Jesus calls us to enter His Kingdom as helpless dependents, like infants in arms. This challenges our notions of self-sufficiency. Wealth often hinders our ability to come to Christ in this manner, as illustrated by the rich young ruler. True faith isn’t about what we bring to the table or our level of commitment, but about recognising our complete dependence on God’s grace. This understanding radically alters how we approach salvation and our relationship with Christ.

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[00:00:00] Jesus’s words let the little children come to me because that’s what I want to talk about tonight so you can follow along I know you’ve got Bibles in the pew feel free to check with those but I can get them off the internet the words you know and you put them up on the screen you can see the screen if you believe me you can check with the books in your pew we’re going to be reading from Luke chapter 18 and verses 15 to 30. Are you good to go? All right, here we go. Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them.

[00:00:39] And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, Whatever does not receive the kingdom of God, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child, shall not enter it. And a ruler asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the

[00:01:20] commandments do not commit adultery do not murder do not steal do not bear false witness honor your father and mother and he said all these I have kept from my youth. When Jesus heard this he said to him one thing you still lack sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven and come follow Me. But when He heard these things he became very sad for he was extremely rich. Jesus, saying that he had become sad, said, how difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the Kingdom of God for it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Those who heard it said then who can be saved, but he said what is impossible with man is possible with God. And Peter said see

[00:02:29] we’ve left our homes and followed you and he said to them truly I say to you you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come, eternal life.” I’m going to pray and then progress with speed. Thank You Lord for this great opportunity we pray that you would be present here and fill this room. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my rock and my Redeemer. Amen. Well my dad Adrian sent me to church, I didn’t want to go but I went anyway and there’s lots of good things that happen at church. One of the things is you hear Bible stories coming out of your ears are Bible stories and

[00:03:37] the trouble is you get pictures with them sometimes you get to draw the pictures and you get things like this happening. That’s the picture I have in my head of Noah’s ark. I don’t believe it looked anything like that, not even close to what Noah’s ark originally looked like. I don’t for a minute believe that you could walk out on the deck, why else would Noah have to have sent birds out to see if the water had gone down, if he could just go out on the deck and go and have a look. So no, I don’t think it was like that at all. There is another picture I have that I’ve inherited from my youth and that’s this, let the little children come to Me.” There’s a queue of five to ten-year-olds coming to Jesus or wanting to play and maybe sit on his lap. That’s the picture I have. I don’t

[00:04:38] know what picture you have in your mind for this verse. Let the little children come to Me. Jesus did say, let the children come to Me, and the word children could be anyone from birth up. But Luke 18.15 says that the kids being brought to Jesus were in fact infants. They were babies. The word is actually used to describe fetuses and I think the ESV has it right when it says infants. So the picture you have in your mind of five to ten-year-olds coming to Jesus is not the same as it is Jesus holding a baby in his arms. Let the little children come to me and it’s a great significance for you and me here tonight because Jesus did say that such as these is the kingdom of God. So if you’re picturing five to ten-year-olds as the ones who are like the people who

[00:05:58] get into the kingdom then I think you’re a little bit mistaken when Jesus is holding a baby in his arms and he’s saying the ones in the kingdom they’re here like this. It’s a very different picture, are you all with me, am I the only person that has these pictures in my head? Let’s just do a scan of the crowd, who thinks five to ten year olds in your mind when you think let little children come to me, do you have that picture in your head? I’m not the only one and it was a bit of a shock to me to find out that the word in Luke 18.15 is actually, it’s an infant, it’s a babe in arms and when I realised that, this whole passage changed for me. Alright, in Luke 17 and 18 Jesus has been talking about the culmination of His Kingdom, His Second Coming and He asks the question in verse 8, I tell you He’ll give justice

[00:07:09] to them speedily, nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? And it begs the question, what is the faith that He is looking for when He comes? And He finally returns, He’ll be looking for some faith, what is it that He’s looking for? Then you the parable of the persistent widow in verses 1-7 of Luke 18 and that suggests that perseverance is a part of that faith. And then in Luke Chapter 18, 9-14 you get the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, one of my favourite stories. And there Jesus teaches that the faith Jesus will be looking for is found in personal humility. It concludes with the great principle in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his

[00:08:07] house justified, that’s the tax collector, rather than the other, the Pharisee, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. And now we see Jesus with a baby in his arms saying that the faith he is looking for is being like an infant, a helpless, dependent infant. And he couldn’t be clearer, could he? I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God, like a child, shall not enter it. You simply cannot be in the Kingdom unless you’ve come in helpless dependence like a babe in arms. An incident with the rich young ruler will teach us that standing in the way of our coming to the Kingdom as helpless dependents is often our money, our wealth. As Jesus concluded in verse 25, it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

