Mark 10:13-16 | God's Kingdom of Children

Preacher: Joel Fair
Scripture: Mark 10:13-16

1. The Value Of Children - VS 13 & 14
2. How To Enter The Kingdom of God - VS 15
3. Jesus, The Center Of The Kingdom - VS 16

Genesis 48:8–10 (ESV)
When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
 
Psalm 70:4 (ESV)
May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!”
 
Mark 9:36–37 (ESV)
And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
 
Mark 9:42 (ESV)
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
 
Mark 1:15 (ESV)
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
 
Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
 
Edwards PNTC The Gospel According to Mark
We are not innocent and eager, but slow, disbelieving, and cowardly. In this story children are not blessed for their virtues but for what they lack: they come only as they are—small, powerless, without sophistication, as the overlooked and dispossessed of society. To receive the kingdom of God as a child is to receive it as one who has no credits, no clout, no claims.