…Difficult for the disciples to accept and to comprehend. We remember, of course, Peter, in reaction to this, rebuking Jesus and saying, This cannot be so, Lord. And Christ calling Peter in response, Satan, because of that interaction. Get behind me, Satan, for you do not understand the things of God. These two concepts you see are very hard for the disciples to mesh together in their minds that God’s kingdom has come and yet the Messiah will be killed. They seem to be at odds and hard to accept and just as hard. as this is for them to understand, I think that we’ll see, as Christ begins to say what is exalted in the kingdom, this reality of a crucified Christ, a crucified Messiah, of a kingdom that comes in weakness and in suffering and in loss and so forth. It’s still just as hard for us to understand as it was the disciples. What we hold as valuable is very often contrary to the things that Christ exalts as those of high value. It’s a very difficult lesson to learn that the great must become little and the first must become last. And yet this is certainly what is on the mind of Christ in this text that we open this morning. So I want us to see that as we’ve had this theme before, again, from chapter eight on, that we must become, as a friend of mine put it, least and little and lost in order to enter the kingdom of God. We must become least and little and lost is the prerequisite. And Mark is going to present before us, in the ministry of Christ, these two groups of people who characterize these realities, these two stories that we’ve read this morning. And it’s no accident that they’re, indeed, that they come side by side in the gospel of Mark. The first thing I want us to see in this text then is, in verse 13, is what are the model citizens of the kingdom? What are the first-class citizens in the kingdom of God? And they notice the situation that’s presented before us where the disciples seemingly in one sense, innocently are shooing away people, children, because they’ve come with their kids. And they’re asking that the Lord touch them to bless them and the disciples. And I think we’ve heard this story so many times. We know what they’re doing is a bad thing. They oughtn’t be shooing these people away with their children. And so we want to be offended by it. Like, how could they do that? But if we get outside the fact that we know the Bible already, we know the story, it’s familiar to us, and we think about what they’re going through, what is going on? Jesus has told them that he is the king ushering in a kingdom. And if he is on that sort of mission, then stopping to touch children probably is the most useful thing for him to be doing. Probably not the most profitable thing in what he’s doing at this time. And also, if they’ve comprehended it all, Christ has made it clear that he’s going to be dying soon. He’s gonna be dying a horrible death at the hands of those who hate him. And so in that vein as well, to stop and kind of have playtime with the kids doesn’t seem to be the most important in his ministry. This is a time for big people, for adult things. This is a time where he needs to be around those he has called. They need to be thinking wisely about strategy. And there really needs to be a time of consolation. And this is grown-up time, no time for the kids. And some people have a different view of children, right? How do we perceive There are some who comprehend a little bit of what Christ is getting at, that to be around and to love children is a great thing. But many don’t think along these lines. And it’s true, right? Sometimes children, whether we want to accept it or not, can be inconvenienced. They can be even obnoxious. There are often times where some people want to just send them away because they’re disrupting what’s going on. They’re disrupting important things that you’ve got to get to. And this is the kind of mindset of the disciples, right? It’s not that they just hate or despise children, but there are more important things on the agenda than stopping to touch and bless children. And so they shoo these children away. And you would think, you might be tempted to think, well, that’s not that big of a deal. And yet Christ seems to object quite sternly to this very thing. If you think about it, if you were picking teams, as it were, for the kingdom of God, if God lined up the whole world and said, all right, my kingdom’s coming, choose who’s gonna be on your side, who’s gonna be for you on your team. You know, stopping for kids, if that was the situation, would be like choosing those last few people on the playground to be on your team, right? And I think when we think of children, that’s oftentimes how we view them. And that’s what the disciples are thinking, right? This is not the time for this. Christ interjects and he says, you’ve got it all wrong. Your thinking is backwards. I want to take a moment to correct it. And notice it says that Christ is indignant with them. He’s deeply distressed by their attitude towards these children and those who come with the children. And he gives two commandments here. And then he grounds these commandments, right? Notice what it says, permit the children to come to me. He