[00:09:20] than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, the helpless dependents that Jesus requires left people saying, well, who can be saved? It seems impossible to us. But he said, what is impossible with man is possible with God. And Jesus once and for all lifted salvation out of human reach. It’s impossible for man. God has to do it. And so we come as helpless and dependent infants like babes in arms. We bring nothing to the table. It is only God who saves us. We all understand that we don’t deserve to even be at the table. We understand that we are dependent creatures who only deserve judgment. We can only humble ourselves and say, God have mercy on me, a sinner. It is impossible for us. And yet in Christian world today, even among those of us who

[00:10:42] know that salvation is by grace and not works, we talk of salvation coming when we make a commitment or we make a recommittment that sees us take further steps in our walk with Christ in the Kingdom. It’s as if Jesus said, when I come not will I find faith on the earth will I find the committed on the earth. Helpless dependents do not, cannot make commitments, otherwise they wouldn’t be helpless. For many of us, commitment is something that we bring to the table. I know in a church like this, you sing songs like this. Perhaps in days gone by. Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. I wonder tonight if you have ever come to Jesus in this way. I wonder because if you haven’t come like an infant, then you are probably not a Christian. Listen,

[00:12:17] if you understand who God is, if you understand how big and awesome he is, and if you understand you are before him and the state of your sin and the offence that your sin causes to his holiness. If you fully appreciate what Jesus has done for you in his death and his resurrection, and if you hear the person Jesus calling you in your heart you simply place yourself in his hands. There’s no alternative to it. Can you see that unless you come as a helpless dependent like an infant you can’t come at all? It was the wealth of the rich young ruler that was in the way of his coming. Jesus told him to give it all to the poor and to follow him but he couldn’t do it. Jesus promised him treasures in heaven in exchange for the treasure he held on the earth that had so captured his heart. Peter was listening to all the conversation and there’s a touch of

[00:13:39] competitiveness in his bringing up his commitment. So Peter said, we’ve left our homes and followed you. He couldn’t give up his wealth, but we’ve given up our homes. And he said, truly I say to you, there’s no one who’s left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God who will not receive many times more in this time and in the age to come eternal life”. We’ve left our everything to follow you Jesus, that rich guy he was ready to commit, but he couldn’t do it. But we’ve committed ourselves, look what we’ve given up. But Jesus I think is saying don’t be competitive Peter, understand that those in the Kingdom may have left their homes, their family, they may have left everything, but they’re going to receive rewards in this life and in the age to come. I know Peter’s being competitive because of

[00:14:48] how Mark concludes Jesus’s statement, there’s a little bit at the end Jesus said, truly I say to you there’s no one in his left house brother and sister’s mother, that’s the same But look at verse 31, but many who are first will be last. And the last first. First, last, last first means equal. Don’t worry, Peter, when you come as an infant bringing nothing to the table, I come first before everything in your life and what you get is worth far more

[00:15:24] than anything that you may have given up. All are equal in the end. you will never out-give God. And when you come as an infant, it isn’t about how much you’ve given up, you can’t measure commitment like that. How much commitment do you need? How much commitment is enough? Helpless dependents don’t even ask the question. Now the rich young ruler,

[00:15:54] he was ready to make a commitment. He knew he lacked eternal life, but he was ready to do whatever it took to get it. He was successful in his life. He was wealthy. So why wouldn’t he be successful in his getting of eternal life? Luke says he approached Jesus, but Mark adds some more detail. The ruler asked him,

[00:16:20] good teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life? Look at what Mark says and as he was sitting out on his journey, A man ran up and knelt before him and asked, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Man, this is keen. He’s coming up and kneeling before him. He’s keen, he’s even desperate, and can I say in our modern day language, he’s expecting a list.

[00:16:55] He’s expecting Jesus to say this is what you gotta do to get eternal life. But Jesus wants to get to his heart and so he gets him thinking about who he is. Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Look, if you call me good, aren’t you calling me God? And then Jesus hits him with the Old Testament truths, he hits him with the list that he’s wanting to hear. You know the Commandments, don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness. Honor your father and your

[00:17:36] mother. These are standards expressed in the Old Testament. There they are. I’ll leave them up there for you to have a look for a quick second I won’t read them. But the guy, he’s been doing all of this since his youth. I’ve already been keeping that list. He’s already committed to that point. But you can hear his cry for help when he says, all these I’ve kept from my youth. You finished with those? Good. They’re gone. All these I’ve kept from my youth. I’m already that committed, Jesus. I’ve done all of that. What else do I need to bring to the table? I’m up for it. Jesus knew his wealth was in the way of his coming as an infant. And so, his reply is simple, get rid of your wealth. One thing you still lack, sell all that you have and give it to the poor and you will have

