Faith like a Child

**Joshua Kirstine** (0:00)
Well, good morning, church. Grateful to be with you. If you grab your Bibles this morning and turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, we continue our sermon series this morning. Gonna preach a passage this morning that deals with children and parenting and all the things. And just thought it'd be kind of a fun moment to share with you a little bit of an update on my household. Noah has launched into his career and married a beautiful, godly woman and is doing well. Parker started his new career this last Monday as a lineman apprentice and still with us, growing in the Lord, but doing great. Natalie's working at Heartland Christian Camp all summer as summer staff, and she turns 18 on Wednesday. And so, Jennifer and I, this summer, are in a very unique moment. Instead of finishing and moving into that long anticipated, looking forward to season of being an empty nested couple in that season of life, we, the Lord has ordained that we are going another time around the merry-go-round. And so, these three, Piper and Savannah and Roman, are our new phase of rearing in the Lord and raising. And so, pray for us in our older age as we do this again. And for those who are like us in our congregation, there are many. But I share all this with you just to say that this sermon is for me too. And we're in this together. And many of the layers apply. So, love you guys. That's it.
I realize that some of you in God's providence don't have children. I realize that some of you are came to faith beyond the years of raising a child in the Lord. We didn't get to do that in the ways that we're attempting to do that as a church now. And I would just say, you know, also for many of you, there's a variance of children that are walking the Lord who are not. All of that, ultimately, church belongs to the Lord. We are just to be faithful to the command. What has God commanded us to do? And with that, what are we doing? And even if you're not in a season where actively these things are not happening daily in your home, you are part of a family where this is happening. And you are ordained to be a part of that. And you're not done. This today is for you if you don't have kids. Because God has saved us into a family where we have a lot of ways to be a part of this together. And that is an important part of life in the body of Christ. And one that I pray that you'll take seriously as well, and not count this as something not for you this morning. There's much to be seen and treasured and ways to pray for and support and encourage and be part of this effort. So God is good. Consider with me the fullness of our passage. Only three verses, Luke 18, 15 through 17 Now they were bringing even infants to him. He might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they rebuke them. But Jesus called them to him saying, let the children come to me and do not hinder them. For such belongs the kingdom of God. And truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it with the word of our Lord this morning. The reference to the kingdom of God that Jesus makes here continues. The Lord's discussion of the kingdom of God. It's much of the focus of his ministry over the three years he does that. But this particular focus of emphasis started back in the previous chapter, Luke 17 verse 20 And the important question that Jesus listeners are to be working through is, who will be in the kingdom of God? To whom does the kingdom of God belong? In the previous passage, Luke 18, 9 through 14, we studied last week, Jesus answered the question of who will not be in the kingdom of God. And it was much to the surprise of a large part of his Jewish audience, that the Jewish elite who were listening, those who were most convinced that they would be in the kingdom of God are told they would not be. The Pharisees and their faithful followers embraced a workspace, a self-righteous system and they were deceived to believing that their Abrahamic ancestry, their self-righteous practices, their external morality, their devotion to religious ceremony, and disciplines guaranteed them entrance to God's kingdom. But in reality, Jesus shows that the opposite is true. Those who went to the kingdom are those who have come to know that they cannot achieve God's perfect standard of righteousness by their own efforts. It is a true blessing to be made aware of your utter sinfulness before God's holy standard. Like the tax collector in our previous passage, contritely, remorsefully, humbly confess your sins, cry out to God for the forgiveness that you do not deserve. Only such people, Jesus declared, will be justified by his amazing grace. The transition from that parable that Jesus just told the Pharisee and tax collector, to this clarity about ministry to children, and what it is to have faith like a child, is a natural and logical transition. Because no one really better illustrates the reality that only the lowly who have achieved nothing of merit enter the kingdom than children.