Receiving the Kingdom as a Child

Receiving the Kingdom as a Child

“Receiving the Kingdom as a Child”

(Luke 18:15-17)

Series: Certainty in Uncertain Times (Luke)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

 

  • Take your Bibles and open to Luke, chapter 18 (page 706).

 

If you’re visiting with us, we are preaching our way, verse-by-verse, through the Gospel of Luke.  Our Mission statement begins with the phrase, “Cherish the Word.”  We do five things: Cherish the Word, Share the Gospel, Strengthen the Family, Serve the Community, and Reach the World.  The best way to cherish the Word is to study it verse-by-verse.  So we are in chapter 18, we left off last time at verse 14 and we pick up this morning with verse 15.

 

Context is always important as we read a passage of Scripture.  In fact, context is the key principle to accurate biblical interpretation.  Context is more important than knowing the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.  Context is king!

 

It is often said, “A text without a context becomes a pretext for a proof text.”  That means if I just take a passage or a verse out of the meaningly place in which is was positioned for my proper understanding, if I just lift that verse out of its context without regard for its meaning, then I may use that text for my own purposes to prove whatever I wish.  Politicians are good at doing that.  I’m not sure they mean to do that or even that they know they are doing that, but they do that all the time.  Frequently, you’ll hear some political candidate–doesn’t matter which party, either–you’ll hear a candidate work some verse of Scripture into a political speech and, more often than not, he has taken a text out of context to make it “fit in” to his speech.  We need not cite any examples, you are sensible people.  You know when that happens.

 

So context is king.  What is the context of this small passage of Scripture–verses 15-17?  Maybe you read the verses earlier and you thought, “Well, this is that wonderful passage where Jesus loves on the little children!  Jesus loves on the little babies!  I love Jesus, He’s always loving on little ones.  This is a sweet passage of Scripture.”  Well, it is that.  It is a sweet passage that highlights, among other things, our Lord’s love for children.  That is very evident.  I nearly always think of a childhood song I heard many,  many years ago:

 

When parents brought children for Jesus to bless,

His followers noticed his need for rest.

And, knowing children, noisy at play,

They said to the parents, “Please take them away.”

 

But Jesus said, ‘Bring the children to me.

The kingdom of Heaven is theirs, you see.”

And holding them close, He blessed them and smiled.

“Whoever would enter must come as a child.”

 

The children I know are noisy, it’s true;

Inquisitive, open and loving too.

So maybe God’s kingdom is meant to be

A circle of love, filled with people like me.

 

That’s not a bad song and it stresses the love of Jesus Christ and the openness of children to that love and so forth.  I love to hear little children sing it.  At the same time, however, it doesn’t really get into the contextual issues of exactly why Luke places this account of Jesus in the exact position he does between two powerful teachings of Christ.

 

So before we read the passage let me invite you to remember that Jesus has just told the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector.  We studied that last week.  The pharisee you will remember was all about himself: “Lord, look at me, how self-righteous I am; I fast twice a week and give not just the expected tithe, 10% of my earnings, but I give a tithe on everything I possess.”  The tax collector on the other hand would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me–the sinner.”

 

That’s the story that precedes our text this morning and we’ll go ahead and preview what follows this short text–a story we’ll look at more fully next week, a story that is introduced by this small passage of verses 15-17.  And the passage that follows, verses 18 and following, is the popular passage of the so-called “rich young ruler” who asks Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  And we’ll read about a guy who needs to totally divest himself of everything to depend totally on Jesus Christ.

 

So you have these two stories, one preceding our passage and one following this passage–both teaching about what a true disciple looks like, both teaching about the posture and position of one who enters the kingdom of God, both teaching about what true disciples look like.  It’s important that we remember this as we study the passage together.  Otherwise, we may just think this is a nice little story about Jesus loving on babies, and so forth.

 

  • Let me invite you to stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

 

15 ¶ Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.

17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

 

  • Pray.

 

Introduction:

 

I believe I’ve told you before the story about the wise sage who was meditating by a river.  He was approached by a young man interrupted him his meditations.  The young man says, “Master, I wish to become your disciple.”  The wise sage says, “Why?”  He says, “Because I want to find God.”  The wise master jumps up and grabs him by the scruff of the neck, drags him to the river and plunges him under water.  He holds him under the water for a minute, all the while the guy is kicking and struggling to free himself.  Finally, the wise master pulls the guy up out of the river.  He’s coughing up water and grasping to get his breath.  Finally, he settles down and the wise master says, “Tell me what you wanted most when you were under water.”  The guy says, “Air!”  The master says, “Very well.  Go home and come back to me when you want God as much as you just wanted air.”

