Do little children who die go to heaven? How should I address a problem I have at church? You’ll find the answers to those questions, and more in this chapter.
Jesus has a special place in heart for children. Actually, it seems that He has a special fondness for the young, the old and the ill or handicapped. And, you might be able to add in widows, orphans and possibly the very poor. So when Jesus picks up a child and says to the crowd “you have to act like a child to get into heaven” He isn’t referring to their immature behavior, He’s talking about their humility, trust and innocence. Children believe what you tell them. They trust adults. Generally speaking children recognize that they are under the authority of adults. So they accept instruction and punishment as well as praise and rewards from adults. As Christians, we are under the authority of Jesus. So we must accept the same. Jesus is more than capable of putting up with our “temper tantrums” when we behave like children, but I don’t think He wants us to act that way. Rather, to be trusting and submissive and open to learning from Him. Sadly in our culture many people abuse and take advantage of those who are younger, or who are innocent. Jesus never will. He is different than we are in a better way.
I spoke about cutting off your hand and gouging out your eye yesterday….but in this passage we have one more tantalizing sentence that doesn’t appear in the previous reading. Here Jesus says that the angels of the children always see the face of the Father. Hmm. It seems that children (who knows, maybe everyone) has a “guardian angel”. These angels are always in contact with the Father. It leads us to believe that children are accepted by the Father even though they haven’t made a confession of faith. Of course, this can’t be true for everyone, because at some point we must confess our sins. But perhaps children “get a pass” for a short time. After all, Jesus says that He isn’t willing that a single one of these little ones would end up in hell. On the other hand, you could read verses 12-14 to say that children are in danger of perishing and Jesus is actively seeking them out to be saved. That would be why they would have to express trust in him, and also why Jesus would caution us against leading a child astray. Perhaps both can be true: for a few years at birth children are accepted, but while very young they must make a juvenile confession of belief in Jesus. If they are old enough to believe in things they cannot see, then they are old enough to accept that Jesus loves them. How old are your kids before they grasp the idea of Santa or the Easter Bunny?
Then the passage moves on quickly to another key topic. How do we address disagreements within the church. Let me remind you of a key word here. It occurs in verse 15. “when another believer wrongs you”. There are actually three words:
another believer, and You.
Obviously, this passage doesn’t address the way we should talk to people outside the faith. In the same way, it isn’t talking about how you should address a problem that someone else has. If a person comes to you and says “I have a problem with so and so” they have already violated this passage (assuming they haven’t been to “so and so” yet). Problems between two believers should be worked out between the two parties. The Holy Spirit will guide two honest and contrite hearts back to unity. There isn’t another preferred method, and everything that follows in this passage is simply an escalation based on the apparent hardness of heart. Do not put yourself in the position of carrying an offense for another person. They are responsible for addressing it themselves. No excuses about “I’m too shy” or “he/she is mean to me” will be accepted. Address it one on one, and do it without several of your friends around. It will make it easier for the other person to be transparent. Go in humility, just like we learned earlier in the chapter.
I am delighted and honored when I see godly people around me practicing this discipline. Thankfully, I get to see it working the way it is supposed to fairly often. Because we are human, and we make mistakes, we should see this principle active within the church on a regular basis.
When two or more are in unity and ask our Father for something, they will receive what they ask for. I suppose that it would have to be in keeping with Christian principles and the Lord’s will. But barring that, it would seem that we have access to more resources than we realize or take advantage of.
Let’s talk about the debtor tomorrow….I’m sure it comes up again.
Blessings,
PR