About this sermon
When people bring children to Jesus and the disciples rebuke them, he is indignant: “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” He takes them in his arms and blesses them. Children of believers have a place in Christ’s kingdom, as God’s covenant has always included them, and parents are to teach them God’s ways, as Deuteronomy 6 commands. The church should therefore not hinder them but give them the covenant sign of baptism and welcome them in worship, even when they are noisy.
Sermon transcript
Well, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word and for my sermon text this morning we turn to the Gospel of Mark, a very short passage in the Gospel of Mark appropriate to the occasion this morning of being able to witness a baptism in just a little bit. Mark chapter 10 verses 13 through 16, Mark 10 verses 13 through 16, you’ll find that on page 1006 in your Pew Bible. This is the Word of God, hear it with reverence and awe. And they were bringing children to Him that He might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, let the children come to Me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.
And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Let’s pray for God to bless the preaching of His Word today. Lord and Father in heaven, we thank you and praise you that our Savior has taken us into His mighty arms, that He has embraced us with His saving love. And we thank you, O Lord, for this reminder of that in this portion of your Word. We ask, O Lord, as we approach this portion of Holy Scripture, we ask that your Spirit would illuminate our minds and our hearts. We pray that you would indeed open our minds and our hearts to behold wondrous things from your Word. And we ask that you would grant me the grace to speak forth your Word with clarity and power and faithfulness to the edification of your people and the glory of your name.
In Jesus’ name we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, children, if you have your sermon outlines this morning, there’s a lot of words you can be listening for in my sermon today, and I’d encourage you, you can maybe choose one word or a couple words and count the number of times that I say those words. But here’s the words to be listening for in my sermon today. The words covenant, children, bless, kingdom, faith, humility, and salvation. Well, dear friends, what is the place of infants and young children in the Church of Jesus Christ? Are the children of believers to be regarded as full members of the covenant community who are just as capable of receiving the grace and blessing of Christ as our older children and adults?
Or are children in the church to be viewed as little pagans whom the church must relegate either to the nursery or to children’s church or something like that, at least until they’re old enough to make a mature decision for Christ on their own? And most important of all, what is our Savior’s attitude toward the young children of God’s children? Well, dear ones, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning gives us some very clear and helpful teaching on these controversial matters. These matters that shouldn’t be controversial, but sadly in the history of the church they have at times been controversial. Now the importance of this account that we are considering this morning is highlighted by the fact that this account shows up three times in Holy Scripture. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit who breathed out the Scriptures saw fit to make sure that this event, this occasion in the life of our Lord’s earthly ministry is repeated three times in His inerrant, infallible, authoritative Word.
This account is recorded not only here in Mark’s Gospel, but it is also recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, in Matthew 19, verses 13 through 15, as well as Luke’s Gospel in Luke 18, verses 15 through 17. The fact that this account is repeated by the Holy Spirit three times helps to underscore just how important to our Lord Jesus are the children of His followers. In terms of the context of this passage and the placement of this account in Mark’s narrative, it’s interesting to note that Mark records Jesus’s teaching on marriage and divorce earlier in this chapter in chapter 10, verses 1 through 12, and then following this account that we read of, he touches upon issues of money and possessions in the account of the rich young ruler which follows our passage for today in verses 17 through 31 of our chapter.
So the subject that our Lord addresses here in Mark chapter 10, the subjects of marriage and divorce, children and possessions, these are obviously subjects that naturally connect and intersect one with another. And so it makes sense that Jesus gives this teaching when He gives it and that Mark records the teaching where He records it here in the flow of His narrative. So with all of that in mind, let’s approach our passage for this passage. The first thing we note here in this passage is Christ’s determination to bless covenant children, Christ’s determination to bless covenant children. Now if you’re around OPC and Reformed Circles, you are probably familiar with that terminology of covenant children, but if you’re unfamiliar with that, when we refer to covenant children, we’re basically talking about the children of God’s children, the children of professing believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we see here in this passage Jesus’s determination to bless such children. Let’s take a look. Let’s dive into verse 13. It says, and they were bringing children to Him that He might touch them. Who’s the they? Well, the implication in this context is that they are those who believe in Jesus. They at least at some level are His followers. They trust Him. That’s why they’re bringing their children to Him. Says they were bringing children to Him. Why? That He might touch them. And the disciples said, welcome. So glad to have you. So glad you’re bringing your children to Jesus. No. What do the disciples do? It says the disciples rebuke them. Get those children away. Jesus is much too important to be bothered with those little ones. Now, some might say, well, OK, they’re bringing their children to Jesus, but maybe these were slightly older children.
