Jesus loves the children

Luke • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Jesus tells his disciples to let the children come to him. And every parent should take this to heart. The law cannot change a heart. But bring your children to Jesus.

Notes

Transcript

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:4–25 NKJV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth. 16 “You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken. 20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Text

Luke 18:15–17 NKJV

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.”

Sermon

When a new baby is brought into the world, good parents want to do everything they can to give that child a good start in life. They are desperate to raise their baby right, and there is a part of them that wants everyone at church to see how they are doing and say, “You are such a good parent. Look how godly your children are.”

In churches all over the world, good, well-meaning parents desperately want their children to behave, to be good examples, to make the right choices… and that opens marketing opportunities.

The bookstores are full of books claiming to be the right way to raise your children.

One of the best sellers, and still influential in Christian circles is the book “Train up a Child” my Michael and Debi Pearl. The thesis of the book is that children don’t have souls until the age of accountability and therefore they are to be trained like a dog or a horse. Positive reinforcement for good behavior. And pain for bad behavior. They advocate spanking children at 6 months.

The belief that pain is a good motivator to good works runs very deep. James Dobson, Bill Gothard, Doug Wilson, Tedd Tripp, and many, many, many others all advocate basically what amounts to behaviorism. Reward the behavior that you want. Inflict pain for the behavior that you don’t want.

I wish I could tell you how many young adults, brought up in the church, believed that God inflicts pain when he is angry with them, and if they work hard and make the right choices God will give them blessings. And how many of these same young people raised in church, are desperate to ear the gospel.

And all of the experts will throw in Bible verses here and there, usually translated poorly, or squeezed into a modern box that can’t fit them - but that is another story.

In all of the child raising books and sermons and podcasts that I have heard, there is one very crucial instruction that always seems to be left out.

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me”.

Out of the desperation to make sure that our kids didn’t turn out secular, or hippies - we tried to change hearts by the law - by catechism memory, by beatings, by punishments - by the law.

Let them come

But we forgot something crucial - “Let the children come to me”.

Our youth camps and our youth groups are filled with commands -

Here is the right way to date, here is the right way to marry, here is the right kind of music to listen to, the right kind of shows to watch, the right people to avoid,

We have even narrowed the word “discipline” to mean exclusively “the infliction of pain to manipulate good behavior”. When the Bible uses the word to mean, “Let them come to Jesus and learn of him. His yoke is easy. His burden is light.”

A few chapters back, I spoke about the gatekeepers. They are the ones who make sure that only the right sort of people are invited to the table. Like Cain, they respond in anger if sinners are accepted - especially sinners with different sins than my sins.

Jesus’ disciples were acting as gatekeepers. Jesus is far too busy to deal with your children. They don’t even behave right, they aren’t dressed right. The master is far too busy.

The heart of it is this: Children can’t be disciples. Look at them. They fuss, they smell, they do weird things, the get in the way.

But the parents wanted Jesus to touch them, to bless them, to hold them. He was safe to them, and they brought their children.

The disciples shamed them for it - but look at Jesus’ response.

Let the little ones come to me. For of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Not by strength

We have seen a running theme in Luke. The kingdom of God is not built on human strength, will-power, goodness, or ability - before or after we become believers.

The kingdom of God is received with empty hands.

Babel seeks to build a kingdom with the bricks and the mortar of this world. Abraham, by contrast, receives the kingdom by promise.

Hebrews 11:10 NIV

10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

We get this as believers when we are adults. We know what it is to have no power, no ability to overcome sin, no wisdom apart from God’s free gifts.

Unless the Lord build the house, we labor in vain.

But then we turn around and expect our kids to succeed by the law.

If you tried harder you could do better.

If you worked harder, you could get an A

If you paid attention to what you were doing, you wouldn’t have spilt the milk.

We even say to our kids “Grow up!” as if that could be done by the act of the will.

We receive the kingdom as a gift of God’s free grace, and then we teach our children that they will be accepted only if they perform to our standards.

Don’t bring them to Jesus. He’s busy. Take them home and teach them how to be proper adults, and then bring them back when they have something to offer.

Eventually, Jesus would ascend into heaven and the church would pass through the ages and have the money and room to build youth programs and children’s church and we can send them off to learn how to be functioning adults and THEN we can talk about grace and the free gift of the righteousness of Christ. But first, they have catechisms to learn, Bible verses to memorize, veggie tales to watch, and homework to do.

And our children are more stressed, more anxious, more restless and more hopeless than ever before.

Suicide, drug addiction, alcoholism are through the roof, higher than they have ever been before in our young people, and no one wants anyone to ask the question, “Why?” We just say,

Well if you disciplined them right, they wouldn’t have those problems.

Because we forgot something.

Let the children come to me. The kingdom of God is my free gift. In that kingdom, everyone sits under his own vine and under his own fig tree. And you are accepted and beloved, and welcomed - even before you were born.

Why would you keep your children away from that?

Because we still think that kingdom building is OUR job, and WE are the ones that have to work hard to make it happen.

We saw this dynamic in the days of Joshua the High Priest and Zerubbabel the governor, after they had returned from exile. The work was immense. Far greater than any human could accomplish.

And even if they worked hard at it, all they would ever do is simply build yet another building. Who was going to build the promised kingdom? Who would defeat sin and misery and death? Who would drive out bondage and fear and hatred?

Zechariah 4:6 NKJV

6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.

My spirit - given freely by Christ who was obedient unto death.

Acts 2:32–33 NKJV

32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Coming to Jesus isn’t just another check-mark on our to-do list with our children. It is everything. Without it, nothing else matters. You can discipline your kids, but discipline them to what?

Instead, bring them to Jesus. Make them disciples of Christ, who will pour out his spirit and give them the life that you seek for them.

