Mark 10:13-16

We have been continuing our verse-by-verse journey together through the Gospel according to Mark.

! We have come to chapter 10.

And Jesus has, about halfway through chapter 8, summed up his Galilean ministry, which was largely his public ministry.

There are certainly some other public things he does as we continue through the Gospel account.

But in large part, he's ceased this public ministry, and he's now narrowed his scope to the teaching of the disciples.

We see that in chapter 9, verse 30 and 31.

He passes through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples.

He has about six months left now before his death.

He is summing up his earthly ministry, and he wants to be sure that the disciples understand the things they're going to need to know before he leaves them.

And we've seen in this sort of second act a number of lessons taught, beginning with a blind man healed at Bethsaida in varying degrees,

to show us that Jesus is in fact the Lord, both over physical blindness, but more importantly, as we see these samplings, these paracopes, these different stories,

that he's also the Lord over spiritual blindness.

This section is summed up at the end of chapter 10 with the healing of blind Bartimaeus in an instant.

And so we see that Jesus reigns over these things, and he's teaching the disciples all of these various lessons.

We come now to a very short paracope, one that seems a bit insignificant and could be easily read past,

but let's be sure that we don't do that this morning.

Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 13.

Mark 10 · chapter mention

And 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.

This is God's word to us. It was written for his glory and for our good.

We would all do well this morning to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we do thank you for your word to us this morning.

Father, I admit, and I admit on behalf of this congregation that we are not sufficient for such things.

That we can, in no way, under our own power, understand your word rightly.

And so, Father, I would ask that your spirit would be active in me to preach it well.

To speak with clarity and with conviction.

And that we would all hear it.

That it would saturate our hearts and it would change us for your glory.

And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Now, as I mentioned, it's kind of an easy little four verses to read right past.

To maybe make some improper assumptions about and move on.

The next story is the rich young man, which I'm massively looking forward to getting to preach through.

But this little story is contained in all three of the synoptic gospels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Much with the same detail.

And they all three contain the phrase,

To such belongs the kingdom of God.

We need to wrestle with this.

We need to really understand what it means.

These three gospel writers, under inspiration,

thought it was important to include this teaching in the scriptures.

In fact, we ought to pay attention any time Jesus talks about the kingdom of God.

Mark 1, verse 15.

Mark 1:15

This was the message he was bringing.

He said the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

What is this kingdom of God?

And how is it that we get to be a part of the kingdom of God?

And once we are a part of the kingdom of God,

how do we operate properly underneath the rule of the king?

This is the great question,

the thing that ought to captivate all human minds.

How do we live in subject, proper subjection to the king?

And here we see a story that teaches us that what it looks like to be part of the kingdom of God

is to have faith like a child.

God, to have faith like a child.

Now let's understand some of the aspects of this.

This would be called the exegesis.

What does it mean as we're reading through this story?

What are some of the details involved here?

And we see at the very beginning that there are people, it says,

and they, a larger crowd, it's safe to assume that they were children.

I would hope that these are not people who have kidnapped children

and for the sake of the children and bring them to Jesus,

but they are their parents.

So that he could do what?

That he would touch them.

That he would touch them.

And this was the way that Jesus' ministry was largely being carried out.

All of the healings that he was doing, he was doing by touch.

He wanted to be sure that people knew that the power to heal was coming from him,

that he was Lord over this.

And so it made sense that they were bringing them to him to touch them.

And we see a sharp rebuke.

The disciples rebuked him, this incredibly strong verb here,

which means in the noun form to punish them.

They reprimanded them when they came.

Now in Luke's account, Luke 18, 15, it says,

now they were bringing even infants to him.

Luke uses a different Greek noun here.

And so they were very small children, likely even infants.

In the verse 16, we see the summation.

He gives us a teaching, but in the summation of this,

he then rebukes the disciples and then he takes them in his arms

and he blesses them, laying his hands on them.

Now what the parents were asking of him was something that was consistent in this culture.

It was a tradition of the elders that when somebody had a new child,

fathers would come to the elders and they would lay their hands on the child

and the elders would join in laying their hands on the child

and they would pray for them.

Similar in a lot of ways to the way we do dedications

when a family would like to do that in our church.

We come together and we collectively pray for the child.

They would pray specifically for three things.

They pray that they would be famous in law.

They would know it well and expound upon it well.

That they would be faithful in marriage.

And that they would do good works.

These were the things that were asked of a Jewish child

to be responsible by their understanding to their God.

They also, in asking these things, were asking for salvation for the child.

The Jewish people had an understanding

that to be saved, they had to walk in the ways of God.

They had to be saved from the condemnation of the law.

The unfortunate thing is that it was misguided.

It was just simply misguided

because they thought it was works that brought them to that point

and not their faith.

They were asking, as they came to Jesus,

that Jesus would bless them,

that He would lay His hands on them

and set them on the right path

that they might merit their salvation by works.

Now, maybe this is why the disciples rebuked them,

although I think Jesus' response gives us a clue

that this is not the reason why.

This sharp reprimand that they give to them.

Likely, Jesus' sharp response back to them

is that they've already forgotten the lesson we observed

from chapter 9

concerning the excellence of service.

Turn back to verse 33.

And they came to Capernaum.

They're traveling back through Galilee.

They came to Capernaum.

And when He was in the house, He asked them,

what were you discussing on the way?

But they kept silent.

They were ashamed.

For on the way, they had argued with one another

about who was the greatest.

Which of us is going to be best in the kingdom of God?

And He sat down and called the twelve

and He said to them,

if anyone would be first,

he must be last of all

and servant of all.

And then in verse 36, what does He do?

He brings a child into the situation.

He brings a child into the situation.

He says,

whoever receives,

verse 37,

one such child in My name receives Me.

Whoever receives what would have been perceived

as the lowest human subject.

Children have very little,

no worth in society in this day.

If anyone would be first,

he must be last of all

and servant of all.

And here we see now a group of parents

who want to bring children

to the midst of Jesus

and the disciples have already forgotten

this important lesson.

And so Jesus is indignant with them.

Angry would be a synonymous word here.

He was angry with them.

And then says to them,

let the children come to Me.

Do not hinder them,

for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

To such belongs the kingdom of God.

And then He goes beyond.

He goes a little further in verse 15.

He says,

truly I say to you,

whoever does not receive the kingdom of God

like a child shall not enter it.

I want to show you four things

from the text this morning.

First, I want to show you two things

that the text does not mean.

Those common things

that we might misunderstand about it

and would cause us to read right past us.

Two things that this text does not mean.

And then secondly,

two things that this text does mean.

So firstly,

it does not build a case

for some sort of special salvific category

for children

or for the baptizing of infants.

It's not some special category

that we see here.

Jesus says,

verse 14,

not that the kingdom of God

belongs to these children

or these children belong

to the kingdom of God,

but that to such belongs

the kingdom of God.

To people like this

belongs the people,

the kingdom of God.

He reinforces that in verse 15.

Right?

Not saying that there's a special

salvific category.

In fact,

the Bible speaks very little

to what happens to children,

young children,

babies in the womb.

What happens to these children's souls

when they die?

They haven't been able to receive

and respond to the gospel.

What happens to them?

What happens to mentally handicapped

children and adults

who don't seem to be able

to comprehend

or to understand the gospel?

The Bible doesn't speak

explicitly to it.

I do believe

that a case can be made

implicitly

that children

and mentally handicapped people

have an eternal dwelling with God.

I do believe that.

For another day

and another time.

But I cannot

in good conscience

make this text

mean that.

Again,

the reinforcement.

Whoever does not receive

the kingdom of God

like a child

shall not enter it.

This is not some

special salvific category

he's talking about.

He's talking about

those who will be part

of the kingdom

and what characterizes

their faith.

What their faith

must look like

to be included.

in that kingdom.

It follows then

that this also

is not a case

for infant baptism.

Interestingly,

on Friday,

in fact,

I picked up a commentary

by J.C. Ryle

who's a 19th century

Anglican bishop.

On this text,

he says,

I respect J.C. Ryle

so you're clear.

Of course,

it is not pretended

that there is any

mention of baptism

or even any reference

to it in the verses

before us.

All we,

meaning Anglicans

who practice

infant baptism,

all we mean to say

is that the expressions

and gestures

of our Lord

in this passage

are a strong

indirect argument

in favor

of infant baptism.

It is on this account

that the passage

occupies a prominent

place

in the baptismal

service

of the Church

of England.

This text

from Mark

Mark 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10,

13 through 16

has a prominent place

in the baptism service

of the Church

of England

and I discovered

in many other

denominations

that celebrate

infant baptism.

It is certainly

not taught here.

By J.C. Ryle's

own admission,

it's not taught here.

And,

for that matter,

anywhere else

in the pages

of Scripture.

It is a troubling

thing to me

that so many

people who we love

and respect,

people who we love

to partner with

in advancing

the Gospel,

who we agree with

on so many

finer points

of Gospel truth,

embrace

the false doctrine

of infant baptism.

It's not taught

anywhere

in the Scriptures.

I read to you

before this

wonderful quote

from A.T. Pearson's

biography of George Mueller.

I think it would be

well read again here.

George Mueller,

19th century

pastor,

operated children's home

as well as

a missionary society.

If you hang around

here long,

you'll know he's

one of my spiritual heroes.

While at Sidmouth

preaching in April,

1830,

three believing sisters

held in his presence

a conversation

about believer's

baptism,

which proved

the suggestion

of another important

step in his life

which has a wider

bearing than at first

as a parent.

They naturally

asked his opinion

on the subject

about which they

were talking,

and he replied that,

having been baptized

as a child,

he saw no need

of being baptized

again.

Being further asked

if he had ever yet

prayerfully searched

the Word of God

as to its testimony

in this matter,

he frankly confessed

that he had not.

Now catch here,

he's the guest speaker,

right?

He's the visiting pastor

come to speak,

and these three women

asked this question

of him.

At once,

with unmistakable

plainness of speech

and with rare fidelity,

one of these sisters

in Christ promptly said,

I entreat you then

never again to speak

any more about it

till you have done so.

We would do well

to take a lesson

from this rather embarrassing

moment in Mueller's life,

and A.T. Pearson

goes on to say

that Mueller

not willing to back down

such a challenge did.

He read the Bible

cover to cover

with the topic

of infant

and what we would call

credo-baptism

in mind

and was promptly

on his completion

of that study

baptized as a believer.

Now there is so much

to be said

on this topic,

and I know that I've made

some incredibly strong

statements that

potentially have offended

some of you.

In fact,

I set out this week

to talk a lot about this

because it would seem

that the text

is so grossly misused

that that needs

to be set straight.

However,

in my work on that,

I realized that I was

going to neglect

what the text

actually does mean,

and that would be

a shame as well.

So we're going to leave

it at that

this Sunday.

But next Sunday,

I'm going to expound

upon this.

Right?

Part two of this text.

We're going to step away

from it,

and we're going to look

more holistically

at the Scriptures

at what they have

to teach about

infant baptism

or paedo-baptism

versus credo-baptism.

Beloved,

this is something

we should set straight

in our minds.

It's important

to what we believe.

So it doesn't mean that.

It's not some special

salvific category.

It's certainly not a case

for infant baptism.

It also

does not mean

that we are to have

ignorant,

uninformed,

blind faith.

This is sometimes

the way people teach this

or understand it,

that to have faith

like a child

is this simple,

naive type of faith.

Many people use it

to make an excuse

for their lack

of knowledge.

Right?

Well, I just think

it's enough to have faith

like a child.

There's a great

jars of clay song

that I no longer like

after studying this

as a result of this.

Now, recall

in 1 Corinthians 14,

Paul exhorts Christians

not to be like children

in our thinking.

And we so quickly

want to divorce

our heads

from our hearts.

It's enough that

I feel a certain way.

It's not.

It's not.

God calls all of us

into the worship of Him.

Our head and our heart

and in fact,

our head is a conduit

for our heart.

The way you think

affects the way you feel

and therefore act.

1 Corinthians 14,

20,

Brothers,

do not be children

in your thinking.

Be infants in evil,

innocent in that way,

but in your thinking

be mature.

He exhorts us

in 1 Thessalonians 5,

21,

to test everything

so that,

in order that,

we can hold fast

to what is good.

