Amen, and please be seated. Now if you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 19, this morning, verses 13 through 15. Now this morning our passage teaches us the importance of children to Jesus and his kingdom. Jesus loves children and savingly welcomes them into the kingdom of heaven and blesses them with God's blessing.
Now it's not surprising that this would be the subject of these next verses, even if as with the disciples, we are surprised by the Savior's interest in children. But it's not surprising because the whole chapter has been about the different kinds of conditions of life people find themselves in, in verses 3 to 12 or 15. Well, Jesus was teaching about God creating males and females, and about God designing marriage for one man and one woman at any one time. And Jesus teaching about justifications for divorce and remarriage, as well as the reasons people might be single.
So with all the talk then of single adults and divorced adults and married adults, it's not surprising that the status of children in the kingdom of heaven would come up. And it does. What does Jesus think of children and their place and importance in his kingdom? I mean, if I should consider this from Matthew chapter 19, verses 13 through 15, here now God's holy and inspired word, 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. This is God's word. Make he write it on our hearts.
Let's pray. Father, teach us to thank your thoughts after you, to have a heart like yours and like our saviors. And so may even the study of your word, transform our church and our disposition and our welcome of children. In Jesus name I pray, amen.
Well, in the ancient world, childhood was, as my old professor put it, not for sissies. Well, that is, I mean, no need to act sentimental about children. They had a dangerous time of it. It's estimated that only 50% of children lived past the age of 10.
Other estimates say 60% died by the age of 16. It wasn't just an Israel problem. It was a problem in Rome. 30% of all babies died within the first year, only 49% of children lived to their fifth birthday and only 40% of the population lived to the age of 20 by many estimates.
You can imagine that why parents would be eager to bring their children to Jesus for blessing while they had them. You can also imagine why others gave little thought or value or attention to children. Why do so now if they may not grow up to make such attention to them pay off? You can imagine a cynical attitude, right?
There's a rabbi from the first century, Dossaben Arkenau, he exemplifies the elitist attitude when in the early first century he said this, morning, sleep, midday wine, chattering with children and tearing in places where men of the common people assemble, destroy a man. Chattering with children. So what do the people bringing these children to Jesus know about Jesus? And what did the disciples get wrong about Jesus?
And what does Jesus think about children? And what does he do for them? We have four questions that are outlined. Let's ask the first.
What did the people bringing these children know about Jesus? Verse 13, verse 13, that children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. I'd say Jesus was known to these people, believed by them to be one who loves and cares for children, that he would pray for them because he shares God's heart for children. He would ask for God's blessing on these children.
Now, who are these people who are bringing the children? Well, that's a story here told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And yet none of them specifically say it's the parents who brought the children. I think we can safely assume that some among them were parents, many a great number.
But in a culture that valued the extended family, it's possible to imagine grandmothers and grandfathers. And it's an uncle's. Older siblings and cousins also brought children to Jesus, which is the best thing you could ever do for your child or your grandchild or your niece or your nephew or your brother or sister or cousin. Bring them to Jesus for his blessing upon them.
Nah, how would you and I do that when he's not dwelling upon the earth any longer but raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high? Well, bring them to him where he meets with his people in corporate worship. Bring them to him, to his throne of grace in heaven through prayer. Young parents, it is never too early to start praying for your children to be blessed by Jesus.
And you older parents, even of adult children, it is never too late to begin to start praying that they would be blessed by Jesus. Bring them to him. Now, who are these children specifically? Well, notice that Matthew calls them children.
But Luke in his gospel recounting this story, as he so often does, gives us more detail. And that's because Luke was a medical doctor, as well as a historian and a writer of the gospel, who was very interested in the details of the kinds of people Jesus encountered and their conditions. Luke 1815, he writes, now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. He uses the word for babies.
They may be too young to receive instruction, but they are not too young to receive benefit by his prayer. Now, why do these people believe that Jesus would do such a thing even for the littlest of God's image bearers, undoubtedly in part? Because they had found Jesus to be warm and welcoming among the crowds, caring for the sick and the injured, the outcasts and the downtrodden. Certainly some of them had seen him at work.
And they instinctively knew I could bring him my kid, and he'd love him. They knew Jesus wasn't merely interested in the elites or the up-and-comers, but the little people, the weak people, the insignificant people as society might think of them. The kind of people who could do nothing for God, evidently. But God could do everything for them.
And it's likely that many of them also knew that God was the God who loves children. Perhaps they knew Psalm 127.3, behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward from him. They're a blessing and gift from God. Perhaps they remembered Psalm 139, 13 to 16, for you formed my inward parts.
