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Summary
We are reminded that Jesus’ famous encounter with children in Mark 10:13-16 is not merely a lesson about child-rearing or children’s ministry — it is a profound exposition of the gospel itself. The way a child receives a gift, with nothing to offer in return, is the very posture God requires of every soul who would enter his kingdom.
Key Lessons:
- The disciples’ rebuke of the children was a great offense because it directly contradicted Jesus’ earlier teaching that welcoming children is like welcoming Christ himself.
- To receive the kingdom of God ‘like a child’ means to come with nothing to offer — no earned righteousness, no bargaining — only humble, dependent reception of God’s free gift.
- Jesus was genuinely indignant when children were turned away, revealing that God’s heart burns with compassion for the lowly and that excluding them is a serious injustice.
- Those who have received God’s grace as needy children are freed and called to extend that same welcome to actual children and all who are lowly and needy.
Application: We are called to examine our own hearts for wrong attitudes toward children, to receive God’s salvation with childlike humility if we have not yet done so, and to give ourselves — individually and as a church — to welcoming, serving, teaching, and praying for children and other needy persons around us.
Discussion Questions:
- In what ways are you tempted to ‘earn’ your standing before God rather than receiving his grace like a dependent child?
- How have you personally viewed children — as a burden or interruption, or as a vital part of ministry? What needs to change?
- Who in your life — a child or an adult — needs you to take the time to serve, teach, and pray for them as Jesus did for the children in this passage?
Scripture Focus: Mark 10:13-16 teaches that childlike receptivity is the only posture for entering God’s kingdom. Romans 3:10, 3:23, and 6:23 establish universal sinfulness and its penalty. 2 Corinthians 5:21 summarizes the double gift of Christ’s righteousness credited to us and our sin borne by him. James 5:16-18 assures us that the prayers of righteous believers for children are genuinely effective.
Outline
- Introduction
- Background and Context
- Reading the Text
- The Four Greats: An Overview
- 1. The Disciples’ Great Offense
- 2. The Lord’s Great Indignation
- 3. The Gospel’s Great Truth
- What It Means to Receive Like a Child
- Our Inability to Save Ourselves
- What God Did in Christ
- Receiving the Free Gift
- The Rich Young Ruler: A Warning
- The Connection: Grace Received, Grace Extended
- 4. The Children’s Great Blessing
Introduction
We’re getting ready to return to our study of the Gospel of John. Lord willing, we will do so next week.
I mentioned before that I had a couple of scripture passages on my heart this summer that I wanted to preach to you.
Back in July, we looked at one of those passages, Jesus’s famous command not to judge in Matthew 7:1-6. But today we’re looking at some other famous words from Jesus about welcoming children.
Why study this second passage?
Well, I had originally selected this text earlier in the summer, hoping that it would be an encouragement to weary parents among us and also a way to build greater enthusiasm in our congregation for children’s ministry.
I myself am the father of two very cute but very rambunctious little boys. I could use some encouragement and I think you could too as parents.
But also, while I’m encouraged to see many people returning to and signing up to serve in our nursery and youth ministries this year, I would love to see our church be able to do even more. I would love to see us able to offer nursery during the Sunday school hour. I would love if our church could offer VBS as a ministry in the community during the summer. And I would love to see, God willing, the return of a weekday children’s ministry like we once had at our church.
Now, those are some big goals. God willing, we will reach those goals someday soon. Maybe this sermon will be part of what God uses to bring that about. But like I said, that was my original intention.
Now, after having studied the passage, I see that this text is about something deeper.
Yes, this famous text does have good application for parenting and for children’s ministry, but these verses are really about the gospel.
They explain to us both how a sinner is saved to eternal life and then how that salvation fundamentally transforms a person’s attitudes towards others, children included.
“These verses are really about the gospel — how a sinner is saved and how that salvation transforms a person’s attitudes towards others.”
For multiple reasons, I believe we have a precious and needful text before us this morning. Please pray with me as I ask for God’s help in explaining it.
Heavenly Father, thank you that we can call you Father. Thank you that we can be sons and daughters in your family. But God, I think you want us to understand that a little more deeply this morning. So God, help me to be able to explain it. Help us to hear it and be transformed by it in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Have you ever heard someone say of an adult, maybe you’ve said this about yourself in jest, “Oh, he’s a child at heart” or “She’s just a kid at heart”?
What does someone mean by using those phrases?
Well, rest assured, to be called a child or a kid at heart is a compliment and not an insult. Now, to be called childish is an insult. If you’re childish, it means that you’re selfish, lazy, and immature. You’re like a child in all the bad ways that a child could be.
But by contrast, to be a child at heart means to remain a child in some good ways.
Though you are now a responsible adult or a growing teenager, you still know how to be silly and to have fun. You still find excitement and joy in life’s little gifts and you are still eager to try new things and learn about the world.
Truly, if you want to live life well, you should remain a child at heart.
Yet, according to the Bible, there is a more important sense in which all of us, no matter how old we are, should be kids at heart.
In fact, Jesus, God’s own son, says that if we are not like children spiritually before God, we will have absolutely no part in God’s salvation or his coming kingdom.
What does it mean to be a child at heart with God?
And how should having this childlike heart change our attitude towards actual children?
Let’s find out by turning to Mark 10:13-16, in which we will hear Jesus’s famous exchange with his disciples about letting the little children come to him. I’m calling this message “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”
Jesus loves the little children. And hopefully as we see displayed today from the Bible the Lord’s own heart for children, we will learn to love children and those who are like them just like the Lord does.
So again, Mark 10:13-16 is our text today, which you can find on page 107 if you’re using the Bibles that we provide. It’s just after where we had our scripture reading this morning.
Page 107.
Background and Context
As we parachute into this text, let me tell you a little bit about its context and background.
We’re in the Gospel of Mark, one of the four God-breathed records of Jesus’ life and ministry. The author of this gospel is John Mark, or simply Mark. He was an associate of the Apostle Peter, who writes by the Holy Spirit and under Peter’s oversight.
Mark writes this gospel primarily with unbelieving Gentiles in mind, intent on showing them that Jesus is the suffering servant who came to lay down his life to save everyone who believes in him.
Our passage is pretty far along in Mark’s record of Jesus’ life. By this point in the Gospel of Mark, the tide of hostility from the Jews toward their own Messiah has already turned. Thus, Jesus has largely withdrawn from the crowds to instruct his disciples privately on the true nature of his mission and on the true nature of their discipleship after him.
In Mark 10:1-12, right before our text, we learn that while traveling through Judea and then Perea—that is, the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River—Jesus decides to teach a gathering crowd of Jews one more time. However, he is soon waylaid by some hateful Pharisees who try to entrap Jesus with a question about divorce.
That’s not going to work on our all-wise Savior. He easily evades the trap and in the process sets the record straight on God’s design for marriage.
Our text is what appears next, in which Jesus appropriately sets the record straight when it comes to the assumed offspring of marriage, which is children.
“Jesus appropriately sets the record straight when it comes to the assumed offspring of marriage, which is children.”
We find parallel versions of this account in the other synoptic gospels. If you want to look them up later, you can check Matthew 19:13-15 and Luke 18:15-17 for the parallel accounts.
Reading the Text
Well, we’re going to focus on Mark’s version. Let’s now read our text. Mark 10:13-16.
And they were bringing children to him so that he might touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to me. Do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.
And he took them in his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands on them.
Mark 10:14: “Permit the children to come to me. Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
This text is short but profound.
In Mark 10:13-16, Jesus teaches his disciples both a main truth and a main application of that truth. The main truth is this: you must be a lowly child at heart to receive God’s salvation.
The main application of that truth is this: as God’s lowly child, you ought to welcome all other lowly persons. To say these another way, Christians ought never to ignore, reject, or resent lowly children. Rather, Christians ought to welcome and bless children.
Why is that? Because true Christians recognize that they are but lowly children themselves who have not only received Christ’s undeserved welcome but also his forever blessing of salvation.
“True Christians recognize that they are but lowly children who have received Christ’s undeserved welcome and his forever blessing of salvation.”
The Four Greats: An Overview
Our text unfolds in four parts, one part for each verse. Each of these parts has something great happening or being said.
My sermon outline for this narrative is going to be according to four greats. Four greats.
1. The Disciples’ Great Offense
And the first great offense that we see is in verse 13, number one on our outline: the disciples’ great offense. Verse 13 states, “Again, they were bringing children to him so that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuke them.”
Notice that verse 13 does not begin with any new time or place indicators, suggesting that we’re still at wherever Jesus was, which was with the crowds somewhere in Judea.
Mark 10:10 does mention that Jesus went into a house. So verse 13 could either commence with Jesus still at that house or maybe he’s back outside with the people. Either way, he’s been with the crowds and he’s on the other side of the Jordan.
Notice at the beginning of verse 13 that certain people are attempting to bring children to Jesus.
Now who are these people that are attempting to bring the children?
Mark doesn’t tell us, but we can safely assume that these are people in the crowd that Jesus recently taught—probably parents, nurses, and other relatives who have been given charge of children.
Now notice the term for children. What kind of children are we talking about?
The original Greek term for children here is broad and it could indicate any child from newborn to about age 12. Luke’s account, however, says that they were bringing even their babies to him. The Greek word used there indicates very small children, babies and infants.
Yet Luke says even their babies. So it’s not just babies. There apparently was a variety of children being brought to Jesus: babies, toddlers, little boys and girls, and even some twins.
Why Were Children Brought to Jesus?
Now, why are all these children being brought to Jesus?
Verse 13 says, “So that he might touch them.” What’s that about? Well, if we read on in the text down to verse 16, we gain clarification. This isn’t about Jesus patting kids on the head or something like that. This is about Jesus symbolically laying his hands on the children to bless them.
Since the fall, parents in every age have been concerned about the welfare of their children. The parents of this church are no exception.
We want to see our children growing, happy, healthy. We want to see them becoming men and women who can successfully navigate life. We want to see them supporting themselves, raising a family, making a difference in the world.
Most of all, we Christian parents want to see our children saved. We want to see them know God and know the blessing of walking with the Lord Jesus in obedience.
But securing those things is ultimately out of our control, isn’t it? We cannot control circumstances as parents and we cannot change our children’s hearts.
So what do we do? We raise our children the best we can and we pray for them.
God, would you bless our little kids? Would you grant them entrance into your kingdom? And we invite others to pray for our kids too.
Now these parents and guardians of Jesus’ day are probably no different from us. They are seeking these things for their children as well. Except they are probably even more intense in their seeking and in their concerns. And why is that?
Well, we are blessed to live in a day in which the worldwide child mortality rate is about 4%. Only 4% of children born will not reach age six.
But in the ancient world, historians estimate that the child mortality rate was about 50%. Half of children born would not live to age six.
So if you were a parent living in Jesus’ day and you heard about this great holy man, a teacher, this prophet, this miracle worker, clearly from God, yes, even the Messiah and the Son of God, would you not desire his blessing on your child’s behalf?
Would you not desire his healing hands to be placed on your child? Would you not desire his prayer for your child’s soul?
That’s why these people in verse 13 are seeking Jesus with their children.
“If you heard about this great holy man, the Messiah and Son of God, would you not desire his blessing on your child’s behalf?”
Yet they encounter a rough reception because the end of verse 13 says, “But the disciples rebuke them.” Who’s the them now? Well, it’s probably the people from the crowd, but it could include their children as well.
The word translated rebuked in this verse is intense. It indicates strong disapproval, reproof, and even warning. These parents and children are told in no uncertain terms that they are not welcome to approach or be around Jesus.
Does that surprise you? Does that shock you? Does it even make you feel a little bit angry? It should.
Not only does the disciples’ rebuking of these parents and children seem pretty callous, but also the action goes against Jesus’ explicit instruction only recently given to his disciples.
We read it earlier in our service. If you glance back to Mark 9:33-37, look at what Jesus says to his disciples when they are still in Capernaum of Galilee.
They came to Capernaum and when he was in the house he began to question them. “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest.
Sitting down he called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Taking a child, he set him before them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me, and whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me.”
What did Jesus teach his disciples? That those seeking true greatness before God ought to become the lowest servants. And what example does Jesus provide of lowly but great in God’s eyes service? It’s welcoming children. It’s receiving and serving children.
Jesus even says that receiving children for Jesus’ sake is like receiving Jesus himself and the Father.
“Receiving children for Jesus’ sake is like receiving Jesus himself and the Father.”
So, how did the disciples forget that profound lesson from Jesus so soon? How is it that they even do the exact opposite of what Jesus commanded? They’re not receiving children. They’re sending them away.
Interestingly, we’re not told in Mark or in the parallel gospel accounts why the disciples did what they did. Why they rebuke these parents and their children?
Are the disciples trying to protect Jesus’ rest time after a long day of ministry? Hey, no disturbing the teacher right now, especially with your whining kids.
Are the disciples trying to protect Jesus’ teaching and healing time from unwelcome disruption? We’re trying to do ministry here so we can’t have your kids giggling and running around.
The Low Status of Children Then and Now
Or do the disciples simply believe, as most did at that time, that children just aren’t that important?
Look, if there’s time at the end, Jesus can hold your babies. But right now, Jesus has far more important work to do.
We sometimes hear how in ancient cultures, including Jewish culture, people looked down on women. But back then, there was another group that was treated even more poorly than women, and that group was children.
Children were the least important members of society. In pagan cultures, people could often kill or discard their children without consequence. And even in Jewish culture, children held little value, at least until they became adults.
Why were children seen as so bottom rung? Because children are so incapable. I mean, all kids do is take, take, take without giving anything back.
Kids need to be fed, clothed, changed, transported, and sheltered. They take up your time. They take up your money. They take up your patience.
They need constant training. They frequently need correction and discipline. And what do they give back?
A little cuteness, some affection and honor, a few chores completed. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, children can do very little by themselves.
Generally speaking, only when children are closer to becoming adults do they really contribute anything materially, intellectually, or spiritually to their family or to society at large.
So why should children receive attention or honor? Why should anyone seek to serve children? The thought back then was you don’t. Children just need to be quiet and get out of the adults’ way.
Are attitudes about children that different today? Even in the church, our supposedly enlightened western culture in America generally sees children as a burden, a burden to avoid and to complain about.
How do you see children? When a baby starts crying near you on a plane or in the back of the church, what is your first thought?
Have you taken time to greet, get to know, or serve any of the children even here? Or do you completely ignore children unless they do something wrong?
Do you see children as getting in the way of ministry—your ministry or the church’s ministry? Or do you see children as necessary ministry, as a crucial part of the ministry that God has given you and has given the church?
We, like Jesus’ disciples, must confess that we have at times, and maybe even now, harbored wrong attitudes when it comes to children, maybe even our own.
“Children are not a distraction from ministry — they are a crucial part of the ministry that God has given the church.”
And this has led to sinful thoughts, sinful words, and sinful actions. And just as Jesus must confront his disciples, so he must confront us in what is really a great offense.
2. The Lord’s Great Indignation
Let’s see how Jesus does this with his disciples in the next part of our passage. Number two, the Lord’s great indignation.
The Lord’s great indignation. Verse 14.
But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to me. Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
The disciples apparently thought that they were doing right in rebuking the ones bringing the children. Maybe they even thought they were doing Jesus a favor.
But now those who are offering the stern rebuke are receiving a stern rebuke from the Lord himself.
Notice the phrase in verse 14: he was indignant.
There are very few times in the New Testament that Jesus is described as getting angry. Probably just four times.
There were two times that Jesus zealously cleansed the temple on his Father’s behalf. There was one time when Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath while the Pharisees were trying to use the healing as a way to accuse Jesus.
And then there’s this situation. Those are the only times.
Apparently, it takes a lot to make Jesus angry. And he never gets angry on his own behalf.
But he will get angry on his Father’s behalf.
He will get angry on behalf of those in need. And he will get angry on behalf of children.
The Greek term for indignant indicates anger for what is assumed to be wrong.
And the disciples have indeed done wrong. They have committed a great injustice.
“The disciples have indeed done wrong. They have committed a great injustice.”
And so now in angry zeal, Jesus is going to set the situation right.
Jesus Rebukes His Disciples
How will Jesus set the situation right?
With a rebuking instruction to his disciples.
Notice how in the middle of verse 14, Jesus gives the same command two different ways to his disciples for emphasis. Positively, Jesus commands his disciples, “Let the kids come to me.” And negatively, Jesus commands, “Do not hinder them.” We could also translate this phrase, “Do not forbid them. Do not prevent them.”
You seeing the irony of Jesus’ rebuke?
The disciples apparently thought that letting the children in would hinder Jesus’ ministry, but the truth was the opposite. It was the disciples who were hindering Jesus’ ministry by not letting the children in. Or in other words, the children were not a hindrance to Jesus.
His misguided disciples were.
“The children were not a hindrance to Jesus. His misguided disciples were.”
Now notice the end of verse 14. Jesus supplies an important reason for his double rebuke.
He says, “For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” What’s the kingdom of God?
That’s shorthand for God’s eternal salvation epitomized in a literal kingdom from God coming to earth over which Jesus will reign with his people forever.
We’ve been learning a lot about that from the book of Revelation.
Jesus says the reason the disciples absolutely must not forbid children from coming to Jesus is because God’s salvation kingdom belongs to little children just like these. Yes, just like these babies and toddlers, little girls and boys and tweens, ones just like them will inherit God’s perfect kingdom.
What does Jesus mean by that?
3. The Gospel’s Great Truth
But let’s let the Lord himself explain in the next part of the passage, the next verse. In verse 15, we see number three, the gospel’s great truth. The gospel’s great truth. Verse 15: “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”
Notice how verse 15 begins with the attention-grabbing phrase, “Truly I say to you.” Jesus likes to use phrases like this. The idea is that Jesus is telling his disciples, “Get ready. I’m about to say something that will shock you.” But it’s true, and you better believe it.
What is the shocking truth? That only those who are lowly children at heart will inherit God’s kingdom.
Notice how Jesus frames the truth negatively: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child will not enter it at all.”
This translation in the New American Standard 95 is a good one as it reflects the original Greek’s emphatic quality. Unless you fulfill the first part of Jesus’s statement—the condition of being like a child—you will by no means, you will not at all, you will never enter the kingdom of God.
Your being like a child is a non-negotiable condition for salvation.
“Your being like a child is a non-negotiable condition for salvation. There is no other way.”
There is no other way.
Okay, for such a startling word, we might ask: In what way am I to be like a child? Kids have all sorts of qualities, don’t they? Which one is necessary for entry into eternal life? Must I be dutiful as some children are with their parents? Must I be innocent of evil as some people suppose children are? Must I be careful to honor my heavenly father as children are expected to honor their parents?
Certainly Jesus cannot mean that I have to have a bad quality that children have. So in what good way am I to be like a child to satisfy God?
The problem with this kind of thinking in response to Jesus’s statement is three-fold. One, none of the good qualities of children are characteristic of all children. Two, you cannot find any particular good quality of children highlighted in this text, nor in the parallel texts. And three, any answer that would relate to the goodness of a child would not be surprising.
Jesus starts verse 15 by saying, “Truly I say to you,” which means he’s about to say something surprising.
What It Means to Receive Like a Child
In what way is Jesus saying, “You must be like a child to enter God’s kingdom”? The key to the answer is in verse 15 itself. For Jesus says, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child.” How does a child receive something good?
Either from his parents or someone else. He just receives it.
The child just takes what’s offered. He welcomes it.
Now, yes, children can sometimes be picky about what is otherwise good.
Yet, when is the last time you heard a child at the dinner table say, “Hold up, mom. How much do I owe you for the meal?” Or when’s the last time you heard a child protest after being given a new toy? I’m afraid I already have so many nice toys, I can’t accept another one.
Or when’s the last time you heard a baby turn down a bottle of milk and say, “I haven’t been a good enough baby lately to drink this.” Babies don’t talk, but you get my point.
What Jesus is saying is that the very quality that inadvertently puts children at the bottom of the social value scale is the same quality that is so necessary to enter into God’s kingdom. You must take without giving anything back.
A child cannot give anything back. He lacks the ability because he’s only a child and anything good he has is not his own. It was a gift given to him.
A child is fundamentally needy and dependent. He can make no claim to honor or deservedness.
A child is ultimately helpless.
“A child can make no claim to honor or deservedness. A child is ultimately helpless.”
If others do not show that child mercy, that child will waste away and die.
Jesus says, “Unless your heart is just like this before God, there is no way you will be saved.” Do you see now why Jesus’s statement is so shocking?
Because in it Jesus completely contradicts the Jewish religious tradition of his day.
Indeed, Jesus’s pronouncement, that simple pronouncement, it attacks the natural false religion that is in every human heart since the fall.
Our Inability to Save Ourselves
We naturally believe that we can and must earn our way into God’s kingdom.
Yes, we may admit we have sinned. We have become like Adam and Eve, exposed in our spiritual nakedness before God.
But we can sew fig leaves for ourselves. We can cover our own nakedness to stop offending God.
How do we attempt to cover ourselves? By doing good works, by saying prayers, by going through rituals, by being religious, ultimately by keeping rules, either God’s rules or ones that we’ve made up for ourselves.
And depending on what rules we’ve chosen to focus on, we may think to ourselves that we have indeed earned a place in God’s kingdom.
See, God, I haven’t murdered anyone. I haven’t committed adultery. In fact, I go to church. I pay my taxes. I help my neighbor with her lawn. I must be a good person before you. So I have a place in your kingdom. Right?
Alternatively, maybe we are all too aware that there are certain rules, good rules, that we do not keep, but we try to make up for it by doing more good than bad.
Yes, God, I struggle with lying and anger, but I stopped drinking. Doesn’t that count for something? And I read my Bible every day, or at least this week. And I recently got baptized. I’m trying, God.
Hopefully you see more good in me than bad.
Yet God is emphatic in his Bible, his only sure revelation: on our own we can never be good enough for God. Never good enough. This is because the required standard of God, the standard for entry into God’s kingdom, is way higher than we naturally expect.
It is God’s own character. It’s his own holiness. It is perfection inside and out every moment of your life. That’s the standard.
You not only must not commit murder, but you must never get sinfully angry. You must not only not commit adultery, but you must also never lust after anyone or covet anything.
And that’s just the negative side.
Positively, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart. And you must love your neighbor as yourself all the time in your thoughts and in your words and actions.
Who among us? Who in the world is perfect like that?
Yet that’s the standard. Matthew 5:48, Jesus said it himself: “Therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” But what if we’re not perfect?
Well, James 2:10. For whoever keeps the whole law, if he stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all. It’s poison in the glass. You’ve shattered the window. It can’t be fixed.
What will be the penalty for such imperfection?
Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death—that is, eternal death and torment away from the presence of God and his love and his kindness and fully immersed in his wrath.
But since nobody’s perfect clearly, doesn’t that mean that no one is getting into God’s kingdom without some kind of radical rescue? And the scriptures say the same. Romans 3:10. There is none righteous, not even one. Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
So you see, we are a doomed race. We have this natural pride, this natural drive to make our own way to God, to clothe our own spiritual nakedness, yet it will always fail.
“We have this natural pride, this natural drive to make our own way to God — yet it will always fail.”
We sew mere fig leaves that don’t cover us and quickly deteriorate.
In reality, we are like lowly, helpless children before God. With nothing to offer him except our sin.
Yet what did Jesus say? That receiving children will enter into God’s kingdom.
Wait, how is that possible?
It is because God is fundamentally merciful. He has a heart of compassion toward those who are lowly and needy, especially children.
What God Did in Christ
And so, what did our merciful God do?
He made a way for sinners. God made a way for sinners like you and me, because God would do everything on his own that you and I could not.
This is what God did in love. He sent his beloved son Jesus into the world. Jesus who was fully God and sinless man.
Jesus was born. He grew up. He lived a perfectly righteous life 100% inside and out all the time. He kept all the commands of God—the ones that we should have kept and yet the ones that we don’t.
He never failed to do anything good and he never did anything bad. He alone earned a record of righteousness that was acceptable for entrance into God’s kingdom.
But then he died. Jesus allowed himself to be betrayed in the hands of sinful men and he laid down his life on a cross.
Why would he do that? So that he could suffer the penalty of sin on behalf of his people.
You see, we spiritual children have a double neediness. We not only need somebody to give us a perfect record of righteousness, but we also need somebody to pay off our sin-filled record of our lives, the penalty of our sin, which is an eternity of suffering in hell.
We need the perfect record of righteousness and we need somebody to pay our hellish penalty.
But who could pay the penalty? Who would pay the penalty for unworthy sinners?
The son of God says, “I will.” And he did.
That’s what the cross was all about. It was not about suffering nails or mocking or suffocation. It was about the son of God bearing the wrath of God for every sin, for every person who would believe in him.
This is why the world went dark for three hours. Jesus was experiencing hell on the cross for his people.
And though you and I could never finish suffering the wrath of God—that’s why hell is eternal—Jesus could. And he did. We’re finite. We can’t suffer it once and for all, but he’s infinite God. He’s eternal God. He can suffer an infinite penalty and finish it.
Which is why he said at the end of his time on the cross, “It is finished. I’ve accomplished it all. The penalty is paid.” Jesus gave up his spirit and died. And he was buried.