2 Corinthians 1,

20 states

that all the promises

of God

find their yes

in Jesus Christ.

You must know

these promises

in order to live

by them.

That's the thing

I've been saying

week after week now,

and I intend to say it

every single Sunday,

why the Word of God

was written.

God's glory

and our good.

We would do well

to listen to it,

to believe its promises,

and obey its commands.

We are meant

to be a thinking people,

a people of the book.

C.S. Lewis famously said

in Mere Christianity,

it needs no special education

to be a Christian.

Christianity is an education

itself.

This is not a call

to high-minded Christianity

that has no action at all.

Head and heart.

The two must be combined

together.

We must delve in.

We must know.

Have you ever heard

somebody say,

oh, I don't really like

being theological.

Well, then you don't like God.

If you love God,

you want to know God.

The great evidence

of the love for my wife

is that I want to know

who she is.

I want to know

what she experiences.

I want to know

what hurts her,

what makes her happy.

I want to spend time

with her.

The same is true

of our God,

that we want to know Him

because we love Him.

We delve deep.

This isn't a naive,

a blind type of faith

that God is calling us to.

Now remember,

God doesn't require

of us perfect faith,

but rather sufficient faith.

So I'm not suggesting

that you have to know everything

and learn everything

and you have to be

so deep and theological

and be able to expound

upon anything

that God might accept you.

That is not what I'm saying

right now.

He requires of us

sufficient faith.

Remember the story

back in chapter 9,

verses 14 through 29,

when Jesus heals

the demon-possessed boy?

It's in response

to the faith

of the Father.

Remember verse 24,

He says,

I believe.

Help.

My unbelief.

This expression

of imperfect faith.

I think you can do it.

I'm pretty sure

you can do it.

Please help me believe

is the response of faith

of this Father.

This is the type of faith

God requires of us.

A sufficient faith.

But then we are

to go deep.

To know God.

I appreciated

what Stan had to read

this morning.

It was not planned

on our part.

This is the most important thing

about who we are.

What we think

and therefore how we act

concerning God.

So read.

Beloved, we have a book.

We have a book.

A book that's been given to us

that we might know our God.

What a phenomenal,

phenomenal thing.

Right?

Written by men

under the inspiration

of the Spirit,

the words of God

to us.

The Almighty

condescended

to become an author.

We should read that book.

That's an important,

important book.

Now here's some fun stats

for you.

I love statistics.

In another life,

I should be a statistician.

The average person reads

250 to 300 words per minute.

Okay?

Average.

You guys are all above average.

I'm sure of that.

The average person reads

250 to 300 words per minute.

The average page of my Bible,

not necessarily yours,

but the average page

of my Bible

contains 750 words.

Right?

My copy has just over

1,000 pages.

1,042 pages

to be exact.

Okay?

Now catch this.

If you read for 30 minutes

per day,

and I'm talking about

sitting down,

distraction-free,

actually reading.

Right?

If you read for 30 minutes

per day,

five days a week,

just five,

I'm going to give you

two off in my example,

for the entire year,

you could read

the entire Bible

two and a half times

per year.

30 minutes a day.

Five days a week.

Two and a half hours

a week.

Two and a half hours

a week.

You could read

the entire scriptures

through two and a half times.

That's apart from

meditation on it.

I'm not suggesting

that everybody needs

to read the Bible

two and a half times

a year.

Please don't hear me

saying that.

Right?

Soak in it.

Spend a day on a verse.

That's okay.

Spend a day on a word

in the scriptures.

It'll affect your life.

But just to give you

an idea of the capacity

that we have

as a people,

how about this?

Same example.

If you read

for 30 minutes a day,

five days a week,

for the 52 weeks

of the year,

the average book

contains 300 pages,

which means you can

read 26 books

in a year.

26 books

in a year.

Right?

Now catch this.

The average college student,

and again,

you guys are all

above average.

I am sure this is

not true of you,

but the average college

student spends

106 minutes per day

on social media.

106 minutes per day

on social media.

Now,

social media itself

is not evil.

I'm not suggesting

that at all.