[00:18:39] treasure in heaven and come follow me. Jesus is saying your heart has been taken by your wealth. You need to start treasuring the things of heaven above the things of the earth. Listen Jesus is not saying the commitment I require is that you be prepared to sell all that you have and give it to the poor.’ He is saying you need to come in helpless dependence and your money is in the way so get rid of it and come. Wealth is a problem for many and Jesus knew it and he spoke about it often. In Luke’s Gospel there’s been the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Chapter 16, there’s the parable of the rich fool in chapter 12 who stood his wealth in barns. He built these big barns to put all of his stuff in and the conclusion of the story is this but God said to him, you fool this

[00:19:49] night your soul is required of you and the things you’ve prepared who’s will they be? Good question! So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not not rich towards God. Jesus said these things. You can read those. You know what it says. Should have treasure in heaven. My favourite is Matthew 6.24. No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he’ll be devoted to the one and then despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Money has this nature of becoming a master. We should properly fear wealth because of what it can do to our hearts. Wealth leads to pride, arrogance, insensitivity, indifference, self-satisfaction and worldliness. It will take your heart away from coming in the required way to Jesus and so Jesus makes the conclusion. How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. For it’s easier

[00:21:11] for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Riches are dangerous because what they do to your heart can keep you from the kingdom and the rich young ruler, he went away sad. He became very sad for he was extremely rich. What was true for him is true for many and is expressed clearly in Jesus’s letter to the church of Laodicea. For you say I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing, not realising that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Our wealth blinds us from our needs and so we never come as helpless dependents because we do not believe that that’s what we are and our wealth is exhibit for us improving to ourselves that we are able to live independent from God and the rich young ruler was ready to commit but his heart

[00:22:29] wasn’t right. Jesus’ request of Him to give everything away was not an appeal to make a bigger commitment. It was not an appeal to meet some standard or level of commitment that’s necessary to be saved. It was an appeal that he come as as a helpless dependent, like an infant. When we ask, well do we have to give everything away too? Or worse, we try and justify ourselves with our wealth and we ask, well, we are expressing how far when we’re just asking the question, How far away our hearts are from coming as helpless dependents.

[00:23:28] In my mind, I’ve got five to 10 year olds in a queue. And when I ask the question, what is it about children that qualifies them for the kingdom? You can read whole books about this. And there’s great qualities in children that see them lining up with the kingdom of Christ. They’re trusting, they simply trust. They’re innocent, they’re single-minded, they’re focused, if you can get their focus. These are all commendable things.

[00:24:09] But then there’s that verse 15. He wasn’t thinking of five to 10 year olds. He’s thinking of infants, babes. We need to get the picture of a baby in arms. This is definitely an infant. And Jesus is wanting us to think in terms of helpless dependents when He says, let the little children come to Me. Don’t hinder them. For to such belongs the kingdom of God.

[00:24:53] Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Tonight, Jesus is calling all of us to come to Him to come as helpless dependents like infants. If we are Christians we’ve already come like that at one time but things may have moved in, things may have taken over our hearts and we might find ourselves stuck in a game of commitment and recommitment, thinking that being in the kingdom requires an improved performance on our behalf. Or you may be someone who’s never come like that before and Jesus is calling you for the first time. Can you see Jesus became a

[00:25:55] helpless dependent in order to pay for your sins? When he came and died on the cross for you, he gave up all that he was. He placed himself as a helpless dependent on his Father and his final act shouts it to the world. Father into your hands, I commit my spirit when he died. The call of Christ is a call of one, helpless, dependent to another. Will you answer him in the manner that he requires? You know, there’s another interesting difference between Luke and Mark’s account of this incident. Look at Luke 18.22, when Jesus heard this,

[00:27:00] he said to him, one thing you still like, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Look what Mark adds. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing, go sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in heaven, up and come follow me. Listen, when the challenge of Christ was about to bite the rich young man,

[00:27:39] when the helpless dependent was about to appeal to the rich young ruler to become just like him, Jesus looked at him with love. If you have a sense of lack in your life, if you feel that you need something more spiritually, then Jesus comes to you with a look of love that pierces your heart, breaking through your willingness to commit and asks you to simply accept him, like an infant. That’s what you’ll say.

[00:28:44] Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for your love. Thank you that you gave up everything and became a helpless dependent for us. And your call is for us to be the same. There is a sense, even though we aren’t dying on a cross, when you said, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

[00:29:50] There’s a sense that we must come, saying, Father, into your hands, I give my life. We become just like you. What a privilege it is to hear your call in our hearts. Help us to listen, even as we sing our final song. In Jesus’ name, amen.