You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful, all your works. My soul knows that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. And all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be knitted together in my mother's womb. They knew that God makes children.
God forms children. God gives children. And so they sought God saving blessing on children. Children are a blessing.
They're not an inconvenience. Children are a good gift and not to be despised. Some people think children should be seen and not heard. And that may be because they don't value children the way that God does.
Some people think children are an inconvenience but are gotten rid of. That was the attitude of the ancient world. Just consider the ancient world's attitude. We had a copy of a letter from the first century before the coming of Christ, founded Egypt, written by a husband to his wife while he was away traveling.
He wrote to her I beg and beseech of you to take care of the little child. And as soon as we receive wages, I will send them to you. If, good luck to you, you bear offspring. If it is a male, let it live.
If it is a female, expose it. Exposing that, leaving the child out in the elements, either to die, or as sometimes happen to be taken by others to be raised as a slave and often for prostitution. This guy wants the male as an heir, which was valued in that day, but he doesn't want the female and says, throw it away. We'll take another example.
Ambrose, the early church father who actually baptized Augustine, so you're in the late 300s and 400s in his day, his generation. He spoke of the attitude of the people around him in this day. They lie in their very womb, their own progeny. By use of paracetyl mixtures, they snuff out the fruit of their wombs.
In this way, life is taken before it is given. Who except man himself, he asks, has taught us ways of repudiating our own children? Now, Ambrose, as a Christian pastor, would have, I'm sure, gone on to say that it's possible, some of you, my hearers, have done so. And with Christ, there is forgiveness.
The gospel is a gospel of grace, not of works. We're all disqualified by the things which we have done. But we are welcomed in the grace of Jesus. There's pardon for sinners.
You know, others in our day would go further, though. Peter Singer, bioethics professor at Princeton University, has long advocated for the rights of parents to decide if their born children should be allowed to continue to live. That is, he's taught an entire generation of Princetonians that infanticide should be a parent's right, at least for a few days. Well, the attitude of Jesus towards children is the polar opposite.
He loves and cares for children, even the least of these. And so he shows us the love and care of God for children as he welcomes them when they're brought to him for his intercession and his blessing. And these who brought the children knew something of that. Then notice the attitude, however, of the disciples.
Verse 13 again. Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them to pray, the disciples rebuked the people. What did the disciples get wrong about Jesus and the children? I don't think we have to assume that the disciples held the pagan ancient view or the pagan modern view of children as expendable.
It appears as though, however, that the disciples didn't value the children enough. Perhaps they were thinking, the kingdom of God is for grownups. At least it's the grownups who can really appreciate the benefits of the kingdom and the grownups who can really give themselves in service to the king. What can little babies do for Jesus?
Maybe they thought these little ones don't matter that much. I mean, let them grow up first, of course. And then we'll talk about their inclusion in the kingdom, their value to the king. That maybe their attitude was like that of Mary, the wife of Abraham Lincoln.
She complained to know of Brooks, the newspaper man, about her husband. Not a wise thing for anybody to do about their spouse complained to somebody in the news business. He's so like a child she began. I sometimes wonder if he understands even that he's the president.
I cannot teach him. He will see them all. Near servants, washer women, anyone. He talks with anyone who will come.
The wounded office hunters, women with dead or wounded boys. And the more ragged they are, the longer he will sit and hear them. Mrs. Lincoln's frustrated complaint is, ironically, of course, a fine commendation of Lincoln.
Well, parents find Jesus to be like this, as do any of his disciples who know him well. As you come to him, you never meet a cold shoulder. Well, perhaps their attitude was this. Jesus is a very busy man.
I mean, he's been healing the disease. He's been helping the crowds. He's just had a highly charged debate with the Pharisees. Then he had to answer questions from his own disciples who were really confused.
I mean, he probably doesn't have any time or energy for children at this point. Don't bother him. Long exhausting work. Maybe they wanted to save him from people fatigue, you know, for people imposing on him.
Maybe that was their attitude. I stumbled across a story about Matt Damon, the actor who played in Goodwill Hunting, was Jason Bourne in that franchise or in the oceans 11, 12, and 13. So you know, perhaps we don't talk about it. I guess AI tickled my fancy, I don't know.
But well, there was, it popped up on my news feed and I'm finding myself tracking the story of Matt Damon. He's been married for 20 years. Here's how he met his wife. Because he was, well, he wasn't really super famous yet, but famous enough that he went into a restaurant and he asked the bartender after a bit if he could hide behind her bar and enjoy his drink in peace to escape the crowd.
They were all wanting to talk to him or get his autograph, wanting his attention in a bar. He goes on to say, you know, well, some, their lips were getting looser and looser and it got more boisterous and the bartender said to him, well, all right, you can stay by in the bar if you help me, she said. And he did. He washed dishes for her.
