Hope is Here / 12. Hope is Here // 3 Jesus and the Children - Matt Carvel // Matthew 19:13-15
12. Hope is Here // 3 Jesus and the Children - Matt Carvel // Matthew 19:13-15
In the passage this week we hear a story of children being brought to Jesus so that He could lay His hands on them. Firstly what we can see is how the people wanted to bring their children to Jesus, showing His kindhearted nature. The disciples tried to turn them away but Jesus wanted to pray for the children. In that society, children had very little value and so when Jesus did this He was challenging a social norm. This is a repeated theme throughout Jesus's life, He comes to the people who are overlooked and marginalised.
Jesus says to the disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” In doing this He is pointing us towards a greater truth about the nature of his Kingdom. If we look at the whole of Matthew 18 and 19 for context we see that Jesus speaks a lot about judgement, faith and eternity. Over and over He challenges the views that people have about what the Kingdom is like and how to enter. He is trying to get them to see that it’s impossible without God. We have to be childlike and learn dependency, humility and helplessness before God.
The more mature we become the more we realise that we need to rely on Him because we can’t do it in our strength, we need His help. Counter-culturally, we need to believe in Christ and not ourselves. We can’t lean on our own experience, gifting and knowledge, but on the Lord who is the upholder of our lives. He richly supplies encouragement and help and we are invited to draw from His abundant goodness daily. When we are doing well and when we are struggling, we need Him all of the time.
Jesus laid His hands on the children and prayed for them. When we come before god, knowing our need, we place ourselves under the hands that were nailed to the cross. He purchased our forgiveness so that we are free to live under the blessing of the gospel.
Application
Begin the day with prayer, bringing everything to God and asking for his help.
Have humility and learn to be more and more dependent, like a child, because the most helpless are the most helped and these are the most effective.
Don’t lean on your abilities to save you but trust that Jesus did enough when He bought your forgiveness on the cross.
Jesus says to the disciples, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” In doing this He is pointing us towards a greater truth about the nature of his Kingdom. If we look at the whole of Matthew 18 and 19 for context we see that Jesus speaks a lot about judgement, faith and eternity. Over and over He challenges the views that people have about what the Kingdom is like and how to enter. He is trying to get them to see that it’s impossible without God. We have to be childlike and learn dependency, humility and helplessness before God.
The more mature we become the more we realise that we need to rely on Him because we can’t do it in our strength, we need His help. Counter-culturally, we need to believe in Christ and not ourselves. We can’t lean on our own experience, gifting and knowledge, but on the Lord who is the upholder of our lives. He richly supplies encouragement and help and we are invited to draw from His abundant goodness daily. When we are doing well and when we are struggling, we need Him all of the time.
Jesus laid His hands on the children and prayed for them. When we come before god, knowing our need, we place ourselves under the hands that were nailed to the cross. He purchased our forgiveness so that we are free to live under the blessing of the gospel.
Application
Begin the day with prayer, bringing everything to God and asking for his help.
Have humility and learn to be more and more dependent, like a child, because the most helpless are the most helped and these are the most effective.
Don’t lean on your abilities to save you but trust that Jesus did enough when He bought your forgiveness on the cross.
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