Sermon for Sunday, September 27, 2026 at Unionville Presbyterian Church (BPC)
Old Testament Text:
[Jeremiah 32:36-41 ESV] 36 “Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
New Testament Text:
[1 Peter 2:1-6 ESV] 1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation– 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Gospel Text
[Mark 10:13-16 ESV] 13 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.
SermonText:
[Matthew 19:13-15 ESV] 13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And he laid his hands on them and went away.
Introduction
Often it is the Pharisees who are causing trouble directly with their questions and unbelief.
But at other times it is actually the Disciples of Jesus who need to be correctly.
Here is one of those times as the Disciples err in keeping children away from Jesus.
Throughout the Gospels we find the disciples making mistakes! These are not the greatest men of God. They struggle and fail in many ways.
The disciples, who are the ones who should know better, thought Jesus didn’t have time for little children! He has bigger, better things to do, right?! No, what could be MORE important than children?
There are cultures in the world today (in India for example) where the children are not allowed to speak. Adults speak only with adults. The children are not included.
Such was the way of the ancient world as well. “These are just children.”
What if religion was that way?
What if religion was particular, so that only certain qualified people could enter in? What if only adults could enter church? What if only a certain race could enter in? Or a certain level of wealth.
It is a good thing that is not the case.
We have many statements of the Jesus to the effect of “let all enter in.”
Christ if for Jew and Gentile.
He is for the barbarians, Scythians, slaves, and free.
The good news is to be proclaimed to the poor.
And now here, we find the children included.
Children are part of the church, part of the kingdom of God, and even included in the covenant, as we saw with David’s son who died in 2 Samuel; the son was saved through the promise of the covenant “to you and your children.”
But we don’t live in that type culture where children are not included; so how might this passage apply to us? We don’t tend to exclude children; so should we just pat ourselves on the back and move along?
Well, no. There is much that we can learn from this passage.
So I want to look at the IMPLICATIONS of this passage. Three categories of them specially.
Well, there are
1. Implication for caring for children
2. Implications for the faith of children
and
3. Implications for the baptism of children
Let’s start there with “Implications for Caring for Children.”
And the first of those implication is in teaching our children the Word of God.
I. Implications for Caring for Children
A. Teaching our children the Word of God.
Well, I’ve been inviting people (and families) to our home Bible Study, and the number one response I’ve been hearing is “I’m too busy.” Think about that!: “I’m too busy TO TAKE MY KIDS TO JESUS!!!”
When Sunday School began in churches a couple centuries ago, the concern of some was that this work of the church would diminish the role of the parents. Parents are to teach their children! But they’ve handed it over to the church!? Well, perhaps that was (and is) a valid concern. Or perhaps not; for if the parents aren’t teaching their children, at least the church will. But today, there is neither parents nor the church! Indeed, the church is here, but the parents aren’t taking their children! Children are growing up without any knowledge of the Lord. What terrible times we live in.
The admonition “let the little children comes to me” includes the implication that children are to be taught of Jesus Christ.
And what a beautiful thing it is when children are taught of Christ! They know their savior! They know love and grace and mercy. And following Christ they live in peace with others and work for His Kingdom purposes.
We cannot soften this issue. Those children without the Scriptures and Christ are running into dangerous places.
In the last couple years I’ve done funerals for a suicide and for drug overdose, both for young people. Just the other week we had a car crash and death, alcohol involved, of a young man in our village.
You hardly need to be told these things; you see it yourselves. Even some 3% of children consider themselves transgender, which means they are confused on the most basic of subjects.
The world can say all it wants “I don’t need Jesus to be good,” all the while atrocities continue around us. If only they knew Christ they might have avoided these ends.
We must teach our children about Christ.
If we love them, then that must be our first priority.
[Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV] 7 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.
[Ephesians 6:4 ESV] 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
B. Children in Church
And so there is the implication that children should be in church. Of course, there are nurseries for the necessary situation when a very young child is not able to stay quiet in the church.
But otherwise, children are to be in church; hearing the word, learning to sit with parents and worship the Lord.
This might sound obvious to you, being Presbyterians, but I have heard of churches that have “children’s church” or something entirely separate for the youth. Sound fun! But fun isn’t the goal on Sunday. I’m not anti-fun, but our priority is worshipping the Lord, together, as a family. Splitting into age groups is detrimental to fellowship.
C. Opposition to Abortion
Another implication in regards to caring for children is that we must be opposed to abortion.
Certainly we know of other Scriptural teachings in this regard. It was the evil Moabites who sacrificed children to Molech. And this was an abominable practice in the eyes of the lord.
That seems to be the highest Biblical critique of something. Abominable.
There is sin.
There is evil.
Then there is abomination; that which is abominable. The Hebrew means “a disgusting thing” “wickedness” “an abhorrence.”