 

Well, I don’t know whether that actually happened, but I do know that the story is a fairly accurate portrayal of the kind of dependence upon God necessary for followers of Christ.  We are utterly and totally dependent upon God for everything and therefore should desire Him as much as we desire the very air we breathe.

 

Is that what this passage is all about?  I think it is.  Let’s go back through these three verses and we’ll talk about a number of things here, but I want you to remember this matter of our dependence upon God and let’s see if that’s not what Luke is stressing for us.  Got your Bibles open?  Look again at verse 15:

 

15 ¶ Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.

 

Jesus has just taught the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector.  He’s just finished talking about the problem of self-righteousness and then these parents approach him, holding little babies in their arms.  These are small children, many of them infants as verse 15 says.  They are infants.  Do you remember when you were an infant?  Probably not.  You may remember when you were about 4 or 5, but you don’t remember being an infant, wearing diapers, unable to speak the English language, unable to walk, and so forth.

 

So these parents are approaching Jesus.  Verse 15 says, “they also brought infants to Him,” but it’s in the imperfect tense so the sense is, “They were bringing.”  That is, they were doing this often.  It happened a lot. People were bringing to Jesus these infants that He might touch them.

 

Now this was not unusual.  It was customary for Jewish parents to bring infants and small children to Jewish rabbis for the purpose of their laying hands on them and saying a blessing over them.  It is a custom at least as old as the Book of Genesis.  You will remember when Jacob placed his hands upon Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:14) and pronounced a blessing upon his two boys.

 

Even though my boys are no longer small children, I still do this today.  Often when I pray for them or pronounce a special blessing upon them, I take my right hand and place it upon their head or shoulder, usually their head, and I pray or pronounce a blessing upon them.

 

Before my oldest son when off to college last fall we had a special send-off dinner, a “blessing dinner,” where we invited people who were influential in his upbringing over the years, especially his spiritual upbringing.  And sometime after the dinner, I read a special blessing to my son that I had written and I placed my hand upon him and pronounced a blessing upon him.  Shortly after my son got settled in to his dorm at college he contacted me and told me he wanted a copy of that blessing to have with him.

 

There’s just something about the physical touch and the word of blessing that affirms a child or a person at any age.  That’s what was going on here in this passage.  These parents were bringing children to Jesus for the purpose of His placing His hands upon them, probably upon their head, and pronouncing a blessing upon them.

 

I like to visit the newborn babies at the hospitals.  I don’t get to every single one of them, but I try.  And I like to see the newborn baby.  And while I’m sometimes a little skittish about holding the small infant at that tender age of just a few hours old, I like to pray with the parents about the future spiritual growth of that child.  It’s a time of spiritual blessing and affirmation.  So this is a good thing going on here in verse 15.

 

Unfortunately, the second part of the verse says, “but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.” They rebuked the parents for bringing the children to Him.  I don’t know why.  Luke doesn’t tell us why.  Maybe they thought Jesus was too busy to be bothered by these little children.  Maybe they thought He was “above” these children and it was beneath His dignity to spend any time with them, at all.

 

After all, children were regarded by many in Jesus’ day as little things that just got in the way of more important things.  Children were viewed often in the same way people those in the Ancient Near East viewed lepers, tax collectors, and even women.  They were part of the “outcasts” of society.  That may seem odd to us.  We live in such a child-centered world here in the West.  We’ve gone to the other extreme.  We’ve got children ruling their parents and ruling their homes, telling mom what they “must have” as they stand in the checkout line at Walmart.  They will pitch a fit until mom gives in and buys the silly thing that was just on a hook a moment ago.  Yet their names are proudly displayed on the bumpers of many automobiles: “My Child is a Genius.”  Well, I’m not so sure.  When I drive past these minivans I see the little genius inside, finger up his nose, and I’m not so sure!

 

Children in Jesus’ day were considered a nuisance.  So the disciples are like, “Hey, get those kiddos outta here!”  Verse 16:

 

16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.

 

So Jesus says, “Hey, wait a minute!  Don’t forbid this! Let these parents bring these kiddos.  After all, the kingdom of God is for those who are ‘of such.’”  That is, “The kingdom of God belongs to ‘such as these.’”  Or put another way still, “One gets into the kingdom–one gets into heaven–by being as a child.”  This is not being “childish,” but being “childlike.”