Ah, but when we compare this with the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel in Luke 18 verse 15, it is clear that these children were very young children, even infants. Turn with me if you would to Luke chapter 18 and look at verse 15, Luke 18 verse 15. In Luke’s account of this event, this occasion, this occurrence in our Lord’s earthly ministry, it says this, now they were bringing even infants to Him that He might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. So clearly, even infants who are incapable of making any kind of decision, mature or not for Christ, are being brought to the Lord Jesus. And why are they being brought to the Lord Jesus? Well, Mark tells us these parents brought their infant children, their young children to Jesus that He might touch them.
Why do they want Jesus to touch them? Well, the parallel passage in Matthew 19 verse 13 says that He might lay His hands on them and pray. They don’t just want Him to just kind of like touch them. They want Him to bless their children, to pray for their children, lay His hands on them as a sign of blessing and pray for their children. Clearly, these parents wanted the Lord Jesus to touch their children so that their children might receive His blessing. And what kind of a blessing are they looking for? Are they looking for Jesus to bless their children so their children will grow up to be wealthy and successful by worldly terms? No, it’s clear from the context of our passage, beloved, that the blessing these parents want for their children is obviously a spiritual blessing.
For they want the Savior to touch their children. And He lays His hand on them. He lays His hands on them and He prays for them. As John Calvin writes, there is no room therefore to doubt that they ask for them, the parents ask for their children, a participation in His grace. They’re bringing their children to Jesus so that Jesus might bless them with His saving grace. What Calvin is claiming is that these parents, again, were bringing their children to Jesus so that He might bless them with the gift of salvation. And what does that indicate? Well, that indicates that they understand that even their infant children are sinful and need God’s saving grace. They’re sinful children. We all inherit a sin nature from Adam. We all receive the corruption of original sin from the original covenant head and representative of humanity, namely, Father Adam.
And we are born in Adam’s fallen image. And therefore, even from the moment of conception, we need the intervention of divine grace in order to enjoy the gift of salvation from the Lord. But not only in bringing these children to Jesus, not only do these parents recognize that their children are sinful and need the Savior’s cleansing, they also by implication trust the Lord Jesus as the source of salvation. That’s why they’re bringing their children to Jesus and not to someone else. And not only that, by bringing their children to the Lord Jesus, they believed that He had the power, the authority, and the willingness to bestow the wonderful gift of salvation upon their dear covenant children, even though their children were not yet old enough to consciously believe in Christ or respond to the gospel call.
But why do, how do, again, how do the disciples respond? It says the disciples rebuke them. Why? Why were the disciples behaving like such jerks on this particular occasion? Why did they say, get those kids away from Jesus? Well, perhaps they considered little children to be too unimportant for Jesus to waste his, to quote, waste his time on. Their values were still informed by a worldly mindset. They were still imagining the Messiah to be a great and mighty earthly king, and certainly no mighty earthly king wants little infants, screaming, crying infants to be brought before him. Perhaps that’s why they rebuke these parents who desire to bring their little ones to the Lord. But how does Jesus respond to the way that his disciples have treated these parents bringing their children to Jesus? It says when Jesus saw it, he was indignant.
