Mark 10:13-16
God’s Heart for Children
Mark 10:13-16 Radical Commitment: God’s Heart for Children
Chapter 10 is the last chapter in Mark’s account before Jerusalem. And this signals to us that there is a sense of urgency in the lessons Jesus is teaching His disciples in this chapter. These are vital lessons every follower of Jesus must learn if we are going to carry out His mission effectively.
They are teachings about radical commitment in various areas of life.
Last week we looked at His teaching regarding marriage… and how we as His followers are to be radically committed to the marital covenant.
We talked about how we are called, as followers of Jesus, to swim against the tide of culture and to carry God’s heart for marriage in the midst of a world that is rushing fast in the other direction.
This week, as we move on to the next section starting in verse 13, Jesus teaches us about a different area of life that requires radical commitment: children. As followers of Jesus, regardless of your age, season of life, marital status… regardless whether you have kids of your own or not… we must all uphold God’s heart for children.
How do we do that? To uphold God‘s heart for children, we do two things:
We enable them to come to Jesus
We emulate them in how we come to Jesus
Mark 10:13–16 (ESV):
13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
It wasn’t just a touch these people were after; They were after a blessing.
The practice of laying hands on someone to bless them was traditional in Judaism.
Think back to the Old Testament.
Noah blessed Shem and Japheth
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau
Jacob blessed his sons and grandsons
Continuing into the New Testament, we see the tradition continue.
In Acts 6, when seven men were appointed basically as deacons to help with food distribution, the apostles laid their hands on them and prayed for them.
So people are bringing children to Jesus for Him to bless them.
It is a beautiful and profound thing to bring children to Jesus.
Parents, there is no higher calling than to bring our children to Jesus.
It’s one of the reasons we encourage parents to have kids in the service with us. We want you parents to participate in bringing your kids to Jesus
As your children see you worshiping Jesus, it makes an impression on them.
As your children see you opening your Bible and listening intently to the Word of God, it makes an impression on them.
As your children see you taking communion, remembering our Lord’s sacrificial death, it makes an impression on them.
All of these things are opportunities to teach your children why we do what we do, and share your heart for Jesus with your children.
When you’re at home, we encourage you parents to talk about God with your children.
Have family worship (read, pray, sing)
Pray for them before they go to bed
Fill your house with Christian story books (Action Bible, RC Sproul, One Big Story, books about how God created the world.
When you’re out in nature, point out things God has made.
Romans 1 says God’s eternal power and divine nature are clearly visible in what He has made!
Is it only parents who help lead kids to the Lord in a church like ours? Of course not. We all have a role to play.
You can find ways to serve in various youth ministries
You can model godliness.
You can model what it looks like to love and worship Jesus.
Kids automatically look to adults around them for their cues.
Those of you who are skilled at what you do (surfing, skating, content creating, whatever it is…), you have a special responsibility to influence the next generation towards Christ. Use it! They are watching!
Girls, if you want a practical way to help encourage the raising of godly children, offer to babysit for families in the church.
Yes, we all need to do our part in bringing children to Jesus.
And that’s what these people were trying to do literally… but shockingly, it says…
and the disciples rebuked them.
If this sounds overly harsh, that’s because it is. And Jesus is going to respond very strongly.
But also remember–as we talked about in chapter 9–children in those days were not held in the same esteem as they are today. They were basically seen as a liability until they were old enough to contribute to the family and to society in some meaningful way.
So in many ways, the disciples were right in step with culture when they tried to stop kids from coming to Jesus.
But disciples of Jesus are not called to be in step with the culture.
Unfortunately, even though His disciples have been walking around with Jesus for the last few years, they still have a worldly lens on some issues.
The same danger applies to us. There are aspects of our culture today that might be normative, but that does not make it right in God’s eyes.
When heavenly culture goes against earthly culture, we need to behave like citizens of our heavenly kingdom.
Jesus makes this very clear with His response to the disciples.
14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant
This is the only passage in all of the gospels where it says Jesus was indignant.
The word translated ‘indignant’ in the original Greek means “to arouse to anger”.
The fact that anyone would prevent someone as helpless and powerless as a child from coming to Him made Jesus’ blood boil.
That says something about the way Jesus feels about weak, vulnerable people, doesn’t it?
and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them,
This is a sharp command. A positive and a negative together: “Let them come; no not hinder”.
And then Jesus makes a shocking assertion:
for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
Is He saying the Kingdom of God belongs to children?
Not exactly.
He’s saying the kingdom of God (or as Matthew calls it, the kingdom of heaven) belongs to those who are “such” as children. In other words, those who have certain childlike qualities.
The question is, what qualities is Jesus highlighting?
What is it about childlikeness that Jesus is commending?
Some would say it’s their innocence.
But parents, we know first hand that our kids aren’t always innocent.
Some would say it’s their purity. Certainly kids have a kind of purity that hasn’t been corrupted and jaded by the ways of the world. That’s true.
Some would say it’s simply their naivete. We need to be naive like children.
No. Jesus is commending childlikeness, not childishness.
Elsewhere in the NT we are warned against remaining in an infantile state of development in our faith.
We are commanded to GROW UP.
So we know that God does not promote childishness.
So what is it?
Well, we know this has to do with salvation, because He says, “to such belongs the kingdom”. That’s tantamount to saying, “people like this are going to be saved”.
So think about what we know of salvation, and how salvation works… and think about how infants could serve to illustrate it.
In Ephesians 2 we are told emphatically that our good works do not save us. That salvation is simply an unmerited gift that God gives as an act of love and grace.
Do infants ever try to earn their blessings?
When was the last time you saw a baby trying to earn it’s right to get milk?
Think also of Jesus’ words at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”.
Poor in spirit means we recognize our spiritual bankruptcy.
Do you think infants feel a sense of entitlement? No. They simply ask for what they KNOW they NEED.
Think of Galatians chapter 1 where Paul confronts those in the church of Galatia who are trying to get people to earn their salvation by their observance of rituals. He calls it a false gospel.
It’s no coincidence that this scene in Mark is followed immediately by Jesus’ run in with the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus asking how to earn eternal life. And when Jesus lays out the terms, he goes away upset because he’s too attached to his wealth, which is a symbol of his self-righteousness and self-sufficiency.
Put all of this together, and we get an idea of what Jesus means when He platforms childlikeness as a quality that leads to salvation.
Think about it: infants bring absolutely nothing to the party. They have no money, no resources, nothing to contribute other than their neediness.
God wants that? Yes. God wants our neediness? Yes!!
God wants us to come to Him with nothing to contribute towards our salvation? YES!!!
Why?
For one, because the idea that we have anything to contribute to the God of the universe is a silly illusion anyway…
The Bible says even our so-called righteous deeds are like filthy rags… like used toilet paper to God. (Isaiah 64:6)
We have no inherent goodness in us; only what God gives.
And also because it means He gets all the glory.
As the apostle Paul said, “His strength is made perfect in my weakness”.
In Ephesians 2 it says He did it this way “so that no one may boast”.
In Ephesians 1 it says our salvation is “to the praise of His glorious grace”.
Salvation is not something we can earn or achieve; it is something that simply must be humbly received from God, on God’s terms. Children absolutely epitomize this sort of humble, helplessness.
Not only is approaching God like a child a way to receive the kingdom… according to Jesus it is the only way…
15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
If we try to get salvation any other way besides owning our utter inability to achieve it, and simply call out to God in desperation… we won’t get it.
This is the same quality that Jesus rewarded back in chapter 9 when the father brought his demon possessed son to Jesus.
Jesus’ disciples had been trying to cast the demon out by their own authority and power… and they couldn’t do it.
The boy’s father comes directly to Jesus. Jesus says, “if I’m going to do this, you need to believe.” To which the father cries out: “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
That is a sense of utter dependence on Jesus.
That’s the quality Jesus is after.
The good news is, when we come to Jesus in childlike desperation and helplessness… when we embrace Jesus on His terms… Jesus embraces us.
16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
Do you want the blessing of Jesus? Do you want to be a citizen of the kingdom of Jesus?
Stop trying to merit it. View yourself as a desperate child who is completely dependent on God for whatever He gives you.
Come to Jesus on His terms.
If you do, God will adopt you into His family. You will be given the Spirit that enables you to call on Him as a child calls to their father.
So as Jesus bends down and wraps His arms and His heart around these little children, the disciples would have learned two unmistakable lessons… And so must we.
First, children must be enabled to come to Jesus.
Second, whoever would come to Jesus must come with the humble neediness of a child.
In doing so, we walk in radical commitment to Christ as we uphold God’s heart for children.