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Oct 27, 2024

Blessed Babes & Miserable Millionaires

Passage: Mark 10:13-31

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Gospel of Mark

Keywords: wealth, children, works, riches, false gods, commandments, helplessness

Summary:

This passage contrasts two very different stories around the same theme: how do we really come to God in a way that creates closeness with Him? God has blessed all of us with many things...I'll call them "toys"...in life. Will those toys draw us closer to God or become false gods that rob us of the Living God?

Detail:

Blessed Babes & Miserable Millionaires

Mark 10:13-31

October 27, 2024

Fellowship Question: Tell someone about something special to you as a child that you remember, regrettably, either losing or having to part with.

INTRO: One of the more awful and sometimes outright evil aspects of poverty-stricken people (both economically and morally) can be how some adults use little children for their own ends.  Whether it is selling children into sex trafficking and slavery or physically injuring them so that they become pitiable objects used for begging, the use and abuse of children by adults moves most of us to a special level of revulsion.  I must admit that a part of me hopes there is a special place in hell for such people.  (I know.  I’m not the all-loving and forgiving pastor you wish I was.)

            Today’s passage in Mark 10 is a continuation of one of the threads running through the Gospel of Mark, namely the priority God places on children and the anger he has towards anyone who brings harm to them.  We saw last week how that relates to moms and dads contemplating divorce.  A couple of weeks before that we looked at how it relates even to our stewardship of voting as well as protection and spiritual direction of children. 

            Today’s text has, what at first glance might appear to be, two distinct encounters with Jesus.  But I think they are actually directly connected to each other.  In all three Gospel accounts where they appear, the first one is always followed immediately by the second one.  The 1st one has to do with children, the 2nd with the rich man.  Let’s read them both and, as you do, ask yourself, “What could possibly tie these two stories together?”

Mark 10:13-31

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”

24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

            Let’s take the story of Jesus, the disciples and the parents with children first.  Jesus and the disciples are staying in a house in Capernaum, possibly Peter’s.  Townsfolk obviously know about it.  And having heard Jesus’ heart for children in both his teaching on divorce and his teaching on greatness, some of them, be they grandparents, aunts, uncles or even neighbors, put 2 and 2 together and rightly conclude that Jesus has something even for their ‘littles.’

            The term here used for children is the one used most often for babies and toddlers.  It can refer to older children as well.  But my guess is that from the response of the disciples, these children tended to be on the lower end of the age spectrum.  Had they been predominately pre-teen kids, those kids would have been old enough to have been in school and to participate at some level in the adult conversations. 

            The disciples were apparently functioning sort of like Jesus’ Secret Service detail.  They were trying to buffer the rift-raff from interrupting Jesus’ “important conversations” with adults.  So, when some moms and dads and uncles and cousins show up with little kids…babies perhaps…they are clearly a group that can be sidelined to the holding pen.  But when Jesus caught wind of what was unfolding, he didn’t just give a stern look to his disciples.  He is ”indignant” (vs. 14).  The Greek (aganakteo) is a compound word from two words, “much” and “grieved”.  It’s used for expressing deep displeasure, vexation and indignation.  It’s the only time we have recorded Jesus felt this way.

            Having just taught about the severe consequences of turning children from belief and faith in God, to see his disciples literally, physically turning them away was more than he could stand. 

APP:  This is a great reminder that hearing God’s truth does not mean I’m obeying it.  We can hear Jesus’ voice, nod approvingly at his teachings…and turn right around and sin against Him in our lack of application.  It can most easily happen when it comes to those around us who lack the voice or platform to advocate for their own survival and success. 

            Mark tells us that the adults bringing these children to Jesus just wanted him to “touch” them.  Maybe they had seen what Jesus’ touch had done to paralyzed people and blind people.  Maybe they had seen the power of his presence on demonically-afflicted people and chronically sick people.  But it seems to be more than just problems they knew Jesus’ touch would change; they knew Jesus’ touch had something for every child, even the ones who would never remember meeting Jesus because they were so young. 

            Vs. 16 tells us that “He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”  I’ll bet Jesus held little babies and squirmy toddlers in his muscular carpenter arms that were used to carry timbers.  I’ll bet he placed his rough, calloused hands on their heads and spoke personal words of blessing over their futures.  And I’ll bet he didn’t just do it for 3 or 4 minutes.  I’m guessing that when the word got out that littles had a place in the Teacher’s presence that he probably took the rest of the day to speak godly futures over these children. 

Jesus understood that, as go the children, so goes the kingdom.  In fact, he tied them together with his words in vs. 14, “…for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” 

APP:  Believe it or not, the same is true today.  The kingdom of God still belongs to the little ones among us.  I will most likely not be laboring in the Kingdom of God here in 30 years…but my grandchildren will be. 

ILL:  The story is told of the great 19th century evangelist, D.L. Moody who once returned to his host’s house from a meeting and reported that there had been 2½  conversions. “Two adults and a child, I suppose?” asked his host. “No,” said Moody, “two children and an adult. The children gave their whole lives. The adult had only half of his left to give.” [In Kent Hughes, Mark (Crossway Books), 2:9.]

            Church can be SO deceptive.  We come in and out of this place day after day, hold our worship services, Bible studies and prayer services, all the while thinking what we are doing is most important.  The reality from Jesus’ vantage point is that what our babies and little children are experiencing is perhaps most important. 

  • This is why those of you who work with our children are probably the most important leaders and mentors around here.
  • That’s why we must do better in equipping our parents and those around them to speak, give, invest and minister blessings on a daily basis into their children.
  • This is why we must be praying unashamedly for our younger single adults, that God will lead them to godly spouses and bless them with children. (We must be pro-marriage and pro-family in contrast to our anti-family and anti-child culture.)
  • That is why we must be PRAYING as a church that God will raise up a pastor who can help this church become one of THE best places in this city for parents to be mentored in educating and discipling their children and children can grow in becoming THE best evangelists, teachers and ministers of the Gospel in their schools, on their teams, and in their chat rooms.

[STOP & PRAY for this!]

Before we leave this part of the story, we must answer the question, “In what way must we ‘receive the kingdom of God like a little child’?”  The answer is critically important. It’s so important that Jesus said, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 

What is it that characterizes a child, which must characterize the way we receive the kingdom of God? Here are 3 possible answers that I can think of:

  • We must have the humility of children. Problem—most kids, bless their hearts, aren’t all that humble; they demand attention. And when we don’t give it to them, they usually demand it LOUDER!  They but into conversations.  they are, like all human beings, sinful, selfish and fighting for recognition, not looking for ways to advance their siblings or give them the attention they crave. 
  • We must have faith as children. Given a safe, loving environment, children will demonstrate faith in the adults around them. But raised in an abusive, dangerous, chaotic environment, they learn not to survive by not having faith.  Additionally, what may look like ‘faith’ is usually   Faith in Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny is not the biblical notion of faith.  It’s child-like gullibility.  Faith trusts God and the right human sources. 
  • Our text informs us that the children who come to Jesus are very young children. Luke 18:15 tells us, in fact, that they are babies (brephos). The Greek term used there refers to both unborn embryos and newborn babies. Any way you take that word, these children are pretty young! 

Babies do not trust, nor do they practice humility. Babies are carried to Jesus. They make no conscious decisions to go anywhere. They speak no words. They understand no words. The next clue comes from the next paragraph about the rich young man.  He speaks of his “works” from the point of his childhood onward. It is just as though the Gospel writers had put these two paragraphs side-by-side in order to show us something very important by contrast. The rich young ruler wishes to talk about that which he has done, since childhood, in order to earn God’s favor. Jesus takes babies in his arms and tells everyone that they must enter the kingdom of God like these children come to Him—helpless. [See https://bible.org/seriespage/57-blessed-babes-and-miserable-millionaire-luke-1815-30]

Look at this from a Jewish O.T. mindset.  They had 2 major covenants that bound the Jews to God:

  • Abrahamic, symbolized by circumcision that was done by parents to a male child at 8 days old.
  • Mosaic Covenant in which God promised to bless his people if they walked in obedience. This was not binding on a Hebrew child until age 13.  The Bar Mitzvah ceremony of today is the entrance into this relationship, making the child a “son of the law” and the keeping of the sabbath the sign of that covenant.   

I believe that Jesus was using the coming of the children to Him to be blessed as an illustration of the way in which all people must come to Him for a blessing. That is, if we would come to Jesus for a blessing, we must not come in our own strength (the babes were carried), we must not come through our own understanding, our own wisdom, our own good works. We can only come to Christ in our helpless state, looking to Him and to His grace alone. We must come out of our weakness, not out of our own righteousness. 

The thing which commends children to Christ is their helplessness, not their goodness.

APP:  Is that how you have come to Christ?  Or are you more like the rich man that we’re going to look at next—trusting in a lifetime of doing his best only to be confronted with the reality that he really loved, valued and clung to other things more than God himself? 

            Now we come to the second story that drives this central point home.  Without looking at the other parallel accounts of this in Matthew 19 and Luke 18, let me just tell you that they provide us with a few interesting details. 

  • This man was a “ruler” of some sort, though it’s not clear in what capacity, (Lk. 18:18).
  • This man was a young man, (Mt. 19:22). That’s significant because since he was wealthy, he had probably received his wealth by inheritance.  So, it had come quickly, early and easily. 
  • This man was a man of action, a ‘doer’ under the Law of Moses. He asked Jesus (Mk. 10:17) “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

Jesus attempts to point him to the very Law he is trusting in to justify him with His comment that this man already knows the Commandments.  Jesus mentions just the latter half of the 10 Commandments that have to do with our treatment of people. That half is actually easier than the first half that has to do with our relationship to God.  So Jesus is being kind and gracious to him.

In response to Jesus pointing him to the Law, this man declares, ““Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  Notice how he points to what he has done.  He’s like most people you ask today the question, “If you died today and stood before God and God asked you, “Why should I let you into heaven?”, what would you say?”  Most people will say, “Because I’ve tried to live a good life.  I’ve done more good than bad.  I’m really not a Hitler; I’m more like Mother Teressa.”  Every religion in the world except Christianity points to the supposed goodness of the individual as the road to eternal life. 

But the Law was not given to make us feel good about ourselves before God.  Quite the contrary.  Paul tells us in Galatians 3:24, “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”  He didn’t say, “So that we might be justified (made right with God) by our good works.” 

Jesus had just confronted this young man with the reality that the only truly “good” being in the universe was God.  When this man had called Jesus “Good Teacher,” Jesus challenged his use of the term “good” by pointing him only to God as the only good One.  Clearly, Jesus is making him decided that either Jesus was just another sin-flawed person OR he was God come in human flesh.  And if He was the latter, he would need to obey Jesus just as he was claiming he was obeying God. 

NOTE: The fact that this rich man also used the same term “good” to refer to what kinds of “good works” he needed to do to ensure eternal life shows that he really didn’t grasp the difference between his good works and the truly holy, righteous, morally perfect, ‘good’ God who had given him the Law to show him how much he needed a Savior. 

APP:  Isn’t that just like most people today?  We think the “goodness of God” is on the same plain as “our goodness.”  God might be a few steps above us but His goodness isn’t that unreachable by us.  This is why so few moral, religious or just functional people don’t see why they need a Savior.  They don’t realize how desperately short of God’s demand for perfect holiness they fall.  They think God grades on the curve and they are at least somewhere on the bell ahead of most people. 

ILL:  This guy was a lot like me when I was younger…well, minus the riches!  Having come to Christ as a child, I had accepted the fact that I was a sinner who needed Jesus.  So I had put my faith in Jesus and was seeking to obey Him as best I could.  Unlike those of you who may have been saved out of some ugly lifestyle, mine was pretty clean and tidy at age 8.  Youth and often religion will do that that to you.

It wasn’t until later in life, when God stripped away the veneer of my religiosity and held up the mirror to my idolatry, my anger and rage and self-centeredness and hurtfulness towards others that I realized I was a broken mess who had nothing to commend myself to God. 

God is able to do that with every one of us individually.  That is precisely what Jesus was doing, out of love, for this rich young man.  He kindly, lovingly and graciously showed him that he really hadn’t obeyed the first commandment not to have any other gods by showing him just one of his recently-acquired false gods: wealth.  21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

When Jesus asked him to part with his wealth so he could truly love God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength, this man said, “No thank you,” walked away sad, and proved that God was really not the treasure his soul loved—money was.  His being rich was not the problem; his love of that wealth more than his love of God was.

In fact, Peter’s question to Jesus about what they had all left to follow Jesus just further prove Mark’s point here. 

28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

Jesus had asked his disciples to leave things that were competing gods in their lives—boats, nets, businesses, family, property, steady incomes, a planned-out future, etc.  These men had done that.  Well, most of them.  As time would tell, Judas Iscariot looked like he had left his love of money, power and political change, but he apparently never did.  The other eleven had let go of their competing gods to follow the Living God, Jesus. 

29 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

            To Peter’s implicit question hidden in his statement about leaving everything, Jesus wanted us all to know that there truly are all kinds of blessings…as well as trials…that come with serving the Living God. 

The disciples differed from this young rich man in that they gave up all to follow Jesus, not in order to have eternal life. Jesus was the attraction, the goal, the ultimate good of the disciples. Money, and a long life to enjoy it, was the goal of the rich young man. He, it would seem, wanted to live forever while trying to protect himself from having to be parted from his money. But Jesus knew it was necessary to first part him from his money if he was ever to truly enter into life eternal with Christ both now and forever.

It's all a matter of WHO or WHAT we really love.  If we love our ‘toys’ in life more than God, we will walk away from God over and over again so we can hang onto our ‘toys.’  But if we really love God more than our ‘toys,’ we will lovingly let go of those things time and again so that we can express our love to the only God who loves us and gave himself up for us. 