The word abomination is used in the Scriptures for things like:
Homosexuality. Leviticus 18:22 – you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Idol worship. Deuteronomy 27:15 – cursed by the man who makes a carved or cast metal images, an abomination to the Lord.
And child sacrifice: Deuteronomy 18:10-12 “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering … whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.”
And there is much overlap between the child sacrifice of old and the abortion of our modern era.
In both cases it is the selfish desire to gain some benefit for self in the killing of the defenseless.
Just as the ancient people sacrificed children to Molech or Baal in hopes that they would have a better harvest, more safety, or greater prosperity, so today do people seek an abortion on the desires to have more success in their own life and a greater financial condition. In short, these are selfish ends.
Children in the ancient world didn’t have status.
Pre-born in our world don’t have status.
But children are to be recognized as human, in the image of God.
And the pre-born as well.
But Jesus says “let the little children come to me.” The Biblical ethic is supportive of life. Children are given a high status; they are even the exemplar for us of great faith. They are not pre-human or partial-human; rather we ought to strive to be like them! We ought to have faith like a child.
II. Implications for the faith of children.
That gets us to a subject I’ve been wanting to get to for some time:
the faith of children.
In Mark 10:15 Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
And
[Matthew 18:3 ESV] 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well, if we are to have faith like a child, this implies that CHILDREN HAVE FAITH. Or at least that children CAN have faith.
Faith could be broken down technically to require understanding first, and then an assent to the truth. That is faith; it is trust in God.
And you might think, “how can a child have faith, if they do not yet have understanding?” You’re asking the good questions!
Well, children can have understanding (which is the prerequisite for faith) because it is given to them of God. We are born with a knowledge of God written on our hearts. It is INNATE. Not everything is learned; some truths, like the existence of God, are understood before one ever steps into a classroom.
And so a child, even an infant, even a fetus, can have faith. It is a simple faith no doubt, but a simple faith, as Christ explains, is a great faith.
So we should not look down on children as the disciples do.
We should not look down on them as “simple.”
God does not look down on us adults, though we are like simple children to Him.
We ought to recognize our limitations and so praise God that he has blessed us even in simplicity.
There is direct scriptural support also for this idea that infants can have faith:
[Psalm 22:9 ESV] 9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
And there is a specific example with John the Baptist:
[Luke 1:15 ESV] … he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
Infants, even the pre-born can have faith.
So we have implication for caring for children, implications for the faith of children, and then implications for baptism.
III. Implications for the baptism of children.
Now, I’m not saying we baptize children because they have faith. That isn’t the case, for we can’t know which children have faith. Baptism is not a sign of a person’s faith; it is a sacrament of God, a sign of His covenant promises.
And, this example of Christ that we should “let the little children come to him” is instructive for baptism. It is not itself a statement about baptism, but sets down a general principle of connecting Christ’s blessing to even small children.
The Baptists might say “but the child in these verses does the work of coming to Jesus, so he must be of a certain age to do that.” But we ought to note that the passage also says the “children were BROUGHT to Jesus.” They were led there, perhaps even carried there. And it wasn’t for them to hear a sermon, suggesting that they’d need to be old enough to here. Rather, it was for Jesus to lay his hands on them and pray for them. That is something even an infant can receive.
Such is the nature of Baptism as we understand it. It is a blessing of God which we receive, not an act of man striving towards God; such would rob the meaning of it. Baptism is a sacrament of God; a sign of HIS covenant promises, not of our promise but of His.
In Luke’s version it is “infants.” brephos meanings babies.
There are many other Biblical arguments for infant baptism, but this must be included: do not keep the infants from me!
I love my Baptist brothers, but on these subject they are wrong.
Quickly, it will be argued, “if the infants are to be brought to baptism, why don’t you do the same with communion?” The answer is simple: because there we have an explicit command for the recipient to examine himself; something that requires an amount of maturity to do.
Children are to be baptized, and to be included as members of a church.
Did you know that there are no children in a Baptist church? Now, they might physically be in the church, but there are no children who are members of a Baptist church. What a strange idea.
Conclusion:
Finally, at the end of the passage we find that Jesus RECEIVED the children. We know that because it says “he laid his hands on them.”
What a beautiful scene.
A shepherd does not only guard the adult sheep!
He does not only care about the biggest of his herd! (though they might produce the most in the moment).
A shepherd cares about the little sheep! The future of his heard.
Children are to be in church,
they are to pray,
they are to sing,
they are with us adults as members of the Kingdom and of the Church.
Let us therefore
(1) pray for children, (2) encourage children, (3) read the Scriptures to children, (4) bring children to church (even “adult” church), (5) teach them to sing to the Lord, (6) as We ourselves seek to have the faith of a child. Let us pray.