The Difference Between Child-Like and Childish Faith

Luke 18: Child-Like Faith Versus Childish Faith

Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. How would you like the opportunity to win a brand new MacArthur Study Bible? Well, if you're interested, at the end of the episode I'm going to tell you how you can win by watching our videos this week on Coffee with a Calvinist.

Alright, let's get on with the episode. Welcome back to Coffee with a Calvinist. My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist. Today on our way to the office we're going to be looking at Luke chapter 18 and we're going to be looking at one verse today.

We're going to look at verse 17. It says, Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. So that's our passage for today, verse 17. What I want to talk about today in regard to this verse is the difference between childlike faith and childish faith.

Why Child-Like Faith Means Real Trust

Over the years I have heard a lot of people use this passage as a defense for not desiring to grow deeper in their walk with Christ or in their understanding of the scriptures. As I have challenged people to expand their understanding of theology and to expand their understanding of the word of God, I've often heard people respond, and I think sometimes innocently so, they would respond in such a way as to say, well I have a childlike faith.

My response, and not to be ugly or harsh, is there's a difference between a childlike faith and a childish faith. What is the difference? How would I define the difference? Well, when Jesus tells us that we are going to enter the kingdom of God like a child, what he's talking about is the type of faith that is real and genuine faith.

And it's the type of faith that demonstrates an unquestioned allegiance and an unquestioned trust in the person that you have faith in. And the best example that I can give is my daughter. Well, all my children, but I think particularly of my daughter Hope.

My daughter Hope trusts me to the point that she'll stand on the bed and she'll throw herself off the bed into my arms and she has no doubt that I'm going to catch her. She has no fear that I'm going to miss her.

Sometimes it's dangerous because sometimes she doesn't let me know that she's going to jump to me. She just gets up and, Daddy, here I come, and she goes. And the reason why she has that type of confidence is because she knows that I'm there and I'm not going to let her go.

I'm going to do everything in my power to protect her. And, by the way, that's what the word confidence means. The word confidence comes from the Latin confide, which means with faith. And that's what Hope has in me.

And I hope all my children do. I believe they do. They have a confidence in me that I would never let them fall, that I would never intentionally hurt them, that everything that I do is ultimately because I love them and it's for their good.

Sometimes that's difficult because sometimes that includes things like discipline. But, in reality, the point that I'm making is a childlike faith is a trust in the relationship between the parent and the child.

And it really is unquestioning. There is a confidence there that is solid and true. So that's what a childlike faith is. Now let's compare that with a childish faith. A childish faith would be someone who ultimately has no desire to grow deeper in the things of God, has no desire to understand better the nature and character of God or the Word of God, and so they're satisfied with a very surface level understanding of God.

Growing Beyond Spiritual Milk to the Meat of the Word

And that's not good because the Bible says that we ought to grow in our knowledge, that we ought to grow in our understanding, that we should seek to wean ourselves from the milk and move on to the meat of the Word.

And that's a picture of a baby who moves from baby food to solid food. And one of my favorite people in the world was Patsy Hoffman. And she and I had many, many thousands of conversations over the years.

I knew her since I was seven years old. And she and I had a wonderful relationship. We could talk so much. And the phrase that she used to use was pablum, which is a type of food given to babies. And she would say so many people are satisfied with pablum.

They don't want to sink their teeth into the meat of the Word. And that's not a positive thing. Not being willing to expand our understanding of the Word of God through diligent study. The Bible tells us, A workman who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Are we rightly dividing the Word of truth? Well, the only way to do that is to become better and more diligent students of the Word of God and the truth. And so when Jesus tells us in this verse that we're to enter the kingdom of God like a child, this is not telling us that we are to be immature in our faith.

That is not what it's saying. And for those who would use that as their reasoning for not growing, they have misunderstood the heart of what Jesus is saying. The idea here is not a childish faith. The idea here is a childlike faith.

A faith that is unquestioning. A faith that trusts in the integrity of the one in whom we have faith. And that is our God. And we trust implicitly in Him because He is a good Father. And Jesus is a perfect Savior.

And the Holy Spirit has come to live inside of us to give us the understanding that we can call God, Abba, Father. And so those are the things that is meant by a childlike faith. But they don't and shouldn't cause us to want to have a childish faith.

Encouragement to Trust God and Keep Growing

I hope this has been an encouragement to you today in two ways. One, to have a childlike faith. To trust in God. To understand that when we take that final leap in our life, when we finally step from this life into eternity, that God's going to be there to catch us.

That God's not going to let us fall because we are His. We are God's and our name is graven on His hand. Our names are written on His heart. He knows who we are by name if we are His in Christ. And so we have a childlike faith.

But that doesn't mean we should have a childish faith. We should grow in the knowledge of God so that we might understand better. And again, ultimately, be able to trust even more in who He is as we develop an understanding of who He is by understanding His word.

Again, I hope this was an encouragement to you today. Thank you for watching Coffee with a Calvinist. And again, my name is Keith Foskey and I have been your Calvinist. Thank you for watching that episode of Coffee with a Calvinist.

Contest Rules for Winning a MacArthur Study Bible

At the beginning, I talked about the fact that we have had a John MacArthur Study Bible that has been donated to our program to give away. And now I'd like to give you the contest rules for participation if you'd like to participate in trying to win.

I'm going to read them off for you as they're very simple and I'll have them printed at the bottom in the comments below. This is a contest to win a MacArthur Study Bible by participating in this contest on Coffee with a Calvinist.

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Thank you again for participating. Thank you for supporting our program. And again, my name is Keith Foskey, and thank you for watching Coffee with a Calvinist. May God bless you.