The Incredible Blessing of a Child

Well, thank you, Luke and Megan. Beautiful special music. I love the way your voices harmonize.

Just so beautiful. Thank you very much. Brethren, children are a blessing from God.

No, really, the Bible says so. And I say that tongue firmly planted in cheek. We know that children are an incredible blessing. But we also know, those who have raised children, you know that sometimes you wonder. There are some moments when you wonder. There's the 2 a.m. screaming fits where you just want to sleep. Baby doesn't want to sleep. Baby wants to scream.

You've got the public meltdowns at the store where you just walk into the store and you're like, all I have to do is get this one thing and the kid's like, nope! And you go, nope, we're going back out to the car. We're not going to go shopping today. Thirty extra minutes that it takes to get out the door because the shoe that was right next to them 30 minutes ago is somehow in another dimension. We don't even really know where. Objects that have gotten broken, lost, otherwise missing in action. The fight over toy, I mean, the list goes on. The reality is there's a number of things that our kids do sometimes that try our patience. But despite all of that, despite the frustrations, despite the difficulties sometimes that go along with parenthood, having children provides us with some of the most incredible memories that we partake in. The birth of our children in and of itself is miraculous and it's full of tears of joy. But then we get to experience all the firsts. We get to experience the first smile, the first giggle, their first steps, their first words. And as time goes on, before our very eyes, our little babies born in the image of God Himself grow and develop. And we begin to see their potential. We begin to see their personalities shining through and we have the opportunity and the admonition to then bring them up in the ways of God.

Like iron sharpens iron, we teach our children. But more than that, they teach us incredible lessons. They teach us incredible lessons. And frankly, as a parent, lessons I personally, I don't think I would have learned in any other way. Many of us recognize we're parents, we're aunts, we're uncles, we're grandparents, we're nannas, you know, we're whatever the opus, whatever the whatever the name may be. We all have an opportunity to be a part of a life of a child.

And that's an incredible opportunity. And it is an incredible blessing.

And brethren, an incredible responsibility. The title of the message today is the incredible blessing of children. Let's go ahead and turn over today to Psalm 127. This topic, while you're turning over there, has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I was asked to present a presentation to the GCE this year on engaging our youth. And myself and Mr. Tim Pebworth have been working on putting that together. And we're going to be addressing methodology that the ministry can use to better engage and better work with the youth in their congregations. And you know, I don't know if you realize this, Salem, we are kind of an anomaly in the church. And what I mean by that is we have an incredible amount of children in this congregation. There are other congregations where there just are no kids. None. None. This is an incredibly amazing opportunity as a congregation. It's an incredible opportunity. Psalm 127, let's go ahead and start in Psalm 127 in verse 3. Psalm 127 in verse 3. Psalm 127 verse 3 says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward. It's a reward. It's a blessing. It's one of the blessings that God gives His people. And we recognize it's not just that. God pours out incredible blessings on His people. Lots of very diverse blessings. One of those blessings is children. One of those blessings is children. 128, if you take a look just across the page there on my, well, it's sort of across the page on my Bible, I guess. But Psalm 128, we see that they are a reward. And a reward for what? A reward for what? Psalm 128 fleshes this out just a little bit further. We'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 1. It says, Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.

When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you.

And it goes on to say, Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house.

Your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed, who fears the Lord. So when we combine these two passages, we recognize just the incredible blessing that children are. And family is. Let's go back to 127 real quick, just back again across the page. We're going to go ahead and pick it up in verse 4. Verse 4 of Psalm 127. Psalm 127, verse 4, as we kind of build context here, says, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gates. We see as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, a mighty warrior, are the children of one's youth. And it says, Blessed is the man whose quiver is full. Notice, not arrows in the hand of Joe Sixpack, who's never touched a bow in his life. Right? Arrows in the hand of a mighty man. We read in Scripture of mighty men, warriors of warriors. David had mighty men. Incredible, incredible warriors, one of which, just by example, is named Adino. According to the book of Samuel, he flew 800 Philistines single-handedly. We say he knew what he was doing. Uh-huh. Absolutely. So when we say mighty men, we're not talking about me with a bow and arrow here. I am not, I do not qualify as a mighty man with a bow and arrow. I like shooting archery. You know, Mr. Cons when we talk about a mighty man, when we're talking about a warrior here, some of the estimates for some of these men in the Israelite army that were trained in archery, historians believe they could have been able to hit a spot the size of a quarter at 50 yards while moving on the back of a chariot.

