When Jesus entered the synagogue leaders house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. (If you’d like to learn more about handling temptation, check out the post “ Lessons from the Temptations of Jesus.”) 3. ![]() If your behavior leads innocent children astray, it’s better to be tossed into the depth of the sea than to face the judgment of Jesus. But here Jesus wants His listeners to understand the dangers of being the vehicle through which temptation comes. When it comes to temptation, we’re all responsible for our own behavior. You see this in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus tells the crowd, “And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away” (Matthew 5:30, NIV). This was His way of communicating the sheer magnitude of what He was trying to communicate. When Jesus had something important to say, He often used hyperbole. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:6-7, NIV) “If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Christ’s stern warning about protecting children In this case, we serve God by serving children. By welcoming and serving those that society doesn’t value, we welcome and serve God. ![]() He then makes a point that He’ll come back to in a parable about sheep and goats (Matthew 25:31-46). Like children, kingdom-minded leaders shouldn’t be jockeying for position, looking to have power over others, or worrying about how people perceive them. Jesus uses this opportunity to reiterate one of His most common points about godly leadership. ![]() In their opinion, the Lord had more important things to do. We see this in Luke 18 when parents were bringing their infants to be blessed by Jesus, and the disciples try and chase them away. He tells us.Ĭhildren didn’t have a lot of rights in the first century. Are we supposed to become innocent like children? Do we need childlike trust? Luckily, we don’t have to guess what Jesus meant. There’s a lot of conjecture about what Jesus means. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Meanwhile, Jesus calls a child over and tells them: From the disciple’s religious context, they likely would have answered, “One who keeps the law.” No one answers right away-probably because they’re all waiting for Peter to give the wrong answer. “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” In this case, there were children in the crowd and Jesus used them to make an important point. Jesus often used things in His environment to teach spiritual truth. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:1-5, New International Version). Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ![]() Greatest in the kingdom of heavenĪt that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Here are three passages where Jesus demonstrated God’s heart for children: 1. He’s gentle and kind with them, and passionate about protecting them from harm. It’s in the Gospels that we really discover God’s soft spot for children. And children are instructed to obey the instruction of their parents (Exodus 20:12). Parents are reminded that children are a heritage from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5). The Old Testament is full of passages about the importance of raising children to love and worship God (Deuteronomy 6:7, Proverbs 22:6).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |