Children of God

Timothy Ryan Bockman

Children of God • Sermon • Submitted 7 years ago

Matthew 18:1–6

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“How to …” Sermon Outlines 6. How to Become as Little Children

How to Become As Little Children

Scripture Reading: Matthew 18:1–6

“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

I. Practice Humility

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child …” (Matt. 18:4).

A. Little children realize they are small and must look up to grown-ups. They are aware of their lack of strength and wisdom. They ask for help and guidance.

B. God wants us to be aware of our lack of strength and of our inability to understand everything. He wants us to ask Him for assistance and wisdom (James 1:5).

II. Practice Trust

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart” (Prov. 3:5).

A. Trust is a wonderful characteristic of little children. They trust their parents implicitly to meet their needs.

B. Many people are trusting in materialistic pursuits and depending on their own abilities.

C. God wants His children to trust Him completely to meet their needs (Phil. 4:19).

III. Practice Light-heartedness

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

A. It is normal for little children to be light-hearted and carefree. There are exceptions, such as those coming from broken homes, etc.

B. God wants His children to be light-hearted and carefree, too. He is able to bear their burdens (1 Peter 5:7).

IV. Practice Persistence

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith” (Heb. 10:23).

A. A little child falls many times but he never gives up until he learns to walk.

B. Christians make blunders and mistakes, but they should keep trying and refuse to give up.

V. Practice Anticipation

“I press toward the mark for the prize …” (Phil. 3:14).

A. Children continually look ahead with anticipation.

B. Discouragement is short-lived with children. They look to the future with hope.

C. Christians should look ahead with anticipation, too. They should look for and expect the best to come (John 14:1–3).

This past month I have been pondering what this sermon is about. I asked the Holy Spirit to help guide me on what to say to you guys. As the drill dates started getting closer I began getting more flustered and confused on what to say. I actually started writing another sermon and about half way through it, I was so confused that I was contradicting myself and going way off topic. It was then that my kids came running in screaming that it was time for VBS. Since I was suckered in volunteering at my church, I quickly realized that I still had to get ready. But the whole night I was thinking about all the theology, commentary, sermons, that I needed to research for this sermon. I was praying the whole night, then it hit me when I heard my pastor talking to these little kids. These little innocent beings giving him all their attention anxiously awaiting the message. His message was so simple, but so impactful. That is when I knew what I was going to talk about. So today I want to talk about being a child of God.

I want to explain how we need to have a child’s heart to stay in relationship with God and how this child’s heart will help us grow spiritually.

I believe that we tend to over complicating our lives. We tend to add more to our lives and we start getting proud of our accomplishments. I want to start off this sermon by reminding that we need to humble ourselves. Verse 4

Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

God doesn’t a boastful or proud person. Actually, pride was one of the reasons that caused Satan to fall. Children realize that they are a small and weak. We need to remember that we are not able to conquer this world and our weakness results us sinning. We are not able to conquer death and Jesus was the only one who had the strength to break the power of sin. As Children of God, we need to humble our spirits and come before God realizing that He is our strength and that we need to rely on Him for our guidance. Since he is all knowing, he understands everything, even we cannot. We must rely on him and trust him fully.

So my next point is that we need to practice trusting him. says that must Trust in the Lord with all our heats. Trust is a powerful thing. Recently, I watched a study of the trust between a infant and a mother. The study showed a baby placed on a table with the mother on the other side. Halfway across this table, the table dropped off, but the cliff was covered by plexiglass. So the theory was that children will have unconditional trust, because the believed their parent despite the dangers. Of course, thier theory was right and the children crawled across the table trusting only their mother. This is the trust that God wants from us. Even though there's danger in front of us, believing in Him allows us to walk across the cliff and not worrying about falling.

says that must Trust in the Lord with all our heats. Trust is a powerful thing. Recently, I watched a study of the trust between a infant and a mother. The study showed a baby placed on a table with the mother on the other side. Halfway across this table, the table dropped off, but the cliff was covered by plexiglass. So the theory was that children will have unconditional trust, because the believed their parent despite the dangers. Of course, thier theory was right and the children crawled across the table trusting their mother. This is the trust that God wants from us. Even though there's danger in front of us, believing in Him allows us to walk across the cliff and not worrying about falling.

The third lesson from a child’s heart is the light-hearedness they have. Have you realized that typical children are usually light-heartedness or carefree. And what I mean by typical child is one that hasn’t suffered a traumatic experience like abuse or broken homes. I mean my son literally no worry in the world this summer. All he wants to do is videogames, swim, and light more fireworks. He isn’t worried about the next meal he’s going to eat, or how the bills are going to be paid, or about work tomorrow, those are insignificant to him. This is the same lightheartedness that Peter wrote in his letter.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

All God is worried about is staying in an intimate relationship with you. He doesn’t care about your house, or job, or how you will pay your bills those are insignificant to Him. All he cares about is You.

This care that God gives us, I was allowed to be wrapped up in it previously at AT. I was in the field with the 40th BSB and I felt an overwhelming passion with believers out there. Soon I realized that I was anticipating to go back in the presence with believers. I realized that this anticipation is what a child has.

I made the mistake of telling my boy that “firework day” was soon. This was a mistake because every 5 minutes he asked if it was “firework time” or if we could light a fire work. This usually was followed by about 30 minutes of him bribing me with toys, money, or loving me forever. The anticipation killed him, even though it was 2 days, and that is all he could think about. This is how we should look like when looking for our eternal future. Jesus describe this anticipation to us. ,

English Standard Version Chapter 14

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.

Jesus has prepared a place for us in Heaven. He has promised us that he will return for us when it is our time to be in heaven. We should be anxiously awaiting for his return, reminding ourselves that at any moment he could return for us.

Lastly, I want to talk about persistence. When a little infant learns to walk, he or she falls countless times. But I don’t know of a child that gave up and said walking was too hard. We are going to fall, a lot. We are going to make mistakes, a lot. But we should never give up. We need to hold onto our faith and remember that Jesus died for our mistakes. He was pinned on that cross for our failures. And he died for our sins. Yes we all have fallen short from the glory of God, but Jesus has restored our purity in the eyes of God. He has given us that hope to get up again, through the thick and thin, and strive for the glory of God.

This is how Jesus describes how we should come before God. We should be humbled, trust in God fully, not worry about worldly things and have light heartedness on these things, have anticipation on Jesus’ return, and practice persistence with our faith. Simplifying our walk allows us to grow into a deeper love with God. Forget about all the other stuff this world has to offer, and have a child's heart for God.

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