For of such is the kingdom of God.

Receiving the kingdom as a child.

He goes on to say - in fact, it is even greater than this. He rebukes his disciples - whom he loved greatly - for acting just like the Pharisee in the temple. You think that you have more of a right to be here because you are an adult, you have made decisions, you can understand, you can offer something.

But the kingdom of heaven isn’t on a barter system. These children, who I am holding on my lap, might not understand anything. But they are mine because I held them and blessed them.

And if you don’t receive the kingdom the same way, then you don’t receive it at all.

And that brings us to the discussion of faith.

Curt Thomas - ‘we are born looking for someone looking for us.”

We are not born independent. If we are not cared for continually when we are born, we will die.

We are born completely dependent upon another. And because we are completely dependent, we have no choice but to trust that the one caring for us will do so.

We are born believing. We are not hopeless when we are born, that has to be learned.

We are born believing that if we cry, someone will hear us. If we are hungry, someone will feed us. If we need held, someone will hold us.

As we grow older and understand speech, we are wired to believe what our caretakers tell us. And that faith in what we are told is very, very deep and becomes a part of who we are.

Much of the work of the therapist is trying to overcome the wrong messages that we received as children, that have become a part of who we are.

Because parents are sinful - even well-meaning parents - they teach us things when we are tiny that aren’t true. And we believe them.

If parents are harsh or cruel, the messages are even worse.

We are hardwired to believe, when we are children. We don’t weigh the evidence, we don’t do critical thinking, we don’t examine all sides. We believe what we are told.

This is why it is so deadly to teach our children that they only deserve love if they are obedient. Play Santa if you want with your children, but never, ever teach them that they only deserve Christmas gifts if they behave and fit the mold that you created for them to fit.

Because the kids don’t learn how to behave. They learn how to conform. And those are two different things entirely.

Parents are sometimes wicked and either wittingly, or unwittingly teach their children that they are fat, stupid, lazy, worthless, ridiculous, and not worth any physical affection.

And they believe that Jesus thinks the same thing about them.

And the children grow up believing the messages that they were taught. You aren’t loveable. You don’t do enough. You aren’t thankful enough. You are too weird. You make too much noise. You take up too much space. No one wants you around.

They teach you that the most important thing is not to embarrass or inconvenience your parents.

That stupid children should be beaten or shamed.

That children must always be on their guard, because they won’t ever know if they will be ignored or the recipients of rage...

That children must learn to conform, or they are not welcomed on the lap of Jesus.

But when Jesus said,

Luke 18:17 NKJV

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

He doesn’t lie. He doesn’t teach us wrong messages about ourselves. He doesn’t mislead. His word and his character is completely trustworthy and safe, without doublespeak, trickery, or manipulation.

His lap is completely safe, without deceit. When he says there is no condemnation, no threats, no beatings, no punishments - just the warm embrace of the savior, he means it, and he calls you to trust it and to simply rest.

Just stop. Stop trying to prove yourself worthy of his love. Just stop.

And in this world of pain, fear, wickedness - when you look in your own heart and find nothing but failure and sin,

Believe his words, even more than you believed what your parents told you. Because he never lies and his only agenda is to gather his sheep together.

This is where it comes to faith - believe the words that Jesus tells you, rather than the words that you learned as a child. Receive the kingdom as a little child does. Believe the words, for unlike human parents, Jesus doesn’t lie, doesn’t teach things that aren’t true, and doesn’t manipulate behavior with words.

Instead, he says,

Come to me, and I will give you rest.

Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more

I will never leave you or forsake you

There is now no condemnation.

I will gather my lambs with my arms.

In fact, Jesus says, that is the only way to receive him at all. Like a toddler, or not at all.

Put it together

Putting it all together.

Let the children come to me. Quit being the gatekeeper, laying down all of the qualifiers. And simply let them come to Jesus.

How do you do that? Talk of him when you get up, when you lie down, when you go shopping and when you go home. When you are in and when you are out.

Speak of his redemption, and reflect HIS character in your home.

Is he safe? Is he good? Does he lose his temper? Does he want his children to be “seen and not heard” or does he want to take them in his arms?

Let them come to Jesus - in other words, be conformed to the image of Christ. Be like him. Patient, safe, in control of your temper, gentle - when?

Deuteronomy 6:7–9 NKJV

7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

That’s when. Everything you do, do as a loved child of God, accepted in the beloved, and that is the message that your children will hear.

Let them come to Jesus.

And to all of you - even you children here.

Jesus welcomes you all. He doesn’t think you are weird or stupid. He knows your frailty. He knows when you are tired and cranky. He knows when you need held and soothed. He knows when your strength is small and your wisdom fails. He doesn’t withhold his love for you until you start acting better. He doesn’t think you need to be beaten and shamed. He already took all of that on himself.

He knows your weaknesses, and he loves you.

He is safe, because he never lies. Even though we wait to see the end - a lot. We know that he can’t lie.

So we can come right to him. And he is cleaning us up, he is giving us the right clothes. He is making us ready for heaven.

When that day comes and we go to be with him, we don’t have anything to be afraid of. He is there waiting for us to climb into his lap and he will wipe away all tears.

And there will always be those who say, “Yeah, but Jesus used a whip on the money changers and he called the Pharisees a brood of vipers.”

Yes. And if you grow up and start abusing the people of God, start robbing them before the can come to worship, and do everything in your power to keep people away from Jesus, he will use that same language on you.

But he knows the difference between an oppressive ruler and a little child. He knows the difference between a false prophet and a toddler. He knows the difference between a sheep and a wolf. The little children are welcomed. The oppressor is sent away.

The sheep are safe because the wolves are driven away.

So come as a child. Learn to rest. Learn to tell him everything in your childish stammer - because of such is the kingdom of heaven.

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