For Each one of us
Matthew 18:1-4, 10-14
I’m firmly convinced that God locates churches like ours in communities for a reason, i.e., to further his beautiful purposes in this world he made. And today, I want to show you that he places us here to do a healing and transforming work in you! And in me too! In fact, in each one. God knows how hard it is for us to break from the patterns of the world and of our own habits and to grow in our walk with him. He plants churches in neighborhoods for many reasons – but one of them is so that each one of us who trusts Jesus will become “complete in Christ” (Col 1:28).
On this Mothers’ Day, what we’re going to focus on just one group whose growth in Christlikeness God is particularly concerned about. In Jesus’ world, this person would have been an unexpected recipient of God’s special love – and therefore should be a special focus of our love and nurture here at LAC. We’ll look at is one of those stories in which Jesus took a person who was usually ignored or rejected by almost everyone around him, and then focused his love and attention on that very person. If you’re new to the reports about Jesus in the New Testament, you may not know that he did this over and over again. So, if you’ve come today and wonder whether the Jesus who is the head of this church would welcome you and make a commitment to your personal growth, then know this: That’s what Jesus does! Jesus has a way of turning our normal human values upside down.
The one Jesus welcomes in Matthew 18 is a little child who was being excluded by the male adult population. The men in Matthew 18 may not have even noticed the child was there. Or, if they noticed, they didn’t think the child should have any role to play. It's hard for us nowadays to understand how any civilized society could devalue a child. But throughout history, many societies doubted the importance of children.
In Jesus’ day, the two main cultures were the Romans and the Greeks. 1) Roman law gave no protection to a child whatsoever. A Roman father could kill his offspring without any fear of prosecution. 2) Among the Greeks, a letter that has been discovered written by a 1st C. Greek traveling merchant to his pregnant wife ended this way: "When the child is born, if it is a girl, throw it away."
Those were the days that Jesus was living in. That’s what made an episode recorded in Mt. 18 so shocking. As he did throughout his life, Jesus taught that people, all people at any age or in any situation, have value. In Matthew 18, Jesus doesn’t just voice humanistic platitudes about the importance of children. He gives us foundational reasons why our little ones are so important. I’ll focus on but two of them:
1. Our children teach us about going to heaven (18:1‑4).
2. Our children teach us about who is important to God (10‑14).
Reason 1: Our children teach us about going to heaven – or -- God often teaches us the most important lessons of life through the most unexpected people (18:1‑4).
Jesus called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (18:2‑3). Jesus is saying here that he brings children into our lives and into our churches not only so that we may teach them but also that they might teach us. In general, I think most people don’t really believe that – not deep down. We think that when we’ve had a lot of formal education or have had success in our career, we become the ones who do all the teaching. Of course, we who are older do have a teaching role. But, let me warn you: The moment you enter into any relationship thinking that you have nothing to learn from the other person, then you’ll be the ones who will miss the most important lessons about life.
Here’s what Jesus suggests: The person who has no interest in people like the child in vv. 1-4 ‑‑ in being with them, in talking to them, and even in learning from them ‑‑ that person will not even grasp how to go to heaven. It really is as serious as that. Why? Let me first tell you two reasons what Jesus is not saying:
Misconception #1: That some people – like this child – are completely innocent before God. That’s nowhere in this text, and it’s nowhere in the Bible. All people need God. Children are not perfect before God with no need of salvation simply because they are children. I'm quite sure that children are not as innocent as some want to believe. I wonder whether any parents of young people agree with me about that!
Misconception #2: That we should be as unquestioning as a child.
I'm not at all sure that children's faith is really as unquestioning as some think. If you have been asked some of the questions I have been asked by children, you might think that they are the most profound theologians in the world. But that aside, I don't think the Bible generally does commend naivety in matters of faith. God’s Word calls us to be constant learners both of God’s Word and God’s world.
So, what is the lesson Jesus says we need children to teach us? It is a lesson about faith. Jesus’ Lesson: If we will enter God’s kingdom at all, we must turn the entirety of our lives over in personal faith to the King who reigns over the universe. The older we get, the harder that kind of surrender becomes. As long as we try to stay in control of our lives and think we don’t desperately need God’s mercy, we won’t ever surrender to God. As Jesus put it, “You won’t even enter the kingdom of heaven” – because we’ll hold on to a part of the control ourselves. Little infants are people who don’t pretend that they don’t need help. Their size and lack of resources declare to all that they are dependent on others. As we get older, we still desperately need to fall on God in faith and dependency but we often find countless ways to cover that up – even to deny it.
If we're going to grasp what Jesus is getting at here, then we're going to have to notice very carefully that this whole exchange about children is prompted by a question the disciples ask Jesus in v. 1: Who is the greatest? That’s the kind of question grown ups like to ask today as much as they did back then. We become habitually obsessed with status and prestige. Jesus' response to that trait is to put the one person in the crowd that the others didn’t even notice into the central role of teaching the others about saving faith.
