Why Jesus Says Dependence Is Maturity

Independence sounds like maturity until Jesus says the opposite. When we chase self-reliance, control, and self-respect, we can unknowingly build a life that resists grace. That’s why Mark 10:13-16 feels so disruptive and so freeing: Jesus welcomes little children, rebukes his own disciples for turning them away, and then ties entrance into the kingdom of God to receiving it “like a child.”

We walk through the scene with Dr. Timothy Mann and slow down on the details that matter: the first-century view of children, the Jewish practice of blessing, and the shock of Jesus’ indignation when anyone “hinders” kids from coming to him. From there, the message becomes painfully practical. What do our homes teach when no one is making a lesson plan? How do our priorities, complaints, and casual criticisms shape a child’s view of God? For parents, grandparents, Sunday school teams, and anyone serving in children’s ministry, this is a call to clear away obstacles and to teach the gospel with patience, honesty, and prayer.

The center of the passage is also a personal invitation. Childlike faith is not pretending we are innocent or simple. It is helpless dependence, the humility to come empty-handed and trust Christ completely. If you’re tired of performing, striving, or carrying your faith in your own strength, this is a better way: let Jesus hold you close and bless you with grace you didn’t earn.

Subscribe to Foundations of Truth, share this message with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more listeners can find clear Bible teaching rooted in the gospel.

Transcript

Mission And Childlike Dependence

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Foundations of Truth, the radio and podcast ministry of firm foundations. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's Word. Rooted in Scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each week, Dr. Timothy Mann opens the Bible to bring clarity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life. Somewhere along the way, we were taught that growing up means becoming more independent, more self-reliant, more in control. But what if that instinct is actually the very thing that is keeping us from God? Today on Foundations of Truth, Dr. Timothy Mann takes us to a moment in Mark chapter 10, where Jesus turns everything upside down. Because instead of calling us to grow beyond dependence, he calls us back to it, to come to him like a little child. And what does that look like in real life? And why is it so hard for us to do? Stay with us because what you're about to hear may challenge everything you thought about spiritual maturity and what it looked like. Here now is Dr. Timothy Mann.

