Jesus Loves The Little Children

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Matthew 19. We just finished a week of VBS and for many of us we think we survived another year. And you know what? It causes me to think about, at least it did this last week, to think about children and our ministry to them. and the fact that we look at that as almost a second-rate ministry. Now, reflected on that, I thought, you know, it might be good to look at Matthew 19 this week, as we've ended our Bible school.

Of course, not being the guy who thinks ahead very much, maybe I should have preached this last week. Nevertheless, let's look at it this week. would you uh would you follow along as i read matthew 19 verses 13 through 15 then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray the disciples rebuked the people but jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and went away. Let's pray.

Father, I would ask that you challenge us today to think about an area that, frankly, more often than not, we don't give much thought to. Help us to think about this in light of your word. We pray that your spirit would be at work in us. to convince us of where we need to grow, to encourage us to do that, to empower us to accomplish it. Help us, Lord, to have the mind of Jesus.

Lord, if we're going to be Christ-like, we need to be Christ-like in this part of our lives as well. So help us now, we pray. Help us as we look into your word. In Jesus' name, amen. I went to seminary in 1977 Now that seems like decades ago and in fact it was And Beck and I immediately joined a local church so I could serve and develop in ministry. Of course, like every hot shot seminarian, you want to join a church and you want them to give you an adult class to teach.

But the only class available was a sixth grade class that met before the evening service and some opportunities in junior church. Oh well, I said to myself, you have to start somewhere. I shouldn't expect to get a real class until I've been here for a while. i learned a lot that those years there but i wonder have you ever thought that way about ministering to children how do you view children anyway we've just ended a week of bible school and there have been times where i have entertained the idea you know reaching kids i mean that's not the key the key is getting the parents.

And I think getting parents is really important, but should we neglect the children then? And what about teaching children? What about their classes? Are they as important as ours? I remember two years ago in Bible school, I had the three and four-year-olds. what a time that was that week was crazy but i loved it i loved it and and i was hoping that that maybe they learned something that they take with them for the rest of their lives i hope they're still doing the chant that i taught them but i don't know but the thing is if we're really going to get an uh a handle on this we need to see how Jesus looked at children.

How did he view children? The passage I read, you've heard many times before. Passage I've read, you know. Yep, we know that one. Yeah, children are important, but I think we need to double down here and think about this a little more. I cannot escape the notion.

I really believe that what Jesus says here is vitally important for us as a church and our ministry I think it important because what interesting is all three of the synoptic writers that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke, those Gospels, every one of them mention this. Every one of them have this in their Gospels. Now look, when they wrote the Gospels, there was tons of stuff they did not include.

John even says, the things that I didn't write down, if I wrote them all, if I wrote everything down that Jesus did, the world couldn't contain the books. And when they wrote these histories, they did like every historian. They gathered all the facts and they left a bunch of stuff out and they chose what to put in under the guidance of the Spirit, mind you.

But they did that. And it's interesting that all of them thought it was important to include this. Now Matthew puts it right here after some very significant teaching about marriage and divorce. it comes right after that and so Jesus says something not only about the importance of marriage and family but the importance of children and in fact as Jesus explained the intersection of his kingdom and marriage he also talks about the intersection of his kingdom and children so I think this is important what's the main point we ought to get here's it's this Jesus loves children, so bring them to him.

Jesus loves children, so bring them to him. Jesus willingly, openly welcomes children. That was the custom of that day for the parents to bring children to the rabbis on the day before, the night before the day of atonement. Evidently, you didn't bother those important men except for that. The day of atonement, or it was the evening of the day of atonement the day of atonement was a special exception and that's not hard to understand since children had no real status in society although they were cherished nonetheless they were considered negligible members of society they were considered on of no real importance it's someone you it's not someone you looked up to it's someone you looked after right and that's not hard to understand given the typical view of the rabbis of that day.

One, Rabbi Dosa ben Arkamas summed it up well when he wrote this, morning sleep, midday wine, chattering with children tarrying in places where men of the common people assemble destroy a man Did you hear what he said Not just wine not just hanging around the rabble not just sleeping till late in the day is going to destroy a man, but chattering with children will destroy a man. Scholars, they thought, should be involved in studying Torah, not mingling with children. Rabbis should immerse themselves in the important duty of teaching, not wasting their breath talking to children.

