You Are Loved
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Be Like a Child
Be Like a Child
Do you remember some of the last conversations you had with your friends in the last few weeks?
More than likely either the weather, your latest home project, the stock market, or something concerning your kids was brought up at some point, or possibly sums up the entire conversation.
It would likely differ from the conversations you had with them when you were 15.
The term “adulting” has become quite popular over the last several years, referring to how life changes as we grow older.
Here are some examples.
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We all grow up, and that’s a good thing.
Maturity brings with it ever increasing responsibilities, opportunities, worries, concerns...
But it is necessary for us to grow up, otherwise we would be quite odd.
The bible talks a lot about growing up and maturing in our faith.
Paul speak of not being childish in our faith in 1 Cor. 13.
But there is a difference between being “childISH and being ChildLIKE.
Listen to the words of Jesus:
3 “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Jesus doesn’t want us to be childish in our faith, thinking and acting like kids in the way we live and speak.
He does want us to be Childlike in our faith.
This week’s episode of Chosen depicts Jesus with a group of kids, and leads me to ask the question:
What does it mean to have a Childlike faith?
I want to dive in to Hebrews 12:1-13 to catch a glimpse of this kind of faith.
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up. 4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.
Pray
Childlike Faith is...
Childlike Faith is...
UNHINDERED Faith
UNHINDERED Faith
You likely spend a lot less time today coming up with story-lines for your barbie dolls, putting together a sick lego flying machine, or creating an epic pillow fort in the living room.
It isn’t that you don’t want to do those things, you just have to work, clean the house, mow the lawn, do the laundry, cook the next meal, go to the grocery, or one of the other endless tasks we all face as adults.
These tasks and responsibilities hinder us from the things we used to do as kids.
The author of Hebrews opens chapter 12 talking about HINDRANCES to our walk with Jesus.
The word ὄγκον (on-kos), which we see translated “weight, hindrance, or barrier” is key in this passage.
The author of Hebrews has spend a whole chapter sharing with us a list of superstars of the faith. None of which were really “superstars” as each of them messed up or had issues.
Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, and others. People who were sold out to God, who faced so many barriers and hindrances to their journey of faith, and yet they didn’t give up, didn’t give in.
So in view of these faithful men and women, he says “let us also lay aside every weight/hindrance/barrier” that would keep us from a vibrant, joy-filled, enduring faith.
What hinders your faith in Christ?
The Everyday worries of life
The three basic needs of every human being are food, clothing, and shelter. It’s funny how we add many more to that list in our day and age, like a vehicle, smart phones, a decent paying job, and more.
You may ask how these basic needs could possibly come in the way of our relationship with Jesus. How could these needs deter our walk with Him?
But you know, as well as I do, we can end up giving them our undivided attention.
Our lives are often overwhelmed with worry about making sure we have all that we need, or even all that we want.
Sins and Struggles
The author separates sin from hindrances in the verse, but sin is a huge hindrance to our walks with Christ.
The guilt and shame of unconfessed sin weighs us down, makes us feel unworthy of God love and unfit for a relationship with God.
Sin is selfish, as we focus our attention on what makes us happy or satisfied in the moment, all the while ignoring how our decisions affect others and influence our relationship with God.
Anger and Bitterness
Whether toward another person, toward God, or even toward ourselves, harboring anger and bitterness hinders us from experiencing the freedom and forgiveness of God’s love.
We carry the weight of our anger and bitterness around like a heavy suitcase on our backs, perhaps hoping that we will find a way to payback the hurts we have suffered.
Jesus teaches us to pray “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors…For if you forgive their offenses, your heavenly Father will forgive you as well.”
Doubt and Apathy
Everybody has doubts and questions. And as I have said before, God can handle our questions and our doubts.
But when we do not pursue answers and work through our doubts, they become barriers to faith.
What are you doing to find answers to the things that cause you to question?
There are more things we could mention and some that would be unique to you.
But the author of Hebrews in challenging us here to shed off those things that hinder our faith in Christ.
Childlike faith is inquisitive, always seeking to ask questions and seek to understand.