A Family Story About Kids

Children In The First Century

Reading Mark 10:13-16

Why Disciples Turned Families Away

Do Not Hinder Their Faith

SPEAKER_01 1:00

And so we are going to be in Mark chapter 10. We're going to look at verses 13 through 16. Children are just amazing. Children will ask the questions you don't want asked. They will say the things you don't want said. You know that if you have children, or if you raise children or have grandkids. We had the opportunity this past weekend to go spend some time with our family. We had with us our five-year-old grandson, just turned four nephew, and a one-year-old nephew, all in the house. And of course, we're not used to that. And so that was a lot of fun. It was very interesting. Our five-year-old grandson, almost six, had a conversation with his just-turned four-year-old cousin that I was a witness to. And the conversation went something like this. He said, Why are you wearing diapers? You're too old to be wearing diapers. To which his cousin replied, So the TT doesn't run down my legs. That's children, right? They're just so honest in both their questions and their answers. Children occupied a precarious position in society of the first century. Sometimes children were loved and sometimes exploited, depending on how they were perceived as benefiting the family. For example, a letter written by a man named Hilarion, which ironically means cheerful, a letter written by him to his expectant wife Ailis, dated June 17, 1 B.C., he instructs her if it was a male child, let it live. If it is female, cast it out. That was common. This practice of infanticide was severely attacked by the Christian church. But the practice was not outlawed in Roman law until A.D. 375. And then, even then, the law was not very effective because Roman law gave absolute power to the father over his family, which extended to life and death. As late as A.D. 60, a son was put to death by the simple order of his father. Further evidence of the nature of the world to which the gospel came is seen in the family abuses of the house of Herod. Matthew chapter 2. Also, his public slaughter of babies, two years and down, at the advent of Christ. And so children clearly were not presumed to be blessings in the non-Christian culture of Christ's day. How refreshing it was then for the biblical Hebrew culture where all children were considered to be gifts from the Lord. Rachel spoke as the mother of her people when she cried out, Give me children or I'll die. In Genesis 30. Hannah prayed in the temple for a child. And when God answered, she named him Samuel, which means God has heard. She later gave Samuel to the Lord's service. Hebrew culture elevated the family and children. Mark chapter 10 shows us a further elevation of children by our Lord. The great 19th-century Puritan Princeton theologian B.B. Warfield said that childhood owed as much to the gospel as womanhood. And he was right. This text, Mark chapter 10, verses 13 through 16, elevates children as people and elevates their faith, and as a result, elevates ours. The account opens, let's look at that, chapter 10, verse 13. The account opens in this way. Then they brought little children to him, meaning Jesus, 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. This is God's word. And it's a beautiful picture that we see in this chapter. So, as best we can gather, fathers and mothers, and perhaps older children were bringing young children, many of whom were babies, for that's how Luke describes it in his parallel account in Luke chapter 18. They're bringing them to Jesus for blessing. Now, that was in keeping with a classic Jewish custom, which dated all the way back to the time when the patriarch Jacob, named now Israel, laid his hands upon the heads of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and blessed them. That tradition goes all the way back to that in Genesis 48. It was all very proper. It was all very traditional and wonderful. Proud parents held out their precious children to Jesus, who took them in his arms where they snuggled close. And he placed his hand on their warm little heads and lifting up his eyes to heaven, pronounced a blessing over the children. We could surmise that quite a number of cheerful families stood in line chatting with babies in their arms and children scurrying around. You picture that, right? And then it stopped. It stopped all of a sudden. Because outside the house, the disciples were sending them away with a rebuke. Now, why were they doing this? Well, I guess we could say they were protecting Jesus. They were protecting him. They knew that Jesus was under pressure. Wherever he went, he found conflict. One time demons, another time the religious establishment, etc., etc. It went on and on. And if that was not enough, then there were the crushing crowds that came after him. The disciples themselves even pressured Jesus. And in their better moments, some of them actually realized it. And so this matter of blessing children was just one more drain on the Lord. Besides, these were just children. They were of little importance. They could not enter debate or contribute to the cause at all, even if they did understand about Jesus. So the disciples stopped the flow, and those parents who were probably stubborn and wanted to hang around, they received a rebuke, perhaps along the lines of this. Now, Shalom, be on your way and take your stroller with you. Verse 14, though, indicates that when Jesus saw that was happening, how did he respond? The New King James translation says he was very, he was greatly displeased. Another translation says he was indignant. Actually, the the Greek word that's translated greatly displeased or indignant, it's interesting. It only occurs here in the New Testament. It's the only place. It occurs here. And it's a combination of two words. Much and to grieve. Much and to grieve. He was much grieved by what he saw his disciples doing. The things which grieve us, I mean, think about this for a moment. The things which grieve us or make us indignant reveal much about the kind of people we are. What is it that upsets you? What is it that just really ticks you off? Gets you angry? Well, that says a lot