Childlike Faith Series

ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: Childlike Faith

MARK 10:13-16

#kingjesus

USE AUDIO BIBLE: Mark Chapter 10:1-52 [6:51]

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Mark.10

INTRODUCTION… Gospel of Mark Review

The word ‘essential’ means ‘of the utmost importance.’ ‘Essential’ means ‘basic,’ ‘indispensable,’ and ‘necessary.’ We might say that air, food, and water are essential for life. Exercise and good nutrition are essential for good health. Gas is essential for a vehicle to continue working.

Today we are continuing our sermon series on the Gospel of Mark that I’ve themed ‘Essential King Jesus.’ We have been at it 10 weeks now… because we are in chapter 10… where each week we have looked at one passage in a chapter. First week, chapter 1. Second week, chapter 2. And so on.

My prayer has been and continues to be that as we make our way through the Gospel of Mark, that we will encounter the Essential King Jesus and bolster our faith or perhaps find it for the first time. And… each week I want to share with one essential truth that is important for us to believe and then also communicate to others about Jesus. We are focusing on the Essential King Jesus.

What have we found so far?

Mark 1: You cannot be part of the Kingdom of God without Jesus.

Mark 2: Jesus has all authority and all power to forgive sins.

Mark 3: Jesus came to do the will of God.

Mark 4: Jesus casts out fear.

Mark 5: Jesus breaks our chains.

Mark 6: Jesus can be rejected.

Mark 7: Jesus distastes hypocrisy.

Mark 8: Jesus is the Christ.

Mark 9: Jesus only.

CHAPTER 10

We now come to Mark 10 (out of 16 chapters). Mark 10 begins with a teaching about divorce that we are scared to talk about and scared to apply to ourselves because it does really mean what you think it means (verses 1-12) and it really does apply the way you think it applies. A rich young man comes to Jesus and questions Him about following Him and goes away sad “for he had great possessions” (10:22). Jesus then teaches about wealth and faith on the heels of this man walking away (verses 23-31). Jesus tells the disciples again that He will die and that His suffering and death is part of the plan (verses 32-34). Jesus also heals Bartimaeus outside of Jericho (verses 46-52).

In the middle of this passage, we have four verses (13-16) where Jesus interacts with some children and leads us to our Essential King Jesus thought for today.

READ MARK 10:13-16

And they were bringing children to Him that He might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And He took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them.

ESSENTIAL KING JESUS

Jesus is in a crowd and the disciples are shewing away the kids. Jesus is annoyed and angry with the disciples and chastises them and allows the kids to come around and He blesses them. This leads us to the Essential King Jesus for this passage: Jesus wants child-like faith in the Kingdom of God.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHILD-ISH AND CHILD-LIKE (merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-difference-between-childish-and-childlike)

As I was thinking about the words presented in Mark 10 and the way we usually think about this passage, the words child-ISH and child-LIKE sprang to mind. In my own mind the words child-LIKE and child-ISH are the same word, but childlike is positive and childish seems negative… especially when we eventually relate the words to faith. Childish and childlike are similar words, but have very different meanings.

Child-ISH means grouchiness, immaturity, being obnoxious, selfish, and peeing outside. Childish is the older term in English from before the 12th century. The original meaning of the word meant “of a child or typical of a child,” but soon a second more negative meaning came about. In the 1400s, “childish” became used to refer to the qualities of a child in a person who is no longer a child—and therefore should know better. The word became negative. These were seen as unpleasant qualities. For example: “another childish rant” or describing someone having “selfish and childish behavior.”

Child-LIKE means trust, joy, innocence, imagination, curiosity, wonder, forgiveness, and so on. Childlike entered the English language much later, in the mid-1500s. It, by contrast, usually means some positive quality such as innocence and trustfulness. For example: “a childlike delight in music” or “a sense of childlike wonder.”

Hopefully you can see the difference between the words and as we interpret what Jesus says in Mark 10:14-15 we are looking towards child-LIKE faith and not child-ISH faith. They are quite different and they are actually also both quite prevalent in the Church.