Luke 18:15-17 — Like a Little Child
Take your Bibles with me and turn to Luke 18. We are going to be looking at verses 15-17 today. It's a short passage, so let's go ahead and read it.
[15] And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
[16] But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
[17] Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.— Luke 18:15-17 (KJV)
There is a man who used to attend our church in Tennessee who happened to be the town's OB/GYN — the doctor who took care of Amanda when our first child was born.
As a young man with no children at the time, I'll be honest with you: I thought that was a strange career choice. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to spend their days delivering babies.
Then I was in the delivery room when my first child was born. I will just say this: it is not for the faint of heart. I've been through it five times, and it never quite gets easier on the stomach. But it is also the most remarkable thing I have ever witnessed in my life.
I remember finding that doctor afterward and telling him, "I used to think your job was strange. I don't anymore." Because every single day, that man got to witness the miracle of new life. Every day he got to place a baby into a mother's arms for the very first time.
The birth of a child is a remarkable thing. Every child, unlike anything else in creation, is stamped with the image of God. Every child has the opportunity to grow up and trust Christ as their Savior. Every child has the potential to live a life that honors God, to have their own children, and raise them up in the nurture and admonition of Christ.
Kent Hughes said that a child is the apex of creation.
We live in a world that doesn't like babies. Doesn't like little children. If you want evidence for that, look no further than the number of abortions that happen every year. If you want further evidence, look at our declining birthrate in the West. Babies are seen as a nuisance, as an inconvenience, as a hindrance between people and their dreams.
But that's not how the Bible treats babies, and that's not how our Lord thought of babies. Jesus loves children, and Jesus teaches us that children are a blessing from the Lord.
Now the passage we are looking at today is one of the most famous passages in this whole book. Most of us have seen a mural or a book cover with Jesus surrounded by little children, and that image was drawn from this passage.
As we look at it, I want to give you two secondary points that come directly from this text, and then I want to spend most of our time on what I think is the main thing Jesus was saying here.
Let's have a word of prayer and we'll get into this passage.
Lord, thank you for the gift of children. Thank you for the joy that they bring into our lives and the joy that they bring into our church. As we look at this passage today and we think about how you received children and how we should all be like children as we receive you, I pray that the Word would be clear. That you would help people understand their own salvation better today — help them understand the gospel better today — that you would help us all to become more like little children. If there is someone here today who has never truly trusted you as a little child, who has never really put their faith and trust in you, I pray that today would be the day they do that. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.
In this story, a number of people were bringing their babies to Jesus so that he could touch them and bless them. There is a tradition in Judaism of men blessing babies that goes all the way back to the story of Jacob — Israel — down in Egypt, laying his hands on Joseph's sons and pronouncing a blessing over them. It was common for women to bring their babies, around one year old, to the rabbi to be blessed. Apparently this was something that happened to Jesus regularly.
And the disciples didn't like it. They probably thought it was a waste of time. They were likely trying to protect Jesus' schedule from what they considered unimportant interruptions.
So as these families are bringing their babies to Jesus, the disciples begin to rebuke them — to scold them. I don't know exactly what they said. Something like, "Get the babies out of here. We don't have time for this. Leave the Master alone." That sort of thing.
The parallel passage in the book of Mark tells us that this made Jesus angry — very angry. So Jesus gathered these babies and their families to himself and said to the disciples, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not."
We don't really use the word "suffer" that way anymore. It simply means "allow." Jesus is saying, "Allow the little children to come to me. Do not forbid the little children to come to me."
Secondary Lessons
Now before we get to the main point of this passage, there are two secondary things we can learn from this story.
1. Jesus Loves Little Children
Jesus enjoyed having these babies come to him. He enjoyed being around little children. They were not unimportant to him. They were not nuisances to him.
As Psalm 127 says:
[3] Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
[4] As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
[5] Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.— Psalm 127:3-5 (KJV)
Jesus saw children as a blessing, and we should too.
One thing that is certainly true about our church is that we have lots of little ones. Lots of babies and one-year-olds, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, and four-year-olds. They run around a lot. Some of us need to do a better job of keeping them under control and keeping them from running through the auditorium. But I would rather have the chaos of little children in this room than have no children here at all.
Children are a massive blessing from God. Our children are the best chance we have for making a lasting impact for the Lord. They are our arrows. As we train them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, we are aiming them straight at the enemy.
Jesus loved little children. We should too.
2. We Should Not Forbid Little Children from Coming to Jesus
Again, Jesus said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not."
We are commanded to let little children come to Christ. We are commanded not to stand in the way of that.
There is something special about the faith of a little child. They don't understand everything. They don't have it all figured out. But there is a wonder in the way they relate to the Lord.
