EPISODE 231 GOSPEL OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 18 " Jesus Loves Little Children"

Welcome to Share the Word. We are on episode 231 of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18. Too often, man's focus is on the aspect of who's the greatest. And when we look at how to focus with humility, forgiveness, and how we should handle conflict within the church family, the answer is as plain as the child sitting on Jesus's lap. Matthew chapter 18. Jesus really loves little children.

Let's start a fight. What do you say? Do you think men are more competitive than women? Lots of studies have been done on that subject, and the answer is generally yes. Some work painstakingly hard to try to prove that girls and women are just as competitive, only in different ways, they say. I'm not sure why they work so hard to prove that, as if being aggressive competitive is a great trait.

But for some reason, whether it's more nature or nurture, men and boys are normally more competitive. I've always found it telling that in the National Football League, which is kind of the ultimate arena to prove you're stronger and faster and more aggressive than anyone else, when the players are in their downtime, even in the locker room goofing around between practices, you know, they're together with time on their hands. What are they doing? Playing ping pong, waste can basketball, darts, Madden, anything. It's what they do. They compete.

Matthew 18 opens this way. About that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? It wasn't a theological question. They were looking for Jesus to be the judge in their ongoing game of one-upmanship. Why would I say that? Because this came up a lot.

We read in Luke chapter 9 at verse 46 of the disciples arguing about which of them was the greatest. We read again in Mark chapter 9 at verse 33 that Jesus overheard his disciples arguing as they were traveling one day, and when he asked them, What's that about? Sure enough, they were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. And as completely out of place as this seems in retrospect, on the very night Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, the night he spent in the upper room with the twelve, eating the Passover together, sharing final words, praying for them to stick together in unity, the disciples were even on that night still arguing about which among them was the greatest, according to Luke chapter 22.

And it stands to reason, if we're told about this three or four different times by the gospel writers, it was probably going on a lot more times than that that we're not told about. That time in the upper room, I'm pretty sure it was brought on by no one wanting to play the role of a servant washing anybody else's feet. That was a customary practice when you entered into someone's home. The actual greatest among them ended up on his knees doing it for them. Another time, it was apparently precipitated because James and John's mother, who was also Jesus' aunt, came requesting that when he did become Israel's Messiah King, as they all felt sure he would, wouldn't it be right if her two sons be on his left and right hand? You know, his vice premiers.

That had to have gone over real well with the others. Now here in Matthew 18, we aren't given the backstory of how this came up, but the disciples came to Jesus wanting to know from him, Who's it going to be? Can we settle this question? The word translated greatest here, who will be the greatest, means of the highest rank. It's safe to say the disciples were preoccupied with this question. They spent a lot of time imagining the coming kingdom, how it would come about, how it would work on the day-to-day, apparently, and they really wanted to know which of them was going to rank next to Jesus when he was on the throne.

Well, they were in for a shock, because Jesus answered them this way. He called a child to himself and set him before them. I imagine picked up a little toddler and sat him on his lap and said, Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The word child there means a small child, think toddler. The word converted literally means turn, and it's used here by Jesus to mean change course.

The disciples were still too full of pride, and it was coming out in this foolish, wrong competitiveness. They were too eager to grasp for the place of the most recognition and importance, and Jesus pointed right at that and said, That needs to change if you ever hope to see the kingdom of heaven. And they had not listened very well to the Sermon on the Mount, had they? Because there he had taught that only those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, only those who mourn over their own sinfulness, only those who realize they are desperately in need of God's grace will inherit the kingdom of God. That is the place from which we must enter, the prerequisite heart condition. The doorway is low, and only those who are humble and lowly of heart can come in.

Why like children? Why did Jesus say that? Well, toddlers have not achieved anything. They have no great wisdom. They don't care about being important. They don't worry about status or about much of anything else.

They don't claim to be self-sufficient and act all full of themselves. Little children learn most of that stuff later. What a little child does have, though, is a trusting spirit, and he has humility. They have no problem depending on their parents' provision, love, and care. You know, this is one of the clearest windows, I think, through which we can see that being right with God is not based on anything we can accomplish. It's not based on our achievements.

It's not based on being better than others. It's not based on anything we could take pride in. It's not. Jesus told them if they entered the kingdom of heaven at all, it would be because they were humble, recognized their spiritual neediness, and like little children received the provision God would make for them. They needed to be converted and turn away from their natural self-centeredness and self-reliance and admit they were nothing and needed God's provision, what He alone has and offers, that is, grace. That is still true.

