Faith Like a Child
Sermon Notes
Intro
Introduce the series: Gospel readings
A couple of years ago, I ran across a local church who did a sermon series called, “Things I wish Jesus hadn’t said.” Plenty of material.
Love your enemies
Turn the other cheek
The whole Sermon on the Mount (have you read this thing?)_
On the surface, our text today doesn’t seem to fit into this category, but let’s take a closer look.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Matthew 18:1-5
Then, apparently the disciples didn’t catch on because the very next chapter this happens:
Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
Matthew 19:13-15
Childlike
At first reading, it might not seem like these passages belong on the list of things I wish Jesus hadn’t said, but that’s just because we’re approaching this from a very different worldview than Jesus’ original audience.
We live in a culture that values, even idolizes children.
We are influenced by the Romantics where there is something inherently noble and celebrated about childhood: “trailing clouds of glory do we come.”
And this perspective on kids causes us to read this passage in a certain way. We take the things that we love about kids and assume that Jesus is encouraging us to emulate those things in our own lives.
We think that perhaps Jesus is lauding the innocence of a child
Or the faith, that is the blind trust, of a child (I heard this one a lot growing up, that Jesus is looking for someone who doesn’t ask a lot of questions.)
Problem is that that’s not what Jesus is saying.
In fact, the Bible makes much the opposite case saying that there is no one innocent, not even a child
And, nowhere does the Bible command or commend mindless, unquestioning faith. We are commanded to love God with our minds (another topic for another day).
Our problem with this passage is a world view problem.
Biblical worldview: we have to understand how 1st Century readers understood children if we want to grasp what Jesus is saying here.
You didn’t even name a child until they were 8 days old because, up until then, you were still trying to decide if you were going to keep it (the early church was known for taking these babies in)
And, if you did decide to keep the child, there was a 30% chance that the child wouldn’t survive infancy. In other words, 1 in 3 children died in their first year.
Beyond that, there was a 50% chance that the child would make it past the age of 5.
So, you simply didn’t get overly attached to a child.
Even, if they did survive, they weren’t viewed as the little cherubs that we see them as today.
This was an agrarian society living under occupation. In other words, they were really poor.
Children cost money
They were needy, utterly unable to provide for themselves, completely dependent.
Now, in an affluent society, this is not a problem, but in a society in which the vast majority of the population lived below the poverty line, this was not a good thing.
And, most significantly for our purposes today, you didn’t get anything useful out of them until they turned 13.
Maskin
We can see why the disciples tried to shoo them away. Jesus was a big important rabbi; he shouldn’t be wasting time with these little drains on society.
Yet, Jesus placed the child on His lap and, in doing so, not only dignifies the child but, in fact, says, “You see this little one? This is the greatest in my Kingdom.”
The disciples had just asked a perfectly reasonable question, and Jesus responded with something absolutely ludicrous.
Humility wasn’t a virtue in that culture. The aspiration of any person was to rise as high as possible.
This is why children were looked down upon; they couldn’t do anything useful until they were in their teens.
How could this one possibly be the greatest. In fact, that wasn’t all Jesus said. He upped the stakes considerably.
He said, it’s not just a matter of greatness in my Kingdom; you won’t even enter my Kingdom unless you become like one of these.
They were quibbling about who was going to get the best contract, and Jesus told them that they might not even make the team, unless they changed and became like a child.
What was so special about the child?
The very thing that wasn’t a virtue in that society: humility.
That’s the word most translations use, which is true, but the NIV choose a word that I think is more accurate reflects the point that Jesus is making here: lowliness.
In other words, their neediness.
What is the virtue Jesus lauds in children? Their keen awareness of their own need and willingness to take that need to someone who can help.
A child knows that they can’t open the peanut butter jar. They know that they can’t reach the top shelf, so they raise their arms and say, “Up.”
And, they are audacious in their asking. They have absolutely no income, yet they ask for the biggest things. For my son the other day, it was a Tesla.
The humility that we’re talking about here is not self-deprecating. Little children aren’t self-deprecating. They do not beat themselves up or look down on themselves for their need; they are completely unselfconscious in their need.
All of the stuff that made the child worthless in their eyes made her priceless in Jesus’ eyes. Her great virtue was her need.
Jesus is really articulating the heart of the Gospel here. The only prequalification is need. The only ones who have a seat at the table are the ones who come empty-handed, recognizing their need of a Savior.
You see, His Kingdom is built upon grace, and grace can only be received empty-handed. If you receive it in exchange for anything else, it is, by definition, not grace.
What Jesus is saying here is that the Gospel begins at the end of ourselves. When we come to the realization that all we have is need, we discover that’s exactly what we need.
And, this is as foreign in our culture as it was in theirs.
Yes, we appreciate lots of things about children, but this is one area where none of us want to emulate them.
We consider humility to be a virtue in our society, but it’s pretty low on our list of favorite virtues.
We tend to view it as self-deprecation, of thinking less of ourselves
When, in fact, that’s not how a child looks at it. They don’t think less of themselves. They don’t think about it at all. Need is their reality.
For us, however, we do everything we can to insulate ourselves against need.
Our real virtue independence, self-sufficiency. We make it our goal to earn, not to be given handouts and not to depend on anyone.
That’s where the story of the rich, young ruler comes in (notice the placement of this story right next to the story of the little children isn’t an accident. This is a compare and contrast.)
The rich, young ruler’s problem wasn’t just greed; it was that he was “independently wealthy (an interesting phrase, isn’t it).
The reason Jesus warns us about money so often is not that there is anything especially wicked about money. It’s just that money has a unique ability to breed self-sufficiency. Have you ever been impoverished or visited a truly impoverished area? What do you notice? More vibrant community. You’ll never hear anyone in Sub-Saharan Africa say, “Yeah, I’m just longing for community.” This is a distinctly first world problem. Wealth breeds self sufficiency. In the same way that this happens in our relationships with one another, it happens in our relationships with God.
But, this isn’t just about money. It’s about anything that makes us feel like we’ve earned our seat at the table.
Wealth
Competency
Intelligence
Virtue
If we have a seat at the table, it is a gift of grace. It is because Jesus gave us His seat (“God made Him who knew no sin…”).
This is not just about getting into the Kingdom; it is also about greatness in the Kingdom, about life in the Kingdom.
In other words, we do not just get in on the basis of grace, we live every day in new mercy.
It is not that we have need of Him one time. He is constantly saving us, constantly sanctifying us, constantly leading us, constantly empowering us. Our need of Him is greater today than it has ever been
As Jesus sends the disciples out, He reminds them that apart from Him they can do nothing.
We are branches drawing nourishment from the vine
Just as independence is not a virtue for a branch; it is not a virtue of the Christian life.
Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Response
If you’re in a place of deep need, don’t waste it.
I’m not saying that the situation you’re in is inherently good or that God did this to you.
But something that suffering does is it makes us keenly aware of our need.
Just as wealth breeds self-sufficiency, suffering breeds dependence.
If you’re in a place where everything is going pretty well, beware. Remember, this is a Kingdom for the needy, so cultivate a habit of dependence.
Practice gratitude.
Cultivate need: If you don’t need God, you won’t get Him. Live out of your depth.
Spiritual disciplines
Radical generosity
Love: the quickest and most powerful way to experience the power of God. Love someone else.
As a church, we want more than we can accomplish alone.