He wasn’t just mildly annoyed. He was indignant. It’s a strong word. Notice that Jesus wants his followers to bring their children to him so that he might bless them. And he is indignant toward those who would hinder such parents from, such children from receiving his blessing. Now, friends, there are many truths that we can learn from this passage that we are considering today. But one important truth that we should take away from this passage is that we who are blessed to be Christian parents, we should seek to bring our children to Jesus Christ so that they might receive his blessing and salvation. But that raises the question, how do we do that today? How do we do that today since Christ is no longer with us in his bodily presence? He’s with us by the Holy Spirit, but he’s no longer bodily present with us.
So as he had been with the disciples on this occasion, so how do we bring our children to Jesus? Well, the scriptures indicate that there are a number of ways that we do so. For example, we bring our children to Jesus as we teach, catechize, and educate them in the faith. That was the point of the passage from Deuteronomy that I read earlier. And let’s go back to that passage. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 6 and let me again read verses 4 through 7 where the professed people of God are given this instruction. As in verse 4, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, that’s the basic confession of faith of God’s people, Yahweh our God is one, we worship one God. We are monotheists, this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as later revelation would make clear.
But nonetheless, he is one in being, one in essence. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Total, complete loyalty and allegiance is what is required of us. And notice what he goes on to say in verse 6, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, but not only shall the word of God be on your heart, it goes on to say, you shall teach them, you shall teach these words how? Diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Look for teachable moments, look for opportunities to teach your covenant children the ways of the Lord and the truth of the Lord.
And then Moses envisions a time when covenant children will come to their fathers and say, well what does all of this mean? Look at verses 20 through 25 of Deuteronomy 6, it says, when your son asks you in time to come, what is the meaning of the testimonies and statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, we were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. In other words, let me pause there, and he’s saying basically review redemptive history with them, teach them the word of God, teach them the story with a capital S, the true story of God’s amazing redeeming grace as expressed under the old covenant in the rescue of the Israelites from their physical slavery in Egypt, and expressed now today by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. We were enslaved to sin and Satan, in other words. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord has redeemed us through his son by Jesus’s death on the cross. And the Lord showed signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes. And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God for our good always and so forth. And so you bring your children to Jesus, and we, whether we have children or not, we help to bring the covenant children of the church together, we help to bring them to Jesus as we instruct them in the ways of the Lord, teaching them, catechizing them, educating them in the faith.
Parents can do this in their family life through looking for teachable moments. You can also do this, parents, through having family worship together, family devotions, and that doesn’t have to be complicated. Just sit down together, pray with and for your children, read some scripture, maybe pray for some missionaries. Family devotions, family worship, it’s very important. And also seek to ground your children in a biblical worldview, perhaps through homeschooling or Christian schooling or what have you. And keep your children grounded in the wisdom and word of God. The Proverbs, by the way, are a great resource for Christian parents in raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So we bring our children to Jesus through teaching them. But we also bring our children to Jesus by praying for them. Pray regularly for your children that Christ might bless them with his saving grace.
That’s what these parents in our account for today. As they bring their infant children to Jesus, he lays his hands on them and he prays for them. They want him to pray for them. Let us bring our children to Jesus that he, as our great high priest and intercessor, may pray for them before the Father. You know, we can’t save our children. We can ground them in sound doctrine, and we should. We can teach them the word of God, and we should. But unless the Spirit blesses the word to their souls, it will fall on hardened soil. So in praying for the salvation of our children, we are recognizing before the Lord, Lord, I can’t save my child. I can’t manipulate them into the kingdom of God. I can’t even educate them into the kingdom of God.
Your Spirit needs to work in their hearts. And that is how another way that we bring our children to Jesus is by praying for them, bringing them into his presence, pleading his covenant mercies for them. Also be active in your church involvement and have your children actively involved in the church, even from their youngest years. Model for your children the fact that church attendance, church membership is important. It is a grief to me and to many pastors to note that there are many professedly Christian families who will, you know, attend church maybe semi-regularly, but when other things come up, like sporting events. Oh, little Johnny has football practice this Sunday morning. I guess they can’t, I guess we can’t make it to church. I once saw a little tract that said, that had the title, don’t let ball become bale.
