This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Philippians” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, March 22, 1992.
About this sermon
The disciples thought children beneath Christ’s attention, and that was only one of their wrong ideas about him. Christ deliberately welcomes the children in Luke 18, and in that welcome the New Testament overtakes an Old Testament assumption. What the disciples got wrong about children, they also got wrong about Christ.
Sermon transcript
our reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and this morning we have arrived at chapter to this marvelous declaration of the gospel. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love.
Ye did run well. Who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord that ye will be none otherwise minded, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. And I, brethren, if I yet preached circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased. I would, I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the laws fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”
This I say, then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. adultery, fornication, uncleanness, deciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, endings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law, and they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Then, turning back to the Gospel of Luke, the 18th chapter, reading verses 15 through And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them. But when his disciples sought, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” Hear us, Lord, that we may be benefited, remove from us those barriers that sin has caused, that we might hear you with the whole heart, intent on obeying you with all of our energy. We ask it for the sake of your Son, in whose name we pray, amen.
North of Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, along the roads that lead down from Galilee to Jerusalem, while Jesus is on the last of his journeys to the great city, he is confronted by a congregation, an assembly. coming to him with a unique request. These are parents out of Israel who have brought to Jesus their children, that he might touch them and bless them. This congregation is made up of many.
The reason why it has gathered may, in fact, have a diversity of reasons, for there may be some in the company who have heard about Jesus and his marvelous works and may have thought of Jesus as something of a shaman. something as a talisman, something of a magician, someone able to work wonders.
And in the world that they know, seeing all of the complications, seeing all of the difficulties, knowing the ravages of disease and the threat that those diseases pose even for their young, they have come to Jesus that he might touch them and cast, as it were, a spell over those children in order that those children might be protected from all malice.
There may have been some who were quite superstitious in the company and looked upon the touch of Jesus as something magical. There may have been others who, in hearing about Jesus, had had their religious interest piqued. They were greatly interested in religious personalities. They were drawn to them as metal to a magnet. All that was necessary for them was to hear that there was one more religious teacher, one more religious phenom who was performing wonders or speaking as no one else had spoken before, and they were at the door, off for one more trip to hear this new religious genius. For some, undoubtedly, Jesus was something of a religious celebrity, and you would certainly not want to pass up the opportunity of hearing him or seeing him. And what if in later years you could say to your children, hardly able to comprehend these things themselves, What if you were able to say, well, you know, you were actually touched by the famous preacher from Galilee, Jesus. But while there may have been these types in the company, the superstitious and those interested in religious phenomenon, undoubtedly what rises within the soul of this company comes out of a covenantal background and consciousness.
They are drawn to this person of Jesus. Yes, whole families of them are drawn to this person of Jesus because they recognize in him something of the realization of Israel’s hope. Could this be the Lord’s Messiah? Could this be the promised one? As they assemble and as they make their trek, as they come for their meeting with Jesus, we cannot dismiss from them faith itself as they look to this One, recognizing in Him, then, the proportions, the dimensions of the covenant’s promise.
It’s realization set before them. And with that kind of consciousness coming in this frame of mind as they do, they come almost as if they were Israel as a whole. Parents and children, the whole of Israel. embodied within them and their little congregation, parents and children, has in Israel so with them, they knowing then that if this one is the Messiah, he must touch the entirety of what they are, the entirety of their lives. He will touch them in the comprehensiveness of the covenant itself. And what of their children in this connection? Why, their children are but an extension of themselves. They cannot be left out. for they yearn not just for themselves, but for their households.
That the marvelous, great, benefit, provision, blessing of the Messiah might be bestowed upon them in full. So it is the covenant, as they had learned it well within the schoolhouse of Israel, it is the covenant that constrains and draws them to Jesus. But they are stopped They are stopped. Between them and Jesus are Jesus’ disciples. The disciples rebuke the parents.
They say, Now, you might think that the reason why they say no is that they’re in a big hurry. Jesus doesn’t have time for this. You might think that the reason they say no is because, well, children are a nuisance. and embarrassment, and we don’t really want them here getting in the way. Jesus has more important matters to attend to. He has more important people to speak to. It may well be that the rich young ruler, whose story appears next, is waiting in the It is not because the disciples are embarrassed by the children or think that the children will be an annoyance to Jesus. It is not because the disciples have concluded that Jesus doesn’t have time for this.
In actual fact, the disciples themselves are acting out of their covenantal consciousness. They keep the children at a distance because of their commitment to the covenant. They are committed to Jesus as the Messiah. They see him as the one who is bringing in the kingdom of God in keeping with the promises to Israel, in keeping with the promises of the covenant. They are devoted to Jesus. Their understanding, however, of that kingdom, their understanding of the covenant, go hand in hand. And in the interest of that covenant and in the interest of the kingdom of God, they keep the children at bay.
