Pentecost 17

Sep. 7, 2008

May the Words of My mouth . . .

Truly I say unto thee, unless you are turned and become as little children,
you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

What do you remember about your childhood? More specifically,

what do you remember about faith, church, or what you learned about
Jesus as a little child? (pause) I asked that question of some of the dear
residents living at Alterra House this past Wednesday. One of them,
named Anna who grew up in Scotland, said that she remembered how
her parents used to have to pay to be members of the church. I was
quite surprised, and said something like “You’re kidding, you had to
PAY to be a member?” She assured me it was true. At which time
another dear woman named Jane, who I suspect has an English
heritage, piped up and said, “What do you expect, they’re Scottish”.
I would hope that we would all remember something about God
from our childhood. The prayers said at bed or mealtime, the bible
stories read to us, the hymns we sang in church or the truths we learned
from listening to the pastor’s sermon—all these helped to provide a
foundation not only for our faith, but for our lives as well.
Therefore it shouldn’t surprise us to see Jesus placing such great
emphasis on little children throughout His ministry, and especially in
today’s text. Seven times in fourteen verses he speaks of little children.

1
 He speaks of their faith—“Whoever causes one of these little ones
to believe in me”. Yes, little children, even infants, can and do believe in
Jesus, which is why the Christian church has always baptized babies.
He speaks of their importance—From the OT we know that
children at the age of eight days were circumcised and considered part
of the people of God. Therefore Jesus reminds us of the seriousness of
causing one to sin, and He reveals the glorious truth that they even have
guardian angels watching over them.
What’s more, Jesus uses children as an example of one of the key
ingredients of the Christian faith—one that we seldom see these days
but that is set high on a pedestal by our Savior—namely that of
humility.
Humility is a characteristic that is not highly valued. If you
listened to The Lutheran Hour this morning you heard Rev. Klaus say
that people want to be at the front of the line, in the back of the church,
and the center of attention. Such was the case with the disciples, for
they asked Jesus the question “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven.”
We’re not told why they asked this question; They may have been
jealous of Peter—who, has we have heard the past two weeks, seemed to
be assuming a prominent place in Jesus’ ministry—either for good or
for evil. We don’t know why they asked this question, what we DO know
is that pride and jealousy existed among the disciples then, just as it
does among Jesus’ disciples today.
Consider for a moment the role that pride plays in your lives. Do
you desire to be recognized at work so as to receive a raise? Do you find
yourself competing with the Jones’s? Do you think that your children

2
are a bit smarter, cuter, or more capable than the other kids in their
class? And do you become upset or offended when they or you do not
receive your due? Consider carefully these words of James: “God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
That is the lesson that Jesus teaches the disciples. He teaches
them this in a way and with words they never would’ve expected. For
He takes a little child—a mere toddler—and places the child in their
midst and says,
Unless you are turned and become as little children, you can by no
means enter the kingdom of heaven. In our minds we would imagine
this to mean that one must have a pure faith—like that of a child. But
that is not what He’s teaching. Keep in mind the way children were
viewed at the time of Jesus. Not at all like they are seen today—
precious little creatures who are born pure and holy and as they get
older and are exposed to the culture become corrupted. No, not at all.
They were seen as sinful, as troublesome, as disobedient and strong
willed. Like Little animals who needed taming—some of you may
remember favorite phrases describing this perspective:
“Spare the rod and spoil the child”
“Children should be seen and not heard”

Therefore entering into the kingdom as a child meant that one would be
turned from the sorry, sinful state they were living in, recognize and
repent of their sin, and receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note, I said “be turned”. So often we attribute faith and salvation to an
effort made on the part of man. But the verb used here to describe
conversion is a passive—indicating that being turned from sin is NOT

3
man’s work—but God’s. Let’s use the example of a child to illustrate
the point. When a small child sees something fascinating, something
that captures their interest, something dangerous that they would like to
play with or in--like a swimming pool, an electrical outlet, or a
poisonous snake--they do not have the capacity to reason out the
potential danger or the possible consequences of their actions and then
make an informed decision to abandon their mission and avoid danger.
No, they plunge headlong toward the object, without any consideration
whatsoever for their well-being. Were it not for a loving parent,
grandparent, or caretaker, the child would be seriously harmed or
killed.
The same holds true for our condition of sin. We must be warned
of sin and turned away from it. That is the message we heard in the OT
lesson from Ezekiel. And this, dear friends, is why we simply MUST
speak about sin and death and the devil and hell in church. All pose
serious threats to our eternal health and well-being, and like children we
must be constantly warned of them. We could spend a month of
Sundays listing our sins, but the one that best fits the theme for today is
found in verse 6 and 10. (read)
Immediately what comes to mind is child abuse and physical
neglect. Certainly our society is filled with examples of children who
have been mistreated, falling victim to predators, be they strangers or
members of their own families.
But have we considered the seriousness of neglecting our children
spiritually? We have all heard parents say that they aren’t going to
raise their children in a religion—instead allowing them to choose for
themselves when they get older.

4
 Do you realize how illogical this thinking is if we applied it to
other areas of a child’s life? We aren’t going to feed our children
healthy food—or any food at all—instead we let them choose what they
want to eat when they grow up.
We aren’t going to take them to the doctor or dentist—it might be
a traumatic experience for them, and they might never want to go back.
This is spiritual neglect of children by those who are not
Christians. But what about among Christians? Are we guilty of
neglecting our children spiritually? Home-schooling has become quite
popular these days. The catechism makes it clear that after baptism
children are to be home-schooled by the head of the house-hold in the
basics of the faith. I ask you, parents, are you doing so? Do you pray
with your children? Do you read them stories from the bible? Do you
teach them bible verses that will provide guidance for them here in time
and throughout eternity? Are you providing them with the faith
foundation they need to survive in a very frightening world, and the
memories they will cherish when they are old and infirm? If not, you
are spiritually neglecting your children.
Jesus said “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives
me.” And whoever receives Him receives the gifts that only He can give.
Forgiveness, life and salvation. Gifts gained for us when God Himself
became a child, born of a woman—and then died as an adult. “Though
Jesus was in the very nature of God, He did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped, but humbled Himself and made himself
nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
Did you hear that description? Nothing about greatness—but a great
deal about humility, making oneself nothing, and taking the form of a

5
servant. That is what was necessary for Jesus to earn life and
forgiveness for you and me. He has given us everything, by becoming
nothing. He has made us the greatest, by Himself becoming the least.
As he said, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” And
that is why He became “obedient unto death, even death on the cross”.
The Lord Jesus is making it clear that children, and their eternal
well-being are very, very important to Him, and should be important to
us as well. More important than the sports teams they belong to. More
important than the grades their getting. More important than the fun
family activities we have planned. Why? Because all of these other
things are fleeting--but faith in Christ Jesus lasts forever.

Amen.