about who you are. Do you get upset over the things that Jesus would get upset over? Or do you get upset over the things that the world maybe gets upset over? What Jesus said and did here tells us volumes about him, as well as about children and about ourselves. Let's look at this just for a moment. Verse 14. Again, at verse 14, it says, When Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased and said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them. Another translation says, Do not hinder them. For of such is the kingdom of God. What we see here in verse 14 is Jesus' elevation of children. Jesus was hot about this. And his words, I think, if we were to hear them, would have kind of a clipped, just disjointed ring to them as he's getting them out while he's greatly displeased. These were passionate words. These were not something that Jesus said casually. I have no doubt the disciples understood when Jesus talked to them and said this to them that he was not happy with them. I'm sure they got the point. So what should we draw? What should we draw from these passionate words of Jesus? What should be our conclusions? Well, first of all, I think, above all else, it's that Jesus loves children. First and foremost. I mean, Jesus, after all, had been a child himself. Jesus never thought of himself, they think I'm a child, but I'm really not. I'm the creator of all. No, he was a real baby, a real child, a real teenager, and a real man. In the second century, church leader Ireneus said of Christ, he said, He came to save all by means of himself, who through him were born again unto God. Infants and children, and boys and youth. He therefore passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, a child for children, and a youth for youths. We can see Christ's love for children. If you do a study of the New Testament, you can see Christ's love for children as he celebrates the delight of a mother giving birth in John chapter 16. He celebrates the gentle love of a father who cuddles his children in Luke chapter 11. He shows the parental love. He celebrates the parental love which listens to a child's every request in Matthew 7. You can continue on through the New Testament and discover that many of his miracles involved who? Children. And she came back to life. So we learn here from Jesus' indignation, very first, that Jesus loves children. And secondly, that Jesus affirms and respects the personhood and the spirituality of children. He affirms the personhood and spirituality of children. In saying, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, he is affirming their full spirituality. They are the hearts that he takes to himself. Children. We'll see why in verse 15, but what we ought to note here is that Christ affirms and proclaims the spiritual capacity of children. If there was ever a text relevant to child evangelism, this is it. This is it. Children can authentically come to Christ early on. They can be believers, they can be born again early on. Jesus teaches this. Experience confirms this as well that a young child can consciously come to Christ. We must teach children the gospel. We must teach them the gospel. Here's the results of a Gallup survey. Let me give them to you. 19 out of 20 people who became Christians did so before the age of 25. At age 25, one in 10,000 will become believers. At age 35, one in 50,000. At age 45, one in 200,000. At age 55, one in 300,000. And at age 75, one in 700,000. What a call this is for parents. What a call this is for Sunday school teachers and Iwana club workers to keep at it. Teach them the gospel. And while we parents or grandparents, while we must never resort to extracting bogus conversions from our children, we must do all that we can to cultivate their spiritual awareness and sensitivity. And above all, we must pray fervently and in detail for them and for their salvation. Listen, how sobering Jesus' words are here in verse 14. And the best translation is probably do not hinder them. It says, do not forbid them. Do not hinder them. The idea is this do not stop them from coming to me by your interference. Don't hinder them from coming to me. Those are sobering words. The Talmud, which is a Jewish commentary on the Torah, the Talmud says, a child tells in the street what its father and mother says at home. How many of you know that to be true? You gotta watch what you say at home if you don't want it told out in the public. Because kids will tell it. That's so true. And so here's the question What are children learning in our homes? What are children learning in our churches for that matter? What are they learning in this church? Do we hinder them by what they learn from us? Do we stop them by our examples? Do we hinder them when we model wrong priorities? Do we cause them to actually stumble when we teach them entitlement simply because they're raised in church? Do we hinder them when they hear, when in their hearing, they hear us criticize other Christians? Do we hinder them? Do we hinder them by instilling in them self-righteousness by our own holier than thou attitude? Do we stop them from entering the kingdom of God by our own apathy towards the kingdom of God? These are serious words that Jesus said. Don't hinder them. Don't stop. Don't cause them to stumble in another place. Jesus said, if any of you actually causes one of these little ones to stumble as it relates to coming after me, it would be better for you to have a millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the sea. Than it is for you to be the cause of one of these little ones to stumble. Are we causing our children? Are we hindering them in coming to Jesus by what we do? By what we teach them? You're teaching them something. Oh, trust me. You're teaching them a lot. You're a leader. We need parents, we need grandparents, we need teachers who will humbly and willingly minister to children under the reality of James chapter 3, verse 1, which says, not many of you should presume to be teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. That includes you in teaching your children, your grandchildren, the kids at church that you have under your responsibility if you're in children's ministry.