However,

if you devoted

five days a week,

52 weeks out of the year,

that 106 minutes

instead to reading,

you could read

92 books.

Average books

in a year.

92 books

in a year.

Or,

and I would encourage

the Bible

8.8 times.

That's a worthy trade.

It's a worthy trade.

Set aside Facebook

and Twitter

and Instagram.

I don't know what else

is happening out there

these days.

And read.

Get to know

our God

through the wealth

of knowledge

that is out there

concerning Him.

In 1 Corinthians,

as Paul is exhorting

the Corinthians,

as they're putting

themselves under

the leadership,

I belong to Paul,

I belong to Apollos,

he flips that around

on them to say

that Paul and Apollos

belong to you.

Right?

That they are in service

to you because we are

Christ and Christ

is God's.

Right?

Which means

that all the saints,

all the people

in the present

and in the past

belong to us

for our benefit

because we belong

to Christ

and Christ belongs

to God.

As do they

to our service,

to our sanctification,

to our holiness.

holiness.

Which means

we should access

these things

that I know of.

No one in this church

writes deep theological books.

Please let me know

if you do.

I don't think

that's the case

but men throughout history

have written

wonderful reads.

You can sit down

at dinner

with some of these

phenomenal men

and hear their mind

on a particular topic

concerning God.

I started out

making a huge list

of people you should read.

It would have been

a waste of time.

Ask me some time.

Let me just give you

the Johns.

It's sort of

really like recognizing

there are a ton

of phenomenal theologians

that are named John.

Ready?

The Johns.

Read the Johns.

Piper, MacArthur,

Edwards,

that was Jonathan,

but Edwards,

Wesley, Murray,

Flavel, Calvin,

Owen, Bunyan,

Knox, or Gill.

And there's probably

some more.

Read the Johns.

I've set it as a goal

for myself,

and I know that

I've got a little more time,

which I love and appreciate,

and I thank you all

for supporting me

so that I can do

these types of things.

As a goal for myself,

in addition to the other

reading that I do,

to my scripture reading,

in addition to that,

I'm going to try to read

50 books this year

starting this Sunday.

I'll be making a stack.

There's 50,

and I'm going to try

to go process through them.

Because we can do this.

Average.

Average.

If you're 25% of average,

25% of average,

you could easily

read through the scriptures

in a year.

You could easily

read five or more books.

Right?

The call here is not

to an ignorant faith.

Right?

Uninformed.

Blind.

I exhort you to the opposite.

You will not be disappointed.

You will not be disappointed.

All right.

Two things that this text

does mean.

Two things that it doesn't mean.

Two things that it does mean.

It does mean that Jesus

gave special attention

to children.

And so should we.

Verse 16.

He takes them in his arms

and he blesses them

laying his hands on them.

The Greek here

just paints for us

such a beautifully tender moment.

Jesus embraces the children.

The Greek word means

he enfolds his arms

around them.

He scoops them up

and it would seem

in a group

he does it with them.

All these little babies

and these little children.

He scoops them up.

Jesus loved children.

We should do the same.

Do we?

Do we love kids?

Our society doesn't really

seem to love kids.

Our society seems to think

of children more as a burden

than a blessing.

It kills me.

It absolutely just

just wrenches my heart.

When I go someplace

with somebody who owns a dog

and we've got our kids with us

and you like go to the park

and people come up to you

and they want to pay attention

to the dog

and they don't give any attention

to the kids at all.

People in our society

love animals.

Right?

Soulless beings.

Sorry to disrupt

your thinking at all.

Right?

Non-eternal beings.

There's no dogs in heaven.

I'm sorry.

Right?

Right?

More than my kids.

How dare you?

My kids are precious

and eternal.

We should love.

And dogs are fine.

I'm okay with dogs.

But we should love.

Love children.

Listen to what God

has to say about children.

Psalm 127.

Behold,

children are heard

from the Lord

the fruit of the womb

a reward.

Not a burden.

A reward.

A blessing.

A gift.

Like arrows in the hand

of a warrior

are the children

of one's youth.

Blessed.

Happy.

Joyful is what that means.

Is the man who fills

his quiver with them.

Some of us in this church

have fuller quivers

than others.