And sadly for many, even professedly Christian parents, sports or school events, theatrical events, concerts, whatever, takes priority over being with the Lord’s people. This is the Lord’s day, brothers and sisters, we need to be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day. And that needs to be a priority and our children need to see that that is a top priority in our lives. But perhaps you’re here today and you’re thinking, well, pastor, I don’t have any children. I’m a single person. So what does this have to do with me? Well, we are all in this together, brothers and sisters, whether or not we ourselves have children, we in the church should be very welcoming toward families with young children and we should also praise God for the covenant children in our midst and seek to support them and support their parents in the effort to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Let us not be like the disciples who viewed these covenant children and their parents as annoyances. Again, our passage says that the disciples rebuked these parents, but let that not be our attitude. May our church be a place where Christian families feel welcomed as they come to bring their children into the presence of Jesus through his word. And that raises the next issue and that is the place of children in Christ’s kingdom. We see Christ’s determination to bless covenant children. But what is the place of children in Christ’s kingdom? Well, Jesus makes that very clear in verse 14. And this is why Jesus was so indignant. He said to them, let the children come to me. Do not hinder them. That’s a command. Don’t hinder them from coming to me. How dare you hinder these little lambs from coming to me?
Jesus is saying. Why? For to such belongs the kingdom of God. Now it’s my understanding that some would view Jesus’s statement here as if he were saying look, the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. Not that it belongs to these children themselves, but to those who are like them. I mean, children are very trusting. They trust authority figures. In fact, if you’re a parent, you know that you have to teach your young children to be cautious around strangers. You know, don’t talk to strangers. Don’t take candy from strangers, especially don’t get into, don’t accept a ride from a stranger. Because children are naturally trusting towards authority figures. But no, is Jesus saying not the children themselves, but those who are like them? No. William Hendrickson, the great Reformed Bible commentator puts it this way.
He says, the reason Jesus gives for ordering the disciples to allow the little children to come to him and to stop hindering them is, quote, for to such, that is, to them and to all those who in humble trustfulness are like them belongs the kingdom of God. Our Lord’s comment here clearly seems to indicate that he viewed children as having a place in his kingdom. And his kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. It’s the reign of grace and salvation. It is when he speaks of entering the kingdom, he means entering salvation, entering eternal life. And if these children belong to his kingdom, then they ought to be welcomed as members of his visible covenant community, the church. Think about it, friends. If covenant children belong to the kingdom and church of God, then it is certainly proper to infer that they ought to be received into the membership of the church through the sacrament of holy baptism.
Again, to quote from Calvin, Calvin says, we employ this passage, we, meaning Reformed, we the Reformed employ, use this passage as a shield against the Anabaptists. The word Anabaptist means the rebaptizers, those who rejected infant baptism and required people to get rebaptized. Calvin says of them, they refuse baptism to infants because infants are incapable of understanding that mystery which is denoted by it, by baptism. We on the other hand, maintain that since baptism is the pledge and figure of the forgiveness of sins and likewise of adoption by God, it ought not to be denied to infants whom God adopts and washes with the blood of his son. Their objection, he’s talking about the Anabaptists object to this, why? Their objection that repentance and newness of life are also denoted by baptism is easily answered. And I want you to listen to Calvin, how he answers them.
He says, infants are renewed by the spirit of God according to the capacity of their age till that power which was concealed within them grows by degrees and becomes fully manifest at the proper time. Calvin goes on to refer to verse 16 where it says, and he, Jesus took them, these little children in his arms, they were small enough for him to embrace in his arms. And what does he do? He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. In response to that, Calvin says, in short, by embracing them, Jesus, our Lord, testified that they were reckoned by Christ among his flock. And if they were partakers of the spiritual gifts which are represented by baptism, it is unreasonable that they should be deprived of the outward sign. But it is presumption and sacrilege to drive far from the fold of Christ those whom he cherishes in his bosom and to shut the door and exclude as strangers those whom he does not wish to be forbidden to come to him.