commands them, you let them come. And then second, he says, do not forbid them. And here’s why. For such is the kingdom of God. He says, the reason you should not stop them is because these are the ones of the kingdom of God. They’re of the kingdom. This is what these are, the kinds of people that the kingdom of God is seeking. These are the citizens. These are the great ones. And that’s why I don’t want you pushing them away, because the agenda that I have established for this kingdom has everything to do with ones like this. So to send them away is to send away the ones that have actually come to put on my team. This kingdom is of such a nature that children make up the citizenry thereof. And so when we consider the statement again, what’s going on, I think it’s harder For us to comprehend this because of the culture in which we live, right? We’re always informed and have to be aware of these very things. We do esteem children in our culture. Unless you’ve got a black heart or some kind of robot, right? We think highly of our kids, right? They’re important. They’re valuable. But in the Greco-Roman culture in the first century, children were not high on the priority list. They were not high on the totem pole, if you will, of priorities. For one reason, it’s because many children didn’t live past the age of infancy or even youth to grow up into adulthood. And then next, just because they were an expense and seen as a nuisance, right? It sounds harsh when we consider this view of children at that time. Because it is harsh. And even in Roman law, there were prescribed laws that spoke to this issue. Prescribed laws that said if you had a child that was not the sex that you desired, and really what the law is saying there is that if you had a girl and you were seeking a boy, because of the needs of your family, it’s okay to ultimately set the child aside and just let them die a natural death. And there’d be no penalty according to the law for doing so. that just was not a high esteem for children. At this time, they were not placed on a pedestal. They were not adored. Even in Israel, who had a much higher view of children than that of the Greco-Roman culture that surrounded them. Even in Israel, children were not somehow held up to a place that we would hold them. They weren’t given time or attention. Children were valuable for what? What was the value of having children? They were valuable for what they would bring in the future. You esteem children, but the reason was because of their future life, that they would be productive around the farm, for instance. You esteem children because later in life, they would be kind of your social security system. They would take care of you. They would be your net worth to keep going on and surviving when you had grown old in years and could no longer take care of yourself or your affair, children were valuable, but not necessarily in their state as children, but what they would become when they became adults. They had potential, if you will. But Christ pushes all of that aside, and he says, as far as greatness is concerned, children are at the top of the list. They’re the first ones that you pick for your team. And think of, like, as a good Jew, what would that do to your thinking, right? How much would that rattle your kind of inbuilt manner of considering these children? If you consider what we read in Deuteronomy and we hold to the Old Testament, consider how one becomes great in the nation, right? What is it that makes them great? What is it that’s esteemed according to the Old Testament? Well, as you read it, all the standards for greatness, even as an Israelite, is that you are what? A law keeper. You’re one that keeps the law. You’re one who is righteous in his observance of the Torah. And if you consider that in relation to children, you see that children will not be held in high esteem because they can’t do what is required to participate in the things that are demanded in the law. Right. They’re just there. They may be there as a part of the community, but they’re not there as participators, right? They’re not gonna be considered great because of this. So to receive a child in Christ’s language here is to receive one that is useless, that is weak, one that is under the rule of another, one that has no might or power and can’t help your cause. A child in this group that Jesus had been teaching about is definitely part of the least, the last, and the lost, which means that Jesus is drawing a line here in the sand, so to speak, like we’ve already seen him draw in Mark. He’s saying that the weak and the seemingly non-contributing ones are the ones who are esteemed in God’s kingdom. They’re the citizens. They’re the ones who turn the nature of the kingdom completely on its head. And clearly, if that’s true, are esteemed, then it cannot be a matter of achievement or success or even faithful Torah-keeping. Instead, it is something based wholly on grace. And if you have to, if all you have to offer is your weakness, and Christ says, see, they’ve got nothing to offer, but these are the citizens, they’re the great ones, then it means that the way that he values them is not based on merit of any