But Jesus' relationship to children must have been strikingly different. The people were bringing their children to him. This isn't the Day of Atonement. Evidently, in some fashion, Jesus gave some kind of signal. Jesus acted, Jesus said things that caused people to bring their children to him when it wasn't normal to bring him to a rabbi. They found him open and loving.

He was a contrast. The wonder-working rabbi, the rabbi that seems to be above all other rabbis, has time for children. He speaks well of them and wants them. And look at his reaction when the disciples tried to shoo the people away. the the man our our master has so many important things to do just just get away what does it say jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven he rebukes them for keeping the children away it's not like he's going wow thanks guys we really got important things to do let's not let's not get sidetracked with these kids.

Instead, it was stop that. I want to talk to these children and to their parents. And Jesus did not go on, verse 15, notice, and he laid his hands on them and then went away. He didn't go about his business till he was done with the children. All right. Now, with that in mind, can you imagine Jesus interacting with children?

These are the sorts of things that make me wonder about Jesus in this way. We've made him, I don't know, this hanging on the wall picture Jesus. I want you to imagine, could it be that Jesus said this? Some parents bring this little guy up and Jesus says, hello, young man, what's your name? Yeshua? That's my name too.

How old are you? Six? Well, then I'll bet you're just starting synagogue school, aren't you? What are you learning so far? What do you got? What do you got?

What are you learning? Can you imagine Jesus doing that? See, right now, some of you are looking at me like... Right? Parents come up with a little girl and he says, What's your daughter's name? Anna.

Anna. Wow, she's cute, isn't she? Where'd you come up with a name like that? Can you imagine Jesus doing that? I think that's the kind of person he was. That's the way he was because they were attracted to him.

They were attracted to him. It impresses me as I read the Gospels in little places like this, that Jesus was the kind of man that children gravitated to. Okay? He related to children in such a way that they were attracted to him. he wasn't this distant kind of angry maybe very important looking man that they better not bother they seem to be attracted to them and parents knew it as well by the way do you think he's changed any since then his life you knew that right do you think he's changed any since then jesus still openly willingly welcomes children jesus is a savior whom parents can trust and children can love you see but he said he gives us a warning beware of hindering them from coming to Jesus the disciples thought this was a waste of his time and so they tried to dissuade these parents from bringing bringing their children to Jesus Jesus had more important things to do than waste his time on children good night chattering with children will destroy a man let's not have any of this going on they were on their way to jerusalem they were involved in some pretty heavy discussions come on we're trying to get this whole divorce thing down and you want and and you want him to talk to kids come on we got important things to do children were not important to them and they thought they were certainly not important to jesus how do we hinder them Well one thing we need to do is beware of wrong attitudes towards children Children are not important to us Our culture literally screams that How do I know that Look at the amount of abortions that happen every year That says volumes of what people think of children It says volumes.

They're constantly being dropped off here and dropped off there in order for us to get to the important things done in our lives. There are careers to pursue. And if that means I neglect my children, I guess that's the price I pay. I'll spend quality time with them. But I've got important things to do. I've noticed a trend even among Christians that communicate that children are a nuisance and not important.

Christians have the same important matters to pursue and cannot be bothered with children. Careers, jobs are important. Now listen to me. Lest you think I'm saying, women, take care of your kids. Quit pursuing careers. I'm talking to the men too.

I'm talking especially to men. We can get so wrapped up with a career or a job and a job is going to, I'm going to get a promotion. I'm going to move up the ladder. But that means less time at home. Do I take it? Be careful.

Be careful. Right? I'll never forget a very wise brother. I can't remember who it was now, but I think I know who it was. And you've heard me say this. He said to me one time, Tim, always remember this.

You'll have a greater impact on the next generation with the six warriors sitting around your table than you will preaching to a hundred people every week. Wow, that stuck with me. Men, we have to be careful that we have the right attitudes towards children. There's a trend to get away from children more and more. We have to get away from our kids for a while.

