Subjects of Baptism, Part 4

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents the first classic interpretation: 'of such is the kingdom of God' refers to the childlike, meaning men's children are a picture of God's spiritual children. He…

The analogy that men's little children and infants are a picture of God's little children and infants, illustrating the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God.

Now, there are two classic and historic understandings of this phrase, of such or to such belongs the kingdom of God. And the first is that this refers to the childlike, to those who are childlike. In other words, then the force of the passage would be that men's little children and infants are a picture of God's little children and infants. And that what Jesus is saying is, do not forbid men's little children to come to me because the kingdom of God consists of little children and infants.

8:18 - 9:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin presents the first classic interpretation: 'of such is the kingdom of God' refers to the childlike, meaning men's children are a picture of God's spiritual children. He…

Jesus's interaction with the children is presented as an object lesson for the disciples, teaching them about the nature of the kingdom of God.

He does have offspring, but they're spiritual children. And Jesus refers to his disciples as little children, and he refers to them as his little ones. And so we find that this is one historic interpretation of the passage. That Jesus here is giving an object lesson.

10:34 - 10:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Whosoever will not receive the word of God, whosoever shall not become like a little child in terms of dependence, in terms of credulity with regard to the word of God, and in terms of humility and submission to the auth…

The complete dependence of an infant on its parents is used as an analogy for the spiritual dependence required to enter the kingdom of God.

Childlike. Now, what does that mean? Well, it refers to the fact that an infant is completely dependent. A little baby is totally dependent upon its mommy and daddy for sustenance and for provision and for life.

16:33 - 16:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Whosoever will not receive the word of God, whosoever shall not become like a little child in terms of dependence, in terms of credulity with regard to the word of God, and in terms of humility and submission to the auth…

Children's tendency to believe what they are told, whether about Jesus or Santa Claus, illustrates the credulity required for spiritual faith.

Children believe what they are told, whether it has to do with Jesus or whether it has to do with Santa Claus. That's why there are children that will seriously debate whether or not Santa Claus exists. Because of their childlike credulity, it is very often difficult for them to distinguish between the reality of the characters in a fairy tale and the reality of the characters in the Bible. You'll find that little children tend to group them both together.

17:13 - 17:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It was more dangerous, that he be presented as one who was uncaring, austere, distant, and cold to little kids who didn't have enough time to be interested in them and didn't care enough about them to pray over them.

Jesus's willingness to bless the children, despite the potential for it to be misinterpreted as a superstitious ritual, illustrates his priority of conveying his compassionate character.

I would just like to say one thing that obviously Jesus was willing to take a risk. Whatever the disciples, perhaps the disciples thought there was some risk involved in what Jesus was doing. You don't know. Could it be that they were afraid that people were going to turn this into some kind of a mystical and superstitious ritual?

40:02 - 40:32 Read in full sermon

The point: We have no warrant in the word of God to be austere, to be distant, to be unconcerned, to be unprayerful, unprayerful with regard to the welfare of our little children and the little children of others.

The example of bringing children to a 'holy man' for blessings, believing it guarantees their well-being, illustrates the danger of superstition that Jesus risked.

No. Superstition. You know, the superstitious idea that you just have to bring your children to the holy man and as long as they're brought to the holy man, no matter what else happens, the holy man says the holy words and your kids will be all right. That's a danger, isn't it?

41:38 - 42:04 Read in full sermon

The point: In private obviously there's nothing that forbids us from dedicating our children to God. As a matter of fact there's everything to encourage us to do it. There's everything to encourage us to love our children and to pr…

A reference to T.E. Watson's book suggesting a service of infant blessing, used to discuss the practice among Baptists and its scriptural warrant.

In a sense, I'm thankful that I only have two minutes to deal with it. But in T.E. Watson's little book called Should Infants Be Baptized?

50:10 - 50:22 Read in full sermon