“It is finished. The penalty is paid.”
And he was in the tomb for three days.
But he didn’t stay there. He instead rose from the dead. And why did he do that? To prove two glorious realities.
On the one hand, he proved that his sacrifice on behalf of sinners was accepted. Otherwise, we’d look at the cross and say, “Did he really pay for my sins?” No, we know he did because he rose from the dead. God approved. That’s the seal of God’s approval on his work.
But the other reason was when he rises to new life after death, he says, “So will all who believe in me. My resurrection is proof of your coming resurrection.”
So then what does Jesus offer needy sinners by his life, his death, and his resurrection? Exactly what we need. On the one hand, that perfect record of righteousness to make us acceptable to God. And on the other hand, that perfect substitutionary death that pays off all our sins.
It is as 2 Corinthians 5:21 summarizes: “He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
Receiving the Free Gift
And to all this you might say, “How do I obtain it? How do I obtain this double gift of mercy from God? What must I do?” What is the answer? Mark 10:15.
Just take it.
Receive it like any lowly, desperate child would. And God says, “It’s yours.”
To say this truth, this glorious truth another way: If you will believe what I’ve told you today on the authority of the word of God that you are a needy sinner bound for hell with no true righteousness on your own, no way of rescuing yourself. But if you will depend on Jesus, if you will trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior to give you his righteousness and to pay off all your sin, God promises you will be saved.
You will be saved. That’s it.
“If you will depend on Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God promises you will be saved. That’s it.”
More than that, God promises that he will give you his own Holy Spirit while you live the rest of your life on earth so that you may follow Jesus as a true disciple. You can actually put off the sin practically that is so offensive to God and that was damning you to hell, and you could put on righteousness like Jesus’s own and make him known to the world.
This is the gift. This is the free gift that God offers.
Now, you may say, “But that’s too easy.” Yet God says, “That’s how I get all the glory. If salvation were by works in any portion, then man would have something to boast in.”
But salvation is by grace alone. It is by the unmerited favor of God alone to lowly children. And therefore, there is no room for boasting. Rather, all the honor, all the praise, all the glory goes to the God who did everything.
As Jesus says, this is the only way into God’s kingdom: Become like needy children with nothing to offer and nothing to hold you back.
Just receive God’s free gift and you will be saved.
It’s an amazing invitation. It’s an amazing word. But what is the crazy part?
This good news, this gospel I’m sharing with you—most people in the world won’t accept it.
They won’t become like needy children.
They won’t admit that they are needy children who must just receive.
They insist on another way to God.
The Rich Young Ruler: A Warning
If you want an example, just look at the narrative that follows our text. If you glance down, you’ll see the next account in Mark and in the parallel gospels is the account of the rich young ruler.
Who’s the rich young ruler?
He’s a rich man who trusted in his own lawkeeping to get himself into God’s kingdom. He was looking for verification from Jesus.
Jesus instead exposed the man’s secret but great sin. The man loved wealth more than God. He loved possessions and what wealth could bring more than God.
So Jesus showed him what it means to believe in Jesus for this man. He says, “Go take all your wealth, give it away, and then come follow me. I’ll give you eternal life if you will give up what’s holding you back.”
The man was not willing and he went away sad and damned.
You see, that man’s heart was not like a child’s heart. The man wanted to earn his way to God and was too afraid to give up what he already had or what he thought he had to receive what God wanted to give him.
Don’t be like the rich young ruler.
Instead, be like a lowly child in your heart before God. That’s the only way into his kingdom.
“Be like a lowly child in your heart before God. That’s the only way into his kingdom.”
You can receive God’s offer of salvation today if you haven’t already.
If you’ll give up everything to receive what he offers freely.
What should stop you from doing that even this moment?
The Connection: Grace Received, Grace Extended
Well, I need to circle back now to verse 14 because remember what prompted this great unveiling of this truth of salvation? It was Jesus rebuking his disciples to let the children come to him.
So the question we need to ask is: what is the connection between welcoming actual children and coming to God as a lowly spiritual child yourself?
I’ve already broached the connection. Hopefully you now see it too.
When you recognize yourself as a lowly, needy child before God, and you receive his gracious gift, you are now freed up to show compassion to those who are just as lowly and needy as you.
After all, how could you refuse to welcome lowly children when God didn’t refuse to welcome you? How could you not have in yourself the same merciful heart that God has in himself?
Children aren’t just physically and socially needy. They are spiritually needy too, just like you. They’re a smaller version, but they’ve got the same spiritual need. They need someone to lead them to Christ just as you did.
Yet children have one spiritual advantage that adults typically don’t. That natural loneliness that they have as children makes them inclined to accept what is offered to them, even the explanation of God and his salvation truth.
So ministry to children or really to any other group which cannot give back is not inappropriate. It is not a waste of time for Christians. It is entirely appropriate and profitable for Christians since gospel ministry is fundamentally the lowly and needy giving the good news of Jesus to other lowly and needy persons.
“Gospel ministry is fundamentally the lowly and needy giving the good news of Jesus to other lowly and needy persons.”
What should such ministry look like?
Well, what does Jesus himself show us in the last part of our passage?
4. The Children’s Great Blessing
One more great number four, the children’s great blessing. Verse 16, the children’s great blessing.
And he took them in his arms and began blessing them, laying his hands on them.
Look at how enthusiastically Jesus, God himself in the flesh, gets into children’s ministry. He’s literally picking up babies and toddlers in his arms.
There are no sermons here, but there is compassion and there is prayer.
Jesus indeed does as the parents hope he will. He lays his hands on the children and he blesses them. He prays over them.
“Jesus, God himself in the flesh, picks up babies and toddlers, lays his hands on them, and blesses them.”
Do you think those blessings were effective? I’m sure they were. Jesus is God after all. He’s not going to pray a blessing and somehow be like, “Oh, no.”
But what exactly was the blessing that Jesus prayed for these different children? Was it for mere good health, a successful life? Was it for salvation?
I cannot say for sure, but I would not be surprised if multiple things were included. Surely, yes, the spiritual would be his greatest concern. But if he was willing to heal people physically, would he not be willing to pray for the physical provision of these boys and girls?
And if Jesus didn’t indeed pray for these children’s salvation, and we would expect that that’s what the result would be, consider what a tragedy it would have been if the disciples were successful in their intent to keep these children away. Jesus would never have prayed for them and they never would have been saved.
Now, you might ask, well, Jesus is God. His prayers of blessing over these children would be effective.
But what use would such prayers be from Christians for children today?
Well to that I say let’s remember James 5:16-18. James 5:16-18 reminds us that Elijah was a mere man. Yet just look at how God answered his prayers. He prayed. It didn’t rain for three years. And he prayed again and it rained abundantly.
The lesson is the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. You don’t have to be God to have effective prayers. You don’t have to be the son of God to pray for a child and for God to use that for the salvation of that child.
Indeed, Christian history is replete with the testimony of believers who were saved because someone took the time to serve, to teach, and to pray for them when they were young.
Freely Give as You Have Freely Received
As Jesus tells his disciples in Matthew 10:8, he says, “As you have freely received, freely give.” God has freely given to us in our salvation. Let us in turn, individually and as a church, freely give to the children and other needy that God has put in our lives and in our church.
“As you have freely received, freely give. God has freely given to us, so let us freely give to children and others in need.”
Please pray with me now.
Lord God, you are so wonderful. God, I know many people in this church already have wonderful hearts for children. We need to grow.
Lord, we are still battling sin, still battling the flesh, still battling selfishness, and we forget, God, how gracious you’ve been to us as needy children.
The image from Ezekiel is appropriate in describing our state before you at one time. We were like children discarded, like a child who was still squirming in her blood because her parents didn’t want her and were just left on the side of the road to die.
But what did you do, God? You did for us what you did for Israel, but you did it for us in an even greater way. You looked at us and you said, “Live.” And you clothed us. And you brought us into your own household. And you raised us and you blessed us.
Oh God, what a mighty salvation. What an incredible heart of mercy you have displayed towards us. Let that same heart be in us now, God, towards others, towards one another.
Lord Jesus, help us to love little children like you do. Help us to love you for how you have loved us as little children.
And Lord God, help us to take this wonderful message, this beautiful gospel to the other little children that we know, those who are actual children and those who are adults, so that they may see that there is someone who is willing to take pity on them. There is someone willing to show mercy to them if they will just receive.
God, glorify yourself in this church. Indeed, God, we pray that you would free us up for more enthusiastic, more skillful, more available ministry to children and to many others.