Be Childlike not Childish

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Be Childlike not Childish!

Introduction:

  1. We all like to be looked up to, don’t we?    Sure we do!
  2. We like recognition for a job well done, we like having titles, positions, and status
  3. I don’t think that there is anyone who would go around thinking,
    1. You know what?  I think I’m going to make sure that no one appreciates me and never gives me a compliment!” 
    2. I’m going to change my name to ‘dirt’ just to remind myself and others how unworthy I really am.”
  4. No.  We like to be looked up to.  We need some significance in our lives.
    1. That is the way we were wired.
    2. And as long as we don’t go about it in sinful ways with sinful motives, it’s okay.
  5. Proverbs tell us that we should work in such a way that the quality of our work is noticed.
  6. Not to gain glory, but to show what a life lived for God can be all about in the workplace.
  7. How about you?  Do you struggle with the idea of being important?
    1. Really, the question is, “When you feel that way, what do you do about it?”
    2. And if you are a Christian you may even wonder if you are important to God!
    3. Does anybody really notice me?”
  8. That reminds me of the story I read, about a preschool teacher:
    1. She had her straight hair permed into a curly style
    2. The next morning in class she noticed that Jack (4yrs old), who was usually very cheerful, looked sad.
    3. She asked, “Is something wrong, Jack?
    4. Your hair,” he mumbled.
    5. You noticed!”  She said.  “I just had it permed and I love it!
    6. You do?” whispered Jack.  “Have you seen it?
  9. Talk about being deflated in a hurry!
  10. Children have an innocence that as we get older we lose.
  11. So how do we combat on one hand the NEED to know we’re important in some ways, and pride on the other hand?
  12. One answer to that question is in our passage for today, as we discuss childlikeness.
  13. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 18:1-10 Read.
  14. In this passage there are three parts about Children that we are going to take a closer look at this morning.  Children:
    1. We should be more like them.
    2. To welcome them is to Welcome Jesus.
    3. We have a responsibility to them.

Outline:

I         Children:  We Should Be More Like Them (vs. 1-4)

A      In these first four verses Jesus tells his disciples that they need to be more like this little child.

B       There were wrapped up in this debate of who would be the Greatest in the kingdom of God and who would get the most Glory

C       Jesus told them that unless they change and become humble like the child standing before them, they won’t even be IN the Kingdom of Heaven.

D      There is a difference between “Childlike” and “Childish.”  If you don’t get anything else out of this message get that. 

1        Let me give you an example of Childlike behavior,

a         Kids aren’t into titles a whole lot. 

b        You usually don’t see a kid coming up and saying, “Dad, I want to be the Executive Vice-President for Toy Distribution.”

c         Titles don’t mean anything in the overall picture of life.  Can you imagine God being impressed by our titles?

i          “You were the head deacon in charge of mowing the grass and doorknob polishing at your church?  Whoa!  You get an extra-big mansion up here.  Wow!  Gabrielmake sure this gentleman gets the best of everything up here!”

ii        Or, “Oh, you were the pastor, Oooooh!”

iii      Childlike humility isn’t concerned with titles.

2        Childish pride, on the other hand, is all about titles.

a         When you tell a child, “It’s not about you.”  They think, “What planet are you from, bubOf course it’s all about me.  What else is there?”

b        “The World Revolves Around Me!”

E       The disciples battled this as well.  In fact Marks account of this tells us that the disciples were arguing about which of them was the greatest.

1        I can just hear it can’t you?

a         John says, “I was the first to wake up on the Mount of Transfiguration.”

b        James says, “I spotted Moses and Elijah first!”

c         Peter says, “I was the one to worship first!”

d        I can picture the other disciples listening and getting fed up with it and one speaking out saying, “You guys were only invited because Jesus knew if He left you for a minute you’d backslide on Him!”

F        Jesus statement should have been a huge wakeup call to the disciples.

1        Vs. 3 “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

2        It should stand as a wake up call for us too.

a         Pride and ambition blinded the disciples to what was truly important

b        Pride and ambition had the disciples of Jesus focused on the wrong thing.

3        They were focused on themselves, and their own glory instead of Jesus’ glory.

G      They needed to change.

H      Jesus used a little child as an example of what they needed to be like.  And humbled them.

I         Children can have a way of putting us in our places quite easily…

1        Billy Graham tells the story of arriving to preach in a town one day. 

2        He had a letter that he wanted to mail, so he stopped a small boy and asked him where the post office was. 

3        After the boy told him, Billy Graham said, “If you’ll come to the church tonight, you can hear me tell people how to get to heaven.”

4        The boy said, “I don’t think I’ll be there, you don’t even know how to get to the post office.”

J         Kids speak more honestly, they won’t tell you how wonderful what you say is if they don’t really believe it.  They will say what is on their minds

K      Another example of childlike behavior is simple trust:

1        Children trust their parents, especially when they are younger.  Obviously this changes through the teens and early 20s years.

