In Matthew 23:13 Christ pronounced judgment upon the scribes and Pharisees when He said, "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in."
Christ condemned the religious leaders for blocking the doorway to heaven. They themselves did not enter through the doorway to heaven. They rejected Jesus Christ as Messiah. They favored their own ideas to God’s Word. They chose the things of this world over the things of God. In their refusal to accept God’s way not only did they not go through the door but also blocked the door to heaven for others. They did so in at least three ways.
1. They tried to discredit Jesus Christ.
a. They questioned His authority
„h Matthew 21:23 "And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority do thou these things? And who gave thee this authority?"
b. They sought to trip Him up.
„h Matthew 22:15-17 "Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. [16] And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. [17] Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?"
c. They derided His deity
„h John 10:20 "And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?"
2. They twisted the Scriptures
„h Mark 7:9 "And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."
„h Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."
3. They ridiculed and persecuted believers
„h John 9:22 "These words spoke his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue."
But in our text, it is not the Pharisees who are seen as blocking the door to heaven. It is the followers of Jesus Christ, the disciples, who in Luke 18:15 rebuke parents for bringing their children to Christ and in verse 39 rebuke blind Bartimaeus as he cries to the Lord for help. Why would any believer hinder anyone from coming to Christ? I believe there are times that some Christians block the door to heaven for the same reasons that the disciples blocked the door.
I. The disciples felt that parents brought their children for the wrong reason or motivation.
A. It was a practice for Jewish mothers to bring their babies to famous rabbis, and to ask these teachers to bless their little ones.
B. The disciples saw this as an act of frivolous pride.
C. Note - The parents brought their children to Jesus.
D. Often today, Christian parents take the attitude that they will let their children make up their own mind, to decide for themselves on spiritual issues. They use the excuse, "I don’t want to force or impose my views on them."
E. Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
F. One elder statesman of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families. He says that in American culture today most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years through a dynamic youth ministry, or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that love permeated their lives. It passed through their pores. Very few believers come from homes where there was a kind of indifferent, apathetic commitment to Christ.
G. Proverbs 29:15b "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame."
II. The disciples felt that the children were too young and didn’t understand.
A. A child’s mind is molded by those he or she is with. If a child’s mind is not molded by godly parent’s, godly friends, and godly church members it will be molded by the worldliness of our society.
B. If you live right, chances are your children will too. That’s if you make sure to teach them everything. What you don’t teach them, someone else will--and you may not like the lessons.
C. Deuteronomy 6:7 "And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sit in thine house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rises up."
D. Paul commended Timothy for knowing about God from the time that he was little. 2 Timothy 3:15 "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
E. One child lost to the faith usually becomes a family lost to the faith, and not many generations later a whole community of unbelief is set in motion because of some earlier neglect of parental duties.
III. The disciples felt that Christ had more important things than dealing with little children or a blind beggar.
A. The disciples were looking for Christ to enter Jerusalem and set up the Messianic kingdom immediately. They felt that he did not have time to deal with trivial things like children and beggars.
B. They failed to realize the spiritual nature of the kingdom and that Christ cares about everyone including those we might feel are the least or most insignificant.
C. Luke 19:10 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
D. Matthew 10:29, 31 "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father... Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
E. In a certain sense, every single human soul, whether a child or a beggar, has more meaning and value than the whole of history with its empires, its wars and revolutions, its blossoming and fading civilizations.
IV. The disciples were indifferent to the need.
A. They were looking to enter the kingdom not to work in the field. They were so caught up with the prospect of reigning with Christ in Jerusalem they could not be bothered with an outcast looking for the doorway to heaven.
B. Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish..."
C. Poor eyes limit your sight; poor vision limits your deeds.
D. Can a man truly love God while ignoring the need of his brother?
E. The most effective tool a small church has for creating a good church reputation may be its willingness to help those in need.
F. Charles Haddon Spurgeon - Living in the midst of the church of God is like sailing down the Nile in a boat. One is charmed with the luxuriance of either bank, and with much that is beautiful immediately around; but alas! At a little distance on either side lies a vast uncultivated, almost hopeless, desert. Some are at rest because they never look beyond the borders of the church, but those whose sympathies reach to all humanity will have to carry a lifelong "burden of the Lord."
G. John 4:35 "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