So friends, since our Lord Jesus wants to bless the children of his children, and since covenant children have a place in Christ’s church and kingdom, and since by implication covenant children should not be deprived of the covenant sign of baptism, what then should be our attitude toward the children of the church? That brings me to my next point. Let’s consider the proper attitude toward children in the church, the proper attitude toward children in the church. Brothers and sisters, when you hear a little one vocalizing in the middle of the worship service, maybe vocalizing rather loudly, do you turn and look with annoyance at that child or at his or her parents? I hope not. I hope instead you smile and you praise God that the little lambs of Christ are little brothers and sisters in Christ.
That’s how we are to view them, that they are here in the covenant assembly. Covenant children are not to be viewed as the disciples view these children as annoyances, as hindrances, no. Covenant children are to be valued and highly esteemed, not demeaned or viewed as annoyances. But pastor, children should be seen but not heard, right? Well, believe it or not, that’s not in the Bible. The Bible does not say children should be seen but not heard. That doesn’t seem to be Jesus’ attitude at all. Jesus says, let them come to me, do not hinder them. Covenant children also should not be viewed as little pagans but instead we should view them as Christian children until they prove themselves to be otherwise. Now let me make an important clarification here. Some might, especially some perhaps from a Baptist background might say, well wait a minute, are you guys saying that the children of God’s children, that they’re saved, that they’re automatically and necessarily saved by baptism?
Now friends, understand, we in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, we do not accept the false teaching of baptismal regeneration. The idea that every child who receives the covenant sign necessarily and automatically receives the inward grace that is symbolized by that sign. Of course, being the child of godly, believing parents does not automatically guarantee salvation. Covenant children must themselves grow up to believe and repent just like everyone else is called to repent of sins and to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. That is what they must do if they would be saved by the grace of God. However, they are to be regarded as covenantally holy as the Apostle Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 7 14. And therefore they are to be regarded as part of Christ’s visible church even before they can make a mature profession of faith.
Even though not all covenant children are saved or will be saved, nevertheless God does not view them as little pagans and neither should we. But that raises the question, what is required for receiving the kingdom of God? Jesus says, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. To receive the kingdom of God, to use this language of Jesus, Jesus is talking about receiving the gift of salvation. For his kingdom is a kingdom of grace and salvation. So what is required for receiving the kingdom of God? Jesus says, truly I say to you, verse 15, truly I say to you, in the Greek it’s amen, meaning take this seriously, this is important. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. William Hendrickson writes, receiving the kingdom of God as a little child means to accept it with genuine, trustful simplicity, with unassuming humility.
He goes on to say that here Jesus is talking about the simple, humble, unquestioning, trustful manner in which a child accepts what is offered to him. How about you, dear listener? Have you received God’s gift of salvation offered to you in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ? Have you received that good news as a child? He’s not calling us to have a childish faith, but a childlike faith, a faith that trusts God just as the child of a loving father trusts what his father says. When God makes a promise, he doesn’t make it with sort of a fine print that kind of cancels out the impact of the promise. Do you take God at his word like a child takes his parents at their word? Have you trusted God in Christ? When God says as he does in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Do you take him at his word? Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you trust him, the one who died, to pay the penalty for sin and rose from the dead so that whoever trusts in him for salvation from sin might not perish but have everlasting life? If you do with a childlike trust, then God’s word says you will be saved. You have eternal life. May God grant that even as we mature in Christ, that we would always have not a childish but a childlike faith, a faith that receives the kingdom as a little child would. Amen. Let’s pray. Our Lord and Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you, Lord God, that you save folks from at every stage of life, that your grace is at work in the lives not only of the elderly and the grown and the matured and maturing, but even in the hearts and lives of your elect covenant children.
We would pray, Lord God, that you would help us as those whom you have shown your covenant mercies to help us, Lord, to appreciate those mercies and to welcome the little lambs in our midst. And we pray even as our Savior welcomes them, we pray these things in His name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. Well, friends, we come now to the portion of our service where we’re going to begin
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