Luke 18:15-19 "Receive Like A Child"
We inherited a collection of Time-Life Books from my wife’s father. I think it’s really cool. They’re all about home repair and improvement—do-it-yourself how-to instructions for pretty much anything around the house. Paint and wallpaper, how to clean anything, landscaping, but also plumbing, basic electrical repair, masonry, fixing appliances. Why would I ever need to call a professional now that I have these books! Who needs electricians? A/C technicians. There’s even one on engine repair and maintenance—no more mechanics for me! How to add an extra room to the house—build a log cabin (you never know!). These books and my tool belt—I’m good to go!
The cool thing is I don’t even have to read them. Just having them on my shelf, knowing that they are there—I’ve kind of looked through a few of them. They’re such a comfort to me, you know?
So, I figure I have all the knowledge I need about those things—right there on the shelf. I don’t know if you can see it in the picture but there’s even one on self healthcare, too. Which is great because doctors and hospitals are expensive.
There’s one on energy alternatives, I’m thinking about loaning that one to Governor Abbott.
Joking aside, there really is a lot of useful practical information in those books. They kind of sit there on the shelf as a reminder to me of everything that’s been passed down to us from the fathers and mothers who have gone before us. We just inherited all this wisdom, all this knowledge—they did all the work, all the research, wrote it down and handed it to us. Be pretty foolish if we didn’t do anything with it and just let it collect dust while everything in the world falls apart all around us.
Today we’re continuing in the Gospel of Luke. We’ve been going through it chapter by chapter, line by line since November of 2021. We’re in chapter 18, starting at…
VERSE 15:
Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:15-17
This is right after the parable of the two men who went to the temple to pray. Remember the Tax Collector from last week? Showed up on The Day of Atonement and prayed that God would give him mercy by atoning for his sins through the sacrifice the High Priest was making on his behalf. This is a picture of the Gospel. He was forgiven because he trusted in what was being done for him. It wasn’t the stellar quality of his humble prayer that earned him the ability to go home justified—it was that he realized he couldn’t justify himself. He couldn’t save himself. That’s the Gospel.
Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like that shall not enter it. Which means to receive something that’s done for you because you’re helpless to do it for yourself. Passively.
Like a baby. That’s how this week’s story ties in with last week’s. Jesus blessing those infants is a pure example of the Gospel. We receive salvation just like those babies received Jesus’ blessing.
But I’ve heard so many people turn even this pure Gospel into law. They’re like, “Jesus said whoever doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it! So, you better make yourself like a baby! Be humble and childlike!” That’s some amazing talent at missing the point they have there.
What do children do to become children?
It actually says infants—what did those babies do to receive the blessing of Jesus? Pretty much the same thing babies do to receive anything. Nothing.
When you feed a baby, what does it do? It swallows. What happens if a baby refuses to eat? If they fight against it, if they spit it out, they’ll get sick—they’ll die.
Jesus says that’s the same way we receive the kingdom of God. Someone brought us to Jesus and He blessed us. Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ.
So, we also want to bring our children to Jesus, we want Him to bless them. We don’t want to do anything that would hinder them.
Let’s talk about how we bring them to Jesus and things we might do that could hinder them?
Well, first of all, we’re supposed to raise our little ones as Christians—not to become Christians. Those are two very different ideas.
We bring them to Jesus and He puts the promise of the Name of God on them. Baptize them in the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Peter took that commandment to heart and in his first sermon said,
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:38-39
I doubt very much if Peter would have forgotten about what Jesus said about bringing babies to Him when he said this about baptism. I know this is a divisive topic for some people, we don’t have to agree on it to follow Jesus together here but please have an open mind and at least listen to how we understand it from a Biblical perspective. We see baptism as something God does to us through water and His Word of promise—the same kind of thing as Jesus blessing the infants in today’s lesson. We see arguments against baptizing little ones as the same kind of thing the disciples were doing when they said it was a waste of time. Baptism is the entrance into the kingdom of God, entrance into the church. So, what is the right age to bring Christian babies into the family of God? When should we do the ritual that signifies they’re part of the New Covenant (the church)? Well, in the Old Covenant (the Old Testament—”covenant” and “testament” mean the same thing) circumcision happened when they were eight days old. So, eight days old isn’t too early. In Colossians, Paul explains that Christians are not circumcised like the men in the Old Testament, instead, we receive Christ in baptism (men, women, old and young) which he calls the circumcision of Christ.
Without getting too far into the weeds, the point is we all enter the legal citizenship of heaven (the New Testament, the church) through the ritual of baptism. Think of it like becoming a legal citizen of the United States. Or being legally adopted and taking the name of a new family. It’s also like marriage. When the words, “I now pronounce you husband and wife” are spoken, something legally changes. The bride takes the groom's name. Fathers give their name to their children. Husbands give their name to their wife. God gives His name to us.
