Become a Little Child and Put Away Childish Things

[Josh]

Matthew 19

13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.

Matthew 18:1-3

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, a question to start off some thinking about our next potential topic:

What quality or aspect of children is Jesus saying is necessary for the disciple?

Often you hear people claim that the quality is "blind faith" or the ability to act on what their heart tells them rather than their head. Is that true? And if it is, wouldn't that contradict other passages which encourage us to think critically?

1 Thessalonians 5:21
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;

Matthew 10:16
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

See also 2 Timothy 4:5, Luke 16:8-9, and many others.

Furthermore, we have several passages in the New Testament which exhort us not to be like children:

1 Cor. 13:11

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

Ephesians 4:14

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

See also 1 Corinthians 3:1

Is there a way to resolve this apparent contradiction?

Well, actually there is a great verse from Paul which does just that, and I think helps shed light on both the passages which praise being childlike and those which discourage it.

Can anyone find it?


Here's a little Scripture treasure hunt.

[tim]

Could it be "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature." - 1 Corinthians 14:20

[Josh]

"Gggggiddy-up!" as Kramer used to say.

[Josh]

You Must Become Like a Little Child/ Put Away Childish Things

I've decided I'm going to focus on this paradox before I tackle the Mind/Heart tension in Scripture.

[stevekimes]

Part of the issue has to do with how "childlikeness/childishness" is referring to in each passage.

When Jesus speaks about childlikeness, he speaks of humility, or one's social standing. Children are considered insignificant, on the level of slaves. Jesus was constantly challenging his disciples to be humble, or of a low social standing. Matt 18:3-4; Luke 14:8-11.

When Paul speaks of childishness, he is speaking of maturity level. Maturity is living in love, immaturity is being self-centered.

In I Cor 14: 20, the symbol is probably used to speak of experience.

[Josh]

Jul 15, 2011 7:48:46 GMT -8 stevekimes said:

Part of the issue has to do with how "childlikeness/childishness" is referring to in each passage.

When Jesus speaks about childlikeness, he speaks of humility, or one's social standing. Children are considered insignificant, on the level of slaves. Jesus was constantly challenging his disciples to be humble, or of a low social standing. Matt 18:3-4; Luke 14:8-11.

When Paul speaks of childishness, he is speaking of maturity level. Maturity is living in love, immaturity is being self-centered.

In I Cor 14: 20, the symbol is probably used to speak of experience.

Frederick Buechner has some great thoughts on childlike vs. childish that I shared today. The audio of this teaching can be found here: www.aletheiacf.org/site/cpage.asp?sec_id=2432&cpage_id=7990&orderby=file_date&ascdesc=DESC&dlcat=&dlyear=

Today we focused on how Jesus is particularly referring to the humble position (social, familial) of children when he says we must be like them in the kingdom:

“While the expression [you must become little children] can, indeed, have many… connotations, Matthew makes clear his own meaning…. To become like a little child is to humble oneself, giving up all pretensions of self-importance, independence, and self-reliance and turning in trust to the Heavenly Father. This story is not a call to imitate the (presumed) character traits of children, but to accept a radically different understanding of status. The first rule of life together in the new community formed by Jesus is to abandon the quest for status and accept one’s place as already given in the family of God” NIB commentary

This is made plain by the context of the disciple’s question in Matthew 18:1.

As for application, we were able to get into two ways in which our child-like willingness to become humble may be tested:

1) Our willingness to associate with others regardless of social position, as in Paul's exhortation that we:

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

2) Situations in which we show childlike affection and loyalty to our Lord rather than embarrassment (Luke 9:26)

Romans 12:16

[Josh]

A follow up question would be:

If the above passage from Matthew doesn't mean that we are to disdain critical thinking, what about this passage:

Luke 10:21

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, 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 is what you were pleased to do

Is Jesus here implying that we shouldn't pursue wisdom or learning? Does this passage encourage "gullible faith"?

What do you think?

[stevekimes]

It means that the Truth won't be found in education, but this doesn't mean education isn't significant for other things.

[Josh]

Jul 17, 2011 20:19:03 GMT -8 stevekimes said:

It means that the Truth won't be found in education, but this doesn't mean education isn't significant for other things.

Can you unpack this a bit more. Not sure I agree, but I suppose it depends on what you mean by "Truth".

[stevekimes]

It means significant truth about how to live your life about how to find God, about how to live for God.

Education teaches one how to get along in this life. Jesus says that succeeding with God one must be humble, must fail, must put others above oneself. Education will always be against these things because for education success in this life trumps success in the next.

This doesn't mean educated people can't learn this, but they will always find it very difficult.

[Josh]

Define education, because I don't think we're thinking of the same thing. It sounds like you're talking about a "high school education" or a "college education", etc... not education in general.

Education in general is just the act or process of acquiring useful information. I don't see anything inherently troubling or anti-kingdom about it.

[stevekimes]

I mean societal education, not the gathering of information. There was an educational system in Jesus' day, as well as ours, and I think that's what he's referring to.

[Josh]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Josh]

Jul 17, 2011 15:22:05 GMT -8 Josh said:

A follow up question would be:

If the above passage from Matthew doesn't mean that we are to disdain critical thinking, what about this passage:

Luke 10:21

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, 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 is what you were pleased to do

Is Jesus here implying that we shouldn't pursue wisdom or learning? Does this passage encourage "gullible faith"?

What do you think?

In regard to this statement of Jesus, I think he's referring to God bypassing those who are proud of their "wisdom and learning" , because obviously there are those who are wise and humble. God would rather work with those who are humble and unlearned than those who are boastfully puffed up with knowledge.

Ideally, though, He calls us to be "wise as serpents" yet "innocent as doves".