 

Now that in itself was probably not enough for the disciples to understand what Jesus was getting at, so He says in verse 17:

 

17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

 

Now some commentators say, “Well, here’s what Jesus means in verse 17.  He has just said in verse 14, ‘Whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” so Jesus is saying we must humble ourselves like a child.”  Well, I think I know what people mean by that, but I’ve got a small problem with it.  Do you know any small children or better yet–verse 15–any infants who just naturally “humble themselves?”  Is an infant naturally disposed to humility?

 

Not too long after it is born that infant is all about himself or herself.  It cries and wails, demanding food, attention, or sleep.  “Give me, give me, give me!”  What mother does not wish her newborn would say one evening, “You know, I realize you haven’t been able to sleep in days now and so I thought I would just sort of humble myself and take care of myself, you know, and you go ahead and sleep through the night.  Don’t worry about me.  No need to “make it all about me.  I’ll take care of myself.  You go get your sleep now!”

 

Infants and small children know nothing or very little about humbling themselves.  On the other hand, if by humility we mean that one can do nothing to help himself or herself, now I think we’re getting at what Jesus is teaching here.  An infant can do nothing to help himself, isn’t that right?  Nothing.

 

So in light of the context here: the preceding passage about a guy who thinks he can do for himself, the self-righteous pharisee, “Look at me, God, what I have done” and then the following passage, a passage about a rich young ruler, a man of prominence and position, a man who asks Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life,” between these two passages we find a statement where Jesus says, “If you really want to be My disciple, here’s the deal: You can do nothing at all, but totally depend upon Me.”

 

See I have an unusual sermon outline this morning.  I can’t remember the last time I had an outline like this.  I have only one main point.  You know, in preaching, the joke is that every sermon has three points, “three points and a poem,” the saying goes.  Well, actually a sermon ought to have as many points as the text being preached has.  If the text makes three points, the sermon should have three points.  If the text has four, then four in the sermon.  If the text has two points, there should be two points in the sermon.  Every sermon ought to have “a” point, don’t you think?!  So here’s the point.  Here is one main point that I believe we must get from this short passage that will be helpful to us again next week when we study the following passage.  Here it is:

 

“I Must Totally Depend on God for Absolutely Everything.”

 

If that’s all you remember from our study this morning, that’s okay.  Let’s say it together: “I must totally depend on God for absolutely everything.”  Someone asks you later, “What did you learn in the sermon this morning.”  Answer: “I must totally depend on God for absolutely everything.”

 

As an infant or a very small child depends totally on its parent for absolutely everything, so must we depend upon God for absolutely everything.  The kingdom of God “belongs to such as these,” people who depend on God for absolutely everything.  That is the one main point in this passage.

 

You want in to the kingdom of God?  You’re going to have to depend upon God for absolutely everything.  Jesus says, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”  Put positively, “Whoever does receive the kingdom of God as a little child–NOT COUNTING ON ANYTHING WITHIN THEMSELVES–but totally depending on God for absolutely everything, these will enter the kingdom of God.”

 

Remember the hymn writer, Augustus Toplady, the great hymn, “Rock of Ages.”

 

Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to the cross I cling;

Naked, come to Thee for dress;

Helpless look to Thee for grace;

Foul, I to the fountain fly;

Wash me, Savior, or I die.

 

You want in to the kingdom of God?  You’re going to have to receive it as a little child, hopelessly, helplessly, wholly and totally dependent upon God for every bit of salvation.

 

Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

 

Self-righteousness is the kind of thing that is impossible for a baby.  A baby doesn’t crawl around talking to God like the self-righteous pharisee or like the rich young ruler.  A baby is wholly and utterly dependent upon the provision of another.

 

Trust God for your salvation and trust God for your provision.  Trust Him to meet your every need.

 

Some of you would protest, “But pastor, you don’t know what I’m going through!  You don’t know what I’m facing!”

 

I don’t know HOW I’m going to make it.

I don’t know WHERE it’s going to come from.

I don’t know IF I’m gonna get through it.

 

Listen to me: As a little baby is unable to clothe itself, feed itself, take care of itself, and as this baby totally depends upon someone else to meet its needs, SO YOU TOTALLY DEPEND ON GOD FOR ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

 

Trust God to meet your every need.

 

Be not dismayed whate’er betide,

God will take care of you!

Beneath His wings of love abide,

God will take care of you!

 

God will take care of you,

Through every day o’er all the way;

He will take care of you;

God will take care of you!

 

  • Stand for prayer.

 

…Someone said, “We must not think a child cannot come to God until he is like a man, but a man cannot come until he is like a child.”

 

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