Right? You know, it's funny. I can tell you this. We went out. I won tell you who We went out with another couple from church last night We went out to eat because it their anniversary and our anniversary is coming up And like 30 years ago we did this with them But 30 years ago, we all had kids, a bunch of them, right? And last night we were saying, how did we do this last time?

Like, who took care of our kids? we couldn't get away from them when we were that age, right? We haven't figured it out yet. Maybe some of you can remember. Maybe you were the ones who took care of them. But we have to get away from kids for a while. There just seems to be this attitude, I've got to get away from my kids.

I've just got to get away, right? We segregate them more and more. We segregate them off more and more so that they rarely have opportunity. They rarely have opportunity to see adults operating handling life okay they're not with us much okay because and they don't see us they don't see living examples of what a home should be like or what what you're like how you handle problems because they're always off doing this doing that doing the other thing children are important to Jesus so they ought to be important to us okay children then knew that Jesus didn't think of them as a nuisance.

What do we communicate? What kind of attitudes do we have? What do we communicate to our children? Someone says, but how can we hinder them from coming to Jesus when Jesus isn't around anymore? You know, you're right. You can't bring them to Jesus in the physical sense.

You can't put them, you can't take your little girl and put her on his lap. That's true. But in the spiritual sense, in the spiritual sense, we to be very careful we don't hinder them. He's risen and alive and he still invites them to him in the gospel and to all who minister the gospel. And so we have to be careful. How do we hinder children from coming to Christ?

Here's one, by not making a habit of bringing them regularly to the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God. We get out of the habit. How many children have missed embracing Jesus in faith because their parents thought little of regular church attendance Don miss that ground level right there ground level We so busy with so many things that we don make it We don take our kids By not teaching our children at home, we ought to be teaching our children at home.

And that doesn't necessarily mean you have to get a curriculum together. It means that you're with them so that you can talk to them about the issues of life and what the Bible says about it. I'll make a confession to you. We did a whole bunch of that more than we did. Let's sit down and read together. We did that, but we did a whole lot more of what happened at school today.

What does the Bible say about that? Okay. Dad, why are there bullies? Well, here's what the Bible says. people are depraved they'll always take advantage of others what do we do about it well let's look at what Jesus says you got to teach them at home we don't seize the opportunities of displaying Christ to them in the give and take of life they don't see us operating frankly here's another way we hinder them by not being like Jesus by not making our goal to be like Christ you have to want.

You have to desire to be like Christ at the end of your life. Listen, at the end of your life, you want to live in such a way that when people talk about you, they're going to say that guy, that woman was like Jesus. If you want to see what Jesus is like, spend time with them. Right? That's what you want in your life. Be like Christ.

For the sake of your children, seek to grow in grace. And notice here, Jesus is greatly displeased when we have the wrong attitudes towards children. He is displeased with that. And when we hinder them from coming to Jesus, well, Jesus says, bring them to me, let them come to me. All right. So don't hinder, let them come.

Well, what do we do? Well, that's simple. Bring them to the place where Christ is preached. Alright, now look, some of you, I don't know, some of you may be saying, I don't want to force my kids to go to church. Really? Let me tell you, what are you going to do on a Monday morning when your 15 year old says to you, you know what?

I'm done with school. I'm not going. I'm through. What are you going to say? Well, what am I going to do? I can't force my kid to go to school.

Is that what you're going to do? You know what you're going to do. You say, hey, you better get ready. Well, when it comes to that which is infinitely spiritually more important, what will you do? Right? never tire of talking about the gospel at home. Never tire with the gospel.

There's opportunities to share the gospel. All right? So, you know, one of my grandsons starts hauling off and jumping on his brother. And you know what? It gets a lot harder when you're a grandparent. Some of you grandparents know what I'm talking about here, right? if that was your kid you'd be on it but as grandparents you're like oh i wish i wouldn't do that but so you get on them you do your job you're supposed to and then you say to them what's going on well he did this to me well what does jesus say about that do you know what before you can do that you need a new heart and you're going to keep doing that until jesus gives you a new heart do you want a new heart of course you're going to have to talk to him about the fact you're not talking about ripping them open and putting a new heart in.