It's true for all of us. If we will enter the kingdom at all, it will only be because of God's grace and through faith in Christ, the Savior He provided. By the way, while I'm thinking of it, we're not far from chapter 16. You know that famous passage containing the Peter and the rock statement. After Simon Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus said, You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. I spent serious time then explaining, this was episode 228, why that couldn't mean what a certain religion claims it means.

Well, here we are just a short time later, and the disciples are asking about who is the greatest, who is the ranking guy on the totem pole. Wouldn't have been the perfect time for Jesus to underscore that it's Peter, I just told you that a few days ago, if that's in fact what he had meant. But of course he doesn't do that here, or anywhere else for that matter, because that's not what he meant in Matthew 16:18. That should be obvious by Jesus' answer here, after being asked point blank the question about who the ranking member would be in his coming kingdom. But back to Jesus' teaching about children. Here in chapter 18, and then a few lines in the next chapter, are the most Jesus ever said about children that's recorded in the New Testament.

He mentions them nine times in this section, maybe the most famous of which is at verse 6, And whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it is better for him that a millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea. While he had an adorable little one right there on his lap, Jesus went on to make a couple serious points regarding children. First, he said that those who minister to little children are doing something he greatly values. Think those who staff your children's ministry and make little kids love to come to church. Those who work at and support crisis pregnancy centers, who minister to women with unexpected pregnancies and save young lives.

Those who adopt and foster needy children. Those who rescue trafficked children are all who just love and value little kids and demonstrate that with acts of kindness, attention, and generosity. Jesus said, Don't think I don't notice. Don't think that because they are small and less significant in society that they are unimportant to me. Don't imagine that children are very valuable to God. Whatever you do for them, you do it for me.

But on the other hand, is tone changing? Anyone who would cause a little one who believes in me to stumble, that is a very grave offense. This idea of stumbling, the word's regular usage in the New Testament means to put an obstacle in someone's path that hinders their faith or that leads them into sin. Causing someone to stumble means, I'll say it again, good definition, to put an obstacle in someone's path that hinders their faith or that leads them into sin. It could be applied several ways in his context. A lot of things could cause a child who believes in Jesus to stumble in their faith or to be led into sin.

How about when some adult takes it upon themselves to try to undermine and ruin a child's faith, scoffs at a child's faith, makes them feel stupid for believing in Jesus? Some anti-Christians take a kind of wicked pleasure in this, in seeing if they can undercut and destroy a young person's faith. What a grave sin. Or how about those who would take advantage of a child through sex trafficking or plying them with drugs or alcohol to get them addicted or similarly leading them astray or abusing them? Jesus sounds like he is saying there's nothing worse a person could be guilty of in God's eyes. It'd be better to have a millstone tied to your neck and be dropped into the ocean than what God has in mind for such a person.

That's a graphic image. An upper millstone weighed a few hundred pounds typically and had a hole in the middle like a tire does. It was turned against a lower flat stone, usually by an ox or a donkey, round and round and round to grind grain. Jesus said, regarding such a person, Tie one end of the rope through that hole and the other around their neck and drop them into the sea. His eyes momentarily flashed with anger. No one who heard him misunderstood how he felt.

But then he smiled again, lifted that little toddler from his lap back down onto the ground and said, Now run along and play, little one. Yes, children are unmistakably valuable to God. Amazingly, I had a cutting from a sermon, if you want to call it that, come across my feed just today. I wasn't searching for this, but amazingly, there it was. An apostate woman preacher saying in her message, supposedly based on the Sermon on the Mount, You know, if Jesus were giving this sermon today rather than me, I believe he would include, 'Blessed are those who get an abortion. Blessed are those who are brave enough to end their pregnancies,' as she went on to explain why ending your unborn child's life could be a good thing to do.

My word. Rescue those who are being taken away to slaughter, Proverbs 24 says. If you say, 'But we didn't know about this,' won't he who weighs our hearts consider it? Won't he repay a person according to their deeds? Jesus reiterated in verse 10 here, See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, their angels in heaven continually see the face of my Father. Don't ever think children are unimportant nor certainly disposable.

Don't think of them as a nuisance or beneath your time and attention. By the way, this is as close as we get in the Bible to confirming that there is such a thing as guardian angels. Their angels continually see the face of my Father, Jesus said about children. I want to know more about that. But as with many things related to angels, spiritual beings who operate in a different dimension than us, we're just not told in any detail exactly what they are doing regarding children or the rest of us either. Whereas the most memorable line from this section about God's love of children is the line about the millstone drowning, the one I find most interesting and which honestly I've never thought much about before, comes in verse 14, where Jesus is quoted by Matthew as saying, It's not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

Not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish. One question many parents have who lose a child, and I have had friends who've gone through that unspeakable pain, they want to know, Will I see my child again in heaven? After what we've just heard from Jesus about how special little children are to him, I think we can safely infer the answer to that question is yes. In fact, this statement sounds like more than an inference. It's not the will of your Father, speaking of God, that one of these little ones perish. There's a concept that is generally agreed to be biblical, usually referred to as the age of accountability.

