Being Childlike. (Mark 10: 13-27)
When an adult corrects a child, the adult is usually trying to get the child to act like an adult. For example, if they are sitting at the table and the adult tries to tell the child what to do in terms of table manners, the adults aim is to help the child get to a point where they can sit at the table with adults and do things the same way adults would do.
When Jesus taught, he often taught quite the opposite, because sometimes he said adults needed to be more like children. Have you noticed how often Jesus in His teaching turned things upside down or reversed them from the way you would normally expect things to be.
Today I would like to ask the question what exactly did Jesus mean when he said that we were to be like little children? How are we supposed to act like children, and why is it important that we do that?
To answer that I would like to invite your attention to Mark 10 where this is where he told the disciples and the crowd that were listening, that they should act like children. I wonder if they will get it, this time.
Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands on them, and blessed them.
(Mark 10: 13-16)
In this passage we can see that people are bringing children to Jesus. Then we have a young man running up to him and having a conversation with Him, and then finally ww will see Jesus talking with the disciples. So, this passage very naturally unfolds into three parts. So, let’s begin with this incident concerning the little children.
People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them.
(Matt 10:13)
Now, if you have been following along as we have been going through the Gospel of Mark, you will remember that the passage just before this which we looked at last week was about, marriage and divorce. So, perhaps it follows along naturally for Jesus to include in his next teaching, something about families and children.
Mark draws attention to the fact that these are little children that are brought to Him. In Luke’s account the choice of words in the original Greek clarifies that Jesus is talking about what we today would call infants. Children small enough to be held in your arms, and the people are bringing them to Jesus in order that He might lay his hands on them but the disciple’s reprimand these people who are bringing their children. Let’s see Jesus’ reaction to what is happening.
When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
(Matt 10: 14)
Jesus appears to be saying being like a little child is the essence of getting into the kingdom of God. That’s quite a remarkable statement, he is saying, adults need to be like little children, “for such is the kingdom of God”. He then emphasises this in the next verse also.
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’
(Mark 10: 15)
Let me re-phrase this statement in the simplest way possible. If you’re not like a little child, you won’t get to heaven. Notice he says in verse 15 “Anyone who does not, “receive” the kingdom of God like a child. The word “receive” indicates that this is a gift you reach out your hand to take just like a little child receiving a special treat, you receive it as a gift. But the question is, what is the characteristic of a child that Jesus suggests we need to have to gain heaven? I would like to suggest that the main characteristic of a child is the fact that they are trusting and dependant on others. This will become clearer and clearer that this is what He is talking about as we get further into the passage.
And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.
(Mark 10: 16)
The first part of this passage is telling us that you have to have childlike faith in order to enter the kingdom of God. If you want to get to heaven, be like a trusting child, be a dependent child. At this point something else happens.
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
(Mark 10: 17)
Let me pause for a moment and give you a little background about who this fellow is. We know a couple of things about him by reading Marks account and across the other gospel accounts. We will find out in verse 22, that he is rich, very rich in fact. We know from Matthew he is very young, only just a man. And we know from Luke he was some kind of a ruler, and he had some kind of inherited authority. That is why he is commonly referred to as “The Rich Young Ruler” in many bible accounts. Picture this, here is a wealthy young man, he is already at the top of the pile financially and socially in this life, and he wants to know about the next life. Just think, a rich influential young man comes before a penniless itinerant prophet and teacher, and he asks, what must I do to get into heaven? I think it is also interesting he says, what must I do to get into heaven.
We just saw in verse 15 Jesus say, “Whosoever does not “receive” the kingdom of God. But by saying “What do you have to do?” The rich young ruler is asking the wrong question. Heaven is a gift received by faith, but he wants to know what he has to do. Jesus in response will tell him three things and these are the three things we all need to know to be absolutely sure that when we die, we will get to heaven. Ready, this is what Jesus says to him.
‘Why do you call me good?’ Jesus answered. ‘No one is good – except God alone.