I can't hit the broadside of a barn standing still, let alone from the back of a chariot.

But these people were men of incredible skill.

And when they release that arrow, it goes where they pointed it.

You know, bow is not a melee weapon. You don't strike people with a bow, despite what the movies might show you. You don't strike people with a bow. You load the arrow, you pull the string back, you point the arrow in the right direction, and you let go.

And that is probably one of the scariest parts of parenting. You load that arrow on the bow, you pull the arrow back, you point it in the right direction, and you let go.

And if you have done your part, if you have done your part barring external circumstances, right, we know there's tons of external circumstances. Theoretically, that arrow goes in the direction that it should go.

It takes us years for us to train up our children in God's ways. It takes years.

And we're training them, while we're also training, to be a mighty person. Elite warriors. Because as we train, we train our children, too. And again, we point them in the right direction, and we let go.

Barring, again, external influences, they'll fight, they'll fly, true.

God gives them to us, we train them, and then we ultimately give them back to God.

When you think of it in that way, our children, really, are on loan from God.

They are on loan from God. We have simply been entrusted as stewards of an incredible blessing while they are here. But they are on loan from God, and we return them to Him as we train them up in this way. So when we think of it in that way, we think of ourselves, you know, as stewards on Earth for this training and this mentoring, suddenly parenting takes on a whole new aspect, doesn't it? Suddenly grandparenting, aunting and unkeling, church congregationing, takes on a whole new aspect.

The children that I have, Aiden, Desmond, and Mallory, they've been given to me as a blessing from God. He expects that I won't bury the talent that I've been given. He expects that I will train them, that I will grow them to the best of my ability, develop them, strengthen them, teach them of God's ways. Oh, boy! And then let them go, and let them make their decisions, and let them go forward. And if I'm telling the truth, it's frightening. As a parent, it's scary to let go like that. God expects us to raise them in the way that they should go, and then someday I give them back and let them navigate the world on their own two feet. No pressure, right? No pressure.

You know, in order for this to happen, God has to be a partner in the process. Verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 127 tells us that without God in the equation, all of our toil, all of our hard work is in vain. If God is not a part of the process, it's in vain.

Psalm 127 and verse 1 says, Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he gives his beloved sleep. That word house in Psalm 127 is the Hebrew word ba'eth. It's H1129, if you'd like to look it up in Strongs. And in most contexts, it's translated in the sense of family. House of Israel, House of David, Joshua. As for me and my house, he's not talking about his physical timbers of his house.

As for me and my house, those who are in it, my family, we will serve the Lord.

In fact, the meaning of the Hebrew letter ba'eth, which is the basic gist of the word, indicates all that is within the tent, all that is inside of the tent, the family itself, or generations of a family as time goes on. The Lord builds the house, he adds to the family, he blesses the patriarch with children, blesses their children with children, and on down the line it goes.

And we see examples in the Old Testament of the blessings of the patriarchs going from generation to generation to generation, Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to his sons. But it's interesting, I love reading those accounts. I love reading those blessing accounts. They're just so interesting, especially the prophetic nature of the blood.

I mean, it's just fascinating stuff. But we also see blessing happening and interactions with children happening in the New Testament as well. Also in the New Testament. Let's go ahead and turn over there real quick. Matthew 19. And we go through this process every year, right after the Feast of Tabernacles, two weeks after when we do our blessing of little children. Matthew 19. And we're going to read three quick parallel passages to build context here, so it's going to feel like we're just turning pages. I apologize. Matthew 19. Matthew 19. We're going to pick it up in verse 13, which for me is kind of difficult because it's on a separate page.

It's right on my page turn from 13 to 14. So hopefully yours isn't. Matthew 19 and verse 13. We see this often, honestly, there's a lot of paintings about this passage. You know, Christ blessing the little children. Matthew 19 verse 13 says, then little children were brought to him that he might put his hands on them and pray, and not, you know, disciplinarily laying his hands on them to pray and put his hands on them in the traditional sense. But the disciples rebuked them.

So these people came to Jesus Christ to have him bless their children. And the disciples essentially, as they approached it, get out of here. What are you doing? Don't bother Christ. He's working. And I don't know why, but every time I do that, it ends up in a New York accent.