sort. or what they do, but rather he just simply delights in them. And the reason he folds them in is because the standard of evaluation is based on grace and not on any other intrinsic merit or worth in them. But it gets worse than that. It says, not only is the kingdom of God made up of children, but what is more, if you don’t become like one, you won’t get in. So it’s not just that Jesus had a big heart and loved kids, right, which is often the portrayal of this passage. We get that, of course, we love kids as well. Sometimes they can be difficult, but we love our children, right? And we agree that children are a blessing from the Lord, and that all the good gifts that God gives to us in bringing children into our lives, it’s one thing to say we like Christ’s heart towards children, right? It’s an example for us. But it’s another thing for him to say, and by the way, if you don’t become like one of these, you won’t get in either. He’s saying that there’s a value system in place that requires you to become one of them or to be cast aside. So if the kingdom is therefore built on anything based on our doing or our achieving, children are not in, they’re out. But in fact, they are in. And that means that if we think that we’re going to get we’re gonna get in based on our achievement or something in us that God has delighted in, we’ll find ourselves what? Out and not in. The kingdom must be based first and foremost then on Christ’s reception of us and not our performance, not our merits, not on anything we’ve done to get there. It means grace. is the order of the kingdom, like grace, not merit. And that’s something, of course, we’re familiar with. And therefore, our minds must be adjusted to that order, or we’ll never understand the calling of God in this age or in the age to come. If it was true, right, if grace is the order of the kingdom, then, of course, weakness could equal strength, smallness would equal greatness, the last would equal first. And if those aren’t the priorities in our minds, then we aren’t thinking along the same lines that Christ is thinking. Neediness is what gives you rank in the kingdom. Neediness, not the fact that you are needed, but the fact that you are needy. And notice Christ’s own actions in affirming this tells us in the text that he embraces them, he welcomes them, and he blesses them. And then in verse 15 and 16, he shows how the kingdom welcomes children. They’re embraced and not passed over. They’re welcomed, not cast aside. They’re blessed and not cursed. These ones and the ones who become like them will receive indeed the blessing of Christ. And this blessing that he’s given is again, not just some be warmed and filled type of blessing. He is blessing them with all the promises of Abraham. all the promises of the kingdom, all these things that the Israelites have been waiting for. And he says, these ones I’m blessing because they’re citizens of the kingdom. And so if that is what a first class, what a model citizen looks like, the next story tells us what a pretend citizen in the kingdom looks like. Right, we might call them illegal citizens or something like that. because we’re really using the rich young ruler as a foil in the story, a foil to the first story. We may go into more depth in a future week on the rich young ruler, but Mark’s story begins what is being said in the first story concerning the children becomes more clear and focused. And the next character we meet on the road as Christ is settling in on his journey is one who we know of what? He’s righteous, he’s a man, he’s rich, and we learn from the other Gospels he’s some sort of ruler. He has an official capacity or he has some power. And we might think about this man Surely this man, this one, if you’re building a kingdom, this is the guy you want on your side. This is the guy you want on your team. This is a sort of young, progressing, successful guy, a forward-moving person, if you will, that you’re gonna want to put on your side so that you can achieve something in the kingdom that you’re establishing. If you’re picking sides, again, to the analogy of the playground, he’s a first-round pick, right? This is the kind of person you’re looking for. But you’ll notice, That’s not exactly what happens in the story, right? Look at his qualifications. Again, he’s a Jew. That’s a good start. In this particular scenario, he’s a Jew, though, that is not just any kind of Jew. He’s a man. And if you think about the culture of the Bible and the culture of this day, the fact that he’s a man puts him on a position of great strength. much more than if he would have been a woman, or a child, or a youth, and so forth. So he’s a Jew. He’s a man, again, but just not any Jewish man. We learn that he’s a lawkeeper. He’s a keeper of the law. He’s an observant, Torah-keeping, male Jew who says even from his youth, he’s been keeping the commandments of God. He’s faithful to what God has commanded him, and not only a lawkeeper, We see by his life that he’s truly blessed because he’s a law keeper. And how do we know that he’s blessed, right? What’s the clue? He’s rich, right? He’s prosperous, he’s wealthy. He’s the epitome of what you’d expect for the