People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:15-17)
Most Christians believe in children’s ministry, but they often don’t give it the same priority as ministry to adults or even young people. Consequently, many adults wait until the children are grown before giving them much spiritual attention. This was the attitude of the disciples in Luke 18: the disciples rebuked the people for bringing their babies to Jesus. They thought Jesus had more important things to do than spend time with small children.
However, is this God’s attitude? Does God view children merely as future adults who are on their way to significance but, at the moment, are not of great practical importance? Luke 18 explains just how important children’s ministry is to God: “Jesus called the children to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them…’”
There are many examples in the Bible that illustrate God’s work in the lives of children. These stories show how God pursues children, and they reveal that children do have the capacity to know God, to walk with Him, to love Him and to serve Him.
If we build children who know God, then we are making one of the greatest possible investments in the church, both now and for the future.
Jesus as a Child
Luke 2:39-52 reveals just how important small children are to God. Even before He was 12 years old, Jesus was “filled with wisdom” and “the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). He walked with God.
Then, when He was 12, Jesus went up to the Feast in Jerusalem with His parents. After the feast was over, Joseph and Mary started the journey home, but Jesus stayed in Jerusalem. His parents had no idea that He had stayed behind, and they traveled on for a whole day. They were travelling with a large group of friends and relatives, so it was not unusual that they didn’t know exactly where He was. After a day, they began looking for Him in the group, but they did not find Him. They went back to Jerusalem to look for Him, and, after three anxious days, they found Him in the temple courts.
When they found Jesus, He was in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard Him was amazed at His understanding and His answers, and when His parents saw Him, they were also astonished.
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:46-49)
Jesus was not talking back to His mother; He was speaking respectfully. Although His parents did not understand what He was saying to them (v. 50), Jesus knew His purpose, He knew and obeyed His Father’s will.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:51-52)
Apart from the fact that He was sinless, Jesus was a normal child with the normal limitations of childhood. However, at 12 years old, He was filled with wisdom. The grace of God was upon Him, and everyone who heard Him speak was amazed at His understanding – even the teachers in the temple! Jesus also had a strong sense of purpose and destiny at this very young age; He assumed His parents knew that He had to be at His Father’s house.
In summary, as a child and with the normal limitations of childhood:
- God’s grace was on Jesus.
- He was full of wisdom.
- He spoke with wisdom and purpose.
- He had a clear divine purpose; He knew He had a destiny.
- He grew in wisdom and stature.
- He grew in favor with both God and men.
This is a healthy childhood!
The Childhood of John the Baptist
In Luke 1:5-17, an angel of the Lord told of the coming birth of John the Baptist.
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. (Luke 1:14-15)
Clearly, it is possible to be filled with the Holy Spirit from birth! People don’t have to wait until they’re older. John the Baptist was not perfect; he was a fallen man, just like everyone else. Yet he was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth.
In Luke 1:39-45, Mary visited Elizabeth and when John the Baptist, in his mother’s womb, heard Mary’s voice he “leaped for joy.”
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit… But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luke 1:41, 43-44)
John the Baptist was not yet born, but he was engaging with God. As a baby, filled with the Spirit, he leapt at the sound of the voice of Jesus’ mother. Thus, even from the womb, there is the capacity in a human being to interact with God by His Spirit.
After he was born, John continued to walk with God as a child:
And the child grew and became strong in spirit… (Luke 1:80)
Children can know God, they can love God, they can walk with God!
The Birth of Samson
In Judges 13:2-5, the angel of the Lord told Manoah’s wife of the coming birth of Samson.
A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” (Jud. 13:2-5)
Samson was “set apart to God from birth.” God did not wait until Samson was a young man to call him to His service.
The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, (Jud. 13:24)
The Lord blessed Samson, even as a young child. As a child, Samson lived under the blessing of God, in the manifest presence of God. Samson had a divine destiny from birth.
Samuel’s Childhood
But Samuel was ministering before the LORD – a boy wearing a linen ephod. (1 Sam. 2:18)
As a boy, Samuel “was ministering before the Lord.” He wore the priest’s linen ephod, serving God. Samuel was working in full time ministry – as a boy!
Samuel knew the presence of God (1 Sam. 2:21), he heard the voice of God (1 Sam. 3:10), he experienced the grace of God (1 Sam. 2:26).
Jeremiah as a Young Man
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. (Jer. 1:5)
In her womb, Jeremiah’s mother carried a “prophet to the nations”! Perhaps she didn’t know this, unlike John the Baptist’s mother who knew of her son’s specific calling and destiny.
While most parents will not know the divine destiny of their children before they’re born, we should all assume that our children have such destiny! We should take care of the little ones and not cause them to stumble – God has a purpose for their lives.
To some extent, our children will be whatever we expect them to be. If we expect our children to not be interested in God and to only be interested in entertainment – watching TV and playing games – then that is what they will be like. But children are naturally interested in God. Children can know God, they can walk with God, they can love God, they can serve God!
When we assume our children are not capable of spiritual things, we obstruct them with our own unbelief. This was the problem with Jesus’ disciples:
Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. (Matt. 19:13)
The disciples were turning the children away from Jesus! But Jesus insisted on ministering to the little children. They had great value in His eyes.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. (Matt. 19:14-15)
We must not “hinder” the children with our unbelief and ignorance. Little children can know God.