You'll have to go through all that too. But take those opportunities. Strive to be like Jesus. Spend time with the children. Spend time with them. Okay?

Even when you're home, pay attention to them. Oftentimes when we're at home, we don't pay attention to our kids. Right? I remember one of my mentors in counseling saying, And for many men, children are the people who get between them and the television screen. Okay? You can be at home and not pay attention.

Pay attention to them at home. And you can bring them to Jesus by your prayers as you pray for them. Do you pray for your children? Do you pray that they come to Christ? Do you pray for them and plead with God? Let me read you something that Charles Spurgeon said.

Now, I'll tell you what. This is different. but it good We lost this way of thinking and we need to regain it Listen to Charles Spurgeon remembering what it was like to be with his mother around the table when they reading Here it is. I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother. It was the custom on Sunday evenings while we were yet little children for her to stay at home with us, and then we sat around the table and read verse by verse and she explained the scripture to us after that was done then came the time of pleading there was a little piece of alan's alarm or baxter's call to the unconverted those are two books that a couple puritans wrote and this was read with pointed observations made to each of us as we sat around the table and the question was asked how long it would be before we would think about our state how long before we would seek the Lord, can you imagine that?

Going to every child and saying, how long are you going to be stubborn and refuse Jesus? Can you imagine doing that with your children? That's what Spurgeon's mom did. Then came a mother's prayer. And some of the words of a mother's prayer we shall never forget even when our hair is gray. I remember on one occasion her praying this, Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish.

And my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold of Christ. That thought. Now, this is what Spurgeon says. that thought of a mother's bearing swift witness against me pierced my conscience and stirred my heart this pleading with them for God and with God for them is the true way to bring children to Christ now I'm not saying that maybe you ought to go home and set your children down and tell them they're all going to hell right now if they don't repent although there is a place for saying that there is, I'm saying to you, there is, there has to be that sort of attention given to them.

Spurgeon not wrong Spurgeon on to something here He knew he knew his mother was concerned that they come to Christ and she did everything she could to bring them to him What about Sunday school teachers If this is Jesus' attitude, then you have a glorious ministry. I'll tell you what, I would say in the last five years, I have become absolutely convinced that children's ministry is so important. God has worked on my heart in this area. you need to be diligent in prayer Sunday school teachers you need to be diligent in your studies if children are important to Christ then they're important enough for you to spend time knowing your lesson so you're not just sitting there and reading from the book so they can see that you care about them and you're ministering the word of God seek their conversion to Christ guess what the whole congregation is involved the whole congregation is involved.

In one sense, the children here are our children to lead them to Christ. You know, in the early days of ministry here, when most of us were young, all the old people you see around you now, you young people, all your parents, we used to be the young people here, the young parents. And we all knew, all of us were responsible for all the children when we were here.

And some of you now who are the parents of the little kids today, you remember. You remember that you got spankings from just about everybody in the congregation. Because we had a pact. We had a pact. These are our children. And listen, as a congregation, all the children here are our children.

We all have a responsibility to them. None of us should be hindering them. You know, Jesus said in another place, remember what he said? if you're a stumbling block to a child, it's better that they hang a millstone around your neck and throw you in the river and drown if you're going to make a child stumble. We all have a responsibility of not being stumbling blocks to children.

That means our attitudes. That means the way we relate to one another. That means these children ought to be able to see that we love one another, we care for one another, and we care for them. And the whole congregation needs to be involved in these children lives All of us are our moms and dads to these children How do you respond and interact with the children Do you pay attention to them We all ought to be doing that I not saying that to me I saying that to me Ministry to children is a glorious ministry, not a second-class ministry.

And we have to give ourselves to it as parents, as teachers, as a congregation. Last thing you'll notice is that Jesus offers the kingdom to such as these. What does Jesus mean when he says such as these? Notice, he says, to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. What does he mean? Some say Jesus means the children and no one else.

Others assert the word means those who respond to Jesus with faith like a child, not necessarily children. But this phrase, which is really one word, means both to children and to those who have faith like a child. The kingdom belongs to such and everyone like them. Okay? It belongs to children and everyone who are like children. Jesus says, let them come.