So I apologize for anyone that may be from New York. I don't intend it. But we ain't doing it. He's working. All right. So verse 14, Jesus said, Let the little children come to me. Don't forbid them, for such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them and departed from there.

So we can see part of the blessing of little children involves prayer. It involved supplication to God on that individual's behalf, and ultimately a laying on of hands. There's a parallel in Luke 18 verse 15. Luke 18 and verse 15, another recording of this same account gives us a little more context. Because you read that, you don't have any idea as to how old the kids were. I mean, they could have been anywhere up to, you know, 9, 10, 12 years of old years age.

Luke 18 tells us a little bit different. Luke 18 and verse 15 gives us a little bit of additional context. Luke 18 verse 15 says, Then they also brought infants to him, that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. So perhaps these infants were fussy. Maybe they were not quietly sitting there and waiting, and they're bringing these children up to be blessed.

Jesus called them to him, and he said, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them. For of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, verse 17, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. So we see in this passage the age of children that are being brought to Christ. They're not necessarily 10 and 12 year old kids here.

It says, infants. And the word there is the Greek word brephos. Brephos, it's G1 0 2 5. Again, you can check it out in Strong's or your other favorite concordance or lexicon. And the definition is very young children likely under a year of age. And the reason for that is that this is also used in a couple of places to reference the unborn. So in the situation where you have Elizabeth and Mary, for example, the word is used to illustrate unborn children as well. So we're saying very young kids is brephos. And so in some cases, this infants probably some young toddlers as well.

It's hard to be totally certain of exact age, but it's specific that they were little children. They were young children, very probably infants. Final parallel scripture flushes it out even a little more. Mark 10. Mark 10, because we see the way that Christ interacts with his disciples here, Mark records it in a slightly different way. And I think it's important to recognize how Mark records it. Mark 10 and verse 13.

Again, same situation, parallel passage. So we're looking now at a slightly different recording of how this is written. Adds context, adds additional information. Mark 10 verse 13 says, Then they brought little children to him that he might touch them, lay his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Now the word rebuke is kind of a strong word. You know, it's a pretty strong word. You know, don't do that. Don't do that. Rebuke them. But when Jesus saw it, he was greatly displeased, greatly displeased. And he said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it. And he took them up in his arms, again, giving us some idea that these were smaller kids. You know, pick the kids up in his arms, and he laid his hands on them, and he blessed them. The word bless here is eulagio, which means to speak well of or to invoke a benediction on. So with these passages, we can get a better grasp of what went on. People brought their very young children to Christ to bless them, to have him speak well of those individuals' children to the Father, to pray for divine favor in their life.

In all three of these accounts, we see that the disciples rebuked those who brought the children, sharply telling the people that brought the kids to Christ, Look, back off, leave them alone, take your children and go. And they may have said it nicer than that. It doesn't exactly record what they said, but it was a rebuke. It was a rebuke. We see in all three accounts Christ tells his disciples, No, let them come. Let them come to me. Let me interact with them.

Let me talk with them. Let me hold on to them. Let me pick them up and bless them.

But I want to draw your attention to the account in Mark, in verse 14, verse 14 of Mark 10. It says, When Jesus saw it, when he saw the rebuke that the disciples gave, he was greatly displeased. And he said to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of God. Some translations, your translation might actually say he was moved with indignation. And that word indignation is G 23, G 23, which is, and I'm going to butcher this, Aganek Teho. Aganek Teho. That is the only time in Scripture that that word indignation is attributed to Christ in the entire Bible. It is attributed to the disciples being indignant about the wasting of the precious oil on Christ's feet. It is attributed to the Pharisees being indignant about various things. This is the one and only time that is attributed directly to Christ. He was torqued in the vernacular. He was not pleased. He was not pleased. Let them come to me, he said. And in doing this, he took an opportunity to remind the disciples of an incredibly important lesson, and one that had been taught already to them, than they'd forgotten. And frankly, a lesson that's crucial to us as disciples today, especially as we've been looking at what these characteristics of being a disciple are. Let's go ahead and turn back just a little bit to Mark 9. Mark 9 should be just a page over from where you are currently, so you shouldn't have to turn too far. But Mark 9, let's take a look at one of these situations that cropped up with the disciples. Mark 9, verse 33. It says, Then he came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, What was it you were disputing among yourselves, or you disputed among yourselves on the road? Verse 34, But they kept silent, for on the road they disputed among themselves, who would be the greatest? And he sat down, he called the twelve, and he said to them, If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all. And then, to add to this lesson, he went and dropped a kid right in the middle of him.