On Friday night our family sat around the couch and watched The Prince of Egypt — Steven Spielberg's animated retelling of the Exodus. Our youngest, Addie, was completely absorbed in it. She kept saying over and over that God delivered His people, that God saved the world. She was clapping and cheering when the Red Sea crashed down on the armies of Egypt. At one point she said, "They're going to get eaten by sharks!" It was truly a delight to watch her and to hear the sound of her growing faith in God.
The Bible commands us to pour our faith into our children. The most important passage in the Old Testament to the Jewish people was Deuteronomy 6. Listen to what it says:
[4] Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
[5] And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.— Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (KJV)
The Jews understood this to be their primary calling in relation to God. Now listen to what comes right after, starting in verse seven:
[7] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
[8] And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
[9] And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.— Deuteronomy 6:7-9 (KJV)
It is our duty as God's people to diligently teach our children the Word of God. That happens here at church, and we are grateful for that. But it is far more important that it happens in your home. It happens in the car on the way to school. It happens in the morning when you wake up and at night before you go to bed. You need to be pouring your faith into your children.
Children naturally want to come to Jesus. We should let them. We should make a way for them.
The Main Point
Now that we've covered those two secondary points, I want to get to what I believe is the main point of this passage. I can say that confidently because if you look at this entire chapter, it is all focused on one thing: how people come to Christ. It is about false believers and true believers.
Last week we looked at the story of the proud Pharisee and the humble tax collector, and we learned that we must come to Christ with humility. Before that was the story of the persistent widow who kept coming before the unjust judge, and we learned that God is nothing like that judge — we are to approach Him in faith, trusting in who He is and who we are to Him. Next we will look at the story of the rich young ruler.
The point is that all of these stories, placed one after another, are hitting the same theme: what it looks like to truly approach the Lord. And this little story about little children is no different.
Listen to the passage one more time:
[15] And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
[16] But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
[17] Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.— Luke 18:15-17 (KJV)
Notice that Jesus says two things. First: "Of such is the kingdom of God." Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God belongs to people like these little children. There is something about little children in particular that is analogous to what it means to enter God's kingdom.
And then: "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." There is something about the way a little child receives things that should teach us how we must receive the kingdom of God.
Let me give that to you in a single sentence — the main thing I believe Jesus was teaching here:
In order to become a Christian and to live as a Christian, you have to be like a baby: helpless, receptive, trusting, and humble.
Nobody enters the kingdom of God unless they come like a child.
There are four particular qualities of little children that I believe Jesus had in mind when he said this. These are four character traits of babies that are also, according to the Bible, character traits of people who truly accept Christ, truly trust God, and truly become children of God.
For the rest of our time together I want to look at each of those four things.
1. If you are going to become a Christian, you have to be helpless like a small child.
You know, a baby — a small child — is completely helpless. Other animals aren't like this, but humans are. I read once that a baby giraffe drops from its mother's womb onto wobbly legs and is walking and eating that same day.
A human baby would die without someone to care for it very, very quickly. In fact, a human child would not survive without outside help well into their fourth or fifth year of life.
Children need to be fed by somebody else. They need to be kept warm by somebody else. They need to be burped by somebody else. They need to have their diapers changed by somebody else. They are completely helpless to take care of themselves.
And when it comes to becoming a Christian, that helplessness is actually something we should emulate. When we come to Christ, we come with no ability to save ourselves. We come in complete helplessness.
There is nothing you can do on your own to repair your relationship with God the Father. There is nothing you can do on your own to get yourself into heaven. You are as helpless in that regard as a newborn baby.
Now, a lot of people struggle to accept that. A lot of people want to get there on their own. They want to build their own ladder to heaven. But if you try that, you will never become a Christian. Because to become a Christian, we must first come to the end of ourselves.
2. If you are going to become a Christian, you have to be receptive like a small child.
Little children have no problem receiving things. They have to receive things. They receive milk from their mother. They receive food as they get a little older. All of their clothing, all of their shelter, all of their food — all of it is given to them, and they simply take it.
Have you ever watched a child open presents on his first birthday? He has no idea what's going on. He doesn't know it, but he's got a brand-new toy in his hands and he can't quite grasp what that means yet. By the time he's two, he's starting to pick up on it a little. And by the time he's three? He is all about the presents. The paper is flying, and the excitement is real.
Children are good at receiving things. And if someone is to become a Christian — if they are to enter into the kingdom of God — then they must receive the free gift of salvation, the grace that God gives through the person of Jesus Christ.
You cannot try to pay God for the free gift of salvation. You cannot stack up all of your good works and your righteousness and say, "Here's my part, God." You simply have to accept the free gift.
[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.— Ephesians 2:8-9 (KJV)
Salvation is by grace. Grace is a free gift. It is the gift of God. And like a little child who happily receives gifts from others, we need to receive the free gift of salvation from the Lord.
A lot of people struggle with that. They say, "I am unworthy of that gift. I want to earn my part of it." But if you are going to enter the kingdom of God — if you are going to be born again, if you are going to become a Christian — you have to lay all of that aside and, with the simple open-handedness of a child, accept the gift that God has given you.
3. If you are going to become a Christian, you have to be trusting like a small child.
Little children are very trusting. I have watched Daniel Martinez pick up little Lucas and toss him up in the air so many times that I have thought, "That kid is going to give me a heart attack." But you know who doesn't think that? Lucas. That boy just trusts his daddy completely.
I have enjoyed testing the trust of my small children over the years by telling them things that are completely ridiculous — because they will believe almost anything. For a long time I tried to convince my kids that my middle name was Leonard. And they believed me.
Little children have a natural capacity for trust. And if we are going to become Christians — if we are going to accept the gift of salvation — we have to trust God's plan. We have to trust God's Word. We have to believe that when God says He provided a way of salvation for us through Jesus Christ, that it is not of works but is His gift of grace. We have to believe that it is true, and we have to live like it is true.
You know, it's one thing to say that we believe in something, and it's quite another thing to trust in it. I can say I believe that this chair is going to hold me up, but I don't really trust it until I sit down and rest my full weight on it without any worry about whether it's going to hold me.
Just as a child trusts without a worry in the world that his parents are going to take care of him, we need to trust fully that Jesus has taken care of our salvation — that He paid it all, that God has accepted it, that we are part of His family. That is saving faith.
So let me ask you: are you someone who simply believes the facts about Jesus? That is not enough. James says that the devils also believe, and they tremble. Or are you someone who is trusting like a little child — resting your full weight on Christ alone?
If you are going to become a Christian, you have to be helpless like a little child, receptive like a little child, and trusting like a little child. One more thing:
4. If you are going to become a Christian, you have to be humble like a small child.
You know what babies don't have? Accomplishments. They have never done anything. They're babies. A baby cannot tell you about all the great things he has done in his life. He cannot tell you that he has attended church faithfully for fifty years. He cannot tell you that he has given generously, or that he is better than so-and-so.
There is a humility there. And as we have been saying for the past couple of weeks, if we are going to come to Christ — if we are going to accept His free gift — we have to do it humbly. We have to be like the publican who would not even lift his eyes toward heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner."
We cannot be like the Pharisee who said, "I am so glad I am not like everybody else."
If you come to God in your pride, you are not going to receive the kingdom of God. If you come to Him with a list of things you've done to make yourself worthy, you are going to miss it. One of the greatest obstacles to trusting Christ is religious pride.
Charles Spurgeon told a story about a painter who lived in Paris. There was a painter who lived on a particular street, and he was commissioned by the Historical Society to paint an accurate picture of that street. He painted the buildings, and then he decided he wanted to include the real people he saw there every day. He paid his neighbors to come and sit for him so he could work them into the painting one by one.
When he was nearly finished, he looked at the canvas and felt something was still missing. Then he remembered the beggar — the man who was always sitting on the corner. He needed that beggar in the painting. So he went down to the street, found the man, and said, "If you come to my studio tomorrow morning, I will pay you fifty dollars to let me paint you." The beggar was overjoyed. Fifty dollars. He would be there.
The next morning there was a knock at the door. The painter opened it, took one look, and said, "I'm sorry, I can't use you." And he closed the door. The beggar had gone and borrowed a suit. He had cleaned himself up and put on his best appearance, because if he was going to be in a painting, he wanted to look his best.
But the painter didn't need a cleaned-up beggar. He needed the beggar as he was.
And when we come to God with the filthy rags of our own righteousness — when we say, "God, I want your salvation, but also look at my church attendance record, look at my giving record, look at how moral I am" — we are being a cleaned-up beggar. We are showing up in a borrowed suit.
A baby brings nothing to the table. It can do nothing for itself. It only receives. That is exactly what God asks of us.
Conclusion
The doctor I mentioned at the beginning of this message spent his career witnessing the miracle of new life. Every day, a baby came into the world who had never existed before — helpless, with nothing to offer, utterly dependent on others for everything.
And every one of those babies was welcomed. Not one of them was turned away because they hadn't done enough, or weren't good enough, or hadn't earned their place. They simply arrived, and they were received.
That is exactly the picture Jesus is painting in this passage. The kingdom of God belongs to people like that. People who arrive with empty hands. People who know they cannot save themselves. People who receive what God offers rather than trying to negotiate for it. People who trust completely. People who are humble enough to admit they need it.
Maybe you are here today and you have been around church for years. You know all the right answers. You can quote the verses. But if you are honest with yourself, you have never actually sat down in the chair. You have never truly rested your full weight on Jesus. You have believed the facts, but you have never trusted the Savior.
Today is the day to do that. Not because you've finally cleaned yourself up. Not because you've gotten good enough. But because He is enough — and He is offering the gift — and all He asks is that you receive it like a child.
Helpless. Receptive. Trusting. Humble.
That is how you enter the kingdom of God.