In the Old Testament, it's supported at a couple of places with language like those who do not yet know good from evil or those who do not yet know their right hand from their left, referring to young children who don't have yet any developed moral sensibilities. For example, I think about that generation we read about in Exodus who followed Moses out of Egypt, but who then rebelled and would not believe God's promises about conquering the Promised Land. That whole generation was judged and were never allowed to enter it. But their children? Not their children. I'm thinking specifically now of things God told Moses, recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 1.

Listen. When the Lord heard your words, referring back to the rebellious, disobedient generation that came out of Egypt, he grew angry and swore an oath, No one of this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give to your ancestors, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he set foot, because he remained loyal to the Lord, and Joshua, son of Nun, he will enter it. Then at verse 39, Your children, though, who you said would be plunder, your sons who don't yet know good from evil, they will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it. God didn't hold children responsible for their parents' sins.

They didn't really have any part in the rebellion and disobedience of their parents. And later, they were the ones to follow Joshua into the Promised Land. Another piece of evidence from the Old Testament. There's the story of King David and Bathsheba losing a baby. This is found in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Losing a baby at only a week old.

And it says David prayed and fasted for their sick child's recovery all that week, but the child died anyway. Once David realized the child was gone, he said something very significant. He told those who were mourning with him. He cannot come back to me now, but I will go to him. He believed he would be with his child again in the afterlife, in heaven. So what am I saying?

All this seems to indicate to me that what it sounds like Jesus meant here when he said, It's not the will of your Father that one of these little ones perish, is that yes, children go to heaven. Don't ask me at what age the age of accountability comes. It's never spelled out, probably because that would be different for every individual. But God has special grace for children. If you lost a baby or a young child and you've wondered if you would be with them one day in heaven, I believe the answer is yes. You can look forward to that.

I mean, how else would we take his comments over in 19 where it says at verse 13, Then some children were brought to Jesus so that he might lay his hands on them and pray for them, but the disciples rebuked them, presumably their parents for bothering Jesus like this. But Jesus said, Let the children alone and don't hinder them from coming to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. One of the more fascinating near-death experience testimonies I've read came from a small child named Colton Burpo. It's retold in the book Heaven Is for Real. Colton died, for all intents and purposes, after a ruptured appendix as a three-year-old.

That night, when he was carried to the hospital, about 70 people from the family's church gathered praying for him and his family. While he was near death, or dead, who knows exactly where that line is, he saw and experienced many things in heaven he later began to talk about. He was just three years old, remember, when this happened, but things came out spontaneously over the next couple years in different settings. He described Jesus, who he kept telling his parents over and over, really loves little children. He told them about meeting a man in heaven who he called Pops. He said the man told him he was his dad's grandfather.

And later, Colton identified that man from an old family photo one day, telling his parents, Hey, that's Pops, that man I was telling you about I met in heaven. Most interestingly, maybe for our lesson today, Colton told his mom that he met his sister in heaven, and they said, What do you mean, Colton? And he told them about a little girl who they learned and figured out was his older sister. They had never even told him about a baby girl they had lost a couple years before he was born. But Colton met her that night in heaven. I don't necessarily believe everything I hear about people's near-death experiences, but a three-year-old who had such vivid memories and came back knowing things he never had any way of knowing and was too young to make up, that's pretty hard to argue with.

I'm only passing along that account. This happened in 2011, I believe, because it's consistent with what the Bible teaches on the subject, and especially with what Matthew 18 tells us about how much Jesus really does love little children. A song I learned about three years old says, Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. Thanks for listening today. This is Paul for Share the Word.

Thanks, Paul. You know, we see how children are truly an example of vulnerability, purity, innocence, and humility. And when we read that we must become like a child to enter the kingdom of heaven, we need to take that to heart. I've never wavered at the thought of how much God loves children, and I believe that throughout history, Satan has and continues to target children. He attempts to destroy marriage, to devalue and to sacrifice the unborn child in the spirit of self-indulgence. Please take an active role because the chapter contains strong warnings against harming and causing a little one to stumble, emphasizing that welcoming a child welcomes Jesus, and harming them is a serious offense.

From all of us at Share the Word, our blessings and prayers go out to all of you.