kingdom of God. This one has done well. And in doing well, he has all the signs of God’s favor and blessing on his life. He’s inherited or gained much wealth. And if you read the Old Testament, this shouldn’t surprise us, right? If you do what God says according to Deuteronomy, what’s the result? It’s a blessing. He’ll bless you. He’ll bless you and fulfill your land with good things. He’ll prosper your crops. You’ll have many children and so on. And as the disciples are encountering this man, This is the kind of guy that you would say, if we can get someone on the side of the kingdom for us, this is the kind that we want, because he has faithfully done what God has said, and his life bears all the fruit of one who has been faithfully keeping God’s law and being blessed by that. He’s done good, and therefore he’s gotten good. He has financial blessing and security from the Lord. We might hear this and we might think, well, that’s clearly not all that the Bible teaches about this matter. And it’s true, right? The Psalms show that not all rich people are blessed because of God. And yet how easily this sort of mindset slips into our heads. He must be blessed. He must be blessed. How easily it is for us to look at those who are poor and impoverished and start listing all the things that they’ve done to get themselves there. And oftentimes, it’s their foolishness. But on the flip side, there is danger. We think, well, these people are poor, and the reason they’re poor is that they haven’t done this or they haven’t done that. They’re the cause of their consequences, which is not always the case. But the flip side is just as dangerous to think that because some of us have some sort of financial security, it’s because we’ve been faithful and we’ve been smarter than others. We think we’ve been diligent to save our dollars, our wealth and our security is because of our wisdom and our obedience and our self control or our moderation. Right. And how easily it is to confuse God’s blessing with our own doing. And think about that for a moment. Have you genuinely always been that wise with your finances to bring yourself to where you are? Could God not have crippled you? or devastated you many times with investments or with lack of investment, with action or inaction? Has every job that you’ve gotten been because you were the most qualified? There are plenty of things that as we look back at them, we realize that all these things have to be attributed to the grace and mercy of God to us, not our own doing. But it’s so easy to confuse God’s blessing with our own doing. And as disciples, as they look at this man, and as we look at him, it’s not that far off from our own thinking, right? Particularly that this guy has done well in obedience to God, and therefore God has blessed him. He fits the bill for the kingdom, right? But what is odd is that this guy leaves sad without the blessing of Christ. We have children who’ve done absolutely nothing, and they receive the blessing of Christ. They receive the blessing of Abraham and the promise to him. And then this faithful Jew who’s kept the Torah, right? He’s gotten wealth, and he even comes wanting to know how to get eternal life, and he leaves empty-handed and with nothing. You have to see the story for what it is, because this is what Christ is presenting here for us, so that we might understand what actually is the nature of the kingdom. And it’s so shocking to everyone involved that the disciples asked the only really reasonable question that they could. Well, who in the world then can inherit eternal life? That is the nature of this kingdom to where the disciples are left with this question. How can anyone get into the kingdom if this guy can’t get in? So it’s not just a fanciful reading of the text. The disciples witnessed it, and their one reaction is, no one then is going to enter. If not this guy, no one. And Christ, interestingly enough, agrees with the man. He says, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. The kingdom is based on our way of thinking. This guy is a prime candidate, but he’s not. And so we have to adjust our thinking to the thinking of the kingdom and to God’s way. Is there something about his condition that is hindering him? What is getting in his way? Why is it the case that he went away sad? Why is it that he didn’t receive the blessing? What’s causing him to stay outside of the blessing of the kingdom? And notice what it is. In the text, it’s called his wealth. His strength, his success, it’s what he has to depend on. He’s got something that gives him status and hope and help. And when he’s called to resign all of those things and to become nothing, that he cannot do. He’s called to become very small, and he says, I cannot enter in. There are enemies of the faith, according to this text. self-satisfaction, pride, anything to hold yourself up by other than the very mercy of Christ and your own neediness. Poverty tends to prohibit folks from becoming utterly self-satisfied, proud, and holding on to something other than the Lord. And according to this text, wealth can become a great hindrance to these things. So if that’s the pretender citizen, this one who has something to offer and is sent away poor, what does that reveal about the kingdom of God? What does that reveal about the character of the kingdom? What does it reveal about the nature that we might understand for ourselves? that we can say things like in this text or in Luke’s telling of it. Remember, he says, little babies have eternal life when they haven’t done anything for it. I mean, it must be harder than that, right, we think. It must be harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a baby to enter in the kingdom of God. But that’s not what this text says, right? That’s not what it says. It says, no, little children, little ones get in. That’s not the hard part. It’s very hard, rather, for one with wealth, success, and everything going for him, it’s impossible for that man to enter into the kingdom of God. And our way of thinking often is so informed by our culture, rather than Scripture, and upside down, that we read this text, and what do we do? The things that seem impossible to us, like little children having great rank in the kingdom of God, those are the most natural things in the world for Christ. Things that seem most natural to us, people that we would look to, that we look at this guy and say, this guy’s a prime elder material, right? And he’s the one, though, that walks away empty and outside of the kingdom. Now a successful ruler who does good deeds, has good theology, has a good income, he’s successful, surely he’s got to inherit eternal life. Not the babies, what have they done? And things don’t change that much, right? In the thinking of man. How can children get in when they’re not great and they’re not able? They have no power, they’re weak. That’s the whole goal of the kingdom though. is to challenge our way of natural thinking altogether, because our nature has been changed, right? So Christ even says, with man, it is impossible until you get your mind wrapped around that you will never understand the glory of the gospel, right? If that’s not understood, you cannot comprehend the glory of the gospel. And notice Christ changes the theme here when he says, oh, how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And the next time he says, how hard it is for man to inherit eternal life. And ultimately he says, it’s impossible for you. It’s impossible for you. And when he begins to kind of dissect this man, he says, think of all the things that you’ve done. All you have to do is go and keep the law and forego them. And the guy says, I’ve done it, I’ve kept the law. And Christ doesn’t rebuke him for saying that. He doesn’t say, oh, no, you didn’t. Come on, you’ve not kept the law. As you say, you failed surely in it. He assumes that all that’s true. Sure, you’ve kept the commandments, but you’ve got to understand the nature of the kingdom is such that you have to go, you have to trust wholly in God, not in the things that you’ve done, the things that you’ve amassed, nothing in yourself. You’ve gotta see for yourself that you’re weak and needy and truly, utterly destitute, and if you don’t, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. So you know that what I want you to do, Christ is telling him, I want you to give up the greatest thing that you have, the one thing that you’re holding onto that you say, this can sustain me, that thing where he’s planting his feet in his security. You just give all that up, Christ says. and inherit the kingdom of heaven. And what does the man do? He can’t do it. He cannot do it. And think about that for us, right? Who gets in the kingdom? Infants who have no standing, no rights, nothing to offer. They’re weak, they’re not strong, they’re humble. They’re just there. They’re not even bringing themselves there. It’s their parents who bring them there. And Christ says, these are the ones that are gaining the kingdom. And what is getting in the way of the other man? His strength and his wealth, the things that he has going for him. These are what it says is in the way. This is what is hindering him from entering into the kingdom. It’s only when he’s able to see, and if he will be able to see, that his strength is what his weakness is. Weakness is his strength. And if he’s not willing to die to those strengths and to admit, I have nothing to offer, he will never get in. Until he says, me and this child have everything in common. They can’t do anything for you and neither can I. I have nothing to offer. Until he says that he will never enter. And it’s only when we understand that there’s nothing at all more offensive, or there’s nothing more offensive about me bringing a child here and baptizing them with water. And I know that for many of you, you think, how is that so? How can you do that? How can you baptize a child when they haven’t done anything to receive that? That is no more than the offer to you of bread and wine at the end of service. And if you think there is, you don’t get the text. We’re missing what is being said here. Yet what Christ is saying is that you have no more right to sit at the table before me, and you have nothing more to offer as you sit at the table than this little child has to offer me. None of you have anything to offer me. The kingdom