Life Meets Doctrine

Below is the transcript that I loosely followed when I preached yesterday morning.  It was a blast sharing what I have learned about children with Core.  And, as the title suggests, this is Part 02.  Part 01 is here. More to come.

The Scripture Text: Mark 10:1-16

The context here is so important. Early on you see that Jesus has crowds gathered around him. So he does what he normally does when crowds gather around him: he teaches them. Many times he will heal them, but this time he teaches them. He starts talking with the Pharisees, the religious scholars, the righteous men of the day, the good church guys. And they enter into an in depth discussion about divorce, remarriage, and being single. These are big, real issues. They are weighing Scripture, seeking to understand God’s word, trying to discern obedience to the law God has given. And Jesus is right there with them, giving an incredible discourse on God and creation and marriage and divorce. They are talking about good stuff, here.

And you see the disciples asking him about this. They go even deeper into what this means for their lives, what this should change in them. This is an adult-level, in-depth, important conversation over Scripture. The teaching here is very important; you don’t want to miss what Jesus is saying here, right? You better have your eyes up, your learning cap on, your heart tuned in, your focus fully fixed on him.

Then verse 13 happens. And guess what. The children show up from out of nowhere. They come in from left field. You’ve got to wonder, “Why in the world did the children show up right now? Couldn’t they have waited until the teaching time was over?” Jesus wouldn’t stay in the house, teaching the crowds forever. He would stop at some point. Maybe then, after the important sermon is delivered, the children could come to Jesus. At least Jesus’ disciples thought this way. The disciples rebuked the parents and the caregivers who were bringing the children to Jesus. “Stop!” they said. “Jesus is just getting to the most important part. Someone is about to get saved. If you interrupt now, everybody is going to lose their focus!” What the disciples did only seems right.

What was Jesus’ reaction? This is shocking. First notice what Jesus did NOT do. You might think that Jesus would say, “I am so sorry parents, I am in the middle of teaching. As soon as I get done I will come over and pray for your children. I’ll even cut the discussion short.” Or you might think that Jesus would say, “Peter, take care of this. I will empower you to run our Children’s Ministry. You’ve got things covered, get all the volunteers you need. We just need our adult time to hear the sermon.” Or maybe Jesus could have paused the service for a short time and said, “Let’s pray really fast for these kids.” He could have said a short prayer and been done with it.

What was Jesus’ reaction?

#1 – His first reaction was emotion. Do you see that in Mark 10:14? Jesus became indignant. He was angry. What the disciples were doing was getting under his skin. It was bothering him, frustrating him, angering him. Jesus was indignant. You may have seen the classical paintings of Jesus with the children, like this one. He is smiling; the kids are chipper and cute. All is calm and peaceful. But what you don’t know is that Jesus was angry and indignant right before that. It wasn’t quite as peaceful as the painting makes it look. Most likely the disciples were a little embarrassed at their mistake and the reaction it got from Jesus.

#2 – Then, in light of his emotions, he welcomes the children: Let the children come to me; do not hinder them. That is a direct command from Jesus. The disciples have heard their rabbi; they have been officially rebuked, and they know it. Jesus wants children to come to him. He doesn’t want to delay their coming; he doesn’t want to ignore their coming. He wants them. He tells his disciples to get out of the way and let the kids run up to him. To Him! To Jesus! Not just to gold stars on bulletin boards, not just to being a good kid. Jesus wants children to come to…Jesus.

#3 – As he speaks, Jesus teaches about children. He says that the kingdom of God will belong to these children one day (??). This is the future of the church (??). These are the leaders of tomorrow (??). These kids will matter one day (??). Is that what he says? Nope. He says that the kingdom of God belongs – now, not in the future; now, not in the next generation; now, just as they are; now, as children; now, as they interrupt the big people discussion – to the children.