He'd started a movie about making drinks and so he helped make drinks and they talked and they've been together ever since. It's tough to be a celebrity, you see, though, and go out in public. You can bring a press of people, a certain tiredness. And maybe the motive of disciples here then was, well intentioned.
They want to spare Jesus after an exhausting public ministry. Whatever the case, Jesus, what's his response? He was not pleased with them for sending the people away. Matthew doesn't record this, but Mark tells us, same story, Mark 10 verse 14, when Jesus saw it, that is his disciples rebuking the people, when Jesus saw it, he was indignant, greatly displeased, deeply grieved.
Perhaps the rebuke he gave to Philip in John 14 in a different context was quite similar to his thoughts toward them when he said to Philip, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Don't you men get me yet? Don't you understand me that I came for such as these, that I came for all who are such as these, that I'm the king and savior for the poor and the needy and the weak and the helpless, for those like babies who can do nothing for me, I can do everything for them. This is who I'm here for.
So what does he think of children verse 14? Well, he thinks they belong and they should be welcome. Notice his language. So he says to them, verse 14, let the little children come to me and do not hinder them.
For too such belongs to the kingdom of heaven. He thinks that the kingdom of heaven is populated with people who are not only like these little children, in their dependence upon God, which he taught us in chapter 18, but the kingdom of heaven is populated with this category of person called children or babies. Too such belongs to the kingdom. It's a statement of category, not of disposition.
He's not merely repeating chapter 18, verses two and three about the disposition of adults. When he calls a child to himself, you remember, and he put the child in the midst of the disciples and said, truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now that's true and Jesus taught that. No one enters the kingdom of heaven unless they see that they are poor and needy, weak and helpless, dependent like babies are dependent upon a mama.
That we just can't do for ourselves and we need God to do for us, Jesus to do for us. That's true. But Jesus is saying more than that here in this passage. He's saying not just be like a child.
He's saying the kingdom of heaven is not merely for those with that disposition of a child. But the kingdom of heaven includes this category of persons called babies. Later the apostle Paul will write to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 1, to the saints who are in Christ Jesus. That's who the letter is to.
And in chapter six verse four, he says, children, obey your parents and the Lord. Because he thinks of them, he calls them saints. He doesn't collage in chapter one and three likewise. Not that all children everywhere are Christians or saints.
Children need to be brought into the kingdom of heaven out of the kingdoms of this world. Like any of us, they need to be delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. It's not that all children everywhere are saints and in the kingdom. It's not even that all children even in the church are invariably and necessarily regenerated and have saving faith simply because they're physical birth.
That's not what he's saying either. The children of the church, like the rest of us, need to be regenerated, given a new heart, made new creatures by Christ and brought into union with Christ and so saved by grace through faith in Christ, through the new birth of the Holy Spirit. But Jesus here is saying, there are such children and babies in his church who are genuinely in his kingdom and it belongs to them and they belong to it. And so the children of the church should be welcomed and made to feel welcome.
The child of even, but one believer says the apostle Paul 1 Corinthians 7 is holy. They are set apart by God for inclusion in God's community on earth, the church. They belong, they belong in order to believe. They do not believe in order to belong.
They belong in order to be discipled, to be baptized and to be taught that they might believe they are not to be discipled as if they don't belong. So if you're a Christian parent, a believing parent, remember the church of the Lord Jesus, then the apostle Paul says, your child is holy and belongs to this community. Even if your spouse doesn't believe, he's not saying they're saved, but they are set apart. And the church should welcome them and love them and care for them as Jesus does elders.
I think by application we could say elders, the shepherds of God's people should know their names and diligently aim to do so and to love them and pray for them and to speak the good news of the gospel to them and to look out for them as they grow, to see that they grow in grace and truth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus and the deacons of the church should seek to know their names and love them and look after them and see that they're provided for, especially if one parent isn't a believer and that puts the children in a vulnerable situation, the deacons should come alongside and all of us as disciples of Jesus, followers of Jesus, members of his church should warmly welcome the little children and be glad that God has included them and seek to show parents and children alike that we are glad for them. In other words, none of us should hinder them. None of us should get in the way of them coming to Jesus and sharing in the life of his people here on earth. None of us should drive them away by a sour, impatient, tolerant disposition.
Jesus is greatly displeased with that kind of attitude, but we should be warm to and even help the parents and children as we are able, because too such little children belongs to the kingdom of heaven. What an encouragement to you children here today. Some are so young they can't even understand these words. What an encouragement that Jesus loves you and includes you with your mom or your dad or both in this body here.