So, let me say it again… We don’t raise our children to become Christians. We raise them as Christians. Just like we don’t raise our kids to one day choose to be part of our family or not. We raise them as our child. So as Christians, we also raise them as God’s child.
So don’t hinder the children under your care by refusing to bring them to Jesus. Starting with baptism.
But does that mean once they’re baptized we're all done? Of course not. We’re just getting started. We have to raise them in the faith, too. The best place for noisy Christian babies is in church.
Can they grow up and refuse it? Deny it? Of course. But that didn’t keep us from do all the other things we did for them: feeding them, teaching them how to talk, and learning how to be a human being—we didn’t wait until they were old enough to ask if they wanted to be fed. We didn’t wait until they were 17 to find out if they wanted to be our kid and be a decent person.
Proverbs says,
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
This is talking about the way the world works—train a child in the wisdom of God and when they are old they will walk in wisdom. Interestingly, the word for “train” in that verse comes from a Hebrew word that means “to put something in a baby’s mouth” — ever try to feed a baby that kept spitting its food out? That’s the idea here. We’re supposed to train our kids to love God’s wisdom in such a way that they will swallow it—keep it down. Train them according to their unique personality and taste preferences, so they don’t reject God’s truth. We’re not supposed to shove it down their throat like we’re giving the dog a pill. They need to love God’s wisdom as much as we do. Then when they get older it will just be a part of them and they’ll want to pass it on to their kids.
What are some other ways we might hinder them from coming to Jesus?
Let’s start with the obvious. It would be a huge mistake not to bring our family to church and show them how much we love it. How much we love coming together with our friends and gathering around God’s Word and promises. Showing them what faithfulness looks like—what commitment looks like.
People act like church is optional. They’re not getting that idea from Jesus. Jesus said He would build His church and Hell wouldn’t be able to stand against it. The church is the people of God who gather in Christ—if you don’t gather in Christ, you’re not in the church. I don’t think people understand this, if we’re not gathering in Christ, if we’re not a member of the body of Christ, if we’re not a member of the church—we’re not in His kingdom. I just don’t think people understand.
We can’t follow Jesus and pretend we’re not one of His followers. That’s called denying Him. Remember when Peter was outside the High Priest’s house and they accused him three times of being “one of those” people who were with Jesus? He said, “I’m not with those people!” If we separate ourselves from the church then we’re doing the same thing. If we separate ourselves from the people who are with Jesus—it’s the same as denying Him.
Dads, if you don’t lead your family to church with joy—bring them to church with the same level of interest as other things you love doing—if you act like it’s a drag, a chore, something you begrudgingly do—that’s how they’ll see it too. This is the place where we come to be spiritually fed. Don’t act like you’re being force-fed some flavorless hospital food or nasty liver mash with fish paste. Don’t teach them to hate dinner time. Show them how to enjoy it. Participate. Sing. Pay attention. Talk about the message later over lunch and throughout the week. Don’t hinder them coming to Jesus by having a bad attitude or being apathetic.
But church on Sunday morning is just one little part of how we bring our families to Jesus.
At NewChurch, I don’t want families to be busy with church activities every day of the week. I don’t want to burn people out. We don’t want to sacrifice our families on the altar of church busyness. Some churches keep their people so busy they don’t have time to just be with their family—that’s a pretty good way to hinder them from coming to Jesus, too. We don’t want them to resent the church.
We don’t want to burn anyone out. For people who call NewChurch home, this is all we hope you will do: Gather with us every Sunday that you’re in town and able to be here—and Christmas Eve, Good Friday—we really want everyone to be here when we gather for worship as NewChurch. And then be in one small-group Bible study or discipleship group during the week. Make sure the kids are in youth group. So, ideally, that’s just Sunday and one other day on most weeks. We have mid-week groups that meet for Bible study, prayer, discipleship, fellowship, encouragement. This is how we get connected with each other. It’s how we become family. It’s how we make life-long friends.
Occasionally we have outreach events, we’d love for you to be part of some of those, too.
I know God has you doing all kinds of other important work in your life, too. If you ever think I’m pushing you to spend too much time doing NewChurch stuff and it’s taking away from your other sacred vocations: Father, Mother, Grandparent, Husband, Wife, work, whatever—you need to let me know.
What we do here prepares us for what we do everywhere else—we want to send you to do all those other things with God’s blessing. Jesus isn’t just a compartment in your life, Jesus is your whole life. What we do here gives us the wisdom and tools we need for everything else God wants us to do.