But kids are

a blessing.

They're hard.

Right?

They're sinful.

They're a challenge.

Expose our sinfulness.

I am selfish

at my core

and my kids often

show me

how really

evident that is

in my activity.

with them.

They're a blessing.

They're precious.

We ought to be

about children.

We should love them

and because we love them

we should minister

the gospel to them.

Psalm 78

Psalms 78:1–4

verse 1-4

Give ear, O my people,

to my teaching.

Incline your ears

to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth

in a parable.

I will utter dark sayings

from of old.

Things that we have heard

and known

that our fathers

have told us.

We will not hide them

from children

but tell to the coming

generations

the glorious deeds

of the Lord

and His might

and the wonders

that He has done.

We as a society

spend so much time

entertaining

with the fantastical

our kids

and we don't often

give to them

the very best

possible thing

we can give to them.

The most amazing,

the most miraculous story

that we can ever tell them.

God and His redemptive work

in this world.

It is a phenomenal,

phenomenal story

that has eternal consequence,

that has the power,

the ability

to captivate their hearts

and change who they are

with eternal purpose.

We need to teach our kids.

We need to pour into our kids.

Why?

I mean, I really wasn't prepared

for this morning

but I read

Our House is Like a Little Church

for that reason.

This is the best thing

we can do for our kids,

parents.

Feed them,

clothe them,

these things matter

but they don't primarily matter.

What happens to their souls

is what matters most.

Have you ever considered

that we can fix

the problems

in the church

in just one generation?

Have you ever thought about that?

Let me just use for an example

the way that Christians

these days

tend to be so consumeristic.

They have such a poor view

of what church is.

They just want to show up,

consume the show,

entertain me,

give me a little life lesson,

let me go home.

They don't want to show up to serve.

They don't want to be transparent.

They don't want to get to know.

They don't want to be part

of a faith family.

They just want to go

to a big conference

every Sunday.

This is a disease

in our churches.

The me, me, me

kind of mentality.

If we come to realize this,

fight against it,

push out our culture

and what our culture

has to say about that

and begin to embrace

the truth of what church

really is

and how it is

we're meant to live together

in the faith,

we've got to battle

with the wrong understanding.

We've got to battle

with our history

and our upbringings,

but our kids don't.

We could teach them

what it really looks like

to be in fellowship

in a church

and in a generation

it could change.

Isn't that a phenomenal idea?

All the things

that lament us

about the way

that Christians live

in this world

could be changed

in a generation.

We should be about that work.

Jesus loved children,

do we.

We let the kids

sit in the service with us

and I know

that that's not always easy.

Some Sundays

better than others.

I'll tell you right now

that we have a group

of phenomenal kids.

There's not a lot of kids

that can handle and do

what happens

in our service together.

It serves the parents

to get to have their kids

with them.

It serves the children

to get to sit

and listen,

pay attention,

see that this matters

to their parents.

But those of you

without kids,

it serves you too.

It really does.

To not think

that you have to have

a perfect vacuum

of silence

to be able to pay attention,

to learn to pay attention

regardless,

and it teaches you

to love children.

Do you love kids

even when they're

a little bit disruptive?

And let's be clear,

it's always a little bit disruptive.

It's never a lot disruptive

in here.

A little bit disruptive.

Do you love the children?

Went to a graduation

yesterday at North Georgia

to see Daniel Swanson

and Ash Harris

who were both here

this morning with us

as well as Cody Klinker.

Klink?

Is it Klinker?

Okay.

Sorry.

Sorry, Cody,

if you hear this recording.

I don't know your last name.

I love you though.

Graduate.

And, you know,

and it's silent-ish

in the gymnasium

if you've been to

the graduations there

and they're calling the names

and there's these kids

crying out

and you know

it's just the most miserable

place they could possibly be

and parents trying to hush them

and deal with that kind of a thing

and it was not a distraction

to me at all.

Praise God

that we do this here.

It didn't bother me a bit.

In fact,

I wanted to go hang out

with the kids.

Ah, that kid just needs

somebody to have fun with them.

Let's go do it.

Was the cry of my heart

in that setting.

Plus, it was really long

and boring.

it would have been better.