What an encouragement to parents for you on well, what kind of the challenges of raising children with all their needs and energy and wiggles and slobbers and rambunctiousness and youthful rebellions. What an encouragement to know that Jesus doesn't think, you know, let's just have a bother with them. What an encouragement to parents who think, well, his patients really must wear thin with my children and yet Jesus delights to include them. How fitting too that they be included.
It underscores what Paul said to the Corinthians. I mean, when he said to them, look at yourselves folks, you know, you're hardly the cream of civilization. In 1 Corinthians 1, 27 he says, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. The kingdom of heaven is made of exactly such little people, the dependent, unable, helpless, passive and weak are the real citizens of the heavenly kingdom. These are as Brinner says, different people than those we usually allow to enter our kingdoms and our clubs. The Church of the Lord Jesus is a very different thing.
It ought to be. And so the congregation of Jesus includes little children. And so Matthew Henry says, it is well for us. That Christ has more love and tenderness in him than the best of his disciples have.
There is no one here who will love you as well as Jesus. We'll love you. Not the pastor, not your parents, not the elder's or deacons, not the most tender-hearted state among us. Jesus is the best at it.
And then finally, ask this question. And so because of the disposition of Jesus' stored children, what does he then do for them? No, there's 15. And he laid his hands on them and went away.
He did as those who brought the children requested before he went on to the next thing. As Mark tells us in his account in chapter 10 verse 16, he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. He gathered them up, the strongest believer then lives, not so much by laying hold of Christ as being laid hold of by Christ, the weakest two. Not so much by knowing God by being known by God as the Apostle.
We'll put it. This is the, well, the experience that even the least child can have. Matthew Henry says, if they cannot stretch out their hands to Christ, yet he can lay his hands on them and so make them his own and own them for his own. He is capable of doing much for even those who seem, seem, anyway, incapable of doing much for him.
And so Jesus blessed them. Now, I don't know what kind of prayer these folks were expecting. But Jesus gave them the best prayer possible because he's our great high priest. And they don't understand that yet.
But he mediates the saving grace of God and he blessed them from God. And when God blesses you, you're really blessed. When Jesus blesses you, it isn't some sort of wish in the air or a temporary affair. You don't think Jesus blessed them with the blessing of God just for the rest of the day, do you?
No, when Jesus decides to bless you, you're really blessed for eternity. So Calvin says laying on hands was certainly no frivolous or empty symbol, nor did Christ pour forth his prayers into the empty air. And what was his prayer for them? But that they might be received among the children of God.
From this it follows that they are regenerated by the spirit and the hope of salvation. I might say, we don't know the timing of that regeneration. But these kids, what a blessing to be blessed in the arms of Jesus. Calvin observes this.
This story is very useful. It teaches us that Christ does not receive only those who voluntarily come to him out of a holy desire moved by faith. But also those who may not yet be old enough to realize how much they need his grace. These small children still have no understanding that they should seek his blessing.
And yet, when they are brought to him, he receives them kindly and lovingly and consecrates them to his father in a solemn ceremony of blessing. And so, J.C. Riles says this, let us learn from these verses that the Lord Jesus cares tenderly for the souls of little children. Young as they are, they are not beneath his thought and attention.
That mighty heart of his has room for the babe in its cradle, as well as the king on his throne. He regards each infant as possessing within its little body and undying principle which will outlive the pyramids of Egypt and see the son of the moon quenched at that last day. And so he cares for their souls. And so, I would add this.
And it's short, because you missed the entire Sunday school on the subject, which was just this morning, sorry. This is a passage that shows us that infants can be saved by the grace of God, by the blessing of Christ. And while it does say nothing about infant baptism, it doesn't command it, it does approve its validity, there's no water in this passage. It doesn't suggest even that Jesus would have baptized these children, had their believing parents asked him to.
Yet, just as surely, the conduct of Jesus toward little children, the little children of believers, his love and care for them, his welcome and blessing of them helps to validate the practice of infant baptism that's been carried on throughout the entire history of the Lord's Church. Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. Now, you may have questions about that last point in the application. I totally get it.
I've been on both sides of that. Talk to me afterwards. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. And praise the Lord for it.
Let's pray. Father, thank you for your love and care. Thank you that you knit us together in our mother's womb, that like with Jeremiah, that before you formed us in the womb, you knew us. And thank you that you know us better than we know ourselves even now.
And you know your own and your own know you. I pray that you would make us all needy, dependent like little children who receive gifts from those who can give them. Grant that we would receive from Jesus' salvation. And grant that these are littleists who would never know a day apart from the blessing of Christ and the knowledge of His love for them.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.