So many people see church as optional these days. It’s not optional. And I know you think, “Of course he’s going to say that, it’s his job.” But I was 40 years old before I became a “professional Christian.” Before that, I was just a guy who loved going to church. I was a volunteer musician, Sunday School teacher, committee member, artist, marketing—whatever I could help with. I just did the things I love to do and figured out a way to use those interests to help whatever church I was a member of.
If I hear one more person say, “You don’t really go to church, you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”—if I hear one more person say something like that, I don’t know, I’ll probably just bite my tongue and feel sad. It’s not our job to argue with people. But I’ll probably tell them how much I love going! I don’t think people understand how much those of us who love this place, love this place. How are they going to know if we don’t tell them?
I hear a lot of people complain about how their kids are being indoctrinated into all kinds of crazy ideas these days. At school, in the media, in movies and TV shows, in music—even by following their favorite sportsball players. They complain about it. They post about it. They look for solutions to come from politics, from boycotting, from canceling.
Jesus says the solution is this: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them.”
The parents were bringing their children to Jesus, the disciples were getting in the way, trying to stop them. This is the place where we bring our children to Jesus.
Everybody has like seven Bibles in their house that they never open—just sitting there looking pretty on a shelf. They’re like me with my Time-Life Do-It-Yourself books. They think, “I don’t need to go to church because, you know, I have all these Bibles!”
What if one day my kid grabs one of those Bibles and asks me a question?
“Hey Dad, what does this Bible verse mean?”
“Oh, that’s not important. Just believe in God and be a good person. You don’t need to get bogged down with all that Bible stuff.”
Is that how we would treat a question about homework? Or something we actually cared about?
Thinking we don’t need other people to help us understand God’s Word is like thinking we can do our own dental work.
“Come here, son, let me fill that cavity for you, I looked it up on YouTube. Some guy says a little Quikrete and super glue will fix it right up! Now, where’s my drill?”
If you wouldn’t have come to church today and you read this verse at home where Jesus says,
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
Chances are, you would have heard it as law, not Gospel. Something you have to do. You would have missed the whole point.
He’s not saying we have to try and be more like a child. TRY HARDER! BE MORE CHILDLIKE! FAITH HARDER! His point is we can’t do anything to save ourselves. We have to be brought to Jesus. Our effort is not going to get us into His kingdom. We have to be brought into the kingdom. Carried. Until we understand that God saves us through Jesus—He does all the saving work, we just receive it, believe it, trust it. We’re like babies. We’re fed the Gospel with a baby spoon, mash it up with our little baby gums and swallow it. Jesus gives you His blessing, He forgives your sin, He saves you and brings you into His kingdom. Until we understand how passive we are in this process, how we bring nothing to the deal—we’re fighting against it. Hindering.
Put these two ideas together. All of God’s children need to be blessed by Jesus. You can’t bless yourself. You can come to the place where the blessing happens though. Where you will hear the Word of God to challenge you and comfort you. Where the Word of God is combined with the water of Baptism and people are brought into the kingdom of heaven. Where the Word of God is combined with the bread and wine of Communion giving grace and forgiveness and the promise of life. Where the wisdom of God is given to you so you can receive it by faith, and then go do something with it.
Jesus didn’t bless those babies so they would just stay babies. He blessed them so they would grow up in the faith—taught to them by their parents and by the church. So they would grow in stature and wisdom to become the people He blessed them to be. You’ve been blessed so you can be the person He called you out of the world to be.
You have work to do that only you can do. It’s why you were given the blessing in the first place. It’s why you were given faith. Take that faith and do something with it. Faith without faithfulness will wither and die.
I know it’s not always easy. We pick up a lot of baggage along the way.
Maybe there are some of us here today who were brought to Jesus when we were little but there’s been some bumps and bruises. Maybe Dad was too harsh, maybe he was too lenient. Maybe he was distant or missing. Maybe he was a real disappointment—maybe it’s difficult to honor him because he hasn’t been honorable.
And then Jesus tells us to pray to God as if He’s our father. We’re supposed to think of God the way we think of our dad. Some of us are like, “if God wanted me to think of Him as my Father and that’s supposed to be a good thing, He should have given me a better dad.”
Well, look at it this way. He did. When Jesus said, “Pray like this… Pray to Our Father…” He was saying He would share His Father with us. He didn’t say to pray to “My Father who art in heaven.” He said to pray to “Our Father.” It doesn’t get better than that. He also didn’t say, “Pray to your Father in heaven,” He said “Our Father”—we do it together. And there’s no better place to do that than here. Happy Father’s Day. AMEN