And he took his little child and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. You know, I get a kick out of this account. I love this account. And the reason I love this account is because humanity shines through in the words of this. I've had almost this exact conversation with my middle schoolers. They'll say something like, What did you say? Nothing. Nothing at all. They're like, No, I heard what you said. I'm giving you a chance to open up to it. Oh, you did? All right. We were talking about this. Yep, that's right. You were. Let's not do that. But this is this is the situation. They're talking about something that they know they shouldn't be talking about out on the road. And Christ called them on it. He knew the intents of their heart, and he called them on it. And their first inclination was nothing, nothing at all. No, it's not that big of a deal. We were just talking about stuff. Well, no, he said, you were talking about this. And listen, here's the deal. Puts the kid in there and makes the account. Christ told his disciples that a fundamental change had to occur, that that change had to occur at their core, at their very heart. We have to become childlike to enter into the kingdom. To inherit the kingdom, we have to become childlike. He said it in Matthew 18 verse 3. He said it in other accounts, unless you turn, unless you become as little children, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, my wife informs me child like, not childish. There is a difference. There is a difference, one that which means no tantrums, no pouting, etc. Childlike. Childlike. Think about the traits of young children. Think about the traits of young children. What can we learn from young children? They have incredible lessons that they can teach us. What can we learn from them? I want to be very clear on this. There reaches a point, and not as much in the church, not as much in the church, but in the world when kids hit that 13-14 age range, which is the age that I teach and the age that I've spent the last 11 years with, they have, by that point in time, learned the subtle art of manipulation. Young kids do not understand manipulation fully. They may be experimenting with it. They may have, you know, by sixth grade, they're starting to figure it out. But I jokingly refer to some of our sixth graders. They're kind of like puppies. They just want to make you happy.

Yeah, I'll do my homework. Great! 14-year-olds are like, yeah, but what's in it for me? Right? They've kind of learned that manipulation piece. They've kind of figured, yeah, that's a broad generalization. But many years of teaching middle school, I feel like it's founded on some, at least anecdotal, principles. But before they learn that art of manipulation, before they reach that point, young kids are kind. They're gentle. They're trusting. They're obedient. They're humble. And that list just goes on and on and on. You can come up with so many cool characteristics of young kids. And Christ made it very, very clear to His disciples that in order for them to be a part of His kingdom, they had to make a change. And similar to us, throughout history, we have to make a change as well. We have to turn. We have to become converted. We have to become childlike in order to enter that kingdom. So with the time that we have today, I'd like to examine three characteristics of young children that are necessary for us as Christians today. And they're very similar, in fact, identical to some of the ones that we've been discussing in our Bible study series and looking at in our Bible study series. First point is children are humble. They're humble. Children are trusting. Point number two. And children are teachable. Point number three. And all of these characteristics are characteristics that all of us must thrive to achieve as well. So we're going to take a look at the first one here, humility. And it's not just one of the traits. It's not just one of three traits. I would make the argument it is the trait upon which the rest build. That it is the foundational core trait upon the rest of the traits that we have here. And in the accounts that we read earlier, Matthew 18 and Mark 9, where Christ called the small child over to him and he sat them in front of them and said, look, here's the deal, guys. The first shall be last and the last shall be first.

When did that account happen? What immediately preceded that account?

Immediately preceding that account was a situation of extreme pride among his disciples. They weren't being humble. They were strutting down the road to Capernaum, playing who's the greatest. And they were talking to each other and, no, I'm greater than you because, no, no, no, no, no, Christ likes me more. No, you're both wrong. I'm greater than you because.

It was pride, plain and simple. It was pride. It was arrogance. And what is God's response? God's response was to take a small child and tell them, whoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Basically told them, you want to be great in the kingdom of heaven? Humble yourself. Empty yourself of pride. Get rid of your haughty spirit. Get rid of the arrogance. The word humble here literally means to make low, to abase yourself. Children are naturally humble. It's just something that they are to begin with when they're young. They're naturally humble. When they're young enough, they don't know any difference. They haven't yet learned pride. It's kind of a natural trait of childhood because they're dependent on their parents for everything. I don't know if you've ever...how are you familiar with the onion?