2        But younger kids tend to trust their parents, easily.

3        They just understand that one of the jobs of parents is to keep them safe. 

4        Those of you who have ever had little kids in your home remember those times in the middle of the night when they would come to your room to have you take them to the bathroom

a         Not because it was too far away or they didn’t know how to do it themselves, in fact sometime they will walk past the bathroom to get to your room.

b        It is just that they need Mom or Dad to hold their hand and walk them to the bathroom.  And when their little hand is in you BIG hand, everything will be ok, right?”

5        Do you have that same kind of simple trust in your Heavenly Father as your kids do, or at least did, have in you?

6        That reminds me of just about every day either coming or going to work…

a         There are three steps up in to our house from the laundry room.

b        They will each wait there for me to say JUMP!

c         Then their face lights up and off that top step they come.

d        They do it and don’t even have a thought that I might drop them because as their dad I would NEVER do that.

e         Too often we stand at the edge and we say we trust Him, we Say we know that He will never leave us, never forsake us, but we stand there, frozen and we don’t leave our feet, we don’t jump, we don’t TRUST HIM.

f         He says you can Trust me, go ahead and jump, I will catch you – I’ll never let you down.

g        But we just stand there frozen.

7        We need to be more like the children and Simply Trust him.

L       This brings us to the second part.

II      Children:  To Welcome Them Is To Welcome Jesus (vs. 5)

A      Do you remember being told, “Children should be seen but not heard?”

B       What about, “Be quiet, the adults are talking” as if we have something to say of earth shaking importance.

C       In the days of Jesus, Children were given little thought outside of the home.  In public they were expected to pretty much stay out of the way and sight of the adults.

D      You know how it is, we adults are busy doing important stuff, we can start to feel like we are pretty important ourselves and we don’t have time for interruption by kids.

E       Jesus was the busiest man who ever lived.  He had a lot to do, and He knew that His time was short; He had a date with the cross.

1        Even the disciples knew He was busy, which is probably why they tried to stop some children from approaching Jesus in the next chapter. 

2        Plus they didn’t get this chapters teaching.

F        Jesus didn’t ignore them.  He wasn’t too busy for them.  He said, “Whoever welcomes a little child in My name welcomes Me.”

G      Suppose you had a waiting room at your office…

1        Now suppose that in your waiting room sat Jesus Christ

2        Waiting to spend time with you.

3        Would you put him off, or would you clear your schedule.

4        Would you jump out of your chair and run to the door to invite Him in?

5        Of course you would drop EVERYTHING and bring him right in.

6        How about your children?  Or your niece or nephew, or your neighbor kid?

7        What if they were in your waiting room, waiting to spend time with you.

H      I am sure that kids get tired of hearing…

1        “Not right now!”

2        “Not right now, daddy is busy!”

3        “Not right now, I have a lot of work to do”

4        “Not right now, I want to see this TV program”

5        “Not right now, the adults are talking”

I         The next time your son or daughter, or grandchild, niece or nephew, or the lonely kid next door asks for some of your time,

1        Just imagine that Jesus is standing there next to them, with the same question – “How about now, will you spend time with us now?”

J         Jesus said, “Whoever welcome a little child in My name welcomes Me.”

III   Children:  We Have A Responsibility To Them (vs. 6-10)

A      Children are such a blessing and Truly a GIFT from God.

B       Ps. 127:3 “Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from Him.”         – This gift does come with responsibility…

C       Dt. 6:5-7 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your heats.  Impress them on your children.”

D      We have a responsibility to teach our children the things of God.

1        His commands, His love, His beauty, His power, His Saving Grace.

2        It is our responsibility to lead our children to Know God better and Worship   – to Praise Him, Trust Him, Follow Him.

3        And this responsibility doesn’t just stop with our own children but all children that we interact with, weather in our neighborhood or in our Church. 

E       Sometimes we do a dedication ceremony for little children.

1        When we do that it isn’t really about the baby.

2        The parents are bringing that child up front and asking us all to hold them accountable before God in raising that child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

F        This is single biggest responsibility we have as parents.  Nothing is more Important!

G      This can and should scare you a little bit.  It is serious business.

H      Jesus tells us…  Read verse 6

1        There are a lot of ways we can cause little ones to sin.

a         We can set a bad example with our behavior.

b        We can simply do nothing and fail to teach them, fail to live up to our responsibility!

Conclusion:  So what does God want us to do with this information today?

  1. He wants us to be more like children.  Childlike not Childish!
  2. When you look at your kids or any kids this week He wants us to see Him!
  3. He wants us to take our responsibility toward children as parents, as adults at this church, as TEACHERS/HELPERS in Sunday school, AWANA, anywhere that you interact with children, fulfill that responsibility the best way that you know how.  BE Christlike!
  4. Children:

a.    We Need To Be More Like Them,

b.     To Welcome Them Is To Welcome Jesus, and

c.       We Have A Responsibility To Them.

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