STORY:  In It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It (condensed in Reader’s Digest [10/89], pp. 67-69), Robert Fulghum, a superb story teller, relates an incident that happened to him which, I think, illustrates this very truth poignantly:

“The cardboard box is marked “The Good Stuff.” As I write I can see where it is stored on a high shelf in my studio. I like being able to see it when I look up. The box contains those odds and ends of personal treasures that have survived many bouts of “clean-it-out-and-throw-it-away.” A thief looking into the box would not take anything—he couldn’t get a quarter for any of it. But if the house ever catches on fire, the box goes with me when I run.

One of the keepsakes in the box is a small paper bag. Lunch-size. Though the top is sealed with staples and several paper clips, there is a ragged rip in one side through which the contents may be seen.

This particular lunch sack has been in my care for 14 years. But it really belongs to my daughter, Molly. Soon after she came of school age, she became an enthusiastic participant in the morning packing of lunches for herself, her brothers and me. Each bag got a share of sandwiches, apples, milk money and sometimes a note or a treat.

One morning Molly handed me two paper bags. A regular lunch sack. And another with the staples and paper clips. “Why two bags?” I asked.

“The other one is something else.”

“What’s in it?”

“Just some stuff--take it with you.” I crammed both sacks into my briefcase, kissed her and rushed off.

At midday, while hurriedly scarfing down my lunch, I tore open Molly’s second bag and shook out the contents. Two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny seashell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, two Hershey’s Kisses and 13 pennies.

I smiled. How charming. Rising to hustle off to the important business of the afternoon, I swept the desk clean. Into the wastebasket went my leftover lunch and Molly’s junk. There wasn’t anything there I needed.

That evening Molly stood beside me while I was reading the paper. “Where’s my bag?” she asked.

“I left it at the office. Why?”

“I forgot to put this note in it.” She handed me a piece of paper. “Besides, I want it back.”

“Why?”

“Those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like. I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them again. You didn’t lose the bag, did you, Daddy?” Tears puddled in her eyes.

“Oh, no,” I lied, “I just forgot to bring it home.”

“Bring it tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure thing—don’t worry.” As she hugged my neck with relief, I unfolded the note she had given me: “I love you, Daddy.”

I looked long at the face of my child. Molly had given me her treasures. All that a seven-year-old held dear. Love in a paper sack. And not only had I missed it; I had thrown it in the wastebasket. Dear God. I felt my Daddy Permit was about to run out.”

Fulghum went back to the office and managed to retrieve the stuff before the janitor got to it. He returned it to his daughter the next day, who carefully explained the significance of each item. He continues,

“To my surprise, Molly gave the bag to me once again several days later. Same ratty bag. Same stuff inside. I felt forgiven. And trusted. And loved. And a little more comfortable wearing the title of Father.

Over several months the bag went with me from time to time, though it was never clear why I did or did not get it on a particular day. I began to think of it as the Daddy Prize and tried to be good the night before so I might be given it the next morning.

In time Molly turned her attention to other things, found other treasures, [in short], grew up. Me? I was left holding the bag. She gave it to me one morning and never asked for its return. I have it still.

Sometimes I think of all the times in this sweet life when I must have missed the affection I was being given. A friend calls this “standing knee-deep in the river and dying of thirst.”

So the worn paper sack is there in the box. Left over from a time when a child said, “This is the best I’ve got. Take it—it’s yours.”

I missed it the first time. But it’s my bag now.”

The point I want us to see from that story today is, when we really love someone, our ‘toys’ in life—that ‘stuff’ that seems so important and valuable to us—is best employed expressing our love to God rather than making it our love.  We may let go of it for a while…and then ask for it back to use for a while.  But eventually we’re going to ‘grow up and graduate’ to the eternal things of real importance.  Eventually we too are going to see just how insignificant all the things we are tempted to make our gods in life really are.  And then we will know just how useful they were for showing love to our heavenly Father.  And we will get to see just how much it meant to our Father that we would give him our paper bags of trinkets and earthly toys. 

CLOSE: 

  • What are the ‘toys’ God has given you that you could use to express your love to Him by giving them back? Money?  Talents?  Energy?  Skills?  Time?  Fellowship?  Communion?  Family?  Home? Car?  There is nothing we will “leave” in order to follow Jesus more fully that God will not see returned 100-fold to us. 
  • How is God asking you to “let go” of it?
  • Have you been trusting in your imagined ‘goodness’, your good effort, your good morality or religious activity, to be right with God? If so, you need to let go of all that and realize that faith in Jesus’ sacrifice for you, not your working for Him, is the only way you are going to become “like a child” that you need to be. 

Benediction:  The Lord's Prayer