Don't hinder them because I want them to know me, to learn of me, to trust me, so that the blessings of the kingdom of heaven will be theirs as well. As we minister to children, we have to teach them of Christ and show them Jesus. We must labor for their conversions. Now, we need to be careful. Many childhood conversions are not the real thing. but I think that's primarily oftentimes because of the way that we put the gospel and we're not patient what we want to do is when they get old enough to say do you want to go to heaven yeah well do you know you can't go to heaven unless you believe in Jesus oh I better believe in Jesus so let's pray the prayer now okay they're saved oh I'm glad that's out of the way and that's how so many childhood conversions end up not being the real thing who doesn't want to go to heaven.

Right? What we need to be doing is to patiently teach them, you're a sinner. You're under the wrath of God. God himself has provided a way of escape in his son. You need to know about Jesus and you need to trust Jesus. And we need to patiently teach those things in the give and take of life so that they understand such things as not accepting Jesus in my heart.

But they understand there's sin. I'm a sinner. God's going to judge sinners. There's a substitute. Right? Why aren't I punished?

Because God punishes a substitute. He imputes His righteousness to us. And you need to trust Him for that to happen. We need to patiently, carefully keep going over those things and expect the Spirit of God to work in that way, I think. It's not going to mean that every conversion is the real deal, but at least they'll understand the Gospel. On the other hand, on the other hand and I can't wait to hear from my family after this morning on the other hand we can't allow caution to keep children from coming to Jesus and accepting that some of you who know this old man know that in those early years I was really distrustful of childhood conversions and I said something about it, can I say I revoke, I recant?

Okay? I recant of that? If a child can express the gospel, then we ought to say they trust in Jesus. That's all that matters. They don have to be 16 for it to really count All right Jesus says that the kingdom belongs to those who are like children Not just the children but those who are like children. Our faith has to be childlike.

Jesus has already taught us that. Look at chapter 18. At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying who is the greatest? Verse 1. At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said truly I say to you unless you turn and become like children you will never inherit the kingdom of heaven whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven it is a faith that runs to Jesus for protection from the wrath of God against sin and trust him fully when your child when your children are frightened they turn away from danger they run to you and they cling to you so you're walking down the street one day and your four year olds up ahead a little ways and all of a sudden this dog runs out to the fence and starts barking and baring his teeth and that four year old just runs to you and just grabs you around the legs for dear life right he doesn't hesitate he doesn't even think about it he just runs that the kind of faith God calling for not a faith that that um not a faith that that going to say okay now should I go to dad it just you know you run you go you trust completely um that the way it is when you aware of the danger of god wrath it's a faith that's humble caring little what others think all right so let's say the child is seven years old and the dog comes out and bears his teeth he's not going to say if it's a child like faith he's not going to say oh man if i run to dad right now my brother's going to really make fun of me i don't want and you know he's going to tell he's going to call me he's going to say i'm a big baby i certainly don't want that no it's the kind of thing i don't care anybody says there's safety there i'm going it's the kind of faith that runs to god runs to christ it's a faith that trusts completely, completely and unreservedly, casts himself upon Christ and his mercy.

That's childlike faith. And how will Jesus respond to them? Well, they belong to the kingdom of heaven. So, here are the words of Jesus. Let's not miss them. Don't be one who hinders children in relation to Jesus. be one who brings them to Jesus encourage them bring them do you have the same view of children that Jesus has What are you doing to bring those little ones to Him?

Are you diligent in ministry to them? What kind of faith do you have? Do you have the faith that unreservedly cast itself on God on the basis of His Word. Just believe what God says. Right? Have you entrusted yourself to Him?

They're not trivial questions. Jesus didn't think so. Neither should we. Father, thank You for Your Word. Again, Father, we pray that You would help us to be like children. us to be like that. Father, we pray that we would be those who bring our children to Jesus.

Father help us to see these little ones, these young ones, not to ignore them, but to love them, to give ourselves for them. Would You please grant that, I pray. Father, help us to take the words of Jesus seriously here, we ask. We thank You in Jesus' name, Amen.