Right?

So, it's good.

It's good.

I think it's good for everybody.

I think it's good for all of us.

Not that it's the only way

that church can be done.

I would not argue that.

I wouldn't draw that kind of

a line in the sand

but I do think

it's the best way

for us.

If you don't have kids,

what can you do?

You can help us love our kids.

Right?

You could use your help.

You can babysit.

Healthy parents are good.

When they're good together,

they're good for kids

and we need time away

from our kids sometimes

to be good together.

Offer your services

and that whether you're

a young person

or an older person.

Your kids are out of the house.

Spend some time

with the kids.

It'll help you appreciate

not having kids in the house.

Spend time with some

of the older kids

in our church as well.

Young people,

college students.

We've got upcoming

young people

who would love

to spend time with you.

The young adults.

Right?

I'm losing cool.

I'm trying.

I'm really working at it.

You guys are cool

and you can spend time with them

and you can point them to God.

You can reinforce the things

that their parents are doing

at home with them.

Right?

Keep the distractions down

in the service

the way that you can love kids

and love parents.

Show the children

how they're supposed to act

in the service.

That could be helpful.

Talk to each other.

Pass notes.

Draw.

Right?

Sit.

Pay attention.

Be an example for them.

Right?

You've got to go to the bathroom.

Go to the bathroom.

Please don't suffer.

But if you don't have to go,

don't go.

Stay.

Stick around.

I do it every Sunday.

I think you can too.

Right?

What we do in the service together

is important.

It matters.

It matters.

It matters to Jesus.

He enfolded his arms around them.

Right?

Secondly,

what it does mean.

Right?

And here's the primary point

of the text.

It took us a while to get to it.

But here is the primary point.

Right?

If you don't hear anything else

I said,

if you don't take anything else

away from this,

this is the primary point

of the text.

That we must come to the kingdom

with humility.

Right?

What does childlike faith

look like?

Right?

It means that we come to the kingdom

with nothing to offer.

We recognize that we have

nothing of ourselves

to offer

to the kingdom.

Again,

remember all the misconception

about what the kingdom even meant.

They thought that Jesus,

that the Christ,

was going to come

and he was going to reign

militarily.

I think that the disciples

are still getting this understanding

out of their heads.

Jesus is continually giving them

passion predictions

and they keep misunderstanding

what that's going to mean.

We're going to see that again

in a couple of weeks.

About halfway through chapter 10.

Again,

he foretells his death.

Again,

they don't get it.

It's common misconception.

What does a child

have to offer

to the army of God

who's going to come

and set them free

from Roman rule?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Luke says that they're infants.

Whether or not they're infants,

they're little

and the parents are the ones

that bring them to Jesus.

They didn't come under

their own volition.

They were brought to him

that he might pray for them,

that he might bless them.

This is the way

we come to the kingdom

as well,

with humility.

Knowing that we have

nothing to offer.

Knowing that we're insignificant.

That our sin has totally wrecked

our image-bearing capacity.

Destroyed it.

We come to Christ

by grace alone,

through faith alone.

no merit

of our own.

Ephesians 2,

8 and 9.

For by grace

you have been saved.

Through faith.

And this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God.

Not a result of works

so that no one

may boast.

We cannot be proud

of what we have done.

We do not trust ourselves

for salvation.

Oh,

if that was the call

of the gospel,

I would be lost

again

and again

and again.

We rather trust

in Him,

in Jesus Christ.

We recognize

that there's no thing

or massive things,

massive pile of things

that we could possibly do

to merit our own salvation.

We see that

Jesus' perfection,

His holiness,

His righteousness

can be ours

through faith.

We simply believe

that that is the case.

this gift

of faith

that is given to us.

This is what Jesus

is communicating

in this text.

This is what He means

when He says,

whoever does not receive

the kingdom of God

like a child,

a little one,

an insignificant one,

one who has nothing

to offer

shall not

enter it.

Children,

perk your ears.

I wholeheartedly

agree

with the words

of Jesus loves me.

Jesus loves me.

This I know.

For the Bible

tells me so.

Little ones

to Him belong.

They are weak.

The point of this text.

But He

is strong.

Let's pray together.