Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
May 1, 1983
Children and the Kingdom of God
Matthew 18:1-5 & 19:13-15, KJV
It has been an honor for me to dedicate Stephanie and Kristee this morning. These are the first dedications I have performed as a pastor but I hope they're not my last.
Just about everyone agrees that children can bring great joy. The also create a few problems, like wanting to play at midnight instead of helping daddy with the sermon. But all in all, children are special.
Jesus believed that children can teach us special things about God. Now the disciples wanted to know who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples were pretty much like us. We want to know who is the most spiritual Christian or who has the best church in town. To answer them, Jesus took a child and said that unless they turned and became like this little child, they would not get into the kingdom at all. Jesus seems to say that the very fact they asked who would be the greatest showed they had no idea what the Kingdom of Heaven involved. So Jesus says, "Except ye be converted." To be converted means to turn, to change direction. He was warning them that they were going in completely the wrong direction, away from the Kingdom of Heaven and not towards it.
The most important question in life is what you are aiming at. If you are aiming at the fulfillment of personal ambition, the acquisition of personal power, the enjoyment of personal prestige - in short, the exaltation of yourself - then you are aiming at the exact opposite of the Kingdom of Heaven. To be a citizen of the Kingdom means to forget yourself, to spend you life aiming at service and not at power. So long as you consider yourself as the most important thing in the world, your back is turned to the Kingdom. If you ever want to reach the Kingdom you must turn around and face in the opposite direction.
To illustrate this perfectly, Jesus took a child. He says that in a child we see the characteristics which should mark the person who is a member of the Kingdom of Heaven. What is it about a child that Jesus liked and valued so much? The most important quality is humility. As Jesus says in verse 4:
"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven."
This is the keynote of the whole passage. A child does not wish to push himself forward. Instead, he wishes to fade into the background. He does not wish for prominence, he would rather be left in obscurity. This isn't true in every case. Some kids are spoiled brats but usually it's because of misguided adult treatment. Ordinarily a child is embarrassed by prominence and publicity. It's only as he grows up and begins to be initiated into a competitive world with its fierce struggle for prizes and first places that his distinctive humility is left behind.
There is also a child's dependence. To a child a state of dependence is perfectly natural. They never think they can face life by themselves but are content to be utterly dependent on those who love them and care for them. If adults would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives.
Third, there is a child's trust. Children are instinctively dependent and just as instinctively they trust their parents to meet their needs. When we are children we cannot change our own diapers or buy our own food or maintain our own home. Yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home. When we are children we set out on a trip with no way to pay the fare and no idea of how to get to the journey's end and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there.
A child's humility is the pattern of how Christians should present themselves to other people. The child's dependence and trust are the pattern of how Christians should present themselves to God, who is our Father in Heaven. So if we want to be members of Jesus' Kingdom, we must become like children.
Jesus used children as illustrations but he also thought they were important in and of themselves. This is best shown in chapter 18, verses 13 to 15. Verse 13 says:
"Then there were brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them and pray...."
It was natural that Jewish mothers would want their children to be blessed by a great Rabbi like Jesus. This was a common custom, especially on the child's first birthday. We will fully understand the beauty of this passage only if we remember when it happened. Jesus was on the way to the cross - and he knew it. It was at a time like this that Jesus had time for children. Even with this kind of tension in his mind he had the heart to hug them and pray for them.
Now the disciples had tried to keep the children away from Jesus. It's not that they were mean and uncaring men. They simply wanted to protect Jesus. They did not quite know what was going on but they knew quite clearly that tragedy lay ahead and they could see the tension that hug over Jesus' mission. They did not want him to be bothered. They could not conceive that he could want children around him at a time like this but Jesus said, "Let the children come to me." I think this tells us a great deal about Jesus. It tells us he was the kind of person who cared for children, the kind of person children wanted to be around. The famous author George MacDonald said that no man could be a follower of Jesus if children were afraid to play around his house.
To Jesus, no one was unimportant. Some might say, "It's only a child, don't let him bother you." Jesus would never say that. No one was ever a nuisance to Jesus. He was never too tired, never too busy to give all of himself to anyone who needed it. The way to his presence was open to the humblest person and to the youngest child.
All of this was true about Jesus. How much of it is true about us? Go back to chapter 18, verse 5. Jesus says:
"Whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me."
A child has no influence at all; a child cannot give us things. It's the other way around. A child needs things, a child must have things done for him. So Jesus is saying, "if a person welcomes the poor, ordinary people, the people who have no influence and no wealth and no power, the people who need things done for them, he is welcoming me. More than that, he is welcoming God."
When someone steps out of their pew during the invitation and comes to the front of the church, they do it to receive Christ. They want to make him the Lord of their life. If you've done this, then Jesus says you should accept children, accept weak and powerless people. You do not have a saving relationship with Christ if it has had no influence on your relationship with other people.
I would like to return to the role of children in the Kingdom. Jesus has said that children show us what God's kingdom is like. We have looked at the way Jesus treated children and how we should apply his principles to our lives. Now I would like to ask, what can we teach children about the Kingdom? Anyone who has children or loves them should be concerned about this question.
Although Matthew 18:10 says children have special access to God, it is obvious that as they grow older they tend to turn away from him. Children may be innocent but they are not saved. In time their rebellion against God's ways will increase and they will have to be saved by the blood of Jesus like the rest of us. God does not have any grandchildren - each generation must be saved.
According to the Bible, God's primary instrument for teaching children his ways is the home. Not Sunday school, not the church but home. According to 1 Corinthians 7:14, if even one parent is a Christian, then God is working in that family. Those of you who are Christian parents should do your best to raise your children to know God.
This is really what the dedication this morning is all about. I prayed for the children but the parents were the most important part of the ceremony. If you want your children to know and love God, then you have to take the initiative. Set an example for them in all you do and say. If you bring up a child in the way of the Lord then someday you may have the joy of watching them accept Christ as their Savior and join him in baptism. I wish I could guarantee that this would happen but I can't.
Many parents here today have children who have turned away from God. As 1 Corinthians 7:16 says, we can't force God to save our loved ones. They have to respond by themselves.
But God does answer prayers and he honors the efforts we make to do his will.
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Much of the material in this sermon is derived from William Barclay's commentary on Matthew.
Typed on February 28, 2006, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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