Jesus is saying that the values of heaven are the reverse of the values of this world. All the things this world pursues ‑‑ fame and status and honor -- will tend not to lead us toward heaven but away from it.
So the pathway to heaven always involves a radical new beginning. It's a "new birth", as Jesus calls it elsewhere. It means going back and, like a child, starting the process of growth all over again, but this second time with Jesus in charge. We must let Jesus direct our lives as an infant is directed by parents.
As long as we can pretend that we have everything under control, we will find it is hard to repent of our sins and start all over with God in control -- because we have so many years of self-centered patterns and so many ambitions to be abandoned in order to let God be God. Jesus knows what he is talking about. He knows how hard it is to begin again – but this time in utter dependence on God. And that's what entering the kingdom requires of us. Jesus said that, if we have eyes to see, our children will teach us this. Unless we become as trust-filled and dependent upon God as they are, we will not enter the kingdom of God.
On this Mothers’ Day, Jesus says almost shockingly, “Care for a child – watch a child – and you will learn how to please the God of the universe. As that infant depends on you, you depend upon God in faith. God often teaches us the most important lessons in life through the least expected people – yes, even our littlest ones.
Reason 2: Our children teach us about God’s values – or – All people are important for an absolute reason: because we all matter to God (18:10‑14).
V. 10: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” These are mysterious words, aren’t they? Do you think a child is so important to God that he assigns a guardian angel to them in heaven? This phrase, “always see the face of my Father”, was usually used in a King’s court. When the king wanted to provide special care for one of his subjects, he sent a representative who had direct access to the king and who possessed all the king’s authority in matters related to this subject. Only the most valued subject had such a regal guardian. Jesus said, “Those who seem to be ‘the smallest and the least” are of that much value in the eyes of God.”
I can only take a moment today to address the issue of little children’s standing before God. It’s very important to me – to many of us who have lost our children in infancy. But let me say this: This passage is central to my understanding of how God sees the children of this world. It's on the basis of texts like this one that I join with many theologians and Bible students to say that it's wrong to think of little children as being in immediate danger of hell. According to Jesus, it isn't children who are in immediate danger of hell. No, from 18:5-9, it's those who put stumbling blocks in the way of children who should fear hell ‑‑ not the little ones. Isn't that the clear thrust of the passage? The child is the one who teaches us how to go to heaven.
The implication of this, of course, is that we can, on the authority of Jesus, offer words of comfort to those who have lost children in infancy. It's my personal belief that God keeps infants kept safe in their standing before Him -- so I never hesitate to give grieving parents that assurance. Notice 18:14: "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that any of these little ones should be lost," says Jesus.
But the main point Jesus makes here is the value of “each one” to God. Little as they are then, children should matter to us because they are the clear objects of God's watch care. So, if God finds them so precious and values them so highly, how dare we ignore them or treat them as if they are of little account. "See that you don't look down on one of these little ones," Jesus declared. Children didn’t matter much to those who were with Jesus that day but they did matter to him. And, of course, Jesus is saying to us that if people like this matter so much to God that He provides angelic protection, then they had better matter to us as well.
As the Bible so often does, it asks if we have the same values as Jesus did. Do we see people the way Jesus sees people? How many times have I said it in sermons: When we surrender in faith to the Lordship of Jesus – to the kingdom of God – everything has to change. One of the most basic changes is in our eyes. Those who have fallen in faith-filled dependency on the grace of God given in Jesus have new eyes. We long to see as Jesus sees. Lake Avenue Church has been placed by God here in this location for many reasons – but one of them is that among us, you should experience how much God loves and values you. This church is here so that God can do his life-transforming work in you until you are complete in Christ.
And, specifically today, God places children in our midst so that he might accomplish his work both in them and through them in us. I hope you see the relevance of this for parenting. To make a commitment to invest sacrificially in the nurturing and caring of children seems, in the eyes of some, to be much less important than many other things we might accomplish or set our minds on. The eyes of God see differently. If you are now a parent, you could not now have a more significant stewardship entrusted to you by God than a child.
Matthew 18 is a clear and powerful lesson of how Jesus sees. He values “the least of these.” In his day, among the “least of these” in the eyes of the world were the children. But Jesus told us never to harm them but, instead, to love them. Even more, he told us to learn from them. With God’s help, we here at LAC will do exactly what Jesus told us to do. That’s one of the main reasons we have invested so sacrificially in our children’s facility. That’s why we call you to serve and to teach our children. When you do, you’ll find the children are not the only ones who will be blessed. No, you will be too.
To His glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2015, Lake Avenue Church