the kingdom.
In Genesis 1, we are told that God created us male and female, in His image He created us.
In the ancient world, when a king wanted to show that he had authority in a certain place, he set up a statue or image of himself. It was a way of telling everyone who was ruler in that place.
When God created the world and everything in it, He placed his image-bearers in the middle of it and told them to be fruitful and multiply. God was telling all creation that He was Ruler in this place.
But the image-bearers of God committed treason. They rebelled against the King and were driven from the Kingdom.
In Adam we all sinned.
And our sin separates us from God, the King, and excludes us from the Kingdom.
But that brings us to another reason we should want to enter the Kingdom: Jesus died so that we could enter the Kingdom.
You see, our sin excluded us from the Kingdom and there was nothing we could do to get back in. No good work would work. No sacrifice. No pledge of allegiance would ever get us back in the Kingdom.
But God made a way through His Son, Jesus. Jesus lived the perfect life that we were always meant to live in the Kingdom. He died to pay the price for our sins, for our treason against God who created us. And He rose from the dead, proving that we have been saved if we trust in Him. Colossians 1:13-14 says it like this...
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
We ought to want to be apart of the Kingdom because we were created for it and Jesus died to make it happen for us and there’s at least one more reason…
We should desire to be apart of the Kingdom because one day it will be the only Kingdom left.
Revelation 11:15 gives us glimpse of what will one day be fully revealed when Christ returns…
15 Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
This is the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ that Daniel saw in Daniel 2. It’s the Kingdom that “will never be destroyed;” the Kingdom that “will crush and put an end to all (other) kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever,” (Daniel 2:44).
We should desire to enter into the Kingdom of God because there will soon be no other kingdom. And all those not in the Kingdom of God will be left in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So, do you want to belong to the Kingdom?
Well then, Jesus says, you must become like a child.
[CONTEXT] On the heels of a parable about humility, Jesus gives us another lesson on the same subject but this time the example is not a repentant tax collector but helpless children.
[PROP] The only way we enter the Kingdom of God is through a helpless dependence on Jesus.
[INTER] What does it mean to be helplessly dependent on Jesus?
[TS] Let’s look at the passage closely...
Major Ideas
Look first at v. 15.
15 And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them.
How helpless is a baby? How dependent upon mom and dad is an infant?
These moms and dads were bringing their littlest ones to Jesus so that He could touch them.
We see the touch of Jesus do powerful things in the Gospels. His touch heals and it comforts, but these parents were looking for a prayer and a blessing.
The Messiah had come and they wanted their babies to be touched by Him.
I don’t know what the hearts of these parents were like, but I want to believe that they were like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 who said of her son, Samuel, “as long as he lives is dedicated to the Lord,” (1 Sam. 1:28).
I want to believe that they imagined Jesus blessing their children the way Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh. Listen to how Jacob blessed his grandsons…
14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
If the Messiah would pray such a blessing over their children—over their babies, these people would be thrilled!
But the disciples saw it and began rebuking them.
What did the disciples see? Yes, they saw these parents bringing their infants to Jesus, but what did they see when they saw the infants?
In the ancient world, some viewed small children not as a blessing but as a burden.
They couldn’t work. They couldn’t help provide for the family or protect the town. They were completely helpless, completely dependent, and completely at the mercy of others.
But they received no mercy from the disciples. Instead they (or at least their parents) received a rebuke.
We aren’t told but it seems the disciples rebuked these parents for burdening Him with their children.
It seems that they considered these helpless, dependent children not worthy of Jesus’ time and attention.
[APP] I’ve already given you the main point of this passage—we only enter the Kingdom of God through a helpless dependence on Jesus—but perhaps we hesitate to believe that we are helplessly dependent on Jesus because it makes us feel like a burden; or perhaps it makes us feel worthless.
But even if we feel like a burden, Jesus invites us to lay down that burden at His feet! Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-29…
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Your helpless dependence on Jesus doesn’t make your a burden to Him! It make a you a prime candidate to find your rest in Him!
And if you feel worthless, Jesus invites you to look to His worth. First Peter 1:18-19 says...
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
We have no worthiness before God! We must look to the precious blood of Jesus, the perfect lamb, to save us!
[TS] …
Look at v. 16.
16 But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
I don’t know what Jesus said when He called for His disciples but I imagine He used middle names, “Simon Peter Barjona, why are y’all rebuking those people?”