Receive The Kingdom Like A Child

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Thank you for listening to Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Mann. We'll return to today's message from Mark chapter 10 in just a moment. A reminder we are listener-supported, and your support helps keep us on the air. If you're being encouraged, would you please consider partnering with us? Your support helps bring biblical teaching to others who need it. You can visit us online at firm-foundations.org. This month we have a free resource you can get from Dr. Mann. Just sign up for the email list there. Hit the contact button at firmfoundations.org to get three reasons why you can trust the authority of Scripture. Let's return now as Dr. Mann gives us insights on Mark chapter 10, today's message like a little child.

Jesus Blesses The Children

SPEAKER_01 18:59

Well, next in verse 15, the Lord not only elevates children, but he actually elevates the children's faith. In verse 15, he says, Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. Do you hear the Lord's words there? That phrase will by no means, that's a very strong phrase. Will by no means, you know what that means? Never. Unless you become as a little child, you will never enter the kingdom of God. New Testament scholar William Lane comments on this. He says the solemn pronouncement is directed to the disciples, but has pertinence for all people confronted by the gospel because it speaks of the condition for entrance into the kingdom of God. No one will get into the kingdom of God unless he or she receives God's salvation like a child. No one. Now, how are we to understand this? How are we to apply this? Well, for starters, coming as a little child does not infer or suggest innocence. I mean, any two-year-old dispels that notion, right? Completely dispels that notion. But neither does a little child, as a little child, suggest the wondrous subjective states that we often find in children, such as trustfulness or receptivity or simplicity and wonder, as beautiful as all those are. I think what Jesus has in mind here is an objective state which every child who has ever lived, regardless of race, culture, or background, has experienced. And that is helpless dependence. That's what this is about. Helpless dependence. Every single child in the world is absolutely, completely, totally, objectively, subjectively, existentially helpless. Every child. And so it is with every person who is born into the kingdom of God. You come in helpless, completely dependent. Children of the kingdom enter it helpless, ones for whom everything must be done. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. I think there is no other fundamental meaning for verse 15. Have you come to Christ like this? Is it his grace plus your nothingness? See, the realization that one is as helpless as a child, that naturally fosters humility. Jesus gave reference to this connection when, in a similar but separate statement, he said in Matthew 18, he said, I tell you the truth, unless you change, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will never. Enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. See, the world and most of those in it refuses to come to Christ because of self-respect, which is nothing more than a cover-up of pride and independence. That's all self-respect is. Come as a helpless child? How humiliating. But Jesus says that is the way that you must come. As a baby in profound dependence and obedience. And now watch what happens to the waiting children. Verse 16. And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. Children were always comfortable with Jesus. They could tell that he loved them. They laid their heads against his chest and he blessed them. One writer says he did more than they asked. And he's probably right, because the word translated blessed here means fervently blessed. Christ did this joyfully with an impassioned heart because they refreshed his spirit. Let me ask you a question. At least metaphorically speaking, and spiritually speaking, do you desire to be held in Christ's arms to hear him pronounce blessings over you? That's what he does for those who come to him as a little child. He will hold you close to himself and bless you with all spiritual blessings. And friends, eternity will reveal that that's all we ever really wanted. Eternity will reveal that, and our spirit-given response will be Abba. Father. Dearest Father. That will be our response. True children of God. Jesus has elevated children. He believes they can know him as truly as anyone else, that they can have a vibrant relationship with him. We must invest in that. As parents, as grandparents, as a church, we must invest in that. And Jesus has also not only elevated children, he's elevated the faith of children. No one will receive the kingdom of God without this helpless dependence and humility. Jesus said, Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Have you come to Christ like that? Are you investing in your children or your grandchildren that way? Do you want to see your church invest in children in that regard? We must. Because Jesus did.

Final Encouragement And Share

SPEAKER_00 25:07

Thank you for joining us today for Foundations of Truth, the radio and podcast ministry of Dr. Timothy Mann and Firm Foundations. If today's message strengthened you in Christ, please consider sharing it with someone you know. You never know who might need to hear these words. You can also find more teaching and learn how to support this ministry at firm-foundations.org. Your partnership helps us continue sharing God's word clearly and faithfully. That's firm foundations.org. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever. Until next time, keep building your life on the unshakable foundation of truth, the Bible.