The onion, it's a newspaper. It's a fake newspaper, completely fake newspaper that is just...it does sensationalized headlines and things. And I saw one a while back that said, this just in. Babies are stupid. And that was the headline. And then it showed a picture of a baby. And then it said, when put into a room, a baby with a can of food and a can opener cannot figure out how to open the food. And so their conclusion then, based on science, was that babies are unintelligent, right? Well, the reality of it is kids are dependent on their parents. They're dependent on their parents for everything, especially early on. Very much dependent on their parents.

It's not until they get much older that they sometimes start to become a little too big for their britches. So what's the big deal? Why does God care about pride? Why does God care about pride? What's what's wrong with pride? Let's go over to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14.

Isaiah 14, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 12 here. And kind of breaking into the context here, it's contrasting and kind of comparing the fall of the king of Babylon and the fall of Lucifer. And in verse 12, we kind of see Satan enter the picture here and we see the words slightly shift. And it's Isaiah 14 verse 12, it says, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations? For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mountain of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Verse 15 says, Yet you shall be brought down to shield the lowest steps of the pit. Notice verse 13, you said in your heart, this wasn't even necessarily outwardly to begin with. Now, did it become outward? Oh, yeah. There was a rebellion, a third of the angels ended up siding with Lucifer and rebelled. But it began in his heart. Ezekiel 28 is another account that kind of describes this similar event, again, tacked onto the description of, in this case, the king of Tyre. And then halfway through, suddenly you're not in Kansas anymore, and it shifts focus. Ezekiel 28, we'll go ahead and start by picking it up in verse 12. Ezekiel 28 and verse 12 says, Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. You kind of go, wait a second. They're not talking about Tyre anymore.

You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, the topaz, and diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You were the anointed carob who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. Verse 15, you were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. Verse 16, By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned.

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, covering carob from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you. And it goes on. It continues. We'll go ahead and cut it off there at verse 17. But his heart was lifted up because of his beauty. His wisdom was corrupted because of his beauty. What began in his heart, a haughty spirit, prideful attitude, like most sin, beginning in our heart, eventually occurred outwardly.

We know again, he influenced a third of the angels to go along with his rebellion against God. At some point in time, in Lucifer's life or his history, however you want to phrase that, being a covering carob, being a member of the mountain of God, bringer of light wasn't good enough anymore. He wanted more. He didn't wish just to be a part of it. No, he wanted to be in charge. He had to be the top dog. He desired to make himself like God. He became prideful, arrogant, haughty, whatever word you want to use for it. He sinned, and enmity with God began. That enemy has been passed to mankind. Generation after generation, we continue to produce people who are hostile to God, who are enemies to God, people who live in direct rebellion, to God's law, and even us who strive to live our lives according to God.

We struggle, too. God gives us the solution to pride. He tells us to abase ourselves.

We take ourselves down a few pegs and to be humble. Feeling overly important? Need a shot of humility? Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. That could have been like a commercial. Are you feeling overly important? Do you need a shot of humility?

Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26.

It says, For you see your calling, brethren, not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. We have a moment where we are like, wait a minute, them are fighting words. Well, that's what it says.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. And why? Well, verse 29. That no flesh should glory in his presence. It's easy for us, I think, at times to fall into the same trap the disciples did. We recognize that out of seven billion people in this world we were called, that God extended a personal invitation to us. And I think sometimes if we're not careful, we can go, you know, he didn't extend a personal invitation to that other billion people over there. You know, that makes me special. And it is. It is important. It is special. But we need to keep that special in perspective.

The disciples walked the roads of Galilee with Christ. They responded to his personal invitation in person. He literally reached out and said, Come, follow me. Boy, if that couldn't create a mindset of, Well, look at me following Jesus Christ around the dusty roads of Galilee. I mean, it'd be very easy to get into that mindset. So when we see them arguing over who was the greatest, when we see them wanting to call down fire from heaven to consume people, or rebuking people for bringing their children to Christ, I think it's important for us to understand the mindset behind those actions. Christ understood it. He knew where they were coming from because he'd seen it before.

