A Heart of a Child

Introduction · 4 min

Introduction

Hook

Jesus was busy. Multitudes had come together to Him beyond the Jordan, the Pharisees had come to test Him about divorce, and His disciples were managing the crowd. Then parents came bringing little children, and the disciples rebuked them. Jesus was moved with indignation — not at the children, but at the grown men.

Need

Somewhere between childhood and adulthood most of us lose things we were never meant to lose: easy joy, open hands, eager questions, unembarrassed trust. Jesus says the kingdom of God belongs to such as these children, and that whoever will not receive it as a little child will in no wise enter it.

Read

Read Mark 10:13–16 aloud. Ask the congregation to listen for the three things Jesus does with the children in verse 16.

The children the disciples turned away had what grown hearts often lose — joy that does not wait on circumstances, open hands, and eager questions — and Jesus wants all three in His disciples.

• Joy: “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations” (James 1:2–4); rejoice “with joy unspeakable,” though grieved for a little while (1 Peter 1:6–9).
• Generosity: the other cheek, the cloak as well as the coat, the second mile, and a gift to him that asks (Matthew 5:38–42). The King counts what we did for “these least” as done to Him (Matthew 25:34–40).
• Curiosity: the Bereans “received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
• The disciples saw an interruption; Jesus saw the people the kingdom belongs to (v. 14).

On screen, one click each

1. Joy A child’s joy doesn’t wait for good days; count even trials as joy. James 1:2–4
2. Generosity Children share with open hands; disciples give without keeping score. Matthew 5:42
3. Curiosity Never stop asking questions, then search the Scriptures for the answers. Acts 17:11

Illustration

Watch a small child on an ordinary afternoon: delight over a puddle or a cardboard box, half a cookie handed to a friend without being asked, and question after question — “Why?” “How?” “What’s that?” Nobody taught them any of it. Most of it, over the years, gets trained out of us.

Potential Activity to Recommend

Choose one this week. Thank God in prayer for a trial and count it joy; give something away before anyone asks; or open your Bible with a question and search, as the Bereans did, until you find the answer.

Transition

But Jesus says more than “let them come.” In verse 15 He says the kingdom must be received the way a little child receives it — and that touches how we face giants, how we see people, and how we see ourselves.

To receive the kingdom “as a little child” is to face giants trusting God, to see people the way Jesus sees them, and to come small — for there is no other way in.

• Wisdom for challenges: David, “but a youth” (1 Samuel 17:33, 42), reasoned from what God had already done (vv. 34–37), would not fight in armor he had not proved (vv. 38–39), and said, “the battle is Jehovah’s” (v. 47).
• Eyes: Jesus saw a tax collector at the place of toll and said, “Follow me.” He ate with publicans and sinners and said, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Mark 2:14–17; Matthew 9:9–13). Children have not yet learned whom to look past.
• Humility: “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1–6). “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6–10).
• “In no wise” — a double negative in the Greek. There is no other door into the kingdom.

On screen, one click each

1. Wisdom Face your giants by remembering what God has already done. 1 Samuel 17:34–37, 47
2. Eyes See people as Jesus does, not by the labels grown-ups give them. Mark 2:14–17
3. Humility The only way into the kingdom is to come small. Matthew 18:3–4; James 4:10

Illustration

When Goliath saw David, “he disdained him; for he was but a youth” (1 Samuel 17:42). The whole army had measured the giant against themselves. The youth measured him against God: “this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God” (v. 36).

Potential Activity to Recommend

Think of one person you have quietly written off — at work, at school, even in the pew. Look at them the way Jesus looked at Levi, and do one kind thing for them this week. Then name one giant you have been measuring against yourself instead of against God, and pray about it.

Transition

Does all this mean God wants us to stay childish? Paul says no. There is a way to grow up that keeps the heart of a child.

The Lord expects His children to mature — to put away childish things and hold to what they learned when young — but we never stop being His beloved children, held in His arms.

• We must mature: “When I was a child, I spake as a child… now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:10–13). “In malice be ye babes, but in mind be men” (1 Corinthians 14:20).
• Childlike is not childish: “no longer children, tossed to and fro… with every wind of doctrine,” but growing up “in all things into him” (Ephesians 4:14–15; Hebrews 5:12–14).
• Remember your youth: Timothy had known the sacred writings “from a babe,” and Paul told him to abide in what he had learned (2 Timothy 3:12–16; 1:5). “Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
• We are still children: “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love” (Ephesians 5:1–2).

On screen, one click each

1. Mature Put away childish things; a childlike faith still has to grow up. 1 Corinthians 13:11; 14:20
2. Remember Hold on to the faith you were taught when you were young. 2 Timothy 3:14–15
3. Children However much we grow, we are still the Father’s beloved children. Ephesians 5:1; 1 John 3:1

Illustration

Right after this scene Mark tells of a grown man who ran to Jesus, kneeled, and said he had kept the commandments “from my youth” (10:20). Jesus looked on him and loved him — and he went away sorrowful, “for he was one that had great possessions” (10:22). The children came with nothing in their hands and were taken up in Jesus’ arms. The man came with full hands and could not let go.

Potential Activity to Recommend

Ask yourself two questions this week: What have I learned of God since I was young, and what did I learn when young that I need to remember now? Then pray to the Father as His child — not to earn His welcome, but as one He has already taken in His arms.

Transition

Who may be taken up in His arms like that? Everyone who will come to Him.

Conclusion · 4 min

Conclusion

Recap

Have a child’s joy, generosity and curiosity (vv. 13–14). Have a child’s wisdom, eyes and humility (v. 15). Grow up without growing out of it, for we are still His children (v. 16).

Gospel

Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). No one grows up into the kingdom; we enter it by being born “of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5), receiving it as a little child receives a gift. “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26–27).

Invitation

If you have not yet come to Him, come today the way the children came — with nothing in your hands. Believe in Him, repent, confess Him, and be baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9–10; Galatians 3:27). If you are His child and have wandered, come home to your Father today.

Close

Read Ephesians 5:1–2 together, and let it be the last word.