Intellectual versus Spiritual Capacity
To say that children can know God is not to suggest that they should write the next systematic theology for everyone to study, or that they should be put in charge of the church. Little children’s intellectual capacities are not yet developed. They have very limited experience, and wisdom comes from experience. However, spiritually they can still know God.
It is a profound error to think that we need to wait until children have grown in their intellectual capacity before we try to bring them to God or teach them about spiritual things.
This applies also to people who are disabled in some way. They may not have the same physical or intellectual abilities as their peers, but they can be equally saved and they can experience the presence of God, fellowship with God, and the purpose of God in their lives.
Children are immature intellectually, but union with Christ is not primarily an intellectual issue; it’s a spiritual one. This is why John the Baptist could be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb. This is why Samuel could serve God as a boy. A lack of intellectual development or educational experience does not reflect upon a child’s spiritual capacity.
Spiritually, children can know God, they can respond to God, and they can serve Him in meaningful ways. As we embrace our responsibility to lead them into that experience and relationship with Jesus, we will build a foundation that will sustain them for the rest of their lives.
We must embrace our God-given responsibility to build children spiritually. They can grow spiritually. They can know God. We must not wait until they are young people or adults before we begin to build them spiritually. By then it might be too late!
Recent research suggests that people’s characters are basically formed by the time they are 13 years old. Of course, God can do “spiritual surgery” later on in life; and older people can and do change, by God’s grace. But it’s considerably easier to guide people into a healthy relationship with God when they’re young and responsive.
Which is wiser: to bring a little child to union with Christ when he is open and receptive and asking about it, or to spiritually ignore the child and wait until he is a rebellious 16-year-old and then try to connect him with the Holy Spirit?
It is sad when parents are more focused on the intellectual development of their children than on their spiritual growth. Certainly, children need to be intellectually and physically prepared for adult life, but it is far more important that they are prepared for their life in Christ!
Parents should not naïvely leave spiritual development until later so the children can “make their own choice” about God. Parents would rarely let their children make their own decision about learning to read or write, because they want them to succeed. It is even more important for children to know God. It’s the responsibility of adults to build an environment that nurtures the spiritual life of their children and not wait until they’re young people or adults. If we wait, we may be too late!
The Spiritual Reality of God in Children’s Lives
Children can know God, they can walk with God, they can love God, they can serve God! There are many biblical passages that speak about the spiritual reality of God in children’s lives.
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. (Tit. 1:6)
Paul expected the children of an elder to believe in God, which means that they must be capable of doing so.
Jesus affirmed children in Mark 9:
He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” (Mark 9:36-37)
Jesus was speaking literally here, not in a spiritual metaphor. In effect, Jesus said, “When you welcome a little child… when you take that little child seriously… when you recognize the significance of a little child as a human being who is created in the image of God and made to know God and love God, who is made with divine purpose and destiny… then you have taken me seriously, you have welcomed me and responded to me and my Father properly.”
At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” (Matt. 11:25-26)
In Matthew 11, Jesus praised God because He chose to hide certain things from adults and reveal them to small children instead. Once again, this is a reference to the spiritual capacity of a child, and not his intellectual capacity.
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” (Matt. 21:14-16)
In Matthew 21, the children responded to the works of God much more simply and purely than the adults. They saw Jesus’ miracles and responded with shouting and praise. The religious leaders, however, were indignant with the children. They saw the children responding openly to God, recognizing that Jesus was the Messiah, embracing Him in their hearts and, instead of rejoicing at the spiritual vitality of these children, they were upset.
Jesus’ response to them deeply affirmed the spiritual capacity of children. “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.” Again, Jesus was not talking metaphorically. He pointed specifically to the children who were praising Him, and He told the religious leaders that this is what God has ordained. Thus, when children are actively praising God, it should not be seen as “cute” but as powerful. There is a deep spiritual reality there. It should not be discounted as meaningless fun. It is what God has ordained.
Peter’s words on the Day of Pentecost give us further insight into God’s purposes for children:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)
According to Peter, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is specifically promised to children as well as adults!
In Matthew 18, Jesus revealed a blessing for those who care for children:
And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt. 18:5-6)
Paul affirmed this responsibility in Ephesians 6:
Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Eph. 6:4)
God has commanded us to build our children spiritually. Clearly, He sees a great value in doing this.
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul taught what fathers (and mothers) should do:
For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. (1 Thess. 2:11-12)
It is our God-given responsibility to encourage our children, to comfort them, and to urge them, even in their childhood, to live lives of worship and service that are worthy of God, who has called them into His Kingdom and glory.
Children can see God with the eyes of their heart. They can experience His love, His presence, His fellowship. They can know His purpose. Children can know God just as sincerely and meaningfully as adults can. It’s not an intellectual thing; union with Christ happens in our hearts (2 Cor. 3:15-18) and children can experience that. Children can know God, they can walk with Him, they can love Him, they can serve Him.
Malachi’s final words recognize the pervasive disconnection that has occurred, around the world, between parents and children, and God says He will deal with it:
See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse. (Mal. 4:5-6)
God’s heart is turned toward our children. Shouldn’t our hearts be turned toward them also?