(Mark 10: 18)
Now, you have to pause here for a minute. Here is this rich young ruler, and he comes, and he kneels in front of Jesus and says, “good teacher” and Jesus says, whoa, stop right there. Let’s just deal with what you just called me. You’re calling me good, but there is only one that is really good and that is God. So why are you calling me good.
Translated, Jesus is saying do you recognize who I really am, do you see that I am the son of God, so, to be ready for heaven.
Point 1 - You need to recognise that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You need to know. He is much more than a good teacher. He is more than a great prophet. he is God incarnate, God in the flesh.
So, he asks the young man the question, why did you call me good?
Please notice there is no answer back. Jesus then immediately makes his second point by asking him a question. Question, how many commandments are there… Answer, OK 10, now I am going to read the verse (10: 19) as Jesus lists them and you count the commandments.
“You shall not murder 1.
You shall not commit adultery 2.
You shall not steal 3
You shall not give false testimony 4.
You shall not defraud 5.
Honour your father and mother 6”.
(Mark 10: 19)
How many did you get? Six? So, what is going on here? The ten commandments can be divided into two parts. The first four deal with the way we relate to God.
· You shall have no other Gods before me.
· You shall not make any graven image.
· You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
· You shall remember and keep the Sabbath Day holy.
Four deal with God, and our relationship with him. However note here as I read verse 19 again, Jesus quotes just six of the ten commandments.
“You know the commandments: “You shall not murder (5), you shall not commit adultery (6), you shall not steal (7), you shall not give false testimony (8), you shall not defraud (9), honour your father and mother (10).”
(Mark 10: 19)
These six commandments are the ones which deal with how we relate to each other as human beings. In other words, Jesus is saying, hold on, we need to talk about human nature for a moment.
Before you can know about having a relationship with God you have got to know something about yourself, and he lays out just six of the ten commandments.
So, he says to him, “you know these commandments”. Please also note he did not say you are obeying these commandments, he just said you have knowledge of these commandments. There’s a big difference. Please note Jesus is not saying in this passage that in order to be right with God, you just have to keep these commandments. Jesus here is applying the law morally, not judicially.
The point of Gods laws, including the commandments is to point to our need of salvation by teaching us that we have all broken His laws. It’s to teach all humanity that we have fallen short, missed the mark when it comes to living in a way God commanded. There is a word for this in the bible, and it is a simple 3 letter word, sin.
The purpose of the law of God is to teach us that we have all fallen short of the perfect law of God and that we are all in need of a saviour. God in his commandments has put 10 marks out, he has drawn 10 lines in the sand, in order to demonstrate that that there is a perfect standard of righteousness. Maybe you think to be right with God you can just try and keep these commandments, just like this young man. But if you have ever held resentment or hatred in their hearts toward another person, then you have missed the mark? Anyone out there ever coveted? Anyone of you out there ever looked at what someone else had, and said I want that. Anyone out there ever disobeyed their parents? Your honour I rest my case.
The whole point of these commandments is not to show us what to do and what not to do, to show us who we really are. Jesus here is simply trying to teach this young man that he is a sinner.
I said at the beginning, there are three things Jesus is trying to teach this rich young man get it.
1 The he recognizes who Jesus is.
2 That he recognises who he is.
Did this rich young man get it? Let’s look at the next verse for what he says is quite unbelievable.
‘Teacher,’ he declared, ‘all these I have kept since I was a boy.’
(Mark 10: 20)
At this point let me tell you it is quite appropriate to laugh out loud at what this young man has just said. Maybe he thought because he had followed the Pharisaic legal regulations and he had followed these rules then judicially he would thereby be Okay. Maybe he thought,” well I did some of these things but afterwards I always went and made the appropriate sacrifices at the temple”. Maybe like many he was just plain deluded and thought he was at heart a “good” person. But the point is if people believe that they have never sinned, there are never going to see their need of a saviour and that means they can never enter the kingdom of God. The only people who qualify for heaven are sinners, and I am really glad about that, because that means I qualify. Jesus himself said in Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” No wonder Jesus did this next.
Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’
(Mark 10: 21)
Jesus says to him, go on your way and sell everything you have and give it to the poor and then you gain heaven. On the surface this seems a radically different statement to what Jesus has always been teaching before. Well, if you’re confused or surprised by this then you are in good company because we shall see in a minute that not only the rich young man didn’t get this neither did the disciples.
At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
(Mark 10: 22)
The point is not that this young man had great wealth. However, the point is not just that he had money, the problem was his money had hold of him. Was he listening and holding onto the words of Jesus or was he holding on to his money? That is why Jesus told this rich young man, get rid of it, give it to the poor. People hang on to all kinds of stuff, hoping that’s going to help them get to heaven. This young man’s Achilles heel was his money. Give it away, get rid of anything that has got a hold of you and is stopping you getting a hold of God.
I read a story once about a Pastor who went to visit a very wealthy man who was dying. He offered to pray with him and went to take his hand, the man instead clenched his hand into a fist and put in under the sheets. So, the pastor simply put his hand on the man’s shoulder and prayed with him. A few hours later he died, and they found that clenched in the man’s hand was the key to his home safe. It seemed he was frighted that even at the end he was either frightened he was going to get robbed, or he was clinging on to it and that is kind of what is going on here with this rich young ruler.
He thought that because he was rich it could influence his access to eternal life and heaven. It’s like saying to God, look at me God. I am a member of this church, I have been baptised, I am a good person and I’m just checking Lord ,is there anything else I need to do.
The problem was the whole focus of the question because it revealed his attitude, it revealed the posture of his heart. This young man walked away with a sad face, because he didn’t get the answer he wanted. So, he walks away.
Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were astonished at His words.
(Mark 10 23-24a)
The disciples are astonished, some might say even a little bit confused, so Jesus clarifies for them.
But Jesus answered again and said to them, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
(Mark 10 24b-25)
Jesus is saying it is not that the man had money, it is that he was trusting his money. At the beginning of this chapter I told you there were three things here that Jesus is telling us we need to know to get to heaven?
1. Recognise who Jesus is. (The Son of God, the saviour of the world.
2. Realise who you are. ( A sinner who needs a saviour – who can you be saved, if you don’t accept that you need saved)
3. Trust in Him and Him alone to get you to make you right with God and get you to heaven. (Trust Him with child-like faith)
The bible tells us this salvation is a gift, accept the gift like a child does with thanksgiving and child-like faith.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
It’s impossible to get to heaven any other way, in fact; It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone trusting in anything else to enter the kingdom of God. In other words, it’s impossible for it to be done by any other way than straightforward child-like faith. Verse 24 told us the disciples were astonished, now verse 26 tells us.
And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, “Who then can be saved?”
(Mark 10: 26)
The Greek word translated this time as “greatly astonished” in verse 26 borders on panic. What? They say, who then can be saved?
But Jesus looked at them and said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”
(Mark 10: 27)
In other word he says, if you are trusting in yourself, then this is impossible. If you think you can win Gods favour with your money, power, or influence, then this is impossible. But with God all things are possible, you simply have to trust in Him with child-like faith. Listen carefully because I cannot make it any clearer, the only reason anybody gets to heaven is because Jesus Christ died in their place. The only reason anybody ever finds peace with God and gets to heaven is because Jesus Christ died for their sin and rose from the dead. It’s not what we do, it’s what he did. As Jesus just said, what is impossible with man, is possible with God. When Christ died on the Cross he said, it is finished, it is done, accomplished, paid in full and now it is given to us as a gift and all you have to do is receive it.
So, the question is, will you trust in Jesus Christ? Will you depend upon him and not yourself? Will you be a self-sufficient adult, relying on your own resources? Or will you be childlike and dependant on Him? So are you like a wide-eyed child trusting in Him. Reach out your hand and receive the free gift of God’s salvation in Christ Jesus.