So back to the spectrum. This gives us the third way to view children, the way Jesus viewed children. We can see them as darlings who are just perfect; we can see them as distractions who are just problems; or, like Jesus, we can see them as disciples. In effect, that is what Jesus just did. He welcomed little children into the group of disciples, showing that they can learn from what he is teaching. They can catch a passion for the Father just as much as the grown-ups can. They can hear the word of God being taught just as well as grown-ups can. They can express their love for God just as much as the grown-ups can. They can ask their questions and study their Bibles just as much as the grown-ups can. The children are disciples. They are welcomed in at the same level as all of the other grown-up disciples in the crowd in that house. Children can learn as disciples of Jesus…now.

#4 – But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t only express his emotions and welcome children and teach about children. He also teaches through children. His next statement in Mark 10:15 is this: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. The children were welcome not only to learn; they were also welcome to teach. And the children have a lot to teach us today, too. Some of you in this room might not be Christians; you might hang around your friends who are Christians, and you might come to Core because you enjoy the people and the community. But you have yet to enter in to the kingdom of God, embracing Jesus Christ as your King, your Lord, your Master, your God, your Savior. Jesus just told all of us that one of the best ways for you to understand what it means to become a Christian is to watch little kids. It blows your mind, huh? I’ll repeat it. One of the best ways for you to understand what it means to become a Christian is to watch little children. Indeed, that is the way to enter the kingdom.

How do little children receive? They receive with joy. They receive with wide open arms. They receive with reckless abandon. Let me give a few examples:

• Consider Christmas morning. There is often a stark contrast between adults and children on Christmas morning. The children are thrilled. They are about to receive and discover and open up totally new worlds. They are running to the gifts, skipping, jumping, smiling. They don’t change their clothes. They don’t take a shower to get cleaned up. They just come in the pajamas, ready to receive. Where are mom and dad? They are barely pulling themselves out of bed, trying to wake up.
• Recently, Whitney and I got some new shoes for our son, Caedmon. And they were “big boy shoes.” This was a big, big, big, big deal…because they were big boy shoes. So we found some sweet shoes on a massive clearance, and we gave those to him. What happened to Caedmon? His eyes lit up. He received those shoes with so much joy; he was marching around showing them to everybody in the store; he was smiling from ear to ear; he wouldn’t stop talking about his big boy shoes. It was almost like there was a new life inside of him, a new reason to live, a new set of desires…all because he received some big boy shoes.
• Something similar happened when he got a pair of sunglasses this past week. Whitney picked them up for him at Wal-Mart. They didn’t come off for hours. After Wal-Mart they go inside Whole Foods…and the sunglasses never leave his eyes or hands. He is cruising around Whole Foods making sure everybody knows he just received sunglasses. It was almost like there was a new life inside of him, a new reason to live, a new set of desires…all because he received some sunglasses.

That is how children receive. And I share those examples with you because that is how you can receive Jesus Christ. With a joy, an anticipation, a hope. You don’t have to change your clothes or take a shower to get cleaned up. You just come to receive. And when you receive him it is as though there is a whole new life created inside you, a new reason to live, a whole new set of desires…all because you received Jesus Christ, the king of the Kingdom of God.

#5 – Finally, Jesus did one more thing. He celebrated children. In Mark 10:13, we see that the parents or the caregivers brought the kids to Jesus hoping that he just might touch them. That’s it – just touch. But Jesus goes way beyond their expectations. He takes them up in his arms and blesses them. He gives them time. He gives them hugs. He entertains them. He prays for them. He fully and wholly receives them. In essence, Jesus celebrated children.

Below is the transcript that I loosely followed when I preached yesterday morning.  It was a blast sharing what I have learned about children with Core.  And, as the title suggests, this is Part 01.  More to come.

The Text: Mark 10:1-16

Introduction: In From Left Field

For many of us, today’s message will feel like it is coming from left field. You might leave today wondering, “What? I have never really thought of that. Is that really a big deal?” You might wonder why you should care about it, why you should study your Bible about it, why you should talk with your spouse about it, why you should prepare for it. It very well might feel like it is coming from left field. That is how God did it with me.

When it comes to children, God had to hit me with surprises.

• Our older child, Caedmon, was a surprise for us. I still remember Whitney having to sit me down one Wednesday night. She had to convince me thoroughly to even get a pregnancy test. I kept postponing it. The truth is that I was scared. I had no clue what to do with a child. I was worried about money, about messing things up as a dad, about so many things. God knew this about me. So he surprised us 3 months into our marriage with the news that my beautiful bride was pregnant. Soon, we had Caedmon – straight from left field.
  