In Luke, he told his disciples he saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. He was there. He knew what pride could do. And he also knew that if it wasn't dealt with, it would destroy them, absolutely destroy them. So he set a child among them, and he informed them that unless they humbled themselves like that child, the kingdom of God that they were arguing about who would be the greatest in, they wouldn't even see. God has chosen the foolish and the base things. We're not nobles in the world. We're not royalty. We're nobody. I don't have an entourage. I don't have a million Twitter followers. I'm a middle school instructional mentor. Glitz and glamour, right?

God has chosen us. He's chosen the foolish and the weak to put to shame the wise and the strong.

And the reason that he's chosen the foolish and the weak of the world is because he knows that when he does something amazing with his people, that there is no way any one of them could say that it was them. Because we're the foolish and the weak of the world.

The only logical conclusion is God is great. And that's why he has called those whom he has called.

But when we have success, sometimes it's easy to take credit. We think it's because we worked hard. We think it's because we gave it that extra effort and working hard with extra effort. It's all important stuff. But God blesses us exceedingly. Loomis children don't really have that problem taking credit necessarily. Not until later. I mean, early on when they're younger, not until later. They're naturally humble. And then that characteristic builds to the next. The second point, we had faith. We had trust. Children are extremely trusting. We mentioned earlier, they rely on their parents or other adults for help with the majority of things in their life for the first few years. They need help eating. They need help getting dressed. They'll don't ask them. They think they can get dressed on their own. Sometimes they sort of can. They need help using the bathroom. They need help tying their shoes. The list goes on. They're simply unable to do some of these daily activities without their parents' assistance. And as a result, their parent becomes the most important figure in their life. Mommy and Daddy are the keeper of the food. They're the putter on her of a band-aids, filler of the toy box. They are a superhero in the eyes of the children. Whatever we tell our kids, they believe fully. Whatever we tell our kids, they believe fully. And as a result of that, in my years teaching science, I've had to undo some really interesting misconceptions about science. That parents were not really able to explain to their kids as to why some of these things happened. So I've had to very gently and kind of very carefully kind of walk a road of, well, let's experiment with that. Let's see what this says. And I know many of you probably as children, you probably don't want to admit it, but may have been the one that ran around on the playground and said the Easter Bunny's not real, and neither is Santa Claus. Guilty. Guilty. I got in huge trouble in first grade for that, which was not a wise maneuver. Parenting is an incredibly important job, though. We have, as parents, the full trust of that wonderful kid. And they know that they can't do things for themselves, and as a result, ultimately, they put their full trust in us. Their faith is placed in their parents. And even as they get older, for the majority, that trust remains. But unfortunately, we also know that in today's day and age, that trust can be broken in a variety of terrible ways.

And unfortunately, when that trust is broken, it is extremely difficult to ever get it back again.

When that trust is broken, it is very, very difficult to get it back again. You know, the school I teach at has a disproportionate number, compared to the other schools in the district, of students with parents who are incarcerated, levels of abuse. I mean, just some of the things that kids can tell you just, it's incredibly difficult stuff. And many of those kids, because of that traumatic experience that they've had, are very, very hesitant to trust anybody. Anybody. You really have to spend months showing them that I am not someone who is going to hurt you before they finally start to extend that trust. And unfortunately, you've only got a year with them. It's not until about month seven or eight that they really start to feel comfortable enough to open up and to allow you into their life. But you become a balancing force in children's life when their life is unbalanced. People who are stable are a balancing force in the lives of kids who are unbalanced. They need somewhere to place their faith. They need somewhere to place their trust. Because if that trust has been broken and broken and broken and broken and broken, they've got to find a place to put it. And sometimes in the absence of God, they'll put faith in whatever it is that's stable and constant in their life, and that's not always positive. That's not always positive. I used to joke when I was in the classroom that I had like 143 kids. I had my three and then the other 140 that I was helping to raise. But Christ, when He told His disciples that unless they became like children, they wouldn't inherit the kingdom. You can imagine their response. Maybe they looked at them a little dumbfounded. Like, what exactly are you telling us? What are you trying to tell us? It's called the Luke 9. We'll see the account in Luke 9. It gives us a slightly different shift to what was said. It gives us, again, additional context. Luke 9.

And we'll pick it up in verse 47.

And I think this is important. Luke 9, verse 47. We'll pick it up in 46 for context just to make it easier. It says, He makes the connection between accepting a child in Christ's name under his authority and receiving Him who sent him, connecting a relationship with God to this simple act of acceptance, of connecting with young people, receiving a child, not sending them away, not pushing them away, but receiving them and serving them. In my first couple of years teaching at Waldo, I wasn't in my best form. I was frustrated. I was impatient. I was struggling with the level of things that the kids were dealing with and really struggling to reach them. And I started looking at my kids and started looking at my students in my classroom and looking at them as, I'm not teaching them, I'm serving them. And when I started to look at them in that way, my whole outlook on my kids changed. When I started realizing that it wasn't my job to be just didactic up there, instead serving them and helping them with their needs, the relationships really took off.

And the kids opened up and they healed and we worked through things. And I realized on those days when I came in and I was cranky, I was tired, I hadn't slept well the night before because my kids were up late, whatever else, I realized it didn't matter how cranky I was, it didn't matter what was going on at home, serving them and teaching them was my job. That was my role. That was what I needed to do. In Luke 9 it says, he who humbles themselves and receives the child will receive the Father. It's a relationship. It's a connection. It's a connection. We see a number of places where we see relationships with the Father. Let's turn over to Hebrews 2 and verse 9. Hebrews 2 and verse 9. We see, again, throughout Scripture there's a number of places that talk to us about our relationship with the Father and what was required for us to be able to be bought with that spirit of adoption. We see other places that tell us if we're led by the Spirit of God, we'll be sons of God, connecting again that relationship to God's Spirit leading us. Hebrews 2 and verse 9 kind of walks us through the plan of God here. Hebrews 2 and verse 9 says, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. The entire plan of God boils down to this. Mankind was created by God to be a part of his family. They were created lower than the angels for a time. Mankind's sinned. They became enemies of God, openly hostile. That enmity created this huge chasm between mankind and God, a gulf that mankind could not cross on their own.

As part of God's plan, Christ willingly gave up his position as the word he humbled himself, lowered himself in stature to become our Savior, to be sacrificed for our sake, to come across that chasm, and to bridge the gap between us and God to reconcile us to God. That's the totality of the plan of God. If you've not listened to it, I'm going to highly suggest as a part of homework a series that Mr. Petty did a number of years back on reconciliation called the Ministry of Reconciliation. It is a phenomenal series, and I cannot, cannot recommend it strongly enough. Truly cannot recommend it strongly enough. One of the things that he said in that particular series of sermons that just resonated with me and latched on is, you know, he made the point that in wartime you hear a lot of stories of guys that will dive on a hand grenade to save their buddies.

You know, in wartime the title of the series is Ministry of Reconciliation. It's about, I think, it's six parts, maybe seven parts. It's a substantial, it's worth the time, well worth the time. But he makes the point that in wartime, it doesn't matter if it's Vietnam, World War II, this has happened in every major U.S. war. A grenade comes, you know, popping into the area, the foxhole somebody's in, tink, tink, tink, tink, and some guy last minute decides, I'm dropping on this thing, I'm going to cover up, I'm going to take the hit, it'll kill me, but it's going to save everybody else. We hear about this all the time in war. Usually they're posthumously awarded, you know, Medal of Honor or something along those lines. But the point that Mr. Petty made was that when it comes to our relationship with God, what Christ did was dive on a hand grenade to save the guys who threw it. That's a totally different setup. Dove on a hand grenade to save the guys who threw it. While we were still sinners, he died and suffered for us. Verse 10 goes on, again, fitting for him who for whom are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare your name to my brethren in the midst of the assembly. I will sing praise to you. And again, verse 13, I will put my trust in him. And again, here am I and the children whom God has given me. Here am I and the children whom God has given me. As sons and daughters of God, as brothers and sisters of Christ, we are one. We are brethren. And it is so weird to think about when we think about our kids. They are your brothers and sisters. They are not your children from a spiritual standpoint. They are your brothers and sisters. When we think about how God's plan is set up, we are all brothers and sisters. And so in that regard, when we think about that, just like a little child, just like this, you're looking at our kids and looking at all of this, you know, kids place full trust in their parents. They place full trust in their parents. They are all in no reservations. Our full trust must be placed in God as well. Just like a child places their entire trust in their parents. We've been given a promise, and we have to trust that if we do our part, God will fulfill his. It's faith. It's a substance that things hope for. Last point today, as we work towards wrapping this up, kids have to be teachable. They have to be teachable. And when you have the above two characteristics present, when you've got somebody who's humble, and when you've got somebody ultimately who—love it, I forgot my second point.