And now you’re confused. You’re saying to yourself, how can this be? I mean, the parents have come in the interest of the covenant, seeking Jesus’ blessing, and now you’re telling me that the disciples, also in the interest of the covenant, keep the children at bay. How can this be?
How can the covenant be at base? the commitment of both the parents and the disciples. The disciples are convinced But whatever Jesus means in terms of the fulfillment of the promises with respect to that covenant, whatever Jesus means with respect to the kingdom of God, he will not contradict essentially the administration that had been, in effect, under which these parents themselves had lived. The disciples are on their way to Jerusalem with Jesus, hoping to be sure, hoping that the arrival at the great city will mean the arrival of the kingdom in unprecedented form and power. But the arrival of that kingdom will not mean the destruction of, the laying aside of, the administration that had been. How is that administration worked out under Israel? How is the covenant expressed under Israel?
Does it not focus in the tabernacle service and in the service rendered in the temple? Have you looked at the floor plan? of the temple and its courts, the layout, the topography of the precincts of the temple recently. Have you reviewed that? You know of the sanctuary, the holy place and the holy of holies, surrounded by a court, the court of the priests.
Only the priests could walk in that court and approach the sanctuary. When outside to the east was the altar in front of the altar with the court of the Levites, and the Levites would take the offerings from the people and they would set those offerings upon God’s altar. But in front of the court of the Levites was the court of the men, for only the men in Israel could come and present the offerings to the Levites for sacrifice on the altar. And behind the court of the men was the court of the women and the court of the children. The kids could not approach any more than their mothers. And then these four courts were surrounded, as you know, by the court of the Gentiles. Now, it’s that blueprint that the disciples have in mind when they respond to these parents the way they do.
Yes, we believe with all of our heart that Jesus is the Messiah, he is the King. With him comes the kingdom and the fulfillment of the promises of the covenant. But this will not mean an essential change of that administration, and when we arrive in Jerusalem, the temple in its present administration will be so perfected that it will be cast, as it were, with God’s iron, never to be tampered with again. What does Jesus say to all of this?
It must have been startling. It must have been a shock. to them, to hear Jesus say what he did. Instead of joining in the rebuke of the disciples, he rebukes them. for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whosoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”
We might miss the full power of what Jesus is saying here, but it certainly was not missed by his disciples. You see, ordinarily, we from this passage conclude that all that Jesus is doing here is making a moral and religious point. In other words, a point about character. All that he is saying here is that those who must approach him, those who are acceptable in the kingdom, are those who have the humility and the unpretentiousness of a child. This is adults who have learned such lessons. Had Jesus meant that, there would not have been the shock registered upon the disciples that day. But what Jesus is actually saying here is, Those who you think have right and interest to the kingdom and the temple are those who must come by other ways than those they imagine.
For foremost in the kingdom is the child. foremost in the kingdom is the child. The child comes first, and then those who are like the child follow. And isn’t that interesting? Because as you look at the four courts of the temple, it would be the child who is virtually the last, even lower than the mothers that held them in the court of the women. The last is brought in first.
And now it becomes apparent to us just how much Jesus is turning the whole of the disciples’ expectation upon its head in the interest of the fulfillment of that covenant which these parents are recognizing in bringing their children to Christ. For in the administration of the kingdom of heaven now, the children, with their mothers, with the men, all go into the sanctuary itself, there to commune with God, there to live in his presence. In the old administration, the covenant, in a sense, worked against itself. in the interests of a better and greater day. Yes, parents with their children in Israel, coming unto the Lord, but yet even in the coming a barrier. This far and no further.
But now that tension that exists within the old administration is resolved in the arrival of the new. And in the administration of the new order, the little child shall lead them. Is it not interesting that in the triumphal entry, the children go in first, and in Matthew’s gospel we are told of the children’s praise within the temple precincts by which they acknowledged the superlative character and personage of Jesus. or it is distress. I will say it with gentleness, I will say it with love. There are still those who will keep the children out.
In their reflections, in their theology, in their doctrine, they conceive of things this way. They are doing the Lord’s service. They are the agents of the new covenant, they say. It was the disciples as the agents of the old who kept the children at bay. Let us learn from a marvelous text such as this. the incalculable worth and value of God’s new administration in Christ, wherein even the barriers that the covenant itself had raised are torn down.
As the children, the babes, the babes in lead the way. Let us pray. Our Father, as we would acknowledge your covenant and the glories that are found in all of the promises and wonderfully in the blessings We fully acknowledge the inadequacy of the old administration and glory in the fullness, the comprehensiveness and the perfection of the new. Lord, we ask that as in fact we would present our children not out of presumption, but in We might also be determined in ourselves to live godly lives before you, truly becoming as children ourselves, that we, with our children, might enter the kingdom of God. We pray that in Christ’s name, that one who touched and blessed the children on his way
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