is not based on that sort of math, that sort of calculation. It’s based wholly and only on grace, which is why with man it is utterly impossible to enter. You cannot and will not come if you think you have anything to bring. It’s only when you could admit, right, that famous line, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. They have nothing, right, or as Luther says, but sin and resistance to offer to God. That’s it, sin and resistance. There’s nothing in me that God should want at all. There’s nothing about me that he should desire. There’s no strength that I have that he needs. There’s no strength that I have that is going to add to his kingdom. All I have is deficit, is negative. And yet I believe that the kingdom of God is gracious and merciful to the weak, small, little, insignificant children. And that’s who I am. That characterizes me, not my strength, not my wealth, not anything I have to offer. And it’s then and only then do we see where the power of the kingdom comes in. This is how people enter. This is the method of entrance and only this method. It’s when we think that we have something to give that we will be hindered from the kingdom, rather than throwing ourselves wholly upon the mercy of God, right? Not trusting in anything in ourselves or in this world, but throwing ourselves wholly on the mercy and grace of God and saying of him, you alone are God and my hope is in you, for I have nothing in myself to offer, to bring. It’s only then. And so may you see the children that surround you this morning, not as an annoyance or as distant members of some foreign covenant, but rather as your example, right? They were a living picture to us all of how, right, how to trust in God as your Savior, their models of. But your example of what a citizen of the kingdom looks like even from their infancy, and may you and I ever strive to get back to that place, the purity of nothing in ourselves that we have, and may we not grow too old or too rich or too strong for the kingdom of God, and may we instead humble ourselves, realizing that the only hope that we truly have is not one time to remember Be like a child so you can enter, but to remember all lifelong, not just one time, these are what the citizens of the kingdom look like. They know that they’ve got nothing to offer. And yet it is their savior who is strong and great that makes them great. It is his touch and his blessing, his embrace and his reception that gives them status, not their strengths. And when you realize that, Brothers and sisters, you will see afresh in these first three verses, verses 13 to 16, how Christ receives those who humble themselves, knowing I really don’t have anything to offer. The first day I had nothing to offer Christ, and even now in this journey of my life, in my Christian life, is yes, Lord, yes. If you’re willing of groaning grace by your power, there’s been sanctification. Yes, my life, Lord willing, is more stable than it began. But when it comes to how I’m accepted by God, nothing of these things add one iota to my standing with Him. I come to Him as a child. There’s nothing in me at all. May He receive me now and forever in that state. And we see that this reception is one that is willing. When it’s willing on his part, he says in verse 16, that he took them in his arms and he blessed them and he laid his hands upon them. All those that come to Christ in this sort of weakness, remaining in this sort of weakness, he freely embraces because this is the nature of this kingdom. It’s upside down to what we think, to what the culture says, to what the world thinks in our flesh that we would think. It’s full of grace. not merits counting. It is completely contrary to our nature. So may we refrain from thinking that it’s contrary. May we reorder our thinking as we look at one another and live among one another and esteem one another. May it not be based on our performance or what we think we’ve gained in this life, but may it be based wholly on the fact that we have a gracious Savior and that He is our only hope. And so let us go down from this place back into our lives and our day-to-day world, remembering such. And may that correct our perception of ourselves and the world in which we live as we pilgrim through this land, waiting for the blessed hope of our Savior in the life to come. Amen. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you. for giving us your word. Lord, we pray that we would believe what you tell us there, and Lord, that we would indeed have our thinking, our perception, ongoingly corrected. Lord, as the world, the flesh, and the devil draw us away into thinking otherwise, Lord, let us remember and to know that it is still true, heaven must be earned. But Lord, let us praise you. as we acknowledge that it has been earned, not by us, but by Christ for us. Lord, may we ongoingly come with the empty hand of faith, knowing that there is nothing in us, but nevertheless, you have delighted and set your love upon us in grace and mercy to make us true members of your family. Lord, strengthen us and preserve us, we pray, for the remainder of this service and even for all of our lives. We ask this in Christ’s name, amen.