To Children Belongs the Kingdom of God

Luke 18:15-17

In obedience to our Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations this congregation gives between 20 and 30 percent of its offerings to outside missions. We support missions here in Texas and in the United States and throughout the world.

In addition, each year we have two mission festivals—one in the spring and one in the fall—to keep our focus and awareness centered on the mission of God to save the world in his Son Jesus. Over the years we have heard from missionaries who work along the border among Hispanics and missionaries who work among Muslims and missionaries who work in Africa.

But in giving to outside missions and in listening to foreign missionaries we tend to forget that the mission of the church extends to every person and so that mission to bring people to Jesus is as close as our own family members.

Our first priority as Christian people when it comes to the saving mission of Jesus Christ is to make sure that our own family members—and especially those we have authority over (like our children) are believers who will live with us forever in heaven.

That has always been the first mission priority in every parent’s heart. St. Luke tells us that the crowds who followed Jesus were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. In contrast to the disciples, these followers of Jesus knew that the growth of the church began with their own children and in this they revealed the heart of God.

In the beginning, God created man to enjoy fellowship with him like a Father with his children. He made man in his own image—male and female-- and told them to be fruitful and multiply so that man could enjoy fellowship with his children. A close, loving relationship where God and man and his family members were all joined together by love is what God intended for mankind.

When that fellowship was broken by human sin, God sent his Son into this world to make things right again by dying on the cross and conquering death in his resurrection. The people who were bringing their children to Jesus that day wanted them to participate in that new life with God—to be joined together with their children in a right relationship with God.

I say this by way of introduction because in our day there is a way of thinking and living when it comes to children that undermines the creative and redemptive purpose of God-- because it does not view children as a blessing.

In Jesus’ day, it was simply assumed that there would be children around to be brought to Jesus. But in our culture, where are the children to bring to Jesus today? The birthrate in this country and even among Christians has declined dramatically over the last fifty years. When Matthew Harrison became the president of our church body this declining birthrate and its effect upon the church was one of the first things he addressed.

We live in a culture that sees children not as a blessing but as a burden. Not as a gift to be received but as obligations to be managed. We live in a culture that allows parents to murder their own children because they are inconvenient, unwanted, and less than perfect. But this is the way of the unbelieving world—not of Christ and the church.

Children are a blessing from God and Jesus wants a kingdom full of them. If we want to see the church grow we need to encourage our Christian young people to value marriage and family and children and aspire to be fruitful and multiply and bring their children to Jesus so that they can take their place in his kingdom. Jesus said,

“Let the children come to me, and 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 little child shall not enter it.

Not only are Christians expected to have fruitful marriages where children are welcomed, but they are to bring these children to Jesus, so that they can take their place in his kingdom as his disciples.

The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ is to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching. That commission applies to all people without distinction: to men and women—to all ethnic groups—and to all ages.

God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth-- and Jesus Christ has laid down his life on the cross for all people because all people—without distinction—need to be reconciled to God—including our children.

The Bible teaches that from our very beginning we need saving because Adam’s sin passed to all people which is why all people die. Our children are not magically excluded from this curse and so they too need to be brought to Jesus so that his redeeming work can be applied to their little lives too.

That is why we baptize children. They too need to be buried with Christ in his death. They too need to be raised with him in his life. They too are part of that great harvest field of souls that is all around us.

In the early days of the church, Peter was preaching the Gospel to multitudes of people and they wanted to know what they were to do. And Peter told them:

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

We tend to think of mission work happening somewhere else and other people being missionaries --but when Christian parents bring their children to be baptized they are bringing them to Jesus and when these children are baptized the kingdom of God has grown no less than if a tribesman in Africa had been brought to faith.

That’s important for us to remember. It is a wonderful thing that we give what we do to missions. It is incredibly valuable to be reminded twice a year on our mission festivals of the necessity of mission work in other places where we can’t go.

But we must not lose sight of the fact that the local Christian congregation has always been the place where the primary mission of the church goes forth as the Gospel is preached and the sacraments administered. When you put your weekly offering in the plate you are supporting the mission of Christ in this place --which is no less important than the mission of Christ in other places.

It is our first duty as Christian parents- and as a Christian congregation- to make sure that those who are closest to us among our own families and children are brought to Jesus and take their place in his kingdom through baptism and then- are- formed- as- his disciples- through- the –teaching- of- the- church.

In the Great Commission Jesus said that we are to makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and Son, and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe everything commanded by Jesus.

And so it is not enough to simply be fruitful and multiply- and it is not enough to simply bring children to the waters of Holy Baptism and think we have fulfilled out part in his mission. God wants his baptized children to be taught his ways.

That little child who has been baptized is to be taught who their Savior is and what he has done for them. They are to be taught the way that God would have them live. They are to grow up in homes that are pious and faithful. That is what Moses taught the believers of his day and it still stands to this day. He said:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

In that article by Pastor Harrison that I referenced earlier he went on to talk about another troubling trend in our church. Besides the declining birthrate among Christians, only half of those children who are baptized in our church are ever confirmed.

I began the sermon this morning by talking about the creative and redemptive purposes of God: that we were created and redeemed to have fellowship with him—that we were made in his image and commanded to be fruitful so that we would have children with which to enjoy fellowship here on earth and forever in heaven.

That doesn’t happen by accident. Children need to be brought to God—but they also need to be taught the things of God. They need to know the story of salvation—that God has set them free from sin and death by Jesus. They need to be taught how they are to live as children of God and how they are to view the world around them.

Teaching our children the things commanded by Jesus is what the Great Commission is all about and it happens when parents read their children bible stories at night and when they teach them their prayers and when they teach them the values and worldview of the church. The Christian faith and Christian living is to fill the Christian home and family.

Teaching the ways of Jesus is fully one half of the great commission and it is the Christian parent’s first responsibility-- and their responsibility, first. Each section of the catechism begins with these words: As the head of the household should teach it in a simple way to his children.

But the church is also called to help. Sunday school and confirmation classes and VBS and church camp and youth gatherings are all ways that the congregation helps parents with their responsibility to raise Christian children.

This is where the Christian Day School can also be a great asset in the mission of the Christian home and family. It is a wonderful thing if a parent is able to home school their children using a Christian curriculum- but many cannot- and so the Christian Day School can provide that comprehensive Christian training that we want for our children.

In the early days of our church a school was always started along with a new mission plant so that parents could fulfill their responsibility to raise their children in the faith. We had a Christian Day School here for decades and Bernice taught in it.

Even though we don’t have a school here now we are blessed to be able to help St. Paul-Bishop down the road through our gifts and prayers and students and teachers. This congregation—and our mission to make disciples of all nations—has been strengthened greatly by the mission and ministry of that school.

On this fall mission festival Sunday we hear our Lord Jesus Christ tell us: Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them and we are reminded that the mission of the church is not just far-away places and specially trained and gifted people—but the mission of Christ begins at home, with us and our children for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen.