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What God Wants Christians to Do for Children
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 2:40-52
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared November 2, 2022)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Matthew 19:13.
By this time, Jesus was only about 3 months away from dying on the cross for our sins.
And in today's Scripture, the Lord again demonstrated His great love for children.
Now, our risen Savior wants us to have the same kind of loving care for kids.
God wants all Christians to do everything we can to protect children from evil and lead them to the Lord.
Please focus on this truth as we read Matthew 19:13-15.
MESSAGE:
*Children need a lot of guidance and tender loving care, especially when it comes to spiritual matters.
Bill Adler reminded us of this truth in his book on children's letters to Santa Claus.
Here are a couple of those letters:
"Dear Santa: Last year you didn't leave me anything good.
The year before last year, you didn't leave me anything good.
This year is your last chance."
Signed: Alfred
"Dear Santa: In my house there are three boys.
Richard is two.
Jeffrey is four.
Norman is seven.
Richard is good sometimes.
Jeffrey is good sometimes.
Norman is good all the time."
Signed: Norman (1)
*Children need a lot of tender loving care and strong spiritual guidance.
That's the way God designed His world.
And here in Matthew 19, Jesus spoke about His great concern for children.
These verses help us to see what the Lord wants us to do for children.
And this doesn't just mean parents and grandparents.
Every Christian from 6 to 96 can make a difference in children's lives.
1. FIRST TODAY, JESUS WANTS US TO HELP BRING CHILDREN TO HIM.
*Jesus loves children so much that He wants us to bring them to Him, and the parents in vs. 13 are a great example for us, because that's exactly what they did.
Now the Lord wants us to do everything we can to bring children to Him.
That's why Proverbs 22:6 tells us to "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
This is also why Ephesians 6:4 says this to Christian dads: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
*The giant problem is that many children don't have good, godly dads.
About 8 years ago, our daughter Becky saw a tweet from Brenna Norwood.
Becky used to work with Brenna at Houston Baptist University.
At the time, Brenna and her husband served as volunteers in one of the Christian prison ministries in Texas.
There they were leading a year-long course for male prisoners on how to be a godly father.
During the first meeting, they asked the prisoners about their own dads.
28 out of 31 raised their hands to say they had never even met their father.
*The world needs more, good, godly men.
Our families need good men.
Our children need good fathers.
But most dads aren't raising their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
That's why Jesus wants all of us to do everything we can to bring children to Him.
*Another reason why is because children are teachable and reachable.
Children are almost always open to spiritual truth.
Most children, especially little children, love to come to church.
Sometimes they are the ones pushing Dad and Mom to come.
I've seen this more than a few times.
*And some of the most famous, fruitful Christians in history were saved when they were very young.
Matthew Henry was 11, Jonathan Edwards was 7, Richard Baxter was 6, Isaac Watts was 9, and Corrie ten Boom received Jesus at the age of 5.
One of the fathers of modern missions, Nicholaus Zinzendorf, was only 4! The great missionary Stanley Jones was moved to be a missionary when he was 8 years old.
Stanley saw a poster of a big tiger standing beside a little boy from India.
And underneath the little boy's picture was this caption: "Who will tell me about Jesus?" Eight-year-old Stanley Jones said, "I will."
*W. A. Criswell was one of the greatest pastors of the 20th century.
He was saved when he was 10.
But he felt God calling him into ministry even earlier.
Criswell stated, "I had been thinking about being a preacher for years, -- since I was 6.
I knew I had not been saved.
But I knew that God wanted me to be a preacher."
(2)
*The next W. A. Criswell may be in the nursery right now!
So the Lord wants us to do everything we can to help bring children to Jesus.
And wonderful things will happen when we do.
I don't know how it got started, but the annual "See You at the Pole" student prayer time has been going on since at least 2000.
Pastor Peter Flamming gave this report from that year:
"One of our fine teachers said to me Wednesday, 'We had 30 students together at the flagpole to pray this week.'
A flagpole may seem a strange place to meet, but if you are going to meet God, you set a time and a place, -- and you get there.
The tradition is for Christian students to meet at the flagpole at the start of each school year to pray.
It is now international.
Millions of students have prayed this fall.
As they have prayed, they have been brought together.
And they prayed for their teachers, their coaches, their principal, and each other.
*At an elementary school near Boston, MA, a little girl was at the flagpole all by herself.
After some time, her principal went out to where she was and asked her, 'What are you doing?'
She replied, 'Well, I am here for "See You at the Pole."'
He said, 'Well, there is no one else here.'
Then with unexpected wisdom she replied, 'I am here to meet God.'" (3)
*That little girl had a great attitude, great insight, and a great answer!
Somebody had brought that little girl to Jesus, and that's what the Lord wants us to do.
This may mean inviting families to church, hosting a neighborhood children's event in your home, or even driving a van to bring kids to church.
Never underestimate what God can do through you when you try to bring children to Jesus.
Even small things can make a giant difference forever.
*Isabel Wolseley told a story about a modest, soft-spoken, Christian lady from Oregon.
She wasn't the type you would notice in a crowd.
This woman often felt worthless and told her pastor, "Everyone else at church seems to have some special talent, but I just don't have any ministry at all."
*About that time, halfway around the world in Papua, New Guinea, a young missionary stooped down to go into a grass-thatched hut.
Sometimes this missionary hiked with those natives down a jungle trail.
Sometimes he flew his helicopter to take them to a doctor or bring them supplies.
Sometimes he flew over dangerous country to carry Bible translators to their workstations.
*One day a friend asked him, "How did you happen to become a missionary?"
He answered, "Well, my brother and I were going around our neighborhood one Halloween when a neighbor dropped an invitation to Sunday School into our trick-or-treat bags.
That's what started Mom and Dad and my little brother and me going to a Bible-believing church."
*"What's happened to the other three in your family?" his friend asked.
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