It is free, forgiving, and honest. Not overwhelmed with things out of your control, with people who have wronged you, or worry about what has happened, might happen, or will likely never happen.
Childlike faith is unhindered faith.
WONDROUS Faith
WONDROUS Faith
When I was in the Himalayan Mountains in the summer of 07 we would wake up to the most beautiful scenes.
They would only last for the first hour or so of day light, then the clouds would move it, but it was breathtaking.
We would wake up and hurry up to the dining room to make sure we could see the views every morning.
One day I showed our guide pictures of my parents farm back in Kentucky.
He was blown away and kept talking about how amazing and beautiful everything was.
I was a little surprised to say the least.
You wake up to views of the tallest mountains in the world. The only place in the world you could ever see these kinds of views, and he is oooing and ahhing about my dad’s alfalfa field in central Kentucky.
The reality is if I spent 5 or 10 years in the Himalayan mountains, the awe and grandeur I felt then would most likely wear off.
It wouldn’t go away, but it would become normal and ordinary.
What Jesus is saying in Matthew 18 is not that we need to stay childish in our understanding of Jesus, but that we must fight to maintain a childlike wonder in who Jesus was and is.
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up.
The way we are able to have unhindered faith is to direct our attention and fix our eyes on Jesus.
The founder and perfecter of our faith.
The one who suffered for our sake and brought us victory.
When we set our eyes firmly on him, we will not grow weary in the fight against sin and in the race to persevere in faith. We remember the crown waiting for us in glory and continue running.
Childlike faith is a trusting and reliant faith.
TREASURED Faith
TREASURED Faith
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, 6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives. 7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?
The author of Hebrews quotes Proverbs 3, the words of the wise Solomon to his son.
Though Solomon was writing these words to his son, these are the words God is also saying to us.
“Don’t let the discipline and correction of the Lord get you down or cause you to doubt His goodness. The Lord disciplines those He loves and He corrects those whom He treasures as His children.”
Don’t get distracted by the word “discipline” here. It isn’t used as we often understand it, as punishment.
The word can be understood as correct, training, and instruction, all of which are meant for growth, maturing, and transformation.
The author is focusing on our identity and the relationship we have with God.
God teaches, correct, and instruction His children, the ones He loves and treasures.
He isn’t a cold, emotionless being in heaven barking orders and sending lightning bolts every time we mess up.
He is a caring, compassionate, and deeply involved Father, who takes time and makes effort to help us grow, change, and follow Him more fully.
Much like the love we have for our kids that does not let them do stupid things and make unwise decisions, God love us and compassionately direct us down wise and good paths for our own good.
Childlike faith is a faith that comes out of knowing that you are treasured by God.
DISCIPLINED Faith
DISCIPLINED Faith
8 But if you are without discipline—which all receive—then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness. 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
But childlike faith is a disciplined faith.
A faith that is grown and developed through pursuit and practice.
That is shaped by learning what is right and true.
That is formed by correction and and instruction.
And that doesn’t becoming stunted or stagnate.
The Lord disciplines the one he loves.
That means there are dimensions of God’s love we can only know through his discipline.
And there are dimensions of peace and godly fruitfulness we will only know through his wise, rigorous training, a program individually tailored by him for us.
God doesn’t want us to remain childISH in our faith, but to “share in His holiness”.
We may feel weak or ill or anxious or exhausted because we have refused to be done with some particular sin.
God is sounding the alarm to wake us up to fight temptation and walk by faith.
Or there may be struggles and suffering that we face that isn’t connected to sin.
But God uses everything in our lives to mold us and shape us and to draw us to Himself.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Childlike faith is shaped by loving discipline.
SAFE and SECURE Faith
SAFE and SECURE Faith
12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.
These last 2 verse are an invitation.
Where to children go when they are hurt?
Where do they run when they are scared?
Where to the go when they upset?
To whom do they run when they are weak, sad, or confused?
They run to their moms and dads.
When our hands our tired and our knees our weak, we must run to the Father.
When our hearts are heavy and our minds are full, we must run to the Father.
When our soul is weighed down and we are overwhelmed by all the world is throwing at us, we MUST run to the Father.
psalm 91:14
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.