Jesus said the children should be permitted and not prohibited in coming to Him for the Kingdom of God belonged to “such as these.”
[ILLUS] When we brought our firstborn home from the hospital, we carried him inside in his lil’ baby car seat. We had the video camera going, of course, and we walked him through the whole house. We showed him the kitchen, the living room, the backyard—everything. And after the tour, we told our little helpless and dependent son that it all belonged to him.
(He immediately tried to charge us rent but when he realized he couldn’t change his own diapers, he let us stay.)
Here in v. 16, Jesus doesn’t say that the Kingdom of God belongs to infants or babies or even children. He says the Kingdom belongs to “such as these.”
In other words, the Kingdom of God belongs to those who recognize their childlike helplessness and dependence before Almighty God.
[APP] Just as infants are helpless, so we are spiritually helpless before Almighty God. Just as infants are dependent, so we must depend on the mercy of Jesus if we are to be saved.
You remember in the passage before this one about the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector that tax collector cried out, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!” (Luke 18:13)
That tax collector understood his helplessness before God’s holiness.
He understood that he was totally and absolutely dependent on God for mercy.
He understood that he was like these infants—utterly helpless and dependent.
Is that how we see ourselves before God?
[ILLUS] Many years ago, I was playing a game of two-hand touch football when I tore some cartilage in my ribs. I wish had been playing tackle football so this story would make me sound tougher, but what makes it worse is that I wasn’t even touched when I tore the cartilage. I was simply running while old and got injured.
I don’t know if you’ve ever torn cartilage in your ribs, but I can tell you this—if you do, you’ll be almost helpless. If I laid down, I could barely get up on my own. When I sneezed, I thought it was the end!
But almost helpless isn’t quite helpless is it?
You see, many times when we think of our helplessness before God, we think we are almost helpless.
We think we are like Peter sinking in the water crying out, “Lord save me,” when if fact we are more like Lazarus in the tomb.
Just as Lazarus couldn’t help himself at all, so we cannot help ourselves at all before a holy God!
Just as Lazarus was entirely dependent on Jesus for life, so we are entirely dependent on Jesus for salvation!
We are helpless and dependent—and the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Does it belong to you?
Do you believe that you are totally helpless before the holiness of God and totally dependent on Jesus for salvation?
[TS] …
Look at v. 17.
17 “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
We’ve already talked about why we should want to enter the Kingdom of God. It’s what we were created for. It’s what Jesus died for. And in the end, it will be the only Kingdom that remains.
And we also know how to enter that Kingdom—we must have a helpless dependence upon Jesus in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said, anyone who doesn’t anyone who doesn’t approach the gates of the Kingdom like that—like a child—won’t get in at all.
[App] But what if we’ve already entered the Kingdom? What if we confess our complete helplessness and dependence upon Jesus? What do we do now?
Well, the first thing we do is check ourselves.
Ask God to show you if there is anything that you are trusting in besides Jesus for salvation.
We may sit here this morning nodding along, saying to ourselves, “Yep. That’s me! Trusting in Jesus alone!” But pride is sneaky and every now and then even we can be tempted to trust in our own supposed good behavior, deep knowledge, or bold witness.
So, while I think many of us are totally depending on Jesus, let’s examine ourselves to make sure that’s true.
Second, be grateful.
If you are totally depending on Jesus, holding on to nothing but Him for salvation, then give thanks to God because that kind of faith is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8 says...
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Third, crave the Word.
We never outgrow our need for the Word of God as we grow in Jesus. First Peter 2:2-3 says...
2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, 3 if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
Fourth, pursue holiness.
Listen to Peter again in 1 Peter 1:14-15...
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
Fifth, bring others.
Just as these parents brought their children to Jesus, so we should be bringing others to Jesus.
We can bring others to Jesus by praying for them, by loving them, by bringing them to church, by discipling them in the Word of God, by setting the example of childlike faith for them, by encouraging them, by speaking the truth to them in love, by answering their questions with gentleness and respect.
Surely, we must be doing this for our own children and for others as well.
And finally, rest in Jesus.
Remember what Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest,” (Matthew 11:28).
Even when our craving for the Word is not what it should be or when our pursuit of holiness is more like a crawl, we rest in Jesus.
When those we’ve been trying to bring just won’t come, we rest in Jesus.
We recognize that we are helplessly dependent on Jesus. We rest in Him.
And that’s good news… because that means we’ve entered the Kingdom.
[TS] …
Conclusion
[PRAYER]