There it is, trusting. Sorry. When you've got somebody who's humble and somebody who's trusting, when you look at that, those two things are absolutely necessary, absolutely necessary, for someone to be teachable. We talked about it in the Bible study. Can a person be prideful and teachable at the same time? No, of course not. They already know everything. So, no. Pride has to be removed. Humility has to be there. There has to be trust. There has to be faith before somebody can be teachable. And that's one of the reasons we teach kids things when they're young. That is one of the reasons we teach kids things when they're young.

They haven't become prideful yet. They don't already think they know everything. They're interested. They're curious. They want to learn anything and everything they can. Kids—I mean, what's the number one question your kids ask you growing up? Why? Well, why? Well, why? And our response after a while is like, just because! Shh! Don't ask anymore! Well, guess what? After a while they stop asking. After a while they do stop asking. Children trust those who teach them implicitly. You know, I've had interesting conversations with parents at parent-teacher conferences when I've got a student that at 14 isn't getting work done, isn't getting things finished up, acting out in class, misbehaving. And the parent says, well, what do I do? And you want to tell them what you need to do needed to happen 10 years ago. You needed to teach them these things before they got too big for their britches and won't listen anymore. And unfortunately, it happens a lot. It happens a lot. Kids are teachable. Little kids are teachable.

They learn. Let's go over to 2 Timothy 3, verse 15.

2 Timothy 3, verse 15. It's the last passage we'll turn to here today.

I'm going to reference two others, but 2 Timothy 3 and verse 15.

2 Timothy 3, verse 15, kind of picking up with verse 14, says, Paul here writing to Timothy, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, which you had trust in, knowing from whom you have learned them. Talking earlier about his mother and his grandmother. It says in verse 14, but you must continue again in the things you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you've learned them, that from childhood, that word is brephos in Greek, from when you were a little infant, when you were a little kid, you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Timothy was taught the scripture from childhood, from when he was the littlest of little kids. He was teachable. He listened. He was curious. He wanted to know more. Don't let that window go by. Don't let that window pass. We have to be teaching our children when we're young. The systems that God put in place to do this, Deuteronomy 6, take your children with you along the wayside, teach them of God as you do what you do. Proverbs 22, 6, train them up in the way they should go, and when they grow old, they will not depart from it. We can't miss that window. We cannot miss that window as parents. We have to ensure that we are getting that. Now, if we have missed it, does it mean it's over? Of course not. It just means it's going to be more of an uphill climb. It just means it may be more difficult. It may come wrought with more issues and more things down the pike. Christ gave this message to His disciples that they needed to become childlike, that they needed to put on humility and faith. They needed to be teachable.

He's giving that same message to us through history. Our children—look around this congregation— somebody said they counted Him the other day. It was 54 kids under the age of 12.

That is amazing. That is such a wonderful blessing. Kids, if you're listening, we love you, and we're so glad you're here. We are so glad you are here. We are absolutely surrounded in this area with children, and it is such an incredible blessing, and it is such an important responsibility. It is an important responsibility. So, how can we, then, as a congregation, better engage our youth? Well, brethren, it comes down to relationships.

It comes down to connecting. It comes down to talking to them, asking them questions, finding out how their week went, getting to know them, learning their names, homework assignment, learning the kids' names. If you don't already know them, learn the names. There's 54 of them. That's the downside. That's a lot of names to remember.

But it's doable. It can be done. I promise. It can be done.

The other thing we can do as a congregation is help them to be part of it.

They want to serve. Watch them. They want to serve. They want to grab books. They want to help put away chairs, help them integrate into the congregation to become a part of this as our brothers and our sisters. So, two homework assignments. Because the reality is—before I go on to the homework assignment here real quick—the recognition of the blessing that our kids are, when we're all dead and gone, they'll still be here. They will be the church. They will be the leaders of the church. They may be the ones up here giving messages. It's incredible.

So, here's two homework assignments. Please learn the names of our youth.

And secondly, take the time to say hello. Take the time to say hello. Talk to them. Ask how their week went. Ask them what they're interested in. Kids will talk your ear off if you ask them questions. So, be ready for a conversation that could go in any direction. So, just be careful of that, too. It could go anywhere. But welcome them. Get to know them. Because children are incredible. Bless them.