• So I adjusted to that. God has given me the grace to absolutely love being a dad. But I had never thought about children and church. Didn’t even want to go there. When I went through children’s ministry as a kid, I had all the taste of it I wanted. This picture might show you why. Now, as an adult, that was the world for children’s ministers – not me. I managed to hold out until we moved up here to Omaha. Sometime this past winter a family asked to meet with me to discuss “something about children.” Trying to be a nice, new pastor and not make anyone upset, I said, “Sure. I’ll meet with you.” That meeting was another surprise from left field. Because of how they approached children and because of how they approached our church – with kindness, gentleness, and Biblical truth – I knew we had some Bible studying to do. I knew we had some praying to do. Sooner or later, I had to see what the Bible said about children in the church.

For most people this morning, it very well might feel the same way. What you are about to hear might as well be flying in from left field because you haven’t heard it before. This morning we are going to talk about children – how Jesus viewed children, how we should view children, and how our church should view children. I am not only talking about parents of children; I am also talking about singles and married couples without children. We all have something to learn about children.

The Way We Value Children

In your notes is a spectrum. Most of us in this room fall somewhere on this spectrum when it comes to valuing children. Very few of us would be in the extremes, but nearly all of us would fit in here somewhere. We all need to discern how we are valuing or not valuing children. Are we reflecting Jesus when it comes to our view of children?

Side #1: Children are Darlings Who are Just Perfect

We have all seen the parents and adults who think this way. Their child can do nothing wrong; they are just perfect.

• The dad gets a phone call from the principal to find out that his son just punched his classmate in the face. The dad thinks, “Oh, that’s OK. I sure hope he isn’t getting in trouble for this. He is probably just confused. My son would never do something like that.”
• The mom just can’t quite figure out why her precious baby is growing up and keeps yelling at her, screaming at her, and speaking so rudely to her. The mom thinks, “My little girl would never mean something like that. She just needs to express herself. She just needs to vent. It isn’t a big deal.”

We see children as perfect, flawless, so easy to like, so easy to hug, so easy to not discipline, so easy to make excuses for. All the while we are ignoring the truths of Scripture that tells us that children are, by nature, sinners from day 1 (Ephesians 2:3), they are all children of sinners (Psalm 51:5), and they are unstable and don’t know what to think (Ephesians 4:14). There is foolishness bound up in that child’s heart (Proverbs 22:15). Children are not just darlings. They might be cute and precious and worthy of protection. But they are not perfect, sinless little beings.

Side #2: Children are Distractions Who are Just Problems

They keep us from real life. They are just a bother, something we have to put up with because we got our wife or girlfriend or someone else pregnant. They’re our problem that we have to deal with, well, just because we have to.

• The dad who always complains to his buddies because his wife is going out tonight, so he’s got to watch the kids to make sure they don’t burn the house down. Or the dad who can’t stand being interrupted during his favorite TV show when little Johnny wants to read a book or throw the ball.
• The mom who would so much rather be having girl time and talk time and fun time with her friends, but she can’t because she has to stay home and watch the kids. Why does he get to go to work today, but I have to deal with this kid of ours for the next 8 hours?

Kids are such a bother. Life is fun when you are single; then you get strapped down when you get married; then you might as well be in prison once you have kids. Your life is gone, out the window.

There might be more of us who view children as distractions than we think. Stop and search your heart. What do you naturally think of when you think of children…in our worship service? What goes through your mind when you think of infants…getting hungry and letting mom know about it? Is this the place for grown ups to worship God without having to worry about their children having to go to the bathroom? Is this the time when you get to listen to the sermon without having to worry about that infant who just got hungry again? I am asking you to search your heart. It isn’t about the externals here. It is about your heart.

This view of children is also unbiblical. And I will show you why as we look at this morning’s passage, Mark 10:1-16. As we read this story from Jesus’ life ask yourself these questions, “How did Jesus